Mikołaj Jan Piskorski, who often goes by Misiek, is an Associate Professor of Business Administration and Richard Hodgson Fellow in the Strategy Unit at the Harvard Business School. Follow @mpiskorski on Twitter.
Misiek received his B.A and M.A. (Cantab) from University of Cambridge where he read Economics and Politics at Christ's College. Subsequently, he received his A.M. in Sociology and Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. After completing his Ph.D. he became a faculty member in the Organizational Behavior area at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. In 2004, he returned to Harvard to teach the Required Curriculum Strategy course in the MBA Program. He is now teaching his own Elective Curriculum class: Competing With Social Networks. In addition, Misiek teaches in Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, Driving Digital and Social Strategy, Media Strategies and Strategic IQ Executive Education programs as well as in a number of custom programs.
Misiek is an expert on why and how people use various on-line social platforms, both in the U.S. and abroad. He also studies how firms can leverage these platforms to build social strategies. He also applied many of these insights to large organizations as they seek to become more agile and use social networks to execute their strategies. He has documented this research in a book called Social Strategy: How Social Media Platforms Work and How to Leverage Them for Competitive Advantage, forthcoming in 2013.
His research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly and Social Forces and cited in the New York Times, Business 2.0, and Investors Business Daily. He serves or has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals including American Journal of Sociology, Administrative Science Quarterly, Management Science and Organization Science.
Featured Work
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Social Strategies That Work
HBR Article
Over a billion people use social platforms on the Internet, making them the most frequently visited category of sites. Some platforms, such as eHarmony, MeetUp, and Twitter, allow us to connect to strangers. eHarmony alone is estimated to account for one in six new marriages in the U.S. Other platforms, like Facebook or Renren in China, help us strengthen relationships with friends and acquaintances. In fact, Facebook boasts staggering 750 million users, and valuation in excess of $100 billion. LinkedIn does the same in the realm of business relationships.
These staggering numbers of users attracted traditional companies, which established Facebook fan pages or Twitter accounts to find new customers and engage existing ones. Although anecdotes of success abound, most companies found it difficult to engage customers or move the needle on sales. To claim success, some companies started to measure how many Facebook “friends” or Twitter “followers” they have, rather than by what really matters: profits.
In my research, I studied over 60 companies across a wide spectrum of industries, spanning the gamut from manufacturing companies, through consumer packaged goods, all the way to services and consumer finance, and examined why some firms fail while others succeed with using social platforms to increase profitability. I found that companies that failed to succeed on social platforms merely ported their digital strategies onto the social environments. Specifically, they continued to broadcast their commercial messages or sought feedback from their customers. Customers rejected these efforts, because their main goal on these platforms is to connect to other people, but not to companies. This isn’t hard to understand – imagine sitting at a dinner table with your friends when all of the sudden a stranger pulls up a chair and says “Hey! Can I sell you something?” You’d probably say no, preferring your friends over corporate advances. Many companies learned this lesson the hard way.
In contrast, companies that experienced significant economic returns devised social strategies. These strategies build better relationships between people if people undertake corporate tasks for free. Social strategies are thus very different from digital strategies in that they build relationships between people, rather than between people and companies. Social strategies are much more successful because they are much more consistent with users’ behaviors on social platforms. To return to our dinner analogy, a company with a social strategy sits at the table and asks “Can I introduce you to someone or help you develop better friendships?” This approach gets a lot more takers.
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When Should a Social Platform Give People Fewer Choices and Charge More for Them?
 Existing economic wisdom offers unequivocal advice to managers seeking to establish new platform businesses: Invest to acquire users as quickly as possible and make sure that they have unrestricted access to each other. Since the value of participating in a platform often depends on the number of choices offered, a platform offering unrestricted access should quickly displace a platform that restricts choice. After all, Facebook would not stay around for very long if it amassed a large number of users, but would then only let them interact with a small number of others. It would be equally counterproductive for a game console to build a large user base, and ensure that a large selection of games exists, only to announce that every user can choose at most five games. In both cases, a less restrictive platform would quickly eclipse the one limiting choice.
However, in some markets we observe that unrestricted-choice platforms do not win over restricted-choice ones. If anything, platforms restricting choice perform better in that they are able to charge higher prices than the unrestricted-choice platforms. This is very salient, for example, in the on-line dating market, where most sites give its members unrestricted access to all members. However, some sites, such as eHarmony, give its members no more than 7 potential dating candidates at a time. And despite offering limited choice, eHarmony charges up to a 25 percent premium over its closest competitor, Match. Similarly, labor markets feature platforms, such as Monster, that offer unrestricted access to everyone. However, these platforms have not eliminated headhunting firms. The later offer very few candidates to firms, and expose candidates to only a limited number of firms, and yet charge more than the unrestricted-choice platforms do. Finally, in the housing market, buyers and sellers have the choice of using the For Sale By Owner database ("FSBO") or broker's services. Even though FSBO could give people broader exposure to everyone on the platform, it has not displaced brokers, who show only a few houses to a buyer, and expose every house to a limited number of clients. Academic studies have shown that broker-mediated transactions and FSBO transactions result in similar house sale prices. Given that brokers do not generate higher sale prices, but charge a 6 percent commission, they are the more expensive market option. These examples present a puzzle for us to solve: How can some platforms offer less choice and yet charge more to participate?
