Publications

Article

How Local Context Shapes Digital Business Abroad

By: William R. Kerr

This article identifies how digital businesses need to be adapted to the local environment in which they are being applied. Core ideas include the development of strong barriers to entry, the types of network effects encountered, and the localization of business... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Technology; Geographic Location; Market Entry and Exit; Adaptation; Entrepreneurship; Network Effects

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21 Jun 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Multi-Sided Platforms: From Microfoundations to Design and Expansion Strategies

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu; Technology

March 2023
Case

Mirakl: Growing The Marketplace Economy

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Emilie Billaud

Mirakl provided the technology and seller network required for companies like Macy's, Best Buy, Walmart, Siemens, or Carrefour to simply design, launch, and administer a marketplace that included products from third-party sellers. What began as a basic business idea in... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Transformation; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Sales; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; France; Paris; United States

June 2023
Exercise

Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise Instructions

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

Many markets are organized around platforms that connect consumers with complimentary applications and services. These platforms are two-sided because both sides - consumers and those providing applications or services - need access to the same platform to interact. A... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategies; Technology Platform; Customer Acquisition; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Strategy

February 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jamie Merkrebs

AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120 billion furniture market, despite its... View Details

September 2019
Case

Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility

By: Ranjay Gulati, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

By 2018, Netflix had been credited for revolutionizing how viewers consumed entertainment—shifting from ad-fueled linear network programming to a highly personalized, on-demand, all-you-can-consume, ad-free model. The company was riding a long wave of revenue and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technologies; Streaming; Video On Demand; International Expansion; Leadership; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Leadership Style; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Entertainment; Media; Change Management; Expansion; Technology Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

2007
Working Paper

Platform Envelopment

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne

Due to network effects and switching costs in platform markets, entrants generally must offer revolutionary functionality. We explore a second entry path that does not rely upon Schumpeterian innovation: platform envelopment. Through envelopment, a provider in one... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Network Effects

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Program

Program for Leadership Development

exclusive access to our vast global alumni network and an array of resources that facilitate lifelong learning, growth, and success. Admissions Criteria and Process We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available... View Details

2012
Working Paper

Author-Level Eigenfactor Metrics: Evaluating the Influence of Authors, Institutions and Countries within the SSRN community

By: Jevin D. West, Michael C. Jensen, Ralph J. Dandrea, Gregg Gordon and Carl T. Bergstrom

In this paper, we show how the Eigenfactor® score, originally designed for ranking scholarly journals, can be adapted to rank the scholarly output of authors, institutions, and countries based on author-level citation data. Using the methods described herein, we... View Details

Keywords: Body of Literature; Measurement and Metrics; Networks; Rank and Position; Research; Motivation and Incentives

SSRN

September 1999 (Revised February 2004)
Case

WebSpective Software, Inc. (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III, John T. Gourville and Sun Ming Wong

Describes the situation at WebSpective, a software company that develops products to help companies manage the network of servers that support their Websites. Describes the use of "concept engineering" tools to interview customers, determine their needs and the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Management Practices and Processes; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Communication Intention and Meaning; Product Development; Product Marketing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology Industry

2016
Working Paper

Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com

By: Michael Luca

Do online consumer reviews affect restaurant demand? I investigate this question using a novel dataset combining reviews from the website Yelp.com and restaurant data from the Washington State Department of Revenue. Because Yelp prominently displays a restaurant's... View Details

Keywords: Revenue; Network Effects; Reputation; Social and Collaborative Networks; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Washington (state, US)

SSRN

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July 2021
Article

Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms

By: Zoë Cullen and Chiara Farronato

We study the growth of online peer-to-peer markets. Using data from TaskRabbit, an expanding marketplace for domestic tasks at the time of our study, we show that growth varies considerably across cities. To disentangle the potential drivers of growth, we look... View Details

Keywords: Two-sided Market; Two-sided Platforms; Peer-to-peer Markets; Platform Strategy; Sharing Economy; Platform Growth; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Market Design; Network Effects

Article

Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

In a platform-mediated network, users rely on a common platform, provided by one or more intermediaries, that encompasses infrastructure and rules required by users to transact with each other. A fundamental design decision for firms that aspire to develop... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Digital Platforms; Infrastructure; Competition; Cooperation; Information Infrastructure

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18 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation Changes Education

which customers exchange with each other. For example, telecommunications is a user network because we send information to you, and you send it to us. In education, this will mean that the tools of the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

January 2015
Article

Marketplace or Reseller?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

Intermediaries can choose between functioning as a marketplace (on which suppliers sell their products directly to buyers) or as a reseller (purchasing products from suppliers and selling them to buyers). We model this as a decision between whether control rights over... View Details

Keywords: Intermediation; Multi-sided Platforms; Control Rights; Marketing

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05 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: January 5

Working PapersThe Global Networks of Multinational Firms Authors:Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen Abstract In this paper we characterize the topology of global multinational networks and examine the macro and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2006
Case

Tickle

By: William A. Sahlman and Dan Heath

Describes a set of decisions confronting the management team of a rapidly growing online psychological testing and social networking company. They can either sell the company to a large public company, raise another round of capital from a preeminent venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Internet and the Web; Growth Management; Internet and the Web; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance