Publications

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Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Chains in Climate Change" (Fall 2013). Feng Zhu : Winner of the 2017 Strategic Management Society Best Conference PhD Paper Award for “Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence... View Details

Article

Entry into Platform-based Markets

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

This paper examines the relative importance of platform quality, indirect network effects, and consumer expectations on the success of entrants in platform-based markets. We develop a theoretical model and find that an entrant's success depends on the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Platform-based Markets; Winnter-take-all; First-mover Advantage; Indirect Network Effects; Video Game Industry; Quality; Network Effects; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Fantuan

By: Feng Zhu and David Lane

In 2023, CEO Randy Wu was considering the optimal growth strategy for Fantuan, a restaurant food delivery platform that had expanded from its 2014 founding in Vancouver, Canada to serve the Chinese demand for Asian cuisine in urban markets across Australia, Canada, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Diasporas; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada; United Kingdom; Australia

21 Jun 2019
News

When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms

April 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A)

By: Shane Greenstein, Feng Zhu and Kerry Herman

Korea Telecom (KT) has committed $4 billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Chang-Gyu Hwang, and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technological Innovation; Infrastructure; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Telecommunications Industry

Web

HBS - The year in Review

Wyss Awards winners are chosen by Doctoral students for their collaboration, mentorship, and support to developing future scholars. In addition, Assistant Professor Alexandra Feldberg View Details

June 2007
Article

What Is the Impact of Software Patent Shifts? Evidence from Lotus v. Borland

By: Josh Lerner and Feng Zhu

Economists have debated the extent to which strengthening patent protection spurs or detracts from technological innovation. This paper examines the reduction of software copyright protection in the Lotus v. Borland decision. If patent and copyright protections are... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Patents; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

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April 2018 (Revised November 2019)
Case

JD: Envisioning the Future of Retail (A)

By: Feng Zhu and Shirley Sun

JD, China’s second largest e-commerce company by gross merchandise volume (GMV) after Alibaba, had expanded rapidly from 2012 to 2016. When the company celebrated its 13th birthday in 2017, Richard Liu, its founder, deliberated on the company’s growth strategies. The... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; China

2016
Working Paper

The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Market

By: Feng Zhu

Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Patent Wars; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement; Institutions; Smartphone; Patent Thicket; Digital Platforms; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

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Leadership - Faculty & Research

and sustainability. That's the central and animating theme of "The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders," a new anthology published by the HR Certification Institute.... View Details

February 2014
Article

Responses to Entry in Multi-Sided Markets: The Impact of Craigslist on Local Newspapers

By: Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu

How do firms respond to entry in multi-sided markets? We address this question by studying the impact of Craigslist, a website providing classified-advertising services, on local U.S. newspapers. We exploit temporal and geographical variation in Craigslist's entry to... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Internet and the Web; Newspapers; Advertising; Journalism and News Industry; Journalism and News Industry

Web

Profiles - MBA

Profiles Profiles Technology Innovation Fellows Program Supported by the Roberts Family Foundation Current Students APPLIED MATHEMATICS ELIOT 2025 Cohort 7 Rhea Acharya “Living through this unprecedented period of technological growth has... View Details

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2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Participants will leave with a sense for metaverse technologies being explored by governments and the private companies that engage with them, as well as the potential political, social View Details

November–December 2016
Article

The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Industry

By: Yongwook Paik and Feng Zhu

Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Patent Wars; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement; Institutions; Patent Thicket; Smartphone; Patents; Corporate Strategy; Mobile Technology

May–June 2019
Article

U-Shaped Conformity in Online Social Networks

By: Monic Sun, Michael Zhang and Feng Zhu

We explore how people balance their needs to belong and to be different from their friends by studying their choices of a virtual-house wall color on a leading Chinese social-networking site. The setting enables us to randomize both the popular color and the adoption... View Details

Keywords: Conformity; Normative Social Influence; Social Networks; Field Experiment; Social and Collaborative Networks; Behavior; Attitudes; Social Media

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December 2014 (Revised August 2024)
Case

HomeAway: Organizing the Vacation Rental Industry

By: Rory McDonald, Feng Zhu and Cheng Gao

In less than 10 years, cofounders Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd had transformed HomeAway from just another Internet startup into the world's leading vacation-rental marketplace—a global online platform that links customers seeking vacation-home rentals to the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Innovation; Technology; Acquisitions; Operations Management; Digital Platforms; Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Disruption; Accommodations Industry

November 2024 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Cheerful Music

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Feng Zhu and Nancy Hua Dai

Established by Snow Jiang in 2019 in Shenzhen, China, Cheerful Music was a record label company that had created many hit songs in China. “Yi Xiao Jiang Hu,” its most famous hit song, gained billions of views on social media platforms in China and overseas as the... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Music Entertainment; Global Strategy; Business Model; AI and Machine Learning; Market Entry and Exit; Music Industry; China; United Kingdom; London