Strategy
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- March 2023
- Case
Metaverse Wars
By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and Matt HigginsIn 2023, the term metaverse — a combination of the words “meta” and “universe” — had become a catch-all for a diverse set of expectations about online virtual worlds, virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), and the future of the internet, which each meant different things to different people. What did seem certain was that a piece of the future was up for grabs. In October 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company was “all in on the metaverse,” and changed its name to Meta to position itself for the coming shift. Meta’s big bet was based on one vision of a still-evolving future. Executives at other companies like Epic Games, Microsoft, Nvidia, Electronic Arts, and Roblox had vastly different views of whether, how, and when the metaverse would take shape. In the midst of the debate and uncertainty, executives and entrepreneurs had to deal with several critical questions as they strove to form their own vision and strategy for the metaverse. First, was the metaverse going to emerge in the next few years or much further down the road (if at all)? Second, what would be the main use cases of the metaverse, and which one(s) would come first? Some expected consumer use cases like gaming to lead the way, while others expected enterprise use cases to really demonstrate the value. Third, and perhaps most critically, would the metaverse be an open, interoperable, interconnected virtual world, much like the Internet in 2023? Or would it play out like most social networks, as large but separate and closed walled gardens?
- March 2023
- Case
Metaverse Wars
By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and Matt HigginsIn 2023, the term metaverse — a combination of the words “meta” and “universe” — had become a catch-all for a diverse set of expectations about online virtual worlds, virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), and the future of the internet, which each meant different things to different people. What did seem certain was...
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- 2023
- Working Paper
Remote Work across Jobs, Companies, and Space
By: Stephen Hansen, Peter John Lambert, Nick Bloom, Steven J. Davis, Raffaella Sadun and Bledi TaskaThe pandemic catalyzed an enduring shift to remote work. To measure and characterize this shift, we examine more than 250 million job vacancy postings across five English-speaking countries. Our measurements rely on a state-of-the-art language-processing framework that we fit, test, and refine using 30,000 human classifications. We achieve 99% accuracy in flagging job postings that advertise hybrid or fully remote work, greatly outperforming dictionary methods and also outperforming other machine-learning methods. From 2019 to early 2023, the share of postings that say new employees can work remotely one or more days per week rose more than three-fold in the U.S. and by a factor of five or more in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. These developments are highly non-uniform across and within cities, industries, occupations, and companies. Even when zooming in on employers in the same industry competing for talent in the same occupations, we find large differences in the share of job postings that explicitly offer remote work.
- 2023
- Working Paper
Remote Work across Jobs, Companies, and Space
By: Stephen Hansen, Peter John Lambert, Nick Bloom, Steven J. Davis, Raffaella Sadun and Bledi TaskaThe pandemic catalyzed an enduring shift to remote work. To measure and characterize this shift, we examine more than 250 million job vacancy postings across five English-speaking countries. Our measurements rely on a state-of-the-art language-processing framework that we fit, test, and refine using 30,000 human classifications. We achieve 99%...
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- February 2023
- Case
Grupo Sancor Seguros: Facing the Digital Transformation of Insurance in Argentina (A)
By: Jorge Tamayo and Jenyfeer Martínez BuitragoIn 2020, Alejandro Simón, CEO of Sancor Seguros Group, a nearly 75-year-old cooperative that had become Argentina’s insurance leader, had to decide about the Group’s digital transformation strategy. The Group’s values and history needed to be considered during the analysis, especially regarding its relationship with individual agents selling Sancor Seguros Group’s products, who drove much of the Group’s revenues. Sancor Seguros Group had always taken into consideration agents’ input when making important decisions, which extended to the Group’s recent efforts on its digital transformation. Yet, not all of them had adapted to new technologies. However, the use of digital channels to sell goods and services accelerated after almost two months of a mandatory quarantine that restricted out-of-home activities to buying essentials such as food and medicines. Would the momentum gained by these digital channels persist, serving as the platform for agents to catch up with the industry’s newest global trends? Accordingly, how could Sancor Seguros Group help agents capture the value created by new technologies? How should the Group approach its presence on less personalized channels, like the ones offered by brokers or digital channels? The Group could also concentrate its efforts on long-term actions and focus on revamping its product offering.
- February 2023
- Case
Grupo Sancor Seguros: Facing the Digital Transformation of Insurance in Argentina (A)
By: Jorge Tamayo and Jenyfeer Martínez BuitragoIn 2020, Alejandro Simón, CEO of Sancor Seguros Group, a nearly 75-year-old cooperative that had become Argentina’s insurance leader, had to decide about the Group’s digital transformation strategy. The Group’s values and history needed to be considered during the analysis, especially regarding its relationship with individual agents selling...
About the Unit
The Strategy unit studies firms as competitors in an economic landscape. Key issues include: the development and effectiveness of firm strategy at both a business and corporate level; the analysis of the competitive environment; and the sustainability of strategy over time.
Our research, course development, and teaching draws on multiple disciplines, including economics, sociology, and political science, and focuses on both domestic and global competition. The objective of the work is to generate findings and develop concepts that will help managers improve their strategic decisions while advancing the state of knowledge in the academic study of strategy and related disciplines.
Recent Publications
Metaverse Wars
- March 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Remote Work across Jobs, Companies, and Space
- 2023 |
- Working Paper |
- Faculty Research
Cost Plus Drugs
- February 2023 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
EnergyNow: Powering a New Market
- February 2023 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
Twitter Turnaround and Elon Musk
- February 2023 (Revised March 2023) |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Reshaping Competition: Introduction to the Course: Note for Students
- February 2023 |
- Course Overview Note |
- Faculty Research
Grupo Sancor Seguros: Facing the Digital Transformation of Insurance in Argentina (B)
- February 2023 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Grupo Sancor Seguros: Facing the Digital Transformation of Insurance in Argentina (A)
- February 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research