Publications

January 2005
Article

Agency Costs in a Supply Chain with Demand Uncertainty and Price Competition

By: V.G. Narayanan, Ananth Raman and J. Singh

Keywords: Cost; Supply Chain; Risk and Uncertainty; Price; Competition

March 2014
Teaching Note

Intuit QuickBooks: From Product to Platform

By: Andrei Hagiu and Elizabeth J. Altman

This case focuses on the challenges and opportunities faced by a successful incumbent organization attempting to transform a large portion of its business from a traditionally product-centric operating mode to a platform-based one that leverages network effects to... View Details

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Teaching Interest

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms

By: Andy Wu

Without exception, the most valuable companies in the world today are platforms: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many other firms have built their fortunes by facilitating innovation across global ecosystems or enabling the broad exchange of goods... View Details

15 Sep 2016
News

Price of pharma innovation: Pro

January–February 2019
Article

Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

In the digital economy, scale is no guarantee of continued success. After all, the same factors that help an online platform expand quickly—such as the low cost of adding new customers—work for challengers too. What, then, allows platforms to fight off rivals and grow... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy

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2008
Working Paper

Platform Competition, Compatibility, and Social Efficiency

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda

Katz and Shapiro (1985) study systems compatibility in settings with one-sided plat- forms and direct network effects. We consider systems compatibility in settings with two-sided platforms and indirect network effects to develop an explanation why markets with... View Details

Keywords: Network Effects; One-Sided Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Competition

Article

Impact of Competition and Taxes on Responsibility Center Organization and Transfer Prices

By: V.G. Narayanan and Michael Smith

Keywords: Competition; Taxation; Price

August 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Imedia Corporation: The Pricing Decision

Efi Arazi, the president of a start-up called Imedia, must determine an appropriate pricing strategy for an innovation that will change the basis of competition in the cable TV industry. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Price; Entrepreneurship; Telecommunications Industry

Educators

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March 1982 (Revised April 1982)
Case

Hertz Corp.: Guaranteed Pricing

The Hertz Corp., a $1.3 billion subsidiary of RCA, has instituted a "no mileage charge, ever" price program in response to competitive pressures. Pro forma revenue and profit projections, however, show the firm to be even further away from its corporate plan than... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Corporate Strategy; Product Marketing; Transportation Industry; Service Industry

July 2005
Article

Price Improvement in Dealership Markets

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Price improvement refers to the practice whereby dealers order executions that improve on quoted prices. Why are these improvements given? Standard thinking is that competition causes dealers to give better prices to customers with less information. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Price; Markets; Competition; Information; Customers; Negotiation; Mission and Purpose; Practice; Theory; Performance Improvement; Bids and Bidding; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

11 Dec 2006
Research & Ideas

Fixing Price Tag Confusion

The price tag is evolving. It wasn't long ago that potential buyers had only to contemplate a single figure on a price tag—Mattress $799. But increasingly consumers are being presented with "partitioned"... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

2007
Working Paper

Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

This paper seeks to answer three questions. First, which drives the success of a platform, installed base, platform quality or consumer expectations? Second, when does a monopoly emerge in a platform-based market? Finally, when is a platform-based market socially... View Details

Keywords: Price; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Monopoly; Quality; Competitive Advantage; Digital Platforms

22 Jul 2019
Book

How to Be a Digital Platform Leader

most platform launches fail, what mistakes should managers and entrepreneurs avoid? Yoffie: We see four common problems across the data. The number one problem is how to price the product. The vast majority... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

07 Jul 2022
News

Are Online Prices Higher Because of Pricing Algorithms?

Research Summary

Technological Competition in Computing

By: Shane M. Greenstein

On what dimensions do computing platforms compete, and how does that competition help or hinder the deployment of technical standards? What principles shape choices over platform governance, and how do those choices shape competitive outcomes? In this line of... View Details

Research Summary

Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations

Researchers debate the role of installed base, platform quality and consumer expectations in driving the success of platforms. We analyze these three factors in a dynamic model where a new entrant with superior quality competes with an incumbent platform, and... View Details

May 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Nokia: The Burning Platform

By: Juan Alcacer, Tarun Khanna and Mary Furey

Overview on the state of Nokia since the “Emerging Nokia?” case was written. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Network Effects; Telecommunications Industry; Computer Industry

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2007
Working Paper

Competition in Modular Clusters

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard

The last twenty years have witnessed the rise of disaggregated "clusters," "networks," or "ecosystems" of firms. In these clusters the activities of R&D, product design, production, distribution, and system integration may be split up among hundreds or even thousands... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Digital Platforms; Industry Clusters; Competition; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration