Digital Technologies - Publications - Faculty & Research

June 2020
Supplement

RBC: Transforming Transformation (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Aldo Sesia

In 2017, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian financial icon, mandated a swat team of “enablers of collaboration” (their job description) to support the personal and commercial bank in the enterprise-wide RBC Cultural Transformation initiative. Historically,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Transformation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Human Resources; Management Systems; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

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21 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Free Isn’t Always Better: How Slack Holds Its Own Against Microsoft Teams

When COVID-19 forced companies to send employees home two years ago, newly remote workers largely reconnected on two collaboration apps: Slack and Microsoft Teams. The pandemic propelled Slack beyond its core following in the technology... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Information Technology; Information Technology

2024
Working Paper

Moral Incoherence During Category Emergence: The Contentious Case of Connected Toys

By: Ryann Noe

Through a longitudinal study of the emergence of connected toys – physical toys that interact with digital devices – I build theory about moral incoherence: when competing views about the moral worth of a category persist over time. During the course of their... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Moral Sensibility; Market Entry and Exit; Consumer Behavior

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Business & Environment - Faculty & Research

Responsible Investments That Make Firms More Profitable By: George Serafeim Article Transition to Clean Technology By: Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Douglas Hanley and William R. Kerr We develop a microeconomic model of endogenous growth... View Details

July 2023
Case

Crocs: Using Community-Centric Marketing to Make Ugly Iconic

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne V. Wilson

In 2022, the Crocs Classic Clog was the best-selling item of clothing on Amazon, the brand was one of the fastest growing brands in the U.S., and global net revenue had increased to approximately $3.6 billion. By most accounts, Crocs had become the “it” shoe. Crocs... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Growth and Development; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Segmentation; Advertising; Consumer Products Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

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December 2019
Case

Walmart Ecommerce (B): Omnichannel Pursuits

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case is an abridged version (part 2 of 2) of "Walmart's Omnichannel Strategy: Revolution or Miscalculation?" HBS Case No. 720-370. The (B) case describes Walmart’s omnichannel strategy in 2018 as it battled Amazon for online retail market share. Walmart aimed to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Bentonville; Arkansas; United States

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14 Dec 2016
HBS Seminar

Siobhan O'Mahony and Rebecca Karp, Boston University

May 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Morgan Brown

By 2016, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were pervasive among the highest growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-sided Market; Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Accommodations Industry

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08 Aug 2022
HBS Case

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

part of a successful business strategy is not to get complacent but to always challenge oneself and innovate to stay relevant with market trends. He points to the example of photo company Eastman Kodak, back then the market leader, which clung to film even though it... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta; Media & Broadcasting; Music

The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million

The Sales Acceleration Formula provides a scalable, predictable approach to growing revenue and building a winning sales team. Everyone wants to build the next $100 million business and author Mark Roberge has actually done it using a unique methodology... View Details

January–February 2014
Article

The New Patterns of Innovation

By: Rashik Parmar, Ian Mackenzie, David Cohn and David Gann

The search for new business ideas—and models—is hit-or-miss at most firms. Tackling the problem systematically, of course, will improve the odds of success. Traditional ways of framing this search examine competencies, customer needs, and shifts in the landscape. This... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Information Technology; Innovation and Invention

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06 Jul 2023
News

Lessons from Major League Baseball's Game-Changing Innovations

outcomes have changed a lot. A couple things have happened. There's been a lot more technology that's been introduced to the sport from a performance standpoint. And those of you that watch the game, things like StatCast, which now shows... View Details

11 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

including design thinking and lean startup approaches, that have given rise to some of the world’s biggest technology companies. But does the Silicon Valley mantra “fail fast, fail often,” which encourages early testing of new ideas and... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

14 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

You're Right! You Are Working Longer and Attending More Meetings

to keep working from home part of the time after COVID-19 abates, researchers are probing how virtual interaction might reshape organizations. In the first large-scale analysis of digital communication early in the crisis, the team—Sadun;... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

2023
Article

Moral Escalation: Contested Category Emergence and Its Consequences in the Toy Industry

By: Ryann Noe

Preexisting research has outlined the cognitive, competitive, and economic barriers to market category emergence. Yet scholars have paid scant attention to the processes and consequences of moral resistance to nascent categories. Through a longitudinal, qualitative... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Market Entry and Exit; Product Positioning; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

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2008
Working Paper

Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne

Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened-that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance Controls; Market Participation; Digital Platforms

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08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

10 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 10

are also consistent with SOX and regulatory actions reducing the incentives to sell ahead of privately known negative news. Bye Bye Bundles: The Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels Author:Anita Elberse Publication:Journal of Marketing... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2023
News

Thinking Ahead

business of delivering health care than making a diagnosis and prescribing medication,” she says. Today, as cofounder and CEO of Systole, a healthtech startup, Lee is developing a personalized, physician-driven digital exercise program... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Illustrations by Chris Gash; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

TetraScience: Noise and Signal

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In 2019, TetraScience CEO “Spin” Wang needed advice. Five years earlier, he had cofounded a startup that saw early success with a hardware product designed to help laboratory scientists in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces more easily collect data from... View Details