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- All HBS Web
(2,187)
- Faculty Publications (480)
- May 2019 (Revised March 2022)
- Module Note
Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem
By: Andy Wu, David R. Clough and Sasha Kaletsky
This note provides a framework for addressing the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma facing entrepreneurs launching nascent multi-sided platforms. There are several conditions that lead to a difficult chicken-or-egg problem: strong network effects, high multi-homing costs,... View Details
Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Advantage
Wu, Andy, David R. Clough, and Sasha Kaletsky. "Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem." Harvard Business School Module Note 719-507, May 2019. (Revised March 2022.)
- 2019
- Book
The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power
By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie
The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms
Cusumano, Michael A., Annabelle Gawer, and David B. Yoffie. The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power. Harper Business, 2019.
- Article
Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Neil Campbell
We examine two episodes of strategic interaction in the U.K. betting industry: (i) Betfair (an entrant multi-sided platform or MSP) vs. Flutter (also an MSP) and (ii) Betfair vs. traditional bookmakers. We find that although Betfair was an underfunded second mover in... View Details
Keywords: Platform Design; Betting; Complements; Competing Business Models; Co-opetition; Entry; Multi-Sided Platforms; Design; Network Effects; Business Model; Competition; Cooperation
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Neil Campbell. "Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting." Special Issue on Platforms. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 28, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 29–40.
- March 2019
- Case
HOPI: Turkey's Shopping Companion
By: Sunil Gupta, Donald Ngwe and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in 2017 as Onur Erbay, CEO of HOPI, a multi-vendor loyalty platform, is contemplating a critical decision. The case chronicles the origins of Boyner Group, the parent company of HOPI and a major retailer in Turkey, and development of retail and customer... View Details
Keywords: Loyalty Programs; Multi-vendor Platform; Retail; Big Data; Customer Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Business Model; Analytics and Data Science; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Turkey
Gupta, Sunil, Donald Ngwe, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "HOPI: Turkey's Shopping Companion." Harvard Business School Case 519-057, March 2019.
- March 2019
- Supplement
KITEA (E): IKEA's Opening Day
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in 2016 as Amine Benkirane, CEO of the furniture retailer KITEA, observes KITEA’s dormant sales on the day IKEA opens its first store in Morocco. It then provides information on IKEA’s Morocco store, as well as a detailed pricing comparison between IKEA... View Details
Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "KITEA (E): IKEA's Opening Day." Harvard Business School Supplement 719-422, March 2019.
- March 2019 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
The DivaCup: Navigating Distribution and Growth
By: Ayelet Israeli
When the mother-daughter founders of DivaCup set out with a mission to disrupt the menstrual care industry with an innovative product form, they initially struggled to gain legitimacy and convince retailers to carry their unique product. Fifteen years later, the... View Details
Keywords: Female; Female Ceo; Female Entrepreneur; Female Protagonist; Health & Wellness; Healthcare; Price Policies; Minimum Advertised Price; Differentiation; Positioning; Growth; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Disruption; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Competitive Strategy; Competition; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Product Development; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Advertising; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Social Enterprise; Retail Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Health Industry; Green Technology Industry; Education Industry; Distribution Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Canada; United States; United Kingdom
Israeli, Ayelet. "The DivaCup: Navigating Distribution and Growth." Harvard Business School Case 519-055, March 2019. (Revised April 2021.)
- February 2019 (Revised November 2021)
- Case
MoviePass
By: Willy Shih
Mitch Lowe, the CEO of MoviePass, was having trouble convincing people of the viability of the company's business model. The company was building a multi-sided platform and was planning to extract value from increasing traffic to movie theaters through a number of... View Details
Keywords: Start-up; Start-up Growth; Start-ups; Business Model Innovation; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Multi-Sided Platforms; Business Startups; Planning; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States
Shih, Willy. "MoviePass." Harvard Business School Case 619-052, February 2019. (Revised November 2021.)
- January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce
By: Tarun Khanna, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost and Wesley Koo
Alibaba's Rural Taobao initiative had been launched in 2014 as a public service initiative to increase e-commerce adoption in China’s remote rural areas. In the first two iterations of the initiative, dubbed “1.0” and “2.0,” Alibaba had partnered with local businesses... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Business Growth; Ecommerce; Corporate Social Responsibility; Business And Government; Emerging Market; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Emerging Markets; Rural Scope; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Decision Making; E-commerce; China
Khanna, Tarun, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost, and Wesley Koo. "Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce." Harvard Business School Case 719-433, January 2019. (Revised October 2019.)
- Article
Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces
By: Feng Zhu
As platform owners continue to expand their ecosystems, many of them have started to provide consumers with their own complementary applications. These moves position the platform owners as direct competitors to their complementors. This paper surveys empirical studies... View Details
Zhu, Feng. "Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces." Special Issue on Platforms. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 28, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 23–28.
- January–February 2019
- Article
Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't
By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
In the digital economy, scale is no guarantee of continued success. After all, the same factors that help an online platform expand quickly—such as the low cost of adding new customers—work for challengers too. What, then, allows platforms to fight off rivals and grow... View Details
Zhu, Feng, and Marco Iansiti. "Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't." Harvard Business Review 97, no. 1 (January–February 2019): 118–125.
- 2018
- Working Paper
Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Neil Campbell
We examine two episodes of strategic interaction in the U.K. betting industry: (i) Betfair (an entrant multi-sided platform or MSP) vs. Flutter (also an MSP), and (ii) Betfair vs. traditional bookmakers. We find that although Betfair was an underfunded second mover in... View Details
Keywords: Platform Design; Betting; Digital Platforms; Design; Network Effects; Business Model; Competition; Cooperation; Market Entry and Exit
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Neil Campbell. "Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-057, November 2018.
- November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Zespri Grows
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but... View Details
Keywords: Agribusiness; Kiwi; Kiwifruit; Agriculture; Global Supply Chain; Branding; Produce; Coordinated Industry Structure; Industry Coordination; Countercyclical Supply; New Product Development; Product Strategy; Differentiation; Food; Quality; Trade; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Strategy; Global Strategy; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Globalization; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; New Zealand
Bell, David E., and Natalie Kindred. "Zespri Grows." Harvard Business School Case 519-047, November 2018. (Revised April 2019.)
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Ecosystems
The purpose of this chapter is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive theoretical investigation of open platform systems. To do this, we must first recognize that, although there is a strong family resemblance among all platform systems, there are different types of... View Details
Keywords: Open Platforms; Business Ecosystems; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Industry Structures; Digital Platforms
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Ecosystems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-035, October 2018. (Revised January 2019.)
- October 2018
- Article
Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com
By: Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu
Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces to compete against them directly. Prior studies have offered two possible explanations for such entries: platform owners may target the most successful complementors so as to appropriate value from their... View Details
Keywords: Amazon; Complementors; Co-opetition; Entry; Platform-based Markets; Competition; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy
Zhu, Feng, and Qihong Liu. "Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com." Strategic Management Journal 39, no. 10 (October 2018): 2618–2642.
- October 2018 (Revised July 2023)
- Case
Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL
By: Chiara Farronato, Alan MacCormack and Sarah Mehta
Set in March 2018, the case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. This product offers a reduced price to riders willing to carpool, walk a short distance to/from their pick-up and drop-off points, and wait a... View Details
Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Decision Making; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Case 619-003, October 2018. (Revised July 2023.)
- September 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Apple Pay and Mobile Payments in Australia (A)
By: Feng Zhu, Susan Athey and David Lane
In summer 2016, four of Australia’s top five banks petitioned regulators for permission to bargain collectively with Apple over the terms under which they would support its digital wallet, Apple Pay. They argued that doing so would force concessions from Apple that... View Details
Keywords: Payment Methods; Mobile Payment; Apple; Banks and Banking; Cooperation; Problems and Challenges; Policy; Digital Platforms; Banking Industry; Australia
Zhu, Feng, Susan Athey, and David Lane. "Apple Pay and Mobile Payments in Australia (A)." Harvard Business School Case 619-010, September 2018. (Revised January 2020.)
- July 2018
- Teaching Note
Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail
By: Ryan Raffaelli
In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures... View Details
- June 2018
- Case
American Airlines' Value Pricing (Abridged)
By: Alvin J. Silk and Sunil Gupta
This is an abridged version of the 1992 case where American Airlines (AA) launched "Value Pricing" in an attempt to simplify the pricing structure of the airline industry. AA expected that this plan would benefit not only consumers, but also AA and the entire airline... View Details
Keywords: Consumer Marketing; Market Segmentation; Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Demand Analysis; Competition; Marketing; Segmentation; Price; Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Analysis; Air Transportation Industry
Silk, Alvin J., and Sunil Gupta. "American Airlines' Value Pricing (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 519-019, June 2018.
- June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri
By: David B. Yoffie, Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden and Karan Ahuja
By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s strategy for Google Assistant, its entrant in the voice assistant space, and asks how the... View Details
Keywords: Alphabet; Amazon; Apple; Strategy; Technology; Intelligent Assistants; Smart Speaker; Voice Assistants; Voice; Platform; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Technology Industry
Yoffie, David B., Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden, and Karan Ahuja. "Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri." Harvard Business School Case 718-519, June 2018. (Revised January 2020.)
- May 2018 (Revised February 2019)
- Teaching Note
Greg Mazur and the Purchase of Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods
By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld
Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-085. Greg Mazur (HBS 1997) identified a small firm, Great Eastern Premium Pet Food, in December of 1998 that fit his search criteria and decided to offer the seller a cash price of $1.2 million plus an earn-out equal to 1% of revenue over... View Details