Publications

2024
Working Paper

The Value of Silence: The Effect of UMG’s Licensing Dispute with TikTok on Music Demand

By: Mengjie (Magie) Cheng, Elie Ofek and Hema Yoganarasimhan

Social media platforms like TikTok have transformed how music is discovered, consumed, and monetized. This study examines the implications of the dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG), which resulted in UMG excluding its music from TikTok from... View Details

Keywords: Demand And Consumers; Monetization; Social Media; Revenue; Conflict and Resolution; Music Industry

SSRN

Read Now

13 Jul 2021
Research & Ideas

Outrage Spreads Faster on Twitter: Evidence from 44 News Outlets

negative tweets engaged more users. Originating as internet novelties 15 years ago, social media platforms have altered everything from democracy to human relationships in ways that are hard to overstate.... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Media & Broadcasting

Zhongming Jiang

Zhongming Jiang is a Ph.D. student in Marketing (Quantitative) at Harvard Business School. His methodological interests include Bayesian {nonparametrics, causal inference, deep learning}, and probabilistic machine learning. Substantively, he is interested... View Details

11 Sep 2021
News

Direct-To-Consumer Retailers Try to Bring Pizzazz to Dull Goods

2016
Working Paper

Pros vs Joes: Agent Pricing Behavior in the Sharing Economy

By: Jun Li, Antonio Moreno and Dennis J. Zhang

One of the major differences between markets that follow a “sharing economy” paradigm and traditional two-sided markets is that the supply side in the sharing economy often includes individual nonprofessional decision makers, in addition to firms and professional... View Details

Keywords: Two-sided Market; Sharing Economy; Behavioral Economics; Revenue Management; Hospitality; Two-Sided Platforms; Price; Behavior; Experience and Expertise

SSRN

March 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Facebook

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Aaron Smith, David Chen and Brian Feinstein

As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging traffic. The company could invest further in new advertising products, which represented the majority of the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Profit; Open Source Distribution; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry

October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys: A Power Couple

By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Sarah Mehta

Set in 2018, this case follows married couple and music industry titans Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys as they consider how best to use their platforms to achieve their goals. Since achieving professional success in the music industry early in their lives, Swizz and Keys... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Music Entertainment; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Goals and Objectives; Power and Influence; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Fine Arts Industry

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

structure is a bit out of hand and, by any metric, above comparable social media companies. And so, there is definitely an incentive here for them to try to get that in line sooner rather than later. If you compare Meta/Facebook to... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

2018
Article

Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

By: Wen Wen and Feng Zhu

We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust their innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to Google’s entry threat and actual entry into their markets. We find that, after Google’s entry threat increases,... View Details

Keywords: Platform-owner Entry; Entry Threat; Innovation; Complementors; Mobile App Industry; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Price; Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software

Find at Harvard

08 Aug 2022
HBS Case

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

members were allowed to interact with fans on social media, and discuss the pressures of stardom. Communicate directly with fans. Hybe created a platform called Weverse, where fans could buy merchandise,... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta; Media & Broadcasting; Music

05 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 5

Limits to Network Effects Authors:Hann Hałaburda and Mikołaj Jan Piskorski Abstract We model conditions under which agents in two-sided matching markets rationally prefer a platform restricting choice rather than a View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Jan 2024
Blog Post

Meet The HBS African American Student Union

Founded in 1968 by 5 Black students at Harvard Business School, the African American Student Union (AASU) is a community for all Black students at HBS inclusive of all backgrounds, familial situations, and social preferences. Our goal is... View Details

January 2014 (Revised February 2015)
Case

YouTube for Brands

By: Thales Teixeira and Leora Kornfeld

This case examines the changes employed by YouTube to make the massively popular site more attractive to brands. Building from its base of amateur, user-generated content, YouTube had turned to experimenting with professionally-made content and organizing its videos... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Marketing; Brands and Branding; Advertising Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Sara Torti is a senior product and operating executive who has focused extensively on creating and scaling technology-based businesses that require a combination of detailed execution, business insight and technical acumen. She has grown products... View Details

04 Mar 2020
News

Female Faculty Leading the Way on International Women's Day

June 2023
Teaching Note

Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: The Megafarms of CP Group

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 316-150. The case introduces students to an innovative new agricultural venture on the outskirts of Beijing. It can be used as a platform to discuss broader issues of agricultural policy reform and regional disparities in social and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Policy; Economic Growth; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Thailand

June 2016
Case

Publicis Groupe 2016: Maurice and the Millennials

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Having built Publicis Groupe through acquisitions maintained as separate brands, CEO Maurice Lévy wanted to transform the advertising and marketing firm to an integrated digital-ready enterprise to address industry changes. In early 2016, following a reorganization, he... View Details

22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

system to get each of their users to contribute to the content,” Ghosh notes. Unlike other social platforms that force people to build a following in order for content to be seen, the tool enables users of... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

January 2016
Teaching Note

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

By: Sunil Gupta and Margaret Rodriguez

In September 2010, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (T2) reported an unexpectedly high third quarter profit of $5.92 million, driven largely by the success of its video game, Red Dead Redemption (which sold over 6.9 million copies since launching in May). Red Dead... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Leadership Style; Marketing; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry