Publications

June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri

By: David B. Yoffie, Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden and Karan Ahuja

By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s strategy for Google Assistant, its entrant in the voice assistant space, and asks how the... View Details

Keywords: Alphabet; Amazon; Apple; Strategy; Technology; Intelligent Assistants; Smart Speaker; Voice Assistants; Voice; Platform; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Technology Industry

February 2024
Case

Enhancing the Amazon Alexa Conversation with Ads

By: Sara McKinley Torti

February 2024
Supplement

Enhancing the Amazon Alexa Conversation with Ads: PR/FAQ Exercise

By: Sara McKinley Torti

June 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Teaching Note

The Voice War Continues: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri in 2022

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 722-462. View Details

May 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

The Voice War Continues: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri in 2022

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

In 2022, after five years of pursuing a new "AI-first" strategy, Google had captured a sizeable share of the American and global markets for voice assistants. Google Assistant was used by hundreds of millions of users around the world, but Amazon retained the largest... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Artificial Intelligence; Deep Learning; Voice Assistants; Smart Home; Market Share; Globalized Markets and Industries; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; United States

July 2024
Case

The Voice Wars Continues 2024: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri vs. ChatGPT

By: David B. Yoffie and Sarah von Bargen

In 2024, the Voice War was transforming from a relatively simple index-based technology system, which relied on a list of commands and answers, to a generative AI system, which offered the promise to enable free flowing conversations between people and machines. The... View Details

February 2018
Case

Amazon, Google, and Apple: Smart Speakers and the Battle for the Connected Home

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

Amazon, Google, and Apple all offer their own smart speaker. The devices represent each firm's entry point into the connected home market. All three companies come into the space with their own strengths and weaknesses. Who will win? View Details

February 2024
Case

Does “Matter” Matter? Amazon and Open Standards in the Smart Home Industry

By: Frank Nagle

In early 2023, the smart home industry stood at a pivotal juncture. The recent launch of “Matter” version 1.0, an ambitious interoperability standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), promised to unify a fragmented market plagued by incompatible... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Resource Allocation; Standards; Business Strategy

February 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Sekisui House and the In-Home Early Detection Platform

By: John D. Macomber and Akiko Kanno

To address an aging population and sales declines, a major Japanese homebuilder considers pivoting to provide and support an in-home health detection platform, in competition with tech companies. This case considers the point of view of major builders regarding how... View Details

Keywords: Voice Assistants; Architecture; Smart Home; Aging Society; Digitalization; Real Estate; Home Automation; Sensors; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Health Care and Treatment; Housing; Age; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; Health Industry; Japan

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

718-519 Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

08 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

revenues (from Nielsen), and pageviews and time spent on web pages (from Alexa Internet). Within their sample, average print circulation decreased from 275,594 in March 2008 to 106,525 in September 2017, while the average print... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Journalism & News; Media & Broadcasting

December 2005 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Canyon Johnson Urban Fund

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Alexa Arena

Basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson and K. Robert Turner, managing partner of Canyon Johnson Urban Fund (CJUF), raised $271.7 million for investments in urban real estate. The fund considered two projects, both located in Hollywood, CA. The first was located on... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Projects; Business and Government Relations; Public Opinion; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Los Angeles

01 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

always meet them? That sounds like marketing roulette. Amazon is known for its constant experimentation. It has the perfect website and Alexa technology for conducting endless experiments. It uses them to discover what people of various... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

09 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Big Hits: The Best of the 2018 Super Bowl Ads

programs, including the forthcoming Winter Olympics. Thales Teixeira Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration My top vote for best Super Bowl spot goes to Amazon's Alexa voice-loss ad. In a year in which Amazon and... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Telecommunications

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy

according to Alexa Internet. The business-oriented social network has more than 300 million members, all of whom list their educational and professional achievements on the site in the name of professional networking. Of course, these... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Article

Megastudies Improve the Impact of Applied Behavioural Science

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Dena Gromet, Hung Ho, Joseph S. Kay, Timothy W. Lee, Pepi Pandiloski, Yeji Park, Aneesh Rai, Max Bazerman, John Beshears, Lauri Bonacorsi, Colin Camerer, Edward Chang, Gretchen Chapman, Robert Cialdini, Hengchen Dai, Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Ayelet Fishbach, James J. Gross, Samantha Horn, Alexa Hubbard, Steven J. Jones, Dean Karlan, Tim Kautz, Erika Kirgios, Joowon Klusowski, Ariella Kristal, Rahul Ladhania, Jens Ludwig, George Loewenstein, Barbara Mellers, Sendhil Mullainathan, Silvia Saccardo, Jann Spiess, Gaurav Suri, Joachim H. Talloen, Jamie Taxer, Yaacov Trope, Lyle Ungar, Kevin G. Volpp, Ashley V. Whillans, Jonathan Zinman and Angela L. Duckworth

Policy-makers are increasingly turning to behavioural science for insights about how to improve citizens’ decisions and outcomes. Typically, different scientists test different intervention ideas in different samples using different outcomes over different time... View Details

Keywords: Policy Making; Behavioral Science; Behavior; Change; Decision Making; Policy