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  • All HBS Web  (51)
    • News  (5)
    • Research  (38)
  • Faculty Publications  (28)

Show Results For

  • All HBS Web  (51)
    • News  (5)
    • Research  (38)
  • Faculty Publications  (28)
Page 1 of 51 Results →
  • June 2016 (Revised March 2017)
  • Technical Note

Disintermediation in Two-Sided Marketplaces

By: Benjamin Edelman and Philip Hu
Two-sided marketplaces often risk disintermediation: users may rely on the marketplace to find each other but then perform related future transactions—or even the current transaction—without the platform’s involvement and without paying any fees the platform may... View Details
Keywords: Disintermediation; Strategic Behavior; Circumvention; Undercutting; Uber; Airbnb; Handy; Upwork; Etsy; eBay; Monster.com; Google; Competitive Strategy; Multi-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Transportation Industry; Accommodations Industry; Service Industry; Advertising Industry
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Edelman, Benjamin, and Philip Hu. "Disintermediation in Two-Sided Marketplaces." Harvard Business School Technical Note 917-004, June 2016. (Revised March 2017.) (request a courtesy copy.)
  • July 2016
  • Case

Disintermediating the Banks: ThinCats and the Peer-to-Peer Lending Industry

By: Lauren Cohen, Tom Grant, Christopher Malloy and William Powley
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Cohen, Lauren, Tom Grant, Christopher Malloy, and William Powley. "Disintermediating the Banks: ThinCats and the Peer-to-Peer Lending Industry." Harvard Business School Case 217-007, July 2016.
  • 09 Sep 2013
  • Working Paper Summaries

The Disintermediation of Financial Markets: Direct Investing in Private Equity

Keywords: by Lily Fang, Victoria Ivashina & Josh Lerner
  • Article

The Disintermediation of Financial Markets: Direct Investing in Private Equity

By: Lily Fang, Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner
We examine twenty years of direct private equity investments by seven large institutions. These direct investments perform better than public market indices, especially buyout investments and those made in the 1990s. Outperformance by the direct investments, however,... View Details
Keywords: Financial Intermediation; Direct Investment; Co-investment; Private Equity; Entrepreneurship; Financial Markets
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Fang, Lily, Victoria Ivashina, and Josh Lerner. "The Disintermediation of Financial Markets: Direct Investing in Private Equity." Journal of Financial Economics 116, no. 1 (April 2015): 160–178.
  • January 2018 (Revised October 2019)
  • Case

ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen and Shirley Sun
ZBJ.com (ZBJ), an online platform that connects knowledge workers to small- and medium-sized enterprises, is China’s largest outsourcing platform. Founded by Mingyue Zhu in 2006, ZBJ had grown into a unicorn with 4,000 employees and a daily transaction volume of RMB15... View Details
Keywords: Outsourcing; Disintermediation; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Global Strategy; Information Technology Industry; China
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Zhu, Feng, Weiru Chen, and Shirley Sun. "ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (A)." Harvard Business School Case 618-044, January 2018. (Revised October 2019.)
  • March 2018 (Revised October 2019)
  • Supplement

ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (B)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen and Shirley Sun
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
Keywords: Outsourcing; Disintermediation; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Global Strategy; Information Technology Industry; China
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Zhu, Feng, Weiru Chen, and Shirley Sun. "ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 618-046, March 2018. (Revised October 2019.)
  • February 2021
  • Article

Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace

By: Grace Gu and Feng Zhu
As an intermediary improves trust between the two sides of its market to facilitate matching and transactions, it faces an increased risk of disintermediation: with sufficient trust, the two sides may circumvent the intermediary to avoid the intermediary’s fees. In... View Details
Keywords: Disintermediation; Intermediaries; Online Marketplace; Platform Strategy; Trust; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms
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Gu, Grace, and Feng Zhu. "Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace." Management Science 67, no. 2 (February 2021): 794–807.
  • 2019
  • Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and... View Details
Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Wintel Platform; Disintermediation; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Business History; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry
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Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-055, November 2019.
  • 2019
  • Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the means by which firms capture value in open platform systems. I begin by arguing that the surplus value created by complementarities within a technical system will be split among the owners of the unique and essential... View Details
Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Flow Production; Value Capture; Disintermediation; Production; Management; Digital Platforms
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Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-054, November 2019.
  • Awards

