Publications

Publications

Filter Results: (147) Arrow Down

Show Results For

← Page 5 of 147 Results →
  • March 2003
  • Case

Compaq's Struggle

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and David Lane
In 1997, Compaq Computer was locked in price competition with industry leader Dell. Although Compaq sought to escape difficulty by acquiring Digital Equipment Corp. ,a maker of more lucrative servers and minicomputers, in 1998 the simultaneous effort to remain a... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Asset Pricing; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry
Related
  • 2017
  • Working Paper

Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
This paper seeks to explain the technological forces that led to the rise of vertically integrated corporations in the late 19th century and the opposing forces that led to a vertical-to-horizontal transition in the computer industry 100 years later. I first model the... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Design; Business History; Vertical Integration; Horizontal Integration; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry
Related
  • 2012
  • Working Paper

Risky Business: The Impact of Property Rights on Investment and Revenue in the Film Industry

By: Venkat Kuppuswamy and Carliss Y. Baldwin
Our paper tests a key prediction of property rights theory, specifically, that agents will respond to marginal incentives embedded in property rights when making non-contractible, revenue-enhancing investments (Grossman and Hart, 1986; Hart and Moore, 1990). Using rich... View Details
Keywords: Property Rights; Property; Rights; Investment; Contracts; Revenue; Motivation and Incentives; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States
Related
  • 2016
  • Article

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence, and Exceptions

By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin
The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical dependencies in the work being performed. This article presents a unified picture of... View Details
Keywords: Modularity; Mirroring Hypothesis; Organization Design; Conway's Law; Knowledge Boundaries; Relational Contracts; Open Source Software; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Boundaries; Knowledge Management; Applications and Software
Related
  • 2016
  • Working Paper

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions

By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin
The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the work being performed. A thorough understanding of the... View Details
Keywords: Modularity; Innovation; Product And Process Development; Organization Design; Design Structure; Organizational Ties; Mirroring Hypothesis; Industry Architecture; Product Architecture; Complex Technical Systems; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Product Development
Related
  • 2007
  • Working Paper

The Impact of Component Modularity on Design Evolution: Evidence from the Software Industry

By: Alan MacCormack, John Rusnak and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Much academic work asserts a relationship between the design of a complex system and the manner in which this system evolves over time. In particular, designs which are modular in nature are argued to be more "evolvable," in that these designs facilitate making... View Details

Keywords: Product Design; Adaptation; Software; Information Technology Industry
Related
  • November 2019
  • Case

Apple, Einhorn, and iPrefs (Abridged)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and W. Carl Kester
In March 2013, Apple Computer has a very large cash balance, and is under pressure to return cash to shareholders. Hedge fund manager David Einhorn thinks Apple can "unlock value" by issuing perpetual preferred stock, dubbed iPrefs. Henry Blodget, CEO of Business... View Details
Keywords: Markets; Stock Shares; Value Creation; Business and Shareholder Relations
Related
  • 2010
  • Working Paper

When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
This paper describes how entrepreneurial firms can use superior architectural knowledge to open up a technical system to gain strategic advantage. The strategy involves, first, identifying "bottlenecks" in the existing system, and then creating a new open architecture... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Design; Organizational Design; Competitive Advantage; Technology Industry
Related
  • 06 Jun 2017
  • First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

implications from suboptimal peer-selection. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51919 Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance By: MacCormack, Alan,... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 2019
  • Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 15 The IBM PC

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
The IBM PC was the first digital computer platform that was open by as a matter of strategy, not necessity. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the IBM PC as a technical system and set of organization choices in light of the theory of how technology shapes... View Details
Keywords: IBM; Personal Computer; Digital Platforms; System; Strategy
Related
  • 03 Feb 2015
  • First Look

First Look: February 3

MacCormack, Alan, Robert Lagerstrom, and Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract—We propose a network-based methodology for operationalizing enterprise... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 2020
  • Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 4 The Mirroring Hypothesis: Linkages Inside and Across Transaction Free Zones

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
A technology is a specific way to achieve a material goal. It describes a feasible path—a recipe—by which a group of people can arrive at a goal that none could achieve individually. Technical recipes thus require linkages between and among the various contributors to... View Details
Keywords: Modularity; Mirroring Hypothesis; Information Technology; Organizations
Related
  • 2019
  • Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and... View Details
Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Wintel Platform; Disintermediation; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Business History; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry
Related
  • November 2005 (Revised October 2012)
  • Case

The Auction for Burger King (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and James Quinn
Paul Walsh, CEO of Diageo, must evaluate bids received in an auction of the Burger King restaurant unit. Describes how Diageo came to own Burger King, the attempts to turn the unit around, the strategic reasons for its sale, the auction process, and various bidders'... View Details
Keywords: Management Teams; Leveraged Buyouts; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Auctions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Tactics; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry
Related
  • 2008
  • Working Paper

The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard
The central role of "platform" products and services in mediating the activities of disaggregated "clusters" or "ecosystems" of firms has been widely recognized. But platforms and the systems in which they are embedded are very diverse. In particular, platforms may... View Details
Keywords: Digital Platforms; Industry Clusters; Infrastructure; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms
Related
  • Research Summary

Distributed Innovation in Open Systems—The Role of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
Distributed innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. As education levels rise and communication costs fall, more people have the means and motivation to innovate. Supply chains now stretch around the world as firms outsource... View Details
  • 2019
  • Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 8 Rationalizing Flow Processes

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the value structure of flow production processes and to explain why it is necessary to rationalize flow processes using the tools of systematic management. I first explain the problems facing managers of multi-step flow... View Details
Keywords: Flow Processes; Bottlenecks; Systematic Management; Production; Management; Problems and Challenges
Related
  • 30 Aug 2016
  • First Look

August 30, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51569 Building the Agile Enterprise: IT Architecture, Modularity and the Cost of IT Change By: MacCormack, Alan, Robert Lagerstrom, David Dreyfus, and Carliss... View Details
Keywords: Carmen Nobel
  • 18 Mar 2008
  • First Look

First Look: March 18, 2008

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-084.pdf Exploring the Duality between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the Mirroring Hypothesis Authors:Alan D. MacCormack, John Rusnak, and View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 07 Mar 2017
  • First Look

First Look at New Research, March 7

Between Architecture Coupling and Software Vulnerabilities: A Google Chrome Case By: Lagerström, Robert, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, Dan... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne