Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,309)
- Faculty Publications (459)
- May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Marshall Industries
Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details
- February 1999 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Egghead to Egghead.com (A)
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell
Over the course of 12 months in 1997 and 1998, Egghead senior management decided to shut down its 180 brick-and-mortar retail stores and move to an electronic store. The case describes the evolution of that process, and the role of its CEO George Orban, and poses... View Details
- February 1999 (Revised May 1999)
- Case
Onsale, Inc.
By: Youngme E. Moon
Onsale has been a pioneer in electronic commerce, offering excess and refurbished goods using an online auction format. The company is now planning to become a player in the highly competitive world of first-run computer merchandise as well. However, unlike other... View Details
- December 1998
- Case
Casto Travel
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Susan Harmeling
Maryles Casto had the vision to build the largest travel agency in Silicon Valley, mirroring the growth pattern of the entire area. In 1997 the travel business changed dramatically as airlines chose not to pay travel agencies the fees they once did. Simultaneously, the... View Details
- November 1998 (Revised February 1999)
- Case
Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil (BVG): Reaching Worldwide Investors Through the Internet
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ramiro Montealegre, Dusya Vera and Karen Barone
The Guayaquil Stock Exchange developed a Web site to provide information about the market in Ecuador. Though the system provided some dynamic information for potential investors and allowed for some transactions to occur via the Internet, it had not at the time of the... View Details
- October 1998
- Case
Excite, Inc.--1998
By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter
Reviews recent trends and the evolution of the emerging portal industry, highlighting the competitive position of the industry's major participants. The business model of Excite, Inc., and its major competitors are presented. In addition, the case looks at the new... View Details
- October 1998 (Revised May 2001)
- Case
Preview Travel (A)
By: William A. Sahlman, Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III and Robert Keller
Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and... View Details
- October 1998 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
United Way of Massachusetts Bay
By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon
The United Way of Massachusetts Bay held the monopoly on workplace giving for 50 years. In the 1990s it has experienced a dramatic change in the workplace itself and in donor attitudes toward giving and toward the United Way organization. This case investigates the... View Details
Keywords: Change; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Monopoly; Relationships; Attitudes; Internet; Massachusetts
- October 1998 (Revised February 2000)
- Case
RealNetworks, Inc.: Converging Technologies/Expanding Opportunities
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kirk A. Goldman
Highlights issues related to the impact of the Internet on industry and technology convergence. RealNetworks has succeeded in establishing its position as a market leader (over 90% market share) in the Internet streaming media segment. Can they maintain this position... View Details
- August 1998
- Case
Electronic Commerce at Air Products
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey
In 1998,chief information officers (CIOs) in the highly competitive international gases and chemicals business faced the reality that electronic commerce capability was a strategic necessity. The results of annual surveys of technology officers in the chemical industry... View Details
- August 1998 (Revised June 2000)
- Case
FairMarket, Inc.: Where Buyers and Sellers Connect
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Jack Wieland and Chad M. M Raube
On February 20, 1997, FairMarket, an Internet-based business-to-business auction site, was launched. CEO, founder Scott Randall, drew on his experience building Internet businesses at NECX Direct, Yahoo, and Internet Shopping Network to build his business. This case,... View Details
- June 1998 (Revised August 2000)
- Case
Microsoft CarPoint
CarPoint.com was Microsoft's Web-based entry into on-line automobile retailing. While it could not, in fact, "sell" or deliver any cars, it could shift much of consumer search, comparison, and decision-making, including pricing, the traditional car dealer to the Web.... View Details
- June 1998 (Revised January 2001)
- Case
Browser Wars, 1994-1998, The
By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak
Analyzes the competition between Netscape and Microsoft in the market for Web browsers and related products. Despite its first mover advantage, Netscape sees its market share fall once Microsoft becomes "hard-core" about the Internet. By the spring of 1998, the future... View Details
- April 1998
- Case
E! Online (A): www.eonline.com
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
- March 1998
- Case
Launch
Launch has developed an entertainment publication on CD-ROM with 240,000 subscribers and has recently introduced an on-line entertainment product (www.mylaunch.com) to complement the CD-ROM. Deals with multiple-channel delivery and platform selection and branding on... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised November 1999)
- Case
USA TODAY Online
By: John A. Deighton and Anthony St. George
How should USA TODAY use its brand franchise to build a publishing business on the World Wide Web? Advertising Age described the first steps as "a case study in how not to do it," but by the end of 1997 USA TODAY Online is the most visited news site on the Web. Now the... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised February 2001)
- Case
PlanetAll
PlanetAll is a Web-based contact manager that automatically updates users' contact information. In early 1998, the young company must decide whether to compete with large Web sites and become a destination site or to become an enabling technology for other contact... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
Dell Online
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell
Dell started online commerce for its PCs in 1996, and by 1997 had achieved a sales rate of $3 million a day. The case describes the internal process that led to these dramatic results and poses the question of how the firm should leverage this activity to meet Michael... View Details
- January 1998
- Case
Frontgate Catalog
Frontgate is a high-end, Lebanon, Ohio-based catalog business. The decision makers are trying to determine how much financial and personnel resources to invest in the development of a Web site. The decision is being made in light of branding issues and competitor's Web... View Details
- November 1997 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
Interactive Minds (A)
By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Christina L. Darwall
The efforts of two recent Harvard Business School graduates to start a venture capital/consulting firm focused on opportunities related to the Internet are recounted. Raises the question of what the nature of this opportunity is, how well-positioned the protagonists... View Details