Strategy Research Foundation Dissertation Scholar

Named a 2017 Strategy Research Foundation Dissertation Scholar for “Value Creation and Disintermediation in Online Marketplaces." View Details
  • May 2016
  • Case

The Priceline Group: Booking a Place for the Future

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Anish Pathipati
The Chairman of the Priceline Group is considering the actions he must take to confront an evolving external environment, new direct competition, disintermediation and substitute offerings. Does his response require an increased coordination of each historically... View Details
Keywords: Operations Strategy; Service Management; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Service Operations; Travel Industry
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Schlesinger, Leonard A., and Anish Pathipati. "The Priceline Group: Booking a Place for the Future." Harvard Business School Case 316-177, May 2016.
  • December 2000
  • Background Note

Online Retailers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown
Describes online retailers, companies that use the Internet to sell physical goods. Defines online retailers and describes different ways to categorize them. Explores their economic model and value proposition for consumers in comparison with offline retailers. Next,... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Internet; Retail Industry
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Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Alastair Brown. "Online Retailers." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-306, December 2000.
  • March 27, 2017
  • Article

How the Water Industry Learned to Embrace Data

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amir Peleg
Most current talk about “big data” seems to assume the disintermediation or replacement of physical assets by digital technologies. But a bigger and more impactful trend is the use of online tools to improve physical asset utilization in many traditional off-line... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Analytics and Data Science; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Utilities Industry
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Cespedes, Frank V., and Amir Peleg. "How the Water Industry Learned to Embrace Data." Harvard Business Review (website) (March 27, 2017).
  • November 2022
  • Case

Para: Pay Transparency and Gig Drivers' Rights

By: Christopher Stanton and George Gonzalez
The case presents the founding vision and early days of a young startup that seeks to empower delivery drivers with tools and transparency. The company's flagship mobile app has been taken up by tens of thousands of delivery drivers across major U.S. cities who use it... View Details
Keywords: Gig Workers; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Applications and Software; Disruptive Innovation; Compensation and Benefits; Technology Industry; San Francisco
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Stanton, Christopher, and George Gonzalez. "Para: Pay Transparency and Gig Drivers' Rights." Harvard Business School Case 823-072, November 2022.
  • February 2020
  • Supplement

Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

By: Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett
Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct... View Details
Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts
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Toffel, Michael W., and James Barnett. "Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 620-110, February 2020.

    Executive Education in the Digital Matrix: The Disruption of the Supply Landscape

    Even as the demand for managerial skills continues to grow, executive education worldwide has entered a period of disruption caused by the digitalization of content, connectivity, and communication. The current offerings of many executive education program providers... View Details

    • November 2019 (Revised June 2020)
    • Case

    Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

    By: Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett
    Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct... View Details
    Keywords: Carbon Sequestration; Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts
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    Iansiti, Marco, Michael W. Toffel, and James Barnett. "Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature." Harvard Business School Case 620-024, November 2019. (Revised June 2020.)
    • April 2020
    • Teaching Note

    Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

    By: Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett
    Teaching Note for HBS No. 620-024. Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing... View Details
    Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Science-Based Business; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts
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    Toffel, Michael W., and James Barnett. "Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-075, April 2020.
    • January 2001
    • Background Note

    Online Brokers

    By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown
    Describes online brokers, companies that use the Internet to help clients identify prospective trading partners and sometimes help their clients complete transactions. First, summarizes the various ways that online brokers create value for their clients. Then analyzes... View Details
    Keywords: Business Model; Web Services Industry
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    Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Alastair Brown. "Online Brokers." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-307, January 2001.
    • February 2018 (Revised March 2018)
    • Case

    Artificial Intelligence and the Machine Learning Revolution in Finance: Cogent Labs and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

    By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher Malloy and William Powley
    This case examines the intersection of two firms (Cogent Labs—a machine learning software firm in Tokyo; and Google, the technology infrastructure giant) attempting to exploit the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the financial services... View Details
    Keywords: Technological Innovation; Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Applications and Software; Infrastructure; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry
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    Cohen, Lauren, Christopher Malloy, and William Powley. "Artificial Intelligence and the Machine Learning Revolution in Finance: Cogent Labs and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)." Harvard Business School Case 218-080, February 2018. (Revised March 2018.)
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