Publications

2010
Working Paper

The Architecture of Complex Systems: Do Core-periphery Structures Dominate?

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

Any complex technological system can be decomposed into a number of subsystems and associated components, some of which are core to system function while others are only peripheral. The dynamics of how such "core-periphery" structures evolve and become embedded in a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Product Design; Practice; Core Relationships; Software; Information Technology Industry

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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

SSRN

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November 2007
Case

Ockham Technologies: Living on the Razor's Edge (Abridged)

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a Founder-CEO regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. The abridged version does not include the introduction and final sections of the full case... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology

Research Summary

Overview

Research about the design and use of internal performance measurement and control systems to implement strategies, align incentives, manage risks, and shape culture using accounting measurement and priorities. In addition, my research includes understanding how and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Strategic Change; Accounting Red Flags; Accountability

March 2000 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Stainless Steel Studios, Inc.

Stainless Steel Studios is the latest entrepreneurial venture of renowned computer game designer Rick Goodman. Goodman must now decide the role of customer feedback in crafting the next generation of computer games. This case addresses how operations systems can be... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Video Game Industry

May 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Warner Cable (A) and (B) (Condensed)

The new general manager of Warner Cable's Medford, Massachusetts complex faces a number of turnaround challenges in 1985, including service deficiencies, customer complaints, high turnover, and low employee morale. By 1988 he has turned the situation around, but some... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Change Management; Performance Improvement; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

Research Summary

Innovations in Logistics: The Impact of Channel Coordination

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Roy D. Shapiro is studying innovative systems and management approaches that integrate and coordinate material and information flows through the supply chain so as to reduce or eliminate the redundant activities that tend to characterize these channels. His research... View Details

June 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Compensation and Performance Evaluation at Arrow Electronics

By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan

Describes a company's struggles in implementing a subjective performance rating system for its employees. In particular, it describes the difficulties faced by the CEO in getting managers to combat "ratings inflation"--that is, to produce numerical ratings that are... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Electronics Industry

Video

Introduction to Strategy Execution

November 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Omron: Sensing Society

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ethan S Bernstein

"Leading profitable growth is only part of the goal. We cannot live without breathing, but we do not live in order to take a breath,” said Omron's President and CEO, Hisao Sakuta, in 2008. Omron, a $7B global supplier of sensors, control system components, advanced... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Competitive Advantage; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose; Electronics Industry

13 May 2020
Video

Cas Coovadia

Cas Coovadia, the long-running Managing Director of the Banking Association South Africa, discusses how the global financial crisis of 2008 impacted South Africa as mainly an economic crisis as the banking... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Unraveling Results from Comparable Demand and Supply: An Experimental Investigation

By: Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth and M. Utku Unver

Markets sometimes unravel, with offers becoming inefficiently early. Often this is attributed to competition arising from an imbalance of demand and supply, typically excess demand for workers. However this presents a puzzle, since unraveling can only occur when firms... View Details

Keywords: Labor; Marketplace Matching; Quality; Competition; Balance and Stability

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2010
Working Paper

A New Model of Leadership (PDF File of Keynote Slides)

By: Michael C. Jensen and Allan L. Scherr

In this paper we provide a new definition of leadership that gives organizations and individuals access to new power, performance and accomplishment. In our model leadership consists of four critical elements The creation of a vision for the future that represents a... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Knowledge Dissemination; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; System

January 1994
Case

ABC Sales and Service Division: A Case Study of Personal and Organizational Transformation

By: D. Quinn Mills, Brock W. Orwig, Janet M. Pumo, Todd C. Stilson and Richard C. Wei

In the midst of dramatic changes in the information systems industry and declining profits at the ABC Co., the vice president in charge of the sales and service division, Jeff, and his managers attempt to transform their division. The transformation gets off to a good... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Motivation and Incentives; Resignation and Termination; Communication; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

January 1989 (Revised February 1993)
Case

Warner Cable (A)

The new general manager of Warner Cable's Medford, Massachusetts complex faces a number of turnaround challenges in 1985, including service deficiencies, customer complaints, high turnover, and low employee morale. By 1988 he has turned the situation around, but some... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Human Resources; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts