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RC TOM Challenge 2018

November 13, 2018

Read The Full Prompt

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)

Clover Food Lab: The Fast-Food Chain that aims to solve climate change via Open Innovation
Garango92
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 9:43 pm
Fast-food chain and innovation are two topics that are not often seen together. Ayr Muir, the founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab, hopes to change this. Clover involves feedback at every step of its product and process development with [...]
Toutiao: Challenging the “One-Feed-Fits-All” Notion of Information Dissemination
LadyM
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:59 pm
A look at how machine learning is changing the way people receive news and other information in China
Printing the Tip of the Spear: Additive Manufacturing at the U.S Military’s Battlefront
ZHoyt
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 5:04 pm
Getting repair parts to sailors at sea and soldiers at the front lines of combat is a logistical nightmare. The U.S. Military thinks Additive Manufacturing technology can help.
Earth to everyone: we need your help! (Open innovation at NASA)
Carmen Sandiego
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 4:06 pm
NASA recognizes the power of open innovation to solve tough problems and engage broader audiences, but the mindset shift comes at a price.
Printing the Future of Athletic Shoes at Adidas
Zack
Posted on November 14, 2018 at 10:28 am
As the speed and quality of additive manufacturing improves, innovative companies like Adidas are bringing 3D printing from the prototyping lab to the manufacturing floor.
Printed Chocolate? Hershey Connects with Consumers Through Additive Manufacturing
John Franklin
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 2:19 pm
When you consider 3D printing, what comes to mind is traditional manufacturing – automotive, aerospace, and the like. However, 3D printing is also beginning to emerge hold in non-traditional industries, including the food industry. Although it remains a niche product [...]
Your Personalized Dinner is Served
Capucine
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 7:37 pm
Wellio: your personal nutritionist, grocery shopper and chef
Exploring the ethics of machine learning at Facebook – where does it draw the line?
Russell
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 7:59 pm
Facebook's strengths in machine learning put the company in difficult ethical dilemmas. How far should the company be willing to go, and how does it balance the potential impact it has on society and its users' privacy?
What would you do with a bounty? Decentralized collaboration on an open innovation platform
SatoshiK
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 1:18 am
Would you like to create a bounty to get your trash picked up without registering on Handy? Would you like to receive a bounty by giving someone a lift on your way home without being an official Lyft driver? Would [...]
Medtronic – missing out on a personalized medicine opportunity, or appropriately cautious?
tf
Posted on November 14, 2018 at 10:31 am
Medtronic states they won't be using additive manufacturing to create personalized medical devices any time soon - are they missing out on an opportunity, or do they realize that the opportunity is overstated?
VIPKID: Machine Learning in Online Education
MTAO
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 5:36 pm
How should the new leader in online English education power human learning with machine learning?
JP Morgan Chase & Machine Learning
Anonymous
Posted on November 14, 2018 at 8:13 am
JP Morgan Chase and Machine Learning
Adidas Lives its Slogan, Impossible is Nothing, with 3-D Printed Sneakers
KO
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 5:59 pm
With its new Futurecraft 4D sneaker, Adidas is striving to become the world’s biggest producer of 3-D printed products.
How Caterpillar uses Machine Learning to Produce Real ROI
Butterfly
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 6:28 pm
How much value does Machine Learning deliver to traditional industries? Although vital to the operation of almost all technology companies and hot start-ups, Machine Learning seems to only be adjunct to the core businesses of traditional manufacturing and operations. Having [...]
What’s your alibAI: rise of recidivism reducing robots
MBA2020Student
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 5:15 pm
In a small county in northern England, a police constabulary is taking the first faltering steps to outsourcing their recidivism decisions to a machine. Can machines do it better than humans, and who decides if they should be allowed?
How Alibaba leverage machine learning to disrupt retail and create pathway to reimagine online-to-offline shopping experiences
Station18
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 11:10 pm
Alibaba has leveraged Artificial Intelligence (AI) to disrupt China Retail Industry for the past 19 years. Nevertheless, 81% of retail consumption in China still comes from the offline channel [1]. Realizing the importance of offline presence, the giant online e-commerce [...]
Apple – Transforming the future of Healthcare
M.G
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 6:56 pm
Having changed entire industries ranging from Music to Telecommunications, will Apple transform the healthcare industry as well?
Machine Learning at Disney: Solving Happiness
Jane Doe
Last modified on November 8, 2018 at 12:40 am
In the fiercely competitive entertainment industry, Disney is using machine learning to predict what will bring us joy
SoundCloud’s Open Innovation Approach to Reinventing Itself: Survival Instinct?
Alisia Painter
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 6:09 pm
SoundCloud is on the brink of extinction, can open innovation help them build a better product?
Shooting for Mars: How Startup Relativity Space Is Using 3D Printing to Go Intergalactic
Ariam Tesfai
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 10:06 pm
A look into startup Relativity Space and its use of 3D printing for the development of space-bound rockets.
Comcast: Don’t cut the cord
MPan
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 8:28 pm
As the largest cable TV company and largest home Internet service provider in the United States, Comcast boasted a customer base of over 22.5 million TV subscribers and 25.1 million broadband subscriptions in 2017 (Kafka). With this enormous scale comes vast amounts [...]
Deep Think at German Car Manufacturers
Project Ghostwriter
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 7:22 pm
How Machine Learning impacts Products and its development for Car Manufacturers.
Space Wars advancing additive manufacturing?
Starwars
Posted on November 12, 2018 at 11:43 pm
The race to colonize space is spurring rapid application of additive manufacturing
GE’s additive capability; Is it a future of GE or just another potential business for divesture?
Daichi Ban
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 7:29 pm
GE is always seen as a leader for its manufacturing capabilities and spent significant amount of money to build up its additive manufacturing business. Though additive manufacturing has huge potential, it can be realized only if leveraged appropriately. What should [...]
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