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)

Amazon – a winning strategy continues with Alexa
Megan Trout
Last modified on February 1, 2017 at 9:22 am
Amazon’s Alexa – a winning smart home device for more than just your retail needs
Sephora: Staying Relevant in Brick and Mortar
Ravneet Uberoi
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:06 pm
An inside look at how Sephora uses technology in its stores to stay relevant in rapidly evolving times.
Pandora: How the Wrong Business Model Can Lead Management to Focus on the Wrong Customer
Alexander Clamor
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 6:37 pm
Over the winter break, I had the pleasure to spend a few days with my twin brother. Like all healthy sibling relationships, we don’t always see eye-to-eye on issues. We do, however, share similar food preferences, and so the best [...]
Google Maps: the winner that begets winning
Meili
Posted on February 1, 2017 at 4:25 pm
The forces behind how Google Maps keeps winning and helps others to win too
Winner: Venmo – the next generation checking account
Carolin_Oldenbuettel
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:56 pm
Venmo, the PayPal-owned peer-to-peer payments app, is one of the best-known and largest disruptive fintech companies.
BlaBlaCar – Disrupting road travel by Trusted carpooling
Mohit Mittal
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:57 pm
BlaBlaCar - the RyanAir of Road - has built a community of 40 million users around trustworthy carpooling. Born in Paris and already proved its worth in Europe, BlaBlaCar is now expanding to emerging markets as it provides last minute [...]
The 45th: How the Trump Campaign’s Digital Strategy Made History
Ian C.
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 9:36 am
Trump's Innovative and Effective Digital Campaign
AMC Theaters: Remaining Relevant in the Digital Age?
HBSstudent11
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:55 pm
How changes in movie-viewing driven by digital technologies have negatively affected theater chains like AMC.
Renaissance Technologies: Generating Alpha without Wall Street Veterans or MBAs
James Baird
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 9:48 am
How a team of mathematicians, computer scientists, and physicists is beating the market
Sweat with Kayla – the unstoppable growth of the Virtual Trainer
pvuong
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:44 pm
Who is Kayla and why does everyone want to "do Kayla"?
Wayfair: Are Customers Really Ready to Buy Furniture Online?
YaelS
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Wayfair is leading and promising e-commerce player in the home goods market. It is providing a unique online shopping experience while managing an asset light inventory. Is there anything we should be worried about?
Amazon: from a book store, to the everything store, to running the internet
Yun Yu
Posted on February 1, 2017 at 6:48 pm
Amazon has grown rapidly to become so much more than a e-commerce company
Could the Rise of Digital Media Spell Doom for the NFL?
Ali
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:22 pm
Streaming video on-demand services may be claiming a new victim, and a massive one at that: the multi-billion-dollar National Football League.
The Times’ digital path forward
Robert S
Last modified on February 4, 2017 at 3:08 pm
The New York Times' successful digital strategy
Nest: Falling Into The Chasm
CPerlman
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:37 pm
Nest, thought of as being on the forefront of the Smart Home, has been struggling to cross the chasm and gain mass consumer adoption. Can the company rethink its strategy to deliver consumer value?
Mark 43: Redefining Law Enforcement in a Mobile World
Ellen DaSilva
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 12:45 am
Mark43, a police force SaaS platform, shows that software can eat the government, too.
One Medical Group: The Potential Uber of Healthcare
Brandon K
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 1:26 pm
As the on-demand economy begins to disrupt healthcare, One Medical Group is best positioned to lead the booming market of on-demand primary care
Fire Phone- Amazon’s $170 million Summer Fiasco
Jack K
Last modified on February 3, 2017 at 10:32 am
In October of 2014, Amazon reported a $170 million write off relating to the Amazon Fire Phone. This is the story of that epic failure.
OfferUp: The used goods marketplace of the future
Bipul Sinha
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:56 pm
OfferUp is transforming how we sell used goods online and is termed a "Craiglist killer". This post discusses how they ended up creating and capturing this value
From Pay through Mobile to Payment Bank – Paytm is a clear winner in digitizing payment in India
Charu Manglani
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 2:13 pm
Paytm has revolutionized the way money is transacted in India. Go digital is the new Mantra.
Omada Health: Becoming a Gold Standard for Digital Health Interventions
Felix J
Last modified on February 1, 2017 at 3:58 pm
With the rise of US smartphone adoption as well as chronic conditions, a myriad of digital health companies have started but never really gained traction. Omada has shown the health care community what a successful digital health intervention should look [...]
musical.ly strikes the right chord – to the tune of 40M MAU
Libby
Last modified on March 1, 2017 at 3:23 pm
musica.ly was one of the hottest apps of 2015 and 2016 – and hasn't left the App Store Top 40 ever since. Are its 15-second videos a one-hit wonder, or are they here to stay?
Amazon Go – A Winning Bet in the Convenience Store and Grocery Business
KunalRai
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 3:33 pm
Amazon Go - a new architecture cooks up a storm in an industry stuck in time.
Instacart – Leading the way for grocery deliveries
Rahul
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:53 pm
Instacart, an on demand platform for delivering groceries, is considered one of Americas most promising companies. The company was founded in 2012 and has rapidly expanded ever since - paving a new way for grocery deliveries
1 2 3 … 5