Publications

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January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

01 Apr 2001
News

HBS Press Books in Brief

line managers and CEOs will find compelling. The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Is Changing Our Lives, a completely new edition of the best-selling book by journalist Frances Cairncross... View Details

17 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Broadband: Remaking the Advertising Industry

is the capability to show full motion video, which some people will find compelling. This is going to be an increasing part of the advertising world, but it's still a pretty small percentage. Beyond search advertising, marketers are using... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting; Publishing

August 1998
Background Note

Selling Books Online in Mid-1998

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

Provides an overview of the trends and predictions for the online book retail industry as of August 1998 and the current status of Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other main players' online ventures. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Books; Retail Industry

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August 2019
Case

Twiggle: E-Commerce with Semantic Search

By: Shane Greenstein and Danielle Golan

Four years after being founded, in 2014, by former Google executives Amir Konigsberg (CEO) and Adi Avidor (CTO), Twiggle had developed a search enhancement that plugged into an online merchant’s existing framework. The company utilized advanced structuring and... View Details

Keywords: Search Technology; Customer Acquisition; Internet and the Web; Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Israel

19 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting School Ties and Stock Recommendations

Social networks matter for more than just efficient Internet communication. They're also crucial for the strong performance of stock recommendations by analysts, according to researchers at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

March 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

DigitalThink: Building a Sales Force

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Christina L. Darwall

A broad set of issues faces a young company in the Internet-based training business as it begins to sell its product to corporate customers. Issues include: profile of attractive candidates, compensation, definition of territory, definition of quotas, and role of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Business Startups; Service Industry

15 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

We Have Better Ways to Break Habits Than Willpower. Why Don't We Use Them?

strategies—external aids like Internet blockers, nicotine patches, and swear jars. At the same time, studies show that few people use these supportive strategies. Why? “We know these kinds of strategies are... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

January 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Google Car

By: Karim R. Lakhani, James Weber and Christine Snively

By 2013, Google, while not a traditional manufacturer of automobiles, had invested millions of dollars in its self-driving cars which had logged over 500,000 miles of testing. The Google management team faced several questions. Should Google continue to invest in the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Services; Innovation; Technology; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Market Entry and Exit; Transportation; Auto Industry; United States

01 Mar 2006
News

Fast Lane to Country Lane

software start-up straight out of Yale. She was running the company by the time she left for HBS in 1992. After HBS, she helped launch Open Market, an Internet start-up that made e-commerce software, where... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores; Retail Trade

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

School Case 615-017 Qihoo Qihoo, one of the largest Internet companies in China today, was founded in 2005. The company started its business by offering a security software produc, and quickly dominated the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jun 2014
Blog Post

Cambridge to Nairobi

“activist mapping”—a combination of citizen journalism and geospatial information—to allow citizens to submit reports using their mobile phones or the internet to create a map-based account View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit / Government; Technology

July 2014
Article

Diasporas and Outsourcing: Evidence from oDesk and India

By: Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Christopher Stanton

This study examines the role of the Indian diaspora in the outsourcing of work to India. Our data are taken from oDesk, the world's largest online platform for outsourced contracts, where India is the largest country in terms of contract volume. We use an ethnic name... View Details

Keywords: Diaspora; Outsourcing; oDesk; Networks; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Diasporas; Internet and the Web; Ethnicity; Service Industry; South Asia; India

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20 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Maybe Uber isn't God's Gift to Mankind

It’s easy to understand why so many people embrace transportation network companies like Uber and the growing number of other ride-sourcing startups, which enable drivers to make money using their own vehicles. By allowing passengers to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Transportation; Insurance

November 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

FairMarket: Managing Business Development

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Cathy Taylor

Describes the evolution of FairMarket, a provider of turnkey auction services to community and merchant Web sites. Describes several deals that the CEO must negotiate, requiring a view of the company's valuation. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Auctions; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry

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September 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization

By: Christopher Stanton and Shikhar Ghosh

Kevin Borders and Joe Golden, co-founders and co-CEOs of Collage.com, must decide how to grow their custom photo-products startup in the face of fierce competition. From 2011 through 2016, the business evolved from a hobby to a startup with $22 million in revenue and... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Internet and the Web; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Employees; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry