Publications

Find at Harvard

January 2011
Case

Aardvark

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Lauren Barley

Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web

April 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

UNext: Business Education and e-Learning

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David J. Collis and Tyrell Levine

UNEXT has signed agreements with Columbia, Stanford, Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, and the London School of Economics to create online business courses. The company is backed by Michael Milken and Larry Ellison and has four Nobel laureates on its advisory board. Describes... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Competition; Disruptive Innovation; Performance Efficiency; Higher Education; Learning; Education Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Dialpad Communications (A)

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Describes the evolution of Dialpad, a voice-over-Internet-protocol telephony company. Set in September 2000, CEO Brad Garlinghouse faces a dilemma: what to do about the large number of international users who use Dialpad to call the United States for free. He must also... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Telecommunications Industry; California

March 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Prodigy Network: Democratizing Real Estate Design and Financing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Katja Hutter and Greta Friar

This case follows Rodrigo Nino, founder and CEO of commercial real estate development company Prodigy Network, as he develops an equity-based crowdfunding model for small investors to access commercial real estate in Colombia, then tries out the model in the U.S. U.S.... View Details

August 2008 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — United States

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the U.S. consumer payments landscape was characterized by the ongoing prevalence of credit and debit card networks, the decline of checks, the rise of stored value cards, and the growth of new payment methods such as PayPal, Bill Me Later, and decoupled debit.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Personal Finance; Digital Platforms; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; United States

24 Oct 2013
News

Searching for a Better Society

is where his belief in using search to make the world a better place comes in. "I feel very strongly about my work having meaning," Dumon says. "When I join a company, I ask whether my work will have an impact on society. At Elsevier, I'm pushing the same agenda, using... View Details

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

28 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Sophisticated Investors May Be Harming Fintech Lending Platforms

fraction of the applicants. Borrowers and platform employees have no personal interactions; no physical meetings, phone interviews, or web chats. The platform pre-screens loans based on the borrower’s information, and either accepts or... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Banking; Financial Services

16 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The Inner Workings of Corporate Headquarters

compare to the networks of line workers within those divisions. If theory is correct, corporate staff networks should be larger and more centralized than those of line workers. Stuart and Kleinbaum hit upon the idea of using workers' e-mail networks, creating a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

23 May 2016
Research & Ideas

A Little Understanding Motivates Copyright Abusers to Pay Up

obtained from the Internet. Furthermore, many businesses use a third-party designer, whom is presumed to have cleared related rights. Motivating copyright compliance on the Web is complicated by users who don’t know they are violating the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Media & Broadcasting; Publishing

07 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Mindful Leadership: When East Meets West

that a Buddhist Rinpoche and a leadership professor have joined forces to explore this subject and see how Eastern teaching can inform our Western thinking about leadership and vice versa," George says. You can read George's summary of the Mindful Leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

different from the historically well-funded Internet start-up industry. In the Internet start-up world, VCs can reasonably assume that a company can go from launching a product to getting acquired—or even going public—within a few years. But clean-tech doesn't work... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities; Financial Services

01 Jun 2000
News

Books

eBrands: Building an Internet Business at Breakneck Speed, by Phil Carpenter, recounts the successes, failures, and fears of eBrand pioneers. It will help readers learn the essential strategies behind electronic brand-building and how it can distinguish your company... View Details

01 Jun 2002
News

Pursuing the Ultimate Deal

make that leap, Ross implied, requires a degree of self-knowledge; Arafat, he concluded, ultimately could not close the deal “because he didn't know himself.” Web Exclusive: Dennis Ross - Middle East Peace Negotiating A veteran diplomat... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Middle East; peace; Israel; Palestine; policy; Government

01 Jun 2003
News

Student Conferences, at a Glance

technology, financial services, security, and Web services. The worst of the media industry’s recession may be over. The popularity of integrating various media properties (e.g., AOL Time Warner) appears to be waning. Latin American... View Details

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

September 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Mission edX: Balancing Social Good and Financial Sustainability

By: John J-H Kim, David J. Collis and James Barnett

In March 2021, online education platform edX considers how to achieve financial sustainability without compromising its mission to provide universal access to high-quality education. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Values and Beliefs; Internet and the Web; Financial Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Education Industry; United States

Article

Germany's Digital Health Reforms in the COVID-19 Era: Lessons and Opportunities for Other Countries

By: Sara Gerke, Ariel D. Stern and Timo Minssen

Reimbursement is a key challenge for many new digital health solutions, whose importance and value have been highlighted and expanded by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Germany’s new Digital Healthcare Act (Digitale–Versorgung–Gesetz or DVG) entitles all individuals... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Reimbursement; Digital Health Reforms; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Internet and the Web; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Germany

Read Now

February 2013
Case

Recorded Future: Analyzing Internet Ideas About What Comes Next

Recorded Future is a "big data" startup company that uses Internet data to make predictions about events, people, and entities. The company primarily serves government intelligence agencies, but has some private sector clients and is considering taking on more. The... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Analytics; Internet; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

January 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

AsiaMail.com: What's in a Name?

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Three founders of an international Internet company (e-mail-based marketing) struggle with naming the company. As they prepare to invest more than $10 million of first-round venture funding in advertising and marketing, they search for a name that will have power and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Asia