Platform Businesses - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

composition as a key but largely endogenous part of development, while structural economies conceptualizes it as a fundamental driver. Competitiveness policy is about leveraging existing clusters as a platform for upgrading microeconomic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

kitchens can test new restaurant concepts, menu items, and seasonal brands (for example, a salad brand in the summer) more easily without costly investments. It is still an emergent business model with lots of variations. Cloud kitchen... View Details

Keywords: by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage

09 Oct 2020
Blog Post

4 Things To Know About the MS/MBA Biotech

and pharmaceutical management. I learned about value-based approaches to drug pricing and concluded that overseeing a mission-driven pharmaceutical company would provide me with the platform and the opportunity to lower prices and expand... View Details

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

YouTube influencers amass followers by filming everything from popping pimples to reviewing lipstick, with businesses watching closely for marketing opportunities. But audience loyalty only goes so far. When YouTubers post too many paid... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

12 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 12, 2009

Publication:Harvard Business Review 87, no. 5 (May 2009) Abstract Few companies are thinking about hiring right now, but that's a mistake. If history is any guide, staffing will become a front-burner issue once the economic upheaval... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Jun 2018
Blog Post

Reimagining Fashion For The Good Of All

Zalando is a fairly unknown brand in the U.S., but the leading online fashion platform in Europe. Growing at a yearly rate of +20%, it was founded 10 years ago and it currently has more than 15,000 employees and is present in 15 different... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

02 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 2, 2010

Peter W. OlsonHarvard Business School Case 710-444 In early 2010, e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle and Apple's impending iPad, threatened to disrupt the book publishing industry. The case provides an overview of the industry, describes the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 26, 2019

forthcoming Management Science Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions By: Adner, Ron, Jianqing Chen, and Feng Zhu Abstract— We study compatibility decisions of two competing View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Web

Health Care Curriculum - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Health Care Curriculum Health Care Curriculum Value-Based Health Care Delivery (VBHCD) is a distinctive curriculum developed at Harvard Business School by Professor Michael Porter and a team of colleagues. The VBHCD curriculum, designed... View Details

17 Jun 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim, and Reo Song; Media & Broadcasting

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

TetraScience: Noise and Signal

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In 2019, TetraScience CEO “Spin” Wang needed advice. Five years earlier, he had cofounded a startup that saw early success with a hardware product designed to help laboratory scientists in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces more easily collect data from... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Digital Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Organizational Structure; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Boston

Citation

Educators

Purchase

13 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Rescuing Products with Stealth Positioning

its market penetration—like that of rivals Microsoft (with the Xbox) and Nintendo (with the GameCube)—has been limited by a narrow customer base of mostly males in their late teens and twenties. Sony's goal is to make the PlayStation a broad View Details

Keywords: by Youngme Moon

28 Nov 2023
Blog Post

Hiring at HBS: How Summer Interns Make an Impact at Duolingo

At Duolingo, one of the main operating principles is “learners first.” To achieve that goal, Duolingo needs a product team who understands, empathizes with, and reflects their users, and this is exactly why they turn to Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Technology

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

How Your Employees and Customers Drive a New Value Profit Chain

provide a competitive platform upon which to grow the business. As we move more and more to a knowledge economy, brains, not brawn, create the winning hand. Q: The current mantra in the business world is... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

21 Sep 2016
Blog Post

How HBS Changed My Life

I made the decision to apply to Harvard Business School because I wanted to learn how to use business as a tool to create prosperity for the millions of people striving to eke out a living on my beloved... View Details

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Historically Speaking: A Roundtable at HBS

Business History at HBS traces its roots back to 1927 when it was part of a course in business policy. But the golden age for this area of study at the School began with the arrival of Professor Alfred... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

The Regional Slice of Your Global Strategy

Harvard Business School professor Pankaj Ghemawat has long argued that the best international strategy also includes recognition of differences in local markets. In the December 2005 issue of Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

21 May 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Cissy Chen (MBA 2019)

throughout the region. I’m a huge believer in responsible capitalism and hope I can become one of the people who can push this forward. The "Reimagining Capitalism" course convinced me that business leaders have a responsibility to lead... View Details

Web

The New Role for Government & NGOs - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

implementing new shared value business models Governments Tax and regulate business; operate social programs Make platform investments and support shared value strategies; regulate to encourage shared value... 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