Publications

January 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Case

TopCoder (A): Developing Software through Crowdsourcing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, David A. Garvin and Eric Lonstein

TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,000 developers who... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Two-Sided Platforms; Motivation and Incentives; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Software; Technology Industry

January 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Paytm: Building a Payments Network

By: Sunil Gupta, Das Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani

By January 2017, Paytm, a mobile payments company that started in 2010, became India’s largest mobile payments platform with over 142 million users and $5 billion valuation. Could Paytm become a $100 billion company its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma envisioned it be? View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payments; Ecommerce; Mobile App; India; Entrepreneurship; Expansion; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; E-commerce; Service Industry; India

2023
Working Paper

When Does Gamified Training Improve Performance? The Roles of Office and Leader Engagement

By: Ryan W. Buell, Wei Cai and Tatiana Sandino

Gamified training is a novel management control system in which companies use gamification techniques to engage and motivate employees to learn. This study empirically examines the performance consequences of gamified training using data from a natural field... View Details

Keywords: Gamified Training; Management Control Systems; Employee Engagement; Employees; Learning; Training; Motivation and Incentives; Performance

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December 2020
Case

Urban Company

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Urban Company is an India-based market platform that helps customers book home services and at home beauty services. The company differentiated itself by investing heavily in building customer trust. Rather than merely positioning itself as a lead generating... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Service Delivery; Trust; Technology Industry; Service Industry; India

April 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

BlackRock Solutions

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Scott Waggoner

The BlackRock Solutions case examines the different functions and economics of a global asset manager's value chain, with particular emphasis on the "money management" and the "investment systems platform" businesses. Students analyze why BlackRock decided to unbundle... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Strategic Vision; Organizational Behavior; Economies Of Scale And Scope; Unbundling Of Services; Strategic Planning; Risk Management; Financial Management; Asset Management; Competitive Advantage; Value; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Investment; Financial Strategy

September 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Case

SAP: Industry Transformation

By: Andrei Hagiu, Pai-Ling Yin, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Vincent Marie Dessain

SAP seeks growth in the small- and medium-sized enterprise market. To do so, it has created a platform strategy with SAP Netweaver. What are the advantages and challenges for an incumbent entering a new market? What are the benefits and challenges of implementing a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Strategy; Digital Platforms

May 2024
Case

A New Aiera for Equity Research

By: Joseph Pacelli, Charles CY Wang and James Barnett

Aiera (pronounced “era”) co-founder and CEO Ken Sena considers strategic pathways to growth for the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform used to source, verify, and transcribe earnings calls, company presentations, and other corporate events. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States

March 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

The Heat Is On: Emerging Ecosystems in the Thermostat Industry

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

Beth Wozniak, President of Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls (ECC) at Honeywell International Inc., spun around in her office chair, reflecting about how the classic, mature thermostat industry was rapidly evolving. In February 2014, Google paid $3.2... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This paper seeks to explain the technological forces that led to the rise of vertically integrated corporations in the late 19th century and the opposing forces that led to a vertical-to-horizontal transition in the computer industry 100 years later. I first model the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Business History; Vertical Integration; Horizontal Integration; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry

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20 Apr 2020
Blog Post

Introducing LivelyHood, A Volunteer Nonprofit Founded in Response to COVID-19

Justin Crist Lee (MBA 2021) is working to help launch LivelyHood, a COVID-19 volunteer response effort. LivelyHood is a platform that connects healthy, young volunteers with the elderly and immunocompromised in their local community for... View Details

June 2019
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira

By 2019, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were among the highest-growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products, or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-Sided Markets; Digital Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Two-Sided Platforms; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Customers; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation

September 2023
Article

(Not) Paying for Diversity: Repugnant Market Concerns Associated with Transactional Approaches to Diversity Recruitment

By: Summer R. Jackson

In a 20-month ethnographic study, I examine how a technology firm, ShopCo (a pseudonym), considered 13 different recruitment platforms to attract racial minority engineering candidates. I find that when choosing whether to adopt recruitment platforms focused on racial... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Recruitment; Race; Organizational Change and Adaptation