Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(505)
- Faculty Publications (107)
- April 2010 (Revised June 2011)
- Background Note
Television Competes for a Digital Audience
By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett
In the face of major disruption in the industry television networks have sought new revenue sources, implemented cost-cutting measures and strategized on ways to monetize online access to content. Programming changes, new advertising strategies, and deals via online... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised June 2019)
- Case
Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital
By: Anita Elberse and Brett Laffel
In January 2010, Bob Bowman, chief executive officer of Major League Baseball Advanced Media -- MLB's digital arm -- is facing a number of decisions related to its 'app' for Apple's new iPad. What are the best name, price, and set of features for MLBAM's iPad app? The... View Details
- July – August 2008
- Article
Should You Invest in the Long Tail?
By: Anita Elberse
The blockbuster strategy is a time-honored approach, particularly in media and entertainment. When space is limited on store shelves and in traditional distribution channels, producers tend to focus on a few likely best sellers, hoping that one or two big hits will... View Details
- Jun 2008
- Conference Presentation
The Impact of (Legal) Digital Distribution on Music Sales: Who Benefits?
By: Anita Elberse
- May 2008 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Radiohead: Music at Your Own Price (A)
By: Anita Elberse and Jason Bergsman
In October 2007, the British band Radiohead caused a stir when it announced it would allow customers to decide how much to pay for its new album, released exclusively as a digital download and available only from the band's own website. The pricing plan represented a... View Details
- March 2008 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Aaron Smith, David Chen and Brian Feinstein
As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging traffic. The company could invest further in new advertising products, which represented the majority of the... View Details
- March 2008 (Revised November 2008)
- Case
Sony Digital Entertainment, Japan
By: Anita Elberse
It is late 2007. So-called cell phone ("keitai") novels have turned into an extremely popular form of entertainment-on-the- go in Japan, in particular among young, female readers. In fact, consisting mostly of love stories written by amateurs in short sentences and... View Details
- December 2007
- Background Note
The Music Recording Industry: Digital Rocks
By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett
Digital and mobile technologies profoundly and forever changed the long-held value proposition for the recorded music industry--the 12-song physical CD selling at $15. By 2007, it was apparent that the music recording business had become a digital business, and... View Details
Keywords: Arts; Disruption; Music Entertainment; Distribution; Practice; Technology Adoption; Value; Music Industry
- October 2007 (Revised December 2007)
- Case
TiVo 2007: DVRs and Beyond
By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind
Tom Rogers, CEO of TiVo, had placed multiple strategic bets on his company. In September 2007, that strategy was due for a major test. TiVo was a maker of digital video recorder (DVR) products and a distributor of DVR technology. Rogers believed that macro-trends in... View Details
- September 2007
- Case
Metro International S.A.
By: Tarun Khanna, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Vincent Marie Dessain, Ane Damgaard Jensen and Anders Sjoman
Explores the business model of Metro International, a company publishing 70 editions of its free newspaper in 20 countries. Metro had been a pioneer in the free newspaper market, fighting incumbent publishers distributing traditional paid-for newspapers. Looks at the... View Details
- December 2006 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, founders of Microsoft and Apple respectively, have revolutionized the relationship between the individual and computer technology. Once the exclusive domain of academia and research facilities, computers can now be found in every area of... View Details
- January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell
We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details
Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure
- October 2005 (Revised February 2007)
- Case
Red Flag Software Co.
By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Tarun Khanna, David Lane and Elizabeth Raabe
In 2005, just five years after its formal launch, Beijing-based Red Flag Software was the world's second-largest distributor of the Linux operating system and was expecting its first annual profit. On a unit basis, Red Flag led the world in desktops (PCs) shipped with... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised March 2005)
- Case
Music Downloads
By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier
Examines the competition between competing music formats. In the '90s, the MP3 format challenged the traditional means of music distribution by allowing for storage of near CD-quality recordings at 1/10th of their previous size. The threat to traditional distribution... View Details
- June 2001
- Case
AtomFilms
By: Bharat N. Anand and Taslim Pirmohamed
Examines the evolution of AtomFilms--one of the few companies that survived the spate of failures in digital entertainment in 2000--from the time of its founding in 1998 to its merger with Shockwave in December 2000. Within a short period of time, AtomFilms had built... View Details
- November 2000
- Case
Geocast Network Systems, Inc.
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Christina L. Darwall and Elizabeth Kind
Geocast, a venture-backed start-up, had developed innovative technology for "datacasting" broadband information and entertainment content to an external hard drive, where it was cached for later retrieval by a Web-enabled PC. By using terrestrial TV, direct broadcast... View Details
- July 2000 (Revised September 2005)
- Case
BMG Entertainment
By: Jan W. Rivkin and Gerrit Meier
As dramatic changes in technology and customer tastes roil the music industry, the top executives of BMG Entertainment, one of the world's largest record companies, must decide how to organize for digital distribution of music. This case includes a brief history of the... View Details
- May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Marshall Industries
Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details
- March 1999 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Xerox: Book-In-Time
Book-In-Time, developed at Xerox, can dramatically reduce the cost of printing "one" book. Combined with the possibilities of digital content storage and transmittal, the new technology has vast opportunities. Xerox needs a commercial plan. The case describes the state... View Details
- June 1998 (Revised January 2000)
- Case
Egghead.com
Egghead Software, an entrenched traditional chain retailer specializing in computer software and peripherals, had established a nationwide chain of mall and shopping center stores and a well-organized national brand. In early 1998, management made a highly unusual, and... View Details