Publications

February 1991 (Revised January 1992)
Background Note

Note on Control Systems

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr.

December 1984
Case

Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek

By: Shoshana Zuboff

Mill manager Carl Adelman learns that a group of senior managers is soon to visit the Tiger Creek mill to learn more about the success of the newly implemented Expense Tracking System. The System had been installed on two paper machines to give workers real time cost... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Success; Cost Management; Technology; Pulp and Paper Industry

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 13 Platform Systems vs. Step Processes—The Value of Options and the Power of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This is the first chapter in Part 3. Its purpose is to contrast the value structure of platform systems with step processes from a technological perspective. I first review the basic technical architecture of computers and argue that every computer is inherently a... View Details

Keywords: Platform Systems; Step Processes; Computer Architecture; Modularity; Information Technology; Digital Platforms

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Research Summary

Performance Impact of Continuous Replenishment Systems

By: Janice H. Hammond

Janice H. Hammond has conducted (with Ted Clark of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) a survey of U.S. retailers to determine how the implementation of continuous replenishment programs between manufacturers and retailers affects supply channel... View Details

June 2004
Case

AT&T's Transmission Systems Business Unit (A)

By: Rogelio Oliva, Elizabeth Keating and James Quinn

The newly appointed director of the project dedicated to reducing product development time for AT&T's Transmission Systems Business Unit (TSBU) is trying to decide how best to sustain the momentum of its Achieving Process Excellence (APEX) teams. During the past three... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Groups and Teams; Performance Improvement; Business Processes; Product Development; Telecommunications Industry

March 1997 (Revised May 2000)
Background Note

Bretton Woods System of Exchange Rates, The

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Describes the exchange rate system adopted at Bretton Woods in 1994. View Details

Keywords: Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Government and Politics; Adoption; System

1994
Chapter

Financial System Reform in Poland: Lessons from Japan's Main Bank System

By: T. Hoshi, A. Kashyap and G. W. Loveman

March 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Systems Infrastructure at Google (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

This case describes how a senior vice president of engineering at Google, Bill Coughran, leads a high-performing engineering organization. The case focuses specifically on Coughran's encouraging two teams of engineers to develop competing solutions for application... View Details

Keywords: Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Leadership Development; Product Design; Groups and Teams; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

March 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Komatsu Ltd. (A): Target Costing System

Komatsu, a leading manufacturer of construction equipment, seeks to expand aggressively through the 1990s. Key to its competitiveness is a strict adherence to target costs throughout the product development process. Komatsu conducts several design-for-manufacturability... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Machinery and Machining; Expansion; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry

January 1988 (Revised March 1996)
Background Note

Note on Expert Systems

February 1998
Teaching Note

Aladdin Knowledge Systems TN

By: Das Narayandas

Teaching Note for (9-598-018). View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Competition; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Safety; Globalization; Integration; Information Technology Industry; Europe; United States

March 2001 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Cisco Systems Architecture: ERP and Web-enabled IT

By: Richard L. Nolan, Kelley Porter and Christina Akers

In a seven-year process, Cisco built its strategic I-Net. Beginning in 1994, Cisco completely replaced its back-office legacy systems. At that time, the company standardized Internet protocols. In addition, the company shifted strategic focus from IT back-office... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Management Practices and Processes; Technology Adoption; Information Technology Industry

March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.: Target Costing System

Describes Nissan's sophisticated target costing system in the context of new product introduction. On the basis of consumer analysis and a life cycle contribution study, Nissan conducts an exhaustive analysis of component costs to determine whether a new model can be... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Japan

April 2018
Case

Cisco Systems and OpenDNS: Strategic Integration

By: Andy Wu, George Gonzalez and David Wang

With more than 72,000 employees and revenues approaching the $50B mark, Cisco Systems is one of the largest information technology and networking firms globally. As the company grew and expanded into different lines of businesses, Cisco consistently looked outwards for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Corporate Strategy; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry

November 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Proteome Systems Limited: The First Five Years

A Sydney-based biotechnology company is moving from the development of proteomics technology to the commercialization of its first instruments in the worldwide proteomics market. The case study highlights the range of activities engaged in by the 120-person company,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Commercialization; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry; Sydney

April 2015
Article

Money Creation and the Shadow Banking System

By: Adi Sunderam

Many explanations for the rapid growth of the shadow banking system in the mid-2000s focus on money demand. This paper asks whether the short-term liabilities of the shadow banking system behave like money. We first present a simple model where households demand money... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Banks and Banking