Technology and Operations Management

- RECENT PUBLICATION: Article
  Article | Strategic Management Journal | February 2019
  The Ethnic Migrant Inventor Effect: Codification and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders
  Prithwiraj Choudhury and Do Yoon Kim
  Ethnic migrant inventors may differ from locals in terms of the knowledge they bring to host firms. We study the role of first-generation ethnic migrant inventors in cross-border transfer of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions. Using a unique dataset of Chinese and Indian herbal patents filed in the United States, we find that an increase in the supply of first-generation ethnic migrant inventors increases the rate of codification of herbal knowledge at U.S. assignees by 4.5%. Our identification comes from an exogenous shock to the quota of H1B visas and from a list of entities exempted from the shock. We also find that ethnic migrant inventors are more likely to engage in reuse of their prior knowledge, whereas knowledge recombination is more likely to be pursued by teams comprising inventors from other ethnic backgrounds.
  Keywords: skilled migration; ethnic migration; first-generation migrant; cultural context; knowledge flows; knowledge reuse; knowledge recombination; recombinant creation; H1B visas; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Knowledge Dissemination; Immigration; Ethnicity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
  
  Citation:
  Choudhury, Prithwiraj, and Do Yoon Kim. "The Ethnic Migrant Inventor Effect: Codification and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders." Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 2 (February 2019): 203–229. View Details
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- RECENT PUBLICATION: Article
  Article | Harvard Business Review | January–February 2019
  The Hard Truth About Innovative Cultures
  Gary P. Pisano
  Innovative cultures are generally depicted as pretty fun. They’re characterized by a tolerance for failure and a willingness to experiment. They’re seen as being psychologically safe, highly collaborative, and nonhierarchical. And research suggests that these behaviors translate into better innovative performance. But despite the fact that innovative cultures are desirable, and that most leaders claim to understand what they entail, they are hard to create and sustain.
  That’s because the easy-to-like behaviors that get so much attention are only one side of the coin. They must be counterbalanced by some tougher and frankly less fun behaviors: an intolerance for incompetence, rigorous discipline, brutal candor, a high level of individual accountability, and strong leadership.
  Unless the tensions created by this paradox are carefully managed, attempts to create an innovative culture will fail.
  Keywords: Organizational Culture; Innovation and Invention; Performance Expectations; Leadership;
  
  Citation:
  Pisano, Gary P. "The Hard Truth About Innovative Cultures." Harvard Business Review 97, no. 1 (January–February 2019): 62–71. View Details
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- RECENT PUBLICATION: Article
  Article | Harvard Business Review | January–February 2019
  Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't
  Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
  In the digital economy, scale is no guarantee of continued success. After all, the same factors that help an online platform expand quickly—such as the low cost of adding new customers—work for challengers too. What, then, allows platforms to fight off rivals and grow profits? Their ability to manage five aspects of the networks they’re embedded in:
  
  • network effects, in which users attract more users
  • clustering, or fragmentation into many local markets
  • the risk of disintermediation, wherein users bypass a hub and connect directly
  • vulnerability to multi-homing, which happens when users form ties with two or more competing platforms
  • network bridging, which allows platforms to leverage users and data from one network in another network
  
  When entrepreneurs are evaluating a digital platform business, they should look at these dynamics—and the feasibility of improving them—to get a more realistic picture of its long-term prospects.
  
  Citation:
  Zhu, Feng, and Marco Iansiti. "Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't." Harvard Business Review 97, no. 1 (January–February 2019): 118–125. View Details
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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.

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