It Depends - Ian McCarthy's Blog

Are you a Monochron or a Polychron?

2011-11-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

In a recent article with colleagues, we explain how different industries can have very dissimilar velocity regimes (patterns of rates and directions of change). The four velocity regimes we propose – simple, divergent, integrated and conflicted – each has an industry dynamic that ranges from basic and homogenous to complex and diverse. So, while we know it is important for companies and

Ambidextrous R&D: Balancing Innovation and Growth with Efficiency and Reliability

2011-06-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

R&D organizations by definition need to be innovative, generating new knowledge and competencies. However, they also face demands to be efficient and reliable, in other words to use and adapt existing knowledge so as to innovate in a productive, timely and reliable way. In terms of organizational theory, these different demands require R&D organizations to juggle or balance two contradictory

Understanding the Social Media Ecology: A Honeycomb Framework

2011-04-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

Friendster, Hi5, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Technorati, Reddit, Digg, Delicious, Twitter: there is a rich, diverse and ever growing ecology of social media sites, offering various functionalities and capabilities. This ecology has shifted the power from those in marketing and public relations to individuals and communities that create, share, and consume blogs, tweets, Facebook

Rethinking Industry Dynamics: What’s your Velocity Regime?

2011-03-02T22:46:00.000-08:00

Competitive advantages are temporary, especially in fast changing industries. A cover of Business Week magazine asks “Is Your Company Fast Enough?”, and there are scores of popular business books and magazines with titles such as “Fast Company”, “Business @ the Speed of Thought”, and “The Age of Speed”. Such publications suggest that in fast moving industry environments, speed, and in particular

Creative Consumers: What’s your stance?

2011-02-18T15:51:00.001-08:00

A few years back I wrote a paper with colleagues (Pierre Berthon, Leyland Pitt and Stephen Kates) on the phenomenon of creative consumers. These are individuals, or communities of individuals, who adapt or modify a proprietary product offering. They tinker and experiment with almost any product, ranging from automobiles to cell phones.Traditionally, companies have disliked consumers messing with

Teaching Excellence: Some Thoughts

2011-02-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

Every year, my school, the newly named Beedie School of Business, recognizes up to two instructors with the TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award. At the end of 2010, I was delighted and honored to be one of the recipients. In the spirit of learning and continuous improvement, I was asked by the Office of the Vice President Academic at my University to respond to some questions on what