This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Consumers were surprised in October 2009 by the first of a series of highly publicized recalls of Toyota vehicles in the United States. Citing a potential problem in which poorly placed or incorrect floor mats under the driver's seat could lead to uncontrolled acceleration in a range of models, Toyota announced that it was recalling 3.8 million U.S. vehicles. For manufacturing executives who have strived for decades to emulate Toyota, the mere suggestion that it had quality issues was a serious matter. All over the world, executives paused to wonder if they had been chasing after the wrong manufacturing model. Despite Toyota's long record of building reliable, low-defect vehicles, public perceptions about quality are often greatly influenced by reports in the media and their overall timing, the author argues. The key question was the source of Toyota's problems: To what extent did they originate with the product designs and assembly, and to what extent could they be pegged to the company's supply and manufacturing systems? The author discusses two root causes for Toyota's quality problems. The first is an outgrowth of management's ambitions for rapid growth. Management's goal was to increase Toyota's global market share from 7.3% in 1995 to 10% over the next decade, then to 15% by 2010. The second is the result of the increasing complexity of the company's products. A typical auto sold in the United States or Europe has more than 60 electronic control units and more than 10 million lines of computer code -a fourfold increase over what was common a decade ago. However, the author notes that any thorough analysis would also need to acknowledge the role of the company's centralized management structure. The result: Top management in Japan was less sensitive to the expectations of regulators, culture, and politics in overseas markets, and consequently they were slower to respond to local problems.
Sam Silver, a law student, was near the end of a second visit to Mason & Klump LLP, a Bay Street law firm in Toronto, Canada. He was meeting Chuck Clayton, director of professional development. Silver was mentally exhausted from the interview process that had consumed much of his past three months, during which he had been seeking a position as a summer student at Bay Street firms. He had narrowed his selection to two leading national firms, Andrews, Mantle & Smithers LLP and Mason & Klump. On November 1 and 2, Silver had had interviews at six Bay Street firms, including his top two choices. Although he believed his first choice, Andrews, Mantle & Smithers, would offer him a position on November 3, when formal offers would be made, he was not certain that the firm would do so. As the meeting drew to a close, Clayton left the room for a minute, giving Silver a short time to decide if he should ask any more questions and to begin to reflect on the interview process.
An Excel macro is a series of commands that can perform certain tasks automatically, such as obtaining data from another Excel file or the web, updating computations, generating reports, and running models. Macros can save time, reduce user errors, and complete tasks that would be extremely difficult for a user to do otherwise. This note uses examples and screenshots to introduce macros and macro recording in Microsoft Excel.
The web query feature of Microsoft Excel can be a great help in retrieving data from the web. A web query can be set up in Excel in a similar way to browsing a web page. In this note, historical stock prices are obtained from the web for use in Microsoft Excel, and a macro recorder is used to process the data and view and modify the corresponding Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code.
This note is designed to give readers an overview of some useful tools within Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), including offset, vlookup, dynamic charts, form controls, and pivot tables. These tools have purposes such as eliminating errors in data entry or extracting insights from large sets of categorical data. This note contains explanations followed by examples and screenshots for each tool.
Unlike traditional marketers who must wait days, if not weeks, to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, online marketers are confronted with an abundance of data that can be tracked and measured almost in real-time. Despite the volume of data and powerful tools available to online marketers (for free or at low cost, making analytics as affordable for startups as Fortune 500 firms), online metrics are widely misunderstood and misapplied, and are often misused to say much more than they should. Understanding how online metrics work, what they measure, and which of them are most relevant based on specific marketing functions and campaign goals is a valuable skill for every marketer. <br><br>This note frames online metrics in the context of campaign goals (from search marketing to back-end analytics) while discussing the various marketing functions (from display advertising to brand management) that benefit as a result of access to specific metrics. Throughout the note, each metric is placed along a return on investment continuum designed to give insight into the role of each metric over time as it relates to a firm’s bottom line.
