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December 2018
Supplement

Amazon Acquires Whole Foods (B)

By: Rory McDonald, Sarah Mehta and Shaye Roseman

This short case, meant for pairing with HBS No. 615-013, “AmazonFresh: Rekindling the Online Grocery Market,” explores Amazon’s rationale for acquiring Whole Foods. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

September 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Pinduoduo

By: Feng Zhu, Krishna G. Palepu, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau

Founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur, Colin Huang, Pinduoduo Inc. (PDD) had become China’s fastest-growing e-commerce platform in history. PDD pioneered a new approach to online shopping that allowed shoppers to share products, invite friends to form shopping teams,... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Strategy; E-commerce

14 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Web Surfers Have a Schedule and Stick to It

In most markets, products and services compete for the consumer’s money. On the internet, however, the coin of the realm is time, not money—websites and other online services fight for the attention of visitors. So understanding when,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Web Services

26 May 2013
News

An Auction? Most EBay Users Don't Have Time for That

January 2013 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google 2018

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Four businesses had, by 2012, grown to dominate the infrastructure that all firms rely on to reach online customers. Will the balance of power among the four persist, will one take command at the expense of the other three, or are all four more vulnerable than they... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Competitive Advantage; Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development; Service Industry; Retail Industry; United States

16 Oct 2013
Op-Ed

Response to Readers: Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

of the "unknowable" threat which the world faces from global warming. Finally, if you have the time, you might look at the online Forbes comments section as well as the HBS Working Knowledge comments section at the bottom of the article.... View Details

Keywords: by Joe Lassiter; Energy; Utilities

17 Jun 2013
News

Advertising Symbiosis: The Key to Viral Videos

March 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Technical Note

Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent: The Three Kingdoms of the Chinese Internet

By: Feng Zhu and Aaron Smith

This note provides an overview of the Chinese Internet by describing its leading three companies: Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT). While BAT had previously focused their respective businesses on distinct sectors of the online economy—Baidu for search, Alibaba for... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Internet; Information Technology Industry; China

November 2022 (Revised June 2023)
Case

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Sharon Joseph, Sunil Gupta and Julia Kelley

In the fall of 2022, boot maker UGG and its parent company, Deckers, were working to position the brand in the nascent but fast growing metaverse. The metaverse, the online realm that individual users could navigate as digital avatars, was becoming more commercialized,... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

23 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

COVID-19 Shines New Light on Working Conditions in Supply Chains

Tightly packed workers and other weak protections allowed COVID-19 to sweep through American slaughterhouses during the past year, infecting at least 45,000 employees and killing an estimated 240 people. To Harvard Business School Professor Michael Toffel, who has... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Apparel & Accessories

September 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Mission edX: Balancing Social Good and Financial Sustainability

By: John J-H Kim, David J. Collis and James Barnett

In March 2021, online education platform edX considers how to achieve financial sustainability without compromising its mission to provide universal access to high-quality education. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Values and Beliefs; Internet and the Web; Financial Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Education Industry; United States

2013
Other Unpublished Work

Comments on Commitments in AT.39740 — Google

By: Benjamin Edelman and Zhenyu Lai

We evaluate Google's proposed Commitments in light of our research on the effects of Google Flight Search on traffic to competing online travel agencies. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Regulation; Google; Bias; Law; Internet; Search Technology; Technology Networks; European Union

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March 2010
Background Note

Airline Travel in the U.S.

By: Sunil Gupta and Kavita Shukla

How should airlines respond to the rising share of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) as consumers increasingly search the web to buy tickets? View Details

Keywords: Management; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Market Participation; Agency Theory; Online Technology; Aerospace Industry; United States

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30 Mar 2021
Video

Garage Finalist in 2021 New Venture Competition Student Business Track

OYO: Creating Effective Spaces

Twenty-four-year old Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of India-based online hotel branding network OYO Rooms, has tackled the issue of unreliability in India's highly fragmented budget hotel industry. In 2018, OYO branded 8,500 properties across 200 cities and... View Details

July 2007 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Saffronart.com: Bidding for Success

By: Mukti Khaire and R. Daniel Wadhwani

Saffronart, a five-year-old online art auction company, leads the market for modern Indian art and now faces competitors in the market it created. Established in 2000 by the wife-and-husband team of Minal and Dinesh Vazirani, Saffronart.com is an innovative online... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Auctions; Industry Growth; Competition; Online Technology; Fine Arts Industry; India