Electronic Commerce Course Cases Page:

General Cases

Section Editor: Daniel E. O'Leary

Contains teaching cases for use in an electronic commerce course. General information on Teaching and Learning IS is available from ISWorld Net.

I will list any ecomm related case link if someone emails me the author name, the case title, the case URL, and a link to any information you wish to share with the instructor (although students will visit this page). The content of this page is at the discretion of the editor.

I cannot make copies of these cases for you. However, for some cases you can obtain copies from Harvard Business School Press and Ivey School at Western Ontario [http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/cases/] or from the authors or sources mentioned.

Published in Print (Roughly ordered by year of publication)

The TV-Home Shopping Wars: QVC and Its Competitors

Elizabeth Glass, Jeffrey Rappaport and Tina M. Goldberg, Harvard Business School 9-395-014. Fourteen pages, plus exhibits (1994).

TV Guide A and B

Steven Salzinger and Jeffrey Rayport, Harvard Business School 9-395-031 and 9-395-032. Twelve and fourteen pages, plus exhibits (1994 and 1995).

Geffen Records

Ken Peralta (MBA) and Jefferey Rayport, Harvard Business School, 9-395-173 (1995), 14 pages, plus 19 of exhibits and notes. Wow, an HBS case study with 72 footnotes. A very well researched discussion of the market for recorded music and in particular for "on demand" music. The length, footnotes, and depth of analysis suggest this case is going to work best with graduate students, but probably not executive MBA's who will find it too long. Very well done analysis of the industry, distribution channels, blurring of industry boundaries (multimedia), technology, networking infrastructure, and user interface issues. The case leaves the student to ponder a variety of scenarios including a potential world in which an artist downloads work to a music database that in turn distributes to the end consumer - thus eliminating distributor and retailer. If you have the means, send your students out on the web to see what kinds of distribution and marketing channels already exist there for recorded music.

Image Technology, Inc

Steven Salzinger, Harvard Business School, 9-195-191 (1995), 10 pages plus 15 pages of exhibits (some in color on the version they sent me). The case explores Image Technology Inc, a US10M firm (1994) firm involved in many different dimensions of digital imaging. One unit provides photographers for church sponsored photographs, making pictures available for the Church Rola-Dex. Another division produces digital photographs for catalogs. Use of digital photography dramatically reduces the time and cost associated with traditional photograpy. A software product provides a powerful tool for managing digital images - including maintaining text, photos, and image processing functions (e.g., half toning, color separation) separately. Firm also has joint efforts underway with MCI (kiosks, student ID cards, online shopping) and Xerox (combining IT's image management software with Xerox's Docutech Publishing System). The big issue for the students to ponder here is choosing which of the many possible initiatives this relatively small company should now focus on. (For another look at the digital image business, send your students to PublishersDepot where members can buy font's music, backgrounds, illustrations, sound effects, music tracks, audio bites and digital images - including the Seymour Image Catalog with 300,000 images. Non members can come in for a tour, but official members can down load 1/4 size images for internal use only and temporarily store images in a virtual "light box" to share with customers a world away.)

Interactive Games: Sega versus Nintendo (A)

Adam Brandenberger and Julia Kow, Harvard Business School 9-794-074 - Traces history of the Interactive Games Industry - from Atari's Pong game in 1972 to the emerging class of 64 bit processor controlled games.

Open Market, Inc.

Janis Gogan and Linda Applegate, Harvard Business School 9-195-205, 13 pages plus exhibits (1995) -- "... introduces students to the hot-paced world of the Internet and provides them with an opportunity to debate and discuss the myriad issues facing managers as they evaluate the Internet as a tool for transforming the way they do business. Shikhar Ghosh, Open Market's president is convinced that doing business on the "Net" (and subsequently over an infrastructure combining TV, telephones and computers--the vaunted information highway) will transform how companies sell and how customers buy. A tape, "Doing Business on the Internet: An Interview with Shikhar Ghosh, CEO of Open Market, Inc." is available from Harvard Business Publishing Corporation, as 196-503.

