Publications

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

line.” Bernstein believes the key to breaking that cycle may lie in research partnerships that help organizations conduct more field experiments. Just as many companies test out new products with “a/b” testing, they might also take an... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

08 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?

improving working conditions in their supply chain, creating better safety procedures, and reaping profits from products that address environmental and social problems. "Regulators and investors are asking for it, customers are... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

01 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Judgment Calls

women's beauty products enterprise Tweezerman faced the dilemma that every entrepreneurial growth company eventually confronts: "How much bigger can we get—can we handle the risk, the scale, the exposure, and the demands on our... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas H. Davenport & Brook Manville; Consumer Products

01 Dec 2020
News

Two Truths and a Lie About 5G

enterprise side, the deployment of 5G is creating an influx of companies that are eager to explore products and services on a 5G playground—like Teale, a smart-building management company, and the AR/VR entertainment company Vizua 3D.... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

01 Dec 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Human Intelligence

there’s so much talk around automation, but I would encourage people to pause and reconsider that. It’s actually much more about growing the business. I think of AI as, first and foremost, increasing productivity and driving revenue. For... View Details

Keywords: April White

February 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

CMM versus Agile: Methodology Wars in Software Development

A CIO decides whether to adopt the "Capability Maturity Model" (CMM) within her IT department. The decision is proving surprisingly controversial; some of her best developers prefer adopting an "agile" methodological approach instead. Compares and contrasts the CMM and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Development; Business Processes; Information Technology; Applications and Software

December 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Simplot Plant Sciences: Designing a Better Potato

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

Privately held Simplot has developed a new genetically engineered potato that substantially reduces waste and does not turn brown after cutting. Unlike other GMOs, it does not contain foreign genes. The case describes the company's commercialization plans in light of... View Details

Keywords: GMO; Sustainability; Agribusiness; Biotechnology; Food And Environment; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Product Positioning; Genetics; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

facilities each year, an increasing number of which are on foreign soil. "Without the FDA, each of us would individually spend a lot more time researching where products come from and what ingredients they contain," says Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

26 Jul 2017
Cold Call Podcast

The Revolution in Advertising: From Don Draper to Big Data

Keywords: Re: John A. Deighton; Advertising

19 Sep 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Say Again? Uncommon Advice for Common Business Problems

showed, adopting radical simplicity can be the best approach to team creativity. Perhaps the best way to bolster innovation in employees is to draw a curtain around them, literally. It could well be that the best career decision you ever... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 1996
Case

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (B)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack

After the release of the "Challenge" computer in 1993, Silicon Graphics executives meet to discuss the follow-up project. Should they pursue an incremental improvement to the Challenge, or opt for a radically new design recently demonstrated at Stanford University? View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Technological Innovation; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Hardware; Computer Industry

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

Keywords: Natural Consumer Products

01 Mar 2011
News

Making Their Way

Mequon, Wisconsin, was sitting on three very disparate Rust Belt businesses: an industrial-lighting company, a medical-packaging business, and a welding company. In the middle year of his three-year OPM schedule, Chirchirillo saw the handwriting on the wall. “Overseas... View Details

01 Dec 2014
News

Nimble, Quick, and Adaptable

an innovation in the MBA curriculum that gives students an opportunity to test their entrepreneurial chops. FIELD 3 is part of a larger effort by the School to set the pace in a field it has helped define. The Arthur Rock Center for... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

September 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Living Proof: Are We a Technology Company or a Beauty Company?

By: Willy Shih

Jon Flint came up with the idea of a science-based beauty company while talking with his hairdresser about the problems with typical hair and skin care products. Together with a small team that included Professor Robert Langer of MIT, he committed to assemble a team... View Details

July 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Eee PC (A)

By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih, Hung-Chang Chiu, Yi-Ching Hsieh and Ho Howard Yu

ASUSTek Computer was the world's largest manufacture of PC motherboards, yet when it tried to launch its new sub-notebook Eee PC, the organization faced challenges in doing things outside of its established processes. Though many of the team members had worked together... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Disruptive Innovation; Product Launch; Groups and Teams; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry