How Much Obsolescence Can Business and Society Absorb?
| Published: | April 3, 2009 |
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| Feature: | What Do YOU Think? |
| Forum: | closed | 41 Comments posted |
This month's question brought out both the poets and the engineers among respondents. The rapid pace of new technology adoption within organizations implies change for management and society, says HBS professor Jim Heskett. How does change affect the open sharing of information? (Forum now closed; next forum begins May 1.)
Running Out of Numbers: Scarcity of IP Addresses and What To Do About It
| Author: | Benjamin Edelman |
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| Published: | March 16, 2009 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2009, revised March 2009 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Hidden from view of typical users, every Internet communication relies on an underlying system of numbers to identify data sources and destinations. Users typically specify online destinations by entering domain names (e.g. "congress.gov"). But the Internet's routers forward data according to numeric IP addresses (e.g. 140.147.249.9). To date, the Internet has enjoyed an ample supply of "IPv4" IP addresses, but demand is substantial and growing. Current allocation rates suggest IPv4 exhaustion by approximately 2011. A new numbering system, IPv6, would relieve scarcity, but incentives hinder transition: IPv4 works well for existing networks, and offers easier and simpler access to existing Internet content and services. As a result, to date few networks have begun to support v6. In principle regulators could order networks to implement v6, but the applicable Internet coordinating organizations lack authority or power to force such a transition. In the meantime, a market mechanism for v4 addresses offers important benefits, including allocating scarce v4 addresses to those who need them most, and putting a positive price on v4 space in order to encourage transition to v6. Thus, it seems v4 transfers can help both to mitigate the worst effects of v4 scarcity, and to build the incentives necessary for transition to v6.
When the Internet Runs Out of IP Addresses
| Q&A with: | Benjamin G. Edelman |
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| Published: | March 16, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Experts predict that within three years we will see the last of new Web addresses. What will happen then? The best solution is to create a market for already assigned but unwanted numbers, says Harvard Business School professor Ben Edelman.
Published in 2007
Delivering the Digital Goods: iTunes vs. Peer-to-Peer
| Q&A with: | Ramon Casadesus-Masanell |
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| Published: | April 16, 2007 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Apple's iTunes music download service and illegal peer-to-peer music downloads offer two contrasting approaches to delivering digital content to users. Can Apple and the recording industry seriously compete against free? Do iTunes and p2p help each other in some ways? Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and collaborator Andres Hervas-Drane discuss their recent research on competition in digital distribution.
Published in 2006
How Software Platforms Revolutionize Business
| Published: | September 25, 2006 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Cell phones, the Game Boy, and PCs are examples of products based upon software platforms—ecosystems where independent companies can provide products and services tied to the core technology. Playing in a software platform world can make you rich—ask ringtone creators—but it also demands special management skills that emphasize cooperation over competition. Professor Andrei Hagiu discusses his new book, Invisible Engines.
Lessons from the Browser Wars
| Q&A with: | Pai-Ling Yin |
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| Published: | April 10, 2006 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The first-mover advantage is well chronicled, but it didn't help Netscape when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer. What drives technology adoption, and do browser upstarts such as Firefox stand a chance? A Q&A with professor Pai-Ling Yin.
Economic and Technical Drivers of Technology Choice: Browsers
| Authors: | Timothy F. Bresnahan and Pai-Ling Yin |
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| Published: | July 5, 2006 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2006 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Did Microsoft defeat Netscape in the browser war because its technology was better, or because MS created a better business strategy? The authors draw on the 1996-1999 browser battles to examine technical progress versus economic forces in driving diffusion on new technologies.
Published in 2005
The Broadband Explosion: Thinking About a Truly Interactive World
| Q&A with: | Robert D. Austin and Stephen P. Bradley |
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| Published: | September 12, 2005 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
When true broadband arrives, everything will change—work, play, and society—say professors Robert Austin and Stephen Bradley. What a truly interactive world will look like is the subject of their new book The Broadband Explosion.
Confronting the Reality of Web Services
| Q&A with: | Andrew P. McAfee |
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| Published: | May 16, 2005 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Web services have made huge strides, but two hurdles remain, one technical, the other organizational, says HBS professor Andrew P. McAfee. "It is in fact getting easier to integrate applications, but it's never going to be easy."
Amazon, eBay and the Bidding Wars
| Q&A with: | Alvin E. Roth |
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| Published: | February 28, 2005 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
"Sniping" is a popular way of winning a bid in the world of online auctions. But how far can it change the playing field? HBS professor Alvin Roth takes a look at how bidding rules change the way the game is played.