Desktop Data

Melissa Dailey and Linda Applegate, Harvard Business School 9-396-091, 12 pages plus exhibits (1995). Provides an interesting analysis of "NewsEDGE" a service that delivers a selection of real-time news and information that is delivered directly to a company's server at a fixed annual cost. Once on the server, users can interact the information with no connect time charges. Issues include pricing strategy, marketing strategy and IPO opportunity.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Thomas Gerace under the supervision of Jeffrey Rayport, Harvard N9-396-051, 13 pages plus exhibits (1995). Investigates the history of Encyclopedia Britannica, the shift from paper to CD-ROM and ultimately other media forms of distribution. "Examines the growth of the CD-ROM publishing industry and its impact on the Encyclopaedia Britannica Co., which chose to ignore it. Teaching Purpose: To cover the impact of new media for information publishing on existing print media." [should be a good tool to discuss internet economics as well as portals (Britannica is now available on web for free). Also brings up the interesting issue of managing capacity for a highly publicized global rollout. We have saved their "it's broken" home pages, displayed for the first two weeks after they started giving it away for free:

See Unleashing the Killer App and P. Evans and T. Wurster, "Strategy and the New Economics of Information", Harvard Business Review, Sept.-Oct. 1997, p. 71-82, for some related discussion..

Janis Gogan and Linda Applegate, with assistance of James Hollowood, Harvard Business School 9-196-097, 13 pages plus exhibits (1996). Provides a view of the impact of rapid growth of internet and electronic commerce on an organization. The emphasis is on how the fast pace of the internet industry causes continual examination of a firm's strategy. Case is set about 9 months after first case, in July 1996, after the company has grown from 12 to 170 employees. It can be taught as a 2-day discussion or as a standalone.; A tape, developed for the other Open Market Case "Doing Business on the Internet: An Interview with Shikhar Ghosh, CEO of Open Market, Inc." is available from Harvard Business Publishing Corporation, as 196-503.

VeriFone: The Transaction Automation Company (A - Abridged)

Warren McFarlen, Ten pages, plus exhibits, 9-397-116, June 1997.

Studies the transaction automation industry, with particular focus on information technology at VeriFone.

USA Today Online

(9-598-133) Teaching Note, (5-599-097) "How should USA TODAY use its brand franchise to build a publishing business on the World Wide Web? Advertising Age described the first steps as "a case study in how not to do it," but by the end of 1997 USA TODAY Online is the most visited news site on the Web. Now the challenge is to become profitable. The case explores the migration of a powerful newspaper brand to the Internet, the design of the product and delivery system, and alternative sources of revenue. Teaching Purpose: To explore marketing on the Web, the economics of Web advertising, and early consumer responses to Web publishing producers."9-599-097

www.springs.com

9-399-050

Describes the information transformation of an old-line textile company, into a producer of home product fashions purchased by sophisticated, information-intensive retailers.

Amazon.com--Going Public

Laurence Katz and William Sahlman, Harvard Business School, 9-899-003. Thirty-two pages, plus exhibits, November 1998.

Virtual Vineyards (9-369264) - no teaching note

"Virtual Vineyards markets wine from small California vineyards directly to consumers through its site on the World Wide Web. It also facilitates fulfillment of customer orders. The case focuses on the ways in which Virtual Vineyards provides value to end consumers through co-founder Peter Granoff's accessible but informal evaluations of individual wines and through its electronic internet with the customer. Teaching Purpose: Fits well into a module of sources on service management that focuses on the innovative use of new technologies." There is also a nice demonstration of the VV infrastructure available at:

http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/e-business/solutions/stories/0,5918,2315043,00.html

[Virtual Vinyards (http://www.virtualvin.com) has recently apparently changed their name to wine.com (http://www.wine.com)]

Leadership on Line: Barnes & Noble vs Amazon (A) (9-798-063) (teaching note 5-798-119)

"Leadership Online: Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon.com (A) (Case Studies) Describes the attempt of a traditional retailer, Barnes & Noble, to counter the challenges posed by an Internet-based start-up, Amazon.com."

Dell Online (9-598-116) (Teaching Note 5-598-146)

"Dell started online commerce for its PCs in 1996, and by 1997 had achieved a sales rate of $3 million a day. The case describes the internal process that led to these dramatic results and poses the question of how the firm should leverage this activity to meet Michael Dell's goal of achieving 50% of the company's anticipated $20 billion in sales by the year 2000 via Internet channels. Teaching Purpose: To understand the buying behavior and transaction economics underlying Internet commerce and study its implications for channel evolution."

[there is also a more research oriented Dell case, that Ken Kraemer (and others?) have published - I believe in Information & Society.

