Home   Internet Marketing                                        Ward Hanson   Stanford GSB

Smart Networks -Session 3

Learning Objectives

What and Why's of Metcalfe's Law

Virtual value activities

Alliances and social networks

Breakdown of boundaries


Discussion Case
NTT DoCoMo

 

 

 
 
Readings & Tasks
A. Barabasi, Ch 4 & 5
Berners-Lee: Semantic Web
Rheingold, Ch. 1
Barwise & Strong
Case:  NTT DoCoMo

 
Going Further
How Much Digital Information is Produced in the World? Berkeley project on what creates most info 
"Is there a Moore's Law for Traffic?", Coffman & Odlyzko, Net traffic growth.

Example Sites:
Wireless 
NTT DoCoMo
Sprint PCS
Wireless at Starbucks?

Metcalfe's Law Sites
Guru:  Want an expert?  Are you an expert?
Ebay: Of course.
VerticalNet:  A furious battle in B2B
Planet Feedback:  Sharing voice

Virtual value in use
EB:  Gathering and distributing are their specialties - for 200 years.
Yahoo:  Their first breakthrough value was organizing.
Hoovers: Their company capsule is a nice example of synthesizing information.

 
Newstand & Airwaves
__/ 01-07-01\__
Hemming in the Web, NY Times, Governments like borders.  
__/ 03-03\__
The Price of Collecting Life.  Nature, The challenges of digitizing and sharing museum biological specimens.

 

 

 Networked technologies inherently add a social dimension to decisions.  Many of the unique marketing aspects of the Net come from these network changes. They include dealing with global reach, understanding and using "Metcalfe's Law", relying on specialization, and tapping social connections.  The Internet Is Changing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn.

DoCoMo has been pioneering the way that cell phones can connect to the Net.  The case investigates the i-mode service in Japan, and raises important questions about what is the best way to use the Net to connect people.  

It's a Small World, After All

 The links between people have gone from parlor game to scientific theory, and finally to a Super Bowl commercial.  The "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" was the source of this Visa parody.  Guess what - all these actors now have a Bacon number of 1!

The Oracle of Bacon Site            The Visa Ad

 

Case Prep Questions

  • How do you explain i-mode's success in Japan compared to any similar service in the U.S.?

  • Using the VVA perspective, what are the key types of information best suited to a wireless phone service?  Which don't fit?

  • How important is the "always on" and data-based pricing to i-mode?

  • What standards are important for DoCoMo to support?  Which to abandon?