Publications

Educators

2009
Working Paper

An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System

By: David A. Moss

The magnitude of the current financial crisis reflects the failure of an economic and regulatory philosophy that had proved increasingly influential in policy circles over the past three decades.

This paper suggests (1) that contrary to the prevailing wisdom,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Financial Institutions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Business and Government Relations; Balance and Stability

19 Dec 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Innovating Without Information Constraints: Organizations, Communities, and Innovation When Information Costs Approach Zero

Keywords: by Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle & Michael L. Tushman

September 1994
Case

American Airlines: Object Oriented Flight Dispatching Systems

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Espen Andersen

American Airlines Describes has organized and developed their Systems Operation Control (SOC) center in Dallas, from which the day-to-day running of the airline takes place. This case details the decision support system used by the flight dispatchers, and the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Development; Programs; Complexity; Technology Adoption; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

19 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting Information as Political Currency

Keywords: by Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury; Accounting

April 2020
Supplement

Cisco Systems and OpenDNS: Strategic Integration (B)

By: Andy Wu 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

June 2018
Teaching Note

Meridian Systems (Brief Case)

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts

Teaching Note for HBS No. 918-533. The key issues discussed in the Meridian teaching note concern sales force deployment: decisions about how to focus sales efforts with respect to territories, customers, and products. The teaching note explains the strengths and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy

01 Jun 2009
News

Shaking Up the System

STERNBERG: A career putting leadership to work where others fear to tread. In a lengthy article examining New York City’s education reforms, the Weekend Australian magazine (March 7, 2009) zeroed in on the Bronx Lab School (BLS), often pointed to by the city’s... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

2012
Working Paper

Modularity and Organizations

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Modularity describes the degree to which a complex system can be broken apart into subunits (modules) that can be recombined in various ways. Modularity is important for organizations and the economy because the boundaries of organizational units and corporations are... View Details

Keywords: Complex Systems; Information Hiding; Loosely-coupled Systems; Mirroring; Mirroring Hypothesis; Modules; Modularity; Near-decomposable Systems; Product Architecture; Option Value; Organizational Design; Complexity

February 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Hewlett-Packard Imaging Systems Division: Sonos 100 C/F Introduction

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Marie Bell

The marketing manager for the Imaging Systems business unit (ISY) at Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group is considering channel strategy and channel management issues raised by the upcoming introduction of a new cardiac imaging product. Product marketing's plans... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Distribution Channels; Sales; Competitive Strategy

Educators

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

SSRN

July 2001
Teaching Note

Virtualis Systems (A) TN

By: Michael J. Roberts

Teaching Note for (9-800-003). View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Business Model; Financing and Loans; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions

For many firms, the ability to create, organize, and disseminate know-how is a key factor in their ability to succeed. But should all companies engage in formal knowledge management? If not, which companies derive most value from a formal knowledge system?... View Details

13 Aug 2009
News

Managing Drug-Risk Information — What to Do with All Those New Numbers

June–July 2019
Article

A Methodology for Operationalizing Enterprise IT Architecture and Evaluating Its Modifiability

By: Robert Lagerström, Alan MacCormack, David Dreyfus and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Recent contributions to information systems theory suggest that the primary role of a firm’s information technology (IT) architecture is to facilitate, and therefore ensure the continued alignment of a firm’s IT investments with a constantly changing business... View Details

Keywords: Enterprise Architecture; Modularity; Information Systems; Modifiability; Design Structure Matrix

2023
Working Paper

Toward Decision-Useful Carbon Information

By: Gunther Glenk

Companies are increasingly viewed as crucial drivers for timely decarbonization. Current accounting practices for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, however, often leave corporate carbon disclosures and abatement obscured. Here I introduce a taxonomy for assuring the... View Details

SSRN

Research Summary

Overview

My research broadly examines design choices of management control systems, with a special focus on organizational culture as an informal control mechanism and how it interacts with other formal control system View Details

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

Educators

2007
Chapter

Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores the linkages between information systems and accountability in nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs). The information systems in four NGOs are introduced: two Indian NGOs engaged in natural resource management and rural development, an... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Accountability; Information Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Information Technology; India; District of Columbia