Michael A. Cusumano

About

Michael A. Cusumano is the SMR Distinguished Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He specializes in strategy, product development, and entrepreneurship in computer software, automobiles, and consumer electronics. Cusumano is the faculty director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and the Co-Director of the MIT System Design and Management (SDM) Program. During 2020-2024, he served as Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research and has held a joint appointment as Professor of Engineering Systems in the MIT School of Engineering. His teaching includes courses such as 'Strategy in the Age of Digital Platforms.' Cusumano's research and consulting focus on industry platforms, ecosystem innovation, and the strategic management of technology and innovation. He has published extensively, including 14 books and over 120 articles, and is recognized for his influential work on platform strategy, industry ecosystems, and the management of technological innovation. His contributions extend to serving as an editor-in-chief of the MIT Sloan Management Review, consulting for major organizations like NASA and the World Bank, and holding outside director roles in various companies. His academic background includes a BA from Princeton, a PhD from Harvard, and postdoctoral work at Harvard Business School, complemented by fellowships in Japan and visiting professorships worldwide.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Business
• Marketing
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Economics
• Literature
• Psychology
• Law

Selected publications

• Can self-regulation save digital platforms?

  Industrial and Corporate Change · 2021 · 121 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This article explores some of the critical challenges facing self-regulation and the regulatory environment for digital platforms. We examine several historical examples of firms and industries that attempted self-regulation before the Internet. All dealt with similar challenges involving multiple market actors and potentially harmful content or bias in search results: movies and video games, radio and television advertising, and computerized airline reservation systems. We follow this…

  PublisherDOI

• Commentaries on “The Lenses of Lean”

  Journal of Operations Management · 2021 · 65 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The phenomenon of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the term “Lean” have received much attention from researchers and especially practitioners over the past 40 years. As scholarly perspectives on these topics continue to evolve, we invited Wally Hopp and Mark Spearman to contribute an essay to the JOM Forum that became “The Lenses of Lean,” and we invited several other prominent authors affiliated with Lean to react to that article and share their perspectives on Lean. We are delig…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Evolution of Research on Industry Platforms

  Academy of Management Discoveries · 2020 · 39 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Industry platforms have become an increasingly popular topic. Scholars in fields ranging from economics and strategy to operations management, marketing, law, and computer science all are contributing to the growing body of research. Several previously separate streams in the strategy field seem to be converging around platform dynamics, business models, and ecosystems. The topic also has attracted considerable attention in the media at least in part because the most valuable companies and the f…

  DOI

• Generative AI as a New Innovation Platform

  Communications of the ACM · 2023-09-22 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Considering the stability and longevity of a potential new foundational technology.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multisided platform research over the past three decades: a bibliometric analysis

  International Journal of Technology Management · 2021-01-01 · 17 citations

  article

  Over the past 30 years, numerous scholars in economics and management have studied a phenomenon we now refer to as 'platforms' - digital businesses that link multiple market sides and generate network effects within and across those market actors. In this literature review, we discuss the different definitions of the term 'platform' and explain the results of a bibliometric analysis of 578 peer-reviewed articles published on this topic during the past three decades. Based on a study of keywords,…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Annabelle Gawer

  University of Surrey

  30 shared

• David B. Yoffie

  21 shared

• Steven Kahl

  University of Maryland, College Park

  13 shared

• Brian S. Silverman

  University of Toronto

  11 shared

• Fernando F. Suárez

  9 shared

• Chris F. Kemerer

  University of Pittsburgh

  8 shared

• Kentaro Nobeoka

  Hitotsubashi University

  6 shared

• Slinger Jansen

  5 shared

Awards & honors

• 2019 Abbie Griffin High Impact Award

Similar researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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• Scott Sternh-62
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