Filter Results:
(1,003)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,469)
- People (3)
- News (197)
- Research (1,003)
- Events (6)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (632)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,469)
- People (3)
- News (197)
- Research (1,003)
- Events (6)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (632)
Sort by
- August 2013 (Revised July 2024)
- Case
Amazon in 2024
By: Sunil Gupta and Margaret L. Rodriguez
Amazon launched its website in July 1995 to sell books online and by 2020 it has grown to become a digital giant with over $280 billion in annual sales. A large part of its growth came from expanding into a variety of businesses that some see as unrelated. Has it... View Details
Keywords: Platforms; Complements; Showrooming; Ecosystem; Growth Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Network Effects; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry
Gupta, Sunil, and Margaret L. Rodriguez. "Amazon in 2024." Harvard Business School Case 514-025, August 2013. (Revised July 2024.)
- October 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Epic Games
By: Andy Wu and Christopher Zhang
Epic Games entered a stagnant market with its PC-games digital storefront in 2018, in the context of incumbent competitors such as Steam, its meteoric rise via Fortnite, and imminent industry shifts in gaming distribution. On the surface, Epic Games Store’s competitive... View Details
Keywords: Industry Analysis; Video Games; Platforms; Comparative Advantage; Growth Strategy; Innovation Focused Strategy; Pricing Strategy; Strategy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Digital Platforms; Technology Industry
Wu, Andy, and Christopher Zhang. "Epic Games." Harvard Business School Case 720-380, October 2019. (Revised October 2019.)
- January 2014
- Case
Social Strategy at Cisco Systems
By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Daniel Malter and Aaron Smith
In April 2013, Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, vice president and general manager for Learning@Cisco Systems, was planning the future of the Cisco Learning Network, an online platform hosted at Cisco.com. Since its launch in 2008, the Cisco Learning Network provided content to... View Details
Keywords: Networks; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Competency and Skills; Learning; Web Services Industry
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Daniel Malter, and Aaron Smith. "Social Strategy at Cisco Systems." Harvard Business School Case 714-475, January 2014.
- January 2014 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
SAP 2014: Reaching for the Cloud
By: Karim R. Lakhani, Marco Iansiti and Noah Fisher
In May 2014, Bill McDermott will become the sole CEO of SAP AG, the world leader in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) field. The case occurs in January 2014 at SAP's investors meeting, at a time when the company's stock is near record high. A 2010 strategy... View Details
Keywords: Cloud Computing; Platform; Strategy And Execution; Strategy And Leadership; Enterprise Resource Planning; Software; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry; Germany
Lakhani, Karim R., Marco Iansiti, and Noah Fisher. "SAP 2014: Reaching for the Cloud." Harvard Business School Case 614-052, January 2014. (Revised March 2014.)
- September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
Angie's List: Ratings Pioneer Turns 20
By: Robert J. Dolan and Ayelet Israeli
In 1995, before people “googled” or “yelped,” Angela Hicks (HBS, 2000) was establishing her Angie’s List as a pioneer in the accumulation and dissemination of consumer rating information. Hicks focused on the home repair and maintenance market and, as she put it,... View Details
Keywords: Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Services; Product Line Management; Growth; Conjoint Analysis; Market Research; Freemium; Growth Strategy; Two Sided Markets; Ecommerce; Platform; Platform Business; Platform Businesses; Platform Strategy; Platforms; Platforms And Ecosystems; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Price; Strategy; Digital Platforms; E-commerce; Service Industry; United States
Dolan, Robert J., and Ayelet Israeli. "Angie's List: Ratings Pioneer Turns 20." Harvard Business School Case 517-016, September 2016. (Revised February 2017.)
- 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
Gu, Grace, and Feng Zhu. "Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace." Management Science 67, no. 2 (February 2021): 794–807.
- March 2020 (Revised June 2023)
- Case
Scaling Nextdoor
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Thomas O. Jones and Jeff Huizinga
Nextdoor, striving to solidify its position as the leading global social media platform for neighborhoods, works to scale audience, geography, and revenue. View Details
Keywords: Platforms; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Media; Digital Platforms
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Thomas O. Jones, and Jeff Huizinga. "Scaling Nextdoor." Harvard Business School Case 820-097, March 2020. (Revised June 2023.)
- November 2015
- Case
Upwork: Reimagining the Future of Work
By: Feng Zhu, Rory McDonald, Marco Iansiti and Aaron Smith
Upwork, the world's largest freelance talent platform, was the result of a merger between the two leading online freelancing companies in 2014, Elance and oDesk. After the merger, the company operated as Elance-oDesk and continued to manage two online... View Details
Keywords: Platforms; Employment; Digital Platforms; Market Transactions; Business Processes; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Job Search
Zhu, Feng, Rory McDonald, Marco Iansiti, and Aaron Smith. "Upwork: Reimagining the Future of Work." Harvard Business School Case 616-027, November 2015.
- March 2018 (Revised October 2019)
- Supplement
ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (B)
By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen and Shirley Sun
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
Keywords: Outsourcing; Disintermediation; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Global Strategy; Information Technology Industry; China
Zhu, Feng, Weiru Chen, and Shirley Sun. "ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 618-046, March 2018. (Revised October 2019.)