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Facebook's Platforms
Thomas Eisenmann, Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Brian Feinstein, David Chen, Harvard Business Publishing, Mar 18, 2008
In early 2009, Facebook was the largest global on-line social network, with 175 million members. However, it generated relatively little revenue from its advertising programs. The case asks students to consider two options of improving the top line. First, the company could deepen its commitment to advertising, particularly by using profile data to better target ads. Second, the company could help other businesses develop new on-line applications that used Facebook Connect- a second-generation platform released in late 2008. Connect allowed members to use their Facebook credentials to log onto third-party websites and bring their on-line social network with them, which can then be used to power social functionalities on these websites. For example, CNN used Connect to help people find their friends' comments, while the Starbucks community volunteer program used Connect to "spread the word." In the future, Connect could, for example, help friends coordinate their travel plans on Expedia. If Expedia could charge for such services, or use Connect to reduce its customer acquisition costs, Facebook could conceivably appropriate some of the value.
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Understanding Users of Social Networks
If the ongoing social networking revolution has you scratching your head and asking, "Why do people spend time on this?" and "How can my company benefit from the social network revolution?" you've got a lot in common with Harvard Business School professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski.
Only difference: Piskorski has spent years studying users of online social networks (SN) and has developed surprising findings about the needs that they fulfill, how men and women use these services differently, and how Twitter—the newest kid on the block—is sharply different from forerunners such as Facebook and MySpace. He has also applied many of the insights to help companies develop strategies for leveraging these various online entities for profit.
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Networks as Covers: Evidence from an On-line Social Network
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
This paper proposes that networks can act as covers which allow actors to participate in markets while maintaining a plausible excuse that they are not. Such covers are most valuable to actors in long-term relationships, as those who are already employed or in a long-term romantic relationship should not be seen as participating in the market for a new relationship. Data in support of this view are provided on the basis of fieldwork and large dataset from a social on-line network with a global presence. Results show that men in relationships and with large on-line networks are more like to look at women they do not know. In contrast, single men with large networks are more likely to look at women they do know. Implications for network theories as they pertain to organizations are explored.
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New Twitter Research: Men Follow Men and Nobody Tweets
Twitter has attracted tremendous attention from the media and celebrities, but there is much uncertainty about Twitter's purpose. Is Twitter a communications service for friends and groups, a means of expressing yourself freely, or simply a marketing tool?
We examined the activity of a random sample of 300,000 Twitter users in May 2009 to find out how people are using the service. We then compared our findings to activity on other social networks and online content production venues. Our findings are very surprising.
Publications
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Article
| Harvard Business Review
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Social Strategies That Work
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Although most companies have collected lots of friends and followers on social platforms such as Facebook, few have succeeded in generating profits there. That's because they merely port their digital strategies into social environments by broadcasting their commercial messages or seeking customer feedback. To succeed on social platforms, says Harvard Business School's Piskorski, businesses need to devise social strategies that are consistent with users' expectations and behavior in these venues-namely, people want to connect with other people, not with companies. The author defines successful social strategies as those that reduce costs or increase customers' willingness to pay by helping people establish or strengthen relationships through doing free work on a company's behalf. Citing successes at Zynga, eBay, American Express, and Yelp, Piskorski shows that social strategies can generate profits by helping people connect in exchange for tasks that benefit the company such as customer acquisition, marketing, and content creation. He lays out a systematic way to build a social strategy and shows how a major credit card company he advised used the method to roll out its own strategy.
Keywords: social platforms;
social strategies;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Customers;
Relationships;
Business Strategy;
Profit;
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Article
| Social Forces
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When More Power Makes Actors Worse Off: Turning a Profit in the American Economy
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Tiziana Casciaro
Keywords: Profit;
Economy;
United States;
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Article
| Administrative Science Quarterly
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Power Imbalance, Mutual Dependence and Constraint Absorption: A Closer Look at Resource Dependence Theory
Tiziana Casciaro and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Despite ubiquitous references to Pfeffer and Salancik's classic volume, The External Control of Organizations, resource dependence theory is more of an appealing metaphor than a foundation for testable empirical research. We argue that several ambiguities in the resource dependence model account in part for this and propose a reformulation of resource dependence theory that addresses these ambiguities, yields novel predictions and findings, and reconciles them with seemingly contradictory empirical evidence from past studies. We identify two distinct theoretical dimensions of resource dependence, power imbalance and mutual dependence, which in the original theory were combined in the construct of interdependence and yet have opposite effects on an organization's ability to reduce dependencies by absorbing sources of external constraint. Results from a study of interindustry mergers and acquisitions among U.S. public companies in the period 1985–2000 indicate that, while mutual dependence is a key driver of mergers and acquisitions, power imbalance acts as an obstacle to their formation. We conclude that our reformulation of the resource dependence model contributes to realizing the potential of resource dependency as a powerful explanation of interorganizational action.
Keywords: Power and Influence;
Theory;
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Article
| Research in Social Stratification and Mobility
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Sources of Structural Inequality in Managerial Labor Markets
Rakesh Khurana and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
This article proposes two mechanisms that allow actors to obtain unearned advantages in labor markets. The first mechanism is consistent with collusive closure arguments. However, it questions the assumption that those who seek to benefit from collusive closure will always initiate it. Instead, it suggests that under certain cultural conditions, closure may arise through a series of self-reproducing social constructions that restrict access to a position to those who conform to certain socially defined criteria. The second mechanism is consistent with Sørensen's discussion of the role of composite rents in generating unearned advantages. Whereas Sørensen focused on composite rents between actors and productive assets, the mechanism presented here suggests that actors can obtain unearned advantages even if workers are not specific to productive assets, as long as there are composite rents between these productive assets. Data in support of the models are provided from the executive labor market.
Keywords: Management;
Labor;
Markets;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Yammer (B)
Mikolaj J. Piskorski and Aaron Smith
Supplement to Yammer (A), case 712-494
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj J., and Aaron Smith. "Yammer (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 713-483, April 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Yammer (A)
Mikolaj J. Piskorski, Kerry Herman and Aaron Smith
In spring 2012, Yammer was on track to become a highly successful standalone company. Yammer was a leading Enterprise Social Network (ESN), providing companies a private social network in which employees could collaborate securely and efficiently. However, later that year, Microsoft executives unexpectedly reached out with an offer to acquire Yammer for $1.2 billion and integrate Yammer into the Microsoft Office division. An integration with Microsoft would have a profound effect on Yammer's scalability, software development, and organizational culture. David Sacks, CEO of Yammer, debated the challenges and opportunities related to competition, product, and culture as he thought about the offer on the table.
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj J., Kerry Herman, and Aaron Smith. "Yammer (A)." Harvard Business School Case 713-407, May 2013.
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Course Overview Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Overview
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Course Overview Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Overview
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Social Failures
Mikolaj J. Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Social Failures
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Social Platforms
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Social Platforms
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
Competing with Social Networks: Social Strategy
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
Competing with Social Networks: Social Strategy
Mikolaj J. Piskorski
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Module Note
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2013
(Revised from original 2010 version)
Competing with Social Networks: Designing Social Strategy
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
This note outlines the process of designing a social strategy.
Keywords: Social Enterprise;
Strategy;
Planning;
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Other Teaching and Training Material
| 2010
Your Social Network over Time (survey tool)
Andreea Daniela Gorbatai and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks;
Online Technology;
Citation: Gorbatai, Andreea Daniela, and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski. "Your Social Network over Time (survey tool)." 2010. Electronic.
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2009
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Your Social Network over Time
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Andreea Daniela Gorbatai
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Andreea Daniela Gorbatai. " Your Social Network over Time." Harvard Business School Background Note 709-476, December 2009. (Revised from original February 2009 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Your Social Network Over Time (TN)
Mikolaj J. Piskorski and Andreea Gorbatai
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2008
eHarmony
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Hanna Halaburda and Troy Smith
eHarmony's CEO needs to decide how to react to imitations of its business model, encroachment by competing models, and ascendance of free substitutes. The case provides four options to address these threats and asks students to choose one after they analyzed the company's strategy. The analysis begins with the understanding of value proposition, as derived from failures of substitutes. It proceeds to examine industry structure and important differences across its different niches. Students can then analyze the essence of a focused differentiation strategy and understand the importance of costly strategic trade-offs. They can also estimate the size of eHarmony's competitive advantage over two other competitors before articulating threats to sustainability, all of which will help them choose one of the four options.
Keywords: Business Model;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Industry Structures;
Competitive Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Service Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Hanna Halaburda, and Troy Smith. " eHarmony." Harvard Business School Case 709-424, July 2008.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2008 version)
eHarmony (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Hanna Halaburda
Teaching Note for eHarmony [709424].
Keywords: Business Model;
Strategy;
Valuation;
Industry Structures;
Competitive Advantage;
Web Services Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Hanna Halaburda. " eHarmony (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 709-446, January 2013. (Revised from original July 2008 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2012
(Revised from original 2010 version)
Meetup
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen
Meetup, an on-line company providing means of arranging face-to-face meetings, is deciding between two options of increasing its revenue by investing to: (i) increase new sign ups, (ii) improve the engagement of existing users.
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Business Strategy;
Web Services Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and David Chen. " Meetup." Harvard Business School Case 710-408, February 2012. (Revised from original January 2010 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Meetup (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " Meetup (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 713-486, March 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2010 version)
Twitter
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David Chen and Bill Heil
Twitter is a micro-blogging company that allows users to send short text updates to others. The site is used by people, including celebrities, government officials, and businesses. It helps to raise money for non-profit organizations and provides first-responders with information during a natural disaster. Even though almost 10 million people visited the site in early 2009, the site had no strategy for monetizing the traffic. The case allows students to examine potential monetization strategies for Twitter.
Keywords: Blogs;
Revenue;
Information Publishing;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Web;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, David Chen, and Bill Heil. " Twitter." Harvard Business School Case 710-455, February 2013. (Revised from original January 2010 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
Twitter (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " Twitter (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 713-487, March 2013. (Revised from original February 2013 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
(Revised from original 2008 version)
mixi (A)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Masaru Nomura and Kanako Miyoshi
Kasahara, the founder and CEO of mixi, the most successful Japanese on-line social network, is deciding between two strategic options: (i) B2C or (ii) C2C to leverage the power of the social network. In the B2C option, mixi would become a portal for on-line shopping for both digital content and tangible goods and charge the business sellers a fee. In the C2C option, mixi would facilitate exchanges between mixi's members through on-line flea markets or auctions and charge the members for successful transactions. In choosing between the two options he has to consider other upstart networks, particularly in the field of mobile social networking.
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions;
Market Platforms;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Business Strategy;
Mobile Technology;
Online Technology;
Japan;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Masaru Nomura, and Kanako Miyoshi. " mixi (A)." Harvard Business School Case 709-413, June 2011. (Revised from original July 2008 version.)
