Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(505)
- Faculty Publications (107)
- December 2019 (Revised February 2024)
- Teaching Note
Ripple: The Business of Crypto and Ripple 2023
By: David B. Yoffie
The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details
Keywords: Payment Systems; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Fintech; Business Startups; Business Model; Disruption; Strategy
- November 2019 (Revised June 2020)
- Case
Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature
By: Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett
Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct... View Details
Keywords: Carbon Sequestration; Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts
- November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand
By: Jill Avery and Joseph B. Fuller
Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth trajectories to maximize its potential? Three... View Details
Keywords: Brand Management; DTC; Brand Extension; Lifestyle Brand; Customer Segmentation; Retailing; Scaling And Growth; Startup; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Travel Industry; United States; North America
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform
The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and... View Details
- October 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Epic Games
By: Andy Wu and Christopher Zhang
Epic Games entered a stagnant market with its PC-games digital storefront in 2018, in the context of incumbent competitors such as Steam, its meteoric rise via Fortnite, and imminent industry shifts in gaming distribution. On the surface, Epic Games Store’s competitive... View Details
- August 2019
- Case
Walmart's Omnichannel Strategy: Revolution or Miscalculation?
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
This case describes Walmart's omnichannel strategy in 2018 as it battled Amazon for online retail market share. The case discusses Walmart's early forays into online retail, as well as its 2018 strategy, which aimed to integrate Walmart's enormous brick and mortar... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Ripple: The Business of Crypto
By: David B. Yoffie and George Gonzalez
The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 13 Platform Systems vs. Step Processes—The Value of Options and the Power of Modularity
This is the first chapter in Part 3. Its purpose is to contrast the value structure of platform systems with step processes from a technological perspective. I first review the basic technical architecture of computers and argue that every computer is inherently a... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised February 2019)
- Teaching Plan
Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
When digital distribution becomes an option for an analog industry, the effects on the incumbents can be devastating. Is podcasting the beginning of the end of radio? Can it do what streaming video did to television and websites did to print? Two former public radio... View Details
- September 2018 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
Zebra Medical Vision
By: Shane Greenstein and Sarah Gulick
An Israeli startup founded in 2014, Zebra Medical Vision developed algorithms that produced diagnoses from X-rays, mammograms, and CT-scans. The algorithms used deep learning and digitized radiology scans to create software that could assist doctors in making... View Details
Keywords: Radiology; Machine Learning; X-ray; CT Scan; Medical Technology; Probability; FDA 510(k); Diagnosis; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Product Development; Commercialization; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Technology Industry; Israel
- April 2018 (Revised February 2019)
- Case
Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
When digital distribution becomes an option for an analog industry, the effects on incumbents can be devastating. Is podcasting the beginning of the end of radio? Can it do what streaming video did to television and websites did to print? Two former public radio... View Details
- February 2018
- Case
EmQuest: Travel Distribution in the Digital Era
By: Karim R. Lakhani and Gamze Yucaoglu
EmQuest, Emirates Group’s travel distribution company, must decide what to do with its contract with the global distribution system it uses, Sabre. Since its founding in 1988, EmQuest was servicing travel agents in the MENA region by providing a connection to over 400... View Details
- February 2018
- Teaching Plan
Tesla in 2015
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Olivia Hull and Sarah Mehta
Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-081. View Details
Keywords: Electric Vehicle; Internal Combustion Vehicle; Battery; Product Distribution; Platform Disruption; Vertical Integration; Patents; Disruption; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Leading Change; Product Marketing; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Transportation; Auto Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; California
- January 2017
- Case
Expanding Ecommerce at Technos
By: Thales Teixeira, Rohit Deshpandé, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi
Technos was the market leader in the Brazilian watch market. Its CEO had made a firm commitment to evolve the company’s marketing and commercial practices by focusing less on pushing product to retail clients and more on branding to end consumers to pull watches from... View Details
- January–February 2017
- Article
The Truth about Blockchain
By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani
Contracts, transactions, and records of them provide critical structure in our economic system, but they haven’t kept up with the world’s digital transformation. They’re like rush-hour gridlock trapping a Formula 1 race car. Blockchain promises to solve this problem.... View Details
- November 2016 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
The Black List
By: Henry McGee and Sarah McAra
Franklin Leonard founded The Black List in 2005 as an innovative approach to identifying potential hit movie scripts via crowdsourcing. As the annual Black List proved to hold the scripts of some of Hollywood’s most successful films, from “Slumdog Millionaire” to... View Details
- July 2016
- Case
Spotify
By: Anita Elberse and Alexandre de Pfyffer
In November 2014, Spotify's chief content officer Ken Parks learns that record label Big Machine Records has requested the immediate removal of superstar artist Taylor Swift's entire catalogue from Spotify's music streaming service. Is it time for Spotify to reconsider... View Details
Keywords: Entertainment; Marketing; Superstar; Music; Entertainment Marketing; Media; Digital Technology; Creative Industries; Product Portfolio Management; General Management; Management; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Open Source Distribution; Creativity; Music Entertainment; Product Marketing; Music Industry
- April 2016 (Revised March 2019)
- Case
Moleskine (A)
By: Ryan Raffaelli, Raffaella Sadun and Kathy Qu
Describes the founding and growth challenges facing Moleskine, an Italian-based consumer products company known for its oilcloth-covered notebooks once used by Ernest Hemingway and Vincent van Gogh. CEO Arrigo Berni and co-founder Maria Sebregondi aim to transform the... View Details
Keywords: Creative Industries; Brand Building; Digital Innovation; Digital Services And Strategy; Process Improvement; Culture; Identity Construction; Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Innovation Strategy; Consumer Products Industry
- March 2016
- Teaching Note
Catalina in the Digital Age
By: Uma R. Karmarkar and Robert J. Dolan
"Catalina in the Digital Age" considers how a company with a dominant market position should evolve its established product lines given the rise of novel digital technologies. Since its founding in 1983, Catalina had enjoyed a distinct position in the world of consumer... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised May 2016)
- Case
UFO Moviez—Gentle Disruption
By: Hong Luo, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Saloni Chaturvedi
UFO Moviez is an Indian technology services provider that enables low-cost, digital delivery of films to cinemas. UFO’s satellite-based technology enables a significantly wider release of films compared to traditional analog prints and standard, higher-resolution... View Details