Publications

May 2011
Background Note

Scale Effects, Network Effects, and Investment Strategy

By: Willy Shih

This technical note discusses scale economies, and direct and indirect network effects in the context of building better business models. Some of the great business disasters of the dot.com bubble were companies that scaled their infrastructure without working through... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Price; Crisis Management; Network Effects; Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy

09 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Professional Networking Makes People Feel Dirty

professional networking conjures unctuous thoughts of pressing the flesh with potential employers, laughing at unfunny jokes, and pretending to enjoy ourselves. No wonder a recent study found that professional View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

30 Oct 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Nobel Prize: A ‘Heritage-based’ Brand-oriented Network

Keywords: by Mats Urde & Stephen A. Greyser

February 2015
Teaching Note

Reinventing Retail: ShopRunner’s Network Bet

By: Benjamin Edelman

July 1989 (Revised April 1996)
Case

AUCNET: TV Auction Network System

The AUCNET system links buyers and sellers in the wholesale used car market in Japan. Video images delivered via videodisk or satellite along with an inspector's opinion and objective character based data are used to conduct a realtime auction over computers and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Auctions; Service Industry; Japan; United States

September 2005
Case

IBM Network Technology (A) (Abridged)

By: Michael L. Tushman

An unconventional manager within IBM leads the creation of a business unit with multibillion-dollar potential, winning over customers and nudging the organization to make the changes needed to achieve dramatic growth. Exemplifies how organizational design and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Management Teams; Leadership Style; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Employees; Information Technology Industry

June 2007 (Revised March 2011)
Case

The CW: Launching a Television Network

By: Anita Elberse and S. Mark Young

In May 2006, Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment of the newly formed CW Television Network, was faced with the task of choosing the final set of programs for the 2006 fall schedule, which she would present to advertisers at the annual "upfront" market in New York... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customer Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Strategic Planning; Networks; Media and Broadcasting Industry

14 Sep 2016
Blog Post

The Alumni Network at HBS

curriculum, student-led clubs and resources, current students and alumni networks would best prepare me for a future leadership role in private equity. After graduation, I hope to join a younger private equity firm with the goal of... View Details

October 2010
Article

The Power of Alumni Networks

By: Lauren Cohen and Christopher J. Malloy

Keywords: Education; Networks

Find at Harvard

September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Novell: World's Largest Network Software Company

By: Richard L. Nolan

After phenomenal growth and market leadership in networking, founder and CEO Ray Noorda made a frontal assault on Microsoft's core strengths. In 1994, Noorda spend over $1.5 billion acquiring companies such as WordPerfect to combat Microsoft Word, products such as... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competition; Internet and the Web; Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

1992
Chapter

Face-to-Face: Making Network Organizations Work

By: N. Nohria and R. G. Eccles

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Networks

27 Nov 2012
News

The Beauty of the Network

Pao: A beauty business veteran leverages the HBS network to launch her own skincare line. Photo courtesy Patti Pao Patti Pao (MBA 1987) describes her two years at HBS as “spectacularly unsuccessful,” thanks in part to a culture clash with... View Details

Keywords: cosmetics; salmon; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

2016
Chapter

Networks and the Macroeconomy: An Empirical Exploration

By: Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit and William R. Kerr

The propagation of macroeconomic shocks through input-output and geographic networks can be a powerful driver of macroeconomic fluctuations. We first exposit that in the presence of Cobb-Douglas production functions and consumer preferences, there is a specific pattern... View Details

Keywords: Economic Fluctuations; Geographic Collocation; Input-output Linkages; Propagation; Shocks; Networks; Fluctuation; System Shocks; Macroeconomics

Read Now

November 1993
Case

FCB and Publicis (C): The German-Led Network

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Pamela A. Yatsko

After U.S.-based Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) and Publicis of France established an international advertising alliance in May 1988, alliance leaders set out to merge offices in Europe. They were confronted with a particularly tricky situation in Germany, which, if... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Alliances; Globalized Firms and Management; Partners and Partnerships; Advertising; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Diversity; Communications Industry; Advertising Industry; France; Germany; United States; Europe

2023
Chapter

Generalized Matching: Contracts and Networks

By: John William Hatfield, Ravi Jagadeesan, Scott Duke Kominers, Alexandru Nichifor, Michael Ostrovsky, Alexander Teytelboym and Alexander Westkamp

Keywords: Matching; Matching With Contracts; Matching Markets; Matching Platform; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Economics; Networks

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2009
Chapter

Business Network Transformation in Action

By: Marco Iansiti and Ross Sullivan

Keywords: Business Ventures; Networks; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation