Platform Strategies - Publications - Faculty & Research

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

When our team reached out to 600 CEOs during the pandemic’s early stages to ask them about their greatest concerns, many cited communication with employees. While the right communication strategy has been critical during the pandemic, it... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

22 Feb 2024
News

GCC Crossroads Aims for a Bright Future; Seattle Alumni Talk Leadership in Tech; Italy Preps for European Alumni Summit

Clubs News Clubs News Crossroads Forum Explores Future of Gulf Region More than 1,300 public and private leaders convened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 30 and 31 for the Crossroads GCC Future Impact Forum, co-hosted by the HBS Club of the Gulf Cooperation Council... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

07 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: Sept. 7

activity on a massive scale-devising strategies that provide employment for the billions now outside the system, inventing business models that make better use of scarce resources, and creating institutional arrangements for coordinating... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

Kerry HermanHarvard Business School Case 510-063 In January 2010, Jen McDonald, head of Bank of America Corporation's (BAC) Digital Marketing group, was discussing the bank's mobile strategy with Douglas Brown, senior vice president,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

How Economic Clusters Drive Globalization

connection that occurs through knowledge exchange on the local level or across wider cluster networks.” In that sense, she says, clusters become platforms for development, which has present-day implications for corporations, governments,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness

13 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Your Company Wants to be a 'Cognitive Referent' (Hint: SpaceX)

this new market and product category to take off, but if they become the cognitive referent, they get an unequal share of the gains from doing so.” Is there a roadmap or strategy that firms can follow to gain cognitive referent status?... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Aerospace; Food & Beverage; Retail

18 Jul 2019
Lessons from the Classroom

The Internet of Things Needs a Business Model. Here It Is

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been near the top of the technology-hype lists for years. In 2018, Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies ranked IoT platforms as cresting the “peak of inflated expectations” stage and ready to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Computer

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

strategies and their importance for globalization have been scarce. In The Language of Global Success, Tsedal Neeley provides an in-depth look at a single organization—the high-tech giant Rakuten—in the five years following its English... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

to first dates, people frequently experience performance anxiety. And when experienced immediately before or during performance, anxiety harms performance. Across a series of experiments, we explore the efficacy of a common strategy that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2020
Case

Uber at a Crossroads (2017)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes the history of Uber, its business model—including the ways it differed from that of the traditional taxi industry—and its competition with Lyft. The case is set in 2017, a year in which Uber was plagued by even more scandals than usual, though its... View Details

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Educators

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03 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017

university graduates in Japan used GROW, an artificial intelligence platform and mobile app developed by Tokyo-based people analytics startup IGS, to recruit for a job. This case puts participants in the shoes of IGS founder and CEO... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 1

businesses, made acquisitions in digital innovation and cloud computing, formed partnerships with former competitors such as Apple and tech startups, and invested in internally developed cognitive computing/AI platform Watson, a big bet... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

One More Way the Startup World Hampers Women Entrepreneurs

Before launching new products, entrepreneurs are often filled with doubt: Will their ideas successfully take off in the marketplace—or will they fall flat? To cut down on uncertainty, creators can post their inventions on platforms such... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

03 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Fierce Competitors Apple and Amazon Became ’Frenemies’ Over eReaders

terms, both companies would like nothing better than to have customers to themselves, wrapped up in their own seamless media universes: iTunes, iPad, and Apple TV on the one hand; and Kindle, Amazon Prime, and Fire TV on the other. “Even though these View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information; Publishing; Technology

08 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Computer Science Principles Every Strategic Leader Needs to Know

the App Store and its ecosystem of services. Eight of the 10 most valuable companies in the world are currently pursuing platform strategies, Wu says. Ultimately, platform View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, John Heilbron and Neil Campbell

Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model. View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Business Model; Betting; Leisure Industry; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Diversification; Financial Services Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

Citation

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July 2015 (Revised August 2015)
Teaching Note

Resuscitating Monitter

By: Benjamin Edelman and Wei Sun

Supplements 915027. View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Strategy; Entrepreneurship

Citation

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01 Sep 2015
News

Case Study: Golden Ticket

(iStock) The startup shorthand for the year-old G8 Rocket (pronounced “gate rocket”) is SAP meets Square—an enterprise platform designed for local vendors. In G8 Rocket’s case, those vendors are typically high-school athletic departments,... View Details