This case provides students with an opportunity to practice a set of activity-based costing calculations. More importantly, it provides an instructor with the opportunity to challenge students to think about and to discuss the rationale used by the case protagonist to revise the means by which the company allocates corporate support costs to the product lines and to the business units. It is best used as an introduction to activity-based costing and/or the more general topic of cost allocations. As such, it is amenable to undergraduate and graduate managerial accounting courses, as well as executive education financial management programs.
Excellence in exploiting customer information and leveraging its affiliation to the GM group are among the strategic options that GMAC Insurance CEO Gary Kusumi is considering. GMAC Insurance, the wholly-owned auto insurance subsidiary of General Motors, formed through the merger of two smaller insurance firms, is at a strategic cross-roads. Progressive changed the competitive landscape with its superior pricing abilities, and now Kusumi must decide whether to compete on the ability to use customer information for pricing or whether even larger rewards could be found in leveraging the connection to the GM family. However, although jointly selling auto insurance and cars is common in many countries, the ability to do so at the GM Group is called into question by several significant organizational stumbling blocks.
In 2006, the DVD was the most popular storage medium in the entertainment and computer industries. The development of high-definition (HD) technology created a need for a format with greater storage capacity. Instead of agreeing on a single standard for a new HD disc, however, key players had formed two rival camps. The Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats each had distinct technical advantages and enjoyed the support of different groups in the consumer electronics, personal computer, and entertainment industries. Set at a time when companies were starting to release products for each format, this case includes a brief history of the format war along with information on the rival camps and their product offerings. Also, covers factors that might affect the future course of this battle, such as the role of copy protection features in HD devices, the bundling of each format with video game consoles, and competing modes of delivering video content.
The partners of a small jewelry design company have decisions to make regarding distribution alternatives for their products. Students are asked to: 1) identify those items relevant to the decision and categorize them as investment, fixed costs, or variables; 2) calculate the unit contribution and contribution margin for each necklace and earring set at both wholesale and retail selling price points; 3) calculate the weighted-average-contribution margin for each of the two product lines; 4) perform a breakeven analysis and identify what information would be useful in the interpretation of these breakeven levels and 6) project the profitability of both distribution strategies and perform sensitivity analysis around the expected sales levels.
Traces the development of De Beers and the diamond industry from its inception in the mid-1800s to the year 2000. Discusses De Beer's history and strategy as the industry leader and its role in industry development. Enables deep examination of the interdependence of companies and the locations and communities in which they operate and the role of a company in economic and social development. In 2000, De Beers faces critical choices about both its economic and social policies and how they interrelate.
As Ron Sege, president and CEO of Tropos Networks, walked through the halls of the firm's offices, he realized that the space they had moved into only about a year ago was already becoming too small. The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, was founded in late 2000 to provide wireless broadband access. By 2005, the company was primarily focused on supplying metro-scale wireless fidelity (Wi Fi) mesh networking products and services. Tropos began shipping products in September 2003, and by December 2005 the company had over 300 customers and 60 resellers in 29 countries. Accordingly, the company's head count grew from 65 in 2004 to 103 in 2005 and was expected to reach 150 by the end of 2006.
How does one know what makes a good case? Are there certain attributes that effective business school cases have? This technical note was intended to help writers who may or may not be business school professors write a case. The note includes material on objectives, finding leads, interview questions and interviewing techniques, and case structure. Although the idea of what constitutes a good case may be debatable, there are several characteristics that good case studies have in common..
Describes Infosys Technologies' approach to growing the company by expanding its service offerings; moving up the value chain to offer higher-end consulting services; improving its brand equity and recognition as a global company; increasing revenue through repeat business from the company's client base; and entering client relationships earlier in the lifecycle by defining problems and identifying solutions before implementation. Considers whether Infosys Technologies--through the creation of a wholly owned U.S.-based subsidiary, Infosys Consulting--has created disruptive change in the IT consulting industry by leveraging its competency in global delivery to create a new model that shortens the lifecycle from business consulting to implementation, reduces the costs of a typical client engagement, and delivers measurable benefits to clients. The case is set in early 2006. An overview of the Information Technology (IT) services landscape is provided for this period. The case profiles leading onshore (U.S.) and offshore (Indian) competitors and describes their different approaches to global delivery in the IT consulting industry.
