Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(118,364)
- Faculty Publications (247)
- January 2010 (Revised April 2011)
- Case
Google Inc.
By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann
Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details
- January 2010 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
foursquare
By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and David Chen
Co-founders of foursquare are deciding how to respond to competitive threats and scale up the organization. Foursquare was a location-based online service that allowed users to "check in" to a location using an application on a smartphone. Foursquare kept track of a... View Details
- 2009
- Chapter
Opening Platforms: When, How and Why?
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne
Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened-that... View Details
- November 2009 (Revised October 2010)
- Case
AME Learning Inc.
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Ann Leamon
Justin Joffe is about to graduate from HBS in Spring 2009. He must decide whether to join his father's company, Toronto-based AME Learning, as president working alongside his father who will be CEO. AME has been in business for 12 years, mostly as a small consulting... View Details
- April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
- Case
Linden Lab: Crossing the Chasm
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
In early 2008, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had... View Details
- April 2009 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Sermo, Inc.
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lars Peter Christian Nielsen
Sermo operates the leading online professional network for physicians in the United States. Doctors use Sermo free of charge to post surveys regarding diagnostic and treatment concerns and to discuss these concerns, as well as challenges with managing their practices.... View Details
- April 2009 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
Skyhook Wireless
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Thomas R. Eisenmann
Ted Morgan, the founder of Skyhook Wireless just received a call from Steve Jobs of Apple asking for a meeting. Ted must decide how to prepare for a meeting that could finally give Skyhook an anchor customer. Ted and his team have worked for three years to build a new... View Details
- February 2009 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
Orange: Read&Go
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Toby E. Stuart, Bhaskar Chakravorti, Vincent Marie Dessain, Simon Harrow and Elena Corsi
In late 2008, Orange (aka France Telecom) must decide if launching Read&Go, an electronic newsstand built around an e-paper reader, would be successful. The case describes (1) Orange's strategy; (2) the company's new product development process; (3) e-paper technology,... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne
Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened-that... View Details
- Article
Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms
In a platform-mediated network, users rely on a common platform, provided by one or more intermediaries, that encompasses infrastructure and rules required by users to transact with each other. A fundamental design decision for firms that aspire to develop... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
Visions of Web 3.0
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Andrew Vivero
Explores the Semantic Web, a vision for the next generation of the World Wide Web in which information is stored in machine-readable formats. While the Semantic Web would make information more easily accessible, barriers to its adoption are very high because website... View Details
- March 2008 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
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
- March 2008 (Revised August 2009)
- Case
Linden Lab: Opening Second Life
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
In early 2008, managers in Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had achieved... View Details
- November 2007
- Article
A Staged Solution to the Catch-22
By: Andrei Hagiu and Thomas Eisenmann
Companies looking to launch a two-sided platform—between, for example, credit card users and merchants, or search engine users and advertisers—must overcome the reluctance of one side to sign on until it's confident the other side will be well populated. It's a common... View Details
- October 2007
- Teaching Note
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (TN)
- October 2007
- Module Note
Managing Networked Businesses: Network Mobilization Module
- September 2007
- Teaching Note
Sun Microsystems, Inc.: Web Services Strategy (TN)
- September 2007 (Revised September 2007)
- Teaching Note
RealNetworks Rhapsody (TN)
- August 2007
- Module Note
Managing Networked Businesses: Platform Evolution Module
Offers an overview of conceptual content and pedagogical guidance for instructors using a six-session module, "Platform Evolution," from "Managing Networked Businesses" (MNB), a case-based MBA elective course on platform-mediated networks. The module explores the... View Details