What does it take to build a successful career over time? Describes Amy Schulman's career progression and role as a star senior litigator and top executive at one of the world's largest law firms. It focuses on different stages in her career and what she did to be successful at each stage. The demands on her time--client development, casework, firm leadership responsibilities, mentoring her people, managing her team, spending time with her family--were changing over time. After being chosen to sit on the firm's Global Board as well as its Executive and Policy Committees, Amy Schulman feels that there are things that are being left undone. She must decide how to allocate her time.
The head of logistics has received a number of customer complaints regarding various aspects of the company's product delivery policy. She must decide what can be done to increase customer satisfaction with its pricing, delivery service and customer relations. The head of logistics is not sure if it's a problem with communications or internal problems with the delivery process. She will have to assess customer feedback and examine the sales process.
The human resources manager of the Toronto office of RSM Richter LLP, reflected upon the company's efforts and outcomes in relation to recruiting junior accountants from the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario. Although Richter had similar salary and benefits to those of the Big Four accounting firms, it offered a unique environment in which employees were able to get to know one another personally and junior accountants were likely to become exposed to different aspects of auditing that they would not encounter in larger firms. Yet, Ivey students seemed more likely to accept offers from one of the Big Four. The human resources manager considered various alternatives.
The owner and founder of Boman Communications, was proud of the company's business concept which utilized technology to allow flexibility and efficiency in the production of marketing materials. However, despite this strategic advantage, the company had been unable to attract more than one large client. More importantly, recent events had led the owner to believe that many of his own employees did not understand the company's business concept. If they did not understand the company's business concept, how could they sell it to customers? Bowman knew he had to address these issues soon but was unsure how to do so.
The co-founder of NEWAD, a media company, is considering expanding his scope of operations from washroom advertising to include distributing free postcards. On one hand, offering an extra advertising vehicle to his clients would boost his topline results and would match the postcard offering planned by his larger competitor. On the other hand, launching a new line of business could distract his small firm from pursuing growth in its core business; procuring advertising sites and selling advertising space on washroom ads to advertisers.
The owner of Arrow Printing and Publishing, and his accountant were reviewing the company's fiscal performance. After nearly 45 years in the printing industry and with an increasing interest in other fields, such as municipal politics, the owner was considering if the time had come to leave printing and move on to new challenges. The options included keeping Arrow Printing and expanding into a potentially lucrative market or selling the business and move on.
<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Best Case Award at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) Case Competition</strong></p><br>In 2002, both the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic faced financial crises that threatened their existence. Both organizations provided similar programming, had approximately the same revenues and were well rooted in their communities, which were of similar populations. However, the turnaround approaches taken by the boards of the two organizations were starkly different. The Calgary Philharmonic sought bankruptcy protection, dismissed the CEO, hired consultants, sought emergency funding from government, and suspended operations for four months during a restructuring period. In the end, it emerged successfully from bankruptcy. The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra scraped through the crisis, continuing to pay its musicians for ongoing performances, while negotiating new contracts, retaining its CEO, and not soliciting emergency funding from the government. Three years after the crisis both organizations were flourishing, with new music directors, balanced budgets and growing endowment funds. This is a descriptive case that outlines the stories of the two orchestras and their turnarounds. The case is powerful because it allows students to clearly contrast the two organizational turnaround approaches and to draw conclusions on their respective strengths and weaknesses.
Ocean Park was the only amusement park in Hong Kong until 2005 when Hong Kong Disney exploded onto the entertainment scene. This case outlines Ocean Park's history and its response to Disney's encroachment into its market. Ocean Park acted swiftly and decisively to capitalize on the excitement generated by Disney, thus turning what could have been a threat into an opportunity. In terms of business-level strategy, the park moved to accentuate the differences with Disney rather than compete with Disney head-on. As the CEO stated We have no intention of trying to out-Disney Disney. The park focused on its aquarium, animals and thrill-rides as opposed to the fantasy and animated characters that make up Disney's core competence. By following such a strategy, the park was able to capture a large portion of Disney visitors that came from Mainland China. The case also discusses a recent restructuring, as well as, human resources management issues and other challenges that the park faced in 2006.
Eat2Eat.com was an Internet-based restaurant reservation service covering a dozen cities in the Asia Pacific region. It was the principal business of Singapore-based Eat2Eat Pte Ltd. It was launched in 2000 by an entrepreneur and former investment banker with US$1 million of his own capital. He quickly established the capabilities and business model, but after five years, the registered user base remained relatively small at about 12,000. He thought the next step for the company was to expand that user base and hoped that the company could change the way people made plans to eat out. Resources - specifically, time and money - were limited, so any promotional efforts would have to be innovative and efficient. The case focuses on entrepreneurial marketing with sub-themes of financing and small enterprise management. It is a story of an entrepreneur who had an idea and enough money to launch it, but then struggles to achieve adequate scale.
