Founded in 1994, Motor Trike, Inc. produced kits that transformed a motorcycle into a three-wheeled vehicle or trike, providing increased safety and comfort for the riders. Trikes became increasingly more popular as the baby boomer generation aged. Jacquelyn Moore, marketing director at Motor Trike, faced decisions of whether to start an owners' group or brand community for the company and then, if so, how to start the group. Jacquelyn had marketing survey data available to help guide the decision making process, but the data needed to be properly analyzed and presented to the owners of the company.
The CEO of a health care-based REIT is considering alternative nursing home investment strategies. Students must consider macro-industry trends, scale and scope issues and consumer segmentation data in making their recommendations.
In November 2013, the senior manager of Human Resources at Attock Refinery Limited, headquartered in Morgah Rawalpindi, Pakistan, is considering whether to amend the current performance appraisal system to bring it in line with the goal of creating a performance-oriented culture in the company, which refines 70 per cent of the country's crude oil. Significant changes had been made over the last 14 years, but the current performance management system is still not distinguishing between different categories of performers, and employees continue to complain that everyone gets more or less the same ratings and pay increments regardless of the amount or quality of the work they do. Should the weights for objective setting and competencies in the appraisal forms be adjusted? Should competencies be better defined and training sessions held on how to objectively evaluate them? Should there be more direction at all levels in setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely objectives? Considering the views of employees and managers in all departments, he must decide what, if any, changes should be made to promote the desired company culture.
They were part of leading a high-profile global consortium aimed at, in the words of Rwandan Minister of Health Agnes Binagwaho, creating "a critical mass of health professionals" and transforming Rwanda's health care system. HRH paired United States faculty from more than 20 institutions-including Dartmouth, University of Virginia, Duke, and Yeshiva-with Rwandan college faculty counterparts. A discipline-specific "twinning model" sought to provide a two-way learning experience that would help support and develop a sustainable health care system in Rwanda. The HRH Program held not only great promise for the country of Rwanda, but it also held personal promise for Dr. Ntakiyiruta's day-to-day life and work. Since joining the University of Rwanda in 2008, where Dr. Ntakiyiruta taught undergraduate as well as post-graduate courses in addition to maintaining a full clinical schedule at the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), there had never been more than four permanent university-employed faculty in the Department of Surgery. If the HRH program achieved its ambitious human resource growth targets, it was reasonable to conclude that the professional lives of devoted physicians like Dr. Ntakiyiruta would witness desired improvements with the opportunity to serve more patients and to educate the next generation of surgeons in Rwanda. It would also provide more time for published research and academic inquiry. When the HRH program was launched a little more than two years earlier, news of the Rwandan effort was accompanied by great fanfare. "This is the boldest effort I've seen to make good on a central promise of global health," said Dr. Paul Farmer, the Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard University and Chair of the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. "The fruits of science serve everyone, especially those that bear the highest burden of disease," he also noted.
The founder and president of Sport-Fresh was in the middle of a four-state road trip to meet his firm’s U.S. distributors and sales representatives. He had just returned from an international trade show in Germany, and was eager to update his agents about the incredible response the company product Sport-Fresh, a disinfecting equipment spray, had received. But he was worried about the time commitment required to follow up on all the leads he had received, and juggle his normal workload at the same time. The president looked at the challenges and opportunities in front of him. He had built a growing brand and he felt as if he was at a crossroads. Sport-Fresh was the only disinfectant spray on the market; all of its other direct competitors were odor masking and perfume sprays. There was potential for growth, if he could find a way.
An equity research analyst is preparing to attend a road show presentation by WH Group Limited, the world’s largest pork company headquartered in Hong Kong, concerning its upcoming initial public offering. She is reviewing the preliminary prospectus as well as other publicly available background information on the company and its two core subsidiaries, Shuanghui International Holdings Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc., whose recent acquisition was the largest by a Chinese company of a U.S. firm. She wants to assess the prospects for the company as a whole and arrive at her own independent valuation to support a buy or no buy recommendation for her fund. Her analysis includes assessments of economic conditions and the pork industry in the United States and China and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of WH Group, including the issue of large bonuses to corporate executives and the benefits or risks of the recent acquisition.
A North America-based representative of a major European airline has just received a letter from an unhappy customer detailing a very large number of service problems. A quick check had revealed that this premium-paying customer's complaints were all valid. A meeting is planned with the customer. Before this, the airline representative must decide (A) what to say in response, and (B) what, if any, compensation should be offered. Internally, there was a need (C) to resolve what their organization should learn from this experience, both from a subsidiary and parent company perspective, and the implications on their participation in the Crown Alliance. This case raises many important questions regarding service recovery, communications, and non-equity alliances.
In January 2013, the new chief executive officer of the Sonnen Trucking Company, a family-owned business, is considering how to reduce fleet insurance costs. As profit margins are very tight and continuing to shrink, she has to think about variables she can control in order to affect the bottom line positively. Insurance costs are the logical item to address since they are based on the company’s safety and accident records and the extent that it is willing to support a deductible. Should she institute a self-insured model or stick with the standard insurance model? She also must choose a risk mitigation/prevention strategy involving either disciplinary measures or the newly developed Drive Safe program. Whatever she decides to do, she must make sure that she retains good drivers and attracts new trainees who will be motivated to focus on safety and good customer relations in order to build the business.
Religion in the workplace is of growing interest as more individuals desire to express their spirituality and incorporate their whole selves there. Expression can take a variety of forms as employees and employers attempt to integrate their personal beliefs into their daily work.<br><br>This case considers two organizational sides of integrating faith into the workplace: the employee and employer perspectives. The first part of the case takes the perspective of the owner of Hobby Lobby, a privately held arts and crafts company whose founder has always endeavoured to incorporate his Christian beliefs within business practices. The company must react to changes imposed by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that it perceives as contrary to its values. The second part of the case considers religious discrimination experienced by an employee of AutoZone, a distributor and retailer of automobile parts. What is the place of religion in the workplace? How important is it for organizations to adapt to various forms of religious expression?
This case is set in November 2011. Wayne Williams, the CEO of Telect, Inc. has proposed that he and the company's CFO, Stan Hilbert, spend a month or more riding around the country on their Harley Davidson motorcycles visiting the company's customers in honor of the company's upcoming 30th anniversary in September 2012. Wayne wants to take the ride to personally thank the customers who have helped the company reach this milestone and to showcase the firm's product offerings. He would also like to find out from customers what more Telect could be doing to meet their needs. Stan is concerned that the ride could backfire and be misinterpreted by customers, eroding rather than enhancing customer relationships. He is also concerned that employees will not see the ride as the best use of the company's resources and CEO and CFO's time, and that the company may not want to take on the physical risks of having its executive team travel around the country by motorcycle. The students are put into the shoes of the CFO and must decide whether or not to support the ride. If they support the ride, they need to craft a strong argument for the ride to present to the company's board of directors. If they decide not to support the ride, they need to craft a strong argument that will have a chance of convincing the CEO to change his mind about the ride. The case was written primarily for use in MBA and Executive Education strategy and/or executive leadership courses, but it is also suitable for use in an undergraduate level strategy or leadership course. The case focuses on strategic leadership and the role of the executive team in both shaping corporate culture and in developing and maintaining strong relationships with the organization's stakeholders, and in particular, its customers.
In November 2009, a year after the U.S. economy began sliding into a deep recession, Joan Uhl Browne, the CEO of Lott Industries, faced a looming crisis. As financial losses mounted, would she be able to save the company she had led for two and a half years? Lott was a non-profit organization in Toledo, Ohio, that employed over 1200 adults with developmental disabilities when Browne took over in April 2007. The case traces Browne's steps as she tried to replace the loss of over 85 percent of the organization's revenues, build a management team and create new, innovative products. As Browne and her management team pursued a business model of diversification and business growth, they viewed the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, which hired the Lott staff and controlled Lott's financial resources, as an obstacle to implementing changes. The critical decision was which strategy was most likely to be successful in assuring the survival of Lott Industries: to keep doing what Lott had traditionally done, finding contracts geared to their current employee-consumers' skill levels as well as innovating, or to focus on securing long-term, higher margin contracts that require the flexibility to hire employees who do not have developmental disabilities, but who can do the jobs. The all-out effort to save Lott Industries through 2009 included restructuring the organization, searching for any and all kinds of contracts, and developing in-house innovations, including green cleaning products and gourmet dog treats. Browne pushed ahead, but she found that the crucial support from her most important stakeholder, the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, was weakening. As the frustrations of managing the changes necessary for survival in an increasingly poor economy accumulated, the case begins and ends with the CEO contemplating the next steps she needs to take, and the likelihood they will be successful.
As chair of the accounting department at Southern Regional University (SRU), Professor David Evans recently hired a seemingly promising young assistant professor of accounting. Evans has now received some very disturbing information regarding this faculty member. The information was that this new hire does not possess the academic nor professional credentials he claimed. As a result, Evans was in a near panic as to what action he should recommend. He contemplated his options, which were: denounce this fraud and fire him immediately; quietly terminate him and make a vague announcement about his unexpected departure; or allow this individual to finish the term and not renew his contract. Evans weighed the reaction of the university community, the public, and the results for himself. In case B in the Instructor's Manual the recommendation Evans made to the academic vice president was accepted and acted upon. This decision in turn had second order consequences for organizations outside of SRU. In case C there were third order consequences of a serious and personal nature for another member of the accounting department.
