Walmart Inc. Takes on Amazon.com

David J. Collis; Andy  Wu; Rembrand  Koning

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Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | February 2020

Walmart Inc. Takes on Amazon.com

by David J. Collis, Andy Wu and Rembrand Koning

Abstract

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-481.

Language: English

Format: Print

29 pages

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Citation:

Collis, David J., Andy Wu, and Rembrand Koning. "Walmart Inc. Takes on Amazon.com." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 720-437, February 2020.

About the Authors

David J. Collis

Adjunct Professor

Strategy

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Andy Wu

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Strategy

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Rembrand M. Koning

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Strategy

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Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2020 (Revised July 2020)

MassChallenge

Rembrand Koning, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright, Tarun Khanna, Rembrand Koning, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright and Tarun Khanna

The case explores the strategic decision of global non-profit startup accelerator MassChallenge on whether to pursue a for-profit spinoff, discussing: (1) the costs and benefits of this decision, (2) how best to manage the risks of the decision, and (3) alternative pathways to ensure business sustainability and success.

Keywords: accelerators; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Startups; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Decision Making; Strategy;

Citation:
Koning, Rembrand, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright, and Tarun Khanna. "MassChallenge." Harvard Business School Case 720-469, May 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2020 (Revised July 2020)

MassChallenge

Rembrand Koning, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright, Tarun Khanna, Rembrand Koning, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright and Tarun Khanna

The case explores the strategic decision of global non-profit startup accelerator MassChallenge on whether to pursue a for-profit spinoff, discussing: (1) the costs and benefits of this decision, (2) how best to manage the risks of the decision, and (3) alternative pathways to ensure business sustainability and success.

Keywords: accelerators; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Startups; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Decision Making; Strategy;

Citation:
Koning, Rembrand, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright, and Tarun Khanna. "MassChallenge." Harvard Business School Case 720-469, May 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details

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Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

Iterative Coordination and Innovation

Sourobh Ghosh and Andy Wu

Agile management practices from the software industry continue to transform the way organizations innovate across industries, yet they remain understudied in the organizations literature. We investigate the widespread Agile practice of iterative coordination: frequent meetings to coordinate individuals on innovation-oriented organizational goals. While the assumed purpose of iterative coordination is to generate innovation, there is limited empirical evidence as to whether this practice actually makes organizations more innovative. With the leading technology firm Google, we embed a field experiment within a hackathon software development competition to identify the effect of iterative coordination on innovation. We find that iterative coordination’s influence on innovation is mixed: while iteratively coordinating firms develop more valuable products, these products are simultaneously less novel. This counterintuitive result highlights a paradox at the heart of iterative coordination—whereas it intends to promote innovation, applying it yields less novelty, a necessary component of innovation. Furthermore, by tracking software code, we find that iteratively coordinating firms favor integration at the cost of specialization to create new knowledge. A follow-on laboratory study documents that increasing the frequency and goal orientation of iterative coordination meetings reinforces value and integration, while reducing novelty and specialization. This article makes three key contributions: refining theoretical understanding of the relationship between goal coordination and innovation; introducing empirical methodology for generating data with hackathons and software code version-tracking; and responding to calls from the literature to study new methods of organizing and whether they offer new insights on organizational innovation.

Keywords: innovation; goals; specialization; coordination; field experiment; software development; Organizations; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Goals and Objectives; Integration; Software;

Citation:
Ghosh, Sourobh, and Andy Wu. "Iterative Coordination and Innovation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-121, January 2020. View Details

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Walmart Inc. Takes on Amazon.com

Abstract

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About the Authors

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