Publications

August 1998
Background Note

Selling Books Online in Mid-1998

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

Provides an overview of the trends and predictions for the online book retail industry as of August 1998 and the current status of Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other main players' online ventures. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Books; Retail Industry

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21 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

What Machine Learning Teaches Us about CEO Leadership Style

such as the mobile phone and Internet of Things explosions across many fast-growing Asian economies. Beyond academic questions, business analysts could use these... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2021 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Fynd

By: Ranjay Gulati, Kairavi Dey and Rachna Tahilyani

Fynd is a fast-growing venture that in 7 years since its founding has become India's largest omnichannel retail company with real-time access to over 9,000 stores' offline inventory. It started as a B2B business supporting retailers who didn’t have an online business,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Model; Acquisition; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; India; Mumbai

February 2006 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Pixamo-Inc., AG, or OOO?

Andrew Prihodko is forming a new venture, Pixamo, the next generation of online photo management and sharing sites. Pixamo's alpha site has generated over 1,000 users and a lot of information about registration and usage patterns. Prihodko must address a number of... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Globalized Firms and Management; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Web Services Industry; Delaware; Switzerland; Ukraine

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April 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Yahoo! Messenger: Network Integration

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Describes Yahoo!'s management of the launch of version 6.0 of its Instant Messenger (IM) product, which incorporates features from 12 other Yahoo! properties, including Search, Music, Games, Photos, Personals, News, and Shopping. The integration of features from so... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Business Units; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Competitive Advantage; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

October 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Cisco Systems: Web-enablement

By: Richard L. Nolan, Kelley Porter and Christina Akers

Describes how Cisco web-enabled their ERP systems and developed the "front office" systems to electronically link to their customers and suppliers. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Information Technology Industry

June 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Teaching Note

TripAdvisor (TN)

By: Sunil Gupta

By 2010, TripAdvisor (TA) was the largest travel site in the world operating in 24 countries and 16 languages, with listings for 455,000 hotels, 92,000 attractions and 564,000 restaurants in over 71,000 destinations worldwide. It had over 40 million reviews from 35... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Digital Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; China; United States

February 2005 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Intelliseek

Intelliseek harvests, filters, and mines the content of messages posted by consumers online and on discussion boards and blogs. For any specified consumer product brand, Intelliseek measures the volume of work-of-mouth and its valence (proportion of positive and... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Consumer Behavior; Knowledge Management; Marketing Reference Programs; Web Services Industry

02 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Not All M&As Are Alike—and That Matters

acquired 62 companies, as it races to dominate the Internet server and communication equipment fields. From the target company's point of view,... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Bower

February 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

MercadoLibre.com

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Joshua Bellin and James Robert Dillon

MercadoLibre.com, eBay's Latin-American partner, needed to decide how far it was going to follow eBay's practice of offering "free listing days" and discounted special-feature days. Was this type of promotion prudent, given MercadoLibre.com's customer base, revenue... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Auctions; Service Industry; Latin America

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

experience. Not so manufacturers and their complex webs of suppliers, who in many cases lack that same experience or large-scale backup plans. The result: a chaotic scramble... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Technology; Computer; Electronics

02 Aug 2007
What Do You Think?

How Will Millennials Manage?

they are challenging and highly stimulating. So I may have an admittedly warped view of the generation. A great deal has been written about how millennials got that way. Of course, View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

14 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Airbnb Hosts Discriminate Against African-American Guests

Due to racial discrimination, white vacationers have an easier time booking an Airbnb rental property than African-Americans do, according to a new study from faculty at Harvard Business School. The problem seems to lie in all View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Web Services; Web Services

August 2000
Case

Monster.com

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of Monster.com, ponders how his online site, the leading career site on the web, can continue its dominance (60% share in 1999) and growth on the Internet. Monster.com had just launched a nationwide branding campaign on television and... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Service Industry