Publications

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nejo.12003/abstract Working PapersInvestment Incentives in Open-Source and Proprietary Two-Sided Platforms Authors:Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2020 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal

In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and... View Details

December 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Ocado

By: José Alvarez, David E. Bell and Damien McLoughlin

In 2015, U.K.-based Ocado was the world's largest pure player in the online home-delivery grocery business and was gaining a growing share of the highly competitive U.K. grocery market. Ocado had made heavy investments in technology, including a highly automated... View Details

August 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Patch Technology: Making It Easy to Do the Right Thing

By: Tomomichi Amano, Robert J. Dolan and Carol Zhang

In 2021, the growing threat of climate change pushed companies around the world to understand that significant behavioral change was necessary. While many recognized that decreasing emissions was critical, more sophisticated players such as Microsoft began to recognize... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Management; Marketing; Digital Platforms; Climate Change

Career Coach

Celia Chen

into these industries: what the job entails, what it takes, and the pro/cons of these careers in broad strokes. Celia is also a founder of a coaching platform in China and... View Details

September 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption

By: Willy Shih

Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; High Technology Products; Emergent Strategy; Product Lines; Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Germany

Career Coach

Jessica Mbaeliachi

East and Turkey, based in the UAE. In this role she was responsible for launching innovative care delivery methods, and building long-term partnerships with an ecosystem of... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Health Care

06 Aug 2020
Blog Post

WHY WE STARTED THE HBS BLACK INVESTMENT CLUB

here. What on earth is going on? Brian Sykes (MBA 2020) and Paul Ampofo (MBA 2020) THE PROBLEM The combination of systematic bias and outright prejudice have played a huge role in preventing underrepresented... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

04 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 4

weeks or days. Publisher's link: http://hbr.org/2014/03/manage-your-work-manage-your-life/ar/1 August 2013 International Journal of Industrial Organization Search Diversion and Platform Competition By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November–December 2021
Article

Does Gender Matter? The Effect of Management Responses on Reviewing Behavior

By: Davide Proserpio, Isamar Troncoso and Francesca Valsesia

We study the effect of management responses on the reviewing behavior of self-identified female and male reviewers. Using data from Tripadvisor, we show that after hotels begin to respond to reviews, the probability that a negative review comes from a self-identified... View Details

Keywords: Word Of Mouth; Online Reviews; Management Responses; E-commerce; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Digital Platforms; Customers

SSRN

Find at Harvard

09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

Abstract Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

there is a broad ecosystem of what we refer to today as climate tech — from renewable energy to advanced transportation to AgTech to name just a few. From a job function perspective, you can work at an operating company (whether a start... View Details

Keywords: Energy / Cleantech

14 Sep 2015
News

Helping Investors Have an Impact

Philo Alto (MBA/MPA 2000) founded Asia Value Advisors to engage individuals and organizations in philanthropic ventures that create positive, sustainable impact. The advisory platform encourages cross-sector... View Details

April 2017 (Revised February 2020)
Case

edaixi (eWash): Digital Transformation of Laundry Services (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen, Chuang Chen and Ciwu Lin

Founded in 2013 as a laundry service featuring online ordering for home pickup and delivery, China’s edaixi (eWash) illustrated the online-to-offline (O2O) business model. As yet unclear in 2016 was the optimal way to organize third-party laundry service providers,... View Details

Keywords: Laundry; O2O; Online-to-offline; Business Model; Service Operations; Ownership Type; Digital Platforms; Transformation; China

2022
White Paper

The American Opportunity Index: A Corporate Scorecard of Worker Advancement

By: Matt Sigelman, Joseph Fuller, Nik Dawson and Gad Levanon

The American Opportunity Index: A Corporate Scorecard of Worker Advancement is a new effort to give companies and other stakeholders a set of robust tools that measure how well major employers are doing in fostering economic mobility for workers and how they could do... View Details

Keywords: Upward Mobility; Career Advancement; Personal Development and Career; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Wages; Human Capital; Recruitment

Read Now

November 2019
Supplement

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato, Alan MacCormack and Sarah Mehta

This multimedia supplement accompanies the case “Innovation at Uber: the Launch of Express POOL” (case no. 619-003). Set in March 2018, the case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. This multimedia supplement... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

October 2022
Case

Volt Lines: Leading a B2B Service Provider through a Crisis (A)

By: Navid Mojir and Gamze Yucaoglu

Volt Lines was a next-generation transportation service in Istanbul, Turkey. The company was trying to disrupt the traditional corporate transportation market by developing software that allowed it to offer subscription-based transportation. Under the subscription... View Details

Keywords: Business To Business Marketing; B2B Marketing; B2B Pricing; Subscription Model; Crisis Marketing; Startup; Service Management; Information Technology; Transportation; COVID-19 Pandemic; Disruptive Innovation; Digital Platforms; Business Model; Price; Crisis Management; Opportunities; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Turkey

January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was scheduled to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made... View Details

June 1998 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Egghead.com

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Egghead Software, an entrenched traditional chain retailer specializing in computer software and peripherals, had established a nationwide chain of mall and shopping center stores and a well-organized national brand. In early 1998, management made a highly unusual, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry