Publications

June 2023
Simulation

Clash of Two Giants: Competing in the Age of Platforms Simulation

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

June 2007
Article

What Is the Impact of Software Patent Shifts? Evidence from Lotus v. Borland

By: Josh Lerner and Feng Zhu

Economists have debated the extent to which strengthening patent protection spurs or detracts from technological innovation. This paper examines the reduction of software copyright protection in the Lotus v. Borland decision. If patent and copyright protections are... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Patents; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

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Web

Accounting & Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Theory and Practice of Intangibles, Intellectual Capital, and Sustainability by the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management at the 2022 EIASM Interdisciplinary Conference for “Regulated Human Capital Disclosures” with Thomas... View Details

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

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Article

Entry into Platform-based Markets

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

This paper examines the relative importance of platform quality, indirect network effects, and consumer expectations on the success of entrants in platform-based markets. We develop a theoretical model and find that an entrant's success depends on the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Platform-based Markets; Winnter-take-all; First-mover Advantage; Indirect Network Effects; Video Game Industry; Quality; Network Effects; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

2016
Working Paper

The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Market

By: Feng Zhu

Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Patent Wars; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement; Institutions; Smartphone; Patent Thicket; Digital Platforms; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

06 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

Quarterly Do Experts or Collective Intelligence Write with More Bias? Evidence from Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia By: Greenstein, Shane, and Feng Zhu Abstract—Organizations today can use both crowds... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2018 (Revised November 2019)
Case

JD: Envisioning the Future of Retail (A)

By: Feng Zhu and Shirley Sun

JD, China’s second largest e-commerce company by gross merchandise volume (GMV) after Alibaba, had expanded rapidly from 2012 to 2016. When the company celebrated its 13th birthday in 2017, Richard Liu, its founder, deliberated on the company’s growth strategies. The... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; China

21 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 21

subjective well-being. Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/15-021_500f17e8-a78c-4301-a2be-755a1fdd6679.pdf Do Experts or Collective Intelligence Write with More Bias? Evidence from Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia By: Greenstein,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Oct 2015
Blog Post

HBS and the Arts

experiences. Coming from a business development background, I had never thought about working on the operational side of a business. But my Technology and Operations Management (TOM) Class – taught by the amazing View Details

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Fantuan

By: Feng Zhu and David Lane

In 2023, CEO Randy Wu was considering the optimal growth strategy for Fantuan, a restaurant food delivery platform that had expanded from its 2014 founding in Vancouver, Canada to serve the Chinese demand for Asian cuisine in urban markets across Australia, Canada, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Diasporas; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada; United Kingdom; Australia

Summer 2024
Article

The Business Revolution: Economy-Wide Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Platforms

By: Hanna Halaburda, Jeffrey Prince, D. Daniel Sokol and Feng Zhu

In this essay, we identify several themes of the digital business transformation, with a particular focus on the economy-wide impacts of artificial intelligence and digital platforms. In doing so, we highlight specific industries, beyond just the high-profile “Big... View Details

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Digital Platforms; AI and Machine Learning

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February 2021
Article

Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace

By: Grace Gu and Feng Zhu

As an intermediary improves trust between the two sides of its market to facilitate matching and transactions, it faces an increased risk of disintermediation: with sufficient trust, the two sides may circumvent the intermediary to avoid the intermediary’s fees. In... View Details

Keywords: Disintermediation; Intermediaries; Online Marketplace; Platform Strategy; Trust; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms

25 Oct 2016
First Look

October 25, 2016

strategic disclosure choices that have real consequences in both capital and labor markets. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51784 Ideological Segregation among Online Collaborators: Evidence from Wikipedians By: Greenstein, Shane,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2024 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Cheerful Music

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Feng Zhu and Nancy Hua Dai

Established by Snow Jiang in 2019 in Shenzhen, China, Cheerful Music was a record label company that had created many hit songs in China. “Yi Xiao Jiang Hu,” its most famous hit song, gained billions of views on social media platforms in China and overseas as the... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Music Entertainment; Global Strategy; Business Model; AI and Machine Learning; Market Entry and Exit; Music Industry; China; United Kingdom; London

05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/818043-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 618-044 ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (A) ZBJ.com (ZBJ), an online platform that connects knowledge workers to small- and medium-sized enterprises, is... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

22 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 22, 2019

Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55493 Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment By: Li, Jin, Gary P. Pisano, and Feng Zhu Abstract— The... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

April 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A)

By: Shane Greenstein, Feng Zhu and Kerry Herman

Korea Telecom (KT) has committed $4 billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Chang-Gyu Hwang, and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technological Innovation; Infrastructure; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Telecommunications Industry