Publications

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Jumia's Path to Profitability

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Covisint (A): The Evolution of a B2B Marketplace

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Ford Motor Co., General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler--the three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that dominated the automotive industry throughout the 20th century--launched Covisint in February 2000 as an industry supply chain exchange that would drive out cost... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Supply Chain Management; Business Startups; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; United States

June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime'

By: Jonas Heese and Cristo Liautaud

In May 2020, an analyst was assessing eHealth’s performance. eHealth was an online / tele-sales broker of health insurance products. The stock had recently hit all-time highs, closing at a peak of $146 on March 4, 2020. But now, May 4, 2020, eHealth traded at $103. The... View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Health; Insurance; Online Technology; Insurance Industry

January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014.... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Didi Chuxing; Start-up Growth; Regulation; Ride-sharing; Transportation; Business Startups; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development; Policy; Competition; Laws and Statutes; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; China

January 2018 (Revised March 2020)
Case

SAP: Branding in the Digital Age

By: Das Narayandas and Amram Migdal

By 2017, digital, social, and mobile technologies were rapidly changing the way many of SAP’s traditional customers did business over the last decade. In response to this trend, SAP had acquired companies with capabilities in e-commerce, human capital, workforce... View Details

Keywords: Brand Positioning; Marketing; Sales; Brands and Branding; Strategy; Technology Industry

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

the world. But SHEIN is much more than an online marketer for these factories. What SHEIN contributes to make the platform hum is remarkable sensitivity to the fashion tastes of its consumers. It monitors... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

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

October 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Teaching Note

Comcast Corporation

By: Sunil Gupta, Henry McGee and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

In March 2015, Richard Plepler, the CEO of Home Box Office (HBO) announced the company's new 'over the top,' or OTT service, HBO Now, that consumers could stream online for a monthly fee of $14.99 without paying for a cable subscription. Soon, CBS followed and... View Details

Keywords: Television Industry; Television; Marketing; Television Entertainment; Telecommunications Industry

March 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

2023
Working Paper

The Customer Journey as a Source of Information

By: Nicolas Padilla, Eva Ascarza and Oded Netzer

In the face of heightened data privacy concerns and diminishing third-party data access, firms are placing increased emphasis on first-party data (1PD) for marketing decisions. However, in environments with infrequent purchases, reliance on past purchases 1PD... View Details

Keywords: Customer Journey; Privacy; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Customer Focus and Relationships

Read Now

14 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 14, 2017

academic psychologists, Harvard Business School professors, directors of organizations, and government officials. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51447 Winter 2017 Oxford Review of Economic Policy The View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

05 Nov 2007
What Do You Think?

Why Is Succession So Badly Managed?

nearly every respondent agreed, is it appropriate to consider the idea that succession processes should be certified? If so, what should be the dimensions of the certification? What do you think? Original Article A high-profile company fails to meet View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

from trailers to produce clips and test it in an online experiment and in a field experiment. The results provide evidence that the production of short clips using the proposed methodology can be an effective tool to View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 1999 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Autobytel.com

By: Youngme E. Moon

Autobytel enjoys first-mover advantage in the Internet new car buying space. According to a number of metrics, it is the online leader in this category. However, a number of competitors have sprung up, raising questions about the long-term viability of Autobytel's... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Competition; Business Model; Service Operations; Budgets and Budgeting; Growth and Development; Auto Industry

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

Working PapersSecuring Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West Author:Benjamin G. Edelman Abstract Read the news of recent computer security guffaws, and it's striking how many problems stem from View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 1995 (Revised September 1997)
Case

TV Guide (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

TV Guide, the nation's most profitable and largest magazine, attempts entry into the world of electronic publishing. The crux of TV Guide's strategy is to transform the magazine's content into a centralized database that can be accessed by new businesses, like... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Service Delivery; Information Technology; Marketing; Information Publishing; Service Industry; Publishing Industry

October 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Preview Travel (A)

By: William A. Sahlman, Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III and Robert Keller

Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Capital; Financial Strategy; Travel Industry; United States