Publications

01 Jun 2024
News

Decoding the Promise and Perils of Generative AI

ChatGPT burst into the public consciousness on November 30, 2022. Within two months, the generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) software, which leverages a large language model (LLM) to produce human-like, text-based conversations,... View Details

Keywords: April White

July 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Background Note

Staging Two-Sided Platforms

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Andrei Hagiu

Firms that aspire to develop two-sided platforms face a formidable challenge. Prospective users on each side will not invest in the platform until they are confident there will be enough users on the other side. Traditional strategies for dealing with this... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Risk Management; Two-Sided Platforms; Supply Chain; Strategy; Retail Industry

June 2001
Background Note

Ten Components of a Strategic I-Net, The

By: Richard L. Nolan

Identifies the 10 key components of a strategic I-Net. May be used with any case or discussion about building strategic IT infrastructures. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Model; Management; Infrastructure; Strategy

April 2017
Case

China Hospitals Inc.: The Growth of Private Hospitals in China

By: Kevin Schulman, Xiao Yu and Ariel Hwang

This case examines the privatization of hospitals in China. China Hospitals, Inc. has become the largest for-profit hospital company in China, purchasing government owned hospitals in Tier 2 cities. The case profiles CEO Frank Hu. To build his company, he has to... View Details

Keywords: Privatization; For-Profit Firms; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Health Industry; China

March 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

mixi (B)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Mayuka Yamazaki

Supplements case 709-413. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Value Creation; Social and Collaborative Networks

October 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

One Game to Rule Them All: Lord of the Rings Online and the MMO Market

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Business Model; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Video Game Industry

March 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Teaching Note

IP Intermediaries & Intellectual Ventures

By: Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for 710423 and 711486. View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Revenue; Sales

March 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Teaching Note

Intellectual Ventures

By: Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for 710423. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Revenue

September 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Gazelle in 2012

By: Andrei Hagiu and James Weber

Gazelle has pioneered a reCommerce intermediation model: it buys used electronics from consumers and resells them on eBay or to wholesalers. Going forward, its two main strategic challenges are 1) deciding how much to rely on partnerships with large retailers for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Two-Sided Platforms; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Service Industry

25 Aug 2022
News

Labs Enable Large-scale Research

Illustrations from VectorStock.com The Digital, Data, and Design Institute at Harvard (D^3) aims to supercharge HBS’s research agenda by applying a lab-based model similar to that used by the scientific community for problem solving,... View Details

25 Jul 2012
News

Movie Magic

swipe of a credit card. “Automated retail sounds better,” suggests Gregg Kaplan (MBA 1997). Recruited by McDonald’s to help start new businesses within the fast-food giant, in 2002 Kaplan oversaw the installation of six kiosks in... View Details

Keywords: vending machines; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

Forthcoming
Article

Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games

By: Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer and Julian Runge

One of the most significant levers available to gaming companies in designing digital games is setting the level of difficulty, which essentially regulates the user’s ability to progress within the game. This aspect is particularly significant in free-to-play (F2P)... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry

Read Now

February 2004
Case

Aspire Public Schools

Set in the fall of 2003, covers managerial challenges facing the CEO and COO of Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school management company. In operation since 1999 and funded by prominent national foundations and venture philanthropies, Aspire operates 10... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Expansion; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry; California

January 2008 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Codman Academy: Beyond the Start-up Phase

By: Stacey Childress and Tiffany K. Cheng

As it entered its seventh academic year, Codman Academy, an expeditionary learning charter school located in Dorchester, Massachusetts, was reflecting on its successes and challenges. The school had succeeded in placing every member of its most recent graduating class... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Education Industry; Boston

February 2020
Case

Intellectual Ventures Update 2020

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

After raising $6 billion and buying 60,000 patents, Intellectual Venture (IV) was confronted with a changing legal environment. After a number of important legal decisions, including the Supreme Court's so-called "Alice" decision, IV had to shift strategy. IV sold off... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology; Business Model; United States

August 2011
Supplement

Better World Books Video

By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

This video contains an interview with David Murphy, CEO of Better World Books. Topics discussed include: the opportunities and constraints offered by having a social mission, an update on the company, and the future of Better World Books. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Management Teams; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Publishing Industry

January 2002
Case

Teledesic

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Daniel J. Green and Douglas R Rogers

Management of a satellite-delivered broadband data communications company sets strategy in an uncertain environment, using Michael Porter's scenario planning tools to assess likely outcomes and determine which actions to take. This case draws a distinction between... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Infrastructure; Strategic Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy; Internet; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

May 2001 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Submarino.com (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Meredith Collura and Luiz Felipe Monteiro

Enables a thorough analysis of Submarino.com, a B2C e-commerce company with a presence in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Portugal. Examines the company's global operations as well as its organizational design and operating and management capabilities. Considers... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Globalized Firms and Management; Operations; Organizational Design; Strategy; Internet; Retail Industry; Portugal; Spain; Mexico; Argentina; Brazil

Fall 2020
Article

Competing on Customer Outcomes

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically-enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Revenue Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Value Creation