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2011 version)
mixi (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Mayuka Yamazaki
Supplements case 709-413.
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Mayuka Yamazaki. " mixi (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 711-412, March 2013. (Revised from original March 2011 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
mixi (TN) (A) and (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " mixi (TN) (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 713-488, March 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2008 version)
Facebook
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, David Chen, Brian Feinstein and Aaron Smith
As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging traffic. The company could invest further in new advertising products, which represented the majority of the revenue thus far, or concentrate on the Facebook Platform and help third-party developers create and distribute their own applications. After a highly anticipated yet largely disappointing initial public offering (IPO), Facebook's stock price steadily declined. It became critical for the Facebook team to identify sustainable growth opportunities, particularly as more of its user base accessed the site via mobile devices.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Profit;
Open Source Distribution;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Online Technology;
Technology Platform;
Information Technology Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Thomas R. Eisenmann, David Chen, Brian Feinstein, and Aaron Smith. " Facebook." Harvard Business School Case 808-128, March 2013. (Revised from original March 2008 version.) ( More Info.)
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
Facebooks Platforms Powerpoint Slides
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2011 version)
foursquare
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and David Chen
Co-founders of foursquare are deciding how to respond to competitive threats and scale up the organization. Foursquare was a location-based online service that allowed users to "check in" to a location using an application on a smartphone. Foursquare kept track of a user's check-ins, shared them with users' friends, and unlocked "Specials" that gave users discounts at nearby locations. Within a year and a half of its founding the company had 45 employees and over 5 million users and was valued in excess of $100 million. However, many competitors, including Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp, developed competitive services requiring foursquare to respond.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Online Technology;
Mobile Technology;
Competitive Advantage;
Web Services Industry;
United States;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and David Chen. " foursquare." Harvard Business School Case 711-418, March 2013. (Revised from original January 2010 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
foursquare (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " foursquare (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 713-489, March 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2007
(Revised from original 2006 version)
LinkedIn (A)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
In the summer of 2005, LinkedIn, a two-year-old start-up, was choosing between two options to monetize its 5 million business people network. Members could contact each other through trusted intermediaries on the network to offer or seek jobs, consulting engagements, expertise, and financing. The company had outpaced its competitors by building the most populous online business network, but it had little revenue to show its investors. The first revenue option entailed keeping the existing features unchanged and rolling out a bundle of eight new services for a monthly fee of $15. These services would be targeted at network members who had forged many connections, logged in frequently, and viewed the profiles of many other members. The second proposal involved changing a basic design feature of LinkedIn by allowing members to contact each other without intermediaries for a fee. Fewer members would avail themselves of this feature, but those who did would be willing to pay as much as $5-$15 per message. This option ran a substantial risk of alienating members and would prompt some to abandon LinkedIn.
Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Search Technology;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Service Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " LinkedIn (A)." Harvard Business School Case 707-406, February 2007. (Revised from original July 2006 version.)
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2007
(Revised from original 2006 version)
LinkedIn (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Keywords: Web Services Industry;
Employment Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " LinkedIn (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 707-407, February 2007. (Revised from original July 2006 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2008 version)
LinkedIn (TN) (A) and (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
In the summer of 2005, LinkedIn, a two-year-old start-up, was choosing between two options to monetize its 5 million business people network. Members could contact each other through trusted intermediaries on the network to offer or seek jobs, consulting engagements, expertise, and financing. The company had outpaced its competitors by building the most populous online business network, but it had little revenue to show its investors. The first revenue option entailed keeping the existing features unchanged and rolling out a bundle of eight new services for a monthly fee of $15. These services would be targeted at network members who had forged many connections, logged in frequently, and viewed the profiles of many other members. The second proposal involved changing a basic design feature of LinkedIn by allowing members to contact each other without intermediaries for a fee. Fewer members would avail themselves of this feature, but those who did would be willing to pay as much as $5-$15 per message. This option ran a substantial risk of alienating members and would prompt some to abandon LinkedIn.
Keywords: Business Startups;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Web Sites;
Financing and Loans;
Revenue;
Design;
Service Operations;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " LinkedIn (TN) (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 708-406, January 2013. (Revised from original February 2008 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2007
(Revised from original 2006 version)
Friendster (A)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In January 2006, the president of Friendster needs to choose between two strategic options to revive the company. Friendster started the social networking industry in 2003, but has been overtaken by MySpace and Facebook. The two options are: 1) offer new features to help members enhance their offline lives, such as arranging events with their friends; and 2) offer features, such as the ability to import friends' blogs, pictures, recommendations, and feeds, to help members manage their experiences with their online friends. The two choices have very different value propositions and have very different competitive implications. Also describes the dynamics of relationships inside Friendster and discusses how these dynamics prevented Friendster from maintaining its leadership position. As such, allows for integration of organization and strategy in an entrepreneurial setting, and should be taught with LinkedIn (A) to facilitate cross-case comparisons.
Keywords: Value Creation;
Competitive Advantage;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Brands and Branding;
Service Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. " Friendster (A)." Harvard Business School Case 707-409, February 2007. (Revised from original September 2006 version.)
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2007
(Revised from original 2006 version)
Friendster (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. " Friendster (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 707-410, February 2007. (Revised from original September 2006 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2008 version)
Friendster (TN) (A) and (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Teaching Note for [707409] and [707410].
Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Web Services Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " Friendster (TN) (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 708-407, March 2013. (Revised from original January 2008 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
(Revised from original 2008 version)
MySpace
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David T. Chen and Carin-Isabel Knoop
The case, set in late 2007, examines what MySpace—the largest online social network—should do to respond to its agile competitor, Facebook. Since its inception MySpace had experienced phenomenal growth, acquiring 20 million members in its first 20 months of operation, and another 70 million a year later, to become the most visited website in the United States. Its growth stalled around mid-2007, just a few months after Facebook had released its programming platform which allowed outside programmers to build applications using its social network data. The wealth of new applications on Facebook allowed the company to increase its membership by more than 15% in one month. To remain competitive MySpace had to release its own platform, and now it needs to decide whether to build its own proprietary application platform or join OpenSocial, a Google-sponsored open source platform.
Keywords: Open Source Distribution;
Partners and Partnerships;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Online Technology;
Technology Platform;
Information Technology Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, David T. Chen, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. " MySpace." Harvard Business School Case 708-499, June 2011. (Revised from original March 2008 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2008 version)
MySpace (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Teaching Note for 708499.
Keywords: Online Technology;
Competitive Advantage;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Decisions;
Growth and Development;
Market Platforms;
Web Services Industry;
United States;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " MySpace (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 708-495, March 2013. (Revised from original March 2008 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2010 version)
Zynga (A)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen
In January 2010 Mark Pincus is deciding how to double the number of Zynga games' players to 500 million without sacrificing profitability. These ambitious growth plans required changes to product, corporate strategy, and customer acquisition and retention. With regard to product Pincus needed to decide to invest in evolving the successful games or develop new games. With regard to corporate strategy, Pincus had to choose whether each game should compete on its own, or force every game to build functionalities that support other Zynga games too. Finally, to ensure customer acquisition and retention Pincus faced the choice between deepening commitment to Facebook or developing its own distribution channels.
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Distribution Channels;
Product Development;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Corporate Strategy;
Video Game Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and David Chen. " Zynga (A)." Harvard Business School Case 710-464, March 2013. (Revised from original February 2010 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Zynga (B)
Mikolaj J. Piskorski and Aaron Smith
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj J., and Aaron Smith. " Zynga (B)." Harvard Business School Case 713-502, March 2013.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
Zynga (TN) (A) and (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " Zynga (TN) (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 713-482, March 2013. (Revised from original January 2013 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2012
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Yelp
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David Chen and Aaron Smith
Yelp was a popular online destination for reviews of local establishments, written by volunteer Internet users and read by 60 million people per month. However, the company was far from profitable. The CEO needs to decide between two options to increase the revenue. First, the company can maintain its existing monetization model and quickly build a massive sales force to enroll many local business owners as advertisers and sponsors. The second option was to change the monetization model completely and charge readers for access to Yelp reviews.
Keywords: Online Advertising;
Business Model;
Profit;
Revenue;
Marketing Strategy;
Sales;
Internet;
Advertising Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, David Chen, and Aaron Smith. " Yelp." Harvard Business School Case 709-412, December 2012. (Revised from original March 2009 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Yelp (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " Yelp (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 713-490, February 2013.
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Other Teaching and Training Material
| 2009
Wikipedia: Esperanza
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Andreea Daniela Gorbatai and Tiona Zuzul
Keywords: Web Sites;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Andreea Daniela Gorbatai, and Tiona Zuzul. "Wikipedia: Esperanza." 2009. Multimedia.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2012
Wikipedia: Project Esperanza
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Andreea Gorbatai and Tiona Zuzul
In October 2006, Wikipedia was the largest volunteer-run on-line encyclopedia which could be freely read and edited by anyone with internet access. Within almost six years of its founding in 2001, the project had attracted hundreds of thousands of editors who had written over 1.2 million articles in English alone. Almost 10 percent of world-wide internet users accessed Wikipedia at least once a month. Just as Wales was stepping down, the editor community was collecting opinions to decide whether to close down an informal association of Wikipedia editors called Esperanza. Some Wikipedia editors, including some of the most prolific ones, really enjoyed the programs. Others firmly believed that Esperanza made editors socialize at the expense of creating content for the encyclopedia. As the editor community was making the final decision on what to do with Esperanza, observers could not help but wonder what effect the decision will have on the types of editors Wikipedia will attract and the content they will produce.
Keywords: Web-enabled application;
Internet;
Information Publishing;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Groups and Teams;
Publishing Industry;
United States;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Andreea Gorbatai, and Tiona Zuzul. " Wikipedia: Project Esperanza." Harvard Business School Case 712-493, May 2012.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Wikipedia: Project Esperanza (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2012 version)
Social Strategy at American Express
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen
American Express has developed a number of strategic partnerships with Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter to improve their card members experience and lower its customer acquisition cost. The case details the history of these partnerships, examines American Express' own social platforms, and talks about American Express' future plans in the realm of social strategy. It then presents students with two options related to Amex's future options and asks them to pick one.
Keywords: Strategy;
Partners and Partnerships;
Social Marketing;
Financial Services Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and David Chen. " Social Strategy at American Express." Harvard Business School Case 712-447, March 2013. (Revised from original April 2012 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Social Strategy at American Express (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2012 version)
Social Strategy at Nike
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Ryan Johnson
Nike, which first started experimenting with social media and networking in 2004, has been consistently reducing its spending on traditional advertising. Yet, Nike has not pulled back on its overall marketing budget, instead opting to focus on "nontraditional" advertising through new mediums. In doing so, the team hoped to build online communities to foster a closer relationship with its consumers. By 2012 Nike had committed to a social strategy that linked product with experience. Soon the company will discover if this strategic jump will be reflected on the bottom line.
