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)

Amazon | To Go Or Not To Go
Juan
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 11:43 pm
Amazon has been one of the clear winners in the digital age, but will it also win in the grocery shopping space? Or will it be forced to share its technology and level the playing field?
BenevolentAI: Revolutionizing drug discovery using Artificial Intelligence
Saurav Patyal
Last modified on January 28, 2018 at 3:30 pm
It takes over $2.5B and 10 years to produce one drug. Artificial Intelligence has the power to halve each of that. Enter, BenevolentAI.
Fitbit: From Winner to Loser
Pumchanut
Last modified on January 31, 2018 at 5:47 pm
The rise of wearable technology began in 1975 when the first calculator watch was launched by Pulsar. Over time wearable technology started to improve. In 2008, Fitbit takes wearable technology to the next level. The company’s CEO James Park has [...]
Starbucks: a tech company or your neighborhood coffee shop?
KatFranklin
Posted on January 29, 2018 at 10:38 pm
Starbucks is using its digital platform to enhance your coffee buying experience while gaining revenue and customer loyalty.
Netflix: The Media Killer
SLA
Last modified on January 30, 2018 at 2:34 pm
Netflix has upended the media and entertainment industry, becoming one, if not the biggest, winners in the business. With a simple value capture formula, it has focused on ways to create value for its consumers.
Juicero: how much would you pay for your juice?
Iryna
Last modified on January 29, 2018 at 11:21 pm
Post analyzes Juicero, company that had great mission - to help people live healthier - and provides thoughts on why it moved from a cool tech kid to the digital revolution loser in 16 months
Venmo: What’s Cash?
JC
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 11:08 pm
Venmo replaces cash and checks with a digital peer to peer transfer app and is spurring the shift towards the digital wallet
Who do you trust more with your money – a machine or a human? Roboadvisors disrupt the financial services industry
Brittany W
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 2:33 pm
A summary of the value that roboadvisors such as Wealthfront have created in the financial services sector.
Sad Snaps
Mike M
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 2:05 am
Is Snap Inc. a WINNER or a LOSER in the battle for eyeballs among the duopoly of technology advertising giants?
Losing at the Census Bureau is as easy as 1, 2, 3…
Hans Latta
Last modified on January 31, 2018 at 5:31 pm
Despite $600 billion on the line, the U.S. Census Bureau is stuck in the stone age of data collection and analysis.
“Put your Money where your Mouth is”
E. Haviland
Posted on January 27, 2018 at 9:00 am
Why you should have, "put your money where your mouth is" and invested in the non-tech winner that is Domino's Pizza instead of in all of the tech titans that we think of today. Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/8670/dominos-stock-surges/
Losing Eyeballs: Theatrical Distribution in a Digital World
NT
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 7:18 pm
AMC Entertainment, now the US' largest theater chain, doubles down on their dying business.
Spotify loses itself to music
Call Me By Your Name
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 1:24 pm
How Spotify loses itself to music, and what if it goes public?
Mobike’s smart bike sharing, a simple idea to transform urban transportation in digital era
Ting
Last modified on January 31, 2018 at 10:23 pm
When I went back to China last summer, I was surprised to find the orange-colored shared bikes everywhere around the city and many of my friends used these bikes to commute. How did these bike sharing business explode in China [...]
How a car manufacturer is leveraging virtual technology to drive sales in urban showrooms.
Lama
Posted on January 28, 2018 at 10:02 pm
How a car manufacturer is leveraging virtual technology to drive sales in urban showrooms.
Netflix’s Growth Alongside Digital Transformation
aricarlospena
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Netflix has used the changing digital landscape to its advantage as its become one of the biggest entertainment companies today.
Death to American malls?! It’s 2018 and the largest mall operator in the US refuses to agree
u.know.it
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 9:37 pm
Death to American malls?! It’s 2018 and the largest mall operator in the US – refuses to declare the death of malls
Walmart – Blurring the lines between digital and physical
JY
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 5:15 pm
Despite starting out slow against Amazon, Walmart is increasingly becoming a “digital winner”, as it builds out a fast-growing ecommerce business and also leads in digital innovations when compared to other brick-and-mortar retailers.
Making Lemonade out of Insurance Lemons
Rachel
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 4:06 pm
Lemonade Insurance is a startup shaking up the insurance industry by offering consumers a better experience at a lower price point.
How Major League Baseball has turned the National Pastime into a New World Innovator
zs
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 9:14 pm
Major League Baseball Advanced Media has successfully developed the market-leading live streaming technology through an innovative, viewer-focused approach
GameStop the Ride, I Wanna Get Off
L
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 3:27 pm
GameStop has been thrust unceremoniously into the 21st century, and it is very grumpy about it.
Retail is(n’t) dead (for all) – Nike is Just Doing It
kt
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Nike is bucking the "retail is dead" trend by integrating digital disruptions into their strategy and effectively meshing the offline and online worlds through experiences such as Nike Soho.
Amazon: The Worldwide Leader In Sports
HBS2018
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 5:25 pm
Although Disney's ESPN has been the dominant player in sports content for decades, its slow reaction to digital video consumption trends and inability to monetize sports content as effectively as tech giants could see the king lose its crown in [...]
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.
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