Publications

04 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 4

entrepreneurs who are building new ventures. In 2005, the group is considering increasing its investment focus to include a broader range of technologies, including emerging technologies (for example, Mobile and RFID technologies) and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Supplement

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

17 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Why Global Brands Work

club. Think IBM's "solutions for a small planet." 5. Social responsibility. Consumers expect global brands to lead on corporate social responsibility, leveraging their technology to solve the world's problems. Think Nestlé and... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Auto

December 1999 (Revised November 2000)
Background Note

Pricing and Market Making on the Internet

By: Robert J. Dolan and Youngme E. Moon

Considers the impact of the Internet on how market exchanges will take place. Discusses the role of shopping agents and alternatives to fixed prices such as negotiations, auctions, and exchanges. View Details

Keywords: Price; Marketing Strategy; Auctions; Digital Platforms; Negotiation; Internet and the Web

23 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Strategy for Small Fish

enormous collective negotiating power with respect to keystones. The same mobility that allows them to escape devastating technological transitions allows them to potentially "leave" a keystone that is trying to extract too much... View Details

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti & Roy Levien

May 2024
Supplement

gWorks (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck, CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size as gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was acquired by... View Details

November 2000
Exercise

Atlantis-Biovent Negotiation: Confidential Instructions for Atlantis

By: Michael A. Wheeler

This two-party exercise illustrates bidding strategy in the context of settling a large insurance claim. Specifically, the claimant (Biovent) and the insurer (Atlantis) are asked to submit confidential offers to a dispute resolution Web site that will determine whether... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Bids and Bidding; Digital Platforms; Negotiation Process; Conflict and Resolution; Strategy; Internet and the Web

Find at Harvard

February 2021 (Revised February 2021)
Case

World of Dreams Entertainment Group: Building a Resilient Business

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Sarah Endline and Michael Norris

In 2021, Ron DeShay, former American Idol producer, is launching his new business venture: World of Dreams Entertainment Group. World of Dreams rethought the existing TV production model, giving audiences more power to directly influence the creation of shows through a... View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Media; Social Issues; Sports; Business Ventures; Digital Platforms; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

May 2024
Supplement

gWorks (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck, CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size as gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was acquired by... View Details

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

03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

Strategic Interactions in Two-Sided Market Oligopolies (revised) Authors:Emmanuel Farhi and Andrei Hagiu Abstract Strategic interactions between two-sided platforms depend not only on whether their decision variables are strategic... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Building the Digital Manufacturing Enterprise of the Future at Siemens

By: Willy Shih

This case describes the motivation for and the development of Siemens' digital manufacturing enterprise vision, which became the foundation for its implementation of Industrie 4.0. While the effort started with a purely defensive move by Anton Huber, head of the... View Details

31 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

A Scholarly Crowd Explores Crowdsourcing

Cox Pahnke, Dan Wang, and Benjamin Hallen. Ripe for study. In a plenary talk on crowdsourced contests and competitions, Lakhani outlined numerous areas in need of further study, which is made much easier by hundreds of crowdsourcing View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

EbonyLife Media (A)

By: Andy Wu, Feng Zhu, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

Founded by Mosunmola “Mo” Abudu in 2012 with a mission to bring high-quality African stories to the world, EbonyLife was the company behind many of Nigeria’s biggest films and TV shows. The company began as a television channel on the Africa-wide direct broadcast... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Consumer Behavior; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Nigeria; Africa

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Disruption: The Art of Framing

a still-viable business model while simultaneously trying to develop a new platform for growth, it gets pulled in two directions, and both efforts underperform. Kodak, for example, needs to continue to focus on traditional competitors... View Details

Keywords: by Clark Gilbert & Joseph L. Bower

May 2020 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal

In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and... View Details

14 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Airbnb Hosts Discriminate Against African-American Guests

many online marketplaces of the so-called sharing economy. “To facilitate trust, many online platforms like Airbnb encourage sellers to provide personal profiles and even to post pictures of themselves” says HBS Associate Professor Ben... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Accommodations; Web Services

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