Publications

December 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Supplement

eBay Partner Network (D)

By: Benjamin Edelman

Supplements the (A) case View Details

September 1989
Case

National Credit Information Network

By: F. Warren McFarlan and H. Jeff Smith

April 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Yahoo! Messenger: Network Integration

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Describes Yahoo!'s management of the launch of version 6.0 of its Instant Messenger (IM) product, which incorporates features from 12 other Yahoo! properties, including Search, Music, Games, Photos, Personals, News, and Shopping. The integration of features from so... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Business Units; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Competitive Advantage; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

November 2001
Case

IBM Network Technology (B)

By: Michael L. Tushman

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Management Teams; Leadership Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Growth Management; Information Technology Industry

April 2004
Article

A Network of Invention

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Networks

01 Aug 2017
Blog Post

Redefining the Term Networking at HBS

continually push you to achieve more and grow daily. My entire HBS experience was built upon the warmth and encouragement of my fellow students, professors, and program support personnel. So, when people mention an “HBS network,” I become defensive. The term View Details

January 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Technical Note

The Market Power of Platform-Mediated Networks

By: Benjamin Edelman

This note provides criteria to evaluate the power of a platform-mediated network. For a company considering building such a network or an investor considering funding such an effort, this analysis reveals the scope and desirability of the opportunity. Meanwhile, for a... View Details

Keywords: Intermediaries; Platforms; Platform Strategy; Business Model; Agreements and Arrangements; Distribution Channels; Networks; Technology Platform; Telecommunications Industry; Travel Industry; Financial Services Industry

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM PST, 07 Mar 2017
HBS Alumni Events

HBS Los Angeles Young Alumni Networking Reception

HBS alumni MBA 2002-2016 are invited to an evening of socializing and networking in Los Angeles. View Details

December 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Course Overview Note

Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Educators

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Provides an overview for educators of concepts covered in the MBA elective course, "Managing Networked Businesses," (MNB). MNB focuses on management challenges in businesses that exhibit network effects. Such businesses comprise a large and growing share of the global... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Business Organization

01 Jun 2011
News

Building a Social Network

Art by Ikon Images/Masterfile Related Links YPO official membership video Founded in 1950, the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a global network of young chief executives, has 18,000 members worldwide. According to one estimate, YPO... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

7 PM – 9 PM PST, 08 Mar 2017
HBS Alumni Events

HBS San Francisco Young Alumni Networking Reception

HBS alumni MBA 2012-2016 are invited to an evening of socializing and networking in San Francisco View Details

January 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Paytm: Building a Payments Network

By: Sunil Gupta, Das Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani

By January 2017, Paytm, a mobile payments company that started in 2010, became India’s largest mobile payments platform with over 142 million users and $5 billion valuation. Could Paytm become a $100 billion company its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma envisioned it be? View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payments; Ecommerce; Mobile App; India; Entrepreneurship; Expansion; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; E-commerce; Service Industry; India

In the fall of 2016, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, an Indian mobile payments and commerce platform, received the coveted "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from the Economic Times, a leading Indian business newspaper. Despite the public honor... View Details

November 1999
Case

Lucent Technologies: Optical Networking Group

By: Marco Iansiti and Barbara Feinberg

Set in June 1999, this case describes the development of a new platform product, the Wavestar OLS 400G, that responded both to a demand for greater "bandwidth" and aggressive competitors seeking to supply it. The 400G's development process took only 14 months and... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Operations; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure

December 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

eBay Partner Network — slide supplement

By: Benjamin Edelman

eBay considers adjustments to the structure and rules of its affiliate marketing program, eBay Partner Network (ePN). In particular, eBay reevaluates affiliate compensation structure, the role of bonuses for especially productive affiliates, and the overall rationale... View Details

Keywords: History; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Internet and the Web; Markets; Marketing Channels; Negotiation Participants; Marketing; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry

Research Summary

Social Networks and Unraveling in Labor Markets

This paper develops a model of local unraveling (or early hiring) in entry-level labor markets. Information about workers' productivity is revealed over time and transmitted credibly via a two-sided network connecting firms and workers. While employment starts only... View Details

November 2020 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Zipline: The World's Largest Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones. The company is now looking to expand in the U.S. and partnered with Walmart to expand into home delivery. Zipline must... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Business Startups; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Africa

2023
Article

Evaluating Explainability for Graph Neural Networks

By: Chirag Agarwal, Owen Queen, Himabindu Lakkaraju and Marinka Zitnik

As explanations are increasingly used to understand the behavior of graph neural networks (GNNs), evaluating the quality and reliability of GNN explanations is crucial. However, assessing the quality of GNN explanations is challenging as existing graph datasets have no... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science