Publications

2019
Book

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms

October 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Data Science at Target

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

Paritosh Desai joined Target.com in 2013 as VP of Business Intelligence, Analytics & Testing to explore how the retailer could use its relatively small but thriving e-commerce arm to drive sales and win customers. The case explores the technological and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Analytics and Data Science; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Innovation Leadership

15 Nov 2022
Op-Ed

Why TikTok Is Beating YouTube for Eyeball Time (It’s Not Just the Dance Videos)

the internet. We wrote a series of Harvard Business School case studies between 2009 and 2011 exploring viral videos—United Breaks Guitars, the JK Wedding Dance, and how Ford used influencers to launch the Fiesta car. What struck us right... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

June 2007 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany

By: Geoffrey Jones, Grace Ballor and Adrian Brown

Considers the strategy of U.S.-owned IBM, then a manufacturer of punch cards, in Nazi Germany before 1937. Opens with IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson meeting Adolf Hitler in his capacity as President of the International Chamber of Commerce. IBM had acquired a German company... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Business and Government Relations; Germany; United States

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Square, Inc. IPO

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Lauren G. Pickle

In November 2015, Square, Inc. launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had an offering price of $9 per share, lower than the $11 to $13 estimate that had been outlined in the preliminary prospectus and 42% below the $15.50 share price in its most recent... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Initial Public Offering; Equity; Capital Markets; Public Equity; Stocks; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 1998
Case

Advent Israel Venture Capital Program, The

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey M. Anapolsky

Explores the decision by Advent, an international venture capital firm, to start a fund focused on Israel. Advent must decide who to hire to run the fund and how much money to raise. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Global Strategy; Recruitment; Expansion; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Israel

Find at Harvard

30 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations

A simple view of negotiation presents a cold transaction between what one person has and what the other person is willing to pay for it. If the price is right, the deal gets done. As anyone who has recently bought a car or sold a house knows, however, negotiations are... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation; Sports

09 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Organizations

In Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices, the authors combine the latest thinking from the biological and social sciences to lay out a new theory on human nature. The idea: We are all influenced and guided by four drives: acquiring, bonding, learning, and... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Lawrence & Nitin Nohria

13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

research suggests there was something at work beyond simple greed, setting the stage for deeper exploration of how incentives shape not only what we do, but also how we perceive reality. “The question of incentives is fundamental to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

03 May 2017
Book

The Clear Connection Between Slavery and American Capitalism

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2004 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Wal-Mart in Europe

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull and Louisa Neissa

Presents challenges facing Wal-Mart during its move into Germany. Explores the dynamics of the German retail market. View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Distribution Channels; Expansion; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Retail Industry; Europe; Germany