Publications

September 2016
Case

Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program

By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin

This case describes Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s “Dandelion Program," which has developed a new service offering for the company’s clients by drawing on the special talents of people with autism. The company has deployed “pods” organized around 8 or 9 employees with... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Talent and Talent Management; Service Operations; Training; Diversity; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry

February 2020
Technical Note

Talent Management and the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr and Gorick Ng

The nature of work is changing—and it is changing rapidly. Few days go by without industry giants such as Amazon and AT&T announcing plans to invest billions of dollars towards retraining nearly half of their respective workforces for jobs of the future. What changes... View Details

Keywords: Human Resource Management; Human Capital Development; Human Resource Practices; Talent; Talent Acquisition; Talent Development; Talent Development And Retention; Talent Management; Talent Retention; Labor Flows; Labor Management; Labor Market; Strategy Development; Strategy Management; Strategy Execution; Strategy And Execution; Strategic Change; Transformations; Organization; Organization Alignment; Organization Design; Organizational Adaptation; Organizational Effectiveness; Management Challenges; Management Of Business And Political Risk; Change Leadership; Future Of Work; Future; Skills Gap; Skills Development; Skills; Offshoring And Outsourcing; Investment; Capital Allocation; Work; Work Culture; Work Force Management; Work/life Balance; Work/family Balance; Work-family Boundary Management; Workers; Worker Productivity; Worker Performance; Work Engagement; Work Environment; Work Environments; Productivity; Organization Culture; Soft Skills; Technology Management; Technological Change; Technological Change: Choices And Consequences; Technology Diffusion; Disruptive Technology; Global Business; Global; Workplace; Workplace Context; Workplace Culture; Workplace Wellness; Collaboration; Competencies; Productivity Gains; Digital; Digital Transition; Competitive Dynamics; Competitiveness; Competitive Strategy; Data Analytics; Data; Data Management; Data Strategy; Data Protection; Aging Society; Diversity; Diversity Management; Millennials; Communication Complexity; Communication Technologies; International Business; Work Sharing; Global Competitiveness; Global Corporate Cultures; Intellectual Property; Intellectual Property Management; Intellectual Property Protection; Intellectual Capital And Property Issues; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Inequality; Recruiting; Hiring; Hiring Of Employees; Training; Job Cuts And Outsourcing; Job Performance; Job Search; Job Design; Job Satisfaction; Jobs; Employee Engagement; Employee Attitude; Employee Benefits; Employee Compensation; Employee Fairness; Employee Relationship Management; Employee Retention; Employee Selection; Employee Motivation; Employee Feedback; Employee Coordination; Employee Performance Management; Employee Socialization; Process Improvement; Application Performance Management; Stigma; Institutional Change; Candidates; Digital Enterprise; Cultural Adaptation; Cultural Change; Cultural Diversity; Cultural Context; Cultural Strategies; Cultural Psychology; Cultural Reform; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Management; Performance Evaluation; Performance Appraisal; Performance Feedback; Performance Measurement; Performance Metrics; Performance Measures; Performance Efficiency; Efficiency; Performance Analysis; Performance Appraisals; Performance Improvement; Automation; Artificial Intelligence; Technology Companies; Managerial Processes; Skilled Migration; Assessment; Human Resources; Management; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Retention; Demographics; Labor; Strategy; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Working Conditions; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Disruption; Economy; Competition; Globalization; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation

April 2011
Teaching Note

Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (TN)

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

Teaching Note for 611057. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Rights; Infrastructure; Multinational Firms and Management; Research and Development; Complexity; Commercialization; Technology Adoption; Motivation and Incentives; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Shanghai

2024
Working Paper

The Crowdless Future? Generative AI and Creative Problem Solving

By: Léonard Boussioux, Jacqueline N. Lane, Miaomiao Zhang, Vladimir Jacimovic and Karim R. Lakhani

The rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) open up attractive opportunities for creative problem-solving through human-guided AI partnerships. To explore this potential, we initiated a crowdsourcing challenge focused on sustainable, circular economy... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Models; Crowdsourcing; Generative Ai; Creative Problem-solving; Organizational Search; AI-in-the-loop; Prompt Engineering; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation and Invention

