The case assignment involves writing a paper that responds to the questions asked.
Case: Car Max
Readings:
• Nelson, N. (2019). Driving What’s Possible. HBS No. UV7842-PDF-ENG. Harvard Business Review.
o PDF included
• Birkinshaw, J. (2018). What to Expect from Agile. MIT Sloan Management Review, 59(2), 39-42.
• What to Expect From Agile (mit.edu)
The case assignment is to write a paper answering the questions below. Please read the questions carefully; some are long this time as a way of providing clear guidance. Devote roughly equal space to each answer.
1. Think about Christensen’s definition of disruptive technologies in the Coursera videos, and particularly how the concept of technology trajectories is important in that definition.
o Using Christensen’s ideas, briefly explain to what extent Netflix (before video-on-demand) was a disruptive innovator? (~½ page)
o Again using Christensen’s ideas, briefly explain to what extent is Carvana, the online car seller, a disruptive innovator? (~½ page)
2. Part of CarMax’s success seems to be the result from its effective efforts with agile methods. Identify three key features of CarMax’s approach that helped it succeed in these efforts and explain how the features helped it succeed. Look for organizationally important features rather than just very specific technical ones. Support your explanation with specific case facts and events. For each key feature, also explain how it relates (or do not relate) to one of to the five lesson points in the article ‘What to expect from Agile.’
CarMax has some important decisions to make! Come to class prepared to discuss your recommendations for CarMax. We look forward to that discussion!
Instruction
Each assignment should be up to (not more than) 800 words of text.