Keywords: Strategy;
Advertising Campaigns;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Online Advertising;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Sports Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Ryan Johnson. " Social Strategy at Nike." Harvard Business School Case 712-484, March 2013. (Revised from original April 2012 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Social Strategy at Nike (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2012 version)
Social Strategy at Harvard Business Review
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen
The Harvard Business Review (HBR) Group was an early adopter of social media, boasting a robust presence on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Now the company is seeking to evolve the Group's efforts from social media to social strategy—and start moving both revenue generation and strategy integration into HBR's core. To that end the company created two parallel projects, each tasked with developing two concrete new offerings that leveraged social dynamics on social platforms, while at the same time creating revenues or slashing costs for HBR. Now it has to choose between four different projects.
Keywords: Competitive Advantage;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Web;
Publishing Industry;
United States;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Social Strategy at Harvard Business Review (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Barack Obama: Organizing for America 2.0
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Laura Winig and Aaron Smith
Less than a week before Barack Obama was due to be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Obama for America (OFA), the president-elect's official campaign organization, announced the formation of a post-election organization, Organizing for America. The new organization would keep the campaign field team offices open after Obama took charge of the country for the express purpose of influencing supporters to back his administration's agenda. The case describes the activities of the Obama for America campaign and asks whether the new president should use social media tools to activate the grassroots, or whether he should abandon these unconventional tools in order not to upset politicians in Washington.
Keywords: Advertising Campaigns;
Political Elections;
Marketing Communications;
Power and Influence;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Internet;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
Barack Obama: Organizing for America 2.0 (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2010
(Revised from original 2010 version)
AdMob (A)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Samuel Cohen and Nithya Vaduganathan
AdMob's CEO is deciding between international expansion and increasing the number of publishers to strengthen the company's advantage in the mobile advertising industry. AdMob displayed advertising on global devices, powered 6,000 websites and 1,000 applications, and served over 6 billion advertising impressions a month to 25 million unique visitors. AdMob's success attracted numerous competitors, such as Millennial Media and Quattro Wireless, both of which were expanding quickly and had raised considerable capital. The company now needs to allocate its limited resources wisely to position it for long-term success.
Keywords: Online Advertising;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Resource Allocation;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Expansion;
Mobile Technology;
Advertising Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Samuel Cohen, and Nithya Vaduganathan. " AdMob (A)." Harvard Business School Case 711-406, December 2010. (Revised from original July 2010 version.)
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
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2010
AdMob (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen
CEO is deciding between international expansion and increasing the number of publishers to strengthen the company's advantage in the mobile advertising industry. AdMob displayed advertising on global devices, and powered 6,000 websites and 1,000 applications, and served over 6 billion advertising impressions a month to 25 million unique visitors. AdMob's success attracted numerous competitors, such as Millennial Media and Quattro Wireless, both of which were expanding quickly and had raised considerable capital. The company now needs to allocate its limited resources wisely to position it for long-term success.
Keywords: Advertising;
Capital;
Global Strategy;
Resource Allocation;
Product Positioning;
Competitive Strategy;
Expansion;
Mobile Technology;
Advertising Industry;
Telecommunications Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and David Chen. " AdMob (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 711-407, July 2010.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2011
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Zopa: The Power of Peer-to-Peer Lending
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo and David Chen
Zopa, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer lending company, connected individual lenders and borrowers via an online interface. The company charged a small fee for completed loan transactions but has not turned a profit. Zopa offered two platforms, Markets and Listings. Markets was an automated system that assembled loans by combining lowest loan offers from different Zopa lenders. Zopa Listings allowed prospective borrowers to post eBay-like listings explaining who they were, how much money they needed, and how they would use it. Lenders then made offers specifying how much they were willing to lend and at what rate. Neither platform met with much success. In February 2009, the CEO of Zopa is considering withdrawing from Listings, and focusing on Markets, even though in a company in the U.S., Prosper, had attracted many users with a product akin to Zopa Listings.
Keywords: Financing and Loans;
Personal Finance;
Market Participation;
Market Platforms;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Financial Services Industry;
United Kingdom;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo, and David Chen. " Zopa: The Power of Peer-to-Peer Lending." Harvard Business School Case 709-469, September 2011. (Revised from original March 2009 version.)
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Case
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2009
Young Presidents' Organization
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, John D. Macomber and David Chen
The board of Young Presidents' Organization needs to decide on the future of its Networks Initiative, designed to connect its geographically dispersed membership base through 60 different interest-based networks. So far, one half of these networks have been considered successful, and now the board needs to decide what to do to make the remainder successful. Two options were considered. The first option, called "broad networks," focused on developing weaker ties and entailed keeping the initiative intact but funding it better, by allowing outside sponsors to provide the funds. The second option, called "deep networks," focused on developing strong ties and entailed scaling down the number of networks and providing them with support to encourage deep network formation, all funded internally.
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Leadership Development;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Organizations;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
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Case
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2007
(Revised from original 2007 version)
Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (A)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Alessandro L. Spadini
In response to a huge crisis in 2000, the new CEO of Procter & Gamble has to decide whether to continue with an unusual organizational design or to revert to the old matrix organization. Describes all the organizational designs used by Procter & Gamble from the 1920s onward, including geographic, product, and matrix architectures. Market development organizations, global business units, and global business services unit, each of which is heavily interdependent with the others and none of which has a clear decision-making advantage, comprise the unusual organizational design. Examination of the different organizational designs, trade-offs associated with each organizational architecture as well as the accompanying implementation problems.
Keywords: Global Strategy;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Alessandro L. Spadini. " Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 707-519, October 2007. (Revised from original January 2007 version.)
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Supplement
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2007
(Revised from original 2006 version)
Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (B)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Alessandro L. Spadini
Keywords: Organizations;
Consumer Products Industry;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Alessandro L. Spadini. " Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 707-402, November 2007. (Revised from original November 2006 version.)
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Teaching Note
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2007
Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (A) & (B) (TN)
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Teaching Note to 707519 and 707402.
Keywords: Organizations;
Consumer Products Industry;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2007
Choosing Corporate and Global Scope
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Introduces students to the study of corporate strategy, while providing an overview framework for understanding international strategy. Focuses on questions of scope and ownership. Examines both horizontal and vertical integration. Underscores the point that economies of scope, or the existence of relationship-specific investments, are insufficient to explain effective corporate strategy unless there are important obstacles to contractual solutions.
Keywords: Economics;
Investment;
Framework;
Global Strategy;
Ownership;
Corporate Strategy;
Horizontal Integration;
Vertical Integration;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2006
(Revised from original 2005 version)
Note on Corporate Strategy
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Introduces students to the study of corporate strategy. Focuses on questions of scope and ownership. Examines both horizontal and vertical integration. Underscores the point that economies of scope, or the existence of relationship-specific investments, are insufficient to explain effective corporate strategy unless there are important obstacles to contractual solutions.
Keywords: Investment;
Contracts;
Ownership;
Corporate Strategy;
Horizontal Integration;
Vertical Integration;
Citation: Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. " Note on Corporate Strategy." Harvard Business School Background Note 705-449, February 2006. (Revised from original January 2005 version.)
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2011
Networks as Covers: Evidence from On-Line Social Networks
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Sociologists have extensively documented that networks influence market exchange through improved matching and vouching. In this paper, I propose that networks can also blunt the signal of market participation, as actors who are on the market surrounded by their network are pooled together with those who use their networks for other reasons. To control the clarity of that signal, actors would like to choose strategically whether to appear with their networks on the market. However, reality puts restrictions on their ability to do so. On-line social networks, where actors can always appear with their networks, alleviate these restrictions and make the pooling effect stronger. The consequences of greater pooling on-line differ by exchange type. For example, they are positive for actors who are looking for a job, but are already employed, and so cannot be seen as looking. By pooling themselves with actors who are using on-line networks to utilize their social capital better, the employed job seekers can be on the market, while claiming that they are not. However, the greater pooling has negative consequences for actors who are single and earnestly looking for a spouse. In this market, it is important to signal capacity for commitment, so greater pooling of those who are there only for their friends with those who are ready to commit works against the latter. Data used to derive these arguments come from an extensive qualitative research project with various on-line social networks, recruiters, employees, as well as those who are looking for a job or for a relationship.
Keywords: Job Search;
Knowledge Use and Leverage;
Market Participation;
Market Transactions;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Online Technology;
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2011
Deference from Low-status Firms: Maintaining Status without Resources
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Bharat N. Anand
This paper proposes a set of conditions under which high-status firms retain their positions, even if they lose resources. Firms are considered high status if they obtain ties from other high-status firms. Within the class of high-status firms, we distinguish between those that receive ties only from high-status firms and those that also receive ties from low-status firms. Although ties from low-status firms contribute little to a firm's status, we hypothesize that they play a critical role in maintaining it in the event of resource loss. Specifically, following resource loss, high-status firms without ties from low-status firms will lose their status, but those with ties from low-status firms will retain it. Results of an empirical examination of venture capital syndicate formation in the United States yield support for these predictions.
Keywords: Business Ventures;
Venture Capital;
Financial Condition;
Alliances;
Rank and Position;
Status and Position;
Financial Services Industry;
United States;
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2007
Positions of Power and Status: Reciprocity in the Venture Capital Industry
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
This paper proposes a straightforward way of differentiating between central network positions that confer power from those that confer status. I argue that actors achieve high status by receiving numerous exchanges from actors who receive numerous exchanges from others. In contrast, power is obtained by engaging in exchanges with numerous alternative exchange partners, whose exchange opportunities are limited. These distinctions yield powerful insights into dynamics and consequences of power and status. Specifically, I show that possession of status brings higher benefits than possession of power. However, status puts greater constraints on mobility than power does, as it is harder for a high status actor than for a high power actor to acquire the high power, high status position.
Keywords: Venture Capital;
Power and Influence;
Opportunities;
Status and Position;
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2006
Structural Closure and Exposure: Market Reactions to Announcements of Acquisitions and Divestitures
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Nitin Nohria
Keywords: Acquisition;
Business Exit or Shutdown;
Market Entry and Exit;
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2006
Positional Limits to Competitive Allocation: Evidence from Corporate Takeovers
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Keywords: Management;
Equality and Inequality;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Networks as Covers: Evidence from an On-Line Social Network
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
This paper proposes that networks give actors a cover by giving them the excuse of sociability to engage in normatively prohibited market behaviors. I apply this hypothesis to actors in long-term exclusive relationships who are surreptitiously seeking new relationships without jeopardizing their current ones. I hypothesize that these actors will be drawn to social environments where others socialize with their friends, and that they will establish numerous relationships in these environments to cover up their real intent. I find significant support for these predictions using data from a large on-line social network.
