Publications

March 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Amazon.com (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, an Internet-based bookseller, has created one of the most successful ventures for electronic commerce on the Web. With revenue growing at a pace of 30% per month, Bezos attributes the success of Amazon.com to its value... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Retail Industry

01 Dec 2002
News

Porter Course Goes Abroad

beyond Boston. The Microeconomics of Competitiveness: Firms, Clusters, and Economic Development used Internet technology and digitalized video to make teaching materials, guest speakers, and class lectures available via the Web to faculty... View Details

01 Oct 1999
News

Eight Among Many: Robert F. Diromualdo

customers can relax." In contrast, the bookselling industry itself is a case study in competitiveness, with firms poised to pounce on every customer desire and need. Back in 1991, for instance, DiRomualdo sensed there was an opportunity... View Details

Keywords: James E. Aisner

Other Article

The Market That Wasn't: The Non-emergence of the Online Grocery Category

By: Chad Navis, Greg Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

We examine the non-emergence of a potential new market category. In the late 1990s the entrepreneurial firms that attempted to sell groceries online attracted significant resources, made meaningful technological advancements and generated immense publicity, yet online... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Food; Emerging Markets; Service Industry; Service Industry

Read Now

February 2001
Case

BarnesandNoble.com (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dickson Louie and William A. Sahlman

At the end of 1998, Jonathan Bulkeley, the newly-named CEO of barnesandnoble.com, is faced with a challenge. As the second leading online bookseller behind Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com must build its market share. With Forrester Research predicting that the online... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Publishing Industry

20 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs

CEO of Silk Road Technologies. For the true entrepreneur, he continued, reality is the superior teacher; and school is an excuse to delay failure. Although their topic was "Post Boom Internet Opportunities," panelists spent most... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

22 Oct 2013
News

Pulling the Plug

science fiction, but think about how no one could have imagined wireless Internet networks a decade ago, Giler says. "Now you get mad if you don't have WiFi." In 10 years, he says, wireless electricity will seem completely quaint. Giler... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs; Telecommunications; Information; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Dec 2017
News

A Safer—and Speedier—Way to Name Your Startup

what’s out there to avoid any unpleasant surprises.” Besides similarity of name, search results incorporate information on industry sectors and trademark classes. “What trademark is about is the likelihood of confusion, so the system... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

01 Dec 2009
News

Broad Range of Interests Among Nine New Faculty

experience in the supermarket industry and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. Bruce Harreld (MBA ’75) is applying his considerable experience as a strategic and marketing leader at IBM and as a speaker and writer on corporate... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

January 2000
Case

Claiborne Asks Web Surfers to Name New Line

Presents results of an Internet-voting promotion used to guide selection of a brand name for a new clothing firm extension. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Apparel and Accessories Industry

01 Apr 2000
News

Strike Up the Broad(band)

What did Time Warner have that AOL wanted? According to many industry observers, the driving force behind the proposed megamerger was AOL's strategic need to acquire access to the media giant's broadband hardware. HBS professor Stephen P.... View Details

01 Sep 2010
News

Start-Ups Make Their Pitch

industry to the production of mechanical (“dumb”) and electronic (“smart”) beds. Eventually, he expects to develop an entire suite of compact hospital room furnishings. The Alumni New Venture Contest was created with two goals in mind: to... View Details

Keywords: awards; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

1997
Chapter

Frontiers of Online Financial Services

By: R. Kalakota and F. Frei

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Finance; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

July 2003 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Global Healthcare Exchange

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge

Founded in March 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble, Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) was one of 90 online marketplaces in the health care industry. The company's founders were among the largest suppliers in the industry, including Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Price; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Organizational Design; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Health Industry