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All HBS Web
(839)
- Faculty Publications (165)
- 2020
- Working Paper
Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing
By: Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Bradley Larsen and Erik Brynjolfsson
We study the effects of occupational licensing on consumer choices and market outcomes in a large online platform for residential home services. We exploit exogenous variation in the time at which licenses are displayed on the platform to identify the causal effects of...
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Keywords:
Occupational Licensing;
Consumer Protection;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Consumer Behavior;
Decision Making;
Customer Satisfaction
Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, Bradley Larsen, and Erik Brynjolfsson. "Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 26601, January 2020.
- December 2019
- Case
Steemit: A New Social Media?
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Alexander White and Karen Elterman
This case discusses the alternative social media site Steemit, including the principles it was founded on in 2016 and the challenges it faced in 2019. Steemit was a blockchain-based platform that aimed to differentiate itself from other social media companies by...
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Keywords:
Decision Making;
Decisions;
Voting;
Economic Systems;
Money;
Fairness;
Values and Beliefs;
Goals and Objectives;
Digital Platforms;
Product Design;
Design;
Problems and Challenges;
Network Effects;
Motivation and Incentives;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Reputation;
Business Strategy;
Competition;
Internet and the Web;
Social Media;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
United States;
Virginia;
New York (city, NY)
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Alexander White, and Karen Elterman. "Steemit: A New Social Media?" Harvard Business School Case 720-428, December 2019.
- October 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Epic Games
By: Andy Wu and Christopher Zhang
Epic Games entered a stagnant market with its PC-games digital storefront in 2018, in the context of incumbent competitors such as Steam, its meteoric rise via Fortnite, and imminent industry shifts in gaming distribution. On the surface, Epic Games Store’s competitive...
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Keywords:
Industry Analysis;
Video Games;
Platforms;
Comparative Advantage;
Growth Strategy;
Innovation Focused Strategy;
Pricing Strategy;
Strategy;
Competition;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Innovation Strategy;
Games, Gaming, and Gambling;
Digital Platforms;
Technology Industry
Wu, Andy, and Christopher Zhang. "Epic Games." Harvard Business School Case 720-380, October 2019. (Revised October 2019.)
- September 2019 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Pinduoduo
Founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur, Colin Huang, Pinduoduo Inc. (PDD) had become China’s fastest-growing e-commerce platform in history. PDD pioneered a new approach to online shopping that allowed shoppers to share products, invite friends to form shopping teams,...
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Keywords:
Digital Platforms;
Business Model;
Innovation and Invention;
Competitive Advantage;
Expansion;
Strategy;
E-commerce
Zhu, Feng, Krishna G. Palepu, Bonnie Yining Cao, and Dawn H. Lau. "Pinduoduo." Harvard Business School Case 620-040, September 2019. (Revised November 2019.)
- June 21, 2019
- Article
When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms
By: Feng Zhu
One common complaint from third parties about platform businesses is that they see what succeeds on their platforms and then enter the most profitable areas themselves, often decimating third parties in the process. Studies have identified several motivations for...
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Keywords:
Platform-based Markets;
Platform-owner Entry;
Digital Platforms;
Market Entry and Exit;
Competition
Zhu, Feng. "When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 21, 2019).
- May 2019 (Revised March 2022)
- Module Note
Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem
By: Andy Wu, David R. Clough and Sasha Kaletsky
This note provides a framework for addressing the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma facing entrepreneurs launching nascent multi-sided platforms. There are several conditions that lead to a difficult chicken-or-egg problem: strong network effects, high multi-homing costs,...
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Keywords:
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Market Entry and Exit;
Problems and Challenges;
Competitive Advantage
Wu, Andy, David R. Clough, and Sasha Kaletsky. "Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem." Harvard Business School Module Note 719-507, May 2019. (Revised March 2022.)
- 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...
