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Through an in-depth case study of Cisco Systems, this Executive Digest finds that companies face two broad challenges when transitioning to the agile product development model. The first is identifying and helping business units and engineering teams adopt this method; the second is developing new management practices that are compatible with and can sustain the agile development practices. Although extant literature has conducted many analyses on these two challenges, there still exist gaps in the research of the agile development method. Herein, we explore how Cisco Systems addressed these two challenges followed by a discussion of the broad implications of adopting the agile development method. This research deepens our understanding of how to adopt and lead the agile development process.

The use of managerial control ratios for benchmarking IT costs is widely accepted. This installment of Accounting Matters informs CIOs about IT managerial control ratios and the assumptions underlying the use of these ratios in IT cost benchmarking. Incorrect use of these ratios and violation of the assumptions can lead to faulty inferences and costly mistakes. This article proposes a technique for benchmarking IT costs to draw the right conclusions from the data.

From the seclusion of monastic life to the noise of Silicon Valley, the ancient practice of mindfulness has 'come out of the cloister.' As an antidote to mindless cognition and behavior, the practice of mindfulness-with its principle of grounding attention in the present moment-has been shown to have powerful and positive effects at both the individual and the collective level and in fields as wide-ranging as medicine, schooling, prison programs, law and negotiation, business, and even the army. This installment of Marketing & Technology introduces mindfulness to managers and explores its potential for enhancing the service encounter. We begin by reviewing the two main conceptualizations of mindfulness: the cognitive and the contemplative. We then explore the service encounter from the perspective of emotional labor and show how mindfulness can change surface acting into deep acting, thereby significantly improving the service encounter for both the consumer and provider. We also explore the other benefits of mindfulness and their application to the service encounter: adaptability, flexibility and creativity. We conclude by sharing resources for managers interested in implementing mindfulness training.

The sharing economy, a rising pattern in consumption behavior that is essentially based on accessing and reusing products to utilize idle capacity, presents both tremendous possibilities and significant threats for emerging as well as incumbent businesses. As of today, it is unclear whether this economy is merely another ephemeral trend in consumption or whether we are experiencing a real shift in how goods are accessed, distributed, and used. Furthermore, little is known about how existing business models are affected by the sharing economy. These two issues represent the central motivation for the development of this article. Consequently, an examination of why the sharing economy has the potential to produce a long-term transformation in consumption behavior is followed by a consideration of how this change might affect companies' business models. Based on a renowned business model framework and a variety of current illustrative examples, we propose central questions managers have to ask themselves in order to be prepared to respond to changes brought about by this new economic trend.

With the explosion of the digital universe, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how organizational decision making (i.e., the business-oriented perspective) is intertwined with an understanding of enterprise data assets (i.e., the data-oriented perspective). This article first compares the business- and data-oriented perspectives to describe how the two views mesh with each other. It then presents three elements in the data-oriented perspective that are collectively referred to as the data triad: (1) use, (2) design and storage, and (3) processes and people. In describing the data triad, this article highlights practices, architectural techniques, and example tools that are used to manage, access, analyze, and deliver data. By presenting different elements of the data-oriented perspective, this article broadly and concretely describes the data triad and how it can play a role in the redefined scope of work for data-driven business managers.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) began to take root in the late 1990s and has since become generally recognized as an expectation of good management and corporate governance. However, as evidenced by surveys and research, many companies still struggle with ERM implementation. This article explores the challenges companies face when implementing ERM and offers solutions for firms struggling with the concepts and execution. We draw upon Hydro One's experience in achieving ERM maturity as a best practice case study. The company's ERM methods have been researched and documented extensively. With over 15 years of ERM success, Hydro One is an excellent organization to benchmark for ERM best practices.

This article presents methods to help companies build processes that emphasize consumer ethnography, customer ethnography, and commercialization planning as components for innovation within mature, well-established consumer or industrial markets. It is written for multifunctional innovation teams and senior management toward increasing the success rates of new product innovations.

In fewer than ten days during the summer of 2016, millions of smartphone users around the world went crazy over Pokémon Go, an augmented reality videogame app. If only all new high-technology products-and their investors-could enjoy such runaway success! Alas, the road to new technologies can be bumpy, and marketers of new high-tech products face numerous obstacles. Six perils await these marketers: significant market uncertainty, significant technological uncertainty, issues of compatibility within a product's complex multi-component system, struggles to orchestrate self-reinforcing network effects, challenges of navigating ecosystem complexities and competition, and inherent risks of making hard choices among multiple product-market options with significant path dependency. This article discusses these dangers and concludes with advice regarding steps marketers can and should take to make the journey to market less perilous.

