Publications

08 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 8

By: Hałaburda, Hanna, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee Abstract—The value of many products and services rises or falls with the number of customers using them; the fewer fax machines... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs

An online shipping platform that uses social networks and smartphones. Low-cost medical care and monitoring that helps seniors to live at home. The "Skype" of broadband,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

11 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Does Democracy Need a Marketing Manager?

contributions. For example, on the liberal side of the spectrum, you have Democracy for America, founded by Howard Dean, and also Moveon.org. However, online enthusiasm does not necessarily translate into... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2000
News

Core Values Keep Airline Flying High

innovations like ticketless seating and online reservations, as well as snacks-only food service. This has not, as critics predicted, precluded Southwest from introducing a coast-to-coast View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Air Transportation; Transportation

15 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Rethinking E-Leadership

Chuang, CEO of Aquent, an employment services company headquartered in Boston. In roughly half of the new initiatives Aquent has invested in over the last few years, Chuang estimates, "we have gotten too excited about a new product... View Details

Keywords: by Melissa Raffoni

March 2020
Case

Sizmek Chapter 11: Surviving Walled Gardens in Their Ad Tech Empire

By: Ayelet Israeli, Danilo Tauro and Sarah Gulick

This case provides a post-mortem of the advertising technology (adtech) company Sizmek. Sizmek grew via multiple acquisitions, with the vision of becoming an integrated adtech company that could leverage AI to buy digital media, while creating and serving display and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Competition; Marketing; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry; United States; Europe

Article

Why Build in Web3

By: Jad Esber and Scott Duke Kominers

A major change is coming to the internet. While today’s dominant platforms have guarded their troves of user data and maintained an advantage through network effects, new companies—working in what they're calling a “Web3” model—are proposing a new value proposition to... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; User Experience; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Internet and the Web; Competition; Web Services Industry

Read Now

01 Apr 2000
News

Getting the Message

for the marketing industry lies in developing transactional-based models that enable consumer and client to work together more closely." HBS professor John A. Deighton agrees, describing the View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

May 2015
Case

Venture Republic, 2011

By: W. Carl Kester and Mayuka Yamazaki

In December 2011, the founders of Venture Republic, a Japanese developer and operator of on-line search engines for shopping and travel, faced a decison about whether or not to take the company private in a management buyout transaction just three years after an... View Details

Keywords: Management Buyout; MBO; Valuation Methodologies; Financing Decisions; Conflicts Of Interest; Governance; Japan; Search Engines; Going Private; Conflict of Interests; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Privatization; Financing and Loans; Corporate Governance; Web Services Industry; Japan

26 Jul 2016
First Look

July 26, 2016

health care so that our economy can improve and so that patients can make informed decisions. We must move away from fee-for-service reimbursement, which incentivizes doing more, and begin paying for good... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Patagon.com: Building (and Defending) the First Financial Destination in Latin America

By: William A. Sahlman, Ramiro Montealegre and Luis Pereiro

Describes Patagon.com, a company trying to build a financial portal in Latin America. The company's founders, Wenceslao Casares and Constancio Larguia, must deal with complex financial and strategic challenges as they guide the company in a difficult context. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Finance; Financial Services Industry; Latin America

Find at Harvard

March 1996 (Revised August 1996)
Case

Open Market, Inc.: Managing in a Turbulent Environment

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Janis Lee Gogan

Presents the story of Open Market, Inc., one of numerous companies formed in 1994 to engage in electronic commerce over the Internet. This case examines the company's development--its business strategy and organization evolution--as the company increased in size and... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Growth and Development; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizations; Web Services Industry

March 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

DigitalThink: Building a Sales Force

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Christina L. Darwall

A broad set of issues faces a young company in the Internet-based training business as it begins to sell its product to corporate customers. Issues include: profile of attractive candidates, compensation, definition of territory, definition of quotas, and role of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Business Startups; Service Industry

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

permanently as of July 10. And almost half of owners surveyed in late June by the online business network Alignable said they lacked enough cash to get through one month and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Service; Service

September 2017
Teaching Note

Dick's Sporting Goods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

This is the teaching note to accompany Rajiv Lal, Jose B. Alvarez, and Matthew G. Preble, “Dick’s Sporting Goods,” HBS No. 517-007 (Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2017). View Details