MIT Sloan MOT Thesis Thursdays

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MIT Sloan MOTThesis Thursdays
How to Make the Very Most of Your MIT
Sloan Masters Thesis Opportunity
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Making the Most of YourThesis Opportunity

• The Main Integrative Project throughout Year
• Pick a compelling research theme
• Advance your Career Interests
• Reinforce Professional Strengths
• Networking Personal Visibility
• Personal Exploration Even Reinvention
• Short Long Term Professional Aspiration

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How weave the pieces together?

• Case study on firm or industry of greatest
  interest
• Aligning projects in classes with Thesis
• Interviews on your class field trips
• MIT 50K participation

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Example Theses I

• Sustainable Entrepreneurship
• Amir Hasson w/ Pentland Thurow
• Neural Network Applications
• Vishal Mehta w/ Gupta
• Technology Waves in NTT
• Masa Kawashima w/ Weil Fine
• Trust in Mobile Commerce
• Damien Balsan w/ Weil

• RFID in Supply Chain
• Jen Pararas w/ Brynjolfsson
• Biotech Business Strategies
• Sudhir Borgonha w/ Murray
• Open Architecture Spacecraft
• Robert Caffrey w/ Henderson Crawley
• Advanced Tech for the Coast Guard
• Ken Marien w/ Utterback

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Example Theses II

• Singapores Urban Dynamics
• Bernard Nee w/ Sterman
• HPs IT Outsourcing
• Carl Beckett Waqas Khan w/ Bitran
• Knowledge Management in Banking
• Kazu Yamagata w/ Burton
• Mass Customization
• Joe Pine w/ Utterback

• Pharmaceutical Technology Acquistion Strategies
• Hiroya Muranishi w/ Roberts
• Organic Chemicals as Disruptive Technologies
• Naoki Obi w/ Jacobson Utterback
• Wireless Value Chain Evolution
• Dave Munsinger w/ Utterback Weil

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Brainstorming Topics

• Start with end in mind, e.g.
• Seeking a job in X industry
• Deep understanding of some sector
• Working with a particular Professor
• Aspire towards N-for-one

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n-for-1 Seek Extreme Leverage

• Recruitment whats your next job?
• Network building who should you know?
• Idea seeking whats best opportunity?
• Boosting creativity whats most worth doing?
• Personal reinvention where imagine self?
• Drill-down on some topic always wanted to
• Publication propaganda reputation

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Pitching Your Topic

• Self-presentation refinement
• Float it by everyone in conversational way
• Various levels of detail and abstraction
• Im interested in looking at how X does Y For
  example
• Disruptive Wireless Technology
• Business Implications of the Semantic Web
• Neuromedical Imaging Technology Roadmapping

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Time is Short

• Summer Early Fall Investigate Potential
  Topics Advisors
• October / November Proposal Advisor
• Winter Early Spring Data, Literature Review,
  Interviews
• Spring Progress Reports, Drafts
• May Finale!

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Types of Theses

• Independent Project (w/ Advisor)
• Industry / Strategic / Competitive Analysis
• Company Business Plan
• Case or Historical Study
• Model Development Testing
• Product Roll-out Analysis
• Problem Analysis
• Hypothesis Testing
• Technology Assessment
• Policy Study
• Structured Thesis

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Structured Theses

• Faculty provides framework for project contacts
  / sponsors
• Aligns personal goals with larger faculty
  research agenda
• Professors
• Bitran eBusiness Supply Chains
• Burton Tech Venture Observatory, Talent
  Dynamics
• Fine Technology Roadmapping, Value Chain
  Dynamics
• Potential publications
• e.g. Fabozzi, Fine Cusumano

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Example Sloan Faculty Strengths
MIT Sloan Matrix
Global Development International Mgt Global Value Chains, TechMaps Entrepreneurial Policy
Effective Leadership Financial Engineering, Management Business Dynamics Tech-Biz Ventures
Transformative Innovations Virtual Customer Tech Strategy
Finance, Accounting, Economics Managnt Sci, Functional Disciplines Behavioral Policy Science Strat Orgns
Unifying Strategic Themes
Venture Finance
Classic MIT Sloan Disciplinary Strengths
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Faculty Interests at Various Levels of Systems
Analysis
Economy Sector Firm Group Individual
Geography Market/Tech Organization Theme Idea
Global Development
Business Dynamics
Technology Roadmapping
Technology Entrepreneurial Strategy
Venture Capital
Emerging Technology Ventures
Creative Communities, Social Networks
Virtual Customer Initiative
Decision Psychology
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Clusters of InterestsAt Various Levels of
Analysis
Economy Sector Firm Group Individual
Geography Market/Tech Organization Theme Idea
Technology Roadmap
Technology Venture Observatory
OpenSource Initiative
Virtual Customer Initiative
Emerging Tech-Biz Live Cases
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15.795 Technology Roadmapping
(An example Masters Research Seminar)
Professor Charlie Fine, TA Joost Bonsen Fall
2002 This seminar will explore the purposes and
development of Technology Roadmaps for
systematically mapping out possible development
paths for various technological domains and the
industries that build on them. Data of
importance for such roadmaps include rates of
innovation, key bottlenecks, physical
limitations, improvement trendlines, corporate
intent, and value chain and industry
evolutionary paths. The course will build on
ongoing work on the MIT Communications
Technology Roadmap project, but will explore
other domains selected from Nanotechnology,
Bio-informatics, Geno/Proteino/Celleomics,
Neurotechnology, Imaging Diagnostics, etc.
Thesis and Special Project opportunities will be
offered.
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International Development

