Publications

November–December 2020
Article

Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, Allison Bailey and Nithya Vaduganathan

As companies struggle with chronic skills shortages and changing labor demographics, a new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, has begun to help. These platforms include marketplaces for premium expertise (such as Toptal... View Details

Keywords: Talent Acquisition; Platforms; Skilled Labor Recruitment; Gig Economy; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Digital Platforms

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14 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

most prominent explanations for the onset and occurrence of civil conflict—variation in economic conditions—and apply it to the intensity and dynamics of civil conflict. Using an instrumental variables View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Jun 2019
Book

These Aren't Beach Books, but Managers Should Read Them Anyway

Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power David Yoffie and colleagues reveal the principles that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

one-standard-deviation increase in store labor brought about a 10 percent increase in profit margin. These findings ran contrary to the thinking of store managers that Ton interviewed. They consistently identified service quality as a top... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

Article

Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces

By: Feng Zhu

As platform owners continue to expand their ecosystems, many of them have started to provide consumers with their own complementary applications. These moves position the platform owners as direct competitors to their complementors. This paper surveys empirical studies... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Complementors; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition

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Read Now

October 2018
Case

SeatGeek

By: Robert F. Higgins and Sarah Mehta

In late 2016, Russ D'Souza and Jack Groetzinger, co-founders of the online event ticketing platform SeatGeek, faced some difficult decisions. In the company's seven-year history, SeatGeek had positioned itself primarily as an aggregator, facilitating ticket... View Details

Keywords: Event Ticketing; Sports Ticketing; Acquisition; Business Model; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Digital Platforms; Sports; Strategy; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms

April 1998
Case

E! Online (A): www.eonline.com

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

E! Online is the on-line brand extension of the cable-TV channel dedicated to entertainment news. E! Online must compete with other entertainment sites on the web, as well as create synergy between E! Online and E! Entertainment Television in order to build a... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

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08 Aug 2016
Blog Post

CS50 for MBAs: Coding at HBS

I was an English major at Yale and worked at JPMorgan Chase in investment banking and corporate strategy in the years before HBS. So I knew enough about words View Details

July 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Yahoo!: Business on Internet Time

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Jay R. Girotto

In the wake of major competitive moves, CEO Tim Koogle and his senior team at Yahoo!, an Internet portal, must decide whether and how to adjust their strategy. Following deals between AOL and Netscape, Excite and @Home, Infoseek and Disney, and Snap and NBS, Yahoo!... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Risk Management; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry

December 2009 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan

By: Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F Baron and C. Jason Wang

Taiwan's Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center has developed an integrated, team-based care delivery model for breast cancer care that is being expanded to other cancer types in 2009. A decade earlier, President and CEO Dr. Andrew Huang and the Center had worked... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Service Delivery; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Quality; Integration; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Taiwan

May 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Humana Commits to Value-Based Care

By: V.G. Narayanan, Henry Eyring and David Lane

In late 2023, CEO Bruce Broussard reviewed health insurer Humana’s transformation into a value-based care ecosystem. Under its CenterWell brand, the several millions of members in Humana Medicare Advantage plans now had access to Humana-provided primary care, home... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Units; Financing and Loans; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Mergers and Acquisitions; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Partners and Partnerships; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

09 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Starbucks’ Lessons for Premium Brands

"Stores no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store." Starbucks tried to add value through innovation, offering wi-fi service... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

November 2006
Case

Selling Biovail Short

By: Malcolm P. Baker, Chris Lombardi and Aldo Sesia

Hedge fund SAC Capital and analysts from Gradient Analytics and Banc of America face charges of stock price manipulation from Biovail, a Canadian pharmaceutical company. Gradient and BofA produced negative reports on Biovail's earnings quality. At the same time, SAC... View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Investment Banking; Asset Pricing; Financial Strategy; Crime and Corruption; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

May 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Supplement

Intuit: QuickBooks (B)

By: David Yoffie and Nicole Tempest Keller

This short case updates the earlier Intuit case on transitioning from a product company into a platform company. In addition to providing information on the recent successes and challenges of the business, it also explores a new challenge of building a platform with a... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Strategic Transition; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Transition

August 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

1928 Diagnostics: Fighting Antibiotics Resistance

By: Ariel D. Stern and Daniela Beyersdorfer

In 2019, the co-founders of the Swedish medical start-up 1928 Diagnostics, CEO Dr. Kristina Lagerstedt and COO Dr. Susanne Staaf, had to pick the right business model to commercialize their novel technology to hospitals and health care providers. Developed in... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Science-Based Business; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Health Disorders; Market Entry and Exit; Value Creation; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Europe; Sweden

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; Service Industry; Service Industry

August 2001
Teaching Note

EnronOnline: Louise Kitchen, Intrapreneur (A) & (B) TN

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Teaching Note for (9-301-085) and (9-301-102). View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Diversification; Failure; Information Technology Industry; Energy Industry

June 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Two Key Decisions for China's Sovereign Fund

By: Robert C. Pozen and Xiaoyu Gu

The China Investment Corporation (CIC) was China's sovereign wealth fund (SWF), established with $200 billion of registered capital in September 2007 to diversify China's foreign exchange holdings and increase risk-adjusted returns on those assets. CIC was unusual in... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Growth and Maturation; Decisions; Capital; Investment Banking; Investment Funds; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Wealth; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; China; United States