Digital Winners during the Pandemic

February 10, 2021

Read The Full Prompt

Digital technologies were already upending many industries and companies before the pandemic. Covid-19 has accelerated those trends. Think about the impact of Door Dash on restaurants, or Shopify’s and Amazon’s impact on the ability of retail stores to develop a new channel.

For this assignment please identify companies/organizations that you think are winning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please focus on just one organization, and not an entire category of organizations, entrants, or firms. Tell us why they are a winner in this environment. If it is useful for illustrating or explaining their winning approach, you may also refer to losing organizations, entrants, or firms, but these should not be the central feature of the post.

Please place most of the emphasis on how the organization creates value in the short run from its products, services, actions, and strategies. You also should summarize how it captures value. Finally, you may allude to how it is positioned to create and capture value as the pandemic declines. Why do these products, services, actions, and strategies lead you to call them a winner or loser?

Create an approximately 750-word post. Make your contribution by 6pm on February 10.

Please also respond to and comment on three other posts by 8am on Feb 11. 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 (32)

Empty Stadiums – The National Football League Combats Losing Nearly 25% of Its Revenue Stream
Kyle Larkin
Last modified on February 10, 2021 at 10:32 pm
The NFL uses technology to engage with fans and sponsors in unique ways.
Udemy: Taking Advantage of a New Normal
Stéphane V
Last modified on February 10, 2021 at 5:40 pm
Udemy has undeniably been one of the few companies that directly benefitted from the unprecedented times we are living in. They managed to take advantage of new digital opportunities in the e-learning space by combining a winning business model with [...]
Coronavirus reshapes ad spending. Google gains.
jtan
Posted on February 11, 2021 at 12:30 am
When the pandemic hit in March, many of my friends and clients from my previous life in advertising started getting really worried about the possibility of a layoff. The pandemic had caused consumer spending to nosedive. Marketers and media buyers [...]
Matterport: Spatial Data Leader and Real Estate Lockdown Savior?
Kyle R
Last modified on February 9, 2021 at 5:38 pm
The pandemic has taken Matterport from a niche product to a necessary tool for Real Estate companies across the world.
The AI-driven “Work 3.0” Transformation
Juan Carlos
Posted on February 10, 2021 at 2:52 pm
Applying Artificial Intelligence to Resolve the Trade-offs of Remote Work
Chefette: How a Barbadian Quick Service Restaurant Won with Delivery
Tiffany Banfield
Posted on February 10, 2021 at 11:14 am
Chefette, a local Barbadian quick service restaurant invested heavily in digital technology and infrastructure which enabled it to introduce delivery options during the pandemic.
Goodbye Excel Spreadsheets. Hello Anaplan!
Jibran Ahmad
Last modified on February 10, 2021 at 4:47 pm
Even prior to Covid-19, Corporate Performance Management represented a massive, growing market levered to the digital transformation mega-trend. Within this space, Anaplan is a cloud-native player and has continued to “win” throughout the ongoing pandemic.
Paypal reaches record growth numbers as ‘digital first’ world becomes a reality.
Molefe Choane
Posted on February 11, 2021 at 8:18 pm
Paypal’s financial performance highlighted in the Q4 has been nothing short of extraordinary. The acceleration of digital payments over the pandemic has been a key driver to their performance.
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