The Rise and Fall of the dot com Entrepreneurs

This paper looks at the dot com phenomenon drawing mainly on examples from the USA where the boom started and was most pronounced, but also from the UK which had a number of high profile dot coms. It starts by asking the question, ‘Who were the dot coms?’. it then goes on to consider the factors which led to the emergence of the dot coms such as the emergence of the commercial Internet, the lowering of entry barriers which followed from this and the funding available for new businesses through venture capital. The article also looks at the reasons why it was believed that the dot coms represented a threat to established businesses. The article then looks at the booming IPO market for dot coms and the opportunities this provided for exit by venture capital investors. The crash of 2000 is considered, lessons are drawn for entrepreneurs and investors and finally the article will look at future prospects for the dot com sector

Teaching Case: Paid Search Wars

This case analyzes the complex interactions between firms in the interrelated areas of search engines and portals after the dot com crash of 2000. Overture, a 1998 start-up, had transformed the online advertising market through the innovation of paid search, in which advertisers bid for top position for search terms. These results were provided to the portals and appeared alongside organic search results when a search was done. But Overture became a victim of its own success as the portals used their audience control to gain a greater share of advertising revenues. Google entered the paid search market in 2002 which ultimately led to Overture losing its independence and becoming a Yahoo subsidiary in 2003. As Google grew rapidly and expanded into other markets Yahoo and MSN attempted without success to counteract its influence. By February 2008 Google had been the clear winner of this rivalry, with Yahoo severely weakened. This culminated in an attempted Microsoft takeover of Yahoo with the main aim of stopping Google, a development Google was determined to prevent. This led to Google cooperating with Yahoo on paid search and Microsoft subsequently withdrawing its bid in May 2008

The current state and future trajectory of the sharing economy: A multi-stakeholder perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a transformative impact on social and economic value, as well as the role of mediating technology and regulation driving participation in the sharing economy. Considering the consequences that such transformations entail, in this paper, we provide a multi-stakeholder perspective of the pandemic's impact on sharing economy enablers and drivers, and the resulting short and long-term implications for customers, providers, platform companies, and policymakers. Through the amalgamation and exploration of these multiple perspectives, we then present a roadmap of the key research themes, considerations, and policy gaps, supplemented with insights contributing toward the vision for a sustainable sharing economy. The comprehensive overview provided in this paper offers multiple avenues for future research across social, economic, technological, and regulatory domains

Is Twitter for the Birds? Using Twitter to Enhance Student Learning in a Marketing Course

Recent years have seen unprecedented possibilities for the use of different technologies to enhance learning in marketing courses. Given the rapid and widespread diffusion of these technologies, particularly within the demographic of the student population, it is pertinent to explore and examine how such technologies can benefit student learning. This article discusses and empirically evaluates students’ experiences of using Twitter as a tool to facilitate learning in marketing courses. Although Twitter’s unique characteristics were used to enhance and facilitate the learning of marketing concepts, the use of Twitter also helped illustrate marketers’ use of innovative technologies and, therefore, added valuable contemporary curriculum content. Using in-depth interviews, and a questionnaire to evaluate learning outcomes, this research concludes that students’ perceptions of using Twitter were largely positive, though some anticipated and unanticipated barriers emerged to incorporating Twitter into marketing courses. Recommendations for adopting Twitter into the marketing curriculum are made, and future areas for research are identified

The Nostalgia Network: A Case Study of Friends Reunited

In the early years of the new millennia Friends Reunited became a dramatic addition to the popular culture of the United Kingdom. Friends Reunited was launched with minimal funding from a back room in London in 2000 offering a website which put old friends back in touch with each other. After a slow start growth was dramatic and Friends Reunited received wide coverage in the UK media. By 2005 it had 12 million members and was sold to the UK broadcaster ITV for £120 million. The case study analyses the entrepreneurs behind Friends Reunited, its start-up and rapid growth, the challenges it has faced and its future prospects. Analysis of the case requires the use of theory from strategy, entrepreneurship, economics and e-commerce