Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(432)
- Faculty Publications (145)
- October 2017
- Case
Updating Dating
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Scott Duke Kominers and Alan Lam
To identify design ideas for their own startup, two MBAs compare the different profiling, matching, and monetization approaches employed by five incumbent dating services: Coffee Meets Bagel, OKCupid, Jiayuan, Dating Ring, and HurryDate. View Details
Keywords: Marketplace Design; Dating Services; Entrepreneurship; Market Design; United States; China
- 2017
- Other Article
Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance
By: Alan MacCormack and Robert Lagerstrom
The modern industrial corporation encompasses a myriad of different software applications, each of which must work in concert to deliver functionality to end-users. However, the increasingly complex and dynamic nature of competition in today’s product-markets dictates... View Details
- October 2016
- Article
Technical Debt and System Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Defect-related Activity
By: Alan MacCormack and Daniel J. Sturtevant
Technical debt is created when design decisions that are expedient in the short-term increase the costs of maintaining and adapting this system in future. An important component of technical debt relates to decisions about system architecture. As systems grow and... View Details
- February 2016 (Revised March 2016)
- Case
America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A)
By: Rory McDonald, Alan MacCormack and Vanessa Ampelas
Four teams across the world are furiously designing, building, testing, and learning to sail a boat that would be one-of-a-kind in order to win the 2013 America's Cup. Choosing the best development path was a challenge as the teams had less than three years to prepare,... View Details
- October 2015
- Article
Managing the Performance Tradeoffs from Partner Integration: Implications of Contract Choice in R&D Projects
By: Alan MacCormack and Anant Mishra
Formal contracts represent an important governance instrument with which firms exercise control of and compensate partners in R&D projects. The specific type of contract used, however, can vary significantly across projects. In some, firms govern partnering... View Details
- Article
Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architecture: A Power Utility Case
By: Robert Lagerström, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Alan MacCormack
In this paper, we test a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) based method for visualizing and
measuring software portfolio architectures. Our data is drawn from a power utility company, comprising 192 software applications with 614 dependencies between them. We
show that the... View Details
- February 2015
- Case
TouchTunes and the Connected Digital Jukebox Platform
By: Alan MacCormack and Noah Fisher
The case describes innovation and new product development at TouchTunes, the leader in the Digital Jukebox market. In March 2013, after releasing its innovative "Virtuo" jukebox developed in collaboration with frog design, TouchTunes was at a crossroads. Having... View Details
- January 2015
- Article
Collaboration in Multi-Partner R&D Projects: The Impact of Partnering Scale and Scope
By: Anant Mishra, Aravind Chandrasekaran and Alan MacCormack
How can firms design collaboration structures for effective performance in R&D projects that involve multiple partners? To address this question, we examine the theoretical underpinnings of collaboration structures in multi-partner R&D projects—i.e., the scale and the... View Details
- October 2014
- Article
Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and John Rusnak
In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterizing the architecture of complex technical systems and demonstrate its application to a large sample of software releases. Our methodology is based upon directed network graphs, which allows us to... View Details
- August 2014
- Module Note
FIELD 2: Global Intelligence
By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Alan MacCormack and Cassie Bordeau
- 2014
- Working Paper
Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architectures: A Flexibility Analysis
By: Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and David Dreyfus
In this paper, we test a method for visualizing and measuring software portfolio architectures and use our measures to predict the costs of architectural change. Our data is drawn from a biopharmaceutical company, comprising 407 architectural components with 1,157... View Details
- November 2013
- Teaching Note
Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-Book Revolution
By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Kimball Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer
In 2012, Barnes & Noble found itself in a difficult position. While the company had weathered the advent of online retailing relatively well, the arrival of electronic books (e-books) threatened the company's viability. Primary competitor Borders had already fallen by... View Details
- July 2013 (Revised January 2014)
- Case
Experience! The Finger Lakes: The Groupon Partnership Decision
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Chekitan S. Dev, Gabriele Piccoli and Arnold B. Peinado
In 2010, Experience! The Finger Lakes (ExperienceFLX), a tour operator offering guided tours and concierge services in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, was at a crossroads. The business was poised for growth, and its owners, Laura and Alan Falk, were... View Details
- 2013
- Working Paper
Visualizing and Measuring Enterprise Architecture: An Exploratory BioPharma Case
By: Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and David Dreyfus
We test a method that was designed and used previously to reveal the hidden internal architectural structure of software systems. The focus of this paper is to test if it can also uncover new facts about the components and their relationships in an enterprise... View Details
- 2013
- Working Paper
Visualizing and Measuring Enterprise Application Architecture: An Exploratory Telecom Case
By: Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and Stephan Aier
We test a method for visualizing and measuring enterprise application architectures. The method was designed and previously used to reveal the hidden internal architectural structure of software applications. The focus of this paper is to test if it can also uncover... View Details
- 2014
- Working Paper
Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture
By: Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and John Rusnak
In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterising the architecture of complex technical systems and demonstrate its application to a large sample of software releases. Our methodology is based upon directed network graphs, which allows us to... View Details
- April 2013
- Case
Managing with Analytics at Procter & Gamble
By: Thomas H. Davenport, Marco Iansiti and Alain Serels
Senior management at P&G has put a strong emphasis on using data to make "better, smarter, real-time business decisions." The Global Business Services (GBS) organization has developed tools, systems and processes to provide managers throughout P&G with direct access to... View Details
- March 2013 (Revised April 2014)
- Case
Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-Book Revolution
By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Kimball Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer
The case describes competition in the market for E-Books, and Barnes & Noble's Strategy in this industry. As a traditional retailer, B&N was challenged by the introduction of digital technologies that allow books to be published, distributed and sold to consumers... View Details
- October 2012 (Revised September 2014)
- Case
Doing Business in Vietnam
By: Alan MacCormack, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Dawn H. Lau
This case gives an overview of the current business environment in Vietnam as of 2012. The first part of the case introduces the main economic, political and cultural aspects of the country of which anyone who has business interest in the country ought to be aware.... View Details