Publications

December 2012 (Revised April 2025)
Case

AmTran Technology Ltd.

By: Willy Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Karen E. Robinson

As an original design manufacturer (ODM) of television sets and leading supplier to Vizio, a market leader in the U.S. for LCD flat panel TVs, AmTran Technology Ltd. uses what founder Alpha Wu describes as a "WE" model in which western companies perform sales,... View Details

January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details

17 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 17, 2007

note: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=707493 PublicationsMerchant or Two-Sided Platform Author:Andrei Hagiu Periodical:Review of Network Economics (forthcoming) Abstract This paper provides a first pass at... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

How Much Is Freedom Worth? For Gig Workers, a Lot.

For some gig workers, losing the flexibility to set their own schedules is equivalent to taking a 17 percent pay cut, according to new research that explores the wages and work habits of DoorDash drivers. App-based platforms that allow... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Technology

14 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

Desktop Search and Revenue Streams

accessible and useful to you,'" he said. Like Yahoo, Google also recently launched a desktop search product. Mark Kroese, general manager of information services and Merchant platform product marketing at MSN, said it is clear that... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette

13 Oct 2015
First Look

October 13, 2015

of the design of crowdfunding platforms can therefore be understood as attempts to deal with attendant "free-rider" problems in motivating contributions. Reviewing institutional features of today's crowdfunding, we clarify that... View Details

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

related future transactions—or even the current transaction—without the platform’s involvement and without paying any fees the platform may charge. This technical note assesses which marketplaces are most vulnerable to disintermediation... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Oct 2016
Op-Ed

Why Business Should Invest in Community Health

million grant to scale a successful medical knowledge sharing and collaborative practice platform pioneered by Project Echo in 2003 to expand specialty care access and quality at the centers. Long involved in community initiatives, IBM... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch, Howard Koh, and Pamela Yatsko; Health

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

also teaches courses on innovation and building new ventures to seasoned executives in the School's Executive Education Program. This excerpt from a recent presentation encourages executives to leverage disruptive change as a platform for... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

Resource Management Review Cross-boundary Teaming for Innovation: Integrating Research on Teams and Knowledge in Organizations By: Edmondson, Amy C., and Jean-François Harvey Abstract—Cross-boundary teaming, within and across organizations, is an increasingly popular... View Details

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

Measure Economic Activity at Scale By: Glaeser, Edward L., Hyunjin Kim, and Michael Luca Abstract—Can new data sources from online platforms help to measure local economic activity at scale? Government datasets from agencies such as the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Hotwire.com: Navigating Through Turbulence

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Manny de Zarraga and Eric Levine

On September 10, 2001, after speaking at an industry conference at New York’s World Trade Center, Hotwire co-founder Spencer Rascoff boarded a flight from Newark to San Francisco. After returning home, Rascoff awoke the next morning to a phone call informing him that... View Details

Keywords: September 11; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Disruption; Decisions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth Management; Digital Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Air Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; San Francisco

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

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Corporate Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Science-Based Business; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Business Conglomerates; Digital Platforms; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Computer Industry