McCormick & Co.: Deploying Artificial Intelligence in New Product Development

Darren Meister, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar

Product #:W25509_P

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:General Management, Information Systems

Setting:United States, 2020

Details:Case (PDF) • 11 pages • 2021-09-30 (Rev: 2023-08-15)

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In February 2020, the director of Global Creative Intelligence at McCormick & Company, Inc. (McCormick), was grappling with some challenges at his desk at the company’s headquarters in the United States. Having been mandated to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) in developing new products—in partnership with IBM—he had been interfacing with over 500 product developers at the company’s various locations worldwide. The director faced three managerial dilemmas: How should he get the company’s product developers to trust the findings of AI? How could he teach and train AI to become smarter? And how should he deal with the global-local dynamics at McCormick in launching AI-engineered products?

Learning Objectives

This case is suitable for undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs. It can be used in modules focusing on information systems, strategy, and disruptive innovation. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to

recognize the trends driving the adoption of AI in a large-scale manufacturing enterprise;
explore how AI can add value to traditional roles involving human judgment; and
understand the need for business managers to “smarten up” AI.

McCormick & Co.: Deploying Artificial Intelligence in New Product Development

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Learning Objectives