
Connecting the Dots at Microsoft: Global...
Hutchison-Krupat, ...
Connecting the Dots at Microsoft: Global Planning for a Local World (B)
Hutchison-Krupat, Jeremy; Craddock, Jenny
OM-1561 | Published January 30, 2017 | 2 pages. Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Product Details
This case is set on the verge of Microsoft initiating a TV white space pilot in the Philippines in the summer of 2013; the uncertainty surrounding the new technology's performance in the region provides a view of the risks organizations face early on in the innovation process, particularly when decisions are decentralized and overseen at a local level. MS and its public partners in the Philippines were excited about the possibility of setting up the country's first TV white space-enabled broadband network in a remote area that required the connectivity for fisher registrations and government biodiversity initiatives. The technology had proven its success in a few other pilots in Singapore and the UK. In the Philippines, however, risks loomed. Unprecedented complications from an untested hardware supplier and a lack of an essential database arose as the launch date approached. A key decision MS had to make was whether to proceed with the pilot or focus on TV white space pilots elsewhere. The case introduces students to methods through which they can identify the sources and types of uncertainty associated with a project. Through this they can better evaluate the tradeoff between undertaking a project with a high risk of failure and the benefits that could be obtained through learning about unknown unknowns within such a setting despite the outcome. Moreover, students uncover the necessary conditions for projects to achieve their objectives within this setting. The public-private partnership setting allows students to analyze the type of uncertainty associated with a project; the project, product, and organizational complexity; stakeholder objectives; and discuss the role escalation of commitment could play when an organization seeks to pilot a new technology.
Understand how to diagnose and assess the likelihood of unknown unknowns; Identify and distinguish between the various sources and components through which complexity emerges; Understand how to manage risk when a project is associated with unknown unknowns as compared to known unknowns; Assess the role of individual pilot projects within the overall scope and objectives of a much larger initiative.
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