Woolworths South Africa

David B. Yoffie; Anthony  St. George

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Case | HBS Case Collection | October 1997 (Revised June 1998)

Woolworths South Africa

by David B. Yoffie and Anthony St. George

Abstract

Woolworths South Africa is one of the most successful retail chains in the country, modeled on Marks and Spencer of the United Kingdom. This case focuses on the sources of Woolworth's competitive advantage within South Africa and the challenges of growth in the wake of saturation among South African whites and new limits by Marks and Spencer on Woolworths' growth outside of sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Growth Management; Global Strategy; Industry Structures; Marketing Strategy; Strategy; Business or Company Management; Retail Industry; South Africa;

Format: Print

21 pages

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Citation:

Yoffie, David B., and Anthony St. George. "Woolworths South Africa." Harvard Business School Case 798-026, October 1997. (Revised June 1998.)

About the Author

David B. Yoffie

Max and Doris Starr Professor of International Business Administration

Strategy

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Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2019

Fixing Facebook: Fake News, Privacy, and Platform Governance

David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook based on the idea that connecting people was a fundamentally good thing—and a way to turn a handsome profit. But from the beginning, Facebook received criticism both for how it handled user privacy and how it curated user-generated content. These two issues coalesced in the aftermath of the 2016 United States presidential election, after Facebook’s role in the spread of political misinformation and the leak of Facebook user data to political consulting firms began to receive significant media coverage. In 2019, Facebook announced it was shifting to a “digital living room” model that would focus more on private, encrypted conversations and less on sharing viral content. Several important questions remained. Would the digital living room ease users’ privacy concerns? Would Facebook still be able to effectively curate content? Would its advertising model still work? Or were financial success and good governance mutually exclusive? This case explores the parameters of governing an internet-based platform.

Keywords: platform; governance; Strategy; Innovation Leadership; Crisis Management; Governance; Web Services Industry; United States;

Citation:
Yoffie, David, and Daniel Fisher. "Fixing Facebook: Fake News, Privacy, and Platform Governance." Harvard Business School Case 720-400, October 2019. View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2016 (Revised August 2019)

Numenta: Inventing and (or) Commercializing AI

David B. Yoffie, Liz Kind and David Ben Shimol

In March 2016, Donna Dubinsky (co-founder and CEO) and Jeff Hawkins (co-founder) were struggling with a key question: Could Numenta be successful in both creating fundamental technology and building a commercial business? Located in Redwood City, CA, Numenta was founded in 2005 to expand Hawkins' research on the human brain, with the goal of "reverse engineering the neocortex" and then creating machines based on biological principals. Ultimately, Hawkins believed that Numenta could be a catalyst in creating intelligent machines that would lay the foundation for the next generation of computing with potentially broad ranging commercial opportunities.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; machine intelligence; Machine learning; strategy; technological innovation; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Information; Technological Innovation; Research; Research and Development; Technology; Software; Technology Adoption; Technology Platform; Commercialization;

Citation:
Yoffie, David B., Liz Kind, and David Ben Shimol. "Numenta: Inventing and (or) Commercializing AI." Harvard Business School Case 716-469, June 2016. (Revised August 2019.) View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2018 (Revised August 2019)

Qualcomm Inc., 2019

David B. Yoffie and Andrew S. Choi

This case is set in mid-2019, when Qualcomm was struggling with unwanted take-over battles, fights with Apple and the Chinese government, and internal dissension on the board of directors. Ten years earlier Qualcomm was hailed as a monopoly on CDMA technologies and its derivatives, it appeared to be positioned to become the next dominant technology company in the tradition of Microsoft and Intel. But as the industry changed, Qualcomm’s competitive position seriously weakened. The purpose of the case is to explore central questions in strategy formulation: 1. how to build a long-term sustainable position based on technology; 2. how to design an IP strategy to lock-in customers for the long-run; 3. how to build a global standard and appropriate returns on that standard; and 4. how to respond when your historical business model starts to crumble.

Keywords: technology cycles; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Intellectual Property; Technology; Standards; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Telecommunications Industry; Semiconductor Industry;

Citation:
Yoffie, David B., and Andrew S. Choi. "Qualcomm Inc., 2019." Harvard Business School Case 718-514, June 2018. (Revised August 2019.) View Details

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Woolworths South Africa

Abstract

Citation:

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