Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71). / Business developments within the water industry exist in the form of corporate market ventures and governmental initiatives to satisfy municipal needs. The two are infinitely interrelated and with increasing demand, new financing options and heightened regulatory activity they are dynamically shaping the industry's behavior. As 1) water has become a limited and invaluable resource, 2) once government controlled water operations fragment and reconsolidate under privatization, 3) technological adoption accelerates, and 4) regulation both domestic and internationally tightens, new ventures are at the mercy of increasingly multifaceted system dynamics. This paper aims to analyze the complexity of these dynamics, by placing weight on the components that are critical in adding value to the system in the face of a shaping environment. Whether entrepreneurial, intrapreneurial or governmentally-driven, understanding truly relevant value propositions and strategic importance will help clarify the various elements that affect decisions on new business venture planes. / by Thomas F. Gallo. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-158). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / This thesis probes the causal elements of product platform strategies and the effects of platform strategy on a firm. Platform strategies may be driven by internal or external forces, and the lifecycle of a firm and of a platform strategy evolve over time in response to both the needs of the firm and the changes in the external environment. This external environment may consist of a "platform ecology," in which the platform strategies of firms affect one another. These effects may be positive, buoying revenues, or negative, eliminating markets and appropriating value. The thesis assumes that a company whose strategy is to produce complements or services for another firm's platform may be said to have a platform strategy, and further assumes that a company with a modular platform strategy built primarily for its own internal use may also be said to have a platform strategy. Finally, this thesis will demonstrate example visualization techniques that make the nature of such platform strategies more apparent. This thesis asks and tries to answer a few key questions: ** What comprises the elements of a platform strategy? ** What kinds of companies adopt these strategies? ** What circumstances drive adoption? ** What outcomes can be expected? ** What happens to such a strategy over time? The thesis asserts and attempts to prove these hypotheses: ** Platform Strategies of one firm can influence those of many other firms, by direct effect on the other firms, or by simple economic benefit example. ** Return on Investment (ROI) is influenced by these strategies. ** Beyond ROI and thus Profit fluctuations, company survival, in an evolutionary Darwinian sense, may depend on these strategic choices. / by Richard B. LeVine. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / The business models of industries addressing consumers over the age of 55 are examined. A 3-D framework: Define, Design, and Deliver is developed to provide an understanding of notable failures in the mature market. Case studies in three sub-industries are used to highlight the negative effects of key influencers on each of the 3-D activities. Documentation from the business press and interviews with industry leaders are used to illuminate issues and seek best practices. The 3-D framework is used to explain mature market failures and to provide practical guidelines to business. / by Timothy I. Panagos. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-215). / The emergence of industry standards often has disruptive impacts on the behavior of markets. It can drive commoditization, substitution and convergence. It also changes the industry structure creating new business models and value chains, coupled with the entrance of new firms and the exit of incumbents still entrenched in proprietary technology. Studies have been conducted on the impact of industry standards in the personal computer and microprocessor industries which resulted in the disintegration of the industries into a horizontally organized cluster of hundreds of firms, and the emergence of value-capture powerhouses within the industry. This thesis studies the shifts in industry structure in the field of Application Platform Suite (APS) software resulting from the emergence of Java programming language as the industry standard for non-Microsoft-based application development. APS software runs and manages the critical e-business applications managing the interactions between users and the enterprise backend IT systems. BEA Systems and IBM are the two dominant Java-based APS value-capture powerhouses within this industry. This thesis surveys and summarizes the existing body of research on industry dynamics, growth strategy, technology strategy and competitive strategy, applies it to the field of APS software industry to predict the dynamics of the value chains and propose future strategies in this industry. It predicts that (1) Success of Microsoft's entry into enterprise APS market is low to medium; (2) Success of IBM in creating a unified development platform is medium to low; and (3) Success of Microsoft's entry into SAP's core packaged business application market is medium to low. Building on these forecasts, the / (cont.) thesis proposes the following strategies: (1) Microsoft should fundamentally change its business and technology strategy to shift the likely outcome towards its favor; (2) SAP should consider progressively outsourcing its back-end technology components to focus on the applications business, and BEA and IBM should consider positioning themselves as the preferred choice of the IT industry's back-end system provider; (3) Microsoft and BEA should invest in small open-source experimentation to understand the open-source dynamics; and (4) BEA should plan for the contingency of being an acquisition target with the primary aim of sustaining its fundamental position of remaining as an independent and pure-play infrastructure software vendor. / by Boon Chung Phua. