Publications

February 2021 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Shopify: The Conquest for Chinese E-Commerce

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Avani Patel, Samantha Lin and Ariel Yang

In mid-2020, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, faced a critical decision on how to time potential expansion into the China market. Over the prior 15 years, his Canadian software-as-a-service company had grown from a small e-commerce solutions provider to a full service... View Details

Program

Strategic Marketing for Driving Growth

Summary Strategic agility and an unyielding focus on growth are essential for the success of any organization, especially when new technologies such as generative AI are profoundly changing how businesses acquire, engage, and retain... View Details

Program

Changing the Game

maximum results for your side Build advantage through better decision-making Recognize and overcome obstacles to rational decision-making Craft competitive and cooperative business strategies Predict the outcomes of strategic interactions... View Details

Program

Authentic Leader Development

relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions Who Should Attend This program is designed for senior executives who want to enhance their leadership... View Details

July 2021
Article

The Effect of Price on Firm Reputation

By: Michael Luca and Oren Reshef

While a business's reputation can affect its pricing, prices can also affect its reputation. To explore the effect of prices on reputation, we investigate daily data on menu prices and online ratings from a large rating and ordering platform. We find that a price... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Reputation Systems; IT Policy And Management; Economics Of Digital Platforms; Business Ventures; Reputation; Price; Consumer Behavior; Analysis

Program

Managing Health Care Delivery

live online sessions, and self-paced lessons, this health care management program emphasizes opportunities for innovation and prepares you to improve medical and economic outcomes at a time when patient needs are becoming more complex,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care

Program

Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

strategic tradeoffs as you identify the resources and changes needed to execute your strategy Execute and coordinate strategy across multiple lines of business and global markets Expand your personal and professional network Extend your... View Details

January 2022
Case

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

January 2013
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture (MM)

By: Frances X. Frei and Robin J. Ely

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately-held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft-line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its Board of Directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

February 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Amazon.com (C)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

At the end of 1998, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ponders the next moves for his company. Having secured the leadership position as the leading online book seller in the United States, Amazon.com has now moved into the product categories of CDs and videos by... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Books; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

driven economy, suggests new research from Harvard Business School, and managers who can collaborate—not just supervise and discipline—are reaping the rewards. To support more autonomous, creative workers, organizations want managers to... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

04 Sep 2020
Blog Post

Advice from a Career Switcher: The Value of Informational Conversations with Alumni

Adam Palay (Class of 2021) knows a thing or two about making professional pivots. “After completing my AB and MS in English, and deciding to put a PhD on hold, I spent four months teaching myself how to code,” said Adam. He explained, “At the time, a lot of View Details

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

Despite widespread investment in entrepreneurship in cities across America, venture capital-funded startups still tend to be founded by white men in Silicon Valley. In contrast, businesses led by women are 63 percent less likely to... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

Program

Private Equity and Venture Capital

and countries across the globe Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions Who Should Attend This investment management course is designed for... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

advertising budget to online ads on YouTube? Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/youtube-for-brands/an/514048-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 713-453 J Sainsbury Plc, Road to Recovery In 2012, J... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Whence IT Value?

storage capacity, bandwidth and memory — especially on a per-dollar basis — are driving the observed business benefits. However, all of these have been getting better, faster and cheaper at about the same rate throughout the history of... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

Article

Finding the Platform in Your Product: Four Strategies That Can Reveal Hidden Value

By: Andrei Hagiu and Elizabeth J. Altman

Five of the 10 most valuable companies in the world today—Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft—derive much of their worth from their multisided platforms (MSPs), which facilitate interactions or transactions between parties. Many MSPs are more valuable than... View Details

Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

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September 2024
Supplement

Anker Innovations (B)

By: Feng Zhu, Jiangyong Lu and Nancy Hua Dai

An Amazon-native brand, Anker is the world’s No. 1 mobile charging brand and a leading consumer electronics company. Over the years, Anker developed an effective model of proving new products online first by leveraging customer insights from its proprietary Voice of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Product; Distribution; Product Launch; Business Model; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry