Technology & Operations Management
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- December 2024
- Case
Enerjisa Üretim: The Digital Era of Electricity Generation
By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Sadika El HaririLaunched in 2017, Enerjisa Üretim was one of Türkiye’s largest private sector electricity companies. In its early days, the company faced some financial and operational troubles. When İhsan Erbil Bayçöl, the current CEO of Enerjisa Üretim, joined the business in 2018, he implemented a series of initiatives to improve the company’s performance. He expanded its portfolio of renewable energy by developing multiple wind power plants across Türkiye. While this project aligned with the company’s growth and sustainability goals, it required significant investment in infrastructure and workforce expansion. Additionally, Bayçöl led the creation of the Senkron Remote Operation Center, a unit in the company’s headquarters whose function was to remotely operate and monitor power plants using advanced technologies. In 2022, the company achieved a major milestone by converting one of its hydroelectric facilities into Türkiye’s first “dark power plant” (i.e., a plant running without human intervention). Bayçöl knew that it would be complex to replicate the same model across all the different types of power plants scattered across the country. Building on the company’s expertise, Bayçöl led a collaboration with Microsoft in 2023 to enable Enerjisa Üretim to sell its digital offerings to third-party firms via the tech giant’s platforms. The partnership was expected to enlarge Enerjisa Üretim’s client base, so Bayçöl had to ensure the workforce was capable enough to cater for the growing demand. As Bayçöl was planning the future of Enerjisa Üretim, he wondered which business line he should give the most attention to and what priorities to focus on within each of the business lines.
- December 2024
- Case
Enerjisa Üretim: The Digital Era of Electricity Generation
By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Sadika El HaririLaunched in 2017, Enerjisa Üretim was one of Türkiye’s largest private sector electricity companies. In its early days, the company faced some financial and operational troubles. When İhsan Erbil Bayçöl, the current CEO of Enerjisa Üretim, joined the business in 2018, he implemented a series of initiatives to improve the company’s performance. He...
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- November–December 2024
- Article
How to Avoid the Agility Trap
By: Jianwen Liao and Feng ZhuAgility is all the rage in strategy circles these days. According to conventional wisdom, organizations should rapidly react to technological advances, new market dynamics, and shifting consumer preferences. But in practice this is nearly impossible to pull off, because the environment is evolving much faster than firms can respond to. The consequences of trying to keep up with every change are stark: the erosion of competitive advantages, a myopic focus on the short term, and organizational chaos. In their research the authors have repeatedly seen that in volatile environments, firms anchoring their strategies in a few enduring factors, rather than many transient ones, are more likely to achieve sustainable growth. This approach is called strategic constancy. It involves recognizing the fundamental aspects of the company’s business model—its core values, customer relationships, brand identity, and key competencies—and remaining dedicated to them despite external pressures. It emphasizes depth over breadth—deepening the company’s competitive advantage in its core areas rather than spreading efforts thinly over many.
- November–December 2024
- Article
How to Avoid the Agility Trap
By: Jianwen Liao and Feng ZhuAgility is all the rage in strategy circles these days. According to conventional wisdom, organizations should rapidly react to technological advances, new market dynamics, and shifting consumer preferences. But in practice this is nearly impossible to pull off, because the environment is evolving much faster than firms can respond to. The...
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- November 2024
- Case
Demond Martin and WellWithAll
By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila MaloneThis case study chronicles into the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a successful hedge fund career to champion health equity through WellWithAll. He leverages his extensive network and industry reputation to forge strategic alliances with The Campbell’s Company, retail giants like Target and Thrive Markets, and health equity partners such as Advocate Health and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. While tackling the challenges in the crowded supplements and energy drinks market, Martin is committed to investing 20% of profits into Black and Brown communities, aiming for a $300 million impact on racial health disparties over the next decade. Key themes include a late-career transition to entrepreneurship, leveraging relationships, team building, and scaling a mission-driven business.
- November 2024
- Case
Demond Martin and WellWithAll
By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila MaloneThis case study chronicles into the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a successful hedge fund career to champion health equity through WellWithAll. He...
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
Enerjisa Üretim: The Digital Era of Electricity Generation
- December 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
How to Avoid the Agility Trap
- November–December 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
Demond Martin and WellWithAll
- November 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Hugging Face (B): Growing AI and the Platform
- November 2024 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Group AMANA: Built to Last
- November 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Polish Agro: Where Do We Grow From Here?
- November 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Cheerful Music
- November 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Fire at Notre Dame de Paris
- November 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.