American Solar was a small Virginia start up, providing firms with solar thermal energy though new roofing installations. The firm's owners, John Archibald and Kathryn McGeehan, wanted to sell their solar thermal roofing as cost effective systems, not dependent on tax credits to make them economical as was the case with solar photovoltaic electric (PV electric) generation. Kathryn and John competed for a small niche in an already niche market and were working to prove that their system could stand alone as an energy efficient, cost effective heating system. They were battling the high upfront cost of a solar roof and working to sell the long term energy efficiency that solar thermal roofs provided. Kathryn and John knew that a hotel chain-Hannover Inns-was going out asking for bids from roofing companies to replace their roofs. If they could land this contract, it would be their largest commercial contract to date. They wanted to prepare a quote for replacing the roofs along with a presentation, based on cost savings, that could help take their firm to a higher sales level.
Matt Decker, the former president of Malkinson Printing Company, a family-owned private printing company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, needed to decide whether to return to the company after quitting more than two years earlier. Matt had been one of the three family members in the fourth generation of Malkinson Printing ownership, along with Brad Malkinson and Ron Malkinson. Matt's exit from Malkinson Printing came during a period when the business had begun to struggle for the first time in its history. The company had always been a successful one, growing with each of its previous generations of ownership, but the printing industry had changed dramatically by the beginning of the twenty-first century. The advent of computer graphics and desktop publishing placed companies like Malkinson at a competitive disadvantage and its owners faced the challenge of sustaining its market. The dynamics of the technological changes that were taking place dovetailed with a fracturing of the family dynamics at Malkinson Printing. Whereas their predecessors had generally agreed on company strategy, the three members of the fourth generation of Malkinson ownership did not get along. Matt had walked out when Brad secretly sold his stake in the business, which left Ron with a 75 percent share of the ownership. Matt was working as a salesman for another printing firm in October 2003 when Ron asked if he would come back. Matt had been critical to the success of Malkinson Printing Company, and Ron said he needed him to help save the business. This case is suitable for courses in family business management or for courses in small business management where family business issues are addressed. It can be especially useful as an introductory case or a second case on family business.
Watson Children's Shelter (Watson) was a private, independent, charitable non-profit organization located in Missoula, MT, that provided emergency shelter to children. Watson was a licensed emergency care provider, offering a safe, nurturing environment for children who were victims of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, neglect, abandonment, or family crisis. Many of the children arriving at the shelter were severely emotionally disturbed or learning disabled. Other children arrived as victims of secondary abuse, coming from situations in which they observed domestic violence, substance or sexual abuse. Watson was founded in 1977 and had been under the leadership of Fran Albrecht since 1997. Albrecht had an excellent reputation as a leader and manager of this non-profit. It was June 2011 when Albrecht was deciding which of three alternatives to recommend to her Board of Directors, as Watson faced a tough operational situation. Watson and its Board had gone through a time-consuming due diligence process that led them to the decision to expand and build an additional facility. Within a year after the second facility was finished, placements of children had decreased dramatically; where Watson had been turning away approximately two children per week, it now had excess capacity in each facility and even had closed one facility part of the time. Albrecht's research into the decreased placements led her to a policy change by the main referring agency-it was now taking a "family preservation" approach rather than referring directly to an emergency provider such as Watson.It was a case of Albrecht and her Board having done lots of due diligence and then being blindsided by a decision made by an external constituent. She was concerned about the public perception and the impact on her organization and the Board members, as well as other stakeholders, including the children. She knew Watson had to adapt and act quickly, but she was not certain which alternative to take
County Line Markets (CLM) needed to consider expanding one of its existing sixty-seven Indiana based stores to form a superstore. The key capital investment trade-off decision facing CLM was whether to replace its existing store now with a new, larger superstore, or should they wait in the hope that additional information they might receive in the future would enhance the overall net present value (NPV) of the project. Ron Winston, CFO, was considering whether a real options approach should be used to help determine when and if the store should be converted to a superstore. This case focuses on CLM's evaluation of its downtown metro area location. Although the specific circumstances of each location were different, the analytical and judgmental issues facing CLM's management for the upgrade to a superstore were typical of the issues present at each location. The CLM store under evaluation is located in an area where the demographics, population, and competitive landscape have changed dramatically since the store was last remodeled. The chief financial officer (CFO) Ron Winston thinks that it is premature to invest substantial sums of money in some existing locations because they are still in a state of flux, and he feels it is better to wait until the market stabilizes before committing large amounts of funds to these markets. Jerry Williams, vice president of operations, thinks that CLM needs to invest in advance of market changes. Williams also believes that Winston is not considering competitive developments in his analysis; that is, the impact on the downtown metro area store if the competition moves to a superstore first.
The Vice President and General Manager of Northeast BMW, a family-owned car dealership, must determine what disciplinary actions to take against an employee who posted defamatory comments and photos to his Facebook page referencing two instances at the dealership. The first involved a launch event of the redesigned BMW 5 Series model for which the sales staff was dissatisfied with the quality of refreshments offered to potential customers. The employee also posted pictures and disparaging captions about an accident that occurred at the company's adjacent LandRover dealership later that week. The Vice President learned of the Facebook postings through phone calls from neighboring dealers.