MIS5102 (Sp12) - Process Improvement and Innovation

As I was going through some articles we could use in conjunction with our upcoming guest speaker, I came across this CIO article. It discussed how the Daily Show and Colbert Report managed their upgrade to HD a few years ago. The article highlights several themes we’ve discussed throughout this course, including change management, stakeholder buy-in, and the triple constraint. The fact that is happens to be a technology change is just a bonus. As you read it, think about what would be directly applicable to any of the cases we’ve covered this semester (or your workplace, for that matter).

Something we already talked about.

Greetings everyone, I noticed a disparaging news report about CVS today. Apparantly, a CVS store in NJ dispensed breast cancer pills to children who were supposed to receive fluoride tablets. It seems as though the CVS Pharmacy Service Initiative we read about in a case study is still a work in progress and CVS’s safety processes need improvement. Although no injuries to the children who received the incorrect medication occurred due to this dispensing error, there is every reason to believe that the  mistake could have potentially involved a more potent medication and put the lives of those kids at risk.

Here is a link to that story.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/NJ-CVS-Gives-Breast-Cancer-Pills-To-Kids-141302873.html

The linked article is a wonderful example of an emerging technology that might be extremely disruptive to our food chain. This article is about man made beef and it specifically mentions that it might disrupt the beef industry.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/19/10449704-lab-grown-hamburger-due-to-be-served-up-this-year-for-330000

Here’s an interesting article from the New Yorker about whether brainstorming just leads to groupthink. We’ve been talking about getting input from stakeholders through mechanisms such as focus groups and brainstorming sessions. This article explains how there might be no benefit to groups of people sharing ideas beyond what they could come up with on their own.

What do you think?

Seeing as it was brought up in two case discussions so far… here is another innovative application of drive-thrus (and bulletproof glass):

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/10/drive-thru-funeral-parlor.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/23/us/chicago-journal-new-funeral-option-for-those-in-a-rush.html

http://online.wsj.com/media/020912pod06_J.jpg

Three states and counting, I think…

If ever there is an example of a company undershooting its customers, Kodak is it. Kodak really missed the boat on the digital photography business, which is ironic considering that Kodak invented digital film. As a result of Kodak being so late to recognize the impact of digital film on its industry and being reluctant to fill that marketplace with good quality products years ago, Kodak and its employees are now paying the price. As reported in the attached article, Kodak is in Chapter 11 and it just announced it will stop manufacturing digital cameras.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/breaking/20120209_ap_kodaktostopmakingcamerasdigitalframes.html?nlid=4161534

The Affinity Diagrams article made me think of this. Now I can’t get it out of my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ect-kgxBb4M