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April 2015
Teaching Note

Transforming Verizon 2015: Going Above the Network

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

Teaching note for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox, "Transforming Verizon 2015: Going Above the Network," HBS No. 315-068, Feb. 2015. View Details

Keywords: General Management; Leadership And Change Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Reorganization; Transformation; Wireless Technologies; Telecommunications; Network Organizations; Innovation; Product Development Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

2011
Chapter

Knowledge Structures and Innovation: Useful Abstractions and Unanswered Questions

By: Gautam Ahuja and Elena Novelli

We examine the received research on organizational knowledge structures with a special focus on their link to innovation. We note that the literature has used the term knowledge structure to represent three quite distinct components of organizational knowledge: the... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management; Innovation and Invention

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03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

Benioff has long espoused the need for a more equitable economic system and has stated that the current pandemic “is a tremendous opportunity for all CEOs and all businesses to... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

February 2015
Article

'Open' Disclosure of Innovations, Incentives and Follow-on Reuse: Theory on Processes of Cumulative Innovation and a Field Experiment in Computational Biology

By: Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani

Most of society's innovation systems―academic science, the patent system, open source, etc.―are "open" in the sense that they are designed to facilitate knowledge disclosure among innovators. An essential difference across innovation systems is whether disclosure is of... View Details

Keywords: Open Innovation; Cumulative Innovation; Incentives; Search; Disclosure And Access; Knowledge Sharing; Motivation and Incentives; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

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November 2019
Supplement

United Technologies Corp.: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune Magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Diversification; Valuation; Investment Activism; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

March 2023
Case

Woven Planet - Designing Software for the Car of the Future

By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner

Founded in 2021, Woven Planet Holdings—a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation—was developing Arene, an automotive software platform consisting of an operating system, development and simulation tools, and a cloud-based service that could store and analyze vehicle... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Automated Driving; Innovation; Organizational Culture; Applications and Software; Safety; Product Launch; Product; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

2018
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 7 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 2: Technical and Strategic Bottlenecks as Guides for Action

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to present analytic tools based on functional maps that can be used to identify investment opportunities and to formulate strategy in large, evolving technical systems. I argue that the points of value creation and value capture in a... View Details

Keywords: Bottlenecks; Information Technology; System; Investment; Opportunities; Strategy

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September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution (B)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Josep Valor

Acting on his vision to make the World Bank a knowledge institution, bank President Wolfensohn announces the creation of an Information and Knowledge Management Council and an Information Solutions Group, headed by a newly nominated CEO, Mohamed Muhsin. This case... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Knowledge Management; Management Teams; Information Management; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

2008
Text Book

Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases

By: Robert D. Austin, Lynda M. Applegate and Deborah Soule

The 8^th edition of Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases is written for students and managers who desire an overview of contemporary information systems technology management. This new edition examines how information... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Management; Business Strategy; Information Technology

1992
Chapter

A Case Study in the Assimilation of Technology Support for Teams

By: L. M. Applegate

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation

June 2010
Teaching Note

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System (TN)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Marlo Goetting

Teaching Note for 409062. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; System; Business Units; Corporate Strategy; Infrastructure; Growth and Development; Decision Making; Restructuring; Resource Allocation; Information Technology Industry

June 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Case

HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (A)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Paras D. Bhayani

A review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. There is a B case that provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change; Implementing Strategy; Implementation; Government Innovation; Health Care Industry; Health Care Reform; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

June 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Supplement

HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Paras D. Bhayani

A review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. This case provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and running after the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change; Implementing Strategy; Implementation; Government Innovation; Health Care Industry; Health Care Reform; Service Delivery; Internet and the Web; Health; Government and Politics; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

August 1997 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Hewlett-Packard's Santa Rosa Systems Division (A2): Response to the Employee Task Force

By: Michael Beer and Gregory C. Rogers

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology Industry

Article

How to (Inadvertently) Sabotage Your Organization

By: Stefan Thomke

Some of the biggest threats to organizational performance can and do come from within. In an age when companies are told to be agile, to learn from experiments, and to be entrepreneurial, we are still vulnerable to actions — deliberate or unintentional — that stem from... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices; Effective Managers; Self-awareness; CIA,; Organizational Behavior; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Behavior; Performance