Lynda M. Applegate is the Baker Foundation Professor at HBS and also serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee for Harvard University’s Masters’ of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies degrees in finance and management. Lynda also continues to play a leading role in developing the HBS Executive Education Programs for entrepreneurs and business owners. In addition to serving as the head of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, Lynda has held a variety of leadership positions at HBS, including serving as the Co-Chair of the MBA program, Chair of Field Based Learning and as a founding member of the HBS Technology Board. She has also held a number of Harvard University leadership positions, including serving as the Co-Chair of the Harvard Policy Group on Networked Government Services and on the Harvard University Provost’s Technology Advisory Board. Prior to joining the HBS faculty, Lynda was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, University of Washington and University of Arizona. In addition to her academic positions, Lynda also held a variety of leadership positions in the health care industry.
Lynda’s research and publications focus on the challenges of building new ventures and leading radical business innovation in the face of significant industry, technological, capital market, and regulatory turbulence. A second stream of research examines emerging leadership and governance models to support entrepreneurial ecosystem evolution and inter-firm collaboration and innovation. She is also conducting a global study of the skills and behaviors of successful entrepreneurs. One component of her entrepreneurship research focuses on women entrepreneurs. Lynda recently served as Series Editor for Harvard Business Publishing’s Core Readings in Entrepreneurship. She is the author of over 40 articles, books, and book chapters, and over 350 published case studies, online learning DVDs, and course materials.
Lynda is the recipient of numerous HBS awards for her research, teaching, and service to the school. Most recently, she was awarded the Robert F. Greenhill award for her outstanding contributions to HBS over the course of her career. She has also received Harvard Business School’s Berol Award for Research Excellence and its Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching. Lynda has won numerous “Best Paper” awards for her academic research on 21st century business models and executive team decision-making and collaboration, and has served as a Senior Editor and on the editorial boards for leading research journals in the field of technology innovation.
Lynda is an active international consultant and has served on the board of directors of public, private, non-profit and venture-backed companies. She is an advisor and advisory board member for entrepreneurs launching new ventures and for senior executives leading innovation in established companies. She is currently on the board of two non-profit organizations and two privately-held firms. In the past, Lynda has also served as a member of the Industry Advisory Board for NASDAQ and as a member of the Executive Council for Information Technology and Management for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She also served as a policy advisor on a Blue-Ribbon Panel to define a National Research Agenda on the development of the Network Economy and as a member of a roundtable for the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection.
July 2019
Featured Work
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Core Readings in Entrepreneurship Series
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Don't Just Survive - Thrive: Leading Innovations in Good Times and Bad
Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global financial crisis provides a mandate for restructuring. But survival is not the end goal. In fact, cost cutting and restructuring are simply the first steps in repositioning and leading a company and industry through the crisis and in defining how business will be conducted in the future. This paper describes how IBM managed to, not just survive the crisis it faced in the early 1990s, but to reposition the company to lead the industry. The powerful lesson from the IBM story is that innovation is not a side business to running the real business. Innovation is the business. Breakthrough innovations that change people's lives and the very structure and power dynamics of industries can't be managed as "silos," tucked away in corporate, university, or government research labs, in incubators, or within venture capital funded entrepreneurial start-ups. Access to the marketplace is needed to help speed commercialization and adoption. Emerging opportunities must be nurtured and the transition to high growth must be managed. Once breakthrough innovations catch hold, growth must be funded and managed to exploit the full value of the opportunity. And finally, incremental innovations must ensure that businesses that have passed through the high growth stage can continue to deliver the resources, capabilities, and platforms needed to fuel the emerging opportunities of the future. This business lifecycle view of innovation requires new leadership and organizational models and new approaches to managing risk and uncertainty.
Publications
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Text Book
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2008
Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases
Robert D. Austin, Lynda M. Applegate and Deborah Soule
The 8th edition of Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases is written for students and managers who desire an overview of contemporary information systems technology management. This new edition examines how information technology enables organizations to conduct business in radically different and more effective ways. The authors' objective is to provide readers with a better understanding of the influence of twenty-first century technologies on business decisions. The 8th edition discusses today's challenges from the point of view of the executives who are grappling with them. This text is comprised of an extensive collection of Harvard Business School cases devoted to Information Technology.
Keywords: Decision Making;
Management;
Business Strategy;
Information Technology;
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Foreword
| The Executive's Guide to Information Technology
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2003
Foreword
L. M. Applegate
Citation:
Applegate, L. M. "Foreword." The Executive's Guide to Information Technology, edited by Jon C. Piot and John Baschab. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
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Chapter
| Information Systems and Qualitative Research
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1997
The Crisis in the Case of Research Crisis
J. King and L. Applegate
Keywords: Research;
Citation:
King, J., and L. Applegate. "The Crisis in the Case of Research Crisis." In Information Systems and Qualitative Research, edited by J. DeGross, A. Lee, and J. Lieberman. London: Chapman & Hall, 1997.
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Introduction
| The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change
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1994
Introduction
C. Heckscher and L. Applegate
Citation:
Heckscher, C., and L. Applegate. "Introduction." Introduction to The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change, edited by Anne Donnellon and Charles C Heckscher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994.
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
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2009
Don't Just Survive - Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad
Lynda M. Applegate and J. Bruce Harreld
Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global financial crisis provides a mandate for restructuring. But survival is not the end goal. In fact, cost cutting and restructuring are simply the first steps in repositioning and leading a company and industry through the crisis and in defining how business will be conducted in the future. This paper describes how IBM managed to, not just survive the crisis it faced in the early 1990s, but to reposition the company to lead the industry. The powerful lesson from the IBM story is that innovation is not a side business to running the real business. Innovation is the business. Breakthrough innovations that change people's lives and the very structure and power dynamics of industries can't be managed as "silos," tucked away in corporate, university, or government research labs, in incubators, or within venture capital funded entrepreneurial start-ups. Access to the marketplace is needed to help speed commercialization and adoption. Emerging opportunities must be nurtured and the transition to high growth must be managed. Once breakthrough innovations catch hold, growth must be funded and managed to exploit the full value of the opportunity. And finally, incremental innovations must ensure that businesses that have passed through the high growth stage can continue to deliver the resources, capabilities, and platforms needed to fuel the emerging opportunities of the future. This business lifecycle view of innovation requires new leadership and organizational models and new approaches to managing risk and uncertainty.
