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To tap the required resources, they need to build credibility and legitimacy in the marketplace of resources and talent. Influence and persuasion can help entrepreneurs build their case for securing scarce resources for their venture. Choosing a physical location and operating as a virtual organization are viable options for a firm today. Using the Internet and teleconferencing, new organizations can build a powerful venture. All firms need to create a plan for outsourcing functions while maintaining critical functions within the firm. As firms strive to be innovative and competitive, they seek to control costs by outsourcing functions to those who can do them better and cheaper. However, these firms are challenged to retain the cohesion and coordination required to effectively manage these supplier partners.
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Meg Whitman at eBay, Inc. (A)
Meg Whitman takes over as CEO of eBay from the founder. She must figure out how to lead the company through a stage of phenomenal growth without compromising eBay's unique external customer culture and internal culture--its key success factors. Teaching Purpose: Leadership, managing change, managing growth, and organizational culture. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
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pcOrder: Revolutionizing the Channel
Founded in 1993, pcOrder was the first to allow distributors and resellers to shop on the Internet for products from multiple computer manufacturers. Unfortunately, pcOrder was encountering strong resistance from computer wholesalers, and manufacturers, who believed that pcOrder would eliminate existing partnerships between manufacturers and their distributors. pcOrder needed to lower the resistance of manufacturers and distributors to the pcOrder concept. CEO Christy Jones and her colleagues must decide: 1) How should pcOrder work together with manufacturers and distributors? 2) How can pcOrder create value for companies at each stage of the PC distribution channel? 3) How can pcOrder communicate the value of its solution to potential customers? 4) How should pcOrder respond to their concerns about the risks of commoditization?
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Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk
Hewlett-Packard decided that, in order to grow more rapidly, it needed to design a revolutionary disk drive product that would create an entirely new market or application for magnetic recording technology. The company followed most of the "rules" good managers follow in such situations: heavyweight project team, lots of senior management support, etc. But they still failed. This case helps students learn why good management isn't enough and how they should manage similar situations. Teaching Purpose: Useful in courses on managing innovation or new product development, especially where the general manager's perspective is paramount. A rewritten version of an earlier case. |
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Danger, Inc.
Danger, Inc. describes a startup in Silicon Valley that must
analyze and decide on the best companies for its portfolio of manufacturing and
carrier partners. With a complete solution that enables wireless carriers to
offer innovative and affordable voice and data products to their customers over
next-generation networks, Danger Inc. was a hot Silicon Valley startup. The
founding team had successfully implemented a first-generation integrated
solution, won numerous awards from the industry for their innovation, received
enthusiastic consumer reviews for their handheld product, and had signed on
their first major customer, T-Mobile. At this point, Danger needed to build a
portfolio of strategic relationships that would help bring its technology to
mainstream markets.
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(DVD Section 13.7) Jeff Hawkins: Outsourcing
Jeff shares his views on outsourcing and discusses how his company decides when and how to outsource. He believes that since the world is becoming global, outsourcing is the right thing to do. |
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David Neeleman: How does IT differentiate JetBlue?
How does IT differentiate Jet Blue? Neeleman on things they are doing well: We
decided to roll out a frequent flyer program, but held on long enough to make
sure it was completely implemented and managed online--we don't send anything
out via mail. JetBlue has 10 or 15 people available via telephone to deal with
problems, and 700,000 members online. Neeleman on things JetBlue should improve:
checking people in using technology, increasing functionality on the web. |
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Frank Levinson: How to Create Leverage
It's easy to feel like a little fish in a big pond when you're starting your company. Frank Levinson talks about leveraging what you have to make your company stand out from the rest, and it all comes back to customers. |
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Elon Musk: Reducing Company Costs - Paypal and SpaceX
Elon Musk talks about how SpaceX is reducing the cost of launch vehicles. The focus is on every element of the vehicle and this has involved hundreds of small innovations as well as reducing overheads. In the case of PayPal there were back office relationships that had to be established but everything was done in parallel thus saving time. |
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John Thompson: Retooling the Infrastructure of your Company
Slow down in capital spending has had a profound effect on the enterprise software companies. Symantec has made tremendous investments to retool infrastructure of the company in the last 2 _ years to scale the business. This story being replayed time and time again in the valley. With capital spending decreasing companies are adopting new models - software as a service. There is no right answer and model; it is a function of the nature of the business you are in. |
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Organizing for Innovation: When Is Virtual Virtuous?
Champions of virtual corporations urge managers to subcontract anything and everything. And because several high-profile corporate giants have been outperformed by more nimble, "networked" competitors, the idea of the virtual organization is tantalizing. Many executives have come to believe that a company that invests in as little as possible will be more responsive to a changing marketplace and more likely to attain global competitive advantage. But is that really the best way to organize for innovation? In this HBR article from 1996, Henry Chesbrough and David Teece argue that the virtual corporation has been oversold. Innovation is not monolithic. For some innovations, joint ventures, alliances, and outsourcing can play a useful role. But for others, they are inappropriate--and strategically dangerous. The authors present a framework to help managers determine when to innovate by going virtual, when to form alliances, and when to rely on internal development.
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