Governments throughout the world have offered subsidies for a wide variety of reasons, including increasing investments and jobs (particularly those that are high-tech), stimulating economically depressed regions, supporting domestic agriculture, and preventing bankruptcies through “bail-outs.” Subsidies now play a key role in business location decisions, and impact international competitiveness. Recipients of subsidies can offer their goods and services for sale at lower prices than would exist in the absence of subsidies. Foreign-based corporations may regard these lower prices as unfair competition in international trade. Consequently, international trade negotiations have come to focus on many of these subsidy programs as trade distortions that should be limited by formal international agreements. Some countries, especially the United States, impose special countervail duties if their corporations are being hurt by foreign subsidies. With current and projected reductions in trade barriers, subsidies will become relatively more important as a trade-determining process. Nevertheless, subsidies are implemented to pursue certain social objectives, and so an intergovernmental pact that limits subsidies may diminish, rather than improve, the well being of signatories.
Julie Bornstein, senior vice president of Sephora Direct, is seeking to double her budget for social media and other digital marketing initiatives for 2011. A number of digital efforts implemented in the past two years seem to be bearing fruit, and there is a desire to intensify Sephora's social media, online video, and mobile presence. Bornstein must justify the need for the additional funding, determine how best to allocate the money across the various platforms, and establish effective ways to measure return on investment (ROI) for digital marketing spending . She must also take into account that the funding requested will likely come at the expense of Sephora's traditional marketing programs. Importantly, Bornstein needs to begin thinking about a cohesive long-term strategy that clearly identifies the role digital platforms play and how they help Sephora maintain its leadership position in the prestige beauty care space. The constant emergence of new players, such as Groupon and Shop Socially, the growing power of social media platforms such as Facebook, and the way consumer behavior and user generated content are rapidly evolving in a digital era, make her task all the more challenging.
This note explains how the People's Bank of China (PBOC) manages (some say manipulate) the dollar-yuan exchange rate. It discusses briefly the process of sterilization in China and the possible costs for the PBOC. Therefore, the note summarizes some of the main challenges the PBOC faces to contain inflation in China and to keep Chinese exports competitive.
Established in 2006, OSSCube was an open source software development company based in North Carolina, United States, which had its India office in Noida and its development centres in Delhi, Bangalore and Noida. OSSCube started as a software training provider and gradually emerged as an open source software development and consulting company. The marketing of OSSCube's offerings was primarily executed by search engine optimization (SEO) initiatives. Later on, OSSCube created a social media presence on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.TV, Blog and Friendfeed. The primary objective of creating a presence on these social media platforms was to augment the company's SEO initiatives. This strategy did help OSSCube in gaining business leads; however, Kinshuk, the community manager of the firm, realized that this strategy was not building the brand identity of OSSCube. Also, the thought of having a wide presence on social media platforms to augment SEO activities created some sort of confusion in consumers' minds regarding OSSCube's expertise. Hence, in 2010, Kinshuk was reviewing the social media approach with some definite objectives such as branding employees, branding OSSCube and promoting open source software. He faced the challenge of forming an appropriate social media strategy that would address these objectives.
Many companies view financial variables independently from ecological and social variables. Is it possible to hold one's organization equally accountable for financial performance and social responsibility? This field-based case is suitable for MBA and undergraduate courses or modules in sustainability and innovation, ethics, and corporate social responsibility. For REI, an outdoor gear and apparel manufacturer, the challenge lies in how to expand sustainability awareness through consensus building across the organization and with outside collaborators. As it designs a new strategic framework for the operations footprint, the company seeks to adopt a corporate strategy on product stewardship and adapt its philanthropy strategy around sustainability objectives.
Established in 2006, OSSCube was an open source software development company based in North Carolina, United States, which had its India office in Noida and its development centres in Delhi, Bangalore, and Noida. OSSCube started as a software training provider and gradually emerged as an open source software development and consulting company. The marketing of OSSCube’s offerings was primarily executed by search engine optimization (SEO) initiatives. Later, OSSCube created a social media presence on a variety of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo. The primary objective of creating a presence on these social media platforms was to augment the company’s SEO initiatives. Although this strategy helped OSSCube in gaining business leads, the community manager of the firm realized that the strategy was not building the brand identity of OSSCube. Also, the prospect of having a wide presence on social media platforms to augment SEO activities created confusion in consumers’ minds regarding OSSCube’s expertise. Hence, in 2010, the manager was reviewing the social media approach with some definite objectives such as branding employees, branding OSSCube, and promoting open source software. He faced the challenge of forming an appropriate social media strategy that would address these objectives.
