Publications

22 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Online Banks Fill Funding Needs for Small Business

lending in this market. Traditional bank loans may yield a return of 5 to 7 percent, but many alternative lending platforms charge yields ranging from 30 to 120 percent of the loan value, depending on the size, term duration, and risk... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Banking; Financial Services

01 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 1

Authors:Andrei Hagiu and Robin S. Lee Publication:Journal of Economics and Management Strategy (forthcoming) Abstract We analyze platform competition for content in the presence of strategic interactions between content distributors and... View Details

June 2016 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Numenta: Inventing and (or) Commercializing AI

By: David B. Yoffie, Liz Kind and David Ben Shimol

In March 2016, Donna Dubinsky (co-founder and CEO) and Jeff Hawkins (co-founder) were struggling with a key question: Could Numenta be successful in both creating fundamental technology and building a commercial business? Located in Redwood City, CA, Numenta was... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Machine Intelligence; Machine Learning; Strategy; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Information; Technological Innovation; Research; Research and Development; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Commercialization; AI and Machine Learning

September 1995
Case

Ares-Serono

By: Michael Y. Yoshino, Jean-Pierre Jeannet and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Ares Serono, a medium-size Swiss pharmaceutical company, is the global leader in the field of fertility drugs. The company has successfully transformed into one of the very few biotech firms in Europe. The case treats a set of major strategic and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Globalized Firms and Management; Asset Management; Balance and Stability; Expansion; Digital Platforms; Leadership Development; Health Care and Treatment; Transformation; Family Business; Problems and Challenges; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Switzerland; Europe

Find at Harvard

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

Carter are celebrating James’ third NBA championship. The duo will soon have to decide on a strategy for their media businesses—their film and television production company SpringHill Entertainment as well as their digital sports platform... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

the most interest: “The value of diversification is as true for supply chains as it is for investment portfolios Amazon is just the topic of the article but the same could be said for digital platforms that dominate their industry.” Jacob... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

28 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Minimum Wage Hikes Drive (Lousy) Restaurants Out of Business

economists and policymakers can use to understand the world. “Data from platforms like Yelp can add to our understanding of the economy,” says Luca, who works closely with companies and cities to help them better use data. “We can learn a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

14 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

The Manager's Guide to Leveraging Disruption

one of the forces that threatens established companies can also be a source of salvation: disruptive change. How to Be a Digital Platform Leader The most valuable companies in the world have one thing in common: all are leaders in the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

and switching costs in platform markets, entrants generally must offer revolutionary functionality. We explore a second entry path that does not rely upon Schumpeterian innovation: platform envelopment.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2019 (Revised February 2022)
Teaching Note

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-003. Set in March 2018, the Case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. The Teaching Note offers guidance for instructors who wish to use the case either with or without its dataset... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Decision Making; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

May 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Building the Digital Manufacturing Enterprise of the Future at Siemens

By: Willy Shih

This case describes the motivation for and the development of Siemens' digital manufacturing enterprise vision, which became the foundation for its implementation of Industrie 4.0. While the effort started with a purely defensive move by Anton Huber, head of the... View Details

18 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 18, 2018

performance. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55388 Product Quality and Entering Through Tying: Experimental Evidence By: Kim, Hyunjin, and Michael Luca Abstract—Dominant platform businesses often... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

26 Jul 2016
First Look

July 26, 2016

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/216076-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 516-094 Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand Customers By 2016, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were pervasive among the highest... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 17

Platform Competition, Compatibility, and Social Efficiency (revised) Authors:Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda Abstract Katz and Shapiro (1985) study systems compatibility in settings with one-sided View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Are the Olympics a Catalyst for China Reforms?

With China hosting the Summer Olympic Games starting this week, some reformers see an opportunity to use the world stage as a platform to pressure the country's leadership into expanding social freedoms. Judging by recent news, they don't... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

Measure Economic Activity at Scale By: Glaeser, Edward L., Hyunjin Kim, and Michael Luca Abstract—Can new data sources from online platforms help to measure local economic activity at scale? Government datasets from agencies such as the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2020
Case

Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co.—one of the world’s largest steel and metal distributors—CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Markets; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Steel Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

August 2008 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — United States

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the U.S. consumer payments landscape was characterized by the ongoing prevalence of credit and debit card networks, the decline of checks, the rise of stored value cards, and the growth of new payment methods such as PayPal, Bill Me Later, and decoupled debit.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Personal Finance; Digital Platforms; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; United States