Publications

01 Jun 2017
News

Drawing on the Crowd for Innovative Problem-Solving

problem-solving challenges. “I became a professor to understand why communities, like those that create open-source software, were innovating. It did not correlate with my intuition about the best ways to incentivize innovation and organize people,” says Lakhani, who... View Details

25 Aug 2022
News

The Exchange: The Road Ahead for Crypto

From left: Scott Duke Kominers and Charles C.Y. Wang (Image by John Ritter) Cryptocurrencies have been edging their way out of the periphery for the last decade and proliferating as they go: About 18,000 digital currencies currently exist... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

November 2019 (Revised February 2022)
Teaching Note

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-003. Set in March 2018, the Case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. The Teaching Note offers guidance for instructors who wish to use the case either with or without its dataset... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Decision Making; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

April 2015 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Resuscitating Monitter

By: Benjamin Edelman and Wei Sun

After a Twitter API change and policy change block his fledgling startup, solo entrepreneur Alex Holt evaluates his options. Should he double-down with a major investment in new servers, rewriting his app from scratch, and charging users for a service that he had... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Envelopment; Dependence; Social Media; Business Strategy; Vertical Integration; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Australia

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Andy Grove on the Confident Leader

digital form, stored in this platform, and therefore ready to be transported in digital form. WK: Journeying from one business model to another is a formidable leadership challenge, especially in an industry... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kiechel; Technology

February 2014
Technical Note

Mobile Broadband and the Telecommunications Industry in 2011

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Kerry Herman and Christine Snively

Mobile broadband carriers provide network access to the Internet for a range of devices (typically portable or mobile), including consumer devices such as smartphones, tablets and E-Readers, but also a host of new emerging devices. Mobile broadband networks enable data... View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

01 Mar 2012
News

Reinventing Radio Days

COO—he followed his passion for music and took the helm at Savage Beast Technologies (SBT), a cash-strapped San Francisco start-up. How bad were things at SBT? “The company wasn’t running on fumes,” Kennedy recalls. “The fumes were gone.”... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; internet radio; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

October 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

All Traffic Solutions

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott F. Johnson

All Traffic Solutions traditionally sold traffic signs that collected vehicle data to cities. In recent years, the firm connected their signs to the internet and began selling software that enabled cities to operate their signs remotely and collect data in a more... View Details

Keywords: IoT; Internet Of Things; Smart Connected Products; All Traffic Solutions; Traffic; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

January 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Chicago and the Array of Things: A Fitness Tracker for the City

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

The city of Chicago has recently launched a project called the Array of Things. The program involves a series of sensor nodes placed around the city that capture a massive amount of data including pedestrian and vehicle flow, air quality, and cloud cover. The Array of... View Details

Keywords: Smart Connected Products; Smart Cities; Internet Of Things; Sensors; Govenment; Government Administration; Technological Innovation; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Chicago; United States

14 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

The World in Your Palm?

As makers of everything engage in an all-out features war to cram the most services, accessories, and functions into a single product, the real question for many is this: Does the consumer really want an all-in-one digital device? A panel... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 1995
Case

Singapore TradeNet: Beyond TradeNet to the Intelligent Island

By: Lynda M. Applegate, John L. King and Soon-Siong Neo

Describes the actions taken by the government of Singapore to enable the country to survive and prosper after it achieved independence in the late 1960s. Recognizing that its small size, limited natural resources, but excellent location placed it in a vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Communication Technology; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Information Technology Industry; Singapore

March 2013
Article

Do You Really Want to Be an eBay?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

Most companies that serve as intermediaries between buyers and sellers face a fundamental strategy decision: Should they be resellers (like supermarkets), acquiring and then reselling products or services? Should they operate as multisided platforms (like eBay),... View Details

Keywords: Multi-sided Platforms; Business Models; Strategy; Digital Platforms

01 Mar 2017
News

Students Forecast Climate Change’s Impact

MORE Watch three students discuss their approach to the climate change challenge MORE Watch three students discuss their approach to the climate change challenge Professors Mike Toffel and Marco Iansiti presented the more than 900 RC students in their View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

December 2005
Case

IBM and Eclipse (A)

IBM faces a collective action problem: It open sourced its $40 million application platform and has to convince other companies to contribute. Explores the events leading up to IBM's decision to make the Eclipse platform available as an Open Source project. In 1998,... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Open Source Distribution; Cooperation; Adoption; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

24 Oct 2013
News

Searching for a Better Society

of Prosys, another European technology company. "After a couple of years at Prosys, I had an opportunity to join eBay France as senior director of its auctions marketplace," he says. "They were growing in triple View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Sep 2009
News

E Ink’s Wild Ride

“Some decent-looking pixels and a really excellent vision.” That’s all it took for Russ Wilcox to fall for the technology that would become E Ink, a company supplying the electronic ink for a new world of View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; e-books; e-reading; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

January 2008
Article

Learning the Fine Art of Collaboration

By: Alan MacCormack and Theodore Forbath

Innovations are increasingly brought to the market by networks of firms, selected for their unique capabilities and operating in a coordinated manner. This collaborative model demands that firms develop different skills, yet despite this need, there is little guidance... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms