Publications

06 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better

flourish and thrive.” After all, people are good at faking when they are paying attention to others, consciously or not, smiling and nodding when they are really thinking about their favorite streaming show or the football game they... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Microsoft Xbox: Changing the Game?

By: Andrei Hagiu

In September 1999, the Microsoft Xbox team was wondering which strategic choices would give it the best chance against the upcoming Sony PlayStation 2. Initially called "Project Midway" within Microsoft, the console project was intended to counter the perceived threat... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Recruitment; Leadership; Management Teams; Multi-Sided Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Production; Strategy; Competition; Expansion; Video Game Industry; Texas

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

09 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen’s “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

called Netflix emerged in the 1990s with a novel idea: rather than make people go to the video store, why don't we mail DVDs to them? Netflix's business model made profit in just the opposite way to Blockbuster's. Netflix customers paid a... View Details

February 2023
Case

Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

By: Ayelet Israeli and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2022, Roblox had 58.8 million daily active users, including over half of all children and teens under the age of 16 in the United States. Roblox, a free-to-use “co-experience platform”, allowed users to come together in immersive 3D experiences to socialize, work,... View Details

04 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Need to Solve a Problem? Take a Break From Collaborating

Game Previous academic research generally has focused separately on two aspects of problem-solving—either gathering facts or figuring out solutions. And the findings often have contradicted each other. Collaboration may hinder... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Video Game; Video Game

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

governance regimes to meaningful transnational regulation. Download working paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2178540 Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 415-015 Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A) Valve, one of the world's top View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

Strategy and Technology

By: Andy Wu

The Strategy and Technology elective course explores the unique aspects of creating effective strategies for technology-intensive businesses.

What strategies win in markets with network effects?
How can technology be... View Details

05 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

5 Companies Where Employees Move Up the Ladder Fast

wider pool of talent. Workers and potential employees can take control, too, by: Being realistic about which jobs are available where they live. Too often, says Fuller, young workers will study in fields like video View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

31 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

American Idle: Workers Spend Too Much Time Waiting for Something to Do

evaluate employees based on outcomes rather than hours spent working or seeming to work,” Brodsky says. When employees don’t have work to do, managers can reward them by allowing them to surf the internet, read, or play video View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

film, music, television, video games, the performing arts, sports, and advertising. She has written dozens of cases on firms and businesses as varied as Hulu, Marvel Enterprises, New York's Marquee nightclub, The Metropolitan Opera, and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation

13 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

The Case Against Racial Colorblindness

researchers conducted an experiment in which white participants engaged in a two-person guessing game designed—unbeknownst to them—to measure their tendencies toward attempted racial colorblindness. Each participant was given a stack of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

Latest Isn’t Always Greatest: Why Product Updates Capture Consumers

eating gummies, and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s the revised gummy, yum yum, it tastes better,’” says John. In another study in which participants played a video game labeled as “version 5,” they even reported... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products; Retail

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales. These results were in marked contrast... View Details