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Risk Management;
Leading Change;
Innovation and Management;
Crisis Management;
Growth and Development Strategy;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
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2009
Virtual Team Learning: Reflecting and Acting, Alone or With Others
Deborah L. Soule and Lynda M. Applegate
This paper examines virtual team learning in new product development situations. New product development activities manifest novelty, uncertainty and complexity, presenting an extreme need for learning in the course of the work. We present data from an exploratory study of learning processes in globally dispersed new product development teams. These qualitative data are used to investigate components of team learning previously highlighted in the team learning literature-namely reflection-oriented and action-oriented behaviors-and to examine the boundaries of these learning behaviors. We find that effective virtual teams, like co-located teams, engage in both reflective and action-oriented learning behaviors. However, the virtual context highlights distinct participation strategies in teams' learning patterns, which aim to leverage deep, specialist knowledge, on one hand, or seek to integrate diverse knowledge, on the other hand. Moreover, our findings suggest that, in the virtual setting, the boundary of team membership is not centrally associated with different learning behaviors and outcomes, as argued in other team learning research. Instead, virtual team learning behaviors are likely to be shaped by boundaries that delimit timely access to relevant knowledge and skill. In conclusion, we discuss implications for future virtual team learning research.
Keywords: Competency and Skills;
Learning;
Knowledge Acquisition;
Knowledge Use and Leverage;
Product Development;
Groups and Teams;
Behavior;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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November 2019
(Revised May 2020)
Collibra
Lynda M. Applegate, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Julia Kelley
Founded in 2008 at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Collibra was a data intelligence company that found product-market fit in the years after the global financial crisis when many companies were under pressure from consumers and governments to improve their data management efforts. Over the years, Collibra expanded its product offering from a Semantic Data Integration tool to a Data Governance Platform with a range of data management and governance tools and also expanded geographically from Belgium to the U.S. and other countries. In 2019, with more than 350 clients, Collibra became a unicorn with a valuation of more than $1 billion. Now, co-founders Felix Van de Maele, Stijn Christiaens, and Pieter De Leenheer needed to decide how to move from “data governance” to “data intelligence.”
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Governance;
Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Markets;
Technology;
Information Technology;
Software;
Technology Adoption;
Technology Platform;
Semantic Web;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Customer Satisfaction;
Expansion;
Information Technology Industry;
Technology Industry;
Europe;
Belgium;
Brussels;
North and Central America;
United States;
New York (city, NY);
New York (state, US);
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Jeffrey F. Rayport, and Julia Kelley. "Collibra." Harvard Business School Case 820-013, November 2019. (Revised May 2020.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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March 2020
Cafe Kenya (Brief Case)
Lynda M. Applegate and James T. Kindley
Teaching Note for HBS No. 920-551.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and James T. Kindley. "Cafe Kenya (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 920-552, March 2020.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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March 2020
Cafe Kenya
Lynda M. Applegate and James T. Kindley
This case describes Café Kenya (CK), a Kenyan-based chain of casual quick-food restaurants. The chain was started in 2011 in Nairobi by Nekesa Kuria. Kuria started Café Kenya and grew it by reinvesting profits into company stores and through franchising. She also concentrated on getting the details right, and she helped this effort by hiring the best people possible. Further, she feels a responsibility to help other African women succeed as business owners. The company is very successful. By early 2019, CK had 28 stores, 21 of which are franchised. All the stores are in major cities in Kenya, including Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. Kuria is considering several options to grow CK, including organic growth, equity investment from an outside partner, and a buyout offer. Each involves tradeoffs that Kuria must decide among. The case can be used to discuss issues such as entrepreneurial ventures, managing a service business, human resource management, and options for growth. It is recommended for upper-level undergraduate students or MBA students in entrepreneurship courses.
Keywords: restaurants;
Entrepreneurship;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Kenya;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and James T. Kindley. "Cafe Kenya." Harvard Business School Brief Case 920-551, March 2020.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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October 2019
(Revised February 2020)
The Predictive Index
Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber
Mike Zani and Daniel Muzquiz needed to decide next steps to create a new category in the human resources consulting industry and scale their company.
Zani and Muzquiz, serial entrepreneurs, acquired Predictive Index in 2014. Previously, as clients of the 65-year-old Predictive Index, they had used its behavioral assessment tool to help them hire staff and build teams and they strongly believed in its value. They also believed, however, that Predictive Index had the potential to be something more. After acquiring the company, they invested in technology and people to modernize the business, and Predictive Index earned recognition as a “best place to work.” In 2018, they developed a Talent Optimization platform, an offering that had the potential to transform the industry by helping companies align their business strategies with their human capital and leadership development strategies. In late 2019, as they prepared a broad rollout of Talent Optimization, and planned to scale their business by an order of magnitude, the pair wondered what hurdles they might face along the way and what other steps they should take to reach their goals.
Keywords: Human Resources;
Selection and Staffing;
Talent and Talent Management;
Recruitment;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Change Management;
Disruptive Innovation;
Market Platforms;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Consulting Industry;
Service Industry;
United States;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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June 2018
The Grommet in 2018
Lynda M. Applegate, Karen Gordon Mills and Lena Goldberg
The Grommet, an online product launch platform, was at the brink of scaling its business. The Grommet's daily launch and sale of innovative consumer products, using personal videos created by product makers, had led to its initial success. In 2014, the company launched The Grommet Wholesale, a similar platform targeting retailers. Was this the best way to capture more of the value the company created for makers?
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
product launch;
retail;
Value Capture;
Online Technology;
Entrepreneurship;
Product Launch;
Value;
Retail Industry;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Karen Gordon Mills, and Lena Goldberg. "The Grommet in 2018." Harvard Business School Case 818-132, June 2018.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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May 2018
Harvest City: The Intelligent Procurement System Project
Lynda M. Applegate and Ramiro Montealegre
The Harvest City case describes the implementation of a cloud- and IoT-based intelligent procurement system at a new convention complex in the U.S. Midwest. The decision to build a convention complex is a strategic initiative for this city and involves extensive use of information technology. The risk of implementation failure is high. Such failures are costly, highly visible, and affect multiple stakeholders. This case explores the challenges of large-scale, computer-based system implementation by examining the events, decisions, and actions taken to implement the intelligent procurement system at Harvest City. This case helps students to reflect on and discuss the challenges of implementing IT-enabled change initiatives, especially those that require streamlined and integrated inter-organizational processes. The case discussion gives students insight into what factors influence the success and failure of IT projects.
Keywords: Information Technology;
Projects;
Management;
Decision Making;
Business and Government Relations;
Information Technology Industry;
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Teaching Plan
| HBS Case Collection
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January 2018
AEEC: Becoming an Innovation Catalyst
Lynda M. Applegate, James Weber and Sarah Mehta
Teaching Plan for HBS No. 317-011.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., James Weber, and Sarah Mehta. "AEEC: Becoming an Innovation Catalyst." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 318-107, January 2018.
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Teaching Plan
| HBS Case Collection
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February 2018
Entrepreneurship for All
Lynda M. Applegate and Julia Kelley
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-007.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Julia Kelley. "Entrepreneurship for All." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 818-027, February 2018.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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December 2017
(Revised June 2018)
TelePizza (Abridged)
Lynda M. Applegate
Describes TelePizza, Spain's leading chain of pizza restaurants and delivery services. TelePizza has experienced rapid growth to 500 stores since its creation in 1987. The company went public on the Spanish stock market in late 1996. Franchising has played an important role in the firm's expansion to date. For further growth, the founder and CEO is contemplating three strategies: further expansion in Spain, international expansion, or the creation of new restaurant concepts. Abridged version of HBS No. 899-080.
Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy;
Franchise Ownership;
Expansion;
Global Range;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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September 2017
FJ Management Inc.
Lynda M. Applegate, James Barnett and Matthew G. Preble
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-028.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., James Barnett, and Matthew G. Preble. "FJ Management Inc." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 818-051, September 2017.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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September 2017
(Revised January 2019)
FJ Management Inc.
Lynda M. Applegate and Matthew G. Preble
In late 2015, Crystal Call Maggelet, president and CEO of FJ Management, is working with her investment committee to help set the company’s strategic direction. Maggelet, daughter of the company’s founder, has led FJ Management since 2009 when she stepped in as CEO following an unexpected bankruptcy. At that time, FJ Management was known as Flying J. Flying J owned and operated hundreds of truck stops—which it called Travel Plazas—nationwide and was a growing multi-billion dollar business, but broader problems in the oil and credit markets in late 2008 forced it to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maggelet, who had been serving on Flying J’s board, became its new CEO and was able to successfully manage competing stakeholder demands, keep the business running, and ultimately paid back every dollar it owed to its creditors by selling the company’s core assets—its travel plazas—to its main competitor in 2010. Since that time, the company had returned to a healthy financial position, diversified its holdings, and made investments in diverse industries to determine how to grow the company, since renamed FJ Management. In 2015, Maggelet now wants to set a clear path forward for the company.
Keywords: turnaround;
company history;
Family Business;
Transformation;
Volatility;
Change Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Ethics;
Moral Sensibility;
Values and Beliefs;
Cash Flow;
Insolvency and Bankruptcy;
Financial Liquidity;
Financial Management;
Governance;
Corporate Governance;
Governance Controls;
Leadership;
Leading Change;
Crisis Management;
Negotiation;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Family Ownership;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Business Strategy;
Energy Industry;
Travel Industry;
Retail Industry;
Service Industry;
Utah;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Matthew G. Preble. "FJ Management Inc." Harvard Business School Case 818-028, September 2017. (Revised January 2019.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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July 2017
(Revised July 2018)
Entrepreneurship for All
Lynda M. Applegate and Julia Kelley
Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) is a Lowell, Massachusetts–based nonprofit that hosts business accelerators for entrepreneurs in underserved communities. By mid-2017, EforAll has five office locations in Massachusetts, and its leadership and the Board of Directors must decide whether EforAll is ready to open its first out-of-state office. Students are asked to consider a variety of factors—including funding, hiring, population demographics, and distance from Massachusetts—to determine whether EforAll has the capacity to expand, and if so, which new city it should expand to first.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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June 2017
MIA: Profit at the Base of the Pyramid
Lynda M. Applegate, José Antonio Dávila Castilla, Sarah Mehta and Aldo Sesia
In January 2016, Guillermo Jaime had just returned home to Mexico City after attending a Harvard Business School executive education program. Jaime was the founder and CEO of Mejoramiento Integral Asistido (MIA), a company providing affordable housing to low-income Mexicans living at the base of the pyramid (BOP), defined as those living on less than $10 per day. Since its launch in 2009, MIA had built nearly 25,000 homes—providing safe shelter to more than 100,000 Mexicans—while generating an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin of over 8%.
At the executive education program, Jaime had learned that entrepreneurs could build on their unique attributes and capabilities to expand and grow their businesses. Should he continue to expand the services MIA offered to BOP customers? Could he leverage what made MIA unique—offering affordable homes for its BOP customers in Mexico—to fulfill other critical needs at the BOP for water, clean energy, and health care services? Jaime was an expert in housing, but could he translate that expertise to such diverse sectors? If so, how should he begin?
Keywords: base of the pyramid;
social capitalism;
social entrepreneurship;
Housing;
Emerging Markets;
Social Enterprise;
Society;
Wealth and Poverty;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Construction Industry;
Mexico;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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May 2017
(Revised October 2017)
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: Building Breakthrough Innovations in Crowd-Powered Ecosystems
Lynda M. Applegate, Terri L. Griffith and Ann Majchrzak
Dirk Ahlborn, co-founder and CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. (HTT) looks back at the evolving organizational design and community that allows HTT to be crowd-powered. Since the founding in 2013, HTT has dealt with building an organization with less than 20 employees, yet serving multiple governmental entities and having over 25 patents pending . Rather than employees, HTT has invited over 800 people to contribute a minimum of 10 hours per week in exchange for future equity. Everything from recruitment, incentives, culture, technology, and intellectual property controls are handled with the idea that a community can work together to solve a global problem (transportation) by “turning a collective passion into a vision and the vision into a reality” (Ahlborn quote). The open question is how this approach will fair as the organization moves from design to delivery
Keywords: collaboration;
crowdsourcing;
entrepreneurial finance;
innovation;
organizational design;
product development;
Startups;
Business Startups;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Entrepreneurship;
Finance;
Product Development;
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Teaching Plan
| HBS Case Collection
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February 2017
Dhamani Jewels: Becoming a Global Luxury Brand
Lynda Applegate
Dhamani started as a loose gemstone dealer in 1969 in Jaipur, India. By the 2000s, it was headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and had expanded into diamonds and retail. The family business was now in its second generation of leadership and aimed to become a top global jewelry brand within the next 10 years. The family had been successful throughout its various inflection points in the past—had it positioned itself well to soon begin competing with the global, high-end jewelry houses such as Cartier and Bulgari? Teaching Note for HBS No. 815-087.
Keywords: Luxury Retail;
Jewelry;
Luxury Goods;
UAE;
retail;
Brands and Branding;
Family Business;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Dubai;
India;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda. "Dhamani Jewels: Becoming a Global Luxury Brand." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 817-094, February 2017.
