Publications

June 2024
Simulation

Vehicle Lifecycle Emissions Calculator

By: Mike Toffel, Shirley Lu and George Serafeim

This Vehicle Lifecycle Emissions Calculator calculates the greenhouse gas emissions over the lifespan of internal combustion engine (ICEs) vehicles, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), including those associated with their... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Environment; Carbon Accounting; Carbon; Carbon Abatement; Electric Vehicles; Automobiles; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Supply Chain; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Climate Change; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Auto Industry; Battery Industry

August 2023
Case

WayCool: Reimagining the Food Supply Chain

By: Paul Gompers and Kairavi Dey

Founded in 2015, WayCool, is an Indian agri-tech start-up that built a B2B operation acquiring fruits and vegetables from product-specific agriculture companies and small-holding farmers. It sold them to business customers, such as local retail stores, restaurants, and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Digital Transformation; Operations; Business Strategy; Supply Chain; Performance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Asia; South Asia

Teaching Interest

Supply Chain Management

By: Kris Johnson Ferreira

The Supply Chain Management (SCM) course builds on aspects of the first-year Technology and Operations Management (RC TOM) course. However, whereas RC TOM focuses primarily on developing and producing products and services, SCM emphasizes managing... View Details

2011
Casebook

Cases about Redefining Global Strategy

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jordan I. Siegel

In "Cases about Redefining Global Strategy," Pankaj Ghemawat and Jordan Siegel have assembled 26 full-length case studies as a resource for active learning about the nature of cross-border differences and strategies. As technology innovation globalizes markets and... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; International Business; Cases; Strategy; Globalization

October 1990 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (A)

By: Clayton M. Christensen

A small ceramics company started by a group of MIT professors struggles with some basic technology strategy issues. A plan to take "one commercializable step" at a time in order to get a foothold in the market goes awry because of incompatibility between the company's... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Technology; Problems and Challenges; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Cambridge

Article

'Matter Battles': Cognitive Representations, Boundary Objects, and the Failure of Collaboration in Two Smart Cities

By: Tiona Zuzul

In this paper, I present a longitudinal study of two smart city projects that brought together experts from diverse knowledge domains. Both projects structured collaboration around the development of boundary objects that could integrate actors’ expertise. In both... View Details

Keywords: Smart Cities; Interpersonal Conflict; Boundary Objects; Cooperation; Failure

SSRN

May 2006
Module Note

Leading Culturally Diverse Teams

By: Robin J. Ely

Describes the Leading Culturally Diverse Teams module (eight class sessions), which teaches students the leadership perspectives and skills necessary to develop high-functioning, culturally diverse teams (teams diverse in, for example, race, ethnicity, gender,... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Diversity; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Perspective; Culture

September 2015
Teaching Note

Sustainability at IKEA Group

By: Michael W. Toffel

Can IKEA Group double its global sales within a decade by expending in emerging markets while implementing on its ambitious sustainability strategy that included focusing on raw material sourcing and suppliers’ production processes? The case focuses on IKEA Group’s... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Emerging Markets; Environmental Sustainability; Globalized Markets and Industries; Consumer Products Industry

April 2013
Case

Southfield Packaging

By: Michael Beer and Alisa Zalosh

Southfield Packaging provides packaging materials and services to medical device manufacturers. The case examines the relationship between a corporate vice president, Mark Sanders, and one of his direct reports, Regional Manager Frank Belby. Sanders' preparation for... View Details

Keywords: Rank and Position; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Distribution Industry; Service Industry

February 2011 (Revised December 2022)
Supplement

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and it now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Sales; Competition; Publishing Industry; United States

October 2001
Case

SchoolSuccess.net

By: James E. Austin and Arthur McCaffrey

The mission of the nonprofit Jumpstart for Young Children was to address the problem of school readiness of low-income family preschoolers. It had been growing significantly, and to achieve its projected expansion would require major increases in funding. After... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Early Childhood Education; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Management Teams

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

Keywords: ＂＂Partner Integration; Contract Choice; R＆D Project Management; Relational Contracts; Partnering Performance; Research and Development; Projects; Partners and Partnerships; Performance; Contracts

Research Summary

Career and Personal Renewal at Mid-Life

Carl S. Sloane has been studying mid- and late-life transitions in careers and life structures. Two central issues identified in his research, and reflected in the instructional materials for the executive education workshop Age of Options, are (1) the relationship... View Details

January 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Xerox: Design for the Environment

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

In 1990, Xerox undertook an "Environmental Leadership Program" designed to make Xerox an industry leader in non-polluting operations, recycling, and products actually designed for the environment. This effort flowed naturally out of the system of total quality... View Details

Keywords: Product Design; Production; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Design; Environmental Sustainability

February 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Arup: Building the Water Cube

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and Dilyana Karadzhova

Arup, an engineering firm, collaborated with PTW Architects and China Construction Design Institute to develop a design for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Aquatics Center design competition. Their winning concept for the Water Cube combined elements of Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Design; Construction; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Projects; Groups and Teams; Real Estate Industry; Sports Industry; Beijing; Sydney

2022
White Paper

The Emerging Degree Reset: How the Shift to Skills-Based Hiring Holds the Keys to Growing the U.S. Workforce at a Time of Talent Shortage

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Christina Langer, Julia Nitschke, Layla O'Kane, Matthew Sigelman and Bledi Taska

Employers are resetting degree requirements in a wide range of roles, dropping the requirement for a bachelor’s degree in many middle-skill and even some higher-skill roles. This reverses a trend toward degree inflation in job postings going back to the Great... View Details

Keywords: Skills; Workforce; Talent; Human Resource Management; Selection and Staffing; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources