Publications

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February 2008
Article

Bandwidth Allocation in Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Networks

By: Albert Creus Mir, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

We present a model of bandwidth allocation in a stylized peer-to-peer file sharing network. Given an arbitrary population of peers composed of sharers and freeriders, where all peers interconnect to maximize their allocated bandwidth, we derive the expected bandwidth... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Resource Allocation

November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

eDonkey--Deciding the Future of File Sharing

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Sam Yagan, CEO of the upstart MetaMachine, Inc., received a letter from the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) asking him to shut down eDonkey, MetaMachine's popular file-sharing system. In September 2005, more than 30 million users relied on... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Crisis Management; Music Entertainment; Legal Liability; Copyright; Information Technology Industry; Music Industry; United States

December 2016
Article

The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales, Revisited

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf

Even as we approach the twentieth anniversary of widespread file sharing, its impact on the sale of copyrighted material remains in dispute. We contributed to this debate with an early study, “The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis,” that was... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Copyright; Sales; Retail Industry; Music Industry

Article

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Distribution; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Strategy; Profit; Price; Performance Efficiency

January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure

Educators

March 2007
Teaching Note

eDonkey--Deciding the Future of File Sharing (TN)

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Teaching note to 707482. View Details

Keywords: Technology Industry

2010
Article

Competing against Online Sharing

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future. View Details

Keywords: Consumers; Computer Networks; Resource Sharing; Online Operations; Internet and the Web; Copyright; Networks; Business Model; Music Industry

2007
Working Paper

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

01 Jun 2004
News

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Downloading music from the Internet doesn’t kill CD sales after all, concludes a surprising new study by HBS associate professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Associate Professor Koleman Strumpf of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The Effect of View Details

Keywords: file sharing; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

February 2007
Article

The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf

Keywords: Information Technology; Sales; Theory

March 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Teaching Note

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods (TN)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas-Drane and Jordan Mitchell

Keywords: Information Technology

March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Teaching Note

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

October 2013 (Revised September 2014)
Case

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White, Benjamin C. Esty and Lisa Mazzanti

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

Educators

Web

Stata Temporary Files and Stata Tmp - Research Computing Services

a number of files on the /tmp volume that is local to each compute node. This volume is shared by all jobs on that node, is essential for the health of the node, offers a significant speed advantage over... View Details

Web

Working with Spaces, Files & Folders - Research Computing Services

useful in a space shared by multiple researchers. Do not keep multiple copies of large data files in separate project directories. Move such files into a 'Reference Data'... View Details

2007
Working Paper

Bandwidth Allocation in Peer-to-Peer Filesharing Networks

By: Albert Creus-Mir, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

We present a model of bandwidth allocation in a stylized peer-to-peer file sharing network with s peers (sharers) who share files and download from each other and f peers (freeriders) who download from sharers but do not contribute files. Assuming that upload bandwidth... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Resource Allocation

September 2023
Case

DocSend: A Path off the Plateau?

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jeffrey Huizinga

Recounts how the leaders of DocSend, an early-stage startup that offered tools for sharing files online, searched for a viable business model and weighed tradeoffs in transitioning from a sales-led to a product-led "go-to-market" approach. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Start-up; Growth; Business Model; Business Startups; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry

Educators