Digital Winners & Losers

February 02, 2017

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 2. 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 (99)

HBX: A winner who doesn’t want to win?
Yi Xie
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:50 pm
Harvard Business School’s online learning initiative is a winner, but at what expense?
Amazon: winner of current generation of e-commerce
Jing
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:23 pm
First to enter the battle between brick-and-mortar and online retailers, Amazon has won by providing seamless one-stop shopping experience and leveraging technology to capture value. Since then, It has also evolved into a technology company. As we enter a new [...]
Quirky, the Failure of Invention Crowdsourcing
Megan Wu
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:48 pm
Why Quirky went bankrupt and what they could have done differently.
Macy’s: Going Out of Style
Lauren
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:59 pm
With the rise of eCommerce, Macy's can't meet customer's shopping expectations.
Instagram is Winning (Mobile) Advertising
Alex Sambvani
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 1:18 am
Instagram has become an effective channel for advertisers and is quickly emerging as the leading platform in mobile advertising.
Wikipedia: tapping into the world’s knowledge (and free time)
So Many Cranberries
Posted on February 1, 2017 at 1:50 pm
Wikipedia has seen incredible growth, ballooning to over 5.3M articles on English Wikipedia alone and 284 active language-specific Wikipedias; it has also done this while being primarily written by volunteers and funded by individual donations.
“Stay Famous” with FameBit: A Self-Serve Marketplace for Creators and Brands
Stephanie Chan
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 7:34 pm
How a two-sided marketplace connecting creators and brands democratized sponsored content and got acquired by Google
Nordstrom: Integrating Digital with Retail
dturenshine
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:13 pm
How Nordstrom is investing in digital technology to delight customers
Legen…wait for it…dary…
opheliac
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:09 pm
With the rise of online, digital and social media marketing, it is incredibly and increasingly difficult to cut through the clutter and reach one’s target consumer. This is even more pronounced in the entertainment space, where the overall number of [...]
Rarejob: Disruption in English learning segment
Tomo Nakagawa
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:27 pm
Disruptive English conversation lesson to all non-English natives regardless of location
Watson – Really Just A Sidekick?
Noorin D
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:18 pm
How IBM Watson is driving the adoption of IoT by enhancing accessibility
Netflix – Showing Viewers What They Want
GJ
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 3:51 pm
Does data-driven content production limits creativity?
23andMe: Current personal genomics market leader turned market loser?
changeme_43
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:05 pm
Pivotal decision to not invest in new genetic technology to undercut 23andMe’s future position in the consumer genomics space
Beat Cancer with Enlitic: A Winner in Medical Diagnostics
AC
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:43 pm
AI has become ubiquitous in our daily lives, influencing online search results to personal styling recommendations. Are we ready to let computers read our X-rays?
NVIDIA: How to win the “GPU wars”
Oyku
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:00 pm
This blog attempts to explain the drivers behind NVIDIA's growth story.
TripAdvisor: It’s not about the destination – it’s about disrupting the travel guide industry on the journey.
SonaliBloom
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:23 pm
How did TripAdvisor disrupt the travel planning industry – and win the dominant position in the market? The deep interconnection between value creation and value capture inherent in the business model makes TripAdvisor a hard one to beat.
Music Unlimited – Sony Lost This One As Well
Erdem Yilmaz
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:59 pm
Sony had all the hard components needed for a streaming service and it launched one 4 years before Apple but lack of understanding in user expectations cost them to turn the service down.
Minerva Schools: Disrupting the university model?
Lacy
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:53 pm
Can Minerva disrupt the traditional model of higher ed. delivery and deliver a high quality education at a fraction of the cost?
Postmates: what service does it really deliver?
Yezi Peng
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:32 pm
Dear Postmates, you’ve had a good run, but it’s time to make way for Uber.
Upwork: Changing the way we work!
AC
Last modified on February 1, 2017 at 11:49 pm
Upwork: How the digital revolution is changing the way we work!
Stripe: Enabling the growth of the Internet’s GDP!
sidharthmishra
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 11:47 pm
Stripe - Redefining the online payments space.
JD.com: A Winner as E-Commerce Grows in China
Yao
Last modified on February 1, 2017 at 10:09 pm
How did JD.com grow, and survive competing with the giant Alibaba?
Apple Watch – a new innovation stream or the lack of it?
Onaizah P
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:25 pm
Often considered a glorified iPhone-finder, Apple Watch might not have impressed the world. Yet.
The Hottest Sporting Goods Company You’ve Never Heard Of
Nicolas II
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:48 pm
This post is about BSN Sports, which introduced a digital platform for selling sporting goods in-bulk to sports leagues and teams.