CasePublisher 2009 Publication

Topic: Apple Inc. and the eBook Reader
S. Wang et al. “Apple Inc. and the eBook Reader” Stanford CasePublisher 353-2009-1. 28 May 2009

CasePublisher 2008 Publication

Topic: Amazon Enters the Cloud Computing Market
G. Papadimitriou et al. “Amazon Enters the Cloud Computing Market” Stanford CasePublisher 353-2008-1. 20 May 2008

CasePublisher 2007 Publication

Topic: Microsoft’s Acquisition of Massive, Inc.
L. Seeman et al. “Microsoft’s Acquisition of Massive, Inc. on May 4 2006” Stanford CasePublisher 353-2007-1. 29 May 2007

CasePublisher Topical Case Summary

CasePublisher Objective: To test the concept of a student-researched and student-documented case study

Learning objective:    To let students experience the structuring and researching of a current business problem and participate in a conversation involving real-time issues facing corporations.

CasePublisher Topic (2009):

Apple Inc. and the eBook Reader

Proposed Classroom Discussion Topics (2009):

1. How big is the eBook market. What is its growth potential over the next few years? Which stage in the product lifecycle is the eBook reader? Is it too late for Apple to enter the market now?

2. Describe the competitive forces in the eBook reader market.

3. What should be Apple’s strategy for the eBook reader? Where would Apple earn revenue and profits in the eBook reader business: software, device, or content distribution?

4. Is the development of an eBook reader in line with Apple’s overall strategy?

5. How would Apple’s move fit into the existing ecosystem of eBook content providers?

6. How would Apple differentiate its eBook reader and build a sustainable product advantage? Would this be tied to the product or to the surrounding Apple software ecosystem?

7. As the CEO of Apple, would you choose to enter the eBook reader market? If yes, what are your biggest concerns and how would you safe-guard against them? If not, why not?

Process:

1. On Thursday evening, students are given access to the CasePublisher by email.  Each student creates a unique login username.

2. The CasePublisher is pre-populated with a template which provides an outline of the business issue to be discussed.  Any student may modify the outline to increase clarity, readability or flow of the overall document.

3. All students are expected to add factual research material to the CasePublisher during the open period.  Factual research material is a culled collection of the material they find online or offline.  Students are strongly encouraged to summarize and then paste text into the CasePublisher rather than simply adding a link to material outside of the CasePublisher.  Students are also expected to edit language (for grammar, spelling, formatting) and correct factual research material from other students.  Students may modify, delete or reorganize text written by themselves or by any other student. Students should expect any text they add to the document will be substantially rewritten by other students before the document is closed. The overall goal is to create a self-contained, readable document rather than a set of facts.

Factual material can include text, pictures, videos, charts, or any other relevant material.  Note that factual research material does not include opinions or arguments; the CasePublisher becomes the factual basis for classroom discussion rather than the discussion itself.  Opinions, positions, or recommendations per se are not appropriate.  Posting must be completed by noon on Monday. Students are strongly encouraged to begin posting research material over the weekend (or earlier).

Class:

               The CasePublisher is closed to posts on Monday at noon.  All members of the class will review the collection of material and prepare for class on Tuesday as usual to discuss the options and make a recommendation.  The discussion in class will be focused on material which was contained within the CasePublisher when it was closed.  The CasePublisher becomes the factual basis for classroom discussion regarding the case study.

Evaluation:

Students are evaluated based on the number and quality of their contributions to the research material in the CasePublisher.  On the CasePublisher site students are ranked on the left side of the page based on the number of edits they have made.  All students can see their relative ranking.  The number of “edits” is a primary measure of student contribution to the written portion of the CasePublisher.  Students automatically receive points for adding factual material, for correcting or qualifying material added by other students, or for adding or editing the language of the document to increases its overall readability.  Each of these functions is valuable.  The overall goal is create a self-contained, readable document, rather than a rigid set of facts.

There is substantial low-hanging fruit available online from the obvious sources for factual research material (for example, press releases, analyst reports, management biographies, etc…) References should be cited where possible. Students are encouraged to continue submitting and editing material up until the case is closed.  However, students who begin submitting factual research material early and continue submitting often will have a natural advantage in terms of the quantity and quality of the material which they submit. 

Students are encouraged to add material in smaller chunks and contribute material to multiple areas of the CasePublisher.  Each “edit” receives one point.  After the case has been closed, the instructors will examine the contributions of the students with the greatest number of edits.  Students receive credit for an “edit” even when a subsequent edit changes or deletes the original edit.  A high volume of relatively minor edits is not considered “gaming the system.”  It is strongly encouraged.

Cases should be concise and relevant. Therefore, CasePublisher limits the total document size (i.e. the sum of the sizes of all sections in the document) to 85,000 words, which is approximately 20 pages (excluding figures but including references). At any time the current word count of the document is visible on the bottom left side of every page, under the list of student scores. The size of the overall document may temporarily exceed the word limit. However, while the document is over its word limit, CasePublisher awards no points to students for any changes to any section, except those changes which substantially reduce the size of the document. Students are encouraged to freely delete, modify or correct the text written by other students.

Other Comments:

Note that the substance of the CasePublisher is a collection of facts (rather than opinions) related to the case.  In Wikipedia, this is called the principle of the Neutral Point of View (NPOV).  For more information about NPOV please see the Wikipedia Article on the Subject of Neutral Point of View.