MicroAge, Inc.: Orchestrating the Information Technology Value Chain (9-398-068) Teaching Note, (5-399-115)

"MicroAge, Inc. started as a storefront in Tempe, AZ in 1976 selling personal computer kits to hobbyists. During their first year of operation, founders Jeff McKeever and Alan Hald sold $1.5 million worth of computer kits, priced at under $1,000 each. Twenty years later, revenues exceeded $3.5 billion dollars, while the business evolved from a computer store to a master reseller and full-line integrator of information technology products. MicroAge continually reinvented itself and its business with an entrepreneurial spirit most companies of its size cannot enjoy. MicroAge thrives on the theory that many of its fiercest competitors can also be its best clients. This case provides an excellent vehicle for helping students understand the opportunities and risks related to electronic commerce and the Internet"

The Knot (wedding site) (9-899-116)

"An online wedding resource company is seeking an equity investment to grow the business. Teaching Purpose: Valuation, staged investments, business model"

Egghead to Egghead.com (9-599-093)

"Over the course of 12 months in 1997 and 1998, Egghead senior management decided to shut down is 180 brick-and-mortar retail stores and move to an electronic store. The case describes the evolution of that process, the role of its CEO George Orban, and poses questions on the company's future viability. Teaching Purpose: To discuss the business model differences between a brick-and-mortar and E-commerce store".

OnSale (subsequently purchased by Egghead) (9-599-091) Teaching Note, (5-500-022)

"Onsale has been a pioneer in electronic commerce, offering excess and refurbished goods using an online auction format. The company is now planning to become a player in the highly competitive world of first-run computer merchandise as well. However,unlike other computer resellers whose business models are based on gross margins, the new Onsale model is based around the idea of fixed commissions. The case poses a number of issues raised by the new model, including supplier relationships and brand image management. Teaching Purpose: To discuss the changing role of intermediaries in a networked economy and consumer dynamics and brand management on the Internet"

Hotmail (9-899-165)

"Describes the efforts of Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder and CEO of Hotmail, to finance and grow this business, which is based on free web-based email. Describes early, successful efforts at raising several rounds of venture capital and presents choices around a next stage of financing. Teaching Purpose: Describes the challenges of financing an early stage Internet business with an unproven business model".

Living on Internet Time: Product Development at Netscape, Yahoo!, NetDynamics, and Microsoft (9-697-052) Teaching Note, (5-697-116)

"Describes how four companies in the Internet software market approach product development. Drawing upon short case studies of three recent projects, students are invited to synthesize the common attributes of development practice in turbulent environments. Teaching Purpose: To illustrate product development in a rapidly changing and uncertain environment. Synthesize a new model of development based upon rapid experimentation and design flexibility.

CCBN.com (9-898-146)

1997, by William Sahlman, rev. June 1999.

"CCBN ... is an Internet-based start-up company ... (whose) focus is to provide an outsourced internet solution for the Investor Relations (IR) function within a publicly traded company."

The following are from the Ivey School at Western Ontario [http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/cases/]

HOMEGROCER.COM (998E019 , Teaching Note: 898E19)

"Homegrocer is a new Internet-based grocery store that is experiencing slow market penetration because the business concept entails fundamentally changing individual grocery shopping behavior. The owner is wondering what it takes to attract new customers and then convert them into repeat customers. Other issues include lack of management IT experience, anticipated hyper-growth, investment decisions needed in a quickly changing industry and funding in the future."

GOOD NIGHT BEN (999E020)

Good Night Ben was a high-end baby furniture store based in a medium-sized southwestern Ontario city. Robert Brown, the store's proprietor, was an early adopter of the worldwide web as a way to "get the word out" about his store and products. Through his own experimentation, Brown has discovered numerous tricks and techniques for using the WWW to better develop the reputation of his company. In particular, he has discovered that he can take business away from distributors across the border in Detroit, due to the fact that shoppers in that region find his site on the worldwide web, compare his prices with the local Detroit outlets, and end up placing their orders with him. He then makes the deliveries himself, by truck. Interestingly, some of the furniture suppliers allocate exclusive distribution districts to their retailers. Brown is in effect using the WWW to end-run these exclusive distribution arrangements. Brown's retail competitors in Detroit are becoming upset. How long the suppliers will allow this to go on, and what their response might be, are important issues Brown faces.