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Keywords:
Strategy;
Technology;
Platform;
Internet and the Web;
Management;
Competitive Strategy;
Digital Platforms
Cusumano, Michael A., Annabelle Gawer, and David B. Yoffie. The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power. Harper Business, 2019.
- Article
Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Neil Campbell
We examine two episodes of strategic interaction in the U.K. betting industry: (i) Betfair (an entrant multi-sided platform or MSP) vs. Flutter (also an MSP) and (ii) Betfair vs. traditional bookmakers. We find that although Betfair was an underfunded second mover in...
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Keywords:
Platform Design;
Betting;
Complements;
Competing Business Models;
Co-opetition;
Entry;
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Design;
Network Effects;
Business Model;
Competition;
Cooperation
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Neil Campbell. "Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting." Special Issue on Platforms. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 28, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 29–40.
- March 2019
- Case
HOPI: Turkey's Shopping Companion
By: Sunil Gupta, Donald Ngwe and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in 2017 as Onur Erbay, CEO of HOPI, a multi-vendor loyalty platform, is contemplating a critical decision. The case chronicles the origins of Boyner Group, the parent company of HOPI and a major retailer in Turkey, and development of retail and customer...
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Keywords:
Loyalty Programs;
Multi-vendor Platform;
Retail;
Big Data;
Customer Relationship Management;
Mobile and Wireless Technology;
Business Model;
Analytics and Data Science;
Competitive Strategy;
Decision Making;
Applications and Software;
Digital Platforms;
Technology Industry;
Retail Industry;
Turkey
Gupta, Sunil, Donald Ngwe, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "HOPI: Turkey's Shopping Companion." Harvard Business School Case 519-057, March 2019.
- January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce
By: Tarun Khanna, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost and Wesley Koo
Alibaba's Rural Taobao initiative had been launched in 2014 as a public service initiative to increase e-commerce adoption in China’s remote rural areas. In the first two iterations of the initiative, dubbed “1.0” and “2.0,” Alibaba had partnered with local businesses...
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Keywords:
Strategy;
Business Growth;
Ecommerce;
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Business And Government;
Emerging Market;
Digital Platforms;
Internet and the Web;
Emerging Markets;
Rural Scope;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Competitive Strategy;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Business and Government Relations;
Decision Making;
E-commerce;
China
Khanna, Tarun, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost, and Wesley Koo. "Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce." Harvard Business School Case 719-433, January 2019. (Revised October 2019.)
- Article
Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces
By: Feng Zhu
As platform owners continue to expand their ecosystems, many of them have started to provide consumers with their own complementary applications. These moves position the platform owners as direct competitors to their complementors. This paper surveys empirical studies...
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Zhu, Feng. "Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces." Special Issue on Platforms. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 28, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 23–28.
- January–February 2019
- Article
Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't
By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
In the digital economy, scale is no guarantee of continued success. After all, the same factors that help an online platform expand quickly—such as the low cost of adding new customers—work for challengers too. What, then, allows platforms to fight off rivals and grow...
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Zhu, Feng, and Marco Iansiti. "Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't." Harvard Business Review 97, no. 1 (January–February 2019): 118–125.
- 2018
- Working Paper
Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Neil Campbell
We examine two episodes of strategic interaction in the U.K. betting industry: (i) Betfair (an entrant multi-sided platform or MSP) vs. Flutter (also an MSP), and (ii) Betfair vs. traditional bookmakers. We find that although Betfair was an underfunded second mover in...
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Keywords:
Platform Design;
Betting;
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Design;
Network Effects;
Business Model;
Competition;
Cooperation;
Market Entry and Exit
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Neil Campbell. "Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-057, November 2018. (Forthcoming in The Journal of Economics and Management Strategy.)
- 2018
- Working Paper
Product Quality and Entering Through Tying: Experimental Evidence
By: Michael Luca
Dominant platform businesses often develop products in adjacent markets to complement their core business. One common approach used to gain traction in these adjacent markets has been to pursue a tying strategy. For example, Microsoft pre-installed Internet Explorer...
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Keywords:
Market Entry and Exit;
Digital Platforms;
Competitive Strategy;
Product Marketing;
Quality
Kim, Hyunjin, and Michael Luca. "Product Quality and Entering Through Tying: Experimental Evidence." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-045, October 2018. (Revised December 2018. Forthcoming in Management Science.)
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Ecosystems
The purpose of this chapter is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive theoretical investigation of open platform systems. To do this, we must first recognize that, although there is a strong family resemblance among all platform systems, there are different types of...
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Keywords:
Open Platforms;
Business Ecosystems;
Information Technology;
Organizational Design;
Industry Structures;
Digital Platforms
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Ecosystems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-035, October 2018. (Revised January 2019.)
- October 2018
- Article
Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com
By: Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu
Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces to compete against them directly. Prior studies have offered two possible explanations for such entries: platform owners may target the most successful complementors so as to appropriate value from their...
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Keywords:
Amazon;
Complementors;
Co-opetition;
Entry;
Platform-based Markets;
Competition;
Digital Platforms;
Competitive Strategy
Zhu, Feng, and Qihong Liu. "Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com." Strategic Management Journal 39, no. 10 (October 2018): 2618–2642.
- 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...
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Keywords:
Alphabet;
Amazon;
Apple;
Strategy;
Technology;
Intelligent Assistants;
Smart Speaker;
Voice Assistants;
Voice;
Platform;
Technology Adoption;
Digital Platforms;
Competitive Strategy;
Product Positioning;
Technology Industry
Yoffie, David B., Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden, and Karan Ahuja. "Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri." Harvard Business School Case 718-519, June 2018. (Revised January 2020.)
- April 2018
- Supplement
Flipkart (B): The Ongoing Battle for India's E-Commerce Market
By: Sunil Gupta, Das Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani
In 2017, both Flipkart and Amazon claimed leadership position in India's recently concluded key annual festive season sale, but it was too early to declare victory. Amazon continues to invest heavily in India. Competition from newer players is increasing. Media reports...
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Gupta, Sunil, Das Narayandas, and Rachna Tahilyani. "Flipkart (B): The Ongoing Battle for India's E-Commerce Market." Harvard Business School Supplement 518-097, April 2018.
- March 2018
- Case
Lufax: FinTech and the Transformation of Wealth Management in China
By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Anthony K. Woo
This case examines the rise and competitive positioning of Lufax, an online marketplace headquartered in Shanghai, China, and a pioneer in the origination and trading of financial assets. The company had grown at a remarkable rate, and was awarded “Trading Platform of...
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Keywords:
Asset Management;
Internet and the Web;
Competitive Strategy;
Situation or Environment;
Product Positioning;
Financial Services Industry;
China
Malloy, Christopher J., Lauren H. Cohen, and Anthony K. Woo. "Lufax: FinTech and the Transformation of Wealth Management in China." Harvard Business School Case 218-088, March 2018.
- 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?
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Keywords:
Apple;
Apple Inc.;
Google;
Amazon;
Amazon.com;
Google Home;
Homepod;
Echo;
Smart Home;
Connected Home;
Voice;
Artificial Intelligence;
Machine Learning;
Internet Of Things;
Smart Speaker;
Connected Speaker;
Intelligent Assistants;
Virtual Assistants;
Voice Assistants;
Alexa;
Google Assistant;
Siri;
Technological Innovation;
Disruptive Innovation;
Competitive Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Adoption;
Information Infrastructure;
Information Technology;
Internet and the Web;
Mobile and Wireless Technology;
Applications and Software;
Technology Adoption;
Digital Platforms;
Household;
AI and Machine Learning;
Electronics Industry;
Technology Industry;
United States
Lal, Rajiv, and Scott Johnson. "Amazon, Google, and Apple: Smart Speakers and the Battle for the Connected Home." Harvard Business School Case 518-035, February 2018.