Amazon has been unsuccessful in its efforts to develop a business in China. Even though Amazon was an early entrant into China’s e-commerce space, its domestic rivals, especially Alibaba, created innovative business models uniquely suited for the conditions in China. Amazon’s failure to adapt to the local conditions in China ultimately led to its exit from the country. Determined to learn lessons from this experience as it developed its business in India, Amazon made a number of innovations in its business model in India. By 2020, Amazon established a strong presence in India. However, the company faces a number of challenges because of changes in regulation that challenge its hybrid business model of both being a seller of its own goods and a marketplace for third party sellers, the rise of strong local rivals, and its own ambition to expand beyond top tier cities and upper middle class customers in India.
This case describes Uber’s global market entry strategy and responses by regulators and local competitors. It details Uber’s entry into New York City (New York), Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Shanghai (China), Accra (Ghana), and London (United Kingdom). In each instance, the case includes information about Uber’s strategy in that market, existing regulations on taxis and transportation in each market, the reactions of competitors and regulators, and regional information. The case allows for instruction related to competitive strategy, global expansion, nonmarket strategy, regulation, market economics, supply restrictions, and related topics.
Hotstar was an online video streaming platform owned by Star India Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Corporation. Since its launch in 2015, the platform had grown to offer over 100,000 hours of TV content, movies in nine Indian languages and live coverage of popular sporting events to its 300 million viewers. Although most of Hotstar’s content was offered as a free advertisement-based service, users could access exclusive movies and TV shows by paying for a monthly or annual subscription plan. Hotstar’s appealing content and high-quality technology made it one of the most popular video streaming apps but it now faced increasing competition from both domestic and foreign players. The company also had to accelerate the conversion of customers who used the free advertising-based streaming service to a subscription based streaming service. At the same time, there was a need to create more unique content leveraging its digital platform, as opposed to repurposing the content created for broadcast TV for digital streaming. Given all these challenges, the company’s CEO Uday Shankar wondered, how should Hotstar evolve in order for it to become a profitable and sustainable business in the next few years?
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Anjali Raina is the Executive Director of the Harvard Business School India Research Centre. In her leadership role at the IRC, Anjali focuses on building and maintaining relationships with senior business leaders in the region to facilitate the work of the center in research, educational programs, community building and faculty development.
Under Anjali’s leadership, the HBS IRC has facilitated the writing of over 168 case studies on Indian Business Practice and supported half a dozen research projects. Anjali has co-authored several case studies such as Aadhaar: India’s ‘Unique Identification’ System, TeamLease: Putting India to Work (II) Legally; Pratham – Every Child in School and Learning Well; Naina Lal Kidwai: Investing in Her Country; Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A); HN Agri Serve : Growing Prosperity as well as an HBR Article on The Ordinary Heroes of the Taj.
Anjali wears several additional hats. She is a Director on the Board of Harvard Business Publishing, India, the Regional President (Western Region) of NHRDN, an Advisor to The Akanksha Foundation, Trustee to LIFE Trust, an Advisory Member on the Board of HBS Club of India, and on the Advisory Board of the Indian Business School.
Prior to joining HBS IRC Anjali spent 15 years with Citigroup India, most recently as Country Director, before which she worked for more than a decade with ANZ Grindlays Bank PLC. Anjali holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, a bachelor's degree (Eng. Hons) from Loreto College and is an alumnus of HBS having completed the Advanced Management Program.