Publications

April 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

National Instruments

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Keri Pearlson and Natalie Kindred

This case explores the use of social media to support product design, customer support, marketing and HR activities at National Instruments (NI). Based in Austin, Texas, with over $1 billion in 2011 sales, NI designs, produces, and sells software and hardware platforms... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Technological Innovation; Digital Platforms; Innovation and Management; Media; Management Systems; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Texas

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

make it difficult for GM to meet its expectations. Kodak is another company that is attempting to reinvent itself by shifting its products and services to the new economy. Through an emphasis on digital cameras and View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

July 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Teaching Note

Demand Media (TN)

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Teaching Note for 512021. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Media; Society; Transformation; Digital Marketing; Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Customers; Behavior; Value; Information Technology Industry; California

December 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Ad Classification at Right Media

By: Benjamin Edelman

Right Media considers systems and policies to make sure that ads are only shown on web sites where they are appropriate, and vice versa. Setting standards is particularly challenging given the large and growing marketplace, the numerous participants, their diverse... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Market Participation; Standards; Internet and the Web

2007
Working Paper

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): i)... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

Read Now

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

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Strategy; Service Industry; Information Technology Industry; Hangzhou; Europe; United States

22 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

The Mind of the Market: Extending the Frontiers of Marketing Thought

ZMET in addition to digital imaging, for corporate clients as well as MBA and Executive Education students. He's also involved in Harvard's interdisciplinary initiative Mind/Brain/Behavior, and studies neuroimaging techniques as applied... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2011
Working Paper

Quantity vs. Quality: Exclusion by Platforms with Network Effects

By: Andrei Hagiu

This paper provides a simple model of platforms with direct network effects, in which users value not just the quantity (i.e., number) of other users who join, but also their average quality in some dimension. A monopoly platform is more likely to exclude low-quality... View Details

Keywords: Multi-sided Platforms; Exclusion; Quality And Quantity; Cost; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Network Effects; Market Participation; Digital Platforms; Monopoly; Quality; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy

Read Now

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

acquisitions of companies that were important providers of transaction software in the retail and hospitality industries. Now, in late November 2013, Nuti and his team were considering a third potential major acquisition: Digital Insight,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Oct 2007
HBS Case

Marketing Maria: Managing the Athlete Endorsement

possesses a number of qualities that fit with its PowerShot digital camera brand." Fortunately, one of my students, Margarita Golod came to the rescue and connected me with Maria Sharapova. Sharapova was the ideal study subject in... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Sports

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy

favor of helping customers create and strengthen relationships with each other. These relationships are in exchange for the customers doing various tasks for the company for free. The distinction between digital and social strategies is a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

20 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Users Love Ello, But What’s the Business Model?

that social media users are increasingly attracted to the idea of such a model. But funding it without advertising's help won't be easy. Two digital marketing experts, Harvard Business School professors John Deighton, the Harold M.... View Details

Keywords: Re: John A. Deighton & Sunil Gupta; Publishing; Financial Services

07 Jan 2015
What Do You Think?

SUMMING UP: What Are the Limits On Workplace Transparency?

problems." Nevertheless, there was enthusiasm for disclosure, perhaps using a system of disclosing "pay bands" within which holders of specific jobs are compensated. Pete described a specific example this way. "Back in the 90's View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

03 Apr 2009
What Do You Think?

How Much Obsolescence Can Business and Society Absorb?

interlinked economy. Nothing is perfect but there is no time-out that we sometimes wish we could call." At the same time, Tom Dolembo reminded us, "After many years in the digital race, I discovered it is just electrons and... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Publishing; Journalism & News

18 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

Wrap-up: Software, Telecom, and Recovery

digital form." Telecom Shakeout HBS assistant professor Thomas Eisenmann, moderator of the panel on "Shakeout in Telecommunications," asked the assembled VCs if they are better able to add value to equipment companies or... View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild & Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

November 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Supplement

Global Unichip Corporation (B)

By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Jim Lai, President of Global Unichip Corporation (GUC), mapped out the changes he saw coming to the global semiconductor industry. The big question was how many system developers would start coming directly to GUC. View Details