Publications

June 2002 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Online Music Distribution in a Post-Napster World

By: Youngme E. Moon

Provides a description of the rise and decline of Napster, the free Internet music-swapping service. Also describes second-generation peer-to-peer services (e.g., Gnutella) as well as paid subscription services (e.g., MusicNet, pressplay). View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Internet and the Web; Price; Marketing Channels; Service Operations; Music Industry

April 2009 (Revised June 2014)
Teaching Note

Distribution at American Airlines (A) — (D)

By: Benjamin Edelman

Teaching Note for [909035], [909036], [913034], and [913035]. View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Air Transportation Industry

Research Summary

Distributed Innovation in Open Systems—The Role of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Distributed innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. As education levels rise and communication costs fall, more people have the means and motivation to innovate. Supply chains now stretch around the world as firms outsource... View Details

September 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Interactive Insurance Services: Redefining Insurance Distribution

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Marla Malcom-Nagler

Founded in July 1995, Interactive Insurance Services provided personal lines of insurance over the World Wide Web. In June 1996, the company was acquired by Intuit for $7.5 million. The case details the competitive and organizational issues faced by this rapidly... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Restructuring; Growth and Development; Distribution; Business Processes; Competitive Strategy; Web; Insurance Industry

Aug 2012
Lecture

Modularity and Distributed Innovation: Opportunities and Threats

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

May 1974 (Revised December 1974)
Background Note

Assessing Probability Distributions for Uncertain Quantities

2007
Working Paper

Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanzcuk

We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details

Keywords: Heterogeneous Plants; Productivity; Policy Distortions; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Resource Allocation; Macroeconomics

Read Now

June 1987 (Revised August 1989)
Case

International Business Machines Corp.: Supplies Distribution

1987
Book

Trade Promotion and Food Distribution Costs

By: R. Buzzell, J. Quelch and W. Salmon

February 2020
Case

Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization (Abridged)

By: Christopher Stanton, Shikhar Ghosh, William R. Kerr, Sarah Gulick and James Palano

Keywords: Remote Work

January 1975
Article

The Spatial Distribution of Urban Pharmacies

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Sam Leinhardt

Keywords: Health; Urban Scope; Health Industry

September 1995 (Revised May 1998)
Case

RogersCasey Alternative Investments: Innovative Response to the Distribution Challenge

By: Josh Lerner

RogersCasey Alternative Investments faces the challenge of managing distributions of stock by the private equity investors in which their clients have invested. These distributed shares appear to behave in complex ways, apparently at odds with market efficiency. A... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Stocks; Financial Strategy; Investment; Innovation Strategy; Management; Distribution; Performance; Behavior

August 1988 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Dunkin' Donuts (E): 1988 Distribution Strategies

Dunkin' Donuts is exploring various methods of increasing distribution. Possibilities involving new outlets include area development contracts, subfranchising, regional rollout strategies, and an increase in company owned stores. Possibilities focusing on existing... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Franchise Ownership; Distribution Channels; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Farmington Fresh: Growers Changing Produce Distribution

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Don Daniels

Opening up of Asian markets for U.S. produce provided an opportunity for large-scale producers to develop their own packing house and airline to ship their product to Asian markets. Teaching Purpose: How do farmers take a proactive strategy in reaching global produce... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Global Strategy; Air Transportation; Asia; United States

Research Summary

Consumerism and the Distributed Delivery of Health Care

By: Robert S. Huckman

This stream of Professor Huckman's work examines the growing tendency for health care to be delivered in a more distributed manner. Examples of this phenomenon include health IT, teleradiology, medical travel, remote monitoring of chronic medical conditions, and retail... View Details

March 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Designing the Future of Work: Atlassian’s Distributed Work Practices

By: Ashley Whillans and Gabriel Rondón Ichikawa

In early 2020, the software company Atlassian made a bold commitment: employees could work from anywhere—forever. While many tech peers reversed course on remote work, Atlassian worked to optimize their fully distributed model across 13 countries. This case follows... View Details

January 1992 (Revised March 1995)
Teaching Note

Dunkin' Donuts (E): 1988 Distribution Strategies, Teaching Note

By: Walter J. Salmon

Teaching Note for (9-589-017). View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Food and Beverage Industry

September 1976 (Revised February 1987)
Background Note

Note on the Electronic Component Distribution Industry

By: Michael E. Porter

Keywords: Distribution; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

September 2019
Case

Celgene: Business Development and Distributed Research

By: Peter Barrett and Kareem Reda

This case looks at the deal-making process between Celgene, a large publicly traded pharmaceutical company, and Agios, an early-stage biotech company. The framework of a potential deal is explored and the potential road-blocks to Agios’ profitability are discussed. ... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Alliances; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Research; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry