Publications

August 2013
Technical Note

Raising the Level of Abstraction

By: Willy Shih

This technical note discusses abstraction as a way of generalizing a process or component for wider application. By hiding complexity inside a module, abstraction enables system designers to think at a higher level. This lowers entry barriers to using (and reusing) a... View Details

Keywords: Abstraction; Modularity; Commercialization; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; United States; Asia; Europe

November 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

VerticalNet (www.verticalnet.com)

By: Das Narayandas

VerticalNet, a leading creator of targeted business-to-business vertical trade communities on the Internet, is trying to expand its model to facilitate e-commerce. Mark Walsh, the CEO of VerticalNet, has to decide how far he can extend the firm's business model without... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decisions; Digital Platforms; Expansion; Internet and the Web

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

01 Sep 2024
News

Far-Reaching Impact

Above: Teachers in India's daycare system draw on Rocket Learning's digital platform to enhance learning. Photo courtesy Rocket Learning When the news reached Namya Mahajan (MBA 2022) as her HBS graduation was approaching that she would receive financial assistance to... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

15 Mar 2019
News

A Model of Drive and Impact

Pablo Fernandez Alvarez (GMP 17, 2014) is cofounder of Clicars, an e-commerce platform in Spain that allows users to buy and finance refurbished cars hassle-free. In this interview, Fernandez explains the business model, the reasons... View Details

Keywords: Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (B), (C), and (D) Case Slides

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron

Contains slides related to the Betfair B, C, and D cases.
Abstracts:
B) Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model.
C) Prompted by a takeover bid from... View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Betting; Leisure Industry; Betting Markets; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Diversification; Business Model; Laws and Statutes; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Supplement

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

01 Dec 2020
News

Finding The Right Patient-Provider Match

the digital revolution has improved health care discovery and delivery. Digital Transformation of Health Care The power of the enterprise platform has been particularly... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

Web

Teams | New Venture Competition

affordable, reliable, and clean irrigation. TestParty Michael Bervell (MBA 2024) Jason Tan Comprehensive platform to help companies get and stay ADA or EAA compliant based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Trans Health HQ Ivan... View Details

Gil Addo

Gil Addo is CEO and Co-founder of RubiconMD, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVS Health. RubiconMD’s digital health platform empowers primary care clinicians with access to virtual specialist support to improve... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

October 2001
Case

Meg Whitman and eBay Germany

By: Linda A. Hill and Maria Farkas

After acquiring the German online auction company Alando.de, eBay CEO Meg Whitman and her team must integrate Alando's Web site with the company's existing platform. The acquisition is the first step of eBay's journey to become a global trading platform. In addition to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Integration; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Globalized Markets and Industries; Germany

April 2008 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Visions of Web 3.0

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Andrew Vivero

Explores the Semantic Web, a vision for the next generation of the World Wide Web in which information is stored in machine-readable formats. While the Semantic Web would make information more easily accessible, barriers to its adoption are very high because website... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web

Find at Harvard

October 2022
Case

Volt Lines: Leading a B2B Service Provider through a Crisis (A)

By: Navid Mojir and Gamze Yucaoglu

Volt Lines was a next-generation transportation service in Istanbul, Turkey. The company was trying to disrupt the traditional corporate transportation market by developing software that allowed it to offer subscription-based transportation. Under the subscription... View Details

Keywords: Business To Business Marketing; B2B Marketing; B2B Pricing; Subscription Model; Crisis Marketing; Startup; Service Management; Information Technology; Transportation; COVID-19 Pandemic; Disruptive Innovation; Digital Platforms; Business Model; Price; Crisis Management; Opportunities; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Turkey