9. Andrew McAfee, "Enterprise 2.0: The State of an Art"

PARC FORUM:
February 21 ∙ 4:00 – 5:00 pm ∙ George E. Pake Auditorium, Palo Alto Research Center

TITLE: "Enterprise 2.0: The State of an Art"

SPEAKER: Andrew McAfee, Harvard Business School

ABSTRACT: Andrew McAfee will discuss Enterprise 2.0 – the use of Web 2.0 technologies and approaches by companies in pursuit of business goals. He will describe the trends that have converged to make Enterprise 2.0 an appealing reality now, illustrating them with examples from both the Internet and Intranets. He will also frame the benefits brought by Enterprise 2.0, and use case studies to show how they address some longstanding challenges within organizations. Finally, he will outline substantial barriers to successful adoption of the new tools and approaches, and discuss appropriate roles for general managers, IT departments, internal champions, and other important constituencies.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Andrew McAfee joined the faculty of the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School (HBS) in 1998. His research investigates how managers can most effectively select, implement, and use Information Technology (IT) to achieve business goals. He was the recipient of a U.S. Department of Energy Integrated Manufacturing Fellowship for his doctoral research, which focused on the performance impact of enterprise information technologies such as SAP's R/3. His current research falls into two categories: (1) an exploration of how Web 2.0 technologies can be used within the enterprise, and what their impact is likely to be; and (2) a study of IT's impact over time on the structure of U.S. industries and the nature of competition within them.

Awarded a Doctorate in Business Administration at HBS in 1999, McAfee also holds dual M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Management from MIT as a Leaders for Manufacturing fellow, and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and in Humanities from MIT.

This is the 9th talk in our special forum series on Going Beyond Web 2.0.