Thomas R. Eisenmann
There are 9 articles for this faculty member.
Teaching a 'Lean Startup' Strategy
| Published: | April 11, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
| Forum: | closed | 56 Comments posted |
Most startups fail because they waste too much time and money building the wrong product before realizing too late what the right product should have been, says HBS entrepreneurial management professor Thomas R. Eisenmann. In his new MBA course, Launching Technology Ventures, Eisenmann introduces students to the idea of the lean startup—a methodology that has proven successful for many young high-tech companies.
Published in 2008
Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?
| Authors: | Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker, and Marshall Van Alstyne |
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| Published: | October 16, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
It is crucial for firms that create and maintain platforms to select optimal levels of openness. Decisions to open a platform entail tradeoffs between adoption and appropriability, and opening a platform can spur adoption by harnessing network effects, reducing users' concerns about lock-in, and stimulating production of differentiated goods that meet the needs of user segments. At the same time, opening a platform typically reduces users' switching costs and increases competition among platform providers, making it more difficult for them to appropriate rents from the platform. This paper describes research on factors that motivate managers to open or close mature platforms.
Published in 2007
Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms: A Life-Cycle View
| Author: | Thomas R. Eisenmann |
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| Published: | July 11, 2007 |
| Paper Release Date: | June 2007 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
The challenges facing platform managers vary systematically depending on (1) whether the platform is proprietary or shared and (2) the stage of platform development. This article summarizes the results of a multiyear research project on platform strategies, including interviews with 30 companies. It describes 3 stages of the platform life cycle—platform design, network mobilization, and platform maturity—and reviews in depth the strategic decisions and management issues for each stage.
Platform Envelopment
| Authors: | Thomas Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker, and Marshall Van Alstyne |
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| Published: | July 10, 2007 |
| Paper Release Date: | June 2007 (revised October 2009) |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Established platform providers can be difficult to displace. This paper explores a path to platform leadership change that does not rely on breakthrough innovation or Schumpeterian creative destruction: a phenomenon the authors call "platform envelopment." In practical terms, envelopment entails one platform provider adding another platform's functionality to its own, and then offering a multiplatform bundle. Eisenmann and his colleagues describe a variety of envelopment attacks based on the relationship between the attacker's platform and its target's, and then discuss the economic and strategic motivations for each attack type.
Published in 2005
Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs
| Published: | March 21, 2005 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The best way to become an entrepreneur is to jump into the water and get your feet wet, said several successful businessmen at the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference.
Desktop Search and Revenue Streams
| Published: | February 14, 2005 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Search is a hot topic in high tech right now, so industry experts at Cyberposium’s "Search Visionary" panel drilled down for the most promising avenues to growth.
Published in 2002
Wrap-up: Software, Telecom, and Recovery
| Published: | February 18, 2002 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
How is the VC industry doing on its own and in partnership with software and telecoms? These were just three topics discussed in special panel sessions at the recent conference. Here, a few highlights from those conversations.
Published in 2000
Riding the Internet Fast Track
| Published: | September 11, 2000 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
On the Internet Express, getting big fast is the strategy of choice. But is it right for everyone? HBS Professor Thomas R. Eisenmann looks at key factors that can help a company decide.
Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities
| Published: | July 10, 2000 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The cable television industry has long outgrown its roots as a source of better TV reception to achieve its present place as a key player in the emerging telecommunications infrastructure. That change, writes HBS Professor Thomas R. Eisenmann in Business History Review, amid different managerial respondes to the twin—and sometimes competing—objectives of stabilty and growth. In this excerpt, Eisenmann looks at the formative years of the industry, from 1948 to 1975.
