Publications

May 2013
Case

Yammer (A)

By: Mikolaj J. Piskorski, Kerry Herman and Aaron Smith

In Spring 2012, Yammer was on track to become a highly successful standalone company. Yammer was a leading Enterprise Social Network (ESN), providing companies a private social network in which employees could collaborate securely and efficiently. However, later that... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Opportunities; Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Integration; Decision Choices and Conditions; Social and Collaborative Networks; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry

10 Feb 2016
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: New Insights into Career Development

Harvard Business School researchers are offering unique insights into our workplaces and careers. In this world, taking a pay cut can help a career, promotions aren't always good things, and networking may send you to the nearest tub for... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

January 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

NSK Software Technologies Ltd.

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey M. Anapolsky

Discusses the efforts of three Israeli software engineers' efforts to bring a network security software product to market. The firm needs an investment to complete programming and start marketing. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Financing and Loans; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; Israel

2018
Working Paper

OTC Intermediaries

By: Andrea L. Eisfeldt, Bernard Herskovic, Sriram Rajan and Emil Siriwardane

Over-the-counter (OTC) markets for financial assets are dominated by a relatively small number of core intermediaries and a large number of peripheral customers. In this paper, we develop a model of trade in a core-periphery network and estimate its key structural... View Details

Keywords: OTC Markets; Intermediaries; Dealers; Credit Default Swaps; Risk Sharing; Networks; Price; Risk and Uncertainty

SSRN

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Research Summary

Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations

Researchers debate the role of installed base, platform quality and consumer expectations in driving the success of platforms. We analyze these three factors in a dynamic model where a new entrant with superior quality competes with an incumbent platform, and... View Details

September 2018
Case

OYO: Creating Effective Spaces

By: Das Narayandas, Sunil Gupta, Rachna Tahilyani and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

Twenty-four-year old Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of India-based online hotel branding network OYO Rooms, has tackled the issue of unreliability in India's highly fragmented budget hotel industry. In 2018, OYO branded 8,500 properties across 200 cities and managed... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Accomodation; App Development; Operations And Processes; Innovation; Strategy; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Research; Marketing; Operations; Innovation Strategy; Sales; Accommodations Industry; India; South Asia

03 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Pricing and Efficiency in the Market for IP Addresses

Keywords: by Benjamin Edelman & Michael Schwarz; Publishing

Research Summary

Overview

By: Feng Zhu

Professor Zhu’s research focuses on the design of platform business models and its impact on platform performance. Platforms have become central to our economy. A platform is a product or service that enables two or more customer groups to interact. For example,... View Details

February 1994 (Revised May 1994)
Background Note

Exercising Influence

By: Linda A. Hill

Provides a framework for understanding the exercise of interpersonal influence in organizations. Describes some of the "myths and realities" of management that new managers discover--specifically, that managers are dependent on a complex network of relationships to get... View Details

Keywords: Power and Influence

June 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Growing from One Thousand to One Million Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Morgan Brown

By 2016, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were pervasive 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 Platforms; Marketing; Digital Marketing; Growth Management; Service Industry

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

The Credit Suisse/Gerson Lehrman Group Alliance

By: Robert G. Eccles and Laura Winig

The equity research department of Credit Suisse and the expert network firm of Gerson Lehrman Group, historically competitors, have established a strategic alliance which both believe will give them a competitive advantage. Under the leadership of its head of equity... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Financial Crisis; Investment Banking; Innovation and Invention; Alliances; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry

May 2017
Case

Street League Skateboarding

By: Robert F. Higgins and Christine Snively

In 2013, Street League Skateboarding, a professional skateboarding league founded in 2010, just concluded its annual Street League World Tour. The growing action-sports property had purchased time on ESPN2 to air its events, and though ESPN was the most-watched sports... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Television Entertainment; Sports; Product Launch; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

March 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Case

3i Group plc

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Brian Larcombe, CEO of 3i Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms and one of the few publicly listed ones, is deciding how best to use his firm's international network to deliver superior returns to shareholders. This case presents 3i's history and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Networks; Private Equity; Growth Management; Global Strategy; Public Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

Research Summary

PAPERS AND BOOKS IN PROGRESS:

"Social Networks in Republican Shanghai," edited conference volume with Nara Dillion.

"Equity Shares as Political Payoff: Property Rights Reform in Chinese Firms," ms. 2005

"Pathways of Development: The Uncertain... View Details

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Supplement

Global Knowledge Management at Danone (C)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Ruth Dittrich and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The (C) case provides an update on the B-case decision and describes the introduction of Dan 2.0, an internal social virtual network for the purpose of knowledge sharing in a company that was only used to face-to-face networking. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Knowledge Sharing; Information Infrastructure; Opportunities; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Management Practices and Processes

20 Nov 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Building a Nonprofit Marketplace to Feed America

Keywords: Re: Scott Duke Kominers; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Distribution; Food & Beverage

2007
Working Paper

Modularity, Transactions, and the Boundaries of Firms: A Synthesis

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This paper constructs a unified theory of the location of transactions and the boundaries of firms. It proposes that systems of production can be viewed as networks of tasks. Transactions, defined as mutually agreed-upon transfers with compensation, are located... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Market Entry and Exit; Market Transactions; Industry Structures; Production; Boundaries; Theory