Fixed Costs, Software and Technology

Don’t Compare Virtual Reality to the Smartphone

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2014

The theory of disruption explains why incumbent businesses – with high fixed cost infrastructures and embedded beliefs about what the market wants – fail to adopt business models that lower the cost of their services and drive product accessibility to entirely new sets of users. Disruptive innovation Technology'

Disruptive Innovation

Disruptive Innovation Automotive Software Fixed Costs

Is Rooftop Solar Finally Good Enough to Disrupt the Grid?

Harvard Business Review

MAY 21, 2015

The costly and complex operations of transporting energy have made utilities natural monopolies, while regulatory barriers and the high fixed costs of building and maintaining regional electrical grid infrastructure have also kept much competition at bay. And SunPower, the second largest U.S. Meanwhile, utilities are not standing idle.

Energy

Energy Transportation Software Price

What BMW’s Corporate VC Offers That Regular Investors Can’t

Harvard Business Review

JULY 27, 2017

This meant that the company was leaving out huge innovation potential — thousands of startups with billions of funding — that could help BMW innovate anything from core vehicle technology (batteries, sensors, artificial intelligence software) to manufacturing innovations (internet of things, cybersecurity, robotics).

Venture Capitalist

Venture Capitalist Meyer Innovation Fixed Costs

Deliver Big Impact on a Small Budget

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 18, 2013

We didn't want to burden the organization with fixed costs. Almost everything had to be free, and the few things we paid for had to be scalable so that the unit costs would eventually approach zero. Here are the three principles that guided our efforts: People make the world go round.and technology makes it go faster.

Budgeting

Budgeting Software Entrepreneur Fixed Costs

Does Your Startup Have a Spending Strategy?

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 1, 2017

You have to consider salaries, marketing budget, office size, technology services, and on and on. So not only were the current fees too weak to support his fixed costs, but future clients were turned off by his apparently excessive tastes. Do your colleagues understand that your spending is meant to benefit everyone?

Strategy

Strategy Budgeting Cost Price

Bringing the Power of Platforms to Health Care

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

.” There, in the shadow of Google’s global headquarters, the audience laughed on cue, quickly grokking the embarrassing point: it’s 2016 and this $3 trillion industry that our lives depend upon still relies on faxes, clipboards, and isolated instances of legacy software locked away in hospital basements.

Health Care

Health Care Power Hotels Transportation

The Real Reason Superstar Firms Are Pulling Ahead

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 5, 2017

One answer to that first question shows up in study after study: superstar firms are succeeding in large part due to information technology. It could be because “software development typically requires large upfront fixed costs,” meaning that firms that are already pretty large are the ones who can afford to invest in it.

Document

Document Industry Software Fixed Costs

3D Printing Will Revive Conglomerates

Harvard Business Review

MAY 19, 2015

The technology’s flexibility introduces synergies where none existed before. The company has invested heavily in 3D printing technologies that are flexible enough to produce a variety of products. Because the technology is still developing, they would need not only capital but also a good deal of technical expertise.

Engineering

Engineering Learning Curve Fixed Costs Competitive Advantage

Research: Cloud Computing Is Helping Smaller, Newer Firms Compete

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 31, 2018

Is digital technology a democratizing force, allowing smaller, newer companies to compete against giant ones? Despite those trends, our research suggests that technology can in fact provide an advantage to small and new firms. Pivothead is a firm with 25 employees producing wearable technologies to help the blind and visually impaired.

Technology

Technology Agility Fixed Costs Software

You Bought It. Does That Make it Yours to Sell?

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 21, 2013

But since books have low marginal cost (printing and distribution) relative to fixed costs (research, writing, and editing), Wiley can profitably sell its textbooks there at lower prices. That's because software, like books, is protected by copyright. I'll pick up this argument in a separate post.).

Price

Price Open-book Retail Content

Ad Blocking’s Unintended Consequences

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 12, 2015

In my experience from working at an advertising technology company, the reasons are clear: they are easy to install and immediately effective, they make the web look cleaner and load faster, and they prevent advertisers from tracking user activity online. With 200 million downloads and counting, ad blockers are quickly growing in popularity.

Advertising

Advertising Content Fixed Costs Software

You Bought It. Does That Make it Yours to Sell?

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 21, 2013

But since books have low marginal cost (printing and distribution) relative to fixed costs (research, writing, and editing), Wiley can profitably sell its textbooks there at lower prices. That's because software, like books, is protected by copyright. I'll pick up this argument in a separate post.).

Price

Price Open-book Retail Content

Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2013

Congestion, rather than raw usage, is the key driver of this phenomenon; given that the Internet Service Provider network is largely a fixed-cost asset. Like any fixed-cost asset, such as the Interstate highway system in the U.S., Needless to say, I believe in this technology. a distributed computing company.

Fixed Costs

Fixed Costs Technology Efficiency Innovation

Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2013

Congestion, rather than raw usage, is the key driver of this phenomenon; given that the Internet Service Provider network is largely a fixed-cost asset. Like any fixed-cost asset, such as the Interstate highway system in the U.S., Needless to say, I believe in this technology. a distributing computing company.

Fixed Costs

Fixed Costs Technology Efficiency Innovation

The U.S. Media’s Problems Are Much Bigger than Fake News and Filter Bubbles

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 5, 2017

Media companies are experiencing an extreme form of competition that comes with digital technologies: Everyone is a media company today. Because more people used PCs, and wrote software for them, they became the default choice for nearly everyone. The cost of covering a golf tournament doesn’t depend on whether Tiger Woods plays.

Media

Media Advertising Fixed Costs Content

Leadership Digital

Don’t Compare Virtual Reality to the Smartphone

Is Rooftop Solar Finally Good Enough to Disrupt the Grid?

Trending Sources

What BMW’s Corporate VC Offers That Regular Investors Can’t

Deliver Big Impact on a Small Budget

Does Your Startup Have a Spending Strategy?

Bringing the Power of Platforms to Health Care

The Real Reason Superstar Firms Are Pulling Ahead

3D Printing Will Revive Conglomerates

Research: Cloud Computing Is Helping Smaller, Newer Firms Compete

You Bought It. Does That Make it Yours to Sell?

Ad Blocking’s Unintended Consequences

You Bought It. Does That Make it Yours to Sell?

Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

The U.S. Media’s Problems Are Much Bigger than Fake News and Filter Bubbles

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