Publications

March 2005
Background Note

Home Video Games: Generation Seven

By: Elie Ofek

Discusses the issues facing firms in the seventh generation of home video game platforms. In particular, Sony and Microsoft plan to launch new game consoles in the 2005 to 2006 time frame. Each firm seems to be following a different strategy. Microsoft wants to launch... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry

01 Sep 2013
News

Passion & Purpose

expertise in technology was helpful because I didn't have preconceived notions of how things should be done.” Lee transformed a struggling software sales company into a global provider of IT products and services. Under her leadership,... View Details

Keywords: awards; Finance; Computer Systems Design and Related Services; Professional Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

2013
Working Paper

Separating Homophily and Peer Influence with Latent Space

By: Joseph P. Davin, Sunil Gupta and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

We study the impact of peer behavior on the adoption of mobile apps in a social network. To identify social influence properly, we introduce latent space as an approach to control for latent homophily, the idea that "birds of a feather flock together." In a series of... View Details

Keywords: Social Influence; Social Network; Mobile App; Peer Effects; Latent Homophily; Latent Space; Proxy Variables; Familiarity; Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Applications and Software; Social and Collaborative Networks; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Power and Influence; Social Media

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2003
Working Paper

Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat

This paper analyzes a dynamic mixed duopoly in which a profit-maximizing competitor interacts with a competitor that prices at zero (or marginal cost), with the cumulation of output affecting their relative positions over time. The modeling effort is motivated by... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Competition; Open Source Distribution; Balance and Stability; Applications and Software; Network Effects; Duopoly and Oligopoly

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July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

The Mozilla Foundation: Launching Firefox 1.0 (A)

Explores the Mozilla Foundation's decisions leading up to the launch of Firefox 1.0, including its default browser, managing corporate partnerships, managing product development, and moving toward a revenue-based model. Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Commercialization; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Social Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; United States

June 1998 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Browser Wars, 1994-1998, The

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

Analyzes the competition between Netscape and Microsoft in the market for Web browsers and related products. Despite its first mover advantage, Netscape sees its market share fall once Microsoft becomes "hard-core" about the Internet. By the spring of 1998, the future... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Supply and Industry; Information Technology Industry

09 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

A Diagnostic for Disruptive Innovation

a January 2, 2004, article in the Wall Street Journal, large corporations are increasingly unwilling to pay for expensive upgrades to software programs. This indicates that software providers are overserving... View Details

Keywords: by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson & Matt Eyring

25 Feb 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #1: Kameale C. Terry

full-time. For all the money and interest in building EV charging stations, Terry built her business around her observation that repairing or cleaning EV charging stations had been ignored. 80% of the problems, she notes, are non-electrical – typically View Details

19 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Codeacademy’s Delicate Work of Adding Monetization Without Crushing Mission

THE COMPANY'S SERVICES" As an example, one of our portfolio companies at Flybridge, MongoDB, has done that extremely well. They are an open source database software company, which by definition means everyone has access to their database.... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jeffrey J. Bussgang; Technology

01 Sep 2018
News

In My Humble Opinion: In the Deal

precious,” says Khan, who focuses primarily on software. “It’s been an incredible segment to invest in over the last few years—cloud software in particular, because these are high-gross margin businesses with low costs and long, recurring... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

Profile

Henry McCance

discovered three of the four then-known genes associated with Alzheimer’s. “Part of my skill set is I can recognize world-class talent when I see it,” says McCance. “I knew he was the kind of guy Greylock would have backed if he had chosen the View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Financial Services; Health Care

01 Mar 2018
News

Democratizing Data to Favor Farmers

agronomic data analysis, breaking the information monopoly long held by the industry. To do so, FBN began compiling data spread across 65 different versions of so-called precision agriculture software and “democratizing” the insights by... View Details

Keywords: Sasha Issenberg

04 Dec 2014
News

Hacking Health Care

way: a project leader pinpoints problem areas and organizes a hackathon that is attended by an audience of 200 to 300 participants. Doctors and nurses on the front line engage with software developers who are eager to break through the... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

February 2014
Case

BGI: Data-driven Research

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

BGI has the largest installed gene-sequencing capacity in the world, and to Zhang Gengyun, general manager of the Life Sciences Division, this represented an opportunity to apply his training as a plant breeder and his early career work as a biochemist to improving... View Details