Technology & Operations Management

- October 24, 2023
- Article
10 Beliefs That Get in the Way of Organizational Change

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

In their new book, Move Fast and Fix Things, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss outline five strategies to help leaders tackle their hardest problems and quickly make change. Their final strategy is to execute your plan with a sense of urgency. They argue that most big organizational problems deserve a more urgent response — a metabolic rate that honors the frustration, mediocrity, and pain of the status quo. To get there you need to strip out distractions, update your assumptions — such as the below 10 beliefs that get in the way of moving fast — and launch yourself over whatever administrative hurdles are in the way of making progress.
- October 24, 2023
- Article
10 Beliefs That Get in the Way of Organizational Change

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

In their new book, Move Fast and Fix Things, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss outline five strategies to help leaders tackle their hardest problems and quickly make change. Their final strategy is to execute your plan with a sense of urgency. They argue that most big organizational problems deserve a more urgent response — a metabolic rate that...
- October 2024
- Article
Global Mobile Inventors

By: Dany Bahar, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Ernest Miguelez and Sara Signorelli

The number of Global Mobile Inventors (GMIs), inventors moving across borders during their career, has increased more than tenfold over the past two decades, and the corridors of mobility have shifted towards a growing presence of emerging markets. We document that GMIs that have patented in a given technology before moving are 70% more likely to be among the pioneering inventors in that technology once they arrive at destination, which we interpret as evidence of knowledge diffusion across borders. Returnees, which are typically inventors from emerging markets that go back after having spent some time in the US and other advanced economies, are twice as likely to file pioneering patents once returned than migrants when arriving abroad. Finally, we find that the more central the GMIs in the network of inventors during the early stages of the technology life-cycle at destination, the faster the technology-specific knowledge is absorbed by local inventors.
- October 2024
- Article
Global Mobile Inventors

By: Dany Bahar, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Ernest Miguelez and Sara Signorelli

The number of Global Mobile Inventors (GMIs), inventors moving across borders during their career, has increased more than tenfold over the past two decades, and the corridors of mobility have shifted towards a growing presence of emerging markets. We document that GMIs that have patented in a given technology before moving are 70% more likely to...
- September 20, 2024
- Article
It’s Time to Unbundle ESG

By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

ESG is at an inflection point. It has come to represent a broad and inchoate aspiration for what business should be doing beyond maximizing shareholder value. With ESG advocates on the defensive, business leaders need a new roadmap to determine which factors to incorporate into their business strategies and operations – and their political advocacy – and how they will communicate this to their stakeholders. Leaders should adopt a two-pronged approach: 1) Identify the sustainability issues that have the most potential impact on the bottom line and solve for them; and 2) Identify the most material negative impacts your firm is having on society and solve for them. Both of these require scanning for the biggest opportunities and threats that environmental, social, and governance issues pose to your company’s short- and long-term competitiveness.
- September 20, 2024
- Article
It’s Time to Unbundle ESG

By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

ESG is at an inflection point. It has come to represent a broad and inchoate aspiration for what business should be doing beyond maximizing shareholder value. With ESG advocates on the defensive, business leaders need a new roadmap to determine which factors to incorporate into their business strategies and operations – and their political...

About the Unit

As the world of operations has changed, so have interests and priorities within the Unit. Historically, the TOM Unit focused on manufacturing and the development of physical products. Over the past several years, we have expanded our research, course development, and course offerings to encompass new issues in information technology, supply chains, and service industries.

The field of TOM is concerned with the design, management, and improvement of operating systems and processes. As we seek to understand the challenges confronting firms competing in today's demanding environment, the focus of our work has broadened to include the multiple activities comprising a firm's "operating core":

the multi-function, multi-firm system that includes basic research, design, engineering, product and process development and production of goods and services within individual operating units;
the networks of information and material flows that tie operating units together and the systems that support these networks;
the distribution and delivery of goods and services to customers.

Recent Publications

10 Beliefs That Get in the Way of Organizational Change

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

October 24, 2023 |
Article |
Harvard Business Review (website)

In their new book, Move Fast and Fix Things, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss outline five strategies to help leaders tackle their hardest problems and quickly make change. Their final strategy is to execute your plan with a sense of urgency. They argue that most big organizational problems deserve a more urgent response — a metabolic rate that honors the frustration, mediocrity, and pain of the status quo. To get there you need to strip out distractions, update your assumptions — such as the below 10 beliefs that get in the way of moving fast — and launch yourself over whatever administrative hurdles are in the way of making progress.

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management

Citation

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Global Mobile Inventors

By: Dany Bahar, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Ernest Miguelez and Sara Signorelli

October 2024 |
Article |
Journal of Development Economics

The number of Global Mobile Inventors (GMIs), inventors moving across borders during their career, has increased more than tenfold over the past two decades, and the corridors of mobility have shifted towards a growing presence of emerging markets. We document that GMIs that have patented in a given technology before moving are 70% more likely to be among the pioneering inventors in that technology once they arrive at destination, which we interpret as evidence of knowledge diffusion across borders. Returnees, which are typically inventors from emerging markets that go back after having spent some time in the US and other advanced economies, are twice as likely to file pioneering patents once returned than migrants when arriving abroad. Finally, we find that the more central the GMIs in the network of inventors during the early stages of the technology life-cycle at destination, the faster the technology-specific knowledge is absorbed by local inventors.

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Immigration; Patents; Knowledge; Technological Innovation

Citation

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It’s Time to Unbundle ESG

By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

September 20, 2024 |
Article |
Harvard Business Review (website)

ESG is at an inflection point. It has come to represent a broad and inchoate aspiration for what business should be doing beyond maximizing shareholder value. With ESG advocates on the defensive, business leaders need a new roadmap to determine which factors to incorporate into their business strategies and operations – and their political advocacy – and how they will communicate this to their stakeholders. Leaders should adopt a two-pronged approach: 1) Identify the sustainability issues that have the most potential impact on the bottom line and solve for them; and 2) Identify the most material negative impacts your firm is having on society and solve for them. Both of these require scanning for the biggest opportunities and threats that environmental, social, and governance issues pose to your company’s short- and long-term competitiveness.

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; ESG Disclosure; Sustainability; Climate; Climate Finance; Climate Risk; Social Accounting; Investment; Governance; Safety; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry

Citation

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Leading Culture Change at SEB

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Cat Huang

September 2024 |
Teaching Note |
Faculty Research

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-074. The Risk organization at SEB, a leading Nordic financial services group founded in 1856, undertook a culture change program focused on psychological safety, empathic listening, and strategic framing. The program enabled risk organization teams to make progress on strategic challenges and improved decision making processes. Chief Risk Officer Magnus Agustsson believed that the rest of SEB should go through a similar program. But it was not clear how to convince other departments to invest considerable time in developing the soft skills of culture change.

Keywords: Leadership; Risk Management; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Sweden

Citation

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CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals

By: Hise Gibson

September 2024 |
Teaching Plan |
Faculty Research

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 621-034.

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Cathay Cargo: Turnaround Short Haul, or Double Crew Long Haul?

By: Willy Shih and Billy Chan

September 2024 |
Case |
Faculty Research

Tom Owen, Director Cargo at Cathay Pacific Airways, had a problem. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the grounding of passenger flights meant the sudden loss of 50% of the airline's cargo carrying capacity. But the bigger challenge was that the Hong Kong government imposed severe quarantine restrictions on air crew who operated flights, and when aircraft arrived at destinations around the world, their crew faced other restrictions. The operations team devised a closed loop system that would allow flights to operate with a range of staffing requirements. For the company, freighter service provided critical cash flow, and the operations team had brought forward a choice. Should Cathay focus most of its cargo service on regional routes out and back from Hong Kong, or should it operate long haul to Europe and the Americas? What would be best for cash flow, and what would be best for the crews?

Keywords: Operations; Resource Allocation; Air Transportation Industry; Hong Kong

Citation

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Topaz: Navigating Governance, Legacy, and Change

By: Christina R. Wing and Carla Larangeira

September 2024 |
Case |
Faculty Research

Since its founding in 2011, the Garza Sada brothers and their father positioned Topaz among leading family offices in Monterrey, Mexico, with several assets under management. Topaz aspired to have a transformative impact across multiple Mexican industries. An industry titan himself, founder Dionisio Garza Medina had previously forged a 30-year-plus career at Grupo Alfa, a publicly listed Mexican conglomerate, serving as its chairman and CEO, and positioning the group among global leaders in the auto parts and cooked food businesses. By the late 2010s, Topaz had multiple assets across the education, oil and gas, and real estate sectors, as well as investments in venture capital. In mid-2020, the group encountered unexpected challenges as Dionisio Garza Medina, the chairman and driving force behind Topaz´s decisions, suffered several strokes and took an extended leave of absence, leading his sons and wife, Balbina, to support the ailing Dionisio and to grow the business. After the strokes, the brothers adopted a previously designed yet untested governance structure, creating an executive committee whereby they agreed on business decisions and relying on an advisory board created earlier. Four years later, as the siblings reflected on the governance changes they had implemented, as well as Topaz’s structure and their respective roles, whereby Dionisio son was at the helm and brothers Luis and Pablo were respectively responsible for wealth management and real estate, they questioned: would it all work out? And how would they evaluate their success in advancing Topaz’s mission of generating transformation, impact, and leadership in the industries where it operated?

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Family Business; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Energy Industry; Latin America; Mexico

Citation

Educators

Myeloma Investment Fund

By: Kyle Myers and Scott Sawaya

September 2024 |
Case |
Faculty Research

This case explores a critical decision facing the Myeloma Investment Fund (MIF) as it evaluates two investment opportunities aimed at accelerating a cure for multiple myeloma. The MIF, a venture philanthropy fund, must choose between two distinct paths. One option is a high-risk academic startup that is developing a new, early-stage technology. This startup’s innovation could lead to breakthroughs in treating myeloma, but it is far from clinical trials and carries significant uncertainty. The other option is an established company with a promising drug already in Phase II trials, offering the potential for quicker patient impact and a lower risk profile. The case highlights several key trade-offs for the MIF: the potential for groundbreaking innovation versus more immediate patient outcomes, higher risk versus greater certainty, and the challenge of balancing financial returns with the fund’s mission. MIF must weigh the long-term potential of supporting early-stage science against the possibility of providing patients with a treatment that could make a difference sooner.

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Biomedical Research; Science Bassed Business; Investing For Impact; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Citation

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