OPEN TEXT: PREFERRED LISTINGS (998E021, Teaching Note: 898E21)

"Open Text is a small, startup electronic commerce company based in Waterloo, Ontario. Initially, their main product was an Internet/worldwide web "search engine." Theirs was one of the first such search engines available to users of the web. There are two basic issues in the case: revenue generation on the Internet, and Internet culture. Open Text has come up with a revenue model which involves advertisers paying to have their web sites appear at the top of search engine results when 'bought' words are included in the search criterion. It is an innovative approach to revenue generation, and a departure from the traditional 'banner ad' model. One of the central issues of the case is whether Internet culture will allow search engine results, which are generally considered to be a free and 'honest' resource, to be influenced by advertisers. The case also provides a useful way to examine the issue of searching for material on the web."

SCANTRAN (998E010; Teaching Note: 898E10)

"Scandinavia Translations (Scantran) provides translation services between English and the three Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian), as well as Finnish. The business is operated primarily by one person, Heidi Warren, assisted by her husband Mike. The unique thing about Scantran is that it is a purely virtual business: Heidi and Mike never meet with, see, and rarely even speak with any of their clients, nor with any of their individual translators. Almost all the business is done over the Internet, supplemented by faxes and occasionally the telephone. Documents are mainly transferred as file attachments to Internet electronic mail messages. There are no other permanent employees, and all the work is done out of the couple's apartment, with no need for expensive overhead such as office premises or fixed salaries. Scantran's business has grown rapidly since its inception. The Warrens are faced with a number of decisions, including whether to try to stay the size they are or "go for growth," which implies adopting a new business model. If the decision is to grow, what should the new business model be? Can the company maintain the great flexibility provided by the Internet, and still expand? This case nicely illustrates both pros and cons of virtual small businesses, typical of a great many Internet-dependent startup companies created in recent years"

ST. CLAIR INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS (998E002; Teaching Note:898E02)

"St. Clair Interactive was in the business of designing, manufacturing, selling, installing and maintaining multimedia transactional kiosks. Such kiosks were used in a wide range of applications, from direct selling to human resources information management. Clients included retailers, governments, and utilities. Faced with a rapidly growing market that presented numerous opportunities, together with technological change and uncertainty, the company's main concern was how best to take advantage of the accumulated skills and experience of their staff, without over-extending beyond their ability to execute contracts competently. Finding this balance involved decisions about how fast to expand the firm, how to attract and develop skilled employees, which opportunities to pursue and which to decline, and which strategic alliances to make. Along with this, they needed to evaluate and respond to potential threats to their business, particularly the rapid development of the Internet and web-based commerce."aging growth, deciding on appropriate future directions, and determining how best to lever the "virtual community" they have created."

WIRED WELLINGTON: THE INFO CITY PROJECT AND THE CITY LINK NETWORK (998E009; Teaching Note:898E09)

"As a central component of its Vision 2020 strategy, the city of Wellington, New Zealand has developed preliminary plans to transform itself into a "wired city." The overarching project was called Info City. Info City actually consisted of a collection of sub-projects, each focusing on a different way in which the city could promote and foster the use of information technology to help move toward the "2020 Vision." One of the sub-projects was called City Link. The objective of City Link was to create a high-speed digital communications infrastructure for the downtown business district. Fibre optic cable was to be used to "wire up," simply and inexpensively, the city's downtown businesses, to provide a backbone network that businesses could utilize, however they wished, to make themselves more competitive. A company had recently been formed, bringing together a number of parties interested in advancing the project. A telecommunications architecture was being developed, and plans for stringing cable were under way. While Richard Naylor, the project's champion wasn't sure exactly what the city's businesses would use the cable for, he was confident that once the infrastructure was in place, ideas for its utilization would readily emerge. This case provides a setting for exploring the issue of cities "competing," much as do businesses, and the ways in which IT can be utilized in that competition. It also raises interesting social policy questions, about who should pay for such undertaking, who should benefit, and so forth."

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This page is maintained by Daniel E. O'Leary, and has been based on substantial materials from Blake Ives at various times. We encourage your feedback (send me your cases!) -- please send it to oleary@usc.edu. This page was last updated on November 30, 1999. Although we will attempt to keep this information accurate, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. Users are advised to look at our disclaimer.