Publications

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Many companies approach product development as if it were manufacturing, trying to control costs and improve quality by applying zero-defect, efficiency-focused techniques. While this tactic can boost the performance of factories, it generally backfires with... View Details

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 10 Variations on the Theme of Flow Production

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to explore how technologies and organizations engaged in flow production evolve over time. To allow for an apples-to-apples comparison, I examine organizations using essentially the same physical technologies, making similar products, and... View Details

Keywords: Flow Production; Ford; General Motors; Competitiveness; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Production; Auto Industry

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February 1983 (Revised May 1984)
Case

Managing Product Safety: The Ford Pinto

Presents an accounting of Ford Motor Company's handling of a product safety controversy (1970-77) surrounding its Pinto subcompact car. May be used as part of a series, Managing Product Safety, that provides an opportunity to compare and contrast the social response... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Crisis Management; Product; Auto Industry; United States

December 1986 (Revised December 1987)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (B)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

Asks where in the Hewlett-Packard (HP) network of groups and sectors the Manufacturing Productivity Division should be placed. Provides a great deal of background regarding marketing, sales, and engineering at HP. It is thus possible to expand and broaden the... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Marketing; Production; Networks; Sales; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry

May 2003
Module Note

Product Development Process Design and Improvement

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Describes the conceptual foundations and pedagogy for a module on the design and improvement of processes for the development of products and services. Can also be used as part of a more general course on Managing Technology and Innovation. Central to Managing Product... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Design; Performance Improvement; Innovation and Management; Information Technology; Customers; Information Management; Business Processes; Learning; Transformation; Service Operations

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

indicating that the product was markedly different than Xeon, its 32-bit predecessor. These types of processors power huge computer servers, which play vital roles in companies' day-to-day operations.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

December 2021
Case

Burning Glass Technologies: From Data to Product

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Klopfenstein

In May 2021, Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a company that provided labor market analytics for a variety of markets, navigates his company’s transition from data company to product company. Burning Glass originated as a service that used artificial... View Details

July 1987
Case

Altoona Corp.: Computer Products Division

By: Roger E. Bohn and Robert H. Hayes

A relatively small manufacturer of computer memory disks has achieved a major market position through the use of its statistical quality control (SQC) program. It is now expanding the production of a new line of disks and is encountering problems getting the process... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Volatility; Performance Consistency; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Quality; Mathematical Methods; Hardware; Manufacturing Industry

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07 Jul 2003
What Do You Think?

Can We Have Too Much Productivity Improvement?

faith that markets will once again bring labor back into equilibrium... the alternative of suppressing advances in efficiency is not within the realm of reason." Amy Savin commented, "I believe that increases in productivity are... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2024
Article

AI, ROI, and Sales Productivity

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a loose term for many different things and at the peak of its hype curve. So managers hitch-their-pitch to the term in arguing for resources. But like any technology, its business value depends upon actionable use cases embraced by... View Details

Keywords: ROI; AI and Machine Learning; Sales; Investment Return

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November 1996 (Revised October 1998)
Case

Reynolds Metals Company: Consumer Products Division

Reynolds Consumer Products Division must decide whether to discontinue its program of case allowances in favor of discretionary trade dollars targeted for market development. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Consumer Products Industry

November 2003 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Circle Gastroenterology Products (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Weber

A new, minimally invasive medical device has achieved only one-third of its budget. Was the problem one of marketing strategy, sales, reimbursement, and/or clinical trials? View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Sales; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

March 2019
Article

Open Source Software and Firm Productivity

By: Frank Nagle

As open source software (OSS) is increasingly used as a key input by firms, understanding its impact on productivity becomes critical. This study measures the firm-level productivity impact of nonpecuniary (free) OSS and finds a positive and significant value-added... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Open Source Distribution; Performance Productivity; Information Technology; Strategy

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31 Mar 2016
News

Products to Platforms: Making the Leap

Article

Products to Platforms: Making the Leap

By: Feng Zhu and Nathan Furr

Following the path of companies such as Apple and Amazon, more and more firms are trying to become not just product purveyors but also platform providers, facilitating direct connections between customers and other groups. Although launching a platform can generate new... View Details

Keywords: Product; Digital Platforms; Expansion

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2012
Chapter

IP Modularity in Software Ecosystems: How SugarCRM's IP and Business Model Shape Its Product Architecture

By: Josef Waltl, Joachim Henkel and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Keywords: Business Model; Digital Platforms; Open Source Distribution; Complexity; Applications and Software; Intellectual Property

29 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Whence IT Value?

During the past few years inventory turns among U.S. manufacturers have climbed steadily, and it appears as if productivity has improved nicely. One explanation for these happy trends is that the massive... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

November 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products

Sunrise's CEO must decide whether to intervene in a decision by a division, Guardian Products, to introduce a new lightweight standard wheelchair. Guardian wants to introduce the wheelchair to complement its line of commodity crutches, walkers, and other patient aids.... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Business Divisions; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Product Marketing; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry