Publications

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Redefining Mogul

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and Sarah Gazzaniga

Tiffany Pham taught herself to code and created a technology platform, Mogul, with the goal of providing girls and women around the world with information and opportunities. After several years Mogul had reached more than 146 million women around the world and had... View Details

Keywords: Women; Inclusion; Technology; Branding; Social Impact; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Information; Knowledge Dissemination; Gender; Diversity; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Strategy; Media; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

29 Feb 2016
HBS Case

Bigbelly's Big Bet on the Digital Trash Can

strategy is selling cities on something citizens need. In Bigbelly’s case, the company aims to leverage the power and connectivity already embedded in the waste stations for a public increasingly hungry for data. Not only are Wi-Fi hotspots in demand by those who can’t... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Energy

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Excerpt: ‘A Social Strategy’

acquisition costs. These results suggest that eBay's foray into leveraging the social Internet for profit reveals a replicable strategy that benefits both the company and the consumer and can be succinctly summarized as: eBay increases... View Details

01 Dec 2005
News

A Matter of Opinion

come to us through our Web site,” he says. “In the way that paperbacks turned out to be an extension of the market for hardcover books, I think the Internet is an extension of the print audience rather than a replacement.” As for his own... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

21 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

retailers, Raffaelli says. By leveraging community ties, local businesses can appeal to consumers’ desire for authenticity and connection in the internet age. “In today’s digital world, consumers are turning to local retailers to help... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

03 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

of the common contracts people sign with themselves each year. If you have resolved to eat healthier, try ordering your groceries a week in advance of delivery. Internet delivery services make it all too easy to give into food cravings... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

third lesson is how those two things come together—making a difference and operating an efficient and profitable organization. It's what I refer to as the transparency revolution. In corporate reporting, we've gone from very few to very many companies reporting their... View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

07 Jan 2015
What Do You Think?

SUMMING UP: What Are the Limits On Workplace Transparency?

it this way, privacy has been losing ground rapidly with the ascendancy of big data and the Internet of things. The retreat of privacy has been aided by personal use of networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, search devices... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

08 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

The Death of the Global Manager

business, Bartlett says. "That's a big change that's taken place." The World's Communication Pipeline Another seismic shift is the broader context in which companies now operate, forgotten all too easily in today's hyper-connected world. "Back in 1992,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Something Ventured, Something Gained: A European View of Venture Capital

such as Apple Computer and America Online in the United States and British auction Internet site QXL. "We aimed to be the most active investor from early stage to buyouts within several chosen sectors," said Cohen, especially in... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner; Financial Services

20 Feb 2020
Blog Post

Know Your Audience – Recruiting HBS Students for Technology

sector remains high with 20% of students accepting jobs joining technology companies after graduation. As you know, there are many different types of technology companies and roles within them, so it’s important to note the nuances. Regarding specific sectors of... View Details

Keywords: Technology

17 May 2016
First Look

May 17, 2016

to materialize. In 2014, Amazon had recorded a net loss of $241 million on revenues of $89 billion, in stark contrast to China’s leading Internet player Alibaba, which reported $3.9 billion of net income on revenue of $12.3 billion. While... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Entering the Age of Alliances

geography Web site to promote Internet content integration in the K-12 curriculum and is simultaneously partnering with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Council of Great City Schools, National Council on Economic Education,... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin

Web

Why Home Construction Has Slumped for Decades | Working Knowledge

macroeconomists provide evidence that the construction sector is holding back the broader economy. There are spillover effects from the construction sector that enable other activities to emerge, just like we think about roads and high-bandwidth View Details

October 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Background Note

Book Publishing in 2010

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Legacy book publishers wrangled with ebook retailers over royalty rates, release strategy, and distribution rights as customer demand for cheaper ebooks eroded publishers' profitable print formats. E-readers like Kindle, as well as Apple's iPad that invigorated the... View Details

Keywords: Price; Information Publishing; Books; Disruptive Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Distribution; Strategy; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Publishing Industry

January 2011
Case

Aardvark

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Lauren Barley

Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web

September 2009
Teaching Note

HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0 (TN)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Teaching Note for 509-049. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Blogs; Media; Markets; Segmentation; Price; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology Industry

April 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

UNext: Business Education and e-Learning

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David J. Collis and Tyrell Levine

UNEXT has signed agreements with Columbia, Stanford, Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, and the London School of Economics to create online business courses. The company is backed by Michael Milken and Larry Ellison and has four Nobel laureates on its advisory board. Describes... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Competition; Disruptive Innovation; Performance Efficiency; Higher Education; Learning; Education Industry