For some time, 1366's co-founders, Frank van Mierlo and Ely Sachs, had faced a choice, which was now made all the more stark: 1366 could expand to produce silicon wafers itself, raising the required capital from "friendly" investors and building shipment volume slowly, or 1366 could accelerate its market entry dramatically by partnering with the Asian manufacturers that had begun to dominate the world-wide solar industry. While accelerated growth was attractive to 1366 and its current investors, the company believed that it would face considerable risks if it were to expose its intellectual property to the "wrong" partners. 1366 had no intention of losing control of its technology, but given the pace of innovation and the active role of governments in the solar industry, van Mierlo and Sachs feared this might not be a race that could be won by the cautious.
Case explores the pricing of gold in 2011. Is the pricing justified or are we in a speculative bubble? What data are useful in determining a view on this question?
The purpose of this exercise is to let students experience a few biases that can be deleterious to strategic decision-making. In particular, students are induced to fall into a confirmatory trap, and to experience other biases such as anchoring and sampling bias. Although the exercise can be performed individually, it is a better vehicle to explore how some team-level dynamics and structural choices can either increase or reduce the probability of falling into such biases. The exercise creates a situation that mirrors the one leading to the Challenger disaster.
The purpose of this exercise is to let students experience a few biases that can be deleterious to strategic decision-making. In particular, students are induced to fall into a confirmatory trap, and to experience other biases such as anchoring and sampling bias. Although the exercise can be performed individually, it is a better vehicle to explore how some team-level dynamics and structural choices can either increase or reduce the probability of falling into such biases. The exercise creates a situation that mirrors the one leading to the Challenger disaster.
The purpose of this exercise is to let students experience a few biases that can be deleterious to strategic decision-making. In particular, students are induced to fall into a confirmatory trap, and to experience other biases such as anchoring and sampling bias. Although the exercise can be performed individually, it is a better vehicle to explore how some team-level dynamics and structural choices can either increase or reduce the probability of falling into such biases. The exercise creates a situation that mirrors the one leading to the Challenger disaster.
Gordon Zong is trying to teach Chinese universities and research institutes how to do effective technology transfer and IP licensing, but he is trying to do it in an environment with weak property rights and an underdeveloped support infrastructure. As the managing director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, he works with researchers at the forefront of biology and biotech, yet he faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles to getting the technology commercialized within domestic Chinese companies, so he has turned to global multinational pharma companies, for now. The purpose of the case is to help present and future managers at global multinationals who have responsibility for R&D strategy to understand some of the complexities of the Chinese intellectual property environment so that they can build effective participation strategies for their organizations. Understanding the misaligned incentives that result in the production of junk patents and the challenges of patent enforcement, as well as the direction of change are vital, because as the Chinese system evolves quickly, the implications of those changes will have important commercial consequences.
QuikTrip, a large convenience store chain with over 500 stores, was known for its outstanding labor practices and fast, reliable, and friendly customer service. In November 2010, the CEO Chet Cadieux, had to decide how many new locations to open when QuikTrip entered a new market in North Carolina in 2011. Historically, QuikTrip had entered new markets slowly, opening 10 to 12 stores per year. And this slow growth worked well with its "people-first" strategy. For North Carolina, Cadieux was weighing the option of opening new stores at twice the normal pace. About half of employees in these new stores would come from saturated markets where there were few promotion opportunities. Hence, his growth would fulfill QuikTrip's purpose: "provide an opportunity for employees to grow and succeed." But Cadieux was concerned that fast growth might compromise QuikTrip's operations that depended on high performance employees.
In January 2010 the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) was waiting to hear whether the Obama administration would approve its application for $4.7 billion in federal stimulus funding to begin the construction of a $50 billion, 800-mile high-speed rail corridor connecting all of the state's major regions and cities. In November 2008 California voters had already approved Proposition 1A authorizing the state to issue $9.95 billion in bonds toward construction of the system's initial segment running 465 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles-Anaheim in Orange County. This case describes the CHSRA's planning efforts and the controversies that arose over the alignment, the demand projections, the financial plan, and the social benefit-cost analysis. HKS Case Number 1935.0
The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a series of changes the manager makes to the sales compensation plan in response to negative and unintended consequences of the existing system. The cases illustrate the trade-offs inherent in incentive plans (even outside sales environments) and presents a framework for the design and management of incentive systems. It also is useful in addressing employee response to incentive system change.
The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a series of changes the manager makes to the sales compensation plan in response to negative and unintended consequences of the existing system. The cases illustrate the tradeoffs inherent in incentive plans (even outside of sales environments) and presents a framework for the design and management of incentive systems. It also is useful in addressing employee response to incentive system change.
