Publications

07 Sep 2012
News

When times are tough, disrupt

November 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Amazon.com-2002

By: Stig Leschly, Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd H Thedinga

Describes the evolution of Amazon.com and its business model since its founding. Specifically, discusses Amazon's transformation from an e-Tailer to a commerce platform and its marketplace initiative, which has driven this. Also describes the economics of various... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Transformation; Retail Industry

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

Swedish capitalism is like.” Could this lead to the end of the high-tax “Swedish model” that like-minded nations have come to admire? Harvard Business School Professor Debora Spar, who has analyzed Sweden extensively, says no, the Swedish... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

02 Oct 2012
News

The Secrets to TripAdvisor's Impressive Scale

August 1995 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Health Stop (B): Starting Up

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Describes the long waiting time experienced by customers in Health Stops and asks students to specify the changes in its business model which could help solve the problem. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry; Retail Industry

Feng Zhu is the MBA Class of 1958 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Platform Lab within the Digital, Data, and Design Institute, co-chairs the Harvard Business Analytics Program, and serves as the course head for the... View Details

July 2002 (Revised August 2014)
Case

WellSpace Treatment Centers for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Jun HuangPu and Bing Lin

How should WellSpace, a venture capital-backed purveyor of alternative health services, expand? Although it was nearing breakeven in its first location, the right business model remained unclear. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Service Delivery; Health Industry

2020
Book

Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

In industry after industry, data, analytics, and AI-driven processes are transforming the nature of work. While we often still treat AI as the domain of a specific skill, business function, or sector, we have entered a new era in which AI is challenging the very... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Technological Innovation; Change; Competition; Strategy; Leadership; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; AI and Machine Learning

Find at Harvard

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Space Angels, Multiple Equilibria, and Financing the Space Economy

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Alissa Haddaji

Chad Anderson had reason to be proud of his young space-focused investment firm, Space Angels. Since becoming CEO, Anderson had overseen growth along multiple dimensions, and Space Angels was “the preeminent name in space finance” according to one prominent space... View Details

Keywords: Space Economy; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Model; Aerospace Industry

Alberto Cavallo is the Thomas S. Murphy Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) unit, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a... View Details

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

with his latest brilliant inspiration. For decades, advertising agencies have thrived on, and in some ways fostered, the idea of advertising as a creative black box. “I think the story here is how the industry has evolved and adapted”... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

01 Dec 2015
News

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

August 2023
Case

WayCool: Reimagining the Food Supply Chain

By: Paul Gompers and Kairavi Dey

Founded in 2015, WayCool, is an Indian agri-tech start-up that built a B2B operation acquiring fruits and vegetables from product-specific agriculture companies and small-holding farmers. It sold them to business customers, such as local retail stores, restaurants, and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Digital Transformation; Operations; Business Strategy; Supply Chain; Performance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Asia; South Asia

04 May 2020
News

Investors Rewarded These Signs of Resilience in the Stock Market Crash

April 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Case

eBay, Inc. and Amazon.com (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Anant Thaker

This case has been designed to explore strategic interactions among organizations with different business models. The case considers how a competitor successfully challenged the incumbent in a platform market defined by strong network effects and high switching costs.... View Details

27 Apr 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi: Transforming Lives with Access to Credit

Keywords: Re: Caroline M. Elkins; Banking; Financial Services

26 Feb 2010
News

Admit it: You're in denial

October 2015
Case

Integrating Avocent Corporation into Emerson Network Power

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Vincent M. Servello

This case reviews Emerson Electric’s proposed acquisition of Avocent Corporation in 2009. The focus of this case is how a technology company such as Avocent, with a dramatically different business model compared to its acquirer, should be integrated into a large,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Integration; Human Capital; Acquisition; Technology Industry