Publications

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; communications; computer; health care; high technology; information technology industry; internet; pharmaceuticals; software; video games

29 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 29, 2008

the economics of producing and distributing traditional films and books versus digital (cell phone) content. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=508071... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 Nov 2018
HBS Seminar

Allie Feldberg, Harvard Business School

December 2019 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Ripple: The Business of Crypto and Ripple 2023

By: David B. Yoffie

The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Fintech; Business Startups; Business Model; Disruption; Strategy

January–February 2017
Article

The Truth about Blockchain

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Contracts, transactions, and records of them provide critical structure in our economic system, but they haven’t kept up with the world’s digital transformation. They’re like rush-hour gridlock trapping a Formula 1 race car. Blockchain promises to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Information Management; Information Technology Industry

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November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

By: Jill Avery and Joseph B. Fuller

Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth trajectories to maximize its potential? Three... View Details

April 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

BitTorrent

Involves the copyright issues associated with Bram Cohen's revolutionary software program BitTorrent, which makes it possible to transfer very large files, such as movies, at a high speed over the Internet. The program, which is available for free over the Internet, is... View Details

Keywords: Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Applications and Software; Copyright; Internet and the Web

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

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Brands and Branding; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

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03 Oct 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Skills Gap and the Near-Far Problem in Executive Education and Leadership Development

Keywords: by Das Narayandas and Mihnea Moldoveanu; Education

05 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

bookstores—the whole physical distribution system—is on the cusp of changing fundamentally." Olson has a particularly informed view of the issue. Before arriving at HBS in 2008, he was CEO of Random House. In a recent unpublished... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Information; Publishing; Entertainment & Recreation

24 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Distance Still Matters in Business, Despite the Internet

was the “death of distance,” a concept popularized in 1997 by Frances Cairncross’s book of the same title. A recent essay in the The New Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography challenges that notion, or at least deepens the argument. While the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Transportation; Telecommunications; Shipping; Publishing; Technology

August 2023
Case

Reimagining Hindustan Unilever (A)

By: Sunil Gupta and Rachna Tahilyani

In the fall of 2019, the CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm, is wondering what to do about their experiments to digitize distribution. Despite three years of intense efforts, their apps to empower retailers... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Leading Change; Distribution; Decisions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consumer Behavior; E-commerce; Competition; Performance; Business Strategy; Marketing; Transformation; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; India

September 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Zebra Medical Vision

By: Shane Greenstein and Sarah Gulick

An Israeli startup founded in 2014, Zebra Medical Vision developed algorithms that produced diagnoses from X-rays, mammograms, and CT-scans. The algorithms used deep learning and digitized radiology scans to create software that could assist doctors in making... View Details

10 Mar 2015
News

Innovation and Implementation in Cardiovascular Medicine

12 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Swiping Right: How Data Helped This Online Dating Site Make More Matches

marriages began with online dates. “[Online dating platforms] are an extremely interesting application of the general question of influence and digital interactions,” he says, with lessons that can apply to other online engagement... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

Henry W. McGee

Henry McGee joined the HBS faculty in 2013 after retiring as President of HBO Home Entertainment, the digital and DVD program distribution division of Home Box Office, the pioneering premium television company. A member of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit,... View Details

Keywords: distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution; distribution

March 2002 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Apple Stores

This case reveals the genesis of the Apple Stores, a revolutionary retail concept launched by Ron Johnson, Apple Computer's senior vice president of retail. In January 2002, Apple Computer was at the eve of one of the most stunning commercial successes ever known in... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Innovation and Invention; Computer Industry; Retail Industry