Competing with or Against Crowds

March 26, 2018

Read The Full Prompt

In this module we have examined how firms can leverage digital technologies to harness the power of collective intelligence from the crowds to create value and capture value. For this assignment you have three options:

1 – Pick one industry where no firms have leveraged crowds, and come up with a crowd-based business model that may potentially transform the industry. Describe how you plan to create and capture value. Explain why the crowd will participate, and why your crowd-based model is better than the current model employed by the incumbents.

2 – Describe a company that is using crowds (external or internal) in an innovative manner. Describe how they incentivize participation and manage the crowd. What are the challenges? Describe how value creation and value capture occur, and the growth potential of this business.

3 – Companies often struggle with crowds as well. Describe failed crowdsourcing efforts and explain how and why the company failed. Given what you have learned in the course, what would you do differently?

Create an approximately 500-750 word post at d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit to make your contribution by 6pm on March 26. Please create appropriate tags for your post. Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module before class. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Submitted (84)

Map Kibera: Empowering Africa’s Biggest Slum with Collective Wisdom
Taka
Last modified on March 25, 2018 at 1:15 pm
Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa, largely ignored by the government and the public due to its "invisibility". How crowd-sourcing approach changed the lives of people in Kibera, and what were the impacts?
Netflix for Books
MHS
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 1:48 pm
What started as a social network for bookworms has turned into the largest site for readers and book recommendations with 65 million members, 2 billion books added, 68 million reviews. Goodreads leveraged crowdsourced reviews, a sticky offering (more you use [...]
NET. TV: Empowering citizen journalism through NETCJ
Nandx
Posted on March 25, 2018 at 4:32 pm
Widen the scope of the report in a 17,000-islands country. Cheaply.
Making Millions Playing Video Games
HBS2018
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 5:51 pm
Twitch is an online platform that gives video game steamers the ability to make money directly from the viewers they attract. Unlike many traditional content creators that must achieve a minimum size to attract ad buyers and corporate partners, or [...]
CrowdFlower: Powering the Human Side of Artificial Intelligence
ME
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 4:54 pm
CrowdFlower is solving machine learning's dirty secret - that humans are still needed to train the models we all rely on every day.
Learning New Lessons at Duolingo
JY
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 5:34 pm
Duolingo faces challenges with crowdsourced translations and is building new monetization plans.
Giffgaff: the ‘mobile network run by you’
Iryna
Posted on March 25, 2018 at 5:02 pm
Launched as an experiment in 2009, Giffgaff is now the third largest mobile virtual network operator in the UK (just behind Virgin Mobile and Tesco Mobile), but the only one run by its own customers. Some have believed it is [...]
Friendsurance: Friends with Benefits?
HU
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 3:59 pm
Friendsurance has the ambitious goal of disrupting the multi-trillion dollar insurance industry.
Splitwise: Go Social and Use Data Fairly
Laura Barnes
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 5:58 pm
Splitwise should go social and use their data to enhance the experience.
reCAPTCHA: The Brilliant Business Model that Only One Man Could Create
Anton
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 4:45 pm
reCAPTCHA's founder used hidden crowdsourcing to solve two problems at once. But few have replicated his model.
Amazon takes on Hollywood
Y.Z.
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 3:58 pm
A Big Tech company reinvests the old American classic by harnessing the power of the crowd.
LEGO Ideas – Attracting creative builders
TPA
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 3:18 pm
Outsourcing product ideation
Accenture – Professional Services Giant Leveraging the Crowd?
RobD
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 6:01 pm
With $100M market cap, >$35 billion in revenues, and 425,000 employees, Accenture is arguably the largest professional services firm in the world. With no products, Accenture’s greatest asset is its people… they sell human capital. Therefore, decisions about how to [...]
Building Together: How LEGO leverages crowdsourcing to sustain both innovation and brand love
PD
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 5:48 pm
LEGO has created an online community of nearly one million members and is using crowdsourcing both to select new product ideas and provide their most loyal supporters an outlet to share their creations.
DonorsChoose.org: building a platform to crowdfund classrooms
m_watson
Last modified on March 25, 2018 at 8:20 am
DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit crowdfunding website connecting individual donors and teachers / classrooms in need. They successfully built a platform where 75% of gifts are from donors who don’t share ties to those making the request by building trust, transparency, [...]
Apple ResearchKit – Crowdsourcing Medical Research
u.know.it
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 5:40 pm
Apple ResearchKit - Crowdsourcing Medical Research. Is it a good idea by Apple? Why is Apple well positioned to deliver such a framework? Has it been successful?
The Largest Secret Santa Exchange in the World
NT
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 3:59 pm
RedditGifts lets you exchange gifts with strangers on the internet, and it's less creepy than it sounds.
Lufax: The World’s Largest P2P Lending is Pivoting from Core Business
DM
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 6:41 pm
Lufax: The World’s Largest P2P Lending is Pivoting from Core Business
PledgeMusic: A Way for Fans to Participate in Album Creation
SLA
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 11:57 am
PledgeMusic, a direct-to-fan funding platform for music artists, hopes to create a closer connection between musicians and fans by providing unique experiences in exchange for pledging to artist campaigns.
From Citizens-Connect to Connected Citizens
Jean Grey
Last modified on March 27, 2018 at 3:04 pm
For too long government-citizen interactions have been disconnected. Every once in a while, in a democratic system, people would go to the polls and express their preferences by electing representatives and delegating in these individuals a lot of power until [...]
Musical.ly: democratizing content creation for younger generation
Call Me By Your Name
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 4:30 pm
Musical.ly is a video social media platform for video creation, sharing, discovering and live broadcasting. Through the app, users can create 15-second to 1-minute videos and choose sound tracks to accompany them, use different speed options (time-lapse, fast, normal, slow [...]
Desginhill: Crowdsourcing in Graphic Design
Carlfuda
Posted on March 26, 2018 at 12:04 pm
Designhill allows freelance designers to connect with businesses looking to outsource design work.
Vigilante App: What Happens when Ordinary Citizens Take Crime Fighting into their Own Hands?
Cyou
Posted on March 25, 2018 at 4:22 pm
While the app’s crowdsourcing platform has brought more transparency and crime awareness for local residents, it has also raised deeper concerns and doubts around the idea of crowdsourced vigilantism.
OpenIDEO: A Platform to Harness Collaboration for Social Good
D
Last modified on March 26, 2018 at 5:56 pm
A few years ago, IDEO launched Open IDEO, a crowdsourcing platform where people from across the world can collaborate to solve tough global issues. [1] We’ll explore how OpenIDEO is using crowds to generate value, and the challenges it may [...]
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