個案總覽

Liferay, an enterprise portal and content management system, uses an open-source development model. Its flagship portal (also named Liferay) is distributed under a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) licence. This licence allows users to access, modify and distribute Liferay's source code, and to re-license their derivative work. Open-source licencing has significant implications for Liferay's adoption process. Organizations simply download the Liferay portal for free, try it out for different business requirements and engage the vendor for dedicated service-level agreements for more advanced usage support. Several developers and users outside Liferay participate in the software development process and make significant contributions. However, unrestricted access and liberal distribution norms allow other software organizations to make free use of Liferay's efforts. These organizations slightly modify Liferay's source code (particularly Liferay's core system) and repackage the software. By 2010, this scenario has become particularly difficult. Liferay's recent adoption of a platform strategy is based on preserving the uniformity and stability of the core system. Due to unconstrained modifications to the source code, the core system could soon become fractured and non-standardized. The CEO has to select a suitable licencing framework that will align with the newly adopted platform strategy but at the same time retain Liferay's adherence to open source. Alternately, Liferay could abandon open source altogether.

Whenever an investment is made, there are always costs and benefits. This case explores, based on quantitative and qualitative factors, a decision that a typical student at university might face. The decision to rent a house or purchase one in order to rent out the additional rooms is a difficult one. All of the pros and cons of each option need to be carefully considered.

Spreadsheet supplement for case W14207.

A management consulting team has been hired to advise HuStream Technologies on a new business model and target market. HuStream operates a service-based business model, providing customers with fully produced interactive video content. In the founders' efforts to transition to a product-based business, they have built a cloud-based platform to provide easy accessibility to their company's products and services. Using that platform, clients can produce their own interactive content. HuStream faces the challenge of transitioning from an entirely service- based business model to an entirely product-based business model. The consultancy's task is to identify HuStream's top business and marketing opportunities using the service-based business model and keeping within the constraints of limited funding.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Oil & Gas is GE's fastest growing business, with revenues of $15 billion. It competes in high-growth markets and creates products like the recently launched first subsea compressor that utilize GE's broad technical capabilities. Measurement & Control, a division of Oil & Gas, covers a swath of industries and applications, according to its website, including sensing, asset condition monitoring, controls and instrumentation. But Oil & Gas, along with the rest of GE, is also betting heavy on analytics. The company announced this summer the first-of-its-kind cloud platform for collecting, storing and analyzing large scale machine data, to handle the massive data from the coming Industrial Internet. GE is also applying that analytic rigor to innovate internally - and drive commercial change. Philip Kim, (former) marketing operations leader for Measurement & Control , discusses how GE uses data to continuously improve performance - whether that's to grow sales, decrease costs or improve performance-- and in the process, democratizes analytics.

In late 2013, Bloomberg LP, the financial information powerhouse, was challenged by a competing messaging service owned by a consortium of banks, many of whom were Bloomberg's customers. This development came when growth was slowing and news was emerging that Bloomberg's business practices may have compromised the privacy of its customers. Did these events serve to open fissures in the company's ability to maintain industry dominance? This case asks students to consider Bloomberg's business model and the industry's competitive landscape to assess the company's market position.

By covering information technology (IT) management at Air Canada over two decades, this case illustrates the process of alignment between IT and business over time. During the 1990s, the focus was on efficiency and the IT department supported business through both the centralization of the IT function and the outsourcing of most of the IT activities, with the explicit objective of reducing costs. Twenty years later, at the time the case takes place, Air Canada had two key strategic objectives: operational excellence and customer proximity. In order to help meet these two objectives, IT now supported business through a hybrid structure and an innovation-based, "best-of-breed" sourcing strategy. Also, over the years, the IT department at Air Canada had developed processes aimed at ensuring efficient delivery of services by suppliers, as well as in-house processes to scan, identify and implement innovative IT solutions both for operational excellence and customer proximity.

This case follows Rodrigo Nino, founder and CEO of commercial real estate development company Prodigy Network, as he develops an equity-based crowdfunding model for small investors to access commercial real estate in Colombia, then tries out the model in the U.S. U.S. regulations, starting with the Securities Act of 1933, effectively barred sponsors from soliciting small investors for large commercial real estate. However, the JOBS Act of 2013 loosened U.S. restrictions on equity crowdfunding. Nino believes that crowdfunding will democratize real estate development by providing a new asset class for small investors, revolutionizing the industry. The case also follows Nino's development of an online platform to crowdsource design for his crowdfunded buildings, maximizing shared value throughout the development process. Nino faces many challenges as he attempts to crowdfund an extended stay hotel in Manhattan, New York. For example, crowdfunded real estate faces resistance from industry leaders, especially in regards to the concern of fraud, and SEC regulations on crowdfunding remain undetermined at the time of the case.

Brunella Noli, General Manager of a Peruvian consulting firm (Pegaso Peru), reviews the history of a troubled IT project for client Casa Master Center (CMC). The project is 11 months overdue, and CMC is an increasingly unhappy client. Noli's review, which starts with the sale and recounts the project's scope, contract and implementation, uncovers a series of problems. Noli seeks to resolve these issues without incurring additional costs. She worries that the relationship with the client is rapidly deteriorating and she fears that this will damage Pegaso's reputation. A second one-page Case B recounts what happened next. This case is based on actual events in real organizations. The identities of the parties involved have been changed, along with other key information, to preserve anonymity.

Meditec is a German manufacturer of instruments for surgeries. The company is quality leader in this sector and supplies many German and international hospitals. However, the opportunities for differentiation against competitors decrease continuously. New competitors from emerging markets are challenging the market position of established companies in this industry. Meditec is therefore forced to change its strategy and business model in order to survive in this novel competitive environment. The management of Meditec has decided to traverse from a pure product manufacturer to a customer-centric solution provider. This transformation requires the development of new processes, competencies and capabilities - especially with respect to IT and IT services. This teaching case helps in understanding the role of IT in product-service systems (PSS) and PSS-based business models. Therefore the case illustrates why IT is necessary to establish a PSS-based business model and why a customer-centric view is important for this kind of business model.

Sustainable IT (Information Technology) involves the responsible management of resources (both IT and non-IT) encompassing environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Sustainable IT has the potential to be a significant contributor to an organization's sustainability strategy. In this teaching case, we examine what Intel IT has done to transform its operations with Sustainable IT, resulting in the avoidance of significant CO2 emissions and cost savings. This teaching case challenges the reader to analyze the Sustainable IT capability at Intel. The case includes insights into strategic and operational challenges of planning and managing Sustainable IT.

The case tells the story of Kate Doerksen in her journey as founder and CEO of Ditto, an eyewear e-commerce company that introduced virtual fitting technology. The case covers the period from the founding of the company in 2010 to its situation in December 2012, when the company faced a number of decisions including facing lawsuits from a competitor and a patent troll. This case focuses on the following elements of Doerksen's story: How Doerksen became interested in starting her own company, built a solid foundation of experiences, and made some key decisions to start Ditto. How Doerksen developed and crafted the idea of building an eyewear e-commerce company powered by virtual fitting technology. The dilemmas that Doerksen faced in her quest for the ideal cofounder(s) of Ditto. Doerksen's decision to hire her own father, against investors' advice and how she balanced investors' needs against organizational needs. The lawsuits against Ditto from 1-800-Contacts and Lennon Imaging Technology, including Doerksen's way of dealing with the attacks, her perseverance, and innovative approach to keeping the business alive.

The Volkswagen Group (VW Group) had set a firm-wide "Strategy 2018," which sought to make Volkswagen "the most successful and fascinating automaker in the world by 2018." According to the strategy, the company would reach annual sales of 10 million vehicles worldwide. To achieve this ambitious goal, VW Group placed "intelligent innovations and technologies" at the top of its agenda. Big data, broadly defined, represented an important opportunity for the company. In this exercise, the class will be divided into teams, and each team will design an initiative that leverages big data to help the VW Group make significant progress towards its objective. The teams will present their initiatives at the upcoming executive meeting, at which time the best initiative will be selected.

Case describes the funding landscape for enterprise technology startups and how there has been a renewed interest in these types of companies in 2012 and 2013. The case highlights recent IPOs within this sector and the venture capitalists who have created funds to pursue an enterprise information technology investment thesis. Case focuses on the company Splunk to highlight the intricacies and nuances of building a successful enterprise startup from funding to IPO. The case also highlights issues around fund raising, selecting the right venture capitalists, and whether to accept an acquisition offer.

Business-information technology (IT) initiatives in pedagogy are no longer a novelty. Still, some of the best known music examination boards seem reluctant to change, and continue to adopt a system largely bereft of it to run their business. Aligning business and IT in music examination boards is proving to be a theoretical challenge, and an unresolved issue at the corporate level. Involuntarily participation in the increasingly prevalent reliance on new technologies to augment business opportunity, as part of a wider process of globalization, is no longer a viable option. Although some boards are seeing this alignment as an enabler of business goals, others see it as an inhibitor. Who is right? Which strategy reaches the business goal of maximum enrollments? This paper opens a discussion on possible best-aligned business-IT decisions to enable best business activity and uses a case study to examine the underutilization of business-IT alignment adopted by one of the most successful music examination board in the world. This paper questions whether the use of IT in music examination defines being a market leader or not. By using a survey, in-depth interviews and a pilot study, this paper presents an IT alignment fit between the board and its IT platforms. Finally, the paper leverages the value of an initiative composed of thoughtful business strategy and IT to open up new business opportunities, and raises unanswered questions for the reader.

Global Consultancy Canada, the national branch of a global tax, accounting and consulting services firm, is seeking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its organization. The leader of the sourcing practice has been tasked by the company's chief executive officer to identify opportunities for transforming the firm's marketing and communications, human resources, finance and information technology functions. He must decide on the most suitable models for these business areas and make a recommendation at the next leadership update meeting.

The case opens with the background of RIM and a description of the industry as well as technology upon which RIM based its success. It follows chronologically how the industry shaped up, including trends and competitive dynamics.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. A study by MIT Sloan Management Review and Capgemini Consulting finds that companies now face a digital imperative: adopt new technologies effectively or face competitive obsolescence. While there is consensus on the importance of adopting digital technology, most employees find the process complex and slow. Many say their leaders lack urgency and fail to share a vision for how technology can change the business. Companies that succeed tend to have leaders who share their vision and define a road map, create cross-organizational authority for adoption and reward employees for working towards it.

In 2006, Dr. WANG Shan was appointed as the president of Peking University People's Hospital (hereafter referred to as "PKUPH"), a large class 3A public hospital in China. Prior to his appointment, PKUPH had experienced three consecutive years of financial losses due to poor internal management. No standard operating procedure was established to prescribe the level of activity expected from each responsible person or decision units, and the amount of resources that a responsible party should use in achieving that level of activity. No formal management control systems were installed to collect, process, analyse accounting (particularly cost-related) information and provide timely feedback to the management. As a result, actual costs significantly exceeded budget. Loopholes in the system stemming from loose monitoring and control gave rise to severe agency problems. To turn the situation around, WANG Shan launched an IT-led management reform. By 2012, the reform has yielded significant and positive results. Annual revenues and profits increased significantly. Management and operational efficiency was also significantly enhanced. This case is intended to demonstrate how an institutionally complex organization (particularly hospitals) can overcome institutional challenges and upgrade management with an IT-oriented strategy.

The German direct insurer Gothaer Insurance Group is among the largest insurance companies in Germany. In recent years, Gothaer was facing the challenge of replacing its existing collection systems. The replacement system was one of SAP's key modules for Insurance Solution, a standard software product called FS-CD (Financial Services-Collections and Disbursements). The first stage of the project significantly exceeded time and budget objectives. The second stage was expected to encounter serious technical problems. Consequently, the entire project was called into question. A meeting of the IT steering committee was scheduled at short notice to decide upon the project's continuance. This case chronicles the series of events leading to that upcoming steering committee meeting.