Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Educators

Thomas R. Eisenmann

Course Overview Note | December 2006 (Revised October 2007)

Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Educators

Abstract

Provides an overview for educators of concepts covered in the MBA elective course, "Managing Networked Businesses," (MNB). MNB focuses on management challenges in businesses that exhibit network effects. Such businesses comprise a large and growing share of the global economy and confront distinctive management challenges. Due to the unusual microeconomic attributes of networked businesses, designing optimal business models is difficult, and managers often must cope with "Winner-take-all" (WTA) competitive dynamics. WTA outcomes have profound implications not only for strategy decisions, but also for choices about capital structure, organizational design, and government relations.

Keywords: Networks; Business Organization;

Format: Print

68 pages

Citation:

Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Educators." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 807-104, December 2006. (Revised October 2007.)

Avni Patel Thompson, founder and CEO of Poppy, an online marketplace for on-demand childcare, revisits the venture's final months, and discusses the steps she took in the wake of the shutdown. This case explores experiments the company conducted to refine its original business model, as well as how Patel Thompson rekindled her entrepreneurial ambitions. It is part two of an A and B case, the A case being: Poppy: A Modern Village for Childcare Case 818 075, November 2017.

Aereo aimed to disrupt television program distribution by providing consumers access to local broadcast TV programming using offsite antennas, cloud-based DVRs, and an Internet connection. With Aereo, consumers could “cut the cord” and avoid the high cost of a cable TV subscription. Soon after launching service in NYC in 2012, Aereo was sued by broadcasters, who asserted that the startup was distributing their programs without permission — and without paying retransmission fees. After Federal District and Appeals Court victories for Aereo, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the startup in 2013, and it was shut down, after investing $97 million. The case looks at Aereo's journey and offers reflections from founder/CEO Chet Kanojia.

The case provides students an opportunity to examine the founding of an e-commerce startup that used storytelling and compelling images to sell furniture and home accessories to millennials. The case describes the rapid sales growth the company experienced, as well as the challenges it faced with operations, delivery, and order tracking. Finally, the protagonist is poised to raise a Series C financing he hopes will value the company at $200 million.

Faculty & Research

Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Educators

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author