Big Ideas | MIT Sloan Management Review

People with Big Ideas

The Net Positive Strategy: Where Environmental Stewardship Meets Business Innovation

Nick Folland (Kingfisher), interviewed by Hannah Clark Steiman

Nick Folland of Kingfisher discusses the company’s new approach to sustainability.

Video: The Digital Transformation of Health Care

Lori Beer (WellPoint), interviewed by Michael Fitzgerald

Lori Beer, EVP of WellPoint, discusses how digital technologies are changing health care.

How Analytics Can Transform Business Models

Franklin Rios (Luminar Insights), Interviewed by Renee Boucher Ferguson

There are 52 million Latinos in the United States, with $1.5 trillion of purchasing power.

About the Big Ideas Initiatives

The MIT Sloan Management Review Big Ideas initiatives capture the best thinking and scholarly research on issues transforming the business environment. Through videos, interviews, magazine and original articles, interactive data, blogs and case studies these initiatives explore the topics of Social Business, Data & Analytics, Sustainability and Digital Transformation. These Big Ideas are key areas of management innovation for businesses around the world, and your way to keep up to date on the newest research connected with these topics.

Fresh Perspectives

Sustainability
A View from the Peak: Balancing Our Carbon Budget

Is leaving carbon in the ground a realistic answer to climate change? HSBC analysts think so.
Sustainability Goals — Thinking About What Works and What Doesn’t

Managers should focus on sustainability practices that are proven to be effective.
The Net Positive Strategy: Where Environmental Stewardship Meets Business Innovation

Nick Folland of Kingfisher discusses the company’s new approach to sustainability.

Social Business
What is Social Media, Anyway? (And Why Managers Should Care)

Managers need to keep up with what social media is becoming and how to use it.
Ray Wang Surveys the Evolution of Social Business

Ray Wang discusses how social business evolves, which uses are growing, and how social business is changing the future of work.
The Emergence of Chief Digital Officers

Companies are appointing chief digital officers to focus their use of social and digital strategies.

Data & Analytics
Big Data and Big Change Management: A Path Forward

Organizations that deal with big data analytics often grapple with change management.
Educating Executives Online in Four Dimensions

I am the proud recipient of an MIT Sloan Executive Education Course certification. Or, my avatar is.
Predicting the Performance of Analytics Talent

How to hire the right talent to overcome big data project failures.

Digital Transformation
With 3-D Printing, the Shoe Really Fits

New Balance leads the way toward using 3-D printing to make custom shoes.
Video: The Digital Transformation of Health Care

Lori Beer, EVP of WellPoint, discusses how digital technologies are changing health care.
How Starbucks Has Gone Digital

Top Starbucks executives Adam Brotman and Curt Garner discuss their company’s digital strategy.

Recent Research Reports

From Value to Vision: Reimagining the Possible with Data Analytics

David Kiron et al.

This research report discusses the characteristics of companies that excel at analytics.

The Innovation Bottom Line

David Kiron et al.

This research report shows how business model innovation helps companies profit from sustainability.

Social Business: What Are Companies Really Doing?

David Kiron et al.

This report identifies how social technologies create value in a variety of business functions.

Sustainability Nears a Tipping Point

Knut Haanaes et al.

Sustainability is contributing to profits for companies, according to our third annual global survey.

Digital Transformation – A New Big Ideas Initiative

Digital Transformation is our latest hub, here are the latest posts in this hub.

With 3-D Printing, the Shoe Really Fits

Michael Fitzgerald

New Balance leads the way toward using 3-D printing to make custom shoes.

Video: The Digital Transformation of Health Care

Lori Beer (WellPoint), interviewed by Michael Fitzgerald

Lori Beer, EVP of WellPoint, discusses how digital technologies are changing health care.

How Starbucks Has Gone Digital

Adam Brotman et al.

Top Starbucks executives Adam Brotman and Curt Garner discuss their company’s digital strategy.

Redesigning Innovation at Chubb

Chubb wanted to accelerate its innovation process and its field response time. Its answer? Build a more social business.

Is Viral Marketing a Myth?

New research suggests the term “viral” marketing does not describe well what happens in the market.

Sensing the Future Before It Occurs

William Ruh (General Electric), interviewed by Michael Fitzgerald

GE global software chief William Ruh discusses the combined power of analytics and sensors.

New from the MIT SMR Blog

Big Data and Big Change Management: A Path Forward

Renee Boucher Ferguson

Organizations that deal with big data analytics often grapple with change management.

Educating Executives Online in Four Dimensions

Renee Boucher Ferguson

I am the proud recipient of an MIT Sloan Executive Education Course certification. Or, my avatar is.

With 3-D Printing, the Shoe Really Fits

Michael Fitzgerald

New Balance leads the way toward using 3-D printing to make custom shoes.

A View from the Peak: Balancing Our Carbon Budget

Nina Kruschwitz

Is leaving carbon in the ground a realistic answer to climate change? HSBC analysts think so.

How IT Platforms Are Changing Business

Video: Leading Your Company’s Digital Transformation

October 29, 2012 | George Westerman (MIT Center for Digital Business), interviewed by Michael Fitzgerald

Business leaders hear plenty about how digital technology can transform a business, but so much of the discussion focuses on technology-based companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google that executives at traditional companies might be forgiven for thinking that only high-tech startups can achieve digital transformation. In this video, George Westerman of the MIT Center for Digital Business explains how business executives can drive digital transformation within established companies.