Publications

December 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Circles.Life at a Crossroads of Growth

By: Juan Alcácer and Adina Wong

In June 2022, the founders of Singapore mobile operator Circles.Life had a crucial decision to make. Circles.Life developed a new business model in mobile telecommunications—a digital telco—built around its proprietary operating system. After expanding its brand in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Singapore

January 2002 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Space Data Corporation

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Jay Wynn

Space Data Corp. plans to partner with the U.S. National Weather Service to place transceivers on weather balloons and thereby create a national mobile communications network. The company is in the late development stages and is planning to launch a regional test that... View Details

Keywords: Wireless Technology; Business Startups; Business Processes; Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Telecommunications Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

19 May 2016
Research Event

Crowdsourcing, Patent Trolls, and Other Research Insights Highlighted at Harvard Business School Symposium

trolling up front and weed out patent trolling lawsuits early in the process,” Cohen said. “(A review board) would screen out good NPEs from bad NPEs.” For more information on patent trolling, watch Cohen’s video, “Patent Trolls: Evidence... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman & Carmen Nobel

October 2021
Case

(180) Days of Quibi

By: David J. Collis and Terrence Shu

Mobile streaming app Quibi was ready to take the entertainment world by storm at its April 2020 launch. Backed by $1.75 billion, influential investors from Hollywood to Wall Street eagerly anticipated early success for this brainchild of Meg Whitman, former CEO of... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Strategy; Business Model; Business Startups; Mobile Technology

21 Jul 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Enabling Versus Controlling

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Paytm: A Payments Journey in India

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Amram Migdal and Kanika Jain

Paytm was an Indian financial technology company. Since its launch in 2010, it had built a dominant payments system in India, comprising mobile wallets, offline payments via QR codes, and a payments bank that offered no-frills banking. However, in 2016, the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Situation or Environment; Business Ventures; Business Model; Banks and Banking; Business Strategy; Competition; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; South Asia; India

October 2014 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Indus Towers: From Infancy to Maturity

By: Ranjay Gulati, Maxim Sytch and Rachna Tahilyani

Indus Towers, the world's largest telecom tower company, is a joint venture between three telecom rivals in India. These rivals—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular—combined their telecom towers to provide "shared telecom infrastructure" to wireless telecom... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Judgments; Customer Focus and Relationships; Management; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Telecommunications Industry; India

02 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Disruptors Sell What Customers Want and Let Competitors Sell What They Don’t

digital technologies and business models. The Incumbents' Challenge As competitors attempt to wedge their way between incumbents and their customers, decoupling presents a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

October 2019
Case

Feeling Machines: Emotion AI at Affectiva

By: Shane Greenstein and John Masko

In 2016, Affectiva—a Boston-based emotion AI software company with a long track record of building emotion-sensing software for market research—had attempted to expand into new verticals by releasing a mobile software development kit (SDK) that downloaders could adapt... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Market Research; Business Model; Finance; Revenue; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Market Entry and Exit; Applications and Software; AI and Machine Learning; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

29 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Is the Digital Age Making Us Petty?

With the rise of mobile payment apps like Venmo, many people can easily record the exact charges incurred by a lunch partner and pay back debts to the cent. They see themselves as efficient View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

05 Oct 2016
What Do You Think?

Can the US Economy Regain the Growth and Prosperity of the Past?

very proficient in mobilizing capital to stoke innovation and create new industries for sustained growth. It should focus on immense global market opportunities ” Tip Parker suggested what those new global... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2025
Case

Luca de Meo at Renault Group (A)

By: Emily Truelove, Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

When Luca de Meo became CEO of Renault Group in 2020, the 122-year-old French automaker faced financial challenges and the double technological disruption of the automotive industry: the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and the rise of software-defined vehicles (SDVs).... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Transition; Interpersonal Communication; Forms of Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Making; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Alternative Energy; Engineering; Global Strategy; Governance; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Technology Adoption; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Transportation; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; France; Europe; China

September 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Videogames: Clouds on the Horizon?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Kerry Herman

Since the creation of the first videogame systems in the 1970s, the videogame industry has undergone numerous transformations as new technologies and market entrants fundamentally changed the gaming experience of customers. In the early 21st century, customers began... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Strategy; Industry Growth; Video Game Industry

December 2000
Background Note

Internet Access Providers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Daniel Green

Describes the Internet access provider business model. First, it defines the model and presents different ways to categorize access providers. Second, it offers a summary of the various ways that Internet access providers create value for their customers. Next, it... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2025
Case

Luca de Meo at Renault Group (A) (Abridged)

By: Emily Truelove, Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

When Luca de Meo became CEO of Renault Group in 2020, the 122-year-old French automaker faced financial challenges and the double technological disruption of the automotive industry: the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and the rise of software-defined vehicles (SDVs).... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Transition; Interpersonal Communication; Forms of Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Making; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Alternative Energy; Engineering; Global Strategy; Governance; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Technology Adoption; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Transportation; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; France; Europe; China

September 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

TA Associates - MetroPCS (A)

Hythem El-Nazer, a young investment professional at TA Associates, believes he has found an attractive investment opportunity for the firm, MetroPCS, a wireless telecomm service provider. However, two months earlier, TA had invested considerable resources on this... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry

March 2017 (Revised November 2018)
Case

BYJU'S The Learning App

By: John Jong-Hyun Kim and Rachna Tahilyani

BYJU’S The Learning App (BYJU’s) is India’s largest K-12 education app with about 300,000 annual paid subscribers. The mobile app uses a mix of video lessons and interactive tools to personalize learning for every student. Although there is room to grow exponentially... View Details

Keywords: Education; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Learning; Customization and Personalization; Education Industry; India; United States

15 Aug 2023
HBS Case

(Virtual) Reality Check: How Long Before We Live in the 'Metaverse'?

technological fiefdoms, similar to how social networks and mobile app stores operate today? The answer is not yet clear—and may not be for years to come. When will the... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Technology; Technology

August 2014 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Showrooming at Best Buy

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Best Buy is a consumer electronics retailer with nearly 2,000 stores worldwide. In 2012, the rising popularity of price-matching apps for mobile phones made price differences between retailers transparent, online and offline. Shoppers' desire to test electronics... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Price; Consumer Behavior; Applications and Software; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Retail Industry; Electronics Industry