Publications

September 1999 (Revised June 2001)
Case

eBay, Inc.

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter

eBay was the world's largest and most popular person-to-person trading community on the Internet. In early 1999, the company was doing very well and seemed to have solved many of its early problems. However, on March 30, 1999, Amazon.com announced that it was entering... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Planning; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry

10 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 10, 2018

developing fresh capabilities for organizations. Based on a study of all the programs offered by the business schools, consultancies, corporate universities, and online education providers, we analyze the advantages, and the constraints,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2017
Teaching Note

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 717-473. In January 2017, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in November 2016 had triggered a national storm of protests, and... View Details

October 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Li & Fung (Trading) Ltd.

Li & Fung, one of the largest export trading companies in Asia, works primarily as an agent to connect U.S. and European manufacturers and retailers of nondurable, mass-market consumer goods with suppliers located all over East Asia who manufacture products according... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Marketplace Matching; Supply Chain Management; Trade; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Asia; United States; Europe

March 2023
Case

Interior Collab

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

After venture capital-funded online interior design agency Homepolish collapsed, its former freelance designers met to discuss next steps. The bitter experience led some of them to create a workers’ collaborative called Interior Collab. The founding members needed to... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Human Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Cooperative Ownership; Employee Ownership; Trust; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

February 2011
Case

Chegg: Textbook Rental Takes Flight

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, William A. Sahlman and Evan W. Richardson

In late 2010, Silicon Valley-based Chegg, the leading online college textbook rental company, is scaling rapidly. The case recounts Chegg's history from its origins as a distant competitor to Craigslist in college classified listings through a pivot into textbook... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Books; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Service Operations; Renting or Rental; Online Technology; Service Industry; Service Industry; California

12 Mar 2015
Working Paper Summaries

What Courses Should Law Students Take? Harvard’s Largest Employers Weigh In

Keywords: by John C. Coates, Jesse M. Fried & Kathryn E. Spier; Legal Services; Legal Services

October 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

LinkedIn Corporation

By: Francois Brochet and James Weber

The case is set at the end of the first public trading day of LinkedIn, an online professional network company. It provides information on the company's business model, financial statements, competitive landscape, and IPO terms, to help the reader critically assess the... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Growth and Development; Earnings Management; Risk Management; Valuation; SWOT Analysis; Emerging Markets; Business Model; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Web Services Industry

14 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 14

capita. Our instrumental variable estimates confirm our results that states with commodities that had higher price increases had lower risk premia. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-027.pdf PublicationsWho Owns Metrics? Building a Bill of Rights... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Program

Leading in the Digital Era

professional service firms, unless they are currently leading a digital transformation for a client organization in which they are embedded Individuals and teams are welcome to attend. Participation by multiple company representatives... View Details

August 2019
Case

The Allstate Corporation, 2019

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In July 2019, Allstate, the United States’ number-three property and casualty (P/C) insurer, released its second-quarter earnings, which reported first-half revenues of $22.1 billion, up 11.4% year-over-year. Shareholders cheered the top-line growth, but P/C premiums... View Details

Keywords: Insurance Companies; Strategic Analysis; Strategic Change; Insurance; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Insurance Industry; North America

April 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Wayfair

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Susie L. Ma and Matthew G. Preble

In 2016 Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, founders of online home goods retailer Wayfair, are faced with a decision about how to improve user experience on their e-commerce sites. A key driver of consumer interest and conversion to purchase in the home category is visual... View Details

Keywords: Visual Assets; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Innovation and Invention; Operations; Strategy; Technology; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States; Massachusetts

10 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 10, 2009

had little revenue because it offered services free of charge. Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=709456 Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Program

Real Estate Management Program

managers and advisors Real estate industry service providers, such as financial analysts, lawyers, architects, and urban planners While the program is designed primarily for executives with significant real estate industry experience, it... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Real Estate

September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

An Innovative Anti-bribery Commitment?

By: Eugene Soltes

Reebonz, an online luxury goods platform based in Singapore that operates across the Asia-Pacific region, offers its investors the opportunity to redeem shares if either the firm or its founder are investigated by the U.S. or U.K governments with regard to complying... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; United Kingdom Bribery Act; Law; Leadership; Moral Sensibility; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; United Kingdom; Asia

05 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 5

levels, and prices and show that competition with privacy has several effects on the marketplace. First, competition drives the provision of services with a low level of disclosure. Second, competition ensures that View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Program

Behavioral Economics—Virtual

Summary What if you could predict how customers will respond to a product? Or how employees will decide to implement a new initiative? In Behavioral Economics—Virtual, you'll acquire a dynamic framework for interpreting, analyzing, and leveraging behavioral economic... View Details

November 2017
Case

Poppy: A Modern Village for Childcare

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Jeff Huizinga

In 2017, management at Poppy, which matched families that required occasional childcare with thoroughly vetted caregivers, was formulating plans for the Seattle-based seed-stage startup’s next phase of expansion. One option was to grow using the same business model... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Multi-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Expansion; United States

March 2020
Case

Thingtesting: Launching a Brand Discovery and Testing Digital Community

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

Thingtesting, a brand discovery and testing digital community devoted to uncovering and exploring direct-to-consumer brands, had just received seed funding and was contemplating a second year of growth. The new year brought many challenges, as founder Jenny Gyllander... View Details