Publications

Educators

October 2016 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Bootstrapping at Lightricks

By: Robert White, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Christine Snively

By August 2015, two-year-old mobile imaging software startup Lightricks had developed and released two best-selling paid mobile apps, grown to a team of 30, earned a revenue run rate of nearly $10 million, and achieved modest profitability. The bootstrapped company had... View Details

Keywords: Business Startup; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Business Startups; Digital Marketing; Finance; Strategy; Technology Industry; Israel

Educators

October 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Digitas (A): Strategic Interactive Group

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, David Lane and Courtenay Sprague

Kathy Biro, president of Digitas, an e-strategy consulting firm, has successfully grown out of the company's roots in the strategic interactive group. Her challenges now include managing the integration of the SIG with Digitas's other component, direct marketing firm... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Integration; Expansion; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Organizational Design; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

October 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Preview Travel (A)

By: William A. Sahlman, Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III and Robert Keller

Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Capital; Financial Strategy; Travel Industry; United States

Educators

October 2013 (Revised July 2024)
Teaching Note

Amazon in 2024

By: Sunil Gupta

Amazon launched its website in July 1995 to sell books online and by 2020 it has grown to become a digital giant with over $280 billion in annual sales. A large part of its growth came from expanding into a variety of businesses that some see as unrelated. Has it... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry

July 2011
Teaching Note

The National Geographic Society (TN)

By: David A. Garvin

Teaching Note for 311-002. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Structure; Sales; Leading Change; Society; Internet and the Web; Adaptation; Change Management; Media; Washington (state, US)

Article

Why Do Intermediaries Divert Search?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

We analyze the incentives to divert search for an information intermediary who enables buyers (consumers) to search affiliated sellers (stores). We identify two original motives for diverting search (i.e., inducing consumers to search more than they would like): 1)... View Details

Keywords: Market Intermediation; Search; Two-Sided Markets; Platform Design; Demand and Consumers; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

2013
Chapter

The Design of Online Advertising Markets

By: Benjamin Edelman

Because the market for online advertising is both new and fast-changing, participants experiment with all manner of variations. Should an advertiser's payment reflect the number of times an ad was shown, the number of times it was clicked, the number of sales that... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Price; Market Design; Measurement and Metrics; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web

Read Now

March 2008 (Revised March 2013)
Teaching Note

MySpace (TN)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Teaching Note for 708499. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Competitive Advantage; Social and Collaborative Networks; Decisions; Growth and Development; Digital Platforms; Web Services Industry; United States

19 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 19

intangibles. Read the paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=913363 Cases & Course MaterialsInternet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr, and Ryan JohnsonHarvard Business School Case 811-098 Founded in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2000
News

Priceline's Jay Walker: The Future is Wow

Walker, who was invited by the student-led High Tech and New Media Club to speak at the School in March, equated the changes brought about by the Internet with the transformational effect the automobile, the telephone, and television have... View Details

January 1997
Article

The Internet, Intel and the Vigilante Stakeholder

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Business and Stakeholder Relations

2019
Working Paper

The Effect of Payment Choices on Online Retail: Evidence from the 2016 Indian Demonetization

By: Chaithanya Bandi, Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and Zhiji Xu

The Indian banknote demonetization in 2016 was one of the most significant international events of that year. Overnight, 86% of Indian currency in circulation was declared invalid unless exchanged for new bills. The sudden and unexpected demonetization constituted a... View Details

Keywords: Cash On Delivery; Online Retail; Product Returns; Payment Methods; Digitization; Emerging Markets; Currency; Internet and the Web; Demand and Consumers; Retail Industry; India

Read Now

2010
Article

Competing against Online Sharing

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future. View Details

Keywords: Consumers; Computer Networks; Resource Sharing; Online Operations; Internet and the Web; Copyright; Networks; Business Model; Music Industry