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Testing Coleman's Social-Norm Enforcement Mechanism: Evidence from Wikipedia
Mikolaj J. Piskorski and Andreea Gorbatai
Since Durkheim, sociologists have believed that dense network structures lead to fewer norm violations. Coleman (1990) proposed one mechanism generating this relationship and argued that dense networks provide an opportunity structure to reward those who punish norm violators, leading to more frequent punishment and in turn fewer norm violations. Despite ubiquitous scholarly references to Coleman’s theory, little empirical work has directly tested it in large-scale natural settings with longitudinal data. We undertake such a test using records of norm violations during the editing process on Wikipedia, the largest user-generated on-line encyclopedia. These data allow us to track all three elements required to test Coleman’s mechanism: norm violations, punishments for such violations and rewards for those who punish violations. The results are broadly consistent with Coleman’s mechanism.
Keywords: Governance Compliance;
Governance Controls;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Information Publishing;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Social Issues;
Societal Protocols;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Competing by Restricting Choice: The Case of Search Platforms
Hanna Halaburda and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Seminal papers recommend that platforms in two-sided markets increase the number of complements available. We show that a two-sided platform can successfully compete by limiting the choice of potential matches it offers to its customers while charging higher prices than platforms with unrestricted choice. Starting from microfoundations, we find that increasing the number of potential matches not only has a positive effect due to larger choice, but also a negative effect due to competition between agents on the same side. Agents with heterogeneous outside options resolve the trade-off between the two effects differently. For agents with a lower outside option, the competitive effect is stronger than the choice effect. Hence, these agents have higher willingness to pay for a platform restricting choice. Agents with a higher outside option prefer a platform offering unrestricted choice. Therefore, the two platforms may coexist without the market tipping. Our model helps explain why platforms with different business models coexist in markets, including on-line dating, housing and labor markets.
Keywords: matching platform;
indirect network effects;
limits to network effects;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Network Effects;
Two-Sided Platforms;
Marketplace Matching;
Competitive Strategy;
Research Summary
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Research Summary
On-line social networks
by
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Professor Piskorski's current research examines why and how people use on-line social networks, both in the US and abroad. Using extensive fieldwork and large scale empirical analyses, he constructed theories of social failures and networks as covers which allow us to understand numerous facets of people's on-line behaviors. Professor Piskorski is also an expert on how firms can harness the power of social networks to build sustainable businesses. He has applied many of these insights to large organizations as they seek to become more agile and use social networks to execute their strategies. Keywords: social networks;
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Research Summary
Social media and user-generated content
by
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
In this project, Professor Piskorski, jointly with Andreea Gorbatai, examines inherent trade-offs in provision of user-generated content, using Wikipedia as a research setting. In Wikipedia, every user has the right to add material to an article, but with no explicit attribution of authorship or copyright. Subsequent users can easily delete previously written material and add their own, which allows for fast improvement in the quality of articles. However, the process also has a demoralizing effect of seeing one's own well-thought out contribution deleted, leading many of Wikipedia editors to abandon the project. The objective of this project is to identify the types of social structures that keep the editors involved even though their contributions are routinely deleted.
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Research Summary
Previous research
by
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Professor Piskorski's previous research examined the role of power and status in social networks in the venture capital industry. Prior to that, Professor Piskorski studied the role of power in profitability and vertical integration decisions in the US economy.
Teaching
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Teaching Interest
Competing with Social Networks
by
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
MBA EC 1217 (Winter 2010)
Career Focus
Competing with Social Networks is a Strategy class targeted at students considering careers in high technology, entertainment, social media or consumer packaged goods. It will be useful for students considering consulting careers, careers inside companies as well as for students who are planning to start their own Web 2.0 companies. Frequent protagonist visits will help students establish relationships required to be effective in this space.
Educational Objectives
The course introduces the network failure framework to help companies that use social networks to build and sustain their competitive advantage. Such companies face two unique strategic problems. First, they compete against a very powerful substitute-real world social network-which potentially undermines their value proposition. The network failure framework addresses this problem by identifying where real-world social networks fail and how to step in to help people establish new relationships, or change their existing relationships. Second, introduction of commerce to social relationships often undermines the latter, implying that firms competing in social industries often run into monetization problems. The network failure framework identifies the kinds of monetization that are viable.
Course Content
The course is composed of three modules. The first module establishes the network failure framework using the example of on-line social networks and examining while some succeeded while others failed. Here we examine: LinkedIn, Friendster, Twitter and mixi. We then focus on successful on-line social networks and examine monetization challenges and opportunities by comparing MySpace and its music venture to Facebook Connect and Google's Friend Connect. The second module uses the network failure framework to establish conditions under which adding social networks helps or hinders competitive advantage of existing business models. Among others, we consider a matchmaking company, eHarmony, a peer-to-peer lending company, Zopa, an on-line reviews company, Yelp, and finally, Wikipedia Contributors. In the third module, we apply the network failure model to community management. Here, among others, we examine the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama, Young Presidents' Organization and P&G.
Syllabi
Keywords: social networks;
Awards & Honors
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Mikolaj Jan Piskorski: Won a 2011 European Case Clearing House (ecch) Award in the Entrepreneurship category for his case with Thomas R. Eisenmann, David Chen, and Brian Feinstein, “Facebook’s Platforms” (HBS Case 808-128).
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Mikolaj Jan Piskorski: Included as one of “The Best 40 B-School Profs Under the Age of 40” by Poets & Quants in 2011.
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