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Teaching Plan
| HBS Case Collection
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November 2016
(Revised November 2016)
Movile: Building a Global Technology Company
Lynda M. Applegate and Eric Werker
Teaching Plan for HBS No. 716-010.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Eric Werker. "Movile: Building a Global Technology Company." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 817-076, November 2016. (Revised November 2016.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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October 2016
CLHS: Scaling a New Venture
Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli and Joaquin Rodriguez
Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-053.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Gabriele Piccoli, and Joaquin Rodriguez. "CLHS: Scaling a New Venture." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 817-050, October 2016.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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March 2016
adidas Group: IT Multi-Sourcing at adidas
Lynda Applegate, Carol Saunders, Grandon Gill and Martin Wiener
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda, Carol Saunders, Grandon Gill, and Martin Wiener. "adidas Group: IT Multi-Sourcing at adidas." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 816-087, March 2016.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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January 2015
CAI
Lynda M. Applegate, Richard T. Watson and Phil Weinzimer
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Richard T. Watson, and Phil Weinzimer. "CAI." Harvard Business School Case 815-096, January 2015.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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December 2014
Groupon: A New CEO Takes Charge
Lynda M. Applegate and Arnold B. Peinado
On August 7, 2013, Eric Lefkofsky, the chairman and largest shareholder of Groupon was named CEO, replacing founder Andrew Mason, who had run the company since its inception in 2009. When Groupon had its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2011, the company's stock was offered at $20 a share. When Lefkofsky took over from Mason, the company was worth about a quarter of the IPO price and some technology experts were predicting that Groupon could well go bankrupt. Lefkofsky faced the challenge of turning Groupon into one of the major Internet companies that many predicted it would be. What lessons could Groupon learn from successful Internet companies, like Amazon, Google, LinkedIn and Facebook? How could it incorporate those lessons into a unique strategy that would enable the company to fulfill its early promise?
Keywords: entrepreneurial management;
Disruptive Technologies;
growth strategy;
customer relations;
service management;
international business;
business models;
strategy execution;
Entrepreneurship;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Model;
United States;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Arnold B. Peinado. "Groupon: A New CEO Takes Charge." Harvard Business School Case 815-083, December 2014.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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September 2014
(Revised July 2018)
adidas Group: IT Multi-Sourcing
Lynda M. Applegate, Martin Wiener, Carol Saunders and Grandon Gill
This case describes the design and implementation of an IT-multi-sourcing strategy at a large global sportswear company, the adidas Group, which is headquartered in Germany. To help increase the benefits and reduce the risks of its sourcing arrangements, adidas carefully selected two tier-2 vendors to work with its primary tier-1 vendor, a large Indian outsourcing firm that it had worked with closely for over a decade. The management of the multi-sourcing arrangement is posing a number of challenges. The Chief Information Officer is considering a number of options to ensure the continued success of the multi-sourcing strategy, including restructuring the IT group, developing the skills of its staff, and starting a captive center.
Keywords: IT strategy;
outsourcing;
Organizational Structure;
Information Technology;
Strategy;
Sports Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Germany;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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June 2000
(Revised February 2003)
Amazon.com Series TN
Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura
Teaching Note for (9-800-330), (9-800-441), (9-801-194), and (9-801-392).
Keywords: Value;
Infrastructure;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Meredith Collura. "Amazon.com Series TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 800-431, June 2000. (Revised February 2003.)
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Technical Note
| HBS Case Collection
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March 2014
(Revised May 2016)
Angel Investments in Europe and Recent Developments in Crowdfunding
Lynda Applegate, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud and Daniela Beyersdorfer
This technical note provides information on the evolution and current state of angel investing in Europe. The note first describes the role and types of angel investors, focusing on their investment preferences and practices. It then details the new trends in the market, including the development of policy tools and the proliferation of incubators/accelerators to support angel investors. Finally, the note explores salient issues in angel investing for the future and pays particular attention to the recent developments in crowdfunding.
Keywords: angel investors;
crowdfunding;
Financing and Loans;
Investment;
Financial Services Industry;
Europe;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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February 1999
(Revised September 2001)
BAE Automated Systems (A) and (B) TN
Lynda M. Applegate
Teaching Note for (9-396-311) and (9-396-312).
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M. "BAE Automated Systems (A) and (B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 399-099, February 1999. (Revised September 2001.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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April 1996
(Revised November 1996)
BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System
Lynda M. Applegate, Ramiro Montealegre, Carin-Isabel Knoop and H. James Nelson
Describes the events surrounding the construction of the BAE baggage-handling system at the Denver International Airport. It looks specifically at project management, including decisions regarding budget, scheduling, and the overall management structure. Also examines the airport's attempt to work with a great number of outside contractors, including BAE, and coordinate them into a productive whole, while under considerable political pressures. Approaches the project from the point of view of BAE's management, which struggles to fulfill its contract, work well with project management and other contractors, and deal with supply, scheduling, and engineering difficulties.
Keywords: Management;
Decisions;
Contracts;
Time Management;
Problems and Challenges;
Projects;
Budgets and Budgeting;
Construction Industry;
Air Transportation Industry;
Colorado;
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Case
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November 2012
Bonnier: Digitalizing the Media Business
Lynda Applegate, Daniel Nylen, Jonny Holmstrom and Kalle Lyytinen
The case follows leading Scandinavian media company Bonnier as it establishes a designated R&D division for the first time. The case, in particular, focuses on its first flagship project, called Mag+, in which it creates a digital platform for publishing digital magazines on the iPad. The case is intended, in part, as an introduction to the challenges media companies face due to the disruptive effects of digitalization, where traditional products and services are challenged by new digital category breakers such as the iPhone, Hulu, or Netflix. To this end, it offers a short tour of the changing print media landscape and reviews major upheavals in its business models. The Bonnier case illustrates how to engage in and manage a radical digital innovation process. In particular, it discusses the challenges associated with responding to the disruptive effects of digitalizing printed magazines. It illustrates concrete challenges that Bonnier R&D manager, Sara Öhrvall, needs to tackle as she starts as the first R&D manager at Bonnier.
Keywords: media and publishing;
Media;
Publishing Industry;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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September 1988
(Revised March 1990)
Budd Services, Inc. (TN)
Lynda M. Applegate
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M. "Budd Services, Inc. (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 189-073, September 1988. (Revised March 1990.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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March 2003
(Revised October 2003)
Campbell Soup Company: Transforming for the 21st Century
Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge
In July 2001, Campbell Soup's newly appointed CEO, Douglas R. Conant, addressed a group of Wall Street analysts and unveiled his plan to kick-start growth. His plan called for organizational renewal and revitalization, redesign of core customer-facing processes including supply chain, order fulfillment, and customer service of Campbell's U.S. soup business. Condensed soup sales, which represented nearly 50% of the company's total operating profit, had been in decline for several years and the company was slowly losing market share in this core product group as competition intensified. Pressure had mounted from major competitor General Mills, which had recently acquired Pillsbury Co., maker of Campbell's rival soup brand Progresso. .
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships;
Entrepreneurship;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Marketing Strategy;
Product Marketing;
Industry Structures;
Production;
Supply Chain Management;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
United States;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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August 2005
Canyon Ranch (TN)
Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli
Teaching Note to 9-805-027.
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Gabriele Piccoli. "Canyon Ranch (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 806-047, August 2005.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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November 2005
(Revised January 2006)
Carnival Cruise Lines (TN)
Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli
Teaching Note to 9-806-015.
