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)

WeChat: A winner in China but a loser abroad
EIO
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 5:35 pm
How WeChat became China's most successful ecosystem but failed in foreign markets.
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.
No Signs of Surrender at This Retail Bank
LT
Last modified on January 31, 2018 at 4:07 pm
Many have prophesied the death of retail banking - and while the traditional retail model may be dead, at least one traditional bank is changing to keep up with the times.
Zola: Vowing to Simplify the Wedding Process
Sairah
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 5:53 pm
Zola is disrupting the wedding industry with its gift registry business, without taking on the risk of managing the gifts.
Butch Cassidy of the Modern Age: How the Digital World is Enabling Modern Day Bank Robbers
jessica
Posted on January 31, 2018 at 11:01 pm
As more data goes digital, the volume and scale of cybercrime continues to increase. Companies and consumers alike should be concerned about modern day "bank robbers."
Estonia: Showcasing the Digital Future of Citizenship
Austin
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 3:33 pm
Small baltic nation leads the way on digital citizenship through e-identity and e-residency programs.
The New York Times’ Impressive Digital Transition
Laura Barnes
Posted on February 2, 2018 at 9:57 am
NYT turns on a dime
EcoCash – How a telco turned a cash crisis into a cash cow
Crystal
Last modified on February 1, 2018 at 5:56 pm
In the face of a cash crisis, Econet, Zimbabwe's largest telco, introduced a mobile digital payment solution that saw the company become a market leader in the provision of financial services.
The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?) of BlackBerry
JLuo
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 2:31 pm
The roller coaster journey of the world's original smartphone leader.
SONY: from disruptor to disrupted
A.J. Steinlage
Posted on February 1, 2018 at 5:41 pm
How does a company highlighted at the Harvard Business School as a preeminent example of disruptive innovation become a loser?
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