INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
CASE DESCRIPTIONS
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Chapter 11 |
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Amazon.com -
2002
Publication Date: Nov 21, 2002/Revision Date: Feb 13, 2003
Author(s): Stig Leschly, Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman,
Todd Thedinga
Product Number: 9-803-098
Length: 31p.
Description: Describes the evolution in Amazon.com and
its business model since its founding. Specifically, discusses Amazon's
transformation from an e-tailer to a commerce platform and its marketplace
initiative, which has driven this. Also describes the economics
of various commerce models that Amazon employs and a decision confronting
Jeff Bezos regarding how the company should participate in the apparel
segment. Teaching Purpose: To explore the changing dynamics of the
online retailing/e-commerce world and the evolution in Amazon.com's
business model that has transpired. Helps students understand the
organizational, financial, and leadership challenges of this dynamic
marketplace and the underlying economics of various commerce models.
To analyze the changes Amazon has made to date and examine the opportunity
in the apparel sector that the company is exploring.
AUDIBLE.COM
Zietsma C ; Mark K; Mitchell J
9B04M025, Ivey Case
Description: Audible Inc. is one of the largest providers
of audio content, such as books, magazines and newspapers. The company
has a large "library" of hours of content, strong alliances with partners
including Microsoft, Amazon and Random House, and a growing customer
base, but the company has lost money since it began. The chief executive
officer and chief financial officer must decide how to raise funds
to keep the company going, while maintaining its partner and customer
relationships.
Collabrys, Inc. (A)--The
Evolution of a Startup;
Leonard, Dorothy;DeLacey, Brian; Harvard Business School Publishing;
10/23/2002;
(31 pages)
Reference Number: 9-603-064
Revision Date: 12/02/2003
Description: The CEO of a two-year-old start-up must now
decide whether to become a technology provider or a service agency.
In a time of enormous uncertainty about the viability of various business
models for Internet-delivered services and products, Collabrys has
survived the Internet bubble burst by partnering with brand name large
companies and by responding to market feedback. This case traces the
company from its earliest days and its original value proposition
through to a point at which the two very different future strategies
both appear feasible. Originally funded by venture capital, the company
has changed key personnel, experimented with different distribution
and partnering schemes, developed some sophisticated intellectual
property, and raised a second round of funding. Teaching Purpose:
Demonstrates the difficulty of growing a company when there is so
much uncertainty. Also raises generic issues about the benefits and
costs of starting a company based on a technical capability rather
than an identified need. Finally, students may gain an appreciation
for the way that founders and early employees shape the direction
of a company on the basis of their own personal experience, background,
and knowledge.
eBay (A): The Customer
Marketplace
Publication Date: Aug 29, 2001/Revision Date: May 30, 2003
Author(s): Francis X. Frei, Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar
Product Number: 9-602-071
Length: 17p.
Description: Since its inception in 1995,
the popular Internet marketplace company eBay has enjoyed tremendous
success, a key to this success being eBay's ability to keep its cost
structure in check while significantly increasing its customer base
and transaction volume. From merchandising to order fulfillment to
quality control, eBay customers together perform myriad tasks typically
performed by companies. The cornerstone of the company's operational
success is the technological infrastructure that supports much of
this work. The dilemma presented in this case concerns the company's
recent practice of allowing large businesses, such as Sun and IBM,
to play a more prominent role on the eBay site. The company must decide
how to respond to complaints from some of its best customers about
the increased presence of such large corporate customers. Teaching
Purpose: 1) To develop a framework to help students identify what
a firm does operationally to satisfy the specific needs of its target
market, 2) to introduce students to the notion of customer participation
in firm production processes and provide an example of how a firm
can design large amounts of this participation into its business model,
3) to develop the concept of the service-wrapper, which defines the
elements of a service relationship that a firm must perform to maintain
control of the relationship--by performing these few tasks, the firm
is in a position to outsource the rest of the service interaction
either to third-party firms or, in the case of eBay, to customers,
and 4) to explore self-service in a variety of settings, understanding
how the benefits to the consumer and firm vary under different circumstances.
Teaching Notes: eBay (A) and (B), Teaching Note (5-602-126) 23p Supplemental
Materials: eBay (B): Combating Fraud (5-602-126) 1p; eBay (C): PayPal
Merger (9-603-042) 2p
GE’s
Digital Revolution: Redefining the E in GE
Publication Date: Apr 10, 2002/Revision Date: May 28, 2004
Author(s): Christopher A. Bartlett, Meg Glinska
Product Number: 9-302-001
Length: 24p.
Description: Designed to illustrate the
structure, culture, and management processes behind the transformational
change of GE, this case details the implementation of the e-business
initiative--the last of Jack Welch's four company-wide strategic thrusts.
First, summarizes the 20-year transformational change process that
Welch led, detailing the strategic, organizational, cultural, and
management initiatives he put in place. Then traces how Gerry Podesta,
the e-business head in GE Plastics, implements the new initiative.
