Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,650)
- Faculty Publications (264)
- 1 Apr 2005 - 4 Apr 2005
- Conference Presentation
Exploring the Structure of Complex Software Designs: An Empirical Study of Open Source and Proprietary Code
By: Alan MacCormack
- 2004
- Working Paper
Modularity in the Design of Complex Engineering Systems
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark
- April 2004
- Case
D-Wave Systems: Building a Quantum Computer
By: Alan D. MacCormack, Ajay Agrawal and Rebecca Henderson
D-Wave Systems is a start-up seeking to commercialize a quantum computer. Its business model is unique: as of 2003, it had very few technical resources within the firm. Instead, it financed a series of projects undertaken at universities and government labs. In return... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised July 2006)
- Case
STAR 2003
By: Thomas R. Piper
A shift in strategy from broadcasting standardized programs throughout its footprint to localized programming necessitates a review of STAR's organizational structure. Growing complexity and a need for local responsiveness point toward adoption of a country-based... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
GE's Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Andrew N. McLean
GE believes its ability to develop management talent is a core competency that represents a source of sustainable competitive advantage. This case traces the development of GE's rich system of human resource policies and practices under five CEOs in the post-war era,... View Details
- summer 2003
- Article
Patents, Invalidity, and the Strategic Transmission of Enabling Information
By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao
The patent system encourages innovation and knowledge disclosure by providing exclusivity to inventors. Exclusivity is limited, however, because a substantial fraction of patents have some probability of being ruled invalid when challenged in court. The possibility of... View Details
- July 2003
- Article
Probabilistic Representation of Complexity
By: Nabil I Al-Najjar, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Emre Ozdenoren
We study individuals' behavior in an environment that is deterministic, but too complex to permit tractable deterministic representation. Under mild conditions, behavior is represented by a unique probabilistic model in which the agent's inability to think through all... View Details
- April 2003 (Revised October 2004)
- Case
Novartis: The Challenge of Success (A)
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus
Preliminary results from Phase 1 clinical trials of a newly developed compound, STI571, showed that 31 out of 31 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) had their blood counts return to normal. In the world of oncology, this was unheard of. This was the... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised August 2005)
- Case
UCB (A): Managing Information for Globalization and Innovation
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey
This case presents a complex total MIS strategy case for a $3 billion European pharmaceutical/chemicals company based in Brussels. It covers corporate strategy alignment of IT portfolio, IT operations issues, and global coordination of IT. View Details
- August 2002
- Article
Creativity Under the Gun
By: Teresa Amabile, Constance N. Hadley and Steven J. Kramer
If you're like most managers, you've worked with people who swear they do their most creative work under tight deadlines. You may use pressure as a management technique, believing it will spur people on to great leaps of insight. You may even manage yourself this way.... View Details
- July 2002 (Revised August 2002)
- Case
Washington Hospital Center (B): The Power of Insight
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Michelle Heskett
Dr. Craig Feied considers how to take a major technical innovation beyond his own department into a large hospital system. Reviews how proprietary information systems became indispensable in the department of emergency medicine and what it took to introduce the change... View Details
- June 2002
- Background Note
Complexity Theory and Negotiation
By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris
This case highlights an application of current thoughts in complexity science to negotiation theory. It emphasizes a provocative approach that questions much of traditional negotiation research thus far. The case explains the roots of complexity science and some broad... View Details
- January 2002 (Revised April 2002)
- Case
Space Data Corporation
By: Alan D. MacCormack and Jay Wynn
Space Data Corp. plans to partner with the U.S. National Weather Service to place transceivers on weather balloons and thereby create a national mobile communications network. The company is in the late development stages and is planning to launch a regional test that... View Details
- January 2002 (Revised May 2002)
- Case
Digital China Holdings Limited: ERP as a Platform for Building New Capabilities
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen and Kai Reimers
This case analyzes a complex ERP implementation that takes place in one of the leading companies in China. The issues are indistinguishable from those facing a U.S. organization. View Details
- December 2001 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
COSCO
By: F. Warren McFarlan and David Lane
Focuses on the IT challenges facing COSCO, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, as it deals with the Internet and modern information technology. The challenge is to understand what they are trying to do and understand the complexity of the task. View Details
- December 2001
- Exercise
Exercise on Employee Stock Option Dilution
By: Brian J. Hall
Discusses the effects of option dilution on stock prices and shareholder value. To simplify the example and isolate the complexity of option dilution, we make a number of simplifying assumptions. View Details
- November 2001
- Supplement
Staples
By: Myra M. Hart
Provides information on the development of the office superstore concept, including building partnerships, creating the business plan, and recruiting a management team. View Details
- August 2001 (Revised July 2008)
- Technical Note
A Technical Note and Discussion on Real Estate Valuation (IBET): Back of the Envelope (BOE) on Bonhomme Place: A Case within a Case
By: Arthur I Segel
Discusses real estate valuation. Reviews "back of the envelope" valuation; real estate appraisal methods, including the income method; market comparables and replacement costs; and more complex computer modeling. Also discusses other variables that could influence... View Details
- July 2001
- Case
Bobbie D'Alessandro and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
By: Linda A. Hill, Kristin Doughty and Ellen Pruyne
Bobbi D'Alessandro, the superintendent of the school system in Cambridge, MA, has just hired a new principal to lead a major redesign effort in the city's only high school. The need for reform had been evident since the late 1980s when school statistics highlighted... View Details