Publications

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01 Nov 2018
News

On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

12 Feb 2025
Video

Beyond traditional ownership: Capitalism's next chapter

November 2022 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Hugging Face (A): Serving AI on a Platform

By: Shane Greenstein, Daniel Yue, Sarah Gulick and Kerry Herman

It is fall 2022, and open-source AI model company Hugging Face is considering its three areas of priorities: platform development, supporting the open-source community, and pursuing cutting-edge scientific research. As it expands services for enterprise clients, which... View Details

Keywords: Community; Open-source; AI and Machine Learning; Product Development; Networks; Service Delivery; Research; Governance; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Information Industry; Technology Industry; United States

02 Feb 2016
News

HBS Launches Clinical Trials Contest

19 Jan 2012
News

A choice of models: Theme and variations

January 1996 (Revised March 2000)
Case

R.R. Donnelley & Sons: The Digital Division

By: David A. Garvin and Artemis March

In June 1995, Barbara Schetter, VP and general manager of R.R. Donnelley's Digital Division, is struggling to gain acceptance from other groups and divisions at the printing giant. The Digital Division employs radically new technology--digital printing presses and... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Business Model; Business Plan; Leading Change; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Technology Adoption; Value Creation

Thomas J. DeLong is a Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and the former Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior Department at the Harvard Business School. He is an expert in leader development, organizational... View Details

2014
Working Paper

The Decoupling Effect of Digital Disruptors

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Peter Jamieson

While the Internet's first wave of disruption was marked by the unbundling of digital content, the second wave, decoupling, promises to generate more casualties in an even broader array of industries. Digital start-ups are disrupting traditional businesses by inserting... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology

Read Now

04 Jan 2018
Cold Call Podcast

How to Monetize Happiness

Keywords: Re: Ethan S. Bernstein; Electronics

November 2001
Case

Korea-Tender

By: Das Narayandas and Kate Attea

Korea-Tender is a closed-bidding auction company trying to break even and must select the best opportunity to increase membership and revenue. It can continue its current model with heavy advertising, try to modify its costs, or develop an additional business model... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Business Model; Advertising; Business Startups; Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Revenue; Growth and Development Strategy

10 Aug 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Pal's Sudden Service: Taking Fast Food to the Next Level

Keywords: Re: Gary P. Pisano; Food & Beverage

April 2011 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.: Driving Change Through Internal Communication

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), confronted in 2003 with an urgent need to change how it operated externally, adopted a highly innovative approach to communicating internally. This case, set in 2010, presents an overview of the new, more interactive model of employee... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; India

September 2007 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Commercializing an MRI Breakthrough

The challenges and best strategies for the commercialization of university technologies are illustrated in this case which documents an MRI breakthrough that arose from the Charles Marcus laboratory at Harvard. Students discuss the interdependencies of intellectual... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Higher Education; Patents; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Commercialization

October 1998 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Amazon.com--Going Public

By: William A. Sahlman and Laurence E. Katz

Amazon.com, an early pioneer in electronic commerce, prepares its initial public offering in the face of turbulent market conditions. Joy Covey, Amazon.com's CFO and the case protagonist, discusses the risks and opportunities of going public and the nature of... View Details

Keywords: Going Public; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Financial Strategy; Business Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry

October 2013
Background Note

Multi-Sided Platforms: Foundations and Strategy

By: Andrei Hagiu

This note offers an analysis of four fundamental strategic decisions and associated tradeoffs that set MSPs apart from other types of businesses (e.g. product firms) and that every MSP entrepreneur and investor should carefully consider. In the last section I also... View Details

Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy; Technology; Technology Industry

June 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Case

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

Nearly all environmental organizations have a similar aim: to stop the degradation of the natural environment. However, the strategies that environmental organizations choose to employ are sometimes starkly different. This case compares the models of two dissimilar... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy

Research Summary

Overview

By: Feng Zhu

Professor Zhu’s research focuses on the design of platform business models and its impact on platform performance. Platforms have become central to our economy. A platform is a product or service that enables two or more customer groups to interact. For example,... View Details

July 2007 (Revised November 2009)
Case

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

Nearly all environmental organizations have a similar aim: to stop the degradation of the natural environment. However, the strategies which environmental organizations choose to employ are sometimes starkly different. Compares the models of two dissimilar... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy