Publications

2016
Chapter

User-Generated Content and Social Media

By: Michael Luca

This paper documents what economists have learned about user-generated content (UGC) and social media. A growing body of evidence suggests that UGC on platforms ranging from Yelp to Facebook has a large causal impact on economic and social outcomes ranging from... View Details

Keywords: User-generated Content; Crowdsourcing; Design Economics; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Economics; Media; Social Media

Read Now

October 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Li & Fung (A): Internet Issues

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Fred Young

This case looks at the issues facing a Hong Kong-based trading company, which links hundreds of factories in India and Asia with major customers like Gap and the Limited in Europe and in the United States. The company has recently launched a dot-com operation to allow... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Multinational Firms and Management; Distribution Channels; Logistics; Networks; Markets; Supply Chain; Retail Industry; Hong Kong; India; Europe; United States

23 May 2014
News

Facebook Succeeds Because Deep Down, We're All Stalkers

25 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 25

PublicationsHeterogeneity and Graceful Technology Retreats: A New Perspective on Responding to Dominant Technological Threats Authors:Ron Adner and Daniel Snow Publication:Industrial and Corporate Change... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 1998 (Revised June 2000)
Case

FairMarket, Inc.: Where Buyers and Sellers Connect

By: 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,... View Details

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; Information Technology Industry

June 2018 (Revised July 2023)
Case

John Chambers, Cisco, and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield

By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean

This case examines the role of Cisco led by John Chambers in facilitating web filtering in China. It begins by tracing the origins of Cisco as a pioneer of networking equipment. John Chambers, who had worked as a sales manager at IBM and Wang Laboratories, joined Cisco... View Details

Keywords: Cisco; Internet and the Web; Governance Controls; Ethics; Rights; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; China

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

August 2014 (Revised June 2019)
Case

MRC's House of Cards

By: Anita Elberse

In March 2011, Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk, co-chairmen and co-chief executive officers at independent production company Media Rights Capital (MRC), are debating whether to accept a licensing offer from Netflix for their most ambitious project to date, a new... View Details

Keywords: Television; House Of Cards; Asif Satchu; Modi Wiczyk; Netflix; Media Rights Capital; Information Technology; Change Management; Marketing; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

March 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

VMware and the Public Cloud

By: Raffaella Sadun and Christine Snively

In 2015, VMware, a pioneer in server and network virtualization and a member of parent company EMC’s “federation” of companies, had set its sights on becoming a leading public cloud provider. Two years prior, VMware first entered the public cloud market with its vCloud... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

XTV: Xerox’s Attempted Recovery From “Fumbling the Future”

this period, Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) delivered some important technologies for the corporation. One of the most critical inventions was laser printing for Xerox's printers and copiers, an effort that led to new Xerox... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

them—potentially, at least—a strategic edge that private funds lack. These differences—good and bad—are illustrated by the case of Xerox Technology Ventures (XTV). The case, write Gompers and Lerner, "highlights the fact... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

Jeffrey T. Polzer

Jeff Polzer is the UPS Foundation Professor of Human Resource Management in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He studies how people collaborate in teams and across organizational networks to accomplish their individual and collective... View Details

February 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Teaching Note

LinkedIn (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

In the summer of 2005, LinkedIn, a two-year-old start-up, was choosing between two options to monetize its 5 million business people network. Members could contact each other through trusted intermediaries on the network to offer or seek jobs, consulting engagements,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Design; Service Operations

18 Apr 2014
News

Making “Freemium” Work

December 1999 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Hermes Systems

By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov

Covers the history of Hermes, a large telecommunications and network equipment company, as it grows from a single business firm to a diversified firm from 1980-95. Examines the use of entrepreneurial subsidiaries for product development and fast growth. Other issues... View Details

Keywords: History; Leadership; Business Subsidiaries; Diversification; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Divisions; Problems and Challenges; Product Development; Technology Industry

June 2001
Case

Bang Networks- The First Customer (A)

By: Jay O. Light and Mary N. Caravella

In November 2000, six-month-old start-up Bang Networks is preparing a proposal for its first paid subscription contract. The recent MBA founders of the new San Francisco--based company believe they have a unique new solution for effective delivery of real-time Web... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Negotiation Tactics; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Value Creation; Negotiation Preparation; Information Technology Industry; San Francisco