Kartik Hosanagar - Faculty Research in Knowledge@Wharton

'Mustaches for Kids': Charities Adopt Private Sector Models to Tap New Funds

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:27:19 EST

In the wake of the global financial crisis, social enterprises are hastening their transition from the traditional donor model to rely more on market mechanisms long established in the private sector. In so doing, organizations hope to not only survive the current recession, but also to create a foundation for long-term sustainability, say Wharton faculty and executives at non-profit institutions.

As Smartphones Proliferate, Will One Company Emerge as the Clear Market Winner?

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:04:13 EST

Just as computer operating systems vied for dominance back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, smartphone makers these days are jostling for market share, hoping that their mix of capabilities -- ranging from web surfing to email to calendar management -- will ensure them a critical mass of customers. What the makers of such mobile devices as the BlackBerry, iPhone and Treo are trying to avoid is the outcome of that earlier race, when one company -- Microsoft -- ended up the dominant player.

No Man Is an Island: The Promise of Cloud Computing

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:13:39 EST

"Cloud computing" promises myriad benefits -- including cost savings on technology infrastructure and faster software upgrades -- for users ranging from small startups to large corporations. That's an auspicious future considering that not everyone agrees on exactly what cloud computing is, or what it can do.

How About Free? The Price Point That Is Turning Industries on Their Heads

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:25:43 EST

Giving products away -- think Adobe Reader or access to online news -- has become a legitimate business model on the Internet and even beyond. Once companies accept that price need not be tied to the cost of production and begin thinking creatively, new possibilities emerge -- even for offline products, according to Wharton faculty and others. Welcome to the world of "freeconomics."

The Net Impact of Netbooks? It Depends on Who Uses Them for What

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:18:24 EST

Small, inexpensive netbooks -- portable computers smaller than notebooks but dependent on the Internet for file-storage and software -- are likely to have a disruptive impact on the PC industry, but there are many questions to resolve, experts say. Will netbooks poach sales of laptops? Are they replacements for smartphones? How will a weak economy affect sales? Will the devices increase the popularity of cloud computing? Stay tuned as this new technology continues to evolve.

File-sharing Networks Return with Legitimate Ways to Share Music -- and Make Money

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:31:38 EST

After the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2005 that Internet file-sharing sites Grokster and StreamCast had illegally aided their customers' efforts to share pirated copies of copyrighted music and video files, many commentators predicted the demise of businesses that depended on online file-sharing. But new start-ups say they have found ways to make peer-to-peer (often called P2P) file-sharing legal and perhaps profitable. Still, their business plans need tweaking, according to a paper published recently by Wharton professor Kartik Hosanagar and two University of Washington colleagues. One suggestion: The networks should sometimes be willing to pay more than they get for content.

Getting Engaged: Advertisers Search for Their Voices on YouTube

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:52:07 EST

The video-sharing site YouTube is currently running a comedy sketch contest sponsored by Toyota's 2009 Corolla. It's just one of the latest examples of companies using this advertising hot spot to target customers who spend a lot of their time watching online videos. But finding a home in the medium is not so easy, Wharton professors say. In a digital world of instant feedback and ruthless honesty, a company can either score major brand points or look as ridiculous as any adult trying to hang with the cool kids.

The Experts vs. the Amateurs: A Tug of War over the Future of Media

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:57:40 EST

A tug of war over the future of media may be brewing between so-called user-generated content -- including amateurs who produce blogs, video and audio for public consumption -- and professional journalists, movie makers and record labels, along with the deep-pocketed companies that back them. The ultimate outcome: a hybrid approach that features entirely new business models, say experts at Wharton.

For New CEO John Donahoe, 'It's eBay's Game to Lose'

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:51:11 EST

On January 29, online auctioneer eBay unveiled plans to revamp the fees it charges sellers, reduce fraud and increase the volume of transactions. It's the first move by CEO-elect John Donahoe, who will take over the reins of eBay on March 31 in the wake of long-time CEO Meg Whitman's announcement that she plans to step down. Donahoe's mission is to reinvigorate a company that remains dominant in online auctions, but is vulnerable to increased competition from both large and small rivals. Wharton faculty and others offer Donahoe a game plan for moving forward.

Marketing Presidential Candidates on the Web Goes Mainstream: But Does It Get Votes?

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:30:15 EST

The January 3 Iowa caucuses and the January 8 New Hampshire primary showcased the 2008 presidential campaign's ongoing political dogfight as candidates battled for their parties' nominations. Under the surface, however, the scrum represents a tipping point in the use of the Internet as a campaign tool, say experts at Wharton. In many respects, the 2008 race resembles any sophisticated Internet marketing campaign that lets consumers swap information, connect with friends and perhaps make a purchase -- or, in this case, a donation. Indeed, selling a candidate may not be much different than selling any other high-end item, although possibly less effective.

Google: In Search of Itself

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:20:43 EST

In a span of four days earlier this month, Google launched an initiative to enable social networking tools to work across dozens of web sites and rounded up 33 partners to develop software to power a new generation of cell phones. While these efforts illustrate Google's determination to keep expanding its territory, they also increase the challenges faced by the $200 billion company. And they pose a question that seems to crop up more and more these days: Where is Google headed?

Software's Future: Melding the Web and the Desktop

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:08:31 EST

It's been a busy few weeks for Adobe Systems, Microsoft and Google. All three have announced plans or new technologies that will address the latest vision of software's future -- one that combines the features of web-based applications with desktop software to create a hybrid model offering the best of both worlds. Indeed, the question today is not so much whether this desktop/webtop model will be adopted, but rather, which company will provide the best platform for implementing it. Knowledge@Wharton looks at both the opportunities and the limitations of this new approach.