This note uses several reports to compare China and India, and it encourages students to analyse the long list of public policies that have restrained India's economic growth and FDI inflows, and that have acted as barriers to liberalization reforms. Presented are the historical realities that supported India's political philosophy of autarky and government intervention. Finally, the note leads students to consider the future prospects for India, and potential foreign investors there, through comparisons with China.
The firm has to choose between an established brand, Tanishq, and a new skunkworks brand, GoldPlus, to go after the Indian plain gold jewelry market: Tanishq, initially targeted at a western customer, has undergone strategic retooling and has currently been repositioned to serve the "traditional yet modern" Indian woman. The brand still carries some baggage from its past. GoldPlus, on the other hand, is a new brand that is positioned to serve the plain gold wedding jewelry market. A variety of strategic, economic, organizational and brand investment reasons make the decision an important one.
For decades, Progressive has proven to be one of the most innovative players in the US auto insurance industry, but can it maintain its lead? Progressive has moved up to the number three position in the industry in 2006, but competitors are finally waking up to the threat the company poses. Can they make it to the number one slot? If so, how? What advice would you give CEO Glenn Renwick?
In 2005, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leadership decided to take a hard look at issues of race and institutional barriers impeding the progress of African American and Hispanic students. Examines how a large, urban public school district attempts to systemically address and eliminate the district's minority student achievement gap. The (A) case gives an overview of MCPS' past efforts to address the district's minority student achievement gap leading up to July 2005. It shows how a school district with a long history of dealing with racial issues and the minority achievement gap continues to grapple with many of the same issues related to access, equity and belief systems. Picking up where the (A) case ends, the (B) case examines MCPS' new approach and specific efforts to narrow the district's achievement gap through data utilization, accountability mechanisms, and professional development after July 2005. The (B) case also details the leadership team's challenges in communicating about race. It is accompanied by a video supplement of MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast speaking explicitly about race and the achievement gap to MCPS administrators.
This case uses several reports to compare China and India, and it encourages students to analyse the long list of public policies that have restrained India's economic growth and FDI inflows, and that have acted as barriers to liberalization reforms. Presented are the historical realities that supported India's political philosophy of autarky and government intervention. Finally, the case leads students to consider the future prospects for India, and potential foreign investors there, through comparisons with China.
Lulu.com is an e-commerce company that distributes content for book authors, video producers, calendar designers and other intellectual property creators that can be captured in digital formats. At this time, Lulu.com has developed a successful niche market in print-on-demand books within the United States. However, the vision of its founder is much larger. The president is faced with the strategic dilemma of whether to expand Lulu.com's product offerings or to focus on internal operations for the next six to 12 months.
Lulu.com is an e-commerce company that distributes content for book authors, video producers, calendar designers and other intellectual property creators that can be captured in digital formats. At this time, Lulu.com has developed a successful niche market in print-on-demand books within the United States. However, the vision of its founder is much larger. The president is faced with the strategic dilemma of whether to expand Lulu.com's product offerings or to focus on internal operations for the next six to 12 months.
Deals with the concept of how to orchestrate a consistent CSR strategy consolidating many diverse social initiatives started within a business group. The CSU-CCA Group (CSU-CCA) is one of the leading retailing businesses in Central America. The Group includes the Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos (CSU), a supermarket chain, and the Corporacion de Companias Agroindustriales (CCA), in charge of fresh- and private-label product storage and distribution for CSU supermarkets. The CSU-CCA Group was involved in several social programs for both its personnel and other members of the communities in which it operated. Some of these programs were institutionalized, while others were not. In some cases, the Group's involvement had stemmed from a personal initiative driven by one of its employees or managers, although the programs were not aligned to company strategies. By mid-2002, the Group made a corporate decision to articulate its social engagements within its business strategy as a means of becoming more effectively involved in the communities in which it operated. Accordingly, in May 2002, the Corporate Affairs Department (CAD) was created to oversee corporate social responsibility issues and external communications with stakeholders. The CAD reported to the CSU-CCA Board Chairman. Discusses the role of Manuel Zuniga, Corporate Affairs Department Director and Social Responsibility Committee member, who, at the next meeting, will need to propose an overall CSR strategy for the Group, including a recommendation as to which social ventures to support and which not to. He would also need to answer other questions: How should the company draw away from the programs it would no longer support while preventing the alienation of those in charge of them? How should CSU-CCA develop future programs? How should it go about raising personnel awareness of, and commitment to, social programs?
Describes the role of a leading Indian business leader in the campaign for independence before 1947 and his close relationship with the legendary Mahatma Gandhi. Provides the opportunity to consider the impact of colonialism on shaping Indian entrepreneurship and the role of the small Marwari group, originally from the Marwar region of Rajasthan, in creating many of India's leading business houses, including the Bajaj. The Bajaj, like other Marwari, were traders who after World War I transitioned into manufacturing, including sugar manufacturing and steel rolling.