In doing so, highlights how the "social architecture" (culture and
values) and "operating systems" (systems and processes) help the company
drive through changes that have it named Internet Week's top e-business
of 2000. Ends with questions about the effectiveness of successive
pushes on "e-sell," "e-buy," and "e-make" and whether the e-business
teams should be broken up and rolled back into the company. Teaching
Purpose: 1) To examine the process of transformational change, and
particularly the role of structure, systems, processes, and culture
required to support it; 2) to illustrate effective strategy implementation
in large companies; and 3) to examine the role of top-, middle-, and
front-line management in driving change.
Supplementary Material(s): GE’s Digital Revolution: Redefining the
E in GE, Video (9-303-801)
Google, Inc.
Publication Date: Jan 20, 2004/Revision Date: Apr 19, 2004
Author(s): Thomas Eisenmann, Smita Bakshi, Sebastien Briens, Shailendra
Singh
Product Number: 9-804-141
Length: 16p.
Description: As its managers prepare for an early 2004 IPO,
Google Inc., the world's leading provider of web search services,
faces several strategic challenges. In a business without switching
costs, how can Google secure sustainable competitive advantage? Could
personalized search technology lock in users? Should Google pursue
growth opportunities in localized search? Finally, how should Google
respond to efforts by Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN to develop in-house
search solutions? Should Google position itself as a fully featured
mass market portal, in direct competition with Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL?
Or, should Google avoid head-to-head rivalry and merge with an established
portal? Teaching Purpose: To build students' understanding of: 1)
switching costs; 2) network effects, in the context of the market
for web search paid listings; and 3) the options confronting a startup
that is increasingly viewed as a competitive threat by its largest
customers. These options include head-to-head attack through forward
integration and merger with a major customer.
Tower
Software
Publication Date: Aug 18, 2003/Revision Date: Sep 26, 2003
Author(s): Constance E. Bagley
Product Number: 9-804-047
Length: 3p
Description: Tower Software (TS) is a publicly traded corporation
engaged in multiple facets of the computer software business. Its
flagship product, TS SERVE, is a successful proprietary network operating
system. TS also develops and sells applications software for word
processing, e-mail, spreadsheets, image manipulation, and home banking.
TS is developing software tools that can be used to write programs
for data manipulation on internal company intranets. TS's newest offering
is TS-NET, an online service that combines TS's Columbus 3.0 Internet
browser with original content and links to TS's airline, hotel, and
rental car reservation site, GoNow.com. TS hopes that TS-NET will
become a popular portal site from which users would initiate electronic
commerce and banking transactions.
Webvan:
Groceries on the Internet
Publication Date: Nov 17, 1999/Revision Date: Mar 25, 2003
Author(s): John Deighton, Kayla Bakshi
Product Number: 9-500-052
Length: 17p.
Description: What are the prospects for grocery shopping
on the Web? This case invites a comparison of seven business models,
with particular emphasis on Webvan. Why does the investment community
value Webvan at $7.8 billion after less than six months of operating
experience, and Peapod, which has had seven years to learn the ropes,
at $200 million? Explores online consumer shopping behavior, the economics
of online and offline grocery distribution, and the challenges of
uniting a pure information business with a mundane package delivery
service. Teaching Purpose: May be used in an introductory marketing
course to begin exploration of shopping in the information age, or
in a course on Internet marketing or channels of distribution.
Teaching Notes: Webvan: Groceries on the Internet, Teaching Note (5-503-049)
6p.
Yahoo!
Business on Internet Time
Publication Date: Jul 10, 1999/Revision Date: Jan 6, 2000
Author(s): Jan W. Rivkin, Jay Girotto
Product Number: 9-700-013
Length: 27p.
Description: In the wake of major competitive moves, CEO
Tim Koogle and his senior team at Yahoo!, an Internet portal, must
decide whether and how to adjust their strategy. Following deals between
AOL and Netscape, Excite and @Home, Infoseek and Disney, and Snap
and NBS, Yahoo! faces the prospect of being the last portal without
a significant partner. Students must grapple with the benefits and
costs of integration in the rapidly changing world of the Internet.
Teaching Purpose: Examines how a company organizes itself to formulate
strategy in the midst of rapid environmental change. Reveals how external
turbulence puts new pressures on a firm's strategy, its organizational
structure, and its managers. Considers how one successful company
has structured itself to cope with severe environmental uncertainty.
Special emphasis is given to the interactions among Yahoo!'s functions
and the effects of those interactions on firm flexibility. Also permits
students to examine the structural attractiveness of the portal industry
and the strength of Yahoo!'s position in the industry.
Teaching Notes: Yahoo! Business on Internet Time, Teaching Note (5-700-086)
20p.
Supplementary Material(s): A Note on Organizational Design at Yahoo!
(9-602-112) 3p.
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ISBN:
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Publisher: Prentice Hall
Copyright: 2005 |
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