Apple announced two major changes to the App Store for its various software platforms (iPhone, iPad and OSX). The first would be to allow search based advertising. The second would be to reform subscription pricing. These are large changes as I will explain below. Search-based Advertising A little appreciated fact is that apps themselves have …
Adult Colouring Books Remind us that Innovation lies outside economics
We don't speak of it very often but economists face a fundamental challenge with respect to innovation: if innovation is something no one has anticipated, then the (Savage) axoims upon which we base our rational choice decision-making cannot apply. Let me explain. Decision-making is all about actions and their consequences. Leonard Savage created the framework …
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Lepore's missing cites
Emma Jacobs has a nice review of The Disruption Dilemma in the Financial Times. It is always pleasing to read that "[t]his is an interesting and well-written, pithy book dealing with one of the buzziest concepts in business." However, right at the end, she took issue with one thing: However, it is strange that Gans …
Asking the right questions on Apple
Marco Arment had an interesting post yesterday on whether Apple is in trouble because of the investments of others, particularly, Google, in AI. He wondered if it would be disrupted in the same way BlackBerry was but Apple itself. Amazon, Facebook, and Google — especially Google — have all invested heavily in big-data web services …
What does a Skunk Works do?
When an established firm aspires to experiment in a radical direction, management gurus recommend opening a skunk works—an organizational home for high-priority original thinking and projects. It is housed away from the organization’s main operations, sometimes in secret or with organizational barriers. Typically the projects involve something of value to the future but are not …
Et tu SSRN?
SSRN -- the social science paper repository -- is being acquired by Elsevier. SSRN has always been a for-profit entity and so it shouldn't be a surprise that this has happened. Put simply, there is a commercial rationale to this especially given that it is hard for smaller scale entities -- and SSRN despite its …
Why Facebook Messenger is a big deal for customer service
[This post initially appeared on HBR.org] For a long time, Facebook Messenger seemed to be secondary to Facebook’s core business – a product feature rather than something more. So when Facebook bought WhatsApp for an extraordinary $19 billion, it seemed like WhatsApp would end up being Facebook’s messaging platform of choice. But on April 14, …
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Ford hedges to deal with disruption
[This post was first published in HBR Blogs] The auto industry is facing a trio of disruptive technologies: electric batteries, autonomous vehicles, and the mobile phone. The first two have been long-standing threats, relatively speaking, and are embodied in one company, Tesla. Which is why the auto industry’s reaction to Tesla’s announcement on March 31 of …
Online Research Seminars: First Impressions
Last week, the Strategy Research Initiative organised a research seminar using Harvard Business School's HBX platform. This is the same platform HBS now use to deliver online courses. It was an interesting experience but as is usually the case with these things, it highlighted as much about what was missing as what was there. Let …
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Some thoughts on Facebook Live
[This post originally appeared in HBR Blogs] Facebook is Live. Will it get livelier? This week, Facebook rolled out its newest product, Facebook Live. Actually, “tool” is probably a better word. What it does is allow anybody to stream a video from their smartphone and have it broadcast live. The result is then stored, like …
Digitopoly 