Publications

January 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Technical Note

The Market Power of Platform-Mediated Networks

By: Benjamin Edelman

This note provides criteria to evaluate the power of a platform-mediated network. For a company considering building such a network or an investor considering funding such an effort, this analysis reveals the scope and desirability of the opportunity. Meanwhile, for a... View Details

Keywords: Intermediaries; Platforms; Platform Strategy; Business Model; Agreements and Arrangements; Distribution Channels; Networks; Technology Platform; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

December 2012
Case

Blink Booking

By: William R. Kerr, Magnus Thor Torfason and Alexis Brownell

Rebeca Minguela hopes to create an arbitrage platform, similar to Rocket Internet, that can bring start-up ideas and opportunities to Spain. However, Blink Booking, her first venture and proof of concept, is rocked by a co-founder's breach of confidence and departure.... View Details

Keywords: Clones; Cloning; Rocket Internet; Start-up; Equity Split; Arbitrage; Incubator; Mobile App; Expansion; Spain; Europe; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Spain; Europe

October 2024
Case

Edizione

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Dante Roscini, Elena Corsi and Hugo Etchegoyhen

This case study examines the diversification and transformation of Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company originally established to reinvest dividends from the Benetton clothing brand. Edizione expanded significantly in the late 1990s and early 2000s,... View Details

14 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Connection between 1930s Weather and Today's Labor Unions

There’s something curious about the labor force in the United States. Identical jobs and industries have become unionized in some states while remaining nonunionized in others. Unionization levels vary greatly from state to state. As of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 Dec 2000
What Do You Think?

Have We Overdone Deregulation and Privatization?

Summing Up Let's hear it for deregulation, at least its long-term effects. It's well worth the short-term disruptions and consumer confusion. That's the near-unanimous judgement of those of you responding to my recent piece on the subject. Among the benefits cited for... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

08 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 8

firearms industry company in its community is examined. Publisher's link: https://archive.harvardbusiness.org/cla/web/pl/product.seam?c=32094&i=32096&cs=80fcfaa8da53da1a3cdd0ea8f861eeed August 2013 Journal of Finance Is a VC... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 16, 2010

"truth in giving" policies are highly responsive to recipient heterogeneity and biased against more generous giving. Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India Authors:Lakshmi Iyer and Anandi Mani... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

advertising revenue from travel suppliers and intermediaries. The online travel industry was a hyperactive industry, and while TripIt was breaking new ground, the threat of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Gear: Why Managers Don’t Act

future. He also offers suggestions for avoiding the worst mistakes and gives advice for reviving your own company. For most companies, a big jolt in the industry landscape is a pretty rare event, Sull says. The View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Commercial Space Stations, Chickens and Eggs, and Demand for Activity in Low-Earth Orbit

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Brendan L. Rosseau

With the International Space Station set to retire in January 2031, NASA has made clear its desire to transition to commercially-led space stations in low-earth orbit (LEO). But the history of commercial station attempts has been fraught, characterized by a lack of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Opportunities; Business Model; Travel Industry; Travel Industry; Travel Industry

12 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 12, 2006

through successive stages of industry evolution. We then show how this strategy was used by Sun Microsystems against Apollo Computer in the 1980s and by Dell against Compaq and other personal computer makers in the 1990s. Download working... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2025
Case

Hurtigruten: Sea Zero

By: Christian Kaps and Michael W. Toffel

Hurtigruten was deciding whether the next ship they built should be fully electric. But such a vessel's battery, the size of electric cars, needed to be charged on the ship's multi-day voyage along the Norwegian coast. Before making such a $250 million investment, the... View Details

Keywords: Energy Sources; Alternative Energy; Ship Transportation; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Management; Green Technology; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Shipping Industry; Tourism Industry; Transportation Industry; Travel Industry; Battery Industry; Norway; Europe

20 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs

industries that are going through a sea change. He recalled how a two-dollar ATM fee he once paid at an airport spurred him to start his own ATM network featuring out-of-town banks. Other ventures he helped create were a credit card... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2018
Teaching Note

Wilderness Safaris: Ecotourism Entrepreneurship

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

Teaching Note for HBS No. 318-040. View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Conservation Planning; Corporate Social Responsibility; Ecotourism; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Tourism Industry; Tourism Industry; Tourism Industry; Africa; Botswana

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

and food ingredients overseas. For example, Chinese firms are eager to get FDA certification, but this involves extensive travel for agency inspectors. Q: How can the FDA keep pace with the dizzying pace of technology advancement taking... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Health

20 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 20

industries. We illustrate our model with examples from the field of consumer sporting goods. The significance of user entrepreneurship and the implications of our model for theories of innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry emergence... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 2

across geographies is a fool's errand. Best practices simply don't travel well across borders. That's because conditions not just of economic development but of institutional maturity, educational norms, language, and culture vary... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

Affect Credit Ratings? Authors:Bo Becker and Todd Milbourn Abstract The credit rating industry has historically been dominated by just two agencies, Moody's and S&P, leading to longstanding legislative and regulatory calls for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Airbnb in Amsterdam (A)

By: Mitchell Weiss, Emer Moloney and Vincent Dessain

In February 2014, Amsterdam became the first city to issue new regulations specifically to allow home sharing. Airbnb's Molly Turner, global head of civic partnerships; her colleagues at the San Francisco–based home sharing platform; and her counterparts in Amsterdam's... View Details