Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(320)
- Faculty Publications (87)
- October 2013 (Revised July 2025)
- Case
Rhythm & Blues
By: Willy Shih
The bankruptcy filing of Rhythm & Hues, who received an Oscar for the arresting visual effects in Life of Pi, raised questions about the challenges faced by the firms like it as well as the broader post-production industry. The rapid pace of technology certainly... View Details
Keywords: Post-production; Visual Effects; Digital; Entertainment; Animation Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Los Angeles
- 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
- November 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Supplement
Global Unichip Corporation (B)
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Jim Lai, President of Global Unichip Corporation (GUC), mapped out the changes he saw coming to the global semiconductor industry. The big question was how many system developers would start coming directly to GUC. View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Value-network; Vertical Integration; Entry Barriers; Intermediaries; Dis-intermediation; Aggregator; Vertical Specialization; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Integration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Industry Structures; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Complexity; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan
- October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Global Unichip Corporation (A)
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Value-network; Entry Barriers; Intermediaries; Dis-intermediation; Aggregator; Vertical Specialization; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Industry Structures; Information Infrastructure; Complexity; Information Technology; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan
- July 2012 (Revised April 2014)
- Case
Research In Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War
By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer
The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in the US, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM) who manufacture the popular Blackberry line of products. Early in 2011, RIM is in trouble. Its stock price has plummeted, amidst poor... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Product Development; Technology Strategy; Platform Strategy; Software; Hardware; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry; Canada; United States
- July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!
By: Willy Shih
For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details
- October 2010
- Case
The iPhone at IVK
By: Richard L. Nolan and Robert D. Austin
The CIO addresses a decision to replace salesmen netbook PC's with iPhones, including converting the company's sales and customer applications to the iPhone platform View Details
- Article
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane
We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details
- October 2009 (Revised March 2012)
- Case
Nettwerk: Digital Marketing in the Music Industry
By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
How is music marketed in the digital era? Nettwerk Music Group built on its foundation as a social, grassroots marketer of music and artists and emerged as a leader in the Internet-enabled social media environment. For most of the past decade Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride... View Details
- April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
- Case
Linden Lab: Crossing the Chasm
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
In early 2008, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard
The central role of "platform" products and services in mediating the activities of disaggregated "clusters" or "ecosystems" of firms has been widely recognized. But platforms and the systems in which they are embedded are very diverse. In particular, platforms may... View Details
- Article
Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms
In a platform-mediated network, users rely on a common platform, provided by one or more intermediaries, that encompasses infrastructure and rules required by users to transact with each other. A fundamental design decision for firms that aspire to develop... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised September 2008)
- Case
Apple Inc., 2008
By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind
In January 2007, three decades after its incorporation, Apple Computer shed the second word in its name and became Apple Inc. With that move, the company signaled a fundamental shift away from its historic status as a vendor of the Macintosh personal computer (PC)... View Details
- September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
- Module Note
Platform-Mediated Networks: Definitions and Core Concepts
Defines platform-mediated networks and introduces concepts central to their study. First, it defines networks and network effects; explains how network effects influence users' willingness-to-pay for network access; describes factors that determine the strength of... View Details
- January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell
We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details
Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure
- October 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Strategic Inflection: TiVo in 2005
By: David B. Yoffie, Pai-Ling Yin and Barbara Mack
In the late 1990s, TiVo pioneered the digital video recorder (DVR), a new consumer electronics category. By 2005, the company was the clear leader in technology and installed base. It had also built extraordinary loyalty among its customers. However, TiVo lost a half... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
eAccess, Ltd.
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Masako Egawa and Ariko Ota
The managers of eAccess, Japan's third largest provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) service, must decide whether to enter the mobile communications business. Japan's mobile services are among the world's most expensive, and incumbent carriers' profits are high. To... View Details
- March 2005
- Background Note
Home Video Games: Generation Seven
By: Elie Ofek
Discusses the issues facing firms in the seventh generation of home video game platforms. In particular, Sony and Microsoft plan to launch new game consoles in the 2005 to 2006 time frame. Each firm seems to be following a different strategy. Microsoft wants to launch... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised March 2005)
- Case
Music Downloads
By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier
Examines the competition between competing music formats. In the '90s, the MP3 format challenged the traditional means of music distribution by allowing for storage of near CD-quality recordings at 1/10th of their previous size. The threat to traditional distribution... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised June 2010)
- Case
Akamai Technologies
By: Benjamin Edelman, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Eric J. Van den Steen
As the leading content delivery network, Akamai helps Internet companies deliver Web site content to end users with fewer delays and lower costs. Describes the strategic management challenges facing Akamai in early 2004. The company is poised to offer its next... View Details