Publications

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March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Metaverse Wars

By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and Matt Higgins

In 2023, the term metaverse — a combination of “meta” and “universe” — had become a catch-all for a diverse set of expectations about online virtual worlds and the future of the internet. To some, the metaverse conjured images of a massive participatory videogame... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Technology; Virtual Reality; Facebook; Social Media; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption

January 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Responding to the Wii?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Hanna Halaburda

After years of gaming console industry leadership, how should Sony respond to the overwhelming success of competitor Nintendo's user-friendly Wii over Sony's high-tech PlayStation 3? It was August 2008 and Kazuo Hirai, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Two-Sided Platforms; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry

Research Summary

A major area of Professor Torfason's research is the behavior of individual social network structures. He studies the violation of norms – specifically the use of excessive force in conflict situations – within the empirical context of a large online... View Details

Research Summary

On the Origins of Brokerage in Intraorganizational Networks

While we have ample empirical evidence linking brokerage in intraorganizational social networks to both individual and firm-level benefits, we know little about its origins. Prior research describes correlations between rough demographic categories and network... View Details

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Cyber-Marketing: Scouting the Digital Communications Frontier

marketing (namely, direct mail and telemarketing). Each significantly altered the marketing communications process and, in so doing, reshaped the advertising industry. However, unlike its predecessors, digital communications promises to... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

02 Sep 2011
Working Paper Summaries

First-Party Content, Commitment and Coordination in Two-Sided Markets

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Daniel Spulber

June 2019 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Parrot: Navigating the Nascent Drone Industry

By: Rory M. McDonald, Emilie Billaud and Vincent Dessain

In 2018, Henri Seydoux, CEO and Founder of Parrot, believed that his company was at an inflection point in its history. Parrot had been a European leader in consumer electronics since the 1990s, first developing Bluetooth kits for cars before moving on to electronic... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Europe; France; Paris

October 2024 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Nvidia

By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins

This case study examines Nvidia's strategic pivot from gaming GPUs to becoming a leader in general-purpose computing and AI. It explores how Nvidia leveraged its GPU architecture to dominate the growing fields of data center acceleration and AI training, outpacing... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Product Development; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; United States; China; Taiwan

24 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Reducing Risk with Online Advertising

How can online advertising fraud be detected and prevented? What should we look at, where should we look, and what methods and tools should we use? These questions are relevant to anyone who buys online advertising. According to HBS professor Ben Edelman, an expert on... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Video Game; Video Game

May 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

DVD War

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

In 2006, the DVD was the most popular storage medium in the entertainment and computer industries. The development of high-definition (HD) technology created a need for a format with greater storage capacity. Instead of agreeing on a single standard for a new HD disc,... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Entertainment; Business History; Intellectual Property; Product; Competition; Technology Adoption; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry