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As the poster child of the sharing economy, Uber has disrupted the heavily protected taxi industry with an app that connects a distributed network of passengers and drivers at a simple click of a button. While its asset-light ridesharing business model is highly innovative and has been excitedly embraced by investors, the extent of its success is diminished by unhappy customers, irate taxi drivers, and frustrated regulators. This case explores key challenges Uber faces in its quest for legitimacy as a sharing economy disruptor, and the strategies it adopts to deal with these challenges.

Student spreadsheet for case W17282.

Increasingly, big data is viewed as the most strategic resource of the 21st century, similar in importance to that of gold and oil. While sitting on these vast pools of data, many organizations are simply not ready to take advantage of this new strategic resource. Embracing big data requires addressing a number of barriers that fall into the domains of technology, people, and organization. A holistic, socio-technical approach is required to overcome these barriers. This article introduces the specific tactics we recommend for addressing big data barriers, which involve changes to technology infrastructure, a focus on privacy, promotion of big data and analytic skills development, and the creation of a clear organizational vision related to big data.

Big data represents a new technology paradigm for data that are generated at high velocity and high volume, and with high variety. Big data is envisioned as a game changer capable of revolutionizing the way businesses operate in many industries. This article introduces an integrated view of big data, traces the evolution of big data over the past 20 years, and discusses data analytics essential for processing various structured and unstructured data. This article illustrates the application of data analytics using merchant review data. The impacts of big data on key business performances are then evaluated. Finally, six technical and managerial challenges are discussed.

Many technology experts believe the internet cannot be shut down as it was built by the military to be redundant. Organizations have accepted this premise and generally do not have the means to ensure continuing connectivity in the face of disruption. As early as 1997, however, the internet did experience disruption, leaving millions of users disconnected. It is argued that because the internet has been embedded into all business operations it is necessary for managers to review their policies regarding continued connectivity should a disruption occur. In this article I offer several practical suggestions regarding how managers can continue to operate critical processes in the face of short or extended internet outages. Further, I suggest that a view of corporate data processes based on traditional accounting perspectives needs to be revised to consider these data processes as a matrix interacting across customer, vendor, employee, and human interfaces.

The phenomenon of big data-large, diverse, complex, and/or longitudinal data sets-is having a stark influence on organizational strategy making. An increase in levels of data and technological capabilities is redefining innovation, competition, and productivity. This article contributes to both practical strategic application and academic research in the strategic management domain by presenting a framework that identifies how big data improves functional capabilities within organizations, shapes entirely new industries, and is a key component of innovative and disruptive strategies used by learning organizations to diversify and break down barriers of traditionally defined industries. This framework provides an appropriate basis for internal corporate strategy discussions that surround big data investments by explaining how firms create value through various approaches. In addition, this we offer guidance for how firms might derive their own big data approach through the merits of aligning data strategy aspirations with data strategy authenticity.

This case chronicles the evolution, challenges and actions taken by an integrated care telemedicine ecosystem comprising an acute hospital and nursing homes for the elderly. More generally, it describes the challenges faced by the keystone or hub organization in initiating and deploying a novel service that required the contributions and collaboration of diverse partners, many of whom were experiencing resource constraints, in the face of changing industry environment. It details the steps taken to deal with the challenges of getting wary partners with unequal resources and capabilities on board, levelling up skills, and putting in place technology and joint processes necessary for the delivery of a joint service. It demonstrates that the steps resulted in increased partner trust, improved levels of partner competency, increased service quality, and cost savings. The case can be used for courses in: (a) Information Systems, to examine the implementation of systems across multiple organizational partners in order to offer new services. (b) Platforms and ecosystems, particularly those focused on ecosystem evolution. (c) Healthcare, to discuss the development and deployment of integrated care initiatives.

The CIO of Fintech, Inc. -a billing-and-payment processing service for the alcoholic beverages industry must choose a cloud services provider for a new application for Fintech's clients. The CIO sees this initiative as a useful first step to take before moving other resources and services into the cloud. His staff briefs him on three providers: Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Each provider offers services which fit Fintech's requirements, yet with important differences. The Fintech case addresses the perspective of a company purchasing cloud computing services, as opposed to a vendor selling cloud computing services. It offers the added benefit of describing an important specialist intermediary in the highly regulated and complex US alcoholic beverages industry. The case has been tested in MIS and IT Management classes in undergraduate, MBA, MS-IT and DBA programs. It introduces cloud concepts (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS), and provides an opportunity for students to consider technical, economic, operational and strategic factors when making mission-critical IT decisions such as moving an important application to the cloud. Students can also consider how to mitigate risks associated with particular providers. The instructor can use it to introduce students to pilot testing and issues in vendor selection and ongoing management. After considering strengths and weaknesses of each provider and the provider selection process, the instructor can ask students to recommend a provider and/or other steps Kwo should take before making a final decision.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. To understand how advances in artificial intelligence are likely to change the workplace - and the work of managers - in coming years, you need to know where AI delivers the most value.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In the past several years, the list of companies whose internal systems have been hacked has grown rapidly. It now includes such high-profile businesses as Target, JPMorgan Chase, Home Depot, Sony Pictures, Ashley Madison, and Yahoo. No industry appears to be safe from attacks. Unfortunately, the authors say, investment in security measures is only part of the answer; traditional methodologies can only do so much. To be effective, managers in charge of cybersecurity need to adjust their mindsets and become as open and adaptive as possible. In this article, the authors present a framework drawn from the knowledge and opinions of experts, including interviews with more than 20 experienced hackers. As the authors explain, hackers have two different mindsets depending on the stage of the attack: explorative and exploitative. An exploration mindset used in the early stages of an attack combines deliberate and intuitive thinking and relies on intensive experimentation. Once access to a system is gained, hackers adopt an exploitation mindset. An attack typically involves four steps: Step 1: Identifying Vulnerabilities If hackers think your company is worth attacking, they will examine it thoroughly for weaknesses, surveying the network information, organizational information, and security policies. Companies can protect themselves by adopting an iterative and adaptive process and making a point of conducting a high-level "footprint"of their systems on a regular basis. They should also make sure that employees are well informed on policies regarding sharing of information. Step 2: Scanning and Testing After a hacker has broken into your network, weaknesses in the applications running on those systems could become avenues for further unauthorized access. To protect your company, examine your network and identify potential weaknesses.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. If you want to lead your organization's technology transition, the first step is grasping the realities of digital transformation -rather than getting seduced by the hype.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Although additive manufacturing -also known as 3-D printing -was developed back in the 1980s, lately it has become increasingly talked about as managers look for ways to improve efficiency and reduce production costs. The appeal of additive manufacturing is its potential to reduce the need for expensive materials and energy, cut lead times, and make supply chains more efficient. Despite the promise of additive manufacturing, the authors argue, near-term expectations are overblown. Based on dozens of interviews, study of the literature on the history of materials and process technologies, industry meetings, and factory visits, they have identified three myths that need to be dispelled. The first myth is that additive manufacturing will allow producers to make parts of any complexity as easily and economically as parts that are manufactured in traditional ways (in other words, that it will make complexity "free"). The second myth is that additive manufacturing will prod manufacturing to become local. And the third myth is that additive manufacturing will allow producers to replace mass manufacturing with mass customization. In the authors'view, none of these expectations is likely to be realized in the next few decades. Although the authors say that additive manufacturing will make it easier to design lighter parts with complex geometries and internal cavities, they point to important drawbacks and restrictions. Knowing the parameters of what's possible to produce requires skills that are currently scarce. There are also safety and technical issues. Some of the safety concerns stem from the fact that the technology is new. Although many people are looking for additive manufacturing to bring manufacturing closer to markets and consumers, the authors believe that this scenario has been exaggerated, largely due to economies of scale.

This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

In the spring of 2016, the director of finance and administration for the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre was frustrated with the organization's legacy donor and volunteer information system. The technology platform was outdated, data integrity was out of control, costs were spiralling, and most importantly, required information was not available on demand. The director was concerned that these issues with the organization's information systems would interfere with its ability to maintain positive relationships with existing donors and to secure new financial supporters-ultimately, that it could have an impact on the agency's efforts to achieve more good in the community. He was contemplating three options to solve this problem: build a new in-house system to replace the current Microsoft Access database system; purchase customer relationship management software specifically developed for non-profit fundraising and relationship management and install this on personal computers and servers in the offices; or adopt a cloud-based fundraising solution, where the organization's data would be stored on a secure, shared platform administered by the vendor.

Tomohiro Ishibashi (Bashi), Chief Executive Officer for B to S and Julia Foote LeStage, Chief Innovation Officer of Weathernews Inc., were addressing a panel at the Harvard Business School Digital Summit on creative uses of big data. They told the summit attendees about the Sakura (cherry blossoms) Project, where the company asked users in Japan to report about how cherry blossoms were blooming near them, day by day, had opened up opportunities for the company's consumer business in Japan. The project ultimately garnered positive publicity and became a foothold to building the company's crowdsourcing weather-forecasting service in Japan. It changed the face of weather forecasting in Japan. Bashi and LeStage wondered whether the experience could be applied to the US market.

The LiveRamp case follows the story of Anneka Gupta, Chief Product Officer of LiveRamp, from her early days with the company as a spinoff from Rapleaf, to the present day, where she manages a large product management team responsible for developing cutting edge data onboarding products.