The HBS Digital Initiative brings together perspectives across disciplines to help people understand how technology is transforming organizations and the greater world. The DI manages this forum to highlight perspectives from the HBS student community.
Want to learn more about digital transformation? digital.hbs.edu
Firms today are establishing market leadership by mastering digital innovation. For example, the traditional "Mad Men" advertising agencies now have to be able to blend digital products and services with creative strategy. Amazon is as much a retailer and supply chain powerhouse as it is a digital innovator. Similarly, the Netflix business model is heavily reliant on continuously building and enhancing digital products and services to compete against incumbents in the entertainment industry. Ford is realizing that its future competitors are likely to be Facebook and Google and not BMW and Toyota. Meanwhile, Local Motors, an HBS-alum led startup, is using crowdsourcing, digital fabrication and 3D printing to disrupt the automotive industry.
Digital Innovation and Transformation is a Harvard Business School course designed to equip students to confidently help conceive, lead and execute digital innovation initiatives. To enrich the course experience, Professor Greenstein have elected to use this platform for assignments. The goal of using Open Knowledge is to stimulate deeper conversation, cross-pollination between ideas, and inclusion of the global "digital transformation" community.
We invite you to read more and dive in by adding your own thoughts through contributions and comments.
The COVID-19 outbreak is a tragedy that will have long-lasting implications for our global economy. The pandemic has showcased the value of digital operating models and is likely to force many companies to speed up their digital innovation and transformation.
For this blog post assignment, please consider ONE of the following questions:
Identify an organization that was under significant threat from the COVID-19 outbreak but quickly innovated its operating model to mitigate the impact during the crisis. Please describe the capabilities and processes that enabled these changes and any generalizable lessons for other organizations.
Identify an organization that has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and recommend how it can leverage digital innovation to grow again.
Identify an organization that has experienced significant growth during the outbreak because of its digital operating model. Discuss whether this growth is short term or not and what actions the organization can take to sustain its growth.
Create an approximately 1000-word post to make your contribution on digit.hbs.org by 6 pm on May 2.
Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per assignment. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos, and links to other sites to corroborate your points.
ClassPass was under significant threat from the COVID-19 outbreak but quickly innovated its operating model to mitigate the impact during the crisis. The fitness industry has a lot to learn from this company.
Will COVID take down the community connections that Airbnb built over years? Or will Airbnb strengthen its community to defeat COVID and emerge stronger than ever?
Dating apps have been able to leverage their digital capabilities to remain competitive by offering new video features and growing their customer funnel.
It is clear that Teladoc and other telemedicine providers are clear winners during today’s global pandemic. The question is: Will they continue to be winners when COVID-19 is over and societies go back to normal?
Social distancing orders resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has left individuals isolated from friends and loved ones, resulting in increased demand for video chat apps. Houseparty has grown dramatically in response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With worldwide drop in movie theater business due to COVID-19, EVO Entertainment quickly shifted its business model from closed physical theaters to open air drive-in theaters in its parking lots. Alongside, it also delved into grocery delivery services to expand [...]
The COVID-19 epidemic has affected every organization in the world, and Harvard Business School itself is no exception. As this pandemic could last for years, what else should HBS do to survive this storm and potentially come out stronger.
Incubated out of HBS, June Motherhood is an exciting digitally-native maternal care education platform. As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches on and consumers are thinking differently about all in-person experiences, June is well-positioned to support both sides of its network and [...]
Coronavirus has put a halt to the current Formula 1 season. However, within days of postponing/cancelling Grand Prix races, Formula 1 innovated to offer 'Virtual Grand Prix' races to its fans. How did they achieve this? Will this esports success [...]
Exponential growth during a global pandemic is always good news, but as competitive pressure increases so are the challenges to sustain this short-term advantage and avoid no-turning-back failures.
COVID-19 has made those that we love seem much further away. Next-door takes on the gigantic task of reacquainting people with the neighbors they never really had to meet or ask for help from, until now.
With the 2020 wedding season largely postponed, Zola - a wedding registry site - is experiencing first hand that the wedding industry is far from pandemic-proof
TAL: a leading tutorial institution with strong offline network TAL Education Group is a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China. The acronym “TAL” stands for “Tomorrow Advancing Life”, which reflects TAL’s vision to promote top learning opportunities for [...]
Nintendo Switch has benefitted from increased demand due to COVID-19, but title-specific strategy hamstrings short- and long-term growth and sustainability.
Before COVID-19 struck, the once-niche telemedicine industry struggled to gain traction and mainstream acceptance. Now it has gone mainstream. Will this hold post COVID-19?
With over 50 million downloads between March 15 and April 15, about 70 times above the average number of downloads for any app[1], Houseparty has clearly benefited from the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Over the same period, the digital socialization app [...]
For small businesses, it’s not just digital innovation but also the doggedness of the entrepreneurial leader that matters. Mei Mei's team has rallied customers and staff and media to help this business survive.
