Publications

April 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Apple Computer, 2006

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

Apple has reaped the benefits of its innovative music player, the iPod. However, its PC and server business continue to hold small market share relative to the worldwide computer over the past few years. Will the iPod lure new users to the Mac? Will Apple be able to... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Positioning; Performance Evaluation; Information Infrastructure; Music Entertainment; Time Management; Information Technology Industry

Web

Giving - Alumni

Fund Help support student financial aid, faculty research, and other HBS priorities. Learn More Advancing the HBS Mission Learn how giving to HBS makes an impact through stories about two alumni who are improving literacy in India, a faculty member’s research on a tech... View Details

February 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

eReading: Amazon's Kindle

By: Bharat N. Anand, Peter W. Olson Esq. and Mary Tripsas

In November 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle, the first electronic reader with wireless functionality. The case describes the launch of the Kindle and provides information on representative players in the industry (or broader ecosystem) who are likely to be affected... View Details

Keywords: Books; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Industry Structures; Standards; Distribution Channels; Competitive Strategy; Publishing Industry

July–August 2021
Article

Lowering the Bar? External Conditions, Opportunity Costs, and High-Tech Startup Outcomes

By: Annamaria Conti and Maria P. Roche

We assess the heterogeneous impact of economic downturns on individuals’ decisions to bring high-technology ideas to the market in the form of new ventures. We thereby examine how worsening labor market conditions influence individuals’ opportunity costs of starting... View Details

Keywords: Necessity Entrepreneurship; Economic Conditions; Recessions; High-tech Startups; Opportunity Costs; Entrepreneurship; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Business Startups; Information Technology; Performance; Labor

August 2022 (Revised June 2024)
Exercise

How Should Netflix Add an Ad-Supported Tier?

By: Elie Ofek and Olivier Toubia

In the summer of 2022, it became clear that Netflix would introduce an ad-supported tier alongside its existing subscription plans in the near future. Speculation abounded as to the details of the new tier: How many minutes of advertising would it include? What picture... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Television Industry; Price; Marketing Strategy; Digital Platforms; Customer Value and Value Chain; Competitive Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

November – December 2011
Article

Explaining Influence Rents: The Case for an Institutions-Based View of Strategy

By: Gautam Ahuja and Sai Yayavaram

Research in strategy has identified and tried to explain four types of rents: monopolistic rents, efficiency rents, quasi rents, and Schumpeterian rents. Building on previous work on political and institutional strategies, we add a fifth type of rent: influence rents.... View Details

Keywords: Institutions; Influence Rents; Generic Strategies; Strategy; Organizations; Renting or Rental; Economics

May 2024
Background Note

Pricing Strategy and Channels of Distribution: Where Value Delivery and Value Capture Intersect

By: Elie Ofek

Channels of distribution are a critical component of a firm’s go-to-market strategy. A company may elect to sell its products directly to customers (DTC) without the assistance of any intermediaries or, alternatively, it may seek several channel partners to help it... View Details

Keywords: Price; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Markets

September 1992 (Revised July 1994)
Case

MEM Company, Inc.: English Leather

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Laura Goode

In 1992, the president of MEM (a producer of personal care products, including men's fragrances) considered a redeployment of field sales efforts and changes in sales compensation policies. Any changes, moreover, must consider the context of strategic decisions... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

Youngme Moon is the Donald K. David Professor of Business at Harvard Business School. Professor Moon's research sits at the intersection of brand strategy and culture, with a particular focus on the emergent AI economy. She is the author of the bestselling book, View Details

November 2020
Case

Guild Education: Unlocking Opportunity for America's Workforce

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael D. Smith, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

Founded in 2015, Guild Education is an education marketplace that connects employers and universities to provide employees with ‘education as a benefit.’ The Denver-based company is transforming traditional tuition assistance programs by facilitating direct payment by... View Details

Keywords: Education; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Employees; Social Enterprise; Education Industry; Technology Industry; Colorado

29 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Crafting Integrated Multichannel Retailing Strategies

Keywords: by Jie Zhang, Paul Farris, Tarun Kushwaha, John Irvin, Thomas J. Steenburgh & Barton Weitz; Retail

Program

Building a Legacy

opportunities Apply frameworks for evaluating unique investment opportunities for family real estate, niche assets, emerging markets, public market ideas, and startup/venture-backed investments Determine whether (and how) to pursue... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Product Impact in the Oil and Gas Industry

By: Katie Panella, George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the oil and gas industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary product impact estimates of... View Details

SSRN

Read Now

28 Oct 2014
News

There’s No Excuse for Avoiding Strategy

October 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Emotiv Systems Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count

By: Elie Ofek, Jason Riis and Paul Hamilton

Emotiv is getting ready to launch its innovative brain-computer interfacing (BCI) technology. The company has developed a special headset, called EPOC, and highly sophisticated software that can translate a person's emotions, cognitive thoughts, and facial expressions... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Sales; Technological Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Business Startups; Technology Industry

Web

Curriculum - Case Method Project

Confederation—including debt, contraction of trade, recession, inflation, and Shays’ Rebellion—and how those problems informed key features of the U.S. Constitution. Coverage: 1763 – 1787; American Revolution; Articles of Confederation;... View Details

February 1985 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Computervision-Japan (A)

The CAD/CAM market in Japan is about to take off. Computervision wants its exclusive distributor to dramatically expand its sales and service coverage. The distributor wants a joint venture with Computervision before expanding. Several distribution alternatives... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; Japan

20 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 20

decentralization decisions—across a large range of industries and countries. In this paper we investigate whether greater product market competition increases decentralization. For example, tougher competition may make local manager's... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2018
Article

Aggregation of Consumer Ratings: An Application to Yelp.com

By: Weijia Dai, Ginger Jin, Jungmin Lee and Michael Luca

Because consumer reviews leverage the wisdom of the crowd, the way in which they are aggregated is a central decision faced by platforms. We explore this "rating aggregation problem" and offer a structural approach to solving it, allowing for (1) reviewers to vary in... View Details

Keywords: User Generated Content; Crowdsourcing; Yelp; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information; Internet and the Web; Learning; Mathematical Methods; E-commerce