In late May 2009, New Vine Logistics ("New Vine"), a Napa-based wine shipping and fulfillment company, abruptly closed its doors, leaving hundreds of clients scrambling for information on their orders and inventory. Six days after New Vine's closure, Inertia Beverage Group (IBG), a provider of solutions for the creation and expansion of online wine marketplaces, agreed in principle to acquire New Vine and provide interim cash funding to revitalize operations. The resulting organization provided the industry's only fully integrated direct-to-market solution incorporating e-commerce, compliance, and logistics capabilities. Nine months later, in March 2010, Joseph Waechter, who had spent 15 years at DHL and was credited with the growth and expansion of the company into the world's largest express shipment company, was appointed CEO of IBG. Under Waechter's direction, the company set out a new strategy to expand access to new markets. Despite operating in a highly regulated industry, WineDirect facilitated winery direct-to-consumer fulfillment in 45 states, enabling the company to reach 90 percent of the U.S. wine-drinking public. In 2015 alone, WineDirect enabled more than $1 billion in direct wine sales and shipped more than 8 million bottles of wine through its three fulfillment centers. Still, Waechter thought about the greatest current business opportunities as a supply chain management firm. Further, he wondered what types of existing or new wine businesses could and should be leveraging WineDirect's supply chain management capabilities. This case describes the challenges faced by the growth of the direct-to-consumer segment of the wine industry. It covers growth, trends, and regulatory matters within the wine industry, as well as WineDirect's competitive offering, customers, and brief economics.

The leader of a pioneering biotech company in the siRNA space weighs his options for scaling production capacity in advance of an anticipated commercial launch. Operational complexity and relative merits of in-house manufacturing versus a contractor model are discussed.

In July 2014, after 18 months and eight unsuccessful product launches, the CEO of Yabbly has agreed to sell his company to a larger, well-funded startup, providing a return of capital for his investors and a home for his team. Two weeks prior to the scheduled closing, the team launches a final experiment based on the results of a customer interview. After creating a quick landing page and announcing the product launch through social media channels, the company finds significant customer interest. With only two weeks of promising data, the CEO must decide whether or not to abandon the planned sale to pursue the new product, and if so, what terms he should offer new and existing investors to finance the next phase of product development.

In 2014, the owner of a food truck based in Hamilton, Ontario, was looking over the first year of her operations. In addition to working in Hamilton, she had tried to maximize her revenues by driving to several other cities and charging various prices for each burger, depending partly on the fresh ingredients available in each city. Besides location, the owner had collected data on a few other factors-the weather, the day of the week, the city's population, and whether a festival was going on-that had had an impact on the demand for her product. She wondered whether analytics could help her decide where to sell and how much to charge on a daily basis. The owner also wondered whether this decision-making and data-collection process could be automated since she would be using it every day.

Student spreadsheet for case W16736.

In 2013, the chief executive officer of Porter Airlines, a Toronto-based regional airline, announced an expansion project to expand the airline's destinations. The project required that Porter Airlines expand its fleet of jets to accommodate longer distances, and that its transport hub, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, be renovated. The airport was governed by a tripartite agreement between the federal government, the City of Toronto, and PortsToronto; any amendments to the agreement required a consensus of the three governing parties. Despite active petitioning, the federal government announced in 2015 it would not support an amendment to the agreement. Should Porter Airlines continue to petition? Or should it consider alternative options to achieve growth?

Supplement to case W16748.

This technical note provides an overview of Financial Management. It is intended as a note to accompany the opening session of a case-based course in corporate finance or financial management, as a way of orienting students as to what they should expect and not expect from such a course.

In 2016, the millennial generation (those age 19 to 35 in 2016), the largest generation by population in the U.S., was entering its prime home buying, family forming, earning and spending years. This generation was showing different beliefs and behaviors than previous generations-beliefs and behaviors that were having a significant impact on the overall economy and in particular on the food industry. This note explores the millennial generation, how it differs from previous generations, and examples of how it is impacting the food industry.

In March 2010, Burak Dalgın (HBS MBA 2004) led private equity firm Darby's investment in Sırma, a local Turkish water and beverage company. Sırma was owned and managed by members of two Turkish business families. The existing management, while being highly entrepreneurial, had paid less attention to managing the company in a professional manner, leading to a highly leveraged balance sheet and a significant need for financing. After the investment, Sırma introduced new products, opened a new factory, and built up its financial reporting system from scratch. Two years after Darby's investment, Sırma's operational performance had improved. However, the company was still suffering from significant financial problems. By early 2013, although Sırma had received two cash injections from Darby, the company still required another round of financing. Dalgın was looking at three potential options: Should Darby make another investment in Sırma? If Darby stayed invested in Sırma, should it replace its managing partners? If Dalgın advised Darby to exit, would that be a premature move?

In November 2015, Westridge Cabinets (Westridge) was facing a sales decline of approximately 35 per cent. Westridge manufactured and sold kitchen cabinets for the new home market, the home renovation market, and both the low-rise and high-rise multi-unit markets. The company was based in Alberta, Canada, which had been hit hard by a 75 per cent drop in world oil prices in the last year. Westridge was re-evaluating its sales strategy and considering three alternative structures for the account management team: leave the existing system in place, but with a renewed focus on growth; off-load some of the order-management and customer-care responsibilities of the account managers to allow them to focus more attention on winning new contracts; or add new account managers to generate new business, and allow the existing team to focus on existing customers. The situation was urgent.

In 2016, the owner of Sarda Farms, a dairy farm in western India, was preparing for a meeting with the company's senior management. Since the dairy's launch in 2011, its production processes had stabilized; however, the daily demand for its milk was projected to increase substantially in six months, from 15,000 litres to 25,000 litres. Because the farm was already operating at near capacity, the output and efficiencies of all processes were under scrutiny. Sarda Farms needed to improve its efficiencies to meet the increase in demand, and the owner needed to finalize his strategy for improvements with senior management in one week's time.