• Amir Hasson, MOT 2002
• MediaLab Asia connection via Developmental
  Entrepreneurship Class
• Global E-Lab Case
• MIT 50K entry
• Thesis
• Employment!

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Faculty InterestsFurther Possibilities
Economy Sector Firm Group Individual
Geography Market/Tech Organization Theme Idea
Technology Roadmap
Technology Venture Observatory
OpenSource Initiative
Virtual Customer Initiative
Emerging Tech-Biz Live Cases
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5 Strategic MIT Technology Thrusts

1. Information Technologies Ever more
   sophisticated computation communication,
   leveraging mind media.
2. Biomedical Technologies Medical engineering,
   perfecting the health life sciences.
3. Tiny Technologies Investigating and fabricating
   ever smaller systems, at scales from micro thru
   nano
4. Complex Systems Large scale, socio-political
   econo-technological systems.
5. Developmental Innovations Appropriate and
   leapfrog technologies for tackling challenges in
   developing emerging regions

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Mapping Sloan Faculty to MITs Emerging Strategic
Tech Sectors
Info Tech Bio Tech Tiny Tech Complex Systems Developt Innovations
Strategy
MTIE
Org/HR
Finance
Marketing
Operatns
Prod Dev
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Mapping Faculty in Disciplines to Phases of
Venture Development
Strategy
MTIE
Org/HR
Finance
Marketing
Operatns
Prod Dev
Ideation Invention Incorporation Investments Sales Profitability Escalation
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Big Themes

• Tech Roadmapping
• Developmental Innovation
• Disruptive Technologies
• Cross-National Comparisons
• Corporate Venturing

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Practical Tips

• Write thesis over time, incremental escalation
• Recruit or hire some editor
• Think carefully about readers
• Write a one-pager and a one-paragraph version
  ASAP, iterate
• Beware of confidentiality data access time
  constraints

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Best Practices

• Network Building -- Be in touch with people
  important to your future
• Career Connection -- Intimately relevant to
  career
• Access -- Research gives you access to people you
  wouldnt otherwise get to
• Prototyping repeat question testing, on
  classmates, faculty, friends
• Tangible Deliverable build your portfolio

• Get Access by seeking answers to really
  interesting questions, to you and them!
• Broad Links go beyond those you already know,
  beyond your company, for example
• Know your Interests but be flexible in your
  approach
• Faculty as Method Experts not necessarily
  industry experts

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Aspire towards Publications

• Mick Bass with Professor Clay Christenson in IEEE
  Spectrum
• Various students with Professors Ed Roberts,
  Cusumano, Fine, et al
• Books, e.g. Joe Pines Mass Customization

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How to attract industry faculty interest?

• What questions appeal to them?
• Is there an intersection?
• Does it reinforce a traditional interest or
  stretch them in an interesting new direction?
• Faculty interests vs knowledge you educate each
  other

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Potential Advisors

• Burton
• Fine
• Weill
• Bitran
• Murray
• Locke
• Johnson
• Shoar
• De Figueiredo

• Cusumano
• Utterback
• Hauser
• Urban
• Thurow
• Sterman
• Hunter
• Olive
• Short
• Pentland
• Von Hippel
• Allen

Go to the MIT Sloan Expertise Guide!
http//sloancf.mit.edu/vpf/facstaff.cfm?sortorder
name
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Seeking Students Alums with Both Depth Breadth
T Individuals
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Unifying Sloan Themes
Innovation
Leadership
Technology Entrepreneurship Strategy Dynamics
Transformative Innovations, Emerging Hard Soft
Technologies, Disruptive Challenges
Effective Organizations, Entre-
Intra-preneurial Leadership
Dynamic, Networked Organizations
Developmental Innovations, MicroFinance
Global Business Strategy, International
Development
Global