Publications

June 2024
Module Note

Value Creation Potential of New Business Models

By: David J. Collis

A business model is composed of three elements. These describe a generic way of creating value and identify the maximum potential value of that model for customers. The elements of a business model are the “job to be done” for the customer, the asset configuration, or... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

July 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Revenue Recognition at Stride Funding: Making Sense of Revenues for a Fintech Startup

By: Paul M. Healy and Jung Koo Kang

The case explores the challenges of revenue recognition and financial reporting for Stride Funding (Stride), a fintech startup that has disrupted the student loan market. Stride leveraged proprietary machine learning and financial models to underwrite alternative... View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Governance Compliance; Accrual Accounting; Financial Services Industry; United States

February 2017
Case

GE Digital

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

Known for manufacturing industrial equipment, GE has decided to invest in software and analytics capabilities to become a digital industrial company. They have also created a software platform that they hope will power the Industrial Internet. GE executives forecasted... View Details

Keywords: GE; General Electric; Manufacturing; Industrial Internet; Wind Power; Digital Manufacturing; Renewable Energy; Energy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Transformation; Green Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; North America

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Teaching Note

Spotify's Audio-First Strategy: Leading the Podcasting Market

By: Hong Luo and Carol Lin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-439. Within 15 years, CEO Daniel Ek had led Spotify from an ambitious startup to a multi-billion dollar company that had transformed the music industry. As part of Spotify’s next phase of growth, the platform would invest heavily in... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Customer Relationship Management; Revenue; Music Industry

February 2021
Case

Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community

By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin

Threadless, an online apparel company and artist community which Jake Nickell founded in 2000, continued to maintain its status as a top company in the online apparel industry during its second decade. From 2010 to 2020, Threadless continued to operate its... View Details

September 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Dianrong: Marketplace Lending, Blockchain, and 'The New Finance' in China

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Anthony K. Woo

This case examines the strategic positioning of Dianrong, one of the largest online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in China, in its attempt to become a foundational player in the expansion of the FinTech sector in Asia. Dianrong had recently announced the... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Product Positioning; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

Program

Competing in the Age of AI—Virtual

will delve into diverse applications of AI, machine learning, predictive modeling, and data science; explore network effects and platform strategies; and learn how to build an AI factory that enables your company to compete successfully... View Details

January 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Hudson Yards—The Other Side of the Tracks?

By: Christopher M. Gordon, John D. Macomber, A. Eugene Kohn and Lisa Strope

Stephan Ross, CEO of Related Companies, is considering an opportunity to invest $1 billion for the air rights over the Hudson Rail Yards in New York City. The investment would allow Related to build a platform over the operating rail tracks and develop this blighted... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Property; Growth and Development Strategy; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; New York (city, NY)

William Kerr is the D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Bill is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research, co-director of Harvard’s Managing the Future of Work initiative, and faculty chair of the... View Details

Keywords: communications; computer; consulting; high technology; information technology industry; management consulting; manufacturing; telecommunications; venture capital industry

February 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

HubSpot and Motion AI: Chatbot-Enabled CRM

By: Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

HubSpot, an inbound marketing, sales, and customer relationship management (CRM) software provider, announced that it had acquired Motion AI, a software platform that enabled companies to easily build and deploy chatbots, fueled by artificial intelligence, to interact... View Details

Web

Publications - Faculty & Research

Business School Teaching Note 925-022, February 2025. February 2025 Teaching Note Slice Labs: Creating a Fraud-free Online Insurance Platform By: Amit Goldenberg , Max Bazerman and Ruth Page Citation Purchase Related Goldenberg, Amit, Max... View Details

September 2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: David Weinstein and Write the World

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

David Weinstein, a lawyer and former Chief Administrative Officer of mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, launched Write the World, a proprietary online platform that included a writing curriculum, essay prompts in distinct subject matter, and access to expert... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Business Startups; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

capital sector. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-114.pdf Multi-Sided Platforms: From Microfoundations to Design and Expansion Strategies Author:Andrei Hagiu Abstract Multi-sided View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

27 Mar 2019
News

Will Startup Fishbowl Become the Social Media App for Your Industry?

September 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Goldman Sachs' Digital Journey

By: Sunil Gupta and Sara Simonds

Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, proclaimed, “We are a technology firm. We are a platform.” By 2017, he led a series of initiatives to translate this vision into reality. These included giving clients access to its proprietary database without... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Transformation; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation

Profile

Evelyne White

Bookalokal is a social dining platform that launched in Brussels in 2012. The initial concept: Connect travelers with locals through home-cooked, gourmet meals in people's homes. Prospective diners search through Bookalokal's online... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Services

13 Jul 2016
HBS Case

How Uber, Airbnb, and Etsy Attracted Their First 1,000 Customers

One Million Customers, and is currently working on a third entry in the trilogy that will examine how a platform can go from one million to many millions of customers. In each case the strategies are... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service; Transportation

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A4): Sun Peak: Helen Yang and Mark Walden on "Running Sun on Sun"

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

SunPeak was the largest project Sun Microsystems, Inc. had ever undertaken: shifting Sun's entire business transaction system from a mainframe-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a Sun-based system. Making the shift would be complicated and financially... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Computer Industry