Publications

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

Keywords: Disruption; Music Entertainment; Legal Liability; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Information Infrastructure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2017
Teaching Note

The Tate's Digital Transformation

By: Jill Avery

John Stack was the visionary Head of Digital Transformation at the Tate, a collection of four major art galleries in the UK, including Tate Modern, the most visited gallery devoted to modern and contemporary art in the world. Stack was the architect of the Tate’s... View Details

08 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 8, 2019

providing retail, housing and entertainment facilities that catered to Colombia’s middle class. While White Stone’s proposal would solve many of Jaguar’s challenges as a start-up real estate development company, the offer would also... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

15 Aug 2023
HBS Case

(Virtual) Reality Check: How Long Before We Live in the 'Metaverse'?

avatars interact with other avatars in virtual spaces. The early years of gaming The metaverse has its non-fiction roots in early massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) that took off in the late 1990s, including Ultima... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Computer; Information Technology

08 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

basket looks pretty exciting. Especially good are rewards that will ease workers’ daily strains—deliveries, dog-walking, online entertainment or classes for children. With so many companies in flux, it may... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

Working PapersDeterring Online Advertising Fraud Through Optimal Payment in Arrears (revised) Author:Benjamin Edelman Abstract Online advertisers face substantial difficulty in selecting and supervising... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

In 1994, the World Wide Web was not yet a household name. A new company called Yahoo! had just developed a way to look for sites on the Internet—the search engine. HotWired debuted as the first online magazine to carry advertisements.... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

23 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

The Vinyl Renaissance: Take Those Old Records Off the Shelf

and LA. Gazette: Given how trendy it is now, will vinyl continue to grow after COVID? Kelleher: I don’t see vinyl shrinking away again, but I do worry that, as an industry, if we can’t get more capacity online to lessen turn times, fans... View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Music

October 2015
Case

BandPage (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Colin Maclay and Greta Friar

BandPage CEO James "J" Sider is about to receive results from BandPage's targeted advertising campaign on music streaming service Rhapsody and learn whether BandPage's strategy to improve ad click through rates and generate revenue has succeeded. BandPage, which began... View Details

Keywords: Digital Innovation; Digital Music; Digital Marketing; Mobile Marketing; Technological Innovation; Marketing Communications; Music Entertainment; Mobile Technology; Music Industry

January 2018
Case

Peak Games: Hiring Priorities in Times of Rapid Growth (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

Sidar Şahin, founder and CEO of Peak Games, a Turkey-based global mobile gaming company, must decide on the final list of candidates for the critical global marketing director position the company has been trying to fill for over a year. Since its founding in 2010,... View Details

Keywords: Recruiting; Staffing; Emergent Countries; Entrepreneurial Management; Private Sector; Business Strategy; Decision; Growth Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Turkey

28 Jun 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Film Rentals and Procrastination: A Study of Intertemporal Reversals in Preferences and Intrapersonal Conflict

Keywords: by Katy Milkman, Todd Rogers & Max H. Bazerman; Entertainment & Recreation

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

To ease congested lines at airports, for example, TSA workers answer questions online about items that can or can’t be carried aboard planes—a bit of helpful pre-planning communication many flyers appreciate. When companies do screw up,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Technology

13 Oct 2015
First Look

October 13, 2015

consumer welfare if the internal content is inferior to organic search results. In this paper, we provide a legal and empirical analysis of this practice in the domain of online reviews. We first identify the conditions under which... View Details

February 2011 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Investcorp and the Moneybookers Bid

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Nori Gerardo Lietz

In January 2007, Hazem Ben-Gacem, managing director and co-head of Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), needs to decide what to bid at an auction for Moneybookers Limited, one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe. However, approximately 70% of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Private Equity; Investment; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Europe; United States

June 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Wemade: (Re)Establishing Trust in Blockchain Games (A)

By: Jung Koo Kang, Charles C.Y. Wang, David Allen and Kwangmoon So

This case explores the fundamental challenges and accounting issues arising from the integration of blockchain technology into traditional business models. It features Wemade, a South Korean online gaming company that has staked its future on blockchain-based games.... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Video Games; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Revenue Recognition; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Corporate Disclosure; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Accounting Industry; Information Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; South Korea