Digital Winners & Losers

February 02, 2017

Read The Full Prompt

Digital technologies are upending many industries and companies. Think about Uber’s impact on the taxi business or Spotify’s impact on music downloads and the record industry.

For this assignment, we would like you to identify companies/organizations that you think are winning or losing. Just work on either winners or losers. Please focus on just one organization. Tell us why they are a winner or loser. Discuss elements of how they create and/or capture value that is leading you to call them a winner or loser.

Create an approximately 500-750 word post to make your contribution on d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit by 6pm on Feb 2. Please create appropriate tags for your post including if it is a “winner” or “loser.” Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Selected posts will be discussed in class and also featured on the HBS Digital Initiative website.

Please prepare a 2-3 min summary of your blog post before class.

Submitted (99)

Minerva Schools: Disrupting the university model?
Lacy
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:53 pm
Can Minerva disrupt the traditional model of higher ed. delivery and deliver a high quality education at a fraction of the cost?
Postmates: what service does it really deliver?
Yezi Peng
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:32 pm
Dear Postmates, you’ve had a good run, but it’s time to make way for Uber.
Will Data be the Oil of the 22nd Century?
Bansi
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 3:46 pm
The commodification of healthcare data and its resulting losers
The Fabulous Demise of Fab.
meghana
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 3:23 pm
For this post, I will analyze why exactly Fab was in fact always a digital loser and why VC’s didn’t notice and actually encouraged this behavior.  
Salesforce Sails Past Legacy Enterprise Software Competitors
mahylights
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:31 pm
Salesforce is winning because it was born in the cloud - while SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle are struggling to balance the transition from legacy cash cows to cloud-based software delivery.
Goldman Sachs: A Bull in the Digital Age
Afaf
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:55 pm
A decade ago, Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn was asked if he’d license the bank’s proprietary securities pricing software, SecDB, for $1.0 billion. He said no. How about $5.0 billion? Maybe. Today, Goldman Sachs gives away SecDB for free. What [...]
The Death Of A Broker
James
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:04 pm
Real estate brokers are the next victims of the digital age
Digital Transformation in the Not-For-Profit Sector: I got Garbage! “IGG” (and a Winning Strategy).
changeme_47
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:51 pm
Not for profit organizations, following the same trend as traditional businesses, are increasingly aware of the need to engage with digital technology. A successful case ...handling Waste.
Microsoft is not enjoying its Office After Party
Techie
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:28 pm
Microsoft needs to leverage Office better and faster.
Quicken Loans – Rocketing Forward the Digital Mortgage
Dan Sawyer
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 4:18 pm
Quicken Loans is transforming the mortgage process through digitization and automation
Amazon in the Clouds
David
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 1:22 pm
Amazon Web Services has quickly grown to one of the most powerful forces in cloud computing today. With an aggressive product launch tempo and willingness to take on big rivals, AWS is poised to continue its explosive growth.
Blockbuster: It’s Failure and Lessons to Digital Transformers
Tyler
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:14 pm
Blockbuster, a wildly successful national movie-rental chain, filed for bankruptcy 6 years after achieving $6 billion dollars in revenue. Why did this happen and what lessons can we learn from it?
HBO a Leap from Feature to Destination
A2017
Posted on February 1, 2017 at 11:16 pm
HBO will win by jumping the sinking ship of Cable TV packages
Etsy: Handmade Success
Andrea
Last modified on February 26, 2017 at 5:15 pm
Etsy continues to craft its own way to the top
Nintendo is Hoping to ‘Switch’ its Way Back to the Top
Andrew Yoo
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 4:40 pm
Nintendo has a new console – the Switch – launching this year and it looks like it will be a winner
Can Adidas win Back North America?
Andrew
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 3:42 pm
Adidas knows that digital is where it needs to be, despite making a physical good.
Betterment – Investing automated for masses
Anish Nahar
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:41 pm
How Robo-advisors like Betterment are democratizing wealth management for the masses at fraction of cost.
The New York Times: Loser (sadly)
Erik K
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:59 pm
    As of February 2017, the NYT stock price is down ~ 80% from its high 15 years ago. This decline is in spite of the fact that NYT continues to create massive value for its three million paid [...]
Rocket is falling down to Earth
Katarina
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 5:31 pm
German incubator’s quest to dominate internet businesses outside of China and US ignores the realities of emerging markets
SquadRun: Uprooting traditional BPO workforce by on-demand jobs
Venkat
Last modified on February 3, 2017 at 1:22 am
How does one convert people who are connected digitally and looking for freelance jobs into a high quality workforce? – by training and connecting them with e-commerce companies. Squadrun, a 5 year old start-up in India, is trying to create [...]
Atlassian: Quietly Rebuilding the Enterprise from the Bottom Up
Micah
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 2:11 pm
The Australian firm sells enterprise software directly to teams and anticipates a future in the cloud.
Zenefits, Gusto and the Revolution in Digital HR & Insurance
changeme_26
Posted on April 26, 2017 at 10:30 am
The digital revolution disrupts core corporate administrative functions.
Gems Sensors: Analog Sensors in a Digital World
Andrew Banovic
Last modified on February 2, 2017 at 3:41 pm
Will an amazing manufacturer spot a powerful trend and adjust accordingly?
Disrupting Times: the fight against clickbait
Daniel C
Posted on February 2, 2017 at 5:59 pm
The New York Times (NYT) is a classic story of disruption. Founded in 1851, the NYT created value by providing in-depth and high-quality news, opinion and entertainment daily through its printed newspaper. Although radio and TV ‘disrupted’ newspapers before, by [...]
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