Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,473)
- Faculty Publications (440)
- January 2014
- Case
Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial (Abridged)
Steven Carpenter reflects on the successes and failures of his recent venture, Cake Financial. Carpenter had just sold the four-year-old startup and was at work on a new business plan. But first, he wanted to understand why Cake Financial, a service that allowed users... View Details
- 2014
- Case
Yonyou 2013
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
The case describes how a leading Chinese management software provider Yonyou (formerly known as "UFIDA") disrupted its value chain-based business model to transform itself into a platform provider. The case describes Yonyou's past success, the market forces and... View Details
- 2014
- Teaching Note
Yonyou 2013 (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
The case describes how a leading Chinese management software provider Yonyou (formerly known as "UFIDA") disrupted its value chain-based business model to transform itself into a platform provider. The case describes Yonyou's past success, the market forces and... View Details
Keywords: Business Models; ERP; Platforms; Strategy; Transformations; China; Information Technology; China
- October 2013
- Article
Ad Revenue and Content Commercialization: Evidence from Blogs
By: Monic Sun and Feng Zhu
Many scholars argue that when incentivized by ad revenue, content providers are more likely to tailor their content to attract "eyeballs," and as a result, popular content may be excessively supplied. We empirically test this prediction by taking advantage of the... View Details
- September 2013
- Case
Advanced Leadership Pathways: David Weinstein and Write the World
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins
David Weinstein, a lawyer and former Chief Administrative Officer of mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, launched Write the World, a proprietary online platform that included a writing curriculum, essay prompts in distinct subject matter, and access to expert... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised October 2013)
- Case
Modern Family Planning: The Business of Circle Surrogacy
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Blake Landro
The business of surrogacy, a boutique practice with client costs upwards of $100,000, allowed couples and individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations to build families. This case examines Circle Surrogacy (CS), one of the premier surrogacy... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised July 2024)
- Case
Amazon in 2024
By: Sunil Gupta and Margaret L. Rodriguez
Amazon launched its website in July 1995 to sell books online and by 2020 it has grown to become a digital giant with over $280 billion in annual sales. A large part of its growth came from expanding into a variety of businesses that some see as unrelated. Has it... View Details
- August 2013
- Technical Note
Raising the Level of Abstraction
By: Willy Shih
This technical note discusses abstraction as a way of generalizing a process or component for wider application. By hiding complexity inside a module, abstraction enables system designers to think at a higher level. This lowers entry barriers to using (and reusing) a... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Coursera
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Hyunjin Kim
By providing free and open-access online courses at a large scale, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms seek to innovate the business models of the traditional higher education industry. In a little over a year, Coursera had grown at a rapid rate to emerge as a... View Details
- July 2013 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
European Integration: Meeting the Competitiveness Challenge
By: Michael E. Porter and Christian Ketels
The case discusses the origins and development of the European Integration process from the post-war period up to 2007, focusing particularly on the efforts of the Lisbon-agenda under way since 2000 to enhance Europe's competitiveness. It discusses the different policy... View Details
- June 2013 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
Open Innovation at Siemens
By: Karim R. Lakhani, Katja Hutter, Stephanie Healy Pokrywa and Johann Fuller
The case describes Siemens, a worldwide innovator in the Energy, Healthcare, Industry, and Infrastructure & Cities sectors, and its efforts to develop and commercialize new R&D through open innovation, including internal and external crowdsourcing contests. Emphasis is... View Details
- June 2013 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
AVA.ph: Growing a Filipino E-Commerce Company
By: William R. Kerr and Henry Motte-Munoz
AVA is a three-year old e-commerce company in the Philippines. From its early start mimicking the Gilt Groupe concept of online flash sales, the company has grown into a broader e-commerce platform for local fashion commerce. Oliver Segovia needs to evaluate where AVA... View Details
- March 2013 (Revised April 2014)
- Case
Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-Book Revolution
By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Kimball Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer
The case describes competition in the market for E-Books, and Barnes & Noble's Strategy in this industry. As a traditional retailer, B&N was challenged by the introduction of digital technologies that allow books to be published, distributed and sold to consumers... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
Hudson Yards—The Other Side of the Tracks?
By: Christopher M. Gordon, John D. Macomber, A. Eugene Kohn and Lisa Strope
Stephan Ross, CEO of Related Companies, is considering an opportunity to invest $1 billion for the air rights over the Hudson Rail Yards in New York City. The investment would allow Related to build a platform over the operating rail tracks and develop this blighted... View Details
- December 2012 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
Plastiq
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Gaurav Jain, Liroy Haddad, Luke Langford and Matt Noble
The young CEO of a venture-backed startup needs to figure out his go to market strategy and the right profile for his first key sales hires. Should he develop partnerships with channels that would provide leverage or build out a direct sales force? And should the sales... View Details
- November 2012 (Revised May 2013)
- Case
ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet
By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang
Days after Jerry Shen introduced a new tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show, a Google meeting convinced him to go with a lower price point and co-branding as the Nexus 7. While his company would have a premier position at launch, companies like Samsung... View Details
Keywords: Nexus; Google; ASUSTeK; Android; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Notebook Computers; ODM; Apple; Price Point; App Store; Ecosystem; Open Handset Alliance; Reference Design; iPad; EMS; Electronic Manufacturing Services; Smartphone; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Industry Structures; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Taiwan; United States
- November 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Supplement
Global Unichip Corporation (B)
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Jim Lai, President of Global Unichip Corporation (GUC), mapped out the changes he saw coming to the global semiconductor industry. The big question was how many system developers would start coming directly to GUC. View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Value-network; Vertical Integration; Entry Barriers; Intermediaries; Dis-intermediation; Aggregator; Vertical Specialization; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Integration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Industry Structures; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Complexity; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan
- October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Global Unichip Corporation (A)
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Value-network; Entry Barriers; Intermediaries; Dis-intermediation; Aggregator; Vertical Specialization; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Industry Structures; Information Infrastructure; Complexity; Information Technology; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan
- 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
- September 2012
- Case
SCMS: Battling HIV/AIDS in Africa
By: Ananth Raman, Noel Watson, Santiago Kraiselburd and Emmanuel Akili
In 2005, USAID and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) to procure and distribute essential medicines and supplies; provide technical assistance to transform existing supply chains; and... View Details
Keywords: HIV; AIDS; Procurement Coordination; Developing Countries; Healthcare; Public Health; Ethiopia; Supply Systems For Healthcare Delivery In Developing Countries; Healthcare Logistics Industry; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Supply Chain Management; Logistics; Developing Countries and Economies; Programs; Transition; Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Ethiopia; Africa