Publications

03 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Fierce Competitors Apple and Amazon Became ’Frenemies’ Over eReaders

terms, both companies would like nothing better than to have customers to themselves, wrapped up in their own seamless media universes: iTunes, iPad, and Apple TV on the one hand; and Kindle, Amazon Prime, and Fire TV on the other. “Even though these View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information; Publishing; Technology

01 Jun 2022
News

3-Minute Briefing: Earl “Butch” Graves Jr. (MBA 1988)

platforms reach about 9.5 million unique visitors each month. We are now the number-one Black digital media brand. Ten years ago, when we started our directory of African Americans sitting on Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

February 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Rise of the Drones: Identified Technologies

By: Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

The founder and CEO of Identified Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based drone software and services company, faces a dilemma when San Francisco–based DroneDeploy begins to disrupt the industry with its drone software platform. Identified Technologies needs to consider... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Disruption; Network Effects; Computer Industry; Web Services Industry; Pittsburgh; San Francisco

01 Mar 2019
News

Napkin Finance: Say It in a Picture

sketching them out within the space limitations of a fouror five-inch square. With a library of hundreds of digital napkins and counting—along with short videos, actual paper napkins, and a book to come later this year—Napkin Finance is... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

Web

Peggy Yin | MBA

contexts fraught with warring economic priorities while blossoming in communities using digital platforms to express true, untold stories. Learning from these narratives at the intersection of technology and... View Details

06 Dec 2021
News

Action Plan: Whole Sale

online platforms such as YouTube or, more recently, TikTok, to discover new products, but digital sales in the category were not on par with other consumer goods. The explanation: “Beauty is a fun purchase... View Details

Keywords: April White; ecommerce; bricks and mortar; marketing; beauty

01 Dec 2018
News

Lifelong Learning about Leadership

careers and lives, and the other utilizes HBS’s online learning platform to share the School’s pedagogy with broader audiences. More than 70 MBA alumni from the classes of 1995– 2005—all seasoned professionals at an inflection... View Details

01 Mar 2007
News

Microsoft’s Ballmer Makes His Pitch

conducted, and developing platforms to promote digital reading. “It’s stunning that we still read so much on paper,” said Ballmer. In addition, the company will push forward with major efforts to build its... View Details

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Sep 2020
News

Giving Amazon the Boot

Amazon was one of the big beneficiaries: The tech giant’s second quarter revenue was $88.9 billion, up a staggering 40 percent from the same period a year earlier. Amazon is the cornerstone of ecommerce—but are the merchants that offer their goods on the View Details

Keywords: Lisa Scanlon Mogolov; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

01 Sep 2017
News

Read All About It: Journalism Can Be Profitable

(above: photo by Mary Rajkumar/Mint/Getty Images) When the New York Times introduced its paywall in 2011, few people believed that readers would pay for the news online. Today, the newspaper has more than 1.6 million digital subscribers—a... View Details

Keywords: April White; New York Times; newspapers; Google; Wirecutter; social media; Facebook; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

09 Jun 2015
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Media

different insights into developing and executing a successful social media strategy. Brand Manager's Guide to Losing Control Social media platforms have taken some of the marketing power away from companies and given it to consumers. Jill... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Advertising

September 2000 (Revised October 2006)
Teaching Note

Wildfire Communications, Inc. (A) and (B) (TN)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and John T. Gourville

Teaching Note for (9-396-305) and (9-396-306). View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Performance Effectiveness; Business Processes; Digital Platforms; Business Strategy; Markets

16 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Read Our Most Popular Stories of the Quarter

education nonprofit wants nothing less than to “provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere. (8,230 visits) How to Be a Digital Platform Leader The most valuable companies in the world have one... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

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

July 2022
Case

Metaverse Seoul

By: Mitchell Weiss and Samantha Markowitz

In May 2022, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) launched the pilot of Metaverse Seoul, a government-run metaverse. SMG had delivered a virtual version of Seoul’s mayor’s office. The team aimed to gain insights as they worked towards building a broad, immersive,... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Government Administration; Public Administration Industry; South Korea; Asia

December 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Ocado

By: José Alvarez, David E. Bell and Damien McLoughlin

In 2015, U.K.-based Ocado was the world's largest pure player in the online home-delivery grocery business and was gaining a growing share of the highly competitive U.K. grocery market. Ocado had made heavy investments in technology, including a highly automated... View Details

February 2014
Article

Responses to Entry in Multi-Sided Markets: The Impact of Craigslist on Local Newspapers

By: Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu

How do firms respond to entry in multi-sided markets? We address this question by studying the impact of Craigslist, a website providing classified-advertising services, on local U.S. newspapers. We exploit temporal and geographical variation in Craigslist's entry to... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Internet and the Web; Newspapers; Advertising; Advertising Industry; Journalism and News Industry

Find at Harvard

2012
Chapter

IP Modularity in Software Ecosystems: How SugarCRM's IP and Business Model Shape Its Product Architecture

By: Josef Waltl, Joachim Henkel and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Keywords: Business Model; Digital Platforms; Open Source Distribution; Complexity; Applications and Software; Intellectual Property