Willa Seldon, an African-American woman with 16 years of for-profit experience, was hired as executive director of Tides Center, a nonprofit in San Francisco, CA. Tides Center was a fiscal sponsor dedicated to supporting individuals and groups working toward social change. In her first few months as executive director, Seldon quickly and deliberately rolled out initiatives to ensure that Tides Center became a customer-centric organization capable of delivering exceptional fiscal sponsorship services and steady organizational growth. One aspect of this involved conducting a comprehensive performance management review. Examines the transition from the for-profit to the nonprofit sector and deals with change management.
The Chinese operations of Alcatel, a global communications solution provider based in France, were faced with strong local competition and a difficult market. It remained unclear how Alcatel would be able to recover growth in the Chinese market. Initiatives were underway to increase focus on services over equipment, to increase Chinese research and development presence, and to merge with U.S. competitor Lucent.
This case provides financial ratios and common-size balance sheets for 13 "mystery" companies. Students are asked to match each mystery company's data to one of the 13 industries provided.
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 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. Outlines the stories of the two orchestras and their turnarounds.
An average of more than 500,000 businesses failed in the United States during each of the 10 recessions that have occurred since the end of World War II. Yet, scholarly and practitioner understanding of how to prepare for and respond to the challenges of an economic downturn remains extremely limited. This article analyzes and synthesizes the information from academic theory and business experience on managing through an economic recession. To assist firms in successfully navigating economic recessions, we suggest a program that involves positioning by holding positions in multiple markets and geographies, planning by developing a turnaround plan for facing sharply declining sales, promoting by maintaining marketing initiatives, and preparing by acting in anticipation of economic recovery.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the laws of 11 states that permitted in-state wineries to sell wine directly to customers in those states but prevented out-of-state wineries from doing the same. While the wine decision will help wineries that serve customers via the Internet, its economic implications are much greater for markets such as real estate and automobiles. The court's broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause has the potential to eliminate many of the protectionist practices that states have developed to shield local firms from out-of-state competition, particularly that fostered by the Internet. Consumers will save an estimated $23.7 billion per year if these protectionist practices are eliminated.
Five years following China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), foreign banks are scheduled to be granted full access to the country's vast local currency in December 2006. The foreign banks' competitive attributes, such as size and international banking experience, have facilitated their entry into China. These efforts, however, have been countered by the improving competitiveness of Chinese banks. Further prompted by high entry and operating costs in Renminbi (Rmb) business, foreign banks have engaged in different strategic responses to these challenges. All things considered, it is envisaged that only a very small number of foreign banks will be able to emerge as big players in the Chinese banking market.
Competencies in organizations can be broadly classified as employee level and organizational level. Because organizational-level competencies are embedded in employee-level competencies, the identification of the latter is important for organizations interested in using competencies to achieve competitive advantage. In this paper, we present a model of employee competencies as a means to organizational competitiveness and discuss various frameworks for identifying employee competencies. In addition to the traditional frameworks, which are more suitable for organizations functioning in a static environment, we offer two alternative frameworks that are useful in identifying competencies in a dynamic organizational environment. Once appropriate employee-level competencies are identified, a competency-based human resources system can be implemented to ensure that employees actually do possess the identified competencies.
Public relations (PR) is an important component of a firm's integrated marketing communications strategy. Once populated by such passive acts as issuing press releases and responding to press inquiries, the field has "come of age" and developed into an active part of the firm's promotional activities. Today's PR employs such techniques as event sponsorship, stunt marketing, charitable activities, and placement (the paid appearance of a firm's products within entertainment content). This paper defines contemporary PR practices and develops rules for successful implementation of these modern approaches to promotion.