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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised June 2019)

  SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?

  Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar and Bonnie Bennett Slater

  Established in 2007, SoundCloud already boasted the second largest number of active music listeners among all streaming services and was recognized as the go-to platform for new artists by early 2014. Yet, its founders were questioning the robustness of the firm’s current focus on serving as a lab for emerging musical artists. They were wondering if the firm should instead enter the booming mainstream music streaming market.

  Keywords: audio; recording; artist; music; music downloads; streaming; radio; subscription; subscription model; mainstream; Growth; lawsuit; licensing; customers; platform; Pivot; Music Entertainment; Strategy; Leadership; Business Model; Decision Making; Advertising; Music Industry; Europe; Germany; Sweden; United States;

  Citation:

  Nanda, Ashish, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar, and Bonnie Bennett Slater. "SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?" Harvard Business School Case 719-430, January 2019. (Revised June 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2018 (Revised May 2019)

  SoulCycle: The Road Ahead

  Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen and Jeffrey Boyar

  Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler founded SoulCycle, an indoor cycling studio chain, in 2006 as more than a health club; they wanted it to become a lifestyle brand that would “empower riders in an immersive fitness experience.” By early 2015, SoulCycle had grown to 38 studios in seven metropolitan areas. In March 2015, Equinox, a luxury fitness company that had financed SoulCycle’s expansion in 2011, approached the co-founders with an offer to buy them out for $90 million each. It was an attractive offer but it would also likely circumscribe their responsibilities. Rice and Cutler had to decide whether to accept the Equinox offer as a prelude to smaller roles at the firm (even potential exit), or continue investing time, energy, and financial resources in growing the business.

  Keywords: fitness; fitness industry; exercise; cycling; boutique fitness; exit strategy; Growth; bicycles; retail; pricing; community; SoulCycle; vision; Health; Leadership; Strategy; Marketing; Decision Making; Health Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Nanda, Ashish, Eric Van den Steen, and Jeffrey Boyar. "SoulCycle: The Road Ahead." Harvard Business School Case 718-499, February 2018. (Revised May 2019.)  View Details

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• Article | Strategy Science

  The Strategy in Competitive Interactions

  Eric J. Van den Steen

  This paper reviews, discusses, and expands the “core guidance” definition of strategy as “the smallest set of choices to optimally guide (or force) other choices.” It first discusses what this definition contributes to the existing proposed definitions. It then considers the extension of this definition to the context of competitive interactions: whether the definition makes sense in that context and what it implies for decisions to be strategic in such context. As part of this analysis, it also uses the definition to explore a new issue: why quantity-based competitive moves might be more strategic than price-based moves.

  Keywords: strategy formulation; strategy definition; Strategy; Competition; Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making;

  Citation:

  Van den Steen, Eric J. "The Strategy in Competitive Interactions." Strategy Science 3, no. 4 (December 2018): 574–591.  View Details

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