This case deals with the problems that Platmin faces as it heads toward full production at a new open-cast mine in Pilanesberg, South Africa. Platmin is in a very difficult situation that is affecting the viability of the operation. The main issue is the timing of the production — investment in mining is typically heavy in the beginning, but when the mine starts producing, payback of loans is usually substantial. Any delay in production has an exaggerated effect on the payback period and, by extension, the viability of the mine. The second major issue is the economic downturn, which has seen the price of platinum decline substantially; however, this may benefit Platmin because it is a low-cost producer, and the downturn has led to some competitors leaving the industry or “mothballing” operations that are not viable at the current platinum price. On the other hand, while Platmin is seeing a shakeup in the industry, it is experiencing pressures on its margins, and this also has an effect on its capital funding.
In 1985, the president and founder of New Deantronics (ND) launched her sales office in San Francisco, California, and then set up a factory in Taiwan in 1987. With no technical background or prior experience, the president used her system of management strategy and philosophy and built ND’s reputation as a trusted manufacturer and developer of medical devices. All of ND’s products were directly exported to large global health-care companies, including Philips Medical Systems, Johnson & Johnson, and Covidien. With the rapid increase in business, the need for expanding production capacity became increasingly urgent. Sitting in her office in early 2009, the president knew that she could no longer postpone her decision to relocate. Several options were presented to her, and the factors that influenced her decision included considerations about the supply of quality human resources, geographical convenience, the willingness of her current employees to relocate, affordability, and the possibility for future expansion. The president pondered what would be the best bet.
The owner of South Side Restaurant, a mid- to upper-class restaurant located in Chicago, Illinois, must decide which of three bottles of wine to add to the restaurant’s wine list. Given that the restaurant prides itself on its environmental and social positioning and that its consumers have come to expect performance in this area, the wine’s carbon footprint represents an important decision criterion. South Side Restaurant is a for-profit restaurant and the owner must balance this environmental criterion with short- and long-term financial returns.
AMD management needs to make a critical decision on the launch sequence of its next-generation technology called Fusion. The Fusion processor concept merges the central and graphics processing units (CPU and GPU) onto one chip-- yielding advantages in performance (particularly graphics related), power consumption, and suitability for new computer form factors (tablets, all-in-one machines, etc.). AMD planned to launch Fusion at the beginning of 2011 with a high-end processor, code-named Llano, to impress the industry and consumers with the best the technology could offer (suited for high-end desktops and notebooks), and subsequently to launch low-powered versions, code-named Brazos (suited for small notebooks and netbooks). However, the development of Llano suffered delays while that of Brazos was ahead of schedule. AMD's executive committee raised the possibility of reversing the launch sequence and going with a "Brazos First" strategy. The case describes the microprocessor industry, its main competitors (AMD and Intel), and the evolving world of PC selling and buying. The case further provides a host of market research that AMD conducted to better understand the market. Students need to address the advisability of a reverse launch vs. waiting to launch all versions together and whether AMD can advance its competitive position relative to Intel with Fusion. Students need to outline their marketing approach (sales effort, pricing, consumer marketing, etc.) in the event that a reverse launch strategy is pursued.
The China Investment Corporation (CIC) was China's sovereign wealth fund (SWF), established with $200 billion of registered capital in September 2007 to diversify China's foreign exchange holdings and increase risk-adjusted returns on those assets. CIC was unusual in that it had a strictly commercial orientation and market-driven investment mandate to invest in foreign assets but also served as the parent company of a 100 percent-owned subsidiary, Huijin, that invested solely in key state-owned financial institutions in China. Moreover, the fact that CIC was an SWF presented broader political challenges for it, its shareholder the Chinese government, its direct investments and their governments, and the world economy generally. This case involved two decisions CIC faced in early 2011: the first was how to best and most accurately articulate the relationship among CIC, Huijin, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) so that ICBC could expand its business in the United States while exempting CIC and Huijin from certain types of Fed oversight. The second was whether to appoint a board director to Morgan Stanley, a company in which CIC had directly invested close to $6 billion and held 9.9 percent ownership. Additionally, the case discussed SWFs generally and their rights and responsibilities to the global community.