Publications

March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Teaching Note

Ransomware Attack at Springhill Medical Center

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan (Jason) Ni

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 123-065. In July, 2019, Springhill Medical Center (“SMC”) in Mobile, Alabama fell prey to a malicious ransomware attack that crippled the hospital’s internal network systems and public-facing web page. While the hospital rushed to... View Details

January 2017
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

May 2021
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise, Instructor Version

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

March 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Prodigy Network: Democratizing Real Estate Design and Financing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Katja Hutter and Greta Friar

This case follows Rodrigo Nino, founder and CEO of commercial real estate development company Prodigy Network, as he develops an equity-based crowdfunding model for small investors to access commercial real estate in Colombia, then tries out the model in the U.S. U.S.... View Details

15 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 15

Piovesan Abstract To encourage worker productivity, offices prohibit Internet use. Consequently, many employees delay Internet activity to the end of the workday. Recent work in social psychology, however,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 21

competition intensity need not improve consumer privacy when consumers exhibit low willingness to pay. Our findings are particularly relevant to the business models of Internet firms and contribute to inform the regulatory debate on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011
Case

CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth

By: Marco Iansiti and Kerry Herman

Adam Famularo, general manager, Cloud Computing business, CA Technologies, and David Dobson, WVP and group executive, Customer Solutions Group, were preparing for a presentation on communicating and positioning CA Technologies' new strategy for cloud computing.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Product Positioning; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption

22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

government exerts on TikTok, concerns the app could compromise US national security and user data, and stark differences between the content and rules mandated in China versus abroad. "You must ask yourself, ‘What is the power of this... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

is in different areas of business—telecommunications, security, and high-end IT—and is very interested in becoming a contractor in the emerging homeland security construct in America. With Li Ka-shing, the threat to success is his... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

2009
Working Paper

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

By: Marco Iansiti

Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation. Given the interdependent nature of innovation in information technology, three core principles have emerged that work together to ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Information Technology; Internet and the Web

Read Now

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

Abstract—The article discusses the notion of advertising as a profession in relation to the impact of digital analytics and data-driven marketing. Topics include the history of internet marketing, the investments of the content-driven... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

What Is an "Essential" Purchase for a Low-Income Family?

controlling for participants' income levels. A third experiment asked participants to rate the "permissibility" of 20 household items in the US Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index, purchased either by a lower- or higher-income consumer. The items... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Internet boom, companies armed with nothing more than a PowerPoint presentation of a lousy idea could secure tens of millions of dollars—which sometimes gave them enough time to figure out a viable business... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Perplexity: Redefining Search

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Michelle Hu, Sriraghav Srinivasan and Radhika Kak

By early 2025, Perplexity had rapidly evolved from a modest startup into a popular "answer engine" valued at $9 billion. The company had boldly positioned itself as the disruptor to Google aiming to redefine search for the AI age. Through novel AI... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Venture Capital; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Competitive Strategy; Business Model; Technology Industry; United States

24 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Vulnerabilities of Open Source Software

million, of secure web servers on the internet and allowed numerous data breaches, including the theft of 4.5 million medical records from a large hospital chain. In response to Heartbleed, the Linux... View Details

Keywords: by Frank Nagle and Jenny Hoffman; Computer

August 2019
Case

Twiggle: E-Commerce with Semantic Search

By: Shane Greenstein and Danielle Golan

Four years after being founded, in 2014, by former Google executives Amir Konigsberg (CEO) and Adi Avidor (CTO), Twiggle had developed a search enhancement that plugged into an online merchant’s existing framework. The company utilized advanced structuring and... View Details

Keywords: Search Technology; Customer Acquisition; Internet and the Web; Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Israel