Publications

21 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Are Crummy Products Your Next Growth Opportunity?

compete against the customer's manifest priorities. Instead, he said, facilitate them. In the electronic learning industry, for example, textbook publishers have invested great sums into creating elaborate products with Web links that add... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

13 Mar 2019
Blog Post

There's No Quick Shortcut to Success: Zorpads Takes Off

terminology and the product itself – plus, knowing a good deal when they saw one, the web domain was $12 a year. Partnerships take Zorpads to the stars Since graduating from HBS in 2017, Wiegele and Smith continued growing Zorpads,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Consumer Products / Retail

June 2020
Case

In-housing Digital Marketing at Sprint Corp.

By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull

In the fall of 2019, Sprint’s Chief Digital Officer Rob Roy reflected on the telecom’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Digital media buying had long been handled by an outside agency, but in 2017, Sprint brought those functions... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Digital Marketing; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

2015
Working Paper

The Market That Wasn't: The Non-Emergence of the Online Grocery Category.

By: C. Navis, G. Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

In this paper, we examine the non-emergence of a potential new market category. In the late 1990s, the entrepreneurial firms that attempted to sell groceries online in the US attracted significant resources, made impressive technological advancements, and generated... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Failure; Food; Online Technology; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry

April 2020
Article

Digital Emotion Contagion

By: Amit Goldenberg and James J. Gross

People spend considerable time on digital media, and during this time they are often exposed to others’ emotion expressions. This exposure can lead their own emotion expressions to become more like others’ emotion expressions, a process we refer to as digital emotion... View Details

Keywords: Emotion; Emotion Contagion; Digital Media; Emotions; Media; Internet and the Web; Measurement and Metrics; Social Media

Find at Harvard

Read Now

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

September 2020
Article

Customer Supercharging in Experience-Centric Channels

By: David R. Bell, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

We conjecture that for online retailers, experience-centric offline store formats do not simply expand market coverage, but rather, serve to significantly amplify future positive customer behaviors, both online and offline. We term this phenomenon “supercharging” and... View Details

Keywords: Retail Operations; Marketing-operations Interface; Omnichannel Retailing; Experience Attributes; Quasi-experimental Methods; Operations; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

August 2015 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Qihoo

By: Feng Zhu

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Business Model Innovation; Chinese Internet Market; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry; China

01 Dec 2001
News

September 11: A Community Reflects

develop new case materials or to tailor existing materials, teaching plans, or class discussions to address the tragedy and its aftermath; HBS-sponsored panel discussions on topics such as the economic impact of the tragedy, globalization, and international relations;... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young;Deborah Blagg

01 Jun 2009
News

Crisis and Creativity

talent pool. Many Web 2.0 developments, including blogs and social networking, grew out of the large number of talented Web-literate workers who lost their jobs after the collapse of the Internet bubble. In addition, technologies and... View Details

Keywords: Bhaskar Chakravorti

01 Dec 2013
News

Faculty Books

Faculty Research HBS Working Knowledge offers a first look at new thinking from HBS faculty. Read the complete articles summarized below by visiting their web links. Unspoken Cues: Encouraging Morals without Mandates Associate Professor... View Details

01 Sep 2007
News

HBS Launches Unique Deferred-Admission Program

To promote the new program, the admissions office has planned visits to some thirty campuses across the country and the School’s first venture into Internet advertising. Promotional links to program information will appear on Facebook, the popular social networking... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

28 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

Earth Day Reflections

downloaded from the company's Web site. Unfortunately, the two reports rarely add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. This is a huge problem. A sustainable society requires that all companies be committed to sustainable... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

upGrad: Delivering Career Outcomes Online: Degree by Degree

By: John J-H Kim, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

In August 2021, the founders of upGrad, the latest unicorn in the Indian higher education online space, were deciding how to best use the funds to execute on their ambitious growth plans. Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli had envisioned upGrad as an... View Details

Keywords: Unicorns; COVID-19 Pandemic; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Spending; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; India

July 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Qihoo

By: Feng Zhu

Qihoo, one of the largest Internet companies in China today, was founded in 2005. The company started its business by offering a security software product, and quickly dominated the market in China after its unusual move of giving its product away for free in 2009.... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Business Model Innovation; Chinese Internet Market; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

January 2009
Teaching Note

Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary (TN)

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Teaching Note for [509032]. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Media; Political Elections; Advertising Campaigns

March 2010
Article

I'll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: A Study of Online Grocery Purchases and Order Lead Time

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Todd Rogers and Max Bazerman

How do decisions made for tomorrow or two days in the future differ from decisions made for several days in the future? We use data from an online grocer to address this question. In general, we find that as the delay between order completion and delivery increases,... View Details

Keywords: Time Management; Service Delivery; Internet and the Web; Decisions; Customers; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Amazon.com-2002

By: Stig Leschly, Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd H Thedinga

Describes the evolution of Amazon.com and its business model since its founding. Specifically, discusses Amazon's transformation from an e-Tailer to a commerce platform and its marketplace initiative, which has driven this. Also describes the economics of various... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Transformation; Retail Industry

March 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Rosenbluth International and Biztravel.com

Rosenbluth, the third largest U.S. travel agency, uses the Internet to serve new customers with a high-service strategy. Rosenbluth acquires Biztravel.com and integrates the customer support and logistics aspects of service delivery. View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Acquisition; Travel Industry; United States