- June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri
By: David B. Yoffie, Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden and Karan Ahuja
By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s strategy for Google Assistant, its entrant in the voice assistant space, and asks how the... View Details
Keywords: Alphabet; Amazon; Apple; Strategy; Technology; Intelligent Assistants; Smart Speaker; Voice Assistants; Voice; Platform; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Technology Industry
Yoffie, David B., Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden, and Karan Ahuja. "Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri." Harvard Business School Case 718-519, June 2018. (Revised January 2020.)
- 05 Aug 2002
- What Do You Think?
Is Platform Leadership Old Hat or the Wave of the Future?
Summing Up Platform leadership, the process by which base technologies are developed and on which innovations created by many entrepreneurs can be based, may be characteristic of the knowledge economy. But it isn't new, at least to... View Details
Keywords: by James Heskett
- 21 Jun 2010
- Research & Ideas
Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets
financial crises, and weak intellectual property rights. HBS professors Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu, authors of the new book Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution (Harvard Business Press), offer an... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
- April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Antler
By: Dennis Campbell and Iuliana Mogosanu
The case describes the founding, development, and scaling of Antler, an early-stage investment platform that invests in entrepreneurs pre-team and, in many cases, even pre-idea. The case explores the economics of venture capital investing at such an early stage and the... View Details
- June 2013
- Background Note
Mobilizing an Online Business
By: Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman
Entrepreneurs starting online businesses often need to mobilize multiple sets of users or customers, each of whom hesitates to participate unless others join also. This case presents several challenges with similar structure. View Details
Keywords: Mobilization Strategy; Network Effects; Platforms; Internet; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Two-Sided Platforms; Technology Adoption; Innovation Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Computer Industry
Coles, Peter, and Benjamin Edelman. "Mobilizing an Online Business." Harvard Business School Background Note 913-061, June 2013. (request a courtesy copy.)
- April 2015 (Revised December 2015)
- Case
Resuscitating Monitter
By: Benjamin Edelman and Wei Sun
After a Twitter API change and policy change block his fledgling startup, solo entrepreneur Alex Holt evaluates his options. Should he double-down with a major investment in new servers, rewriting his app from scratch, and charging users for a service that he had... View Details
Keywords: Platform Strategy; Envelopment; Dependence; Social Media; Business Strategy; Vertical Integration; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Advertising Industry; Information Technology Industry; Australia
Edelman, Benjamin, and Wei Sun. "Resuscitating Monitter." Harvard Business School Case 915-027, April 2015. (Revised December 2015.) (request a courtesy copy.)
- March 2013
- Article
Do You Really Want to Be an eBay?
By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright
Most companies that serve as intermediaries between buyers and sellers face a fundamental strategy decision: Should they be resellers (like supermarkets), acquiring and then reselling products or services? Should they operate as multisided platforms (like eBay),... View Details
Hagiu, Andrei, and Julian Wright. "Do You Really Want to Be an eBay?" Harvard Business Review 91, no. 3 (March 2013): 102–108.
- 2007
- Working Paper
Multi-Sided Platforms: From Microfoundations to Design and Expansion Strategies
By: Andrei Hagiu
Multi-sided platforms (MSPs), which bring together two or more interdependent groups of customers, have recently risen to economic and business prominence in many industries. This paper first lays out a simple micro-founded framework which aims to organize academic and... View Details
Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms
Hagiu, Andrei. "Multi-Sided Platforms: From Microfoundations to Design and Expansion Strategies." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-094, May 2007.
- May 2017 (Revised May 2019)
- Supplement
Intuit: QuickBooks (B)
By: David Yoffie and Nicole Tempest Keller
This short case updates the earlier Intuit case on transitioning from a product company into a platform company. In addition to providing information on the recent successes and challenges of the business, it also explores a new challenge of building a platform with a... View Details
Yoffie, David, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "Intuit: QuickBooks (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 717-513, May 2017. (Revised May 2019.)
- December 2020 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Komatsu and Smart Construction
By: Rajiv Lal, David J. Collis and Akiko Saito
Komatsu, Japan's leading construction equipment manufacturer, is considering investing in a digital platform "Smart Construction" that will digitise the entire work process on a construction site, allowing for substantial reductions in cost and time while improving... View Details
Keywords: Platform; Digital Business; Construction; Business Model; Strategy; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Construction Industry; Japan
Lal, Rajiv, David J. Collis, and Akiko Saito. "Komatsu and Smart Construction." Harvard Business School Case 521-042, December 2020. (Revised December 2021.)
- October 2021 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
PhonePe: Democratizing Payments in India
By: Michael Chu and Rachna Tahilyani
The co-founders of PhonePe, India’s leading digital payment platform are considering pursuing various growth opportunities in a huge country just entering the digital age. In a highly competitive industry, the founders are keenly aware that making the right choices is... View Details
Keywords: Digital Platform; Digital Banking; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Financial Services Industry; Asia; India
Chu, Michael, and Rachna Tahilyani. "PhonePe: Democratizing Payments in India." Harvard Business School Case 322-053, October 2021. (Revised December 2021.)