How to Harness Auction Fever
| Q&A with: | Deepak Malhotra |
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| Published: | February 28, 2005 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
HBS assistant professor Deepak Malhotra talks about the phenomena of "auction fever" in which bidders are driven to win at irrational costs.
Published in 2004
Start to Measure Your E-commerce Success
| Published: | October 4, 2004 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
After the dot-com fallout, surviving companies needed to sharpen strategy and analyze metrics much better. Visiting professor Marc J. Epstein shows how to put metrics to work.
Music Downloads: Pirates—or Customers?
| Q&A with: | Felix Oberholzer-Gee |
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| Published: | June 21, 2004 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee and co-author Koleman Strumpf floored the disbelieving music industry with their findings that illegal music downloads don’t hurt CD sales. Oberholzer discusses what the industry should do next.
Published in 2003
How Hot is the "Hot Spot" Business?
| Published: | May 12, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Wi-Fi hot spots and the future of broadband were on the minds of attendees at the Bandwidth Explosion colloquium at Harvard Business School.
Web Services
| Published: | February 3, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Web services are being touted as the latest, greatest technologies. So late, in fact, they aren't even on most of the general public's radar yet. And so great that they just may jumpstart the sluggish tech market.
Published in 2002
Here Comes Internet2—Time to Shed Dot Vertigo
| Published: | August 19, 2002 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Managers who believe the Internet is dead and gone do so at their own peril, says HBS professor Richard L. Nolan, who's studied computer use in organizations for many years. Watch out for a new kind of Internet, he says: Internet2.
How to Fashion Your New E-Business Model
| Published: | July 8, 2002 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
In this chapter from The E-Business Handbook, HBS professor Lynda M. Applegate considers the future of E-Biz models. Her advice for satisfying customers who want tailor-made service? Get vertical.
Read All About It! Newspapers Lose Web War
| Published: | January 28, 2002 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Newspapers saw a threat to their livelihood from the Internet, and aggressively put their own competing products online. Problem is, says Harvard Business School professor Clark Gilbert, they didn't take advantage of the power of disruptive technology.
Published in 2001
Why the Internet Doesn't Change Everything
| Published: | September 24, 2001 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Think the Web changes everything? HBS professor Debora L. Spar isn't convinced. And she has the research on hundreds of years of technological upheaval to back her up.
E-Commerce Unplugged
| Published: | June 11, 2001 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Clearly "mobile commerce"—shopping with wireless devices—is a powerful new way to grab consumers. But don't think of this as business as usual, says HBS professor Nitin Nohria and collaborator Marty Leestma.
Why dot.coms Will Rise Again
| Published: | June 4, 2001 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Think dot.coms are down for the count? Think again. Dot.coms will exert an ever-greater impact on business, according to HBS professors F. Warren McFarlan and Dorothy A. Leonard.
Strategy and the Internet
| Published: | April 16, 2001 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Don't throw the strategy baby out with the Internet bath water. In this Harvard Business Review article, HBS professor Michael E. Porter urges business planners not to lose focus on strategic development and competitive advantage, but to recognize the Internet for what it is: "an enabling technology."
The Ten Deadly Mistakes of Wanna-Dots
| Published: | February 5, 2001 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
HBS professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter outlines the ten favorite ways to fail—and two stories to show there's still hope for companies that want to cross the digital divide.
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.
Linking the Globe: The Role of Media and Communications
| Published: | July 24, 2000 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The media industry today is at its most critical juncture since an earlier rush of new technologies made mass media possible. Top executives from three global media firms—Bertelsmann, Vivendi and Reuters—joined HBS Professor Debora Spar in Berlin for a look at the industry at the crossroads of the Information Revolution.
Presentation Round-Up
| Published: | June 26, 2000 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
This round-up of other panels and presentations at the IS2K conference includes a look at the emerging "e-service" model, the future of the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, and a discussion of "Genes on the Web."
Market Makers Bid for Success
| Published: | May 30, 2000 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Two CEOs at the forefront of the transformation in the way businesses buy and sell goods—Scott Randall of FairMarket (HBS MBA '87) and Glen Meakem of FreeMarkets (HBS MBA '91—spoke with Professor Bill Sahlman recently about their paths to new business models and what they've learned along the way.
Published in 1999
Throwing Your Opponent: Strategies for the Internet Age
| Published: | October 12, 1999 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Competition in the age of the Internet means more than simply moving at warp speed, according to HBS Professor David Yoffie and Michael A. Cusumano of MIT, co-authors of Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from Netscape and Its Battle with Microsoft. Yoffie and Cusunamo advocate a "judo strategy" emphasizing speed, flexibility and a capacity to find and exploit sources of advantage. Their research points to a new way of staying competitive in the information economy.
