Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,733)
- Faculty Publications (552)
- 2008
- Working Paper
Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne
Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened-that... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard
The central role of "platform" products and services in mediating the activities of disaggregated "clusters" or "ecosystems" of firms has been widely recognized. But platforms and the systems in which they are embedded are very diverse. In particular, platforms may... View Details
- Article
Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms
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
- May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Palm (A): The Debate on Licensing Palm's OS (1997)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell
This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details
- May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
- Supplement
Palm (B): 2001
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell
This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details
- May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
- Supplement
Palm (C): 2005
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell
This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details
- May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
- Supplement
Palm (D): Epilogue as of 2008
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell
This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
Visions of Web 3.0
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Andrew Vivero
Explores the Semantic Web, a vision for the next generation of the World Wide Web in which information is stored in machine-readable formats. While the Semantic Web would make information more easily accessible, barriers to its adoption are very high because website... View Details
- April 2008
- Article
The Survey of Industrial R&D—Patent Database Link Project
By: William R. Kerr and Shihe Fu
This paper details the construction of a firm-year panel dataset combining the NBER Patent Dataset with the Survey of Industrial R&D conducted by the Census Bureau and National Science Foundation. The dataset constitutes a platform that offers an unprecedented view of... View Details
- March 2008 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Aaron Smith, David Chen and Brian Feinstein
As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging traffic. The company could invest further in new advertising products, which represented the majority of the... View Details
- January 2008
- Article
Learning the Fine Art of Collaboration
By: Alan MacCormack and Theodore Forbath
Innovations are increasingly brought to the market by networks of firms, selected for their unique capabilities and operating in a coordinated manner. This collaborative model demands that firms develop different skills, yet despite this need, there is little guidance... View Details
Keywords: Digital Platforms
- 2007
- Working Paper
Competition in Modular Clusters
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard
The last twenty years have witnessed the rise of disaggregated "clusters," "networks," or "ecosystems" of firms. In these clusters the activities of R&D, product design, production, distribution, and system integration may be split up among hundreds or even thousands... View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations
By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
This paper seeks to answer three questions. First, which drives the success of a platform, installed base, platform quality or consumer expectations? Second, when does a monopoly emerge in a platform-based market? Finally, when is a platform-based market socially... View Details
- October 2007 (Revised December 2007)
- Case
TiVo 2007: DVRs and Beyond
By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind
Tom Rogers, CEO of TiVo, had placed multiple strategic bets on his company. In September 2007, that strategy was due for a major test. TiVo was a maker of digital video recorder (DVR) products and a distributor of DVR technology. Rogers believed that macro-trends in... View Details
- 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
- April 2007
- Teaching Note
iPod vs. Cell Phone: A Mobile Music Revolution? (TN)
By: David B. Yoffie
Teaching note to 707419. View Details
- September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
- Module Note
Platform-Mediated Networks: Definitions and Core Concepts
Defines platform-mediated networks and introduces concepts central to their study. First, it defines networks and network effects; explains how network effects influence users' willingness-to-pay for network access; describes factors that determine the strength of... View Details
- August 2006 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
iPod vs. Cell Phone: A Mobile Music Revolution?
By: David B. Yoffie, Travis D. Merrill and Michael Slind
In 2006, a nascent market for music-enabled mobile phones was emerging to challenge Apple Computer's dominant position in the digital music industry. Through its iPod line of portable digital music devices and its iTunes Music Store, Apple controlled more than half of... View Details
- July 2006
- Article
Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat
This paper analyzes a dynamic mixed duopoly in which a profit-maximizing competitor interacts with a competitor that prices at zero (or marginal cost), with the cumulation of output affecting their relative positions over time. The modeling effort is motivated by... View Details
Keywords: Open Source Software; Demand-side Learning; Network Effects; Linux; Mixed Duopoly; Competitive Dynamics; Business Models; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Business Model; Mathematical Methods; Digital Platforms; Profit; Balance and Stability; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; SWOT Analysis; Competition; Price; Information Technology Industry
- Article
The Information Technology Ecosystem: Structure, Health, and Performance
By: Marco Iansiti and Gregory L. Richards
A number of modern industries are organized as complex networks of firms whose integrated efforts are necessary to deliver value to end customers. The complexity of these networks, or business ecosystems, and the associated interdependencies among firms, make... View Details