Publications

November–December 2023
Article

Keep Your AI Projects on Track

By: Iavor Bojinov

AI—and especially its newest star, generative AI—is today a central theme in corporate boardrooms, leadership discussions, and casual exchanges among employees eager to supercharge their productivity. Sadly, beneath the aspirational headlines and tantalizing potential... View Details

Keywords: Generative Models; AI and Machine Learning; Success; Failure; Product Development; Technology Adoption

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April 2025
Article

Crisis Interventions in Corporate Insolvency

By: Samuel Antill and Christopher Clayton

We model the optimal resolution of insolvent firms in general equilibrium. Collateral-constrained banks lend to (i) solvent firms to finance investments and (ii) distressed firms to avoid liquidation. Liquidations create negative fire-sale externalities. Liquidations... View Details

Keywords: Insolvent Firms; Government Intervention; Liquidation; Econometric Models; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Policy

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Jumia's Path to Profitability

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details

February 1969
Article

Test of a Product Cycle Model of International Trade: U.S. Exports of Consumer Durables

By: Louis T Wells Jr

Keywords: Global Range; Trade; Product; Goods and Commodities; United States

March 2013
Article

Do You Really Want to Be an eBay?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

Most companies that serve as intermediaries between buyers and sellers face a fundamental strategy decision: Should they be resellers (like supermarkets), acquiring and then reselling products or services? Should they operate as multisided platforms (like eBay),... View Details

Keywords: Multi-sided Platforms; Business Models; Strategy; Digital Platforms

November 2016
Supplement

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Building Value from the IP Estate (B)

By: Vicki Sato, Willy Shih and Matt Higgins

The leader of a pioneering biotech company in the siRNA space weighs his options for scaling production capacity in advance of an anticipated commercial launch. Operational complexity and relative merits of in-house manufacturing versus a contractor model are... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotech; Biotechnology; Operational Complexity; Strategy; Manufacturing; Production; Strategic Planning; Intellectual Property; Biotechnology Industry; United States

2012
Chapter

IP Modularity in Software Ecosystems: How SugarCRM's IP and Business Model Shape Its Product Architecture

By: Josef Waltl, Joachim Henkel and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Keywords: Business Model; Digital Platforms; Open Source Distribution; Complexity; Applications and Software; Intellectual Property

2015
Working Paper

The Business Model: Nature and Benefits

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron

This paper considers the nature of the business model and its strategic relevance to negotiations. We elaborate a substantive definition of the business model as decisions enforced by the authority of the firm; this definition enables the analysis of business models... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Value Capture; Value-Based Business Strategy; Ambivalent Value; Business Model; Negotiation Deal

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2015
Chapter

The Business Model: Nature and Benefits

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron

This paper considers the nature of the business model and its strategic relevance to negotiations. We elaborate a substantive definition of the business model as decisions enforced by the authority of the firm; this definition enables the analysis of business models... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Value Capture; Value-Based Business Strategy; Ambivalent Value; Business Model; Value; Negotiation Deal

September–October 2020
Article

The Air War Versus the Ground Game: An Analysis of Multi-Channel Marketing in U.S. Presidential Elections

By: Lingling Zhang and Doug J. Chung

This study jointly examines the effects of television advertising and field operations in U.S. presidential elections, with the former referred to as the “air war” and the latter as the “ground game.” Specifically, the study focuses on how different campaign... View Details

Keywords: Multi-channel Marketing; Ground Campaigning; Political Campaigns; Discrete-choice Model; Instrumental Variables; Political Elections; Marketing Channels; Advertising; United States

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September 2018
Case

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice at 40

By: Josh Lerner, Abhijit Tagade and Terrence Shu

In 2018, private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice celebrated its 40th anniversary and its 20th year under the leadership of CEO Don Gogel. In those decades, CD&R showed solid portfolio performance and generated strong returns for its investors - accomplishments... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Succession; Buyout; Leveraged Buyout; Turnaround; Operations; Private Equity; Management Succession; Business Model; Leveraged Buyouts; Trends; Organizational Change and Adaptation

2010
Article

Competing against Online Sharing

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future. View Details

Keywords: Consumers; Computer Networks; Resource Sharing; Online Operations; Internet and the Web; Copyright; Networks; Business Model; Music Industry

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

I study strategic interaction between organizations that operate different business models. View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Industrial Organization; Strategic Interaction; Competitiveness; Strategy; Competition; Game Theory; Cooperation; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; China; Europe

June 15, 2021
Article

Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

President Joe Biden’s promise to give every American access to affordable health insurance is well-intentioned, but his plan’s policy elements—a public option, a permanent expanded tax credit—require congressional approval and would expend significant political and... View Details

Keywords: Health Insurance; Health Insurance Marketplaces; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Financing; Health Care Industry; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Service Delivery; Cost Management; Health Industry; United States

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May 2010
Article

Bye Bye Bundles: The Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels

By: Anita Elberse

Fueled by digital distribution, unbundling is prevalent in many information industries. What is the effect of this unbundling on sales? And what bundle characteristics drive this effect? I empirically examine these questions in the context of the music industry, using... View Details

Keywords: Unbundling; Bundling; Digital Distribution; System-of-equations Modeling; Sales; Distribution Channels; Framework; Mathematical Methods; Revenue; Reputation; Internet and the Web; System; E-commerce; Information Industry; Music Industry

November 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Case

HP Instant Ink: (Self) Disrupting the Consumer Printing Market

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg and George Gonzalez

Seeking to disrupt the consumer printing market (before being disrupted by others), and in response to customer pain points, in 2013 HP Inc. launched an ink replenishment service called Instant Ink, where customers pay a monthly subscription fee based on the number of... View Details

Keywords: Printing; Ink; Subscription Model; Customers; Information Infrastructure; Service Delivery; Business Model; Disruption; Growth and Development Strategy

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

May 2024
Teaching Note

AI21 Labs in 2023: Strategy for Generative AI

By: David Yoffie

Teaching Note for HBS Case 724-383. The case has 3 important teaching purposes: First, what are the advantages and disadvantages of imitation? (e.g., Should AI21 imitate OpenAI with a chatbot?) Second, what are the advantages and disadvantages of keeping new technology... View Details

Keywords: AI; Generative Ai; Generative Models; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Business Startups; Open Source Distribution; Competitive Advantage; Technology Industry; Israel

March 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Background Note

Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel, Spencer Glendon and Alison Smart

This note describes how managers can identify and manage their company’s physical climate risks, which can increase their operations and supply chain costs and risks, and affect demand for their goods and services. Can be paired with the video “Preparing business... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Maps; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Modeling And Analysis; Climate Change; Risk Management; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruption