Technology & Operations Management
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- October 24, 2023
- Article
10 Beliefs That Get in the Way of Organizational Change
By: Frances X. Frei and Anne MorrissIn 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 MorrissIn 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...
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- October 2024
- Article
Global Mobile Inventors
By: Dany Bahar, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Ernest Miguelez and Sara SignorelliThe 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 SignorelliThe 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...
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- September 2024
- Case
Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B)
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Stacy StraabergThe Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B) case encourages students to assess Allbirds’ product development and go-to-market strategies now that Allbirds is a publicly listed company. The (B) case provides a 2024 update on Allbirds including its initial public offering, mounting losses, decreasing share price, and the release of a strategic transformation plan. It also covers co-founders Tim Brown’s and Joey Zwillinger’s transition out of the co-CEO role.
- September 2024
- Case
Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B)
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Stacy StraabergThe Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B) case encourages students to assess Allbirds’ product development and go-to-market strategies now that Allbirds is a publicly listed company. The (B) case provides a 2024 update on Allbirds including its initial public offering, mounting losses, decreasing share price, and the release of a strategic...
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
- October 24, 2023 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review (website)
Global Mobile Inventors
- October 2024 |
- Article |
- Journal of Development Economics
Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B)
- September 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
It’s Time to Unbundle ESG
- September 20, 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review (website)
Leading Culture Change at SEB
- September 2024 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals
- September 2024 |
- Teaching Plan |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.