Exercises, class discussion and updates will be on the blog.
Slides 1: Introduction
Slides 2: Industry Analysis
Slides 3: Competitive Advantage
Slides 4: The Nature of Information Goods
Slides 5: Monetization - Prices and Advertising
Slides 6: Switching Costs and Lockin
Slides 7: Network Effects
Slides 8: Platform Markets
Slides 9: Dynamic Pricing
Slides 10: Reputation
Slides A: Case Studies
Slides B: Case Objectives
Slides C: Summary
Jon Levin’s survey of internet markets.
The Economist articles on the Long tail and A World of Hits.
Chris Anderson's TED talk on the Long Tail.
Here’s a planet money podcast describing how trademarks work.
Preston McAfee has some nice lecture notes on pricing. These are a more advanced version of the material in his book.
These notes show how to solve for the optimal second-degree price discrimination scheme. They are more detailed than you need to know, but some of you may find it interesting.
All the cases can now be found in a folder in Powell library. You can buy them individually for $7 from the HBS website by copy and pasting the case number into the search bar. You can also buy the course packet which lowers to price to $4. Case write-ups are due in class (if you cannot make it to class, give it to a friend or put it in my mailbox in 8283 Bunche Hall).
Notes on the case method of teaching.
Advice for the case write-up.
Case 1: Facebook, HBS 9-808-128 (Tuesday 11th Oct).
Case 2: Netflix, HBS 9-607-138 (Tuesday 25th Oct).
Case 3: Android, Stanford SM-176 (Tuesday 8th Nov).
Case 4: eHarmony, HBS 9-709-424 (Tuesday 22nd Nov).
Case A: Zappos, HBS 9-610-015 (Friday 30th Sept).
Case B: Online Restaurant Promotions, HBS 9-909-034 (Friday 14th Oct).
Case C: TheLadders, HBS 9-908-061 (Friday 28th Oct).
Case D: Yelp, HBS 9-709-412 (Friday 2nd Dec).
You will write the final paper in a group of 2-3 about a company of your choosing. This will essentially be a mini case study. You should hand in a short proposal by Tuesday Nov 15th; I will then check that the plan a realistic. The final paper is due on the last day of class (Thurs Dec 1st). Please do not choose a company from the below examples or one than we covered in class. Each group must cover a different firm; if you wrote about a firm in the five forces analysis then you have property rights.
Advice on the final paper proposal.
Advice on the final paper.
When thinking about the current state of the company, a SWOT analysis can be a useful checklist.
Some final papers from Fall 2010: Amazon Web Services, Groupon, LinkedIn, Nintendo, Playfish, Priceline, Research in Motion, Tencent QQ.
Some final papers from Winter 2011: BlackBerries, Mindjolt, Net-A-Porter, the NBC Universal Merger.
Rules for the final: You can take 10 single-sided pages of notes with you into the final (or 5 double sided). Calculators are allowed, but will probably not be needed. Blue books are not needed - you will answer on the exam itself.
Fall 2010 final on Sermo, HBS 9-809-142.
Winter 2011 final on Microsoft adCenter, HBS 9-908-049.
Advice on the final