Publications

13 Dec 2017
News

Should you worry about net neutrality ending? This one chart tells you why you should.

February 1998
Case

AT&T WorldNet (A)

The issue of how to price access to the Internet is addressed. To provide a basis for discussion of the effects of pricing that is not sensitive to volume, network externalities, and the strategic issues surrounding price wars in a short course on microeconomics View Details

Keywords: Price; Internet; Accounting; Microeconomics; Telecommunications Industry

December 2018
Case

Tiantong & Partners: Transforming Litigation Practice in China

By: Ashish Nanda and Lisa Rohrer

Jiang Yong founded Tiantong & Partners in 2002, seeking to radically improve the level of litigation-related services in China. By 2015, Tiantong was the premier Chinese litigation firm with the highest per lawyer revenues. The firm focused exclusively on high-stakes... View Details

Keywords: Law Firm; Law Firms; Growth; Legal Industry; Regulation; Professional Services; Law; Lawsuits and Litigation; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Legal Services Industry; China

March 2009 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Yelp

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David Chen and Aaron Smith

Yelp was a popular online destination for reviews of local establishments, written by volunteer Internet users and read by 60 million people per month. However, the company was far from profitable. The CEO needs to decide between two options to increase the revenue.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Profit; Revenue; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Internet and the Web; Advertising Industry

October 2001 (Revised November 2002)
Supplement

Mark Pitts

Describes Peoplestreet, an Internet business being developed at Cambridge Incubator. Peoplestreet is attempting to hire a VP of business development and has identified a candidate, Mark Pitts. Includes an overview of the position, three different interviews with the... View Details

Keywords: Job Interviews

10 Dec 2012
News

Why We Blab Our Intimate Secrets on Facebook

08 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Computer Science Principles Every Strategic Leader Needs to Know

its own inventory. Today, Amazon is a classic example of “platformization”: The company grew from an online bookstore into a vast technological hub that provides logistics and advertising to third-party... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

August 2018 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform

By: Chiara Farronato and Elena Corsi

Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo’s CEO, and web developer Chris O’Sullivan, CTO, had set up Lexoo, a UK legal marketplace, to help small and medium enterprises (SME) find legal advice at low prices. Lexoo had recently invested in a new vertical focused on larger companies.... View Details

Keywords: Marketplaces; Legal Services; Growth Strategy; Technology Ventures; Service Operations; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Growth and Development Strategy; Legal Services Industry; United Kingdom

25 Aug 2013
News

Needed at Microsoft: A Catch-Up Artist

12 Mar 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Using Online Prices for Measuring Real Consumption Across Countries

Keywords: by Alberto Cavallo, W. Erwin Diewert, Robert C. Feenstra, Robert Inklaar, and Marcel P. Timmer

March 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Demand Media

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Google search had helped Demand Media grow to be a $1.9 billion online publisher. Then, social media and smartphone apps began to change the way people navigated the Internet. How should Demand Media respond? The business ran on a radically new model in which a stable... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Publishing; Consumer Behavior; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Publishing Industry

July 2023
Case

Crocs: Using Community-Centric Marketing to Make Ugly Iconic

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne V. Wilson

In 2022, the Crocs Classic Clog was the best-selling item of clothing on Amazon, the brand was one of the fastest growing brands in the U.S., and global net revenue had increased to approximately $3.6 billion. By most accounts, Crocs had become the “it” shoe. Crocs... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Growth and Development; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Segmentation; Advertising; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

Debora Spar is the Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society. Her current research focuses on issues of gender and technology, and the interplay between... View Details

Keywords: internet; internet; internet; internet; internet; internet; internet; internet; internet; internet

March 2020
Case

Aereo

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jacey Taft

Aereo aimed to disrupt television program distribution by providing consumers access to local broadcast TV programming using offsite antennas, cloud-based DVRs, and an Internet connection. With Aereo, consumers could “cut the cord” and avoid the high cost of a cable TV... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Lawsuits and Litigation; Internet and the Web; Media; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

November 2013 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Freemium Pricing at Dropbox

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Online storage company Dropbox provided remote-storage over the internet of any type of computer file, along with file sharing, synchronization and backup. Using a freemium pricing strategy whereby a basic service was free-of-charge and a premium service was paid,... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Price; Internet; Information Technology Industry