The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a series of changes the manager makes to the sales compensation plan in response to negative and unintended consequences of the existing system. The cases illustrate the tradeoffs inherent in incentive plans (even outside of sales environments) and presents a framework for the design and management of incentive systems. It also is useful in addressing employee response to incentive system change.
The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a series of changes the manager makes to the sales compensation plan in response to negative and unintended consequences of the existing system. The cases illustrate the tradeoffs inherent in incentive plans (even outside of sales environments) and presents a framework for the design and management of incentive systems. It also is useful in addressing employee response to incentive system change.
The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a series of changes the manager makes to the sales compensation plan in response to negative and unintended consequences of the existing system. The cases illustrate the tradeoffs inherent in incentive plans (even outside of sales environments) and presents a framework for the design and management of incentive systems. It also is useful in addressing employee response to incentive system change.
AWARD-WINNING CASE: Adjudged third-best case at the ISB Case Competition 2010 held in partnership with the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Association of Indian Management Schools and sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.<br><br>ABC Energy Limited (ABCEL) was created in March 2007 by ABC Infra Private Limited and XYG Private Limited. In September 2007, MNP Finance Limited joined ABCEL as an equity partner. In 2010, ABCEL operated in power generation and had plans to diversify into transmission and distribution. It aspired to be a world-class energy company with operations in India and neighbouring countries. ABCEL had grown by investing in greenfield projects and acquiring existing operations. The promoters of ABCEL had set a target of achieving a project portfolio of 30,000 megawatts by 2015, up from the current portfolio of 8,655 megawatts. The chief executive officer of ABCEL wanted to discuss the following issues at the board meeting on July 31, 2010, with regard to the opportunities and challenges in the growing market: 1) the key organizational needs that ABCEL might have in achieving its target by 2015, 2) the present culture of ABCEL, 3) the relationship between the culture and extent of formalization and hence the ramp-up of formalization that ABCEL might require, and 4) the method of introducing this formalization.
This case focuses on Solutions Care Association (SCA) — a nonprofit health care organization established in 2000 that quickly became a leader in environmental stewardship and social responsibility. With headquarters in Nevada, United States, the company had a strong mission and socially responsible culture, which helped attract talent and launch social and environmental initiatives. Despite its numerous achievements and awards, however, there was limited awareness internally and externally about these initiatives and their impact on business and society. In addition, the company did not have a comprehensive way to track and report these achievements. As an emerging leader of the integrated health care plan in the United States, Solutions Care Association had both the responsibility and the opportunity to be a model of what American health care should look like. With growing concerns over and scrutiny of the health care industry, there was no better time for Solutions Care Association to continue to strengthen its leadership position in addressing key social and environmental problems, such as providing affordable health care, reducing climate change impacts, phasing out toxic chemicals and creating a safe, culturally sensitive, and supportive environment for employees, patients, and suppliers.
Faced with major losses from operations, Sharp Corporation’s young and unconventional president questioned the company’s long-standing operating model. Sharp was a leader in the area of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology and manufacturing. It also held strong positions in several categories of consumer electronics in the Japanese market. Although Sharp had been increasing its involvement in overseas markets, it had yet to replicate its successes overseas. Sharp’s operating model placed sensitive, high-value-added operations such as research, development, and component manufacturing near its headquarters in Japan. The company jealously guarded its LCD knowhow and had implemented strict security measures at its LCD panel plants. As Sharp’s international sales grew, limitations with its business model became more apparent. Operating primarily in Japan had drawbacks, such as exposure to currency risk, high infrastructure cost, and high taxes. Additionally, the logistics of shipping large items overseas, such as LCDs and solar panels, presented other dilemmas. Sharp needed to reconsider this model and develop an approach that was more suitable to the environment in which it now competed.
Risking becoming the target of a hostile takeover or being cornered as a small regional player in the global beer industry, the Danish brewery Carlsberg decided in the early 2000s to expand into rapidly growing emerging markets to pursue new arenas of growth. By 2008, this strategy had paid off, and Carlsberg was positioned among the five largest breweries in the world. In the Russian market — one of the fastest-growing markets in the world — Carlsberg had become the market leader. In China — the world’s largest beer market in terms of size and population — the company had achieved a 55 per cent market share in Western China, and operated 20 brewery plants with approximately 5,000 employees. The ambitious acquisition strategy applied in emerging markets had become essential to Carlsberg’s business in relation to future growth and profits. Accordingly, the case focuses on Carlsberg’s entry into China, which started as a commercial failure in the eastern part of the country, but subsequently developed successfully in the west.