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-57). / Knowledge networks have received a significant amount of attention in the past few decades as people look beyond corporate governance and resource-based approaches to uncover sources of competitive advantage. While this area of research is useful for organizations in general, it is especially pertinent to R&D organizations where knowledge flow is the critical enabler for breakthrough innovation. The proposed thesis will examine the drivers of knowledge flow and how it impacts the performance of Functional Centers and its subunits. The core of this research focuses on a medium-sized R&D firm in Singapore. This work is divided into the following steps: Develop a structured interview for gathering ideas from senior managers, Create and execute a survey to assess the knowledge network, Process and analyze the results This thesis will investigate the following questions: What are the various approaches people use to form their working networks and which approaches generate the most contacts and which methods generate the most useful contacts. Does strong intra-center/subunit connectivity negatively impact inter-center/subunit connectivity with people from other groups? How does the presence of people with strong networks within the centers affect the performance of the group? Do the managers of these people recognize their value/contribution and how does it affect the usefulness of these connectors? How does the duration of a bond between two people affect the quality of its social and work-related interactions? How does the willingness to build cross-level bonds (managers and junior engineers) impact the performance and efficacy of managers hence their workgroups? / by Liew Kou-Yew. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-130). / The objective of this thesis is to analyze the dynamics of the mobile industry and propose tools that will help create robust strategies to establish competitive advantage. In the mobile industry, competition is so keen that it is extremely difficult for mobile operators to maintain their competitive advantage for a long time. Therefore mobile operators need a clear view of the industry in order to develop strategies that will help them survive the keen competition. The tools proposed in this thesis should provide insights into the dynamics of the mobile industry. First, two concepts, "Double clockspeed" and "Three phases within system generation," are introduced. Not only must mobile operators improve their current systems but they must also keep in mind the need to migrate to the next-generation system. Therefore these companies should take into consideration double clockspeed as it relates to the clockspeed of system generation, and the clockspeed of service. On the other hand, an analysis of the mobile industry shows that there are three phases, "Initial Phase", "Differentiation Phase", and "Commodity Phase," within the system generation, and the dynamics of the mobile industry change according to the length and timing of these phases. These two concepts are extremely important for understanding the dynamics of the mobile industry. Then, a dynamics model of the Japanese mobile industry is proposed, based on the market analysis and the introduced two concepts. This dynamics model is based on the concepts of System Dynamics, which will help us understand the complexity of the mobile industry. Finally, the proposed dynamics model is applied to the current Japanese mobile industry, and possible scenarios for each mobile operator are analyzed. / (cont.) In addition, possible scenarios of mobile operators versus wireless LAN systems are also investigated, since these systems could become a disruptive technology in the near future, and mobile operators will need to create robust strategies to compete against them. / by Yoshitaka Hiramoto. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-95). / Providing profitable products for corporate business success is an important mission for the R&D organization. Although good organization design may not guarantee corporate business success, it can be a critical factor to determining a company's ability to extract value from its R&D spending. There is no one best organizational design. Each company has to build an appropriate organization based on its business environment. The main subject of this thesis is Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation's (NTT) R&D organization. NTT faces a severely competitive business environment from all angles of changing technology and service trends, competition, reorganization and financial difficulties. A case study of Bell Labs is also included, because of its similar situation and problems. Two critical internal organizational factors for providing profitable product are identified; marketing, and judgment of the development topics. A recommendation is given to build marketing capability in NTT holding company's R&D. Also, the collaboration method between marketing and R&D, and a new marketing approach for middle term R&D by using the lead user method are proposed. Furthermore, integration holding company's short term R&D into the subsidiary business corporations' R&D is also proposed. / by Satoru Iwasaki. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-102). / The 3rd Generation mobile telecommunications industry, which changes rapidly, is one of the best examples for the study of the balance of power in the value chain. Three dynamic factors are keys that can change the balance of power in the mobile operator's industry: sociopolitical factors, technological factors, and alliance factors. These factors collectively increase the bargaining power that mobile operators have over vendors. In addition they impact how vendors compete with each other. This thesis advances the discussion of power with an analysis of the Vodafone Group. It also explores the idea of how network suppliers respond to the increase in the bargaining power of buyers, through a discussion of Nokia. The focus of this thesis is not whether, but how the mobile telecommunications value chain, and specifically the bargaining power of buyers, has evolved thus far and will continue to evolve over the next few years. / by Uchida, Takashi. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-104). / This thesis predicts the dynamics of value chains in the telecommunication industry and proposes telecommunication carriers' strategies in future converged networks. It predicts that large carriers will vertically integrate chains for the supply and management of network services. This will dis-integrate network service providers into back-end network providers and front-end service providers, pushing niche network service providers to outsource network operations from large carriers. Building on these forecasts, the thesis proposes the following strategies: First, carriers should do business as both front-end service providers and back-end network providers. Second, as a front-end service provider's strategy, carriers should reinforce their base of loyal customers by providing tailored supply and management services like "Dell Premier". Third, as a back-end network provider's strategy, carriers should create the value of a back-end network like "VISA", by providing services for the inter operation between front-end service providers. Fourth, carriers should also build complementary assets, such as "design-for-manageability" know-how/patents and the position to aggregate contents/applications/ ASPs, taking advantage of their operation volume in back-end network services. / by Masahisa Kawashima. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-100). / The stationary fuel cell industry is currently witnessing an unstable period because of current technology barriers and business barriers at the same time that society has high expectations for fuel cell technology to solve current environmental problems. In order to overcome these barriers as well as to accelerate the commercialization of the stationary fuel cell business, companies in the industry must consider their long-term business development models based on a deeper understanding of their present business and technology positions as well as incumbents' rivalry technologies. This thesis identifies significant barriers for the early commercialization of stationary fuel cells in the U.S. and Japan through interviews with ten business experts in the industry. The concepts of dominant design, disruptive technology and public-private consortium are than analyzed in the context of the stationary fuel cell industry. Finally, future collaborative business development models for each stationary fuel cell industry in the U.S. and Japan are proposed based on the interview data and research analysis. The largest technology barriers and business barriers in both countries are, respectively, durability and high cost. On the other hand, the U.S. and Japanese perceptions of dominant design, disruptive technology and public-private consortium differ. The U.S. industry expects that a dominant design and public-private consortium will materialize although two interviewees responded that it is still too early for a dominant design and a consortium to enable invention and innovation. The Japanese industry is reluctant to adopt the dominant design and the public-private consortium. It would prefer a conference held for only private companies to share information and knowledge. In terms of disruptive technology, the U.S. industry thinks that external factors such as energy security issues and global warming will make stationary fuel cells become a disruptive technology. In Japan, however, industry participants believe that internal factors such as the mass production of fuel cell vehicles and deregulation in the retail electricity market will make stationary fuel cells become a disruptive technology. In order to realize and accelerate the stationary fuel cell business, industry must consider both cooperation and competition strategy in the long-term since it confronts not only high barriers that need a long time to be solved but also since it requires promising technology breakthroughs for successful commercialization. / by Tomonari Komiyama. / S.M.M.O.T.