Publications

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

software. During the last week of August, about 25 percent of respondents to the US Census Bureau’s Small Business Pulse Survey said they were increasingly using online platforms to promote goods and services. However, businesses don’t... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Service

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

Regulate Companies like Airbnb and Uber? By: Edelman, Benjamin G., and Damien Geradin Abstract—New software platforms use modern information technology, including full-featured web sites and mobile apps, to allow service providers and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Nov 2024
Book

Building the Road to 'Small Business Utopia' with AI and Fintech

of a portal from which the business owner could operate all their financial activities? What if this intelligent platform knew when the business might need credit and could offer relevant options which were prequalified? And better yet,... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

April 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Monster Networking

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Andrew Vivero

The management at Monster.com, the leading U.S. provider of online recruitment services, must decide how to proceed with Monster Networking (MN), a new business launched in late 2003. MN helps users identify other individuals who can offer career advice. Monster.com... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Social and Collaborative Networks; Recruitment; Service Industry; Employment Industry; United States

03 Apr 2019
Book

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

of the application process, automating it and making it digital first. Soon, however, big banks woke up and realized they did not have to cede this market to the disruptors. JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo all started working... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Banking; Financial Services

January 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Chicago and the Array of Things: A Fitness Tracker for the City

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

The city of Chicago has recently launched a project called the Array of Things. The program involves a series of sensor nodes placed around the city that capture a massive amount of data including pedestrian and vehicle flow, air quality, and cloud cover. The Array of... View Details

Keywords: Smart Connected Products; Smart Cities; Internet Of Things; Sensors; Govenment; Government Administration; Technological Innovation; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Public Administration Industry; Technology Industry; Chicago; United States

November 2017
Case

iRobot: Moving Beyond the Roomba

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

The makers of the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner, connected the latest version of their product to the Internet. This new feature opened up a wealth of new opportunities and challenges for the company. View Details

Keywords: Irobot; Smart Home; Connected Home; Roomba; Vacuum; Mapping; Internet Of Things; Connected Products; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States

November 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

EbonyLife Media (A)

By: Andy Wu, Feng Zhu, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

Founded by Mosunmola “Mo” Abudu in 2012 with a mission to bring high-quality African stories to the world, EbonyLife was the company behind many of Nigeria’s biggest films and TV shows. The company began as a television channel on the Africa-wide direct broadcast... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Consumer Behavior; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Nigeria; Africa

27 Jul 2019
Op-Ed

Does Facebook's Business Model Threaten Our Elections?

unconcerned. Engagement on various applications on the Facebook platform is up. Users appear comfortable with the trade they make to give up privileged information in exchange for a range of convenient and free services. Without a push by... View Details

Keywords: by George Riedel

22 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 22, 2019

Platforms Thrive and Others Don’t By: Zhu, Feng, and Marco Iansiti Abstract— In the digital economy, scale is no guarantee of continued success. After all, the same factors that help an online View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

April 2025
Case

Netflix in 2024

By: Jan Rivkin and David Allen

In 2024, Netflix appeared to emerge victorious from the “streaming wars” that it had waged in recent years with the likes of Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, and Amazon. What had allowed Netflix not only to succeed in the streaming wars but also to thrive for... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

September 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Brightcove, Inc. in 2007

By: Andrei Hagiu and David B. Yoffie

Brightcove, a technology and services provider to content owners in the Internet television field, aimed to become a media distribution company in its own right. On October 30, 2006, it relaunched its Website—and, in effect, its business. With its new, consumer-facing... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Diversification; Digital Platforms; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Distribution; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — Japan

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the Japanese consumer payments landscape featured ongoing widespread use of cash, limited use of credit cards and rapid rise of e-money systems based on contactless technology embedded in cards and especially mobile phones. The case details the alliances that... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Digital Platforms; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Japan

February 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

FreeMarkets OnLine

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the marketing strategy of an entrepreneurial start-up engaged in electronic purchasing for large manufacturers. By creating an electronic bidding platform, the company has been able to cut down procurement costs by about 15%. The case question concerns how... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Bids and Bidding; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Production; Electronics Industry

August 2011
Supplement

InnoCentive.com (B)

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Eric Lonstein

InnoCentive.com enables clients to tap into internal and external solver networks to address various business issues. In 2008, InnoCentive introduced "InnoCentive@Work" (lC@W), which recognized clients' reluctance to share problems and solutions with an external... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Cost vs Benefits; Intellectual Property; Networks; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Product; Groups and Teams; Communication Technology

15 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Post-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company's Operational Resilience

companies will live and die based on their ability to bounce back from a crisis.” Demand for digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) will raise the stakes for strategic data and platform... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Anita Lynch

26 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

The Airbnb Effect: Cheaper Rooms for Travelers, Less Revenue for Hotels

Farronato, a Harvard Business School assistant professor, and Andrey Fradkin, postdoctoral fellow at the Initiative on the Digital Economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "You might find a Fifth Avenue apartment or a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Travel

March 2011
Case

MorphoSys AG: The Evolution of a Biotechnology Business Model

By: Gary P. Pisano, Ryan Johnson and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In the biotech world, the 18-year-old Munich-based company MorphoSys was a rarity: it was profitable. The company achieved this profitability not by developing and selling its own drugs, but by licensing access to its proprietary library of human antibodies. Recently,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Profit; Intellectual Property; Rights; Risk Management; Digital Platforms; Product Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Vertical Integration; Biotechnology Industry; Munich