Biographical Sketch of Michael A. Cusumano
Michael A. Cusumano is an associate professor of management at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. He
specializes in competitive strategy and technology management in the
computer software, automobile, and consumer electronics industries, and
does much of his work on technology-based Japanese companies and
comparisons with U.S. firms.
Professor Cusumano received a B.A. degree from Princeton University
in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1984, focusing on Japanese
management studies. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the
Production and Operations Management Area at the Harvard Business School
during 1984-1986. He is fluent in Japanese language and has lived and
worked in Japan for six years. While in Japan, Professor Cusumano held two
Fulbright Fellowships (1980-82) and a Japan Foundation Fellowship (1995)
for studying at the University of Tokyo, Division of Economics. He has also
taught at International Christian University (1976-78) and served as a
visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University (1992). In 1994-95, he was a
visiting professor and researcher at the Institute for Advanced Computer
Studies, Department of Computer Science, at the University of Maryland,
College Park, and at the University of Tokyo, Division of Economics. In
addition, Professor Cusumano has lectured and worked as a consultant,
principally in software development management, for such firms as Alcatel,
AT&T, Bell Communications Research, Digital Equipment Corporation, Dynalab
Taiwan, Fiat, Finsiel/Italtel, Fujitsu, General Electric, GTE, Hitachi,
IBM, IBM Japan, Microelectronics and Computer Corporation (MCC), MITRE,
Motorola, MultiLink, Northern Telecom, Schlumberger, Tandem Computer, Texas
Instruments, Robert Bosch, Siemens, and Toshiba.
Professor Cusumano is the author or co-author of three books. The
Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and
Toyota (Harvard University Press, 1985) traces the evolution of Japanese
innovations in production management and quality control as well as Japan's
remarkable success in managing automobile technology transfer and product
development. Japan's Software Factories: A Challenge to U.S. Management
(Oxford University Press, 1991) examines how Japanese firms, led by
Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, and Fujitsu, have introduced structured factory-like
organizations, tools, and methods for managing complex, large-scale
software development projects. His most recent book, Microsoft Secrets: How
the Words Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes
Markets, and Manages People (The Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 1995, with
Richard W. Selby), has become a national best-seller in the United States.
This examines the principles that lay behind Microsoft's competitive
strategy, organization and management systems, and process for software
product development. Professor Cusumano has also written approximately
fifty articles and papers on software engineering, video-recorder product
development and standardization, manufacturing innovation and product
development in the automobile industry, as well as Japanese technological
innovation and entrepreneurship.
Address:
MIT Sloan School of Management
50 Memorial Drive, Room E52-555
Cambridge, MA 02142 USA.
Tel: 617-253-2574. Fax: 617-253-2660.
Email: cusumano@mit.edu