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://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/how-to/.

Submitted (926)

“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: The engine inside Tesla’s automated driving technology
solo_pollo
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 6:08 pm
Tesla is using machine learning to enhance its Autopilot software and usher in the future of autonomous driving.
Closed Innovation at Facebook
Sgt. Piggy
Last modified on November 14, 2018 at 12:31 am
In 2010, Facebook introduced the “Open Graph”. In Mark Zuckerberg’s own words: “Today the web exists mostly as a series of unstructured links between pages. This has been a powerful model, but it’s really just the start. The Open Graph [...]
Vertiv Not Raging Against The Machine
ENP
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:52 pm
How Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is revolutionizing data centers
Challenge.Gov – A Model for Government Crowdsourcing
Nick Carraway
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:00 pm
The US Government's initiative to use crowdsourcing to solve pressing issues.
Project Maven: Machine Learning in the Military Target Selection Process
Felicity Jones
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 8:05 am
Is using Artificial Intelligence in military applications evil? Are programs like Project Maven necessary to decrease civilian casualties and reduce error in an era with "smart" drones and other advanced weaponry?
Paypal vs. Fraud – Have no fear, machine learning is here !
Sophie Stuart
Posted on November 11, 2018 at 9:35 pm
As globalization and online shopping increase the risk of fraud, consumers are looking to protect their data. Some companies, like PayPal, promise end-users to keep their information safe. But how can they deliver on this promise? Machine learning is certainly [...]
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.
Airbnb: Machine Learning to optimize the future of Gig Economy and the power of economy-sharing
Nathalia Barbosa
Last modified on November 11, 2018 at 9:23 pm
Airbnb has focused in delivering a product that boosts the actual volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the market scenario by addressing the value in “experiences” for millennial generation
CircleUp – Identifying the next “Big Thing” using Machine Learning
Chris Li
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:41 pm
CircleUp is disrupting the consumer VC space using its machine learning platform, Helio, which uses public, partnership and practitioner data to identify small consumer brands with breakout potential.
Blended Learning: The Rise of Machine Learners
Pareto Ninja
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 6:37 pm
In 2010, only 54% students from grades 9-11 in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) passed the math portion of the assessment test. In contrast, ~80% students from grades 3-6 met the minimum standard on Texas’s assessment test. That means [...]
Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Wayfair Optimizes Your Home Décor Shopping Experience Through Machine Learning
Nathaniel
Last modified on November 12, 2018 at 5:11 pm
Though many shoppers view Wayfair as “that online furniture store,” Wayfair identifies as a technology company that “reinvents the way people shop for their homes.”[1] In an information-abundant age, customers are king, and with a few keystrokes gain access to [...]
The Free Hand of Mickey Mouse & The Hobbyist Printer
abc123
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 4:29 pm
The effects of at-home 3D printing on licensed merchandise through the vantage point of Disney
Medtronic Must Continue to Invest in Additive Manufacturing
Jeffrey J Jefferson
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 3:13 pm
Medical device manufacturers such as Medtronic are uniquely positioned to benefit from advances in additive manufacturing - both for prototyping as well as the product attributes possible with this technique. Medtronic must continue to invest aggressively in this technology in [...]
Open Innovation at Tesla – Time for a Change?
dknab1892
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 11:16 pm
Open innovation at Tesla - Time for a change?
Machine learning in the Chemicals industry: Lyondellbasell
Tom
Posted on November 14, 2018 at 10:25 am
Despite limited investments to date, the industrial giant is primed to extract benefits from machine learning across its value chain
LexisNexis and LegalTech: Automation of Legal Services
Anonymous_HBS_Student
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 6:02 pm
Most discussions of job automation tend to focus on relatively unskilled labor - self-driving cars, factory automation, etc. However, companies applying technology toward the automation of white collar jobs are gaining traction - this piece examines progress in the Legal [...]
Can machine learning solve the cyber security threat?
Willy_skipper
Last modified on November 14, 2018 at 12:40 am
With cyber security attacks growing in frequency and impact as more and more of our infrastructure is digitalized, how will we be able to secure our digital assets when there is also a growing shortage of skilled cyber security professionals? [...]
Ministry of Supply: Using 3D Printing and AI in clothing
TH
Posted on November 12, 2018 at 5:47 pm
“We started Ministry of Supply to solve the problems of stiff, high-maintenance dress clothes by engineering high-performing, comfortable apparel” [1]
BHP Billiton: Productivity enhanced by machine learning in the mining industry
Gonzalo Eyzaguirre
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 6:22 pm
Mining is one of the first industries to start seeing a return on their early investments in machine learning. But why is artificial intelligence so important for this industry?
Easier Than Shoplifting: How Amazon Go is Revolutionizing Brick & Mortar Retail
Samuel F.
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:25 pm
Amazon’s application of machine learning to e-commerce transformed customers’ buying behaviors forever; the firm’s newest brick-and-mortar offering threatens to similarly revolutionize consumers’ retail experiences.
World War 3D: How success on tomorrow’s battlefield will depend on the agility and flexibility provided by Additive Manufacturing
Chesty Puller
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 11:15 pm
The United States Marine Corps must effectively leverage additive manufacturing or risk losing in the next war.
Beauty Brand with Droves of Data: How Glossier Employs Machine Learning
Jade Enns
Posted on November 13, 2018 at 7:17 pm
Glossier engages its customers on numerous platforms, each providing this beauty brand with a wealth of data. Glossier is feeding this data into machine learning algorithms to better direct the customer down a purchasing path and to automate the crowdsourcing [...]
Smart from start to finish: GM’s path to new processes and products
Leo
Last modified on November 13, 2018 at 6:59 pm
General Motors uses intelligent assembly lines to manufacture the intelligent cars of tomorrow
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