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RC TOM Challenge 2018

November 13, 2018

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The TOM Challenge provides an opportunity for you to continue exploring organizational learning and innovation through the lens of process improvement and/or product development, the focus of RC TOM’s second module. In this challenge, you will investigate how an organization is grappling with machine learning, additive manufacturing, or open innovation. These megatrends are likely to significantly affect how organizations manage process improvement and product development in the coming years of your career. The TOM Challenge requires you to (1) conduct research and write an essay that examines how one organization is facing a particular aspect of one of these megatrends, and (2) write six comments that share your reflections on some of your section mates’ essays.

Your essay should address four questions in the context of the organization you choose:

  1. Why do you think the megatrend you selected is important to your organization’s management of process improvement and/or product development?
  2. What is the organization’s management doing to address this issue in the short term (the next two years) and the medium term (two to ten years out)?
  3. What other steps do you recommend the organization’s management take to address this issue in the short and medium terms?
  4. In the context of this organization, what are one or two important open questions related to this issue that you are unsure about that merit comments from your classmates?

Your essay should convey facts, analysis, and your recommendations. It should focus on a single organization (e.g., a single company, non-profit organization, or government agency) and a concern related to one megatrend. It is fine if the concern you choose relates to other megatrends that the organization is facing, but that’s not required. Roughly a third of your essay should be dedicated to each of the first three questions, with just a few sentences dedicated to the fourth question. Your essay should be at least 700 words but no more than 800 words, and must conclude with a word count in parentheses (such as 778 words).

When posting your essay to Open Knowledge, be sure to enter “Machine Learning”, “Additive Manufacturing”, or “Isolationism” in the Topics field.

More details on research, sourcing, deadlines, and other matters are provided in the RC TOM Challenge: 2018 note.  For assistance with the Open Knowledge platform during business hours (9:00 am – 5:00 pm M-F), email openknowledge@hbs.edu. A short video with instructions on how to post an essay to this platform is available at https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/how-to/.

Submitted (926)