Keywords: Tourism Industry;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Gabriele Piccoli. "Carnival Cruise Lines (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 806-087, November 2005. (Revised January 2006.)
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
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November 2002
Charles Schwab in 2002
Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Jamie Ladge. "Charles Schwab in 2002." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 803-702, November 2002.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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May 1993
(Revised October 1995)
Connor Formed Metal Products
Lynda M. Applegate, Donna B. Stoddard and Melinda Conrad
Connor Formed Metal Products was a small, privately owned manufacturer of custom metal springs and stampings. Since becoming president in 1984, Bob Sloss had implemented many changes to the company's organizational structure, management control systems, and information systems. In particular, he introduced a computer system in one plant to track product jobs through the manufacturing process. Employees at every function and level of the company could access information about a particular customer or job. In 1990, Sloss wondered whether to roll out this system in the company's four other plants.
Keywords: Private Ownership;
Organizational Structure;
Production;
Change;
Governance Controls;
Information Technology;
Manufacturing Industry;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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November 2005
(Revised December 2005)
County Department of Public Health: Organizing for Emergency Preparedness and Response
Lynda M. Applegate, Ajay Vinze and Minu Ipe
The anthrax attacks of 2001 exposed serious inadequacies in the response of the U.S. public health system to meet such grave threats. The public health infrastructure required rebuilding to respond to any type of large-scale health emergency. The Public Health Department at Penville County had been charged with implementing an emergency preparedness and response system for the county. Federal funds were provided to the county to develop an emergency preparedness infrastructure that met the requirements specified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. County public officials had to coordinate their efforts to ensure seamless communication, coordination, and information exchange between various divisions within the public health department, external entities, and the state public health agency. Focuses on the director of Public Health Department and the challenges he faced. Explores issues related to structure, organization, culture, and technology infrastructure.
Keywords: Technology;
Change Management;
Crisis Management;
Health Care and Treatment;
Infrastructure;
Public Administration Industry;
Health Industry;
United States;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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June 2005
(Revised May 2006)
Covisint (A): The Evolution of a B2B Marketplace
Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins
Ford Motor Co., General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler--the three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that dominated the automotive industry throughout the 20th century--launched Covisint in February 2000 as an industry supply chain exchange that would drive out cost and help manage the complex communications within the rigidly hierarchical industry. The Big 3 sourced entire components of cars from large Tier 1 suppliers. By limiting the number of partners and using online technologies to support collaboration and performance tracking, as well as drive out costs from the supply chain, the OEMs hoped that cycle times could be shortened and they could finally achieve a build-to-order car. A successful exchange that united the industry was vital to this vision. Covisint was founded with "borrowed" Bid 3 employees and over $250 million in funding from the OEMs. Its business model morphed several times as it raced to bring products to market and to meet the demands of its founders. The start-up burned through six CEOs in three years and now Bob Paul is considering whether to take on the CEO hot seat.
Keywords: Business Model;
Supply Chain Management;
Business Startups;
Management Teams;
Manufacturing Industry;
Auto Industry;
United States;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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August 1995
(Revised September 1995)
Designing and Managing the Information Age IT Architecture
Lynda M. Applegate
The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 30 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer simply a tool to support "back-office" transactions, IT has become a strategic part of most businesses, enabling the redefinition of markets and industries and the strategies and designs of firms competing within them. But to achieve these information age benefits, companies must adopt information age technology architectures. Organizations must radically transform outdated IT architectures and the IT organizations required to support them. This technological transformation is every bit as daunting as the organizational transformation. This note describes general frameworks and concepts that managers can use to analyze their existing IT architecture and to define and manage the IT architecture required to support the information processing requirements of the Information Age organization.
Keywords: Design;
Management;
Organizations;
Information Technology;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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August 1995
(Revised November 2000)
Designing and Managing the Information Age Organization
Lynda M. Applegate
Managers and management theorists spent the majority of this century building and perfecting the hierarchy; however, if we believe the press, they now appear to be engaged in destroying it. While many proclaim the dawning of the "Information Age" organization and the fading of the hierarchical organization as a trend of the 1990s, the roots of these changes can be traced to the 1950s. This note provides organization design frameworks and concepts for the design of the Information Age organization.
Keywords: Design;
Management;
Organizations;
Information Technology;
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Case
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July 1991
(Revised September 1995)
Eastman Kodak Co.: Managing Information Systems Through Strategic Alliances
Lynda M. Applegate
In January 1988, Colby Chandler, Kodak CEO, created the Corporate Information Systems (CIS) and appointed Katherine Hudson head. She at once became the first head of IT and first woman corporate vice president in the company. Throughout 1989, Hudson inaugurated a series of organizational initiatives that not only would dramatically change the IT function within Kodak, but would rock the industry. She outsourced data center operations, telecommunications services, and personal computer support to IBM, DEC, and Business Land, respectively. Case presents the complexities in managing information systems through partnerships.
Keywords: Corporate Strategy;
Information Technology;
Partners and Partnerships;
Organizational Structure;
Success;
Trends;
Information Management;
Service Operations;
Manufacturing Industry;
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Case
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November 2006
(Revised November 2007)
EFJ, Inc.
Lynda M. Applegate, Ajay Vinze and Mara Vatz
Michael Jalbert plans to transform EFJI, a land mobile radio manufacturer, into a leading radio systems and solutions provider. Taking advantage of new industry standards and the country's increased focus on public safety agencies and homeland security, Jalbert says the company can triple its revenues in three years and eventually compete head-to-head with industry giant Motorola. The growth strategy includes expanding into systems and solutions, taking advantage of overall industry growth, positioning its products to compete with the leading providers during the industry-wide transition from analog to digital technology, and entering the data applications market through an acquisition.
Keywords: Disruptive Innovation;
Leading Change;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Product Positioning;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Competitive Strategy;
Expansion;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Ajay Vinze, and Mara Vatz. "EFJ, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 807-062, November 2006. (Revised November 2007.)
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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July 1995
(Revised October 1995)
Electronic Commerce: Trends and Opportunities
Lynda M. Applegate and Janis Lee Gogan
In a 1966 Harvard Business Review article, Felix Kaufman implored general managers to think beyond their own organizational boundaries to the possibilities of interorganizational systems (IOS)--networked computers that enable companies to share information and information processing across organizational boundaries. His was a visionary argument that was already becoming a reality; from entrepreneurial actions at American Hospital Supply Corp. and American Airlines grew two legendary strategic IT applications that changed the face of their respective industries. In doing so, they helped change the role of IT so that it became a tool to support commerce--the organizational strategies, structures, and systems through which an organization conducts business with buyers, sellers, and other industry participants. Today, many of the most dramatic and potentially powerful uses of IT involve networks that transcend company boundaries. These IOS enable firms to incorporate buyers, suppliers, and partners in the redesign of their key business processes, thereby enhancing productivity, quality, speed, and flexibility.
Keywords: Online Technology;
Trends;
Opportunities;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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September 2006
(Revised February 2011)
Empemex
Lynda M. Applegate and Regina Garcia-Cuellar
Studies an entrepreneurial venture in Mexico City. The protagonists, two MBAs from HBS, started a pawn shop chain funded from their private equity office after finishing business school. This is timed at a point where the protagonists have to decide how to grow the pawn shop chain in order to compete with other Mexican and U.S. pawn shop chains that are growing aggressively in the country. Central is the decision of how to finance growth. Different growth alternatives are explored, each entailing different funding needs and exit strategies. The setting in Mexico illustrates the differences in entrepreneurship in Latin America or other developing regions compared to the United States. The difference lies in the difficulty of finding institutional funding. As a result, most of the funding has to come from "angel investors".
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Investment;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Mexico City;
United States;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Regina Garcia-Cuellar. "Empemex." Harvard Business School Case 807-031, September 2006. (Revised February 2011.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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July 2013
(Revised January 2014)
Experience! The Finger Lakes: The Groupon Partnership Decision
Lynda M. Applegate, Chekitan S. Dev, Gabriele Piccoli and Arnold B. Peinado
In 2010, Experience! The Finger Lakes (ExperienceFLX), a tour operator offering guided tours and concierge services in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, was at a crossroads. The business was poised for growth, and its owners, Laura and Alan Falk, were considering signing a deal with Groupon, the online coupon firm, to see if a Groupon deal would help the ExperienceFLX bring in new customers. While the prospect of marketing ExperienceFLX's business to a new customer base through Groupon was very appealing, the Falks found that designing a deal that met Groupon's requirements while still allowing ExperienceFLX to make money and without endangering their relationships with area winery partners was a real challenge. The Falks had to decide whether a Groupon deal worked well for them, and if so, how to manage Groupon redemptions by their customers in a way that made financial sense.
Keywords: Marketing Strategy;
Social Marketing;
United States;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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August 1998
(Revised June 2000)
FairMarket, Inc.: Where Buyers and Sellers Connect
Lynda M. Applegate, Jack Wieland and Chad M. M Raube
On February 20, 1997, FairMarket, an Internet-based business-to-business auction site, was launched. CEO, founder Scott Randall, drew on his experience building Internet businesses at NECX Direct, Yahoo, and Internet Shopping Network to build his business. This case, set in June 1998, describes the challenges he faced in launching the company and enables students to debate the best approach to penetrating the market and growing the organization.
Keywords: Business Startups;
Debates;
Entrepreneurship;
Growth and Development;
Growth Management;
Management Style;
Product Launch;
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Problems and Challenges;
Information Technology;
Information Technology Industry;
Web Services Industry;
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Case
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April 1994
(Revised October 2002)
Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (1987-1989)
Lynda M. Applegate
Describes the actions taken by the new CEO to return the company to profitability, to clarify the vision, and then to build the infrastructure (human, capital, and information) needed to support the long-term change in strategy and organization. Ends with senior management poised to institute a second round of organizational change initiatives--this time more radical in nature. Provides a rich description of the evolutionary nature of the vision for change and the development of the organizational and information infrastructure needed to support it. Students have an opportunity to define a detailed change agenda (e.g., specific changes in organization structure, management systems, people, processes, and information) and the actions needed to implement it.
Keywords: Transition;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Information Technology;
Management Teams;
Business Strategy;
Food and Beverage Industry;
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Case
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July 2003
(Revised August 2003)
Global Healthcare Exchange
Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge
Founded in March 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble, Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) was one of 90 online marketplaces in the health care industry. The company's founders were among the largest suppliers in the industry, including Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical, Abbot, Baxter, and Medtronic. Becton-Dickinson, Braun, Guidant, Tyco, Siemens, C.R. Bard, and other key suppliers joined shortly after the company was founded. At the time of the case (spring 2003), GHX was the largest of the three remaining online health care marketplaces and ownership had expanded to include the leading players across all parts of the value chain, including health care providers and managed care organizations. Group purchasing organizations, distributors, and company executives must address key strategic issues, including integrating its latest merger, achieving profitability, defining a fair pricing strategy, and determining the pace of global expansion.
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions;
Entrepreneurship;
Price;
Leadership;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Supply and Industry;
Organizational Design;
Expansion;
Online Technology;
Valuation;
Health Industry;
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Case
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February 2014
(Revised April 2015)
Go Beyond Investing
Lynda Applegate, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud and Daniela Beyersdorfer
In 2013, Brigitte Baumann, founder of the Pan-European angel investing provider Go Beyond Investing, reflected on the evolution of her venture and the way forward. Her company, which offered deal flow and training to novice and experienced angel investors and ran investor groups in several European countries, had reached a critical size, and Baumann needed to make a strategic decision to ensure its future growth in an industry that was undergoing rapid competitive and regulatory change. Her options required a decision on whether to keep her venture independent, and use a financing round to grow and scale it to a European leader in early stage investing, or whether to cash out and/or have it evolve more quickly through a partnership or sale. Possibilities included a future sale to a private bank that was looking for ways to expand their investment offerings for high net worth individuals, or joining forces with one of the emerging crowdfunding networks that targeted small investors. All of these options would require adjustments to Go Beyond Investing's strategy, capabilities, financing, and organizational structure.
Keywords: Equity;
Investment;
Business or Company Management;
Growth Management;
Leadership;
Financial Services Industry;
Europe;
Switzerland;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Go Beyond Investing." Harvard Business School Case 814-046, February 2014. (Revised April 2015.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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July 2012
(Revised January 2014)
HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality
Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli
The case centers on the dilemma faced by Carlo Fontana, the owner-operator of a small chain of two four-star urban hotels located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other in Milan, Italy. Having developed an extensive customer service and operations information system, called Happy Guests Relationship Management, Fontana is entertaining the possibility of commercializing his innovation. Doing so may provide a welcome new source of income during the greatest economic slowdown in recent history, and it would help in keeping the HGRM design and development team motivated to refine and improve the solution. However, commercializing the innovation may also stretch his organization too thin and bring his team into a business, the software industry, completely foreign to them.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Customer Relationship Management;
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Case
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November 2009
The HLB Turnaround
Lynda M. Applegate, Bhaskar Chakravorti and Laura Winig
Ford Pearson has recently taken over as CEO of HLB, a Chicago-based product design and development firm (and once one of the largest in the business), to help turn it around after a series of crises that had seriously threatened its survival. Pearson has personally invested in the firm, re-organized many aspects of its operations and has hired a younger executive and turnaround expert, Andrew Macey, as COO to help him in the effort. Pearson and Macey have several options to consider: Should HLB raise $1 million in debt financing and focus on a turnaround or should it approach a private equity investor and raise an additional $4 million and pursue a more aggressive productivity improvement plus growth strategy? While they consider these options in September 2008, the credit markets are about to clamp shut as a global financial crisis is around the corner.