'Reinforcing the Blockbuster Nature of Media': The Impact of Online Recommenders

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:47:58 EST

Online retailers may be shooting themselves in the tail -- the long tail, that is, according to Kartik Hosanagar, Wharton professor of operations and information management, and Dan Fleder, a Wharton doctoral candidate, in new research on the "recommenders" that many of these retailers use on their websites. Recommenders -- perhaps the best known is Amazon's -- tend to drive consumers to concentrate their purchases among popular items rather than allow them to explore and buy whatever piques their curiosity, the two scholars suggest in a working paper titled, "Blockbuster Culture's Next Rise or Fall: The Impact of Recommender Systems on Sales Diversity."

Career Crisis: Monster.com Has Choices to Make as It Approaches 'Middle Age'

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:47:58 EST

When the Internet was young, pioneering online job recruitment firm Monster.com rocked the way people look for work. Now, Monster itself has hit a rocky patch, marked by the resignation of three top officers, a major security breach and the rise of new competitors, including Craigslist. According to Wharton faculty and analysts, Monster is confronting the "middle age" that all veteran firms of the Internet's early days must face. The company remains a force in employment advertising, they say, but as it settles into maturity, Monster must find new ways to protect its established markets and expand overseas.

Who's the Winner in the Tug-of-War between 'Walled Garden' and 'Open Plain' Strategies?

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:46:23 EST

In August, less than three months after the introduction of Apple's iPhone, a New Jersey teen announced that he had "hacked" into the mobile-communications device. The hacker was clearly expressing the frustration that many consumers feel towards Apple for adopting a "walled garden" -- as opposed to an "open architecture" or "open plain" -- corporate strategy. While the walled garden approach often restricts consumers' ability to modify devices or marry them with other firms' products and services, the open architecture approach has its drawbacks as well. Wharton faculty and others look at the advantages and disadvantages -- for both consumers and companies -- of these two strategies.

Some Free Advice for Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:40:29 EST

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is about to find out that being a CEO is a lot different than being the ceremonious Chief Yahoo, as he was called until last month. Yang, who became Yahoo's new CEO on June 18, faces a daunting to-do list that includes reinvigorating the company, closing a performance gap with Google, thwarting challenges from social media sites such as Facebook, delivering financial results that make Wall Street cheer and charting a course for the future. His first deadline comes in about 100 days. Knowledge@Wharton asked faculty members for advice on how Yang should handle this management challenge.

Media Moves: Will the New Online Advertising Models Click?

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:38:15 EST

Microsoft buys aQuantive; Google acquires DoubleClick for $3.1 billion; Yahoo purchases the 80% of Right Media it doesn't already own, and ad firm WPP gets 24/7 Real Media for $649 million. And that's just in the last six weeks. The common thread: All the takeover targets are online advertising companies. The race to consolidate the online advertising industry is heating up at the same time that advertisers are demanding more return on their marketing dollars. Wharton professors and others analyze how this will play out for tech companies, ad companies and consumers.

Wireless Broadband Utopia: Are We There Yet?

Wed, 16 May 2007 15:58:25 EST

The wireless broadband pieces appear to be falling in place: Sprint Nextel says its next-generation high-speed network will be launched in a few markets by the end of 2007. Intel plans to embed so-called "WiMAX" enabled semiconductors in laptops by the end of 2008, and startups like Craig McCaw's Clearwire hope to blanket much of the nation with WiMAX service. Other companies are supporting hybrid wireless networks so that devices can hop between technologies. Where is all this heading, and what does it mean for the "Anywhere Consumer"?

All Politics Is Local, and So Are Sales Leads: The Birth of an Internet Search Company

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:05:25 EST

Some technology companies have been founded in a garage. Local Internet search company Natpal was hatched in a Connecticut car dealership. That's where Wharton undergraduate student and future Natpal CEO Nate Stevens first realized that Internet search wasn't exactly friendly to small businesses looking for sales leads. The discovery led Stevens, along with Penn alumnus Ben Rubenstein and Wharton professor Kartik Hosanagar, to found Natpal, which brings local businesses online and helps them find sales leads via web searches. The goal is not just clicks, but phone calls, says Stevens.

At Google, the Search Is On for a New Approach to Old Media

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:51:20 EST

Viacom and CBS have pulled videos from Google's YouTube. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently requested that some Oscar footage be taken down from YouTube as well. And Google's efforts to sell radio and print advertising have not met expectations. In short, Google's ability to navigate the traditional media landscape doesn't seem to be going particularly well. What's the problem? While Google has the resources to create deals with content companies, it still must contend with a number of confounding crosscurrents, including content owners' concerns over intellectual property and a clash of advertising models.

Why Software Business Models of the Future Probably Won't Come in a Box

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:59:14 EST

Microsoft's Vista operating system should give the company a revenue stream that will run for years, but experts at Wharton say the January 30 launch of the consumer versions of Microsoft's flagship software may be among the last of its kind -- a product sold for a flat fee in a shrink-wrapped box. Indeed, many wonder if the software business model that has made Microsoft so dominant may begin to fade as new software business models -- from open source to advertising supported -- gain increasing traction.

The Succession Question at Tech Firms: When's the Right Time to Go?

Wed, 03 May 2006 15:07:25 EST

The recent resignation of Scott McNealy as CEO of Sun Microsystems, the company he founded 22 years ago, is another milestone in the succession process of a large technology company. But tech companies often pose unique succession issues, in part because of their unusually fast growth and young founders, according to Wharton faculty and technology experts. The challenges are especially critical when the entrepreneurs are celebrities, and when the company has grown large enough that broad-based management skills become as crucial as entrepreneurial passion.