Publications

18 Apr 2014
News

Making “Freemium” Work

19 Feb 2020
News

Why real-life places still matter in the age of texting and Twitter

12 Feb 2015
Video

Stayin’ Alive: Technology and the End of Institutions

21 Jul 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Enabling Versus Controlling

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright

June 2014
Teaching Note

Steve Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

Article

Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?

By: Benjamin Edelman

This paper studies the adult online entertainment industry, particularly the consumption side of the market. In particular, it focuses on the demographics and consumption patterns of those who subscribe to adult entertainment websites. On the surface, this business... View Details

Keywords: Online Technology; Segmentation; Film Entertainment; Demographics; Web Sites; Competition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Demand and Consumers; Legal Liability; Culture; Religion; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

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Read Now

April 2000 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Peppers and Rogers Group, The

By: John A. Deighton

Can two successful authors build a scalable consulting practice based on their unique view of customer relationship management (CRM)? Should they emphasize strategy or execution? The case describes how Peppers and Rogers grew from two people earning speaker fees to a... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Growth and Development; Information Publishing; Going Public; Strategy; Competition; Internet; Consulting Industry

18 Jun 2015
News

Three Bright Lights in American Infrastructure

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Oklahoma VISION Project

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Susan Saltrick

Describes the two-year-old pilot phase of a public/private initiative in Oklahoma called the Virtual Internet School in Oklahoma Network (VISION) project. VISION was a first-of-its-kind, standards-based, vendor-neutral technology infrastructure developed to enable... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Internet and the Web; Performance Evaluation; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship; Education; Information Technology Industry; Education Industry; Oklahoma; Western United States

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October 2021
Article

Can Self-Regulation Save Digital Platforms?

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

This article explores some of the critical challenges facing self-regulation and the regulatory environment for digital platforms. We examine several historical examples of firms and industries that attempted self-regulation before the Internet. All dealt with similar... View Details

Keywords: Self-regulation; Government Regulation; Digital Platforms; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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June 2019
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira

By 2019, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were among the highest-growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products, or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-Sided Markets; Digital Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Two-Sided Platforms; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Customers; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation

April 2022
Case

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

As COVID-19 hit and school buildings closed across America in the spring of 2020, tens of thousands of K-12 students in Chattanooga’s Hamilton County lacked the high-quality Internet service required to connect them to remote education. Bryan Johnson, superintendent... View Details

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Online Technology; Education Industry; Tennessee

April 2003
Case

Energis (A)

By: John R. Wells

Describes the history of Energis, one of the United Kingdom's major alternative telecommunications network service providers (altnets). Tracks the company from its birth as a diversification move by the National Grid, the U.K.'s leading electricity distributor, through... View Details

Keywords: History; Change Management; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Verge Software (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Elizabeth Kind

Scott Rozic, CEO of start-up Verge Software, has just told his board that he is taking the company in a totally new direction, moving from enterprise knowledge management software to Internet direct marketing. This case covers the start-up of the business, and Rozic's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; United States

October 1998 (Revised April 2001)
Case

United Way of Massachusetts Bay

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

The United Way of Massachusetts Bay held the monopoly on workplace giving for 50 years. In the 1990s it has experienced a dramatic change in the workplace itself and in donor attitudes toward giving and toward the United Way organization. This case investigates the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Monopoly; Relationships; Attitudes; Internet; Massachusetts

23 Dec 2015
News

Helping Powerless Have ‘Presence’: Amy Cuddy Expands On Hit TED Talk In New Book

December 2010 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

December 2000
Case

SupplierMarket.com (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Jared Stone

Describes a decision confronting the cofounders of a B2B Internet firm that focuses on the purchasing process for manufactured direct materials. The company has raised one round of capital from two prominent venture capital firms and must decide if it makes sense to... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Customers; Decisions; Venture Capital; Internet