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• Supplement | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2013 version)

  Distribution at American Airlines (C)

  Benjamin Edelman

  Presents 2011-2012 updates to American's distribution strategy including new challenges and disputes

  Citation:

  Edelman, Benjamin. "Distribution at American Airlines (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 913-034, May 2013. (Revised from original March 2013 version.) (request a courtesy copy.)

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  SaferTaxi: Connecting Taxis and Passengers in South America

  Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman

  SaferTaxi, a taxi booking service in South America must develop its mobilization strategy; that is, it must attract enough passengers and drivers to make its service worthwhile for all. Drivers hesitate to pay for SaferTaxi's smartphones and service unless these will deliver passenger bookings -- and passengers have no reason to sign up unless drivers are available. Meanwhile, regulators question the permissibility of online taxi booking in light of regulatory requirements, and some existing taxi booking vendors feel threatened by SaferTaxi's efforts to enter the market. As SaferTaxi attempts to satisfy these diverse constituents, international competition looms. What should SaferTaxi's founders do next?

  Keywords: taxi booking; smartphone; Transportation Networks; Network Effects; Laws and Statutes; South America; Argentina; Brazil; Chile;

  Citation:

  Coles, Peter, and Benjamin Edelman. "SaferTaxi: Connecting Taxis and Passengers in South America." Harvard Business School Case 913-041, April 2013.

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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2013

  Exclusive Preferential Placement as Search Diversion: Evidence from Flight Search

  Benjamin G. Edelman and Zhenyu Lai

  We analyze the incentives for a two-sided intermediary to divert consumers to its favored destinations. Applied to Internet search engines, we investigate a diversion mechanism based on Google's exclusive award of preferential placement to its own services. Using web traffic data from a quasi-experiment involving the introduction of Flight Search, a Google travel search service, we identify and measure the impact of diverting search away from non-paid algorithmic links to competing online travel agencies. Controlling for search intent, we find that Google's differential placement of Flight Search across similar search queries led to an 85% increase in click-through rates for paid advertising and a 65% decrease in click-through rates for non-paid algorithmic search links to competing online travel agencies. As search engines increase monetization of clicks by integrating specialized services into search results, our analysis suggests that exclusive preferential placement disproportionately impacts traffic to top sites most likely relevant to users' requests.

  Citation:

  Edelman, Benjamin G., and Zhenyu Lai. "Exclusive Preferential Placement as Search Diversion: Evidence from Flight Search." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13–087, April 2013. (data appendix.)

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