Keywords: Business Organization;
Business or Company Management;
Private Equity;
Restructuring;
Product Design;
Corporate Finance;
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Case
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June 2011
(Revised January 2013)
Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and David Lane
Chris Exline founded Home Essentials, a furniture rental business targeted toward expatriates, in Singapore but rapidly moved the base of operations to Hong Kong. The company was highly successful in Singapore and Hong Kong and then pursued rapid global expansion. Lacking frameworks for deciding upon countries to enter and services to deliver in each country, Exline used gut instinct. Lacking control systems and information, he failed to identify problems early and had trouble understanding the root cause of failures. The global financial crisis intensified the problems. The case ends by describing how Exline was able to turn around the troubled company and develop necessary governance systems. The question of whether to once more attempt to grow beyond Hong Kong and, if so, the approach to take in selecting countries, is a central issue Exline faced at the time of the case.
Keywords: Growth Management;
Renting or Rental;
Corporate Governance;
Global Strategy;
Failure;
Singapore;
Hong Kong;
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Case
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June 2012
Innovating at AT&T: Partnering to Lead the Broadband Revolution
Lynda M. Applegate, Phillip Andrews and Kerry Herman
In 2010, the U.S. retail market value for next-generation non-handset wirelessly-enabled devices was just over $1 billion. By 2011 it had grown 1,141% to $13.2 billion and was forecast to reach $24.7 billion in 2015. At the same time, user demand for data was surging with the popularity of mobile Internet, e-mail, and messaging, which left carriers scrambling to increase network capacity. To capture more revenue in the data market, AT&T formed the Emerging Devices Organization (EDO) in 2008 as a distinct internal initiative to identify and partner with manufacturers developing the next generation of mobile broadband devices—from eReaders to tablets, to implanted medical devices, to supply-chain tracking devices, to dog collars and many more. AT&T executives believed that these partnerships would position the company for its next "winning play," following the path it blazed in 2007 with Apple for the iPhone. The EDO was run by Glenn Lurie, who had led the team that partnered with Apple. He knew from experience that to capture the market with the next game-changing device, his team would need to develop a new partnership model, both inside AT&T and with the ecosystem of partners who were poised to lead the global mobile broadband revolution. Doing so within a company the size of AT&T would be tough, but Lurie believed his group was up to the task.
Keywords: innovation ＆ entrepreneurship;
team leadership;
emerging technologies;
business models;
business to business;
corporate vision;
growth strategy;
corporate culture;
Innovation and Invention;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Partners and Partnerships;
Leadership;
Mobile Technology;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Business Model;
Technology Industry;
United States;
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Case
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March 2012
(Revised September 2012)
INRIX
Lynda M. Applegate and Ryan Johnson
Since its founding in 2004, INRIX, a leading global provider of traffic information and driver services, had received four rounds of financing from leading venture capital (VC) firms and by 2012 had been cash flow positive for the past six quarters. Its founder, Bryan Mistele, was looking to pivot into high growth and faced several intriguing options. However, competition in the sector was rapidly shifting, and Mistele also knew that while INRIX's industry-leading technology platform and customized services had set the firm apart, large location-based services companies could more easily enter the sector, posing a significant threat. In recent years, due to the proliferation of smartphones, large firms such as Google and Apple had increased access to location data, potentially threatening to enter the real-time traffic information (RTTI) space. Current competitors Navteq and Tele Atlas were also looking to grow through global expansion. Mistele also knew that the VC firms that held controlling stakes in his company were looking to cash out soon, either with a sale or by taking the company public through an IPO. He pondered both options and surveyed the challenges that each presented. If Mistele and INRIX decided to go public, Mistele would need to be confident that INRIX's strategic position and capabilities differentiated the company from other competitors and potential entrants. INRIX's "exit" options—sale or IPO—also implied different organizational decisions across the firm; Mistele wondered how best to organize INRIX to defend its current position and achieve growth as it continued to operate in a larger and more complex environment.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Leadership;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Business Exit or Shutdown;
Business Startups;
Organizational Structure;
Mobile Technology;
Competitive Strategy;
Information Technology Industry;
Service Industry;
Washington (state, US);
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., and Ryan Johnson. "INRIX." Harvard Business School Case 812-112, March 2012. (Revised September 2012.)
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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December 2000
Intellectual Asset Valuation
Lynda M. Applegate and Gavin Clarkson
Discusses the shortcomings of the current "rules of thumb" for intellectual asset valuation in the context of intellectual property licensing transactions. As an alternative to the present scheme, this note proposes quantitative methods for such valuations in order to better inform the parties negotiating the elements of an IP transaction.
Keywords: Valuation;
Intellectual Property;
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Case
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September 2000
Intellectual Property Exchange (A), The
Lynda M. Applegate and Gavin Clarkson
As the marketplace for intellectual assets explodes, the mechanisms for liquidity and exchange have not kept pace. Bryan Benoit, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), believes that he has a solution. Working initially with a shoestring development budget, he has created an e-business within PwC called The Intellectual Property Exchange, which he believes will both increase the liquidity for intellectual assets, increase the number of transactions that take place worldwide, as well as increase the visibility of PwC's Intellectual Asset Management Practice. This case explores the challenges and obstacles that Benoit faces.
Keywords: Global Strategy;
Intellectual Property;
Knowledge Management;
Brands and Branding;
Problems and Challenges;
Networks;
Internet;
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Case
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April 2011
(Revised June 2011)
Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Ryan Johnson
Founded in 1994 when the Internet was still a "toy for techies," the case is set in 1998 when Internet IPOs were red-hot. Internet Securities provides hard-to-find financial, business, economic, and political information on emerging markets. Information from over 600 information suppliers in more than 25 emerging markets (e.g., China, Russia, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Turkey) is provided to over 650 institutional clients, including J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, KPMG, and ING Barings. After ruling out seeking another round of VC financing, the cash-strapped founder of this Internet information service provider must decide whether to IPO or accept an offer to be acquired by Euromoney, a global publishing and information content provider that is eager to launch an Internet information service. The case contains a term sheet that can be reviewed to support analysis and decision making.
Keywords: Acquisition;
Business Model;
Business Startups;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Venture Capital;
Cash Flow;
Initial Public Offering;
Data and Data Sets;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Valuation;
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Case
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January 2006
Jack Strang at SequenceLabs
Mukti Khaire, John J. Gabarro and Lynda M. Applegate
How can entrepreneur manage his firm if things go wrong despite having a great idea, a solid team, and financial backing? Jack Strang founded a biotech firm with his friend Peter Evans, to develop molecular pathway-based "cures" for metabolic disorders. The idea was revolutionary and had both scientific validity and commercial applicability. No wonder, then, he was the darling of the venture capital industry when he approached them for funding, and he easily got first round financing. He and Evans had also assembled a strong team with impeccable credentials. Nothing, it seemed, could go wrong. Yet, close to second-round financing, nothing seemed to be right, and Strang could not help but worry. The product development was behind schedule, and his team was demoralized and tired. The future seemed uncertain. What had gone wrong? Was there anything that could be done?
Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Business or Company Management;
Venture Capital;
Factories, Labs, and Plants;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Failure;
Biotechnology Industry;
Citation:
Khaire, Mukti, John J. Gabarro, and Lynda M. Applegate. "Jack Strang at SequenceLabs." Harvard Business School Case 806-088, January 2006.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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September 2002
Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (A,B,&C) (TN)
Rakesh Khurana and Lynda M. Applegate
Teaching Note for (9-803-046), (9-803-047), and (9-803-048).
Citation:
Khurana, Rakesh, and Lynda M. Applegate. "Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (A,B,&C) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 803-049, September 2002.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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December 1995
KPMG Peat Marwick: The Shadow Partner TN
Lynda M. Applegate, Richard L. Nolan and Janis Lee Gogan
Teaching Note for (9-492-002).
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Richard L. Nolan, and Janis Lee Gogan. "KPMG Peat Marwick: The Shadow Partner TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 196-066, December 1995.
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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March 2001
(Revised July 2001)
Making Sense of the Internet Business Landscape
Lynda M. Applegate
Discusses the shift from the industrial to the information economy from a technological, business, and societal perspective. Compares the changes we are experiencing today with the changes experienced during the shift from the agrarian to the industrial age at the turn of the century.
Keywords: Transition;
Economy;
Information;
Perspective;
Society;
Internet;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M. "Making Sense of the Internet Business Landscape." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-407, March 2001. (Revised July 2001.)
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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August 1995
Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities
Lynda M. Applegate
The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 30 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer simply a tool to support "back-office" transactions, IT has become a strategic part of most businesses, enabling the redefinition of markets and industries and the strategies and designs of firms competing within them. But to achieve these information age benefits, companies must adopt information age technology architectures. Organizations must radically transform outdated IT architectures and the IT organizations required to support them. The technological transformation is every bit as daunting as the organizational transformation. This note, along with Designing and Managing the Information Age IT Architecture, describes general frameworks and concepts that managers can use to analyze their existing IT architecture and to define and manage the IT architecture required to support the information processing requirements of the Information Age organization.
Keywords: Information Technology;
Information Management;
Restructuring;
Technological Innovation;
Corporate Strategy;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Information Technology Industry;
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Background Note
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August 1995
(Revised September 1995)
Managing in an Information Age: Organizational Challenges and Opportunities
Lynda M. Applegate
Managers and management theorists spent the majority of this century building and perfecting the hierarchy; however, if we believe the press, they now appear to be engaged in destroying it. While many proclaim the dawning of the "Information Age" organization and the fading of the hierarchical organization as a trend of the 1990s, the roots of these changes can be traced to the 1950s. This note provides an overview of the organizational design challenges that firms face in the 1990s, their historical roots, and the characteristics of the emerging Information Age organization model.
Keywords: Management;
Information Technology;
Problems and Challenges;
Opportunities;
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Case
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September 2004
(Revised December 2004)
Metso Paper: Globalization of Finnish Metal Workshops
Lynda M. Applegate, Marikka Heikkila and Kalle Lyytinen
Metso Paper, the world's largest producer of paper machines, aims to transform itself into a knowledge- and information-based service and solution provider for the paper industry by aggressively exploiting information technologies. In the fall of 2002, Jorma Hujala, a vice-president of the Development, References, and Projects Department of Metso Paper's largest business unit, Rautpohja, attended a corporate-wide brainstorming meeting to decide how to improve the paper machine production and delivery process. Due to low growth in its traditional markets, the company needs to consider extending its strategy and business model to become not just a machine producer but also a supplier of services related to the value chain of paper production. In executing the new strategy, the company considers its world-class knowledge and capabilities to be its key competitive asset. Over the past decade, the department had improved project delivery performance through aggressive use of IT. Hujala and his team had to think carefully about how to enable and support the new corporate strategy and how to continue to develop their IT services and competencies accordingly.
Keywords: Production;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Information Technology;
Corporate Strategy;
Knowledge Management;
Machinery and Machining;
Expansion;
Service Delivery;
Manufacturing Industry;
Pulp and Paper Industry;
Finland;
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Case
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April 1994
(Revised October 2001)
Mrs. Fields, Inc. (1977 - 1987)
Lynda M. Applegate and Keri O. Pearlson
Describes a small company selling freshly baked goods through privately owned specialty stores (each store sells only Mrs. Fields products). The company has about 8,000 employees worldwide and less than 150 information systems people for a unique leverage of MIS resources. The company uses information systems extensively in its processing, communications, and other management functions, including operations of the stores and hiring sales employees. Teaching objectives include discussion of information technology architecture, organizations, management control, and strategy. A condensed version of Mrs. Fields Cookies.
Keywords: Information Technology;
Organizations;
Management Systems;
Business Strategy;
Food and Beverage Industry;
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Background Note
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April 2007
(Revised November 2007)
M-TRONICS (B)
Joseph L. Bower and Lynda M. Applegate
Citation:
Bower, Joseph L., and Lynda M. Applegate. "M-TRONICS (B)." Harvard Business School Background Note 807-157, April 2007. (Revised November 2007.)
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Case
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April 2013
(Revised October 2013)
National Instruments
Lynda M. Applegate, Keri Pearlson and Natalie Kindred
This case explores the use of social media to support product design, customer support, marketing and HR activities at National Instruments (NI). Based in Austin, Texas, with over $1 billion in 2011 sales, NI designs, produces, and sells software and hardware platforms that simplify development of its customers' measurement and control systems. Its customers, ranging from individuals (professors and their students) to large corporations, consist primarily of scientists and engineers—a pedigree shared by most NI employees. Since dedicating a full-time position to formalizing the use of social media tools in 2006, NI has infused social capabilities into its internal and customer-facing business processes, strengthening relationships and value delivered.
NI's story deepens our understanding of how to build a social business strategy, create game changing innovation processes, and measure the value of its social technology investments—a key challenge facing the company. By touching on NI's history and culture, the case also allows students to consider what elements of this company's organization and culture have allowed it to build a robust social business model. Keywords: Organizational Structure;
Software;
Organizational Culture;
Technological Innovation;
Technology Platform;
Innovation and Management;
Media;
Management Systems;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Information Technology Industry;
Service Industry;
Texas;
Citation:
Applegate, Lynda M., Keri Pearlson, and Natalie Kindred. "National Instruments." Harvard Business School Case 813-001, April 2013. (Revised October 2013.)
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Teaching Note
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December 1995
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