Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(390)
- Faculty Publications (166)
- November 2011 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Rent the Runway
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura Winig
Two months after a successful launch in November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details
- May 2010
- Article
Bye Bye Bundles: The Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels
By: Anita Elberse
Fueled by digital distribution, unbundling is prevalent in many information industries. What is the effect of this unbundling on sales? And what bundle characteristics drive this effect? I empirically examine these questions in the context of the music industry, using... View Details
- February 2010 (Revised December 2010)
- Case
Google Inc. (Abridged)
By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann
Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats it poses to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details
- January 2010 (Revised April 2011)
- Case
Google Inc.
By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann
Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details
- July 2007 (Revised April 2008)
- Case
Secom: Managing Information Security in a Risky World
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Robert D. Austin, Junko Usuba and Masako Egawa
Examines the type of security that is appropriate for an Internet company to have on its site. Focuses on a 20-person electronic e-commerce company trying to decide what parts of the information security product line they should acquire from the largest security... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
Comergent Technologies Inc.: Enterprise E-Commerce
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell
Coming out of the 2001 high-tech industry recession, this venture capital start-up has to come up with a marketing plan to break even and grow. Its innovative e-commerce software provides unique customer relationship management solutions, but it has to convince... View Details
- October 2004 (Revised December 2005)
- Case
Rakuten
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Andrew P. McAfee, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Masako Egawa
Rakuten, a native Japanese, e-commerce start-up and highly successful company, is expanding into new categories and new countries. It must figure out how to continue its trajectory of growth and profitability. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- June 2001 (Revised September 2004)
- Teaching Note
E-Commerce at Williams-Sonoma (TN)
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Brooke Bartletta
Teaching Note for (9-300-086). View Details
- 2001
- Chapter
E-Commerce in the Textile and Apparel Industries
By: Janice H. Hammond and Kristin M Kohler
- May 2001 (Revised January 2010)
- Case
Submarino.com (A)
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Meredith Collura and Luiz Felipe Monteiro
Enables a thorough analysis of Submarino.com, a B2C e-commerce company with a presence in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Portugal. Examines the company's global operations as well as its organizational design and operating and management capabilities. Considers... View Details
- November 2000 (Revised December 2001)
- Case
Alibaba.com
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Lane
This case focuses on the strategic issues of an emerging dot-com in a rapidly emerging Internet nation-China. Alibaba, a bulletin board company based in Hangzhou, China, is trying to carve out a niche in the B-to-B e-commerce world. It also shows the speed and... View Details
- November 2000
- Case
Geocast Network Systems, Inc.
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Christina L. Darwall and Elizabeth Kind
Geocast, a venture-backed start-up, had developed innovative technology for "datacasting" broadband information and entertainment content to an external hard drive, where it was cached for later retrieval by a Web-enabled PC. By using terrestrial TV, direct broadcast... View Details
- October 2000 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
3PLex.com
By: Myra M. Hart and Judith Marie Dror
A start-up team is faced with the challenge of building a senior management team with relevant industry experience. The marriage of e-commerce and the transportation logistics industry creates unusual problems in blending "old economy" employees and employee practices... View Details
- October 2000 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
BizRate.com
By: Youngme E. Moon
BizRate is a market research firm that collects point-of-purchase customer feedback data from retailing merchants. It then makes its findings available to consumers in the form of "BizRate star ratings," which are displayed on its website. To date, its primary revenue... View Details
- July 2000 (Revised November 2001)
- Case
Catalyst Medical Solutions
By: Amy C. Edmondson, Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins
Faced with a drop in the NASDAQ, four eHealth entrepreneurs must decide between two distribution strategies for their new company's technology. The team, comprised of three full-time resident physicians and an MBA, has developed software to enable electronic... View Details
- April 2000 (Revised September 2001)
- Case
Peppers and Rogers Group, The
By: John A. Deighton
Can two successful authors build a scalable consulting practice based on their unique view of customer relationship management (CRM)? Should they emphasize strategy or execution? The case describes how Peppers and Rogers grew from two people earning speaker fees to a... View Details
- February 2000 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
E-commerce at Williams-Sonoma
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Daniel Galvin
Describes Williams-Sonoma's development of a third channel of business on the Internet. Describes the strategies for managing changes in the organizational, operational, and technological structure of the company. The new e-commerce division confronts challenges posed... View Details
- February 2000 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
Open Market, Inc.: The E-Commerce Wars
By: James I. Cash Jr., Janis Lee Gogan, Michael Haselkorn and Mani Subramani
Continues the story of Open Market, Inc., a company founded in 1994 to support electronic commerce on the Internet. Despite a very successful initial public offering, the firm had reached a growth plateau, and the management team was considering several strategic... View Details
- December 1999
- Case
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A): An Enterprise of Change
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner
In 1999, Sun Microsystems, Inc., was claiming a leadership position in the burgeoning world of e-commerce and networking computers. Its goal: "to dot-com the world." What was it about Sun's culture that made it so conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship? And how... View Details
- October 1999 (Revised March 2000)
- Case
HP Consumer Products Business Organization: Distributing Printers via the Internet
By: Rajiv Lal, Kirthi Kalyanam, Shelby Mc Intyre and Edie Prescott
In spring 1998, Pradeep Jotwani, vice president and general manager of the Consumer Products Business Organization of the Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), was contemplating the increasing success of e-commerce and its implications for his division. The consumer products group... View Details