Digital Winners & Losers

February 01, 2018

Read The Full Prompt

Digital technologies are upending many industries and companies. Think about Uber’s impact on the taxi business or Spotify’s impact on music downloads and the record industry.

For this assignment, we would like you to identify companies/organizations that you think are winning or losing. Just work on either winners or losers. Please focus on just one organization. Tell us why they are a winner or loser. Discuss elements of how they create and/or capture value that is leading you to call them a winner or loser.

Create an approximately 500-750 word post to make your contribution on d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit by 6pm on Feb 1. Please create appropriate tags for your post including if it is a “winner” or “loser.” Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Selected posts will be discussed in class and also featured on the HBS Digital Initiative website.

Please prepare a 2-3 min summary of your blog post before class.

Submitted (83)

A community digitally comes together to save Community
Pasha
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 4:22 pm
TV show Community leveraged the digital world to stay on the air for six seasons - in a way that would have been impossible 15-20 years ago.
Watch out! Airbnb is near by!
Al
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Airbnb has contributed to a massive change in lodging segments and how consumers perceive travel by creating a new virtual trust between local hosts and visitors, however as it's growth will change the urban fabric of hosting cities. So, will [...]
Bezos, The Digital Midas. Turning Around the Washington Post
ME
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 2:36 pm
If one person has the knack for turning a digital-phobic industry on its head, it's Jeff Bezos. His acquisition and subsequent digital transformation of the Washington Post has been a massive success. How did Bezos take a struggling paper, in [...]
Stitch Fix: Personalizing Fashion with Data
D
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 5:52 pm
As we have seen in lately reports, digital transformation is disrupting the retail industry. E-commerce sites are changing the consumer’s behavior, shifting purchases from brick and mortar stores to on-line. In the apparel industry, Stitch Fix created a business model [...]
Mattel: Toy manufacturers need to grow up
JSG
Last modified on January 31, 2018 at 9:55 pm
Why Barbie and Hot Wheels need digital makeovers to keep pace with their increasingly tech savvy users.
Fireeye on the prize: helping other firms navigate digital transformation securely
JPW
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 9:30 am
Fireeye has become a winner by helping firms navigating digital transformation win in the ongoing war against cyber criminals and advanced persistent threats.
H&M – Nowhere to Turn
RobD
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 5:58 pm
  H&M is one of the three largest fashion brands in the world, with $23 Billion in sales and over 10,000 stores worldwide. 3 decades ago, H&M and Inditex (Zara) disrupted the fashion industry with a rapid supply chain and [...]
Comcast: The (seemingly) biggest loser wins the game?
DF
Last modified on January 30, 2018 at 10:12 pm
In the age of rapid cord cutting, how is Comcast thriving?
The Oracle That Couldn’t See the Future
Anton
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 12:42 pm
Can Oracle compete in a new age of Enterprise Technology? Its revenue growth would say yes, but I say no.
Nvidia – a #winner by choice or by stroke of luck?
jklim
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 7:47 pm
NVIDIA, the publicly traded (NVDA) producer of graphic chips was little known to anyone, until 2016 when it became the best performing stock, delivering over 207% returns to its shareholders. Today with market cap of almost $150bn it is hard [...]
Xiaomi: China’s Threat to Apple
Gloria
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 5:59 pm
Xiaomi’s long-anticipated IPO is expected to be valued at $100 billion – quadruple of Alibaba’s record breaking offering of $25 billion three years ago. What’s Xiaomi’s secret to success?
LEGOs: Still “The Apple of Toys”?
RPARK
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 12:33 am
After being on the brink of bankruptcy in 2004, LEGO managed to successfully implement a digital strategy and thrive. Through movies, mobile games, and mobile applications, the company made choices that blended the physical and digital worlds, perhaps appealing more [...]
Planet: Disrupting Space by Democratizing Digital Imagery
MMidd
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 2:51 pm
Planet is using hundreds of tiny satellites to capture real-time imagery of earth's entire surface, and their data imaging software can help answer the questions that you and millions of others are asking.
Marriott’s Innovations has it Sleeping Soundly (for now)
HU
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 2:30 pm
Marriott is creating value by leveraging best-in-class digital innovations to create extraordinary experiences for its customers around the world.
Dropbox- an unlikely incumbent?
Haley
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 8:46 pm
Is Dropbox is missing out on the benefits of blockchain?
Instacart – Crowd-sourcing Your Grocery Shopping with Just A Few Clicks
KZ.
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 4:40 pm
Instacart has changed customer’s grocery shopping experience by crowd-sourcing the tasks to personal shoppers. It has found ways to create value for customers, retailers as well as shoppers.
Gob.pe – Digital technology for government bureaucracy
TPA
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 1:02 pm
Hopefully #winning. Out with government bureaucracy, in with digital.
The New Mad Men
M
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 1:03 pm
IBM's digital agency iX is changing the way corporations engage and market to consumers
EnerNOC: Taking Power Away from the Energy Utility Monopoly
SAG
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Growing environmental awareness, rising energy prices and lack of transparency in the power supply system have contributed to the adoption of EnerNoc’s energy intelligence software.
From Zero to Hero – Xiaomi’s Short Journey into Becoming One of the Biggest Tech Giants in the World
Cyou
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 12:39 am
How did Xiaomi, a 7-yr-old company, become one of the biggest technology firms in the world?
Transforming the Financial Brokerage Industry
Rexxar
Last modified on July 11, 2021 at 2:11 pm
The commission-free, mobile-only firm Robinhood is digitalizing and disrupting the discount brokerage industry.
Alexa: Your new roommate
ABC
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 5:59 pm
Until three years ago, only a lucky few had had the pleasure of controlling their homes (... and spaceships ...) with their voice: Tony Stark and the crews aboard in Star Trek. Today, 16% of American households (or around 39 [...]
Hyundai Heavy Industries – a winner in navigating the course of shipbuilding through digitization
RM
Last modified on January 31, 2018 at 11:15 pm
How the largest shipbuilding company is revolutionizing the world's oldest and most traditional manufacturing industry through integrated design and engineering.
Unity Engine: A Unicorn Powering the Video Game and VR/AR Economy.
@Jesse
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm
Winner: Unity Engine is the unicorn fueling growth in the video game industry: “50% of mobile games are developed through the Unity Game Engine.” and “There were 5 Billion downloads of Unity powered Games in Q3 2016.”
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