Publications

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16 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 16, 2019

complex. The deal was proof-of-concept for Fluidity, which hoped to develop a business digitizing securities issuance for other real estate assets on the basis of its technical facility with blockchain View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 2024
Teaching Note

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

By: Shunyuan Zhang and Sunil Gupta

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 523-013. View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

August 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

Migros Turkey: Scaling Online Operations (B)

By: Antonio Moreno and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in February 2020 as Ozgur Tort and Mustafa Bartin, CEO and chief large-format and online retail officer of Migros Ticaret A.S. (Migros), Turkey’s oldest and one of its largest supermarket chains, are looking over the results of the fulfillment pilot the... View Details

Keywords: Grocery; Business Model; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Globalization; Competition; Expansion; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Turkey

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

In this article Gompers and Kovvali describe the research and provide recommendations for reaping the business benefits of diversity. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54692 July–August 2018 Harvard Business Review When View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

EbonyLife Media (A)

By: Andy Wu, Feng Zhu, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

Founded by Mosunmola “Mo” Abudu in 2012 with a mission to bring high-quality African stories to the world, EbonyLife was the company behind many of Nigeria’s biggest films and TV shows. The company began as a television channel on the Africa-wide direct broadcast... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Consumer Behavior; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Nigeria; Africa

May 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Improving Repurchase Rates at zulily

By: Thales Teixeira and Sarah McAra

In February 2015, zulily cofounder and CEO Darrell Cavens faced a major challenge in his business, a Seattle-based daily deals site that catered to moms. The more he spent to acquire new customers, the less he retained them in the form of repeat purchases. This was an... View Details

Keywords: Zulily; Repurchase; E-commerce; Online Shopping; Fashion; Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing; Customer Satisfaction; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Seattle

March 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Zopa: The Power of Peer-to-Peer Lending

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo and David Chen

Zopa, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer lending company, connected individual lenders and borrowers via an online interface. The company charged a small fee for completed loan transactions but has not turned a profit. Zopa offered two platforms, Markets and Listings. Markets... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Market Participation; Digital Platforms; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

September 24, 2021
Article

A Labor Movement for the Platform Economy

By: Li Jin, Scott Duke Kominers and Lila Shroff

Platforms are fundamentally changing the contract between workers and companies—and the workers and creatives that create value for platform companies, and rely on platforms for their livelihoods, often have little power when it comes to getting their concerns... View Details

Keywords: Gig Workers; Decentralized Collective Action; Internet and the Web; Labor; Labor and Management Relations; Digital Platforms

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May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Supplement

Palm (C): 2005

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell

This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details

Keywords: History; Decisions; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Rights; Competition

30 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Readers Ask: I Need Tips for Working at Home

Shifting to remote work raises many questions for managers and employees, especially when it happens quickly as a result of a crisis. Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury, the Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration in the View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

School Case 515-052 Philips Healthcare: Marketing the HealthSuite Digital Platform In June 2014, leading healthcare and consumer technology company Royal Philips (Philips) announced its HealthSuite View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform (Abridged)

By: Chiara Farronato and Elena Corsi

Lexoo, a UK-based online marketplace for legal services, was facing the strategic choice of how to grow from early start-up to mature platform. Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo's CEO, and web developer Chris O'Sullivan, CTO, had set up Lexoo to help Small and Medium-Sized... View Details

Keywords: Legal Services; Marketplaces; Pivot; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Small Business; Service Operations; Decision Making; Legal Services Industry

21 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

Music Downloads: Pirates—or Customers?

likely to be much lower. How many consumers will pay a dollar for song number thirteen? Clearly, there is a profit-enhancing role for some type of bundling even with digital distribution. For example, consumers might be willing to pay... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

March 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

economy and lower-income consumers. Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence Technology was getting dull earlier this decade, says David Yoffie. But the sudden arrival of View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2021
Teaching Plan

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to the case “Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?” HBS 820-098. The case explores the tension between two different financing and expansion plans for a startup, and explores issues related to business model pivots and industry... View Details

March 2009 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Yelp

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David Chen and Aaron Smith

Yelp was a popular online destination for reviews of local establishments, written by volunteer Internet users and read by 60 million people per month. However, the company was far from profitable. The CEO needs to decide between two options to increase the revenue.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Profit; Revenue; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Internet and the Web; Advertising Industry

June 2022
Case

Zalando: Becoming the Starting Point for Fashion

By: Antonio Moreno, Leela Nageswaran, Emilie Billaud and Federica Gabrieli

Born in 2008 as a small startup selling flip flops, by mid-2021 Zalando had turned into an online fashion company with an assortment of more than 4,500 international brands, 45 million active customers, and a presence in 23 European markets. An essential component in... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Platforms; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Service Operations; Strategy; Business Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Europe

March 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

USA TODAY Online

By: John A. Deighton and Anthony St. George

How should USA TODAY use its brand franchise to build a publishing business on the World Wide Web? Advertising Age described the first steps as "a case study in how not to do it," but by the end of 1997 USA TODAY Online is the most visited news site on the Web. Now the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Design; Profit; Revenue; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Information Industry