Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-105). / Web-based enterprise software - sometimes referred to as "Software as a Service" (SaaS) or "on demand software" - is a major wave of innovation that introduces a new technical and economic model to enterprise software. The defining characteristics of web-based enterprise software are: a fully web-based user interface, hosted application deployment, a SaaS-based business model, and the use of a service-oriented architecture for integration. This study analyzes a sample of 108 companies currently offering SaaS-based products. In total, 35 different application types and 20 different combinations of revenue models were counted. Apparently, the market is still in an experimental phase, and truly dominant designs haven't emerged yet. Gross margins for SaaS-oriented companies are lower than for traditional software product companies, but still attractive at around 85%. The entrepreneurial activity in the sector is significant. More than 50% of the companies in the sample were founded in or after 2002, and almost 30% in the last two years. Venture capital continues to be an important source of capital with 36% of the companies having received VC investment, but an equally large percentage of companies are boot-strapped, i.e. have no formal source of outside capital. / (cont.) The data about customer adoption of web-based enterprise software is not very clear. Most studies suggest that SaaS accounted for about 5% of the CRM market in 2006, with other application types below that level. In total, SaaS probably doesn't even account for 1% of the global software market. However, customer willingness to adopt SaaS is apparently rising very quickly, and specialized SaaS companies are experiencing rapid growth. From the data available, it can't be decided unambiguously if web-based enterprise software is a truly disruptive model or merely an incremental innovation. Most characteristics point to a new-market disruption, i.e. an innovation that will bring new functionality to current non-users of advanced enterprise software. / by Andreas Göldi. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2007. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis is concerned with the commercial applications of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) manufacturing processes to advanced energy technologies. This field of engineering has come to be known as Power MEMS. Four such technologies are singled-out for detailed consideration, based on the efforts that have gone into demonstrating the benefits which MEMS has to offer them. The first are micro engines or turbines which generate of order 10-100 Watts of power by driving an electric generator, as exemplified by the famous MIT microturbine. The second are micro fuel cells, electrochemical devices which air oxidize chemical fuels, particularly the direct methanol fuel cell which operates at modest temperatures and hence is suitable for use in portable electronics. The third are solid-state devices which convert heat into electricity via either the Seeback (thermocouple) or photovoltaic effects, or else via thermionic emission. Finally, we consider devices which scavenge vibrational or electromagnetic energy from their environment, and are an attractive means of powering remote autonomous sensors or medical implants such as pacemakers. / (cont.) Following a survey of recent commercial activity in these technologies, we consider the markets they may serve, the economics of their MEMS-based production, and possible business models for their commercialization. Detailed case studies are presented of two recent startups, one of which is developing a heat-to-electricity conversion system based on the photovoltaic effect, and the other of which is studying a novel MEMS device which would use springs made out of carbon nanotubes to store energy. The conclusion is that the time is ripe for a power MEMS technology roadmap which can inspire energy technology companies to work together towards an industrial ecosystem like that now seen in the semiconductor industry. Specifically, we propose that by using MEMS as a unifying technology, it will become possible to easily buy, sell and trade knowledge, personnel, components and foundry services, facilitating experimentation with new products and business models and greatly accelerating the development of power MEMS itself. This may in turn lead to solutions to some of the pressing energy and environmental problems which society now faces. / by Timothy Franklin Havel. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2000. / Also available online at the DSpace at MIT website. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53). / Standards have been a very important issue in many industries as the innovators of the standard technology have tremendous power in the industry. The standard holders are supposed to have the dominant market position and technology leadership for further generation of the product as well as direct royalty income from the intellectual property. However, other various forces are also included in the evolution of the market and the technology. This thesis deals with the issues related to the evolution of standards in the optical storage device industry and other forces leading the market competition. Philips and Sony, the innovators of the CD technology, had taken the technology leadership of the industry for more than a decade. However, early followers such as Toshiba, Hitachi, and Panasonic took the leading position of the market, and competed with Philips and Sony for the standardization of DVD. The increased number of participants and the influence of complementors made the DVD standardization process much more complex. This trend will continue as current market leaders, who are late entrants, are added to the standard competition. This case shows that not only taking advantage from standardization but also proper market entry timing and continuous innovation is important for success in the optical storage market. / by Do-Joon Lee. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-91). / The objective of this thesis is to identify key factors that will produce further growth for NTT DoCoMo in Japan's mature mobile market. Since the early 1990s, the mobile phone market in Japan has grown rapidly, and competition for additional market share resulted in technological innovations like NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service to mobile carriers. Until recently, those innovations had leveraged the growth of the mobile phone industry. However, in 2004 the number of mobile phone subscribers exceeded 85 million and penetration rate reached 66.6%. Under such circumstances, the growth of the mobile carriers is gradually slowing. Moreover, there are threats which have the potential to change the current business model: mobile number portability, flat rate, new entrants, and globalization. In this thesis, I develop and organize frameworks that can be used by a company to produce further growth in a mature market by using traditional growth models. Then I analyze the sources for growth in mobile market and how the threats affect current dynamics in the mobile market. Finally I examine how the frameworks can work for NTT DoCoMo, and discuss the keys for growth in Japan's mature mobile market. / by Hiroyuki Oto. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-108). / Design is an especially effective means to transfer organizational product knowledge; yet, design outsourcing, or the contracting of a supplier to perform the design of a product or product component, has grown in acceptance and practice. Empirical evidence suggests that there are strategic risks for the contracting company, such as forward integration by the design supplier. There are also visible benefits, such as improving product innovation and overcoming resource limitations. To investigate the strategic implications of design outsourcing in conjunction with the knowledge transfer that takes place between the contractor and the supplier, six product development firms located in New England were interviewed. Their design practices and experiences in working with clients on many different design projects provided corroboration of and new insights into the risks and benefits from design outsourcing. Additional research into design practices, design technology, the unique qualities of design knowledge, and the contributors to the transfer of knowledge during design support the argument t.hat knowledge is transferred during design. The author proposes that a product is an embodiment of the tacit and explicit knowledge that is traded-off and integrated during design in a process that naturally employs collaboration. A relative qualitative measure of the amount of knowledge embodied by the product is called its knowledge intensity. Along with an alternative to the concept of a core product called the knowledge kernel, these concepts facilitate the important linking of knowledge and products during strategic outsourcing decisions. To investigate the strategic implications of design outsourcing in conjunction with the knowledge transfer that takes place between the contracting company and the supplier, a systems dynamics model was developed. The model shows that the interactions of the many different causal-loops in design outsourcing results in an eight-to-three ratio of reinforcing feedback loops to balancing feedback loops. This result suggests that design outsourcing is a self-promoting practice that is difficult to balance and can lead to significant product knowledge transferred to the supplier. Knowledge-based recommendations are offered for companies faced with design outsourcing decisions that include offensive and defensive tactics. / by Peter L. Grant. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-63). / This thesis examines how the traditional banking institutions can add value in supply networks of products and services. The approach is based on a critical examination of the current range of services offered by traditional banks and similar financial institutions to supply chains and their component firms. Our primary hypothesis that we construct from such an analysis is that banking institutions have a vast field of opportunity to undertake more value-added roles in the operational aspects of supply chains; currently, the purview of many traditional banks is limited to the strategic aspects of supply chains, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital investments, and a largely passive or reactive monitoring of financial performance of supply chains. In order to underscore the significance of the research question, we first review the strategic drivers and the success factors for most banking institutions as they seek to enlarge their role in the functioning of large markets; these strategic drivers could explain the positioning of the current range of services offered by banks to supply chains and broader markets. Next, working from the other end, we review briefly the strategic, tactical and operational issues and priorities facing supply chain managers of today, with a view to understanding the potential roles that financial institutions can play in order to engage supply chain managers for greater mutual benefit. However, the research questions of this thesis are also motivated by the set of competitive challenges facing traditional financial institutions in their current sphere of influence and their current market domains. / (cont.) For example, on the one hand traditional banks are being driven to become more efficient in their offerings to their customers, given the greater transparency and range of offerings available to their end-customers as a result of information technology, the Internet phenomena, and as a result of reduced cost of entry for many players. On the other hand, many supply chain innovators have also encroached upon the space of traditional banks, acting in effect as dis-intermediaries between banks and the end-customers of the supply chains. A good example of this is the profitable consumer credit lending business ventures of the automotive firms such as GM and Ford. Using the insights provided by the above critical analyses, we then propose that several specific opportunities exist for traditional banks to play a greater role in the tactical and operational aspects of supply networks for products and services, and provide examples of how banks can undertake more value added and proactive roles in these supply chains. / by Yoshiro Fujimori. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-122). / NeuroBioChip Device is a programmable, biocompatible, biodegradable, polymer matrix which allows the growth and programming of donor neurons. It creates a microenvironment conducive for neuronal outgrowth and promises a novel cure for neurological disorders caused by localized sites of brain damage, such as Parkinson's disease, stroke, and spinal injury. This chip is being researched in the MIT laboratories of Drs. Robert Langer and Mriganka Sur. My thesis addresses the challenges and possible strategies in commercializing this technology. The need for this treatment was evaluated in the context of current therapies available for the treatment of relevant neurological disorders. Extensive field interviews were conducted. Among other factors, the varying clockspeeds between different components of the device, the unsustainable cost structure and the emerging status of complementary technologies suggested that the development of the therapy is best pursued in collaboration with a large biopharmaceutical or medical device firm. / by Anindita Dutt. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-83). / With slowdown in the growth rate of petroleum product consumption, petroleum business is maturing and becoming commoditized. In maturing industries, cost leadership and operational excellence is important, but it is not sustainable. Inevitably, competition will squeeze margins, even for the cost leaders. In order to sustain growth, companies should continuously explore potential enlargement of its offering vis-a-vis its competitors and customers' expectation. A set of industry case studies in petroleum, energy utility, steel and airline industries have been performed to identify opportunities for differentiation and to examines how the successful companies manage the innovation in developing sustainable growth strategy. Analysis of industry case study identified some important differentiating factors and approaches. It suggests, in general, that successful companies focus on Customer Solution. The customer solution reflects a shift in strategic attention from product to customer-from product economics to customer economics and customer's experience. To capture a value position and enhance profitability-in other words, to decommoditize the commodity product/service-they redefine its services to reach into the customer's own business to solve more fundamental problems. They segmented the market to better design and deliver tailored, customer-specific services bundled with commodity products. Unless companies are going to compete mainly on price, value added solutions are a necessity. Innovation, and more importantly effective implementation of innovation, is a prerequisite for a sustainable growth. In conclusion, I made suggestion for one company to achieve sustainable growth and recommendations for future research. / by YongTae Lee. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-104). / Financial services industry is undergoing tremendous transformation due to regulatory changes and technological developments. The thesis discusses these changes including the advent of internet and how it is impacting the financial services industry. The paper provides a detailed account of XML evolution and its comparison with SGML and HTML. Several organization bodies have been formed over the past few years to define and push XML based standards for various industries. Even though XML is still in its evolving stage, there is wide consensus that it will be the enabler for disparate systems to communicate with each other. The research provides an overview of various XML standards pertaining to financial services and firms behind these standards. The author derives the conclusion that several standards with in financial services will co-exist and the industry will converge to these standards. The thesis also provides an overview of some financial applications that are XML compliant along with examples of first mover financial services firms that have successfully applied XML to address systems issues. Based on the XML standards, changes in the industry and customer needs author predicts some future trends and milestones that will happen in the financial services industry. They include; General changes in industry Landscape, formation of Central Limit Order Book (CLOB), Emergence of HUBs and Exchanges, Global Straight Through Processing, Settlement time of T +O, Emergence of Aggregators and Enterprise Portals. The future trend section further discusses the role of XML in this changing environment and how it will help achieve some of the key break-throughs that were not possible before. In order to fully harness the potential of XML, firms need to understand the various elements of XML. The last section of the thesis provides an overview of internal factors; issues around understanding DTD's and other relevant factors firms need to consider for successful implementation. The factors are based on author's own understanding of XML, issues faced by financial services industry and interviews with financial services firms. / by Noor Hasan. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65). / Many successful innovative companies are acquired and become absorbed into larger more structured organizations. The innovation capabilities of the company change in the new environment depending on the extent to which they are nurtured or overridden. This thesis looks at one particular story of such an acquisition and follows its progress after it has been formally integrated into the acquiring company. More than five years after the acquisition the company's innovation is struggling, perhaps even more so in recent years. This thesis looks at the underlying causes of that struggle, the inflexibility of the larger more structured organization and the resistance of the acquired company, due to its earlier success, to adapt itself to the rigours of a larger company,. The thesis strives to answer the question: "Does early success and market dominance help or hinder future innovative capability?" The author worked with the acquired company, as a management consultant, for a four year period beginning shortly after the company was acquired. The culture then, was strikingly positive and very enjoyable to work in. It had an almost magnetic draw. / (cont.) During the years that followed that culture began to be eroded and the atmosphere changed palpably as people struggled with the manner in which new systems and structures were being established. There was constantly a sense of being imposed on by the parent company rather than being support. That eventually took its toll on people and in recent years some key employees have left. Having stepped back from the organization, the author continues to reflect on what could have been done differently along with what can be done today to retain and restore some of that strong company creativity and innovativeness. The author's underlying purpose for doing this thesis, in addition to answering the research questions, is to reaffirm the belief that profitable, successful businesses and strongly held values can and should coexist. / by Sinead E. O'Flanagan. / S.M.M.O.T.