Publications

November 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Selling on Amazon at Tower Paddle Boards

By: Thales S. Teixeira and David Lopez-Lengowski

By June 2012, Stephan Aarstol felt that he had successfully passed the first critical stage of his ecommerce business. As the founder and CEO of a standup paddleboard (SUP) business, he had built a strong relationship with Asian manufacturers, built a small warehouse... View Details

Keywords: Tower Paddle Boards; Amazon; E-commerce; Online Shopping; Distribution; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

December 1998 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Knot, The

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Matthew C. Lieb

An online wedding resource company is seeking an equity investment to grow the business. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Venture Capital; Value Creation; Internet and the Web; Finance; Expansion; Strategic Planning; Service Industry; Consulting Industry

April 2001
Supplement

Acer America: Development of the Aspire

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Consists of five segments. Segment 1 shows Culver and Pai discussing the tensions between Taiwan and the United States and the resulting performance problems with Aspire; Segment 2 features Culver and Shih describing the changes Acer made as a result of the problems... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Transformation; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Strategy; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Taiwan; United States

March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Dell Online

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Dell started online commerce for its PCs in 1996, and by 1997 had achieved a sales rate of $3 million a day. The case describes the internal process that led to these dramatic results and poses the question of how the firm should leverage this activity to meet Michael... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Market Transactions; Goals and Objectives; Business Processes; Distribution Channels; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Competitive Advantage; Computer Industry; Retail Industry

September 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Going Mobile-First? The Digital Transformation of Davivienda Bank in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2017, this case describes the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda— a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian financial conglomerate. The case also describes the pioneer role... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Technology; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Banking Industry; Latin America; Central America; South America; Colombia

31 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Marketing’s Conventional Wisdom

sent you to the Web site where you could see the films in their entirety, which starred the same dashing young actor driving BMWs amid all manner of car chases and plot twists. Because it was kind of an underground thing, young people... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Service

21 Aug 2017
Blog Post

A Summer Internship with the City of Boston

Kiernan Schmitt (MBA 2018) is a 2017 Social Enterprise Summer Fellow working with the City of Boston Department of Innovation and Technology this summer. Imagine if, when it came to delivering city services online, your local government... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

01 Jun 2017
News

The Exchange: Venture Forth

the IBMs or the RCAs of the world to continue to create innovations and job opportunities. Think about the number of firms that wouldn’t be here and the number of technologies that wouldn’t be here without venture capital. The innovation... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Jun 2002
News

Alfred L. Cheauré - A Dog's Life

has attended more than one hundred dog shows across the country, converted an outdated mainframe computer system to a client server system, streamlined internal procedures, cut expenses, introduced DNA as part of the dog registration process, launched a View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

01 Sep 2010
News

Dare to be Different

nonfiction, lots of different genres — which means that I always have lots of strange stuff in my brain. You reflect on the Web as a marketing channel, including the interesting observation that in the broadcast media, people are used to... View Details

Keywords: Jeff Cruikshank;Youngme Moon; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

September 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Mission edX: Balancing Social Good and Financial Sustainability

By: John J-H Kim, David J. Collis and James Barnett

In March 2021, online education platform edX considers how to achieve financial sustainability without compromising its mission to provide universal access to high-quality education. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Values and Beliefs; Internet and the Web; Financial Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Education Industry; United States

Article

Germany's Digital Health Reforms in the COVID-19 Era: Lessons and Opportunities for Other Countries

By: Sara Gerke, Ariel D. Stern and Timo Minssen

Reimbursement is a key challenge for many new digital health solutions, whose importance and value have been highlighted and expanded by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Germany’s new Digital Healthcare Act (Digitale–Versorgung–Gesetz or DVG) entitles all individuals... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Reimbursement; Digital Health Reforms; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Internet and the Web; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Germany

Read Now

01 Aug 2001
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

using reunion committees and mailings, the Bulletin, and the Web to get the word out. Other potential programs might focus on work/life balance and career management. In light of limited faculty resources, the committee encouraged the... View Details

Keywords: John Hoffman

10 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 10

recipients' actual trustworthiness. This lax approach gives rise to adverse selection: the sites that seek and obtain trust certifications are actually less trustworthy than others. Using an original dataset on web site safety, I... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2008
Teaching Note

Threadless: The Business of Community (TN)

By: Karim R. Lakhani

Teaching Note for 608707 View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Civil Society or Community; Competition; Blogs; Business Model; Decisions; Design; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Chicago

December 2004
Teaching Note

Yield Curves and Bond Ratings Tutorial (TN)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Teaching Note to (9-204-712). View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Education; Debt Securities; Service Operations; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Evaluation; Education Industry

July 2001
Teaching Note

Virtualis Systems (A) TN

By: Michael J. Roberts

Teaching Note for (9-800-003). View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Business Model; Financing and Loans; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions

September 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization

By: Christopher Stanton and Shikhar Ghosh

Kevin Borders and Joe Golden, co-founders and co-CEOs of Collage.com, must decide how to grow their custom photo-products startup in the face of fierce competition. From 2011 through 2016, the business evolved from a hobby to a startup with $22 million in revenue and... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Internet and the Web; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Employees; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry