Publications

June 2014
Teaching Note

Steve Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

November 2024
Case

Ather Energy: The Future of Mobility

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Kannan Srinivasan and Malini Sen

Ather Energy, India’s third-largest electric scooter maker by volume, was founded in 2013. Five years later, the start-up launched its first electric scooter, Ather 450, which was powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), to navigate... View Details

Keywords: Energy Policy; Climate Change; Alternative Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Transportation; Transformation; Green Technology; Technology Adoption; Communication Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Asia; India

October 2021
Article

Can Self-Regulation Save Digital Platforms?

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

This article explores some of the critical challenges facing self-regulation and the regulatory environment for digital platforms. We examine several historical examples of firms and industries that attempted self-regulation before the Internet. All dealt with similar... View Details

Keywords: Self-regulation; Government Regulation; Digital Platforms; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

China: To Float or Not To Float? (D)- Bank of America's Strategic Investment in China Construction Bank

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

With its $3 billion investment in Chinese state bank China Construction Bank, Bank of America--the second U.S. bank behind Citigroup in terms of assets and market capitalization--was one of several foreign banks directly participating in China's banking sector reform.... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Banks and Banking; Foreign Direct Investment; International Relations; Banking Industry; China; United States

March 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Kelon (A): China's Corporate Dragon

By: Yasheng Huang and David Lane

Kelon was founded in the small, rural town of Rongqi in the Guangdong Province in 1984. In a six-year span, Kelon became China's largest refrigerator maker. In the 1990s it faced fierce competition from other Chinese firms as well as from multinational corporations.... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Ownership; Consumer Products Industry; China

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William C. Kirby is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Chairman of the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: education industry; wine

February 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

RadioShack

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Youngme E. Moon and Marie Bell

Outlines the transformation of RadioShack stores from a parts and accessories business to a provider of high bandwidth Internet access. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Internet

2012
Case

Zhejiang Semir Garment Co., Ltd.

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Jie Jiao and Yuren Fang

With the rapid growth of China's economy and China's increasing integration into the global economy in the past two decades, China's leisure clothing and garment enterprises achieved a rapid rise and became an important competitive force confronting the foreign brands... View Details

Keywords: Business Model Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Management Controls; China; China

Elie Ofek is a Professor in the Marketing unit at the Harvard Business School. Professor Ofek's research focuses on new product strategies in technology-driven business environments as well as in consumer-oriented companies in general. He explores interactions... View Details

Keywords: internet; internet; internet; internet

Ayelet Israeli

Ayelet Israeli is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School Marketing Unit. She is the co-founder of the Customer Intelligence Lab at the Digital Data Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard Business School. She teaches... View Details

Keywords: internet; internet; internet; internet

December 2001
Case

Cybersettle

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

Cybersettle's management faced a dilemma: How could they turn their company, which provided confidential online settlement services for insurance claims, into a profitable enterprise? Having started during the heady days of Internet "dot-com fever," the company now had... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Process; Conflict and Resolution; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Internet; Insurance Industry

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26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

A year ago, discussions of the business of digital media may have focused on the plateauing ebook market or the diminishing pay for content providers. But after the 2016 presidential election, in which Russian operatives allegedly used... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

October 2013
Supplement

Dongfeng Nissan's Venucia (C)

By: Forest Reinhardt, Mayuka Yamazaki and G.A. Donovan

The (A) case describes the launch of a new passenger vehicle in China, produced jointly by Nissan of Japan and by Chinese automaker Dongfeng. Early sales results following the April 2012 launch were disappointing and the joint venture's managers had to decide how to... View Details

Keywords: China; Japan; Environment; Sustainability; Cross-cultural/cross-border; Competitive Strategy; Product Launch; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Crisis Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Auto Industry; China; Japan

October 2013
Case

Dongfeng Nissan's Venucia (A)

By: Forest Reinhardt, Mayuka Yamazaki and G.A. Donovan

The (A) case describes the launch of a new passenger vehicle in China, produced jointly by Nissan of Japan and by Chinese automaker Dongfeng. Early sales results following the April 2012 launch were disappointing and the joint venture's managers had to decide how to... View Details

Keywords: China; Japan; Cross-cultural/cross-border; Multinational Firms; Competitive Strategy; Product Launch; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Crisis Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Auto Industry; China; Japan

13 May 2014
Op-Ed

The Alibaba Effect

Alibaba is about to make history with the first genuine mega-IPO of a Chinese entrepreneur-founded company in the United States. The numbers are historic as well—an anticipated market capitalization of some... View Details

Keywords: by Bill Kirby & Warren McFarlan; Retail

April 2011
Case

Samsung and Google TV

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Prithvi Raj and Crystal Jean Marrie

This case describes Samsung's decision on how to pursue the growing market opportunity for internet-connected televisions, which enable consumers to access a range of web-based content including basic information (e.g. stock quotes, weather, news headlines, RSS feeds,... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Electronics Industry

May 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Sothebys.com

Sotheby's has taken 50% of its business by volume to the Internet. How do the economics change? How do logistics and customer support needs change? What leverage does the Internet provide this established bricks-and-mortar auction house? View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Auctions