OMG: How Texting Grammar Could Impact Your Creditworthiness
N. Fleming
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 7:12 pm
BankMobile looks to machine learning and alternative data sources to boost the bottom line. Can consumers and regulators be convinced?
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. Align’s Approach to Additive Manufacturing
Gabe Rosen
Posted on November 12, 2018 at 8:11 pm
Align Technology, the makers of Invisalign, boasts the largest customized 3D printing operation in the world. But the revolution in additive manufacturing is nothing for them to smile about.
Xiaomi: Fueled by Open Innovation
vertigo
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 2:42 pm
“We must curb the tendency for greed and win absolute trust from consumers. So we’re now deliberating, I think we may write this into the company charter, that we will not, in perpetuity, exceed a certain number of percentage points [...]
A Data Company From The Middle East Disguised Itself in Spotify-Suit
George F. Baker
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 4:47 pm
Music piracy in the Middle East is serious. A solution came from a startup from Lebanon, and it benefits from machine learning to keep its users away from illegal consumption of music.
Personalized Styling at Scale: What is the right balance between machine and human input?
GSGoldstein
Posted on November 14, 2018 at 10:25 am
Stitch Fix delivers personalized styling at scale through a combination of machine-learning algorithms and human input. As they continue to scale into new markets and new business lines, what is the right balance of machine vs. human input?
How AI Positions LinkedIn to Solve the Global Skills Gap
Taylor Stockton
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 5:19 pm
Artificial Intelligence will disrupt the workforce by automating jobs and shifting the skills that individuals need to deliver value in the economy -- creating a massive global skills gap. LinkedIn is in a position to address this challenge leveraging some [...]
Additive manufacturing – Will the world’s next mega city drop out of a 3D printer?
Adebodun
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 7:37 pm
Can you imagine building your next house from the push of a button? Will, you feel safe driving over a bridge if it was built by a giant printer? In this age of digital technology disruption, we as a society [...]
Optum: Machine Learning at the center of Health Care
RicardoN
Posted on November 11, 2018 at 10:58 pm
A brief analysis of Optum and its capabilities and challenges towards developing and implementing machine learning in the Health Care industry.
Crowdsourcing a moonshot: can a redesigned toilet help India win the battle against human waste?
Cristian
Posted on November 14, 2018 at 10:25 am
Crowdsourced challenges can spur unprecedented innovation leaps at stalled industries. However, these challenges must be quickly inscribed into a believable road to market path to bring to life commercially viable products. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation faced a similar [...]
Machine Learning in the Shale Patch: A Look at the “Mother Fracker”
Mark B
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 3:06 pm
"The energy patch is ripe for opportunities related to things like predictive analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence projects" - Tim Dove, Pioneer Natural Resources CEO (June 2017) [1]
From gaming to healthcare: Microsoft’s approach to visualizing cancer
Matt B
Posted on November 12, 2018 at 9:03 pm
Can machine learning help transform radiation therapy for cancer?
Beauty in the Age of Individualism: Sephora’s Data-Driven Approach
cah
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:26 pm
Sephora harnesses user data to offer pinpointed product recommendations, offers, and loyalty incentives
Machine Learning & Lending: Banco Santander’s Response to Banking Sector Disruption
Erik-Toby Peterson-Johnson
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 3:03 pm
Fintech companies are disrupting the way traditional banks lend money. Banco Santander is too.
AIR Worldwide: Machine Learning’s Role in Risk Modeling
Jane D.
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 12:59 pm
AIR Worldwide is leading the way in utilizing predictive modeling to identify, assess, and mitigate catastrophic risks.
Making it Personal: How JetBlue is Using Machine Learning to Personalize the Travel Experience
Pewterman
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 3:12 pm
JetBlue is partnering with a machine learning start-up so they can personalize product offerings to suit each traveler's needs.
Dear Adidas, you’ve mastered limited releases…what’s next?
Tyler Calhoun
Last modified on November 14, 2018 at 8:36 pm
Is 3D printing the new frontier for Adidas? Maybe...maybe not!
“News”, “News”, “Fake News”: Can Machine Learning Help Identify Fake News on Facebook?
Sherburne
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Among those wishing for a do-over on the 2016 presidential election, Facebook is somewhere high on the list. Can machine learning help them avoid repeating their mistakes?
Machine Learning and AI Impacts on the Financial Markets
M
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:55 pm
How do investors find and capitalize on alpha generating investment ideas in the stock market when competing with machines that are trading on data in microseconds?
Invisalign: A Pioneer of Mass Customization through 3-D Printing
Tom Dief
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 2:12 pm
Align Technologies disrupted dentistry with Invisalign, a 3-D printed alternative to braces - but now the wide availability of additive manufacturing technology threatens their competitive advantage.
How Artificial Intelligence is helping Kraft Heinz to squeeze tomatoes, but not its profitability
Rebeca Dauscha
Posted on November 10, 2018 at 4:50 pm
The growth of private labels in the US and the rise of uncountable food start-ups are threating the status quo of the food industry. Traditional companies are under pressure to cut costs and to innovate faster. Kraft Heinz is relying [...]
Netflix & Machine Learning: To what extent should Machine Learning influence a strategic decision-making process?
John Doe
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 8:26 pm
Netflix has been relying on its state-of-the-art movies recommendation engine to propel it to various new heights. Should it keep utmost faith on the engine that took the company to where it is today or is this the time to [...]
Letting Go at LEGO: How Open Innovation Reinforces Product Creativity and Design
Jake Meiner
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 11:46 pm
Since 1998, LEGO has been leading the way in Open Innovation - finding success in sourcing new ideas from an active online community of dedicated LEGO fans. Twenty years later, how can the iconic brick behemoth continue to harness the [...]
Open Innovation in Pharma R&D
TS
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:13 pm
A non- profit organization attempts to bridge the gap between researchers' knowledge and big pharma development capabilities
Machine learning ruined baseball. Machine learning will save baseball.
breezybuffer
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 11:13 pm
Baseball has fundamentally changed over the past 40 years, largely thanks to data and machine learning. Some say it's made baseball less popular as a result. We will examine data's impact on baseball and how it might help the sport's [...]
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