Steve Papa, CEO of Endeca Technologies, must decide whether to expand into a new market with a new application of his company's technology. Endeca has experienced significant success with its information access software in the online retail industry, and in September 2004 is poised to enter similar industries with similar products. However, it also faces an opportunity to create a unique solution for the manufacturing industry, a market the company knows little about and that has proven difficult to enter in the past. Which expansion strategy should Papa choose? Although the manufacturing market would yield a much higher average deal size, significant uncertainty surrounded a move away from Endeca's core business. It would impact the company's sales practices, organizational structure, product requirements, and decisions about whether to partner with other companies in the field. Taylor Hunte Industries, a Fortune 500 giant in the manufacturing industry, has just invited Endeca to submit a request for proposal--due in just 10 days.
This three part case series centers on a new business model developed by Hindustan Lever (HLL) to tap the business and sustainability potentials hidden in rural India. It focuses on a win-win partnership with rural, female self-help groups (SHGs). HLL assists SHGs to access micro credit, which is usually restricted. SHGs in turn buy HLL products and sell them in their villages in a decentralized way, thus creating various opportunities for rural communities such as training and income opportunities for women as well as better overall living conditions for their families. The A-case describes the cornerstones and key decisions reached during the inception phase of the project. It details the value chain and expected deliverables for the stakeholder groups. This first case of the series ends when the system has been set up and launched, but reveals none of the actual results.
Focuses on the domestic Philippine market, particularly the competitive dynamics in the existing product lines of skin care and hair care; international expansion; and the introduction of a new line of nutraceutical products.
The case presents the dilemma of Mr. Bhattacharya, the principal of Chandrabala Modi Academy, a three year old co-educational school, having classes up to grade VIII, located in the city of Ankleshwar in the industrial belt of Western India, in responding to a request made by a senior official of the Police Department and President of Rotary Club. He was informed by them that the menace of drug abuse in the city was increasing and how the children of the school might get affected. They had explored the possibility of the school initiating a campaign to educate the local community and the school children, against drugs. Mr. Bhattacharya wondered if the school could organise an activity that engaged the children in swimming across the river Narmada. This could draw the attention of the local community towards the issue. Such an event might also infuse a spirit of adventure among the children and build a positive image for the school. However, crossing the river involved considerable risk as children's lives could be at stake. Police authorities and the Rotary club had offered to support the event. However the consent of the school management, and of the parents whose children would be participating in the river crossing, needed to be taken.
Supplement to case A00028. The case is about Chandrabala Modi Academy, a CBSE affiliated school established in 1992 with the support of an individual group in the Western part of India. In the last ten years, the children of the school have performed well in the board examinations. The school has emphasized the 'social dimension of education' by undertaking a number of co-curricular activities which focus on addressing social issues and developing a spirit of adventure. Some of the activities organized over the years included crossing of the river Narmada by school children to draw attention to drug abuse, undertaking a 50 km long walk to protest against child labour, organizing earthquake relief work with the support of children and parents, rebuilding an old school, mountaineering and other tours and treks in different parts of the country. On the completion of the academic year in 2003, the principal has called a meeting of teachers to review the past decade and develop a strategy for the next three years.
For the past 18 months, Mandy Cabot had worried that the shoe business she had built into a thriving operation with $90 million in annual revenue and over 110 employees might instead be a "house of cards." The management philosophy that had guided Dansko's growth, "home schooling"--taking young energetic employees with little business experience and mentoring them--seemed ill-suited for the next phase of growth. Equally as precarious was the fact that with few exceptions, none of the senior management team had any prior experience in the footwear industry. So when a well-respected industry leader asked to talk about a merger, Cabot had to admit that with her "crisis of confidence," it might just be time.
Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok--a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique aspects of New Balance's strategy--focusing on fit and performance by offering long-lived shoes in a wide variety of widths and eschewing celebrity endorsement of its products--and discusses New Balance's operations decisions to support that strategy. These include significant use of domestic manufacturing at a time when nearly all other competitors sourced finished shoes from Asian suppliers and an emphasis on improving inventory management for its network of small and large retailers. Set just after the announcement of the Adidas-Reebok transaction in 2005, with New Balance having recently initiated a companywide effort to improve operational performance through the application of concepts from lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. Asks students to consider whether New Balance should change aspects of its operations strategy in light of the consolidation among its competitors or whether the Adidas-Reebok transaction represents an opportunity for New Balance to emphasize the importance of moving forward with its current approach.
Starts by describing a typical day in the life of Randy Hetrick, the founder and sole full-time employee of Fitness Anywhere. Hetrick starts his work day on Friday, September 10, 2004, at 6:00 a.m. By 8:30 p.m., he has accomplished a lot. However, he has only been able to get to a few items on his morning's to-do list . . . and his list is growing by the day. Chronicles the creation of Fitness Anywhere--how Hetrick developed the product as a Navy SEAL; how he put together a business plan for commercializing the product during his two years at Stanford's Graduate School of Business; and his first full year of operations, 2003/2004. In describing the first full year of operations, focuses on Hetrick's fundraising efforts, the product's development, and the three market segments that he has targeted--military, commercial health fitness, and retail. By September 2004, Hetrick surveys the major topics on his to-do list; the activities that need to be completed to generate military, commercial, and retail sales; the activities related to protecting the product's intellectual property; completing a business plan, deciding his fundraising strategy and raising capital before the company runs out of it; and hiring his core team.
In early 2007, two partners in an Oklahoma medical practice must reconcile their booming urology business with declines in practice cash flow. The case highlights the difference between cash flow and accounting profits, as well as the common negative cash-flow effects of growth. It provides a straightforward introduction to simple financial-statement modeling and an opportunity to build intuition on the importance of cash flow to business owners. The case is particularly suited for an audience with a professional business-practice perspective.
Teleflex Canada, a division of Teleflex Inc., manufactures a range of products, including marine hydraulic steering systems, trim components for marine propulsion, heating equipment for the truck and bus industries, a range of proprietary fluid controls, and field cookstoves for the U.S. Army. Within Teleflex Canada, there was a consensus that continual innovation in product design, manufacturing, and marketing was critical to the success of the organization. In 2005, Teleflex Canada executives were faced with various questions: Would size inhibit the ability to innovate? Would increased corporate centralization at Teleflex Inc. impact Teleflex Canada's ability to respond to new market opportunities? At the Teleflex Inc. corporate level, different questions were being asked: Could the culture of innovation in Teleflex Canada be transferred to other parts of the company? What was the appropriate level of corporate support and control necessary to foster innovation and high performance at Teleflex Canada and at other Teleflex business units?
This case provides an opportunity for students to (1) understand the calculation of a number of basic financial ratios, (2) analyze a set of common-size balance sheets and several financial ratio metrics, (3) hypothesize how some basic understanding of an industry should be reflected in certain financial indicators, and (4) present to their classmates a rationale for their pairings and to respond to questions from their classmates. If instructors are so inclined, use of this case also provides an opportunity to (1) discuss an organizing framework for the focal ratios, (2) present the concepts of financial leverage and the DuPont ratio model, and (3) introduce students to some of the published sources for industry metrics.
How do you facilitate changing a long-held mission into a new vision during an organizational restructuring? Ernesto Gomez, organizational development director for Lotz of Food, a leading grocery retailer headquartered in California, was asked to help the perishable team transition from a hierarchical and function-based business unit to one that would be more dynamic, versatile, and proactive. Expectations were high and came right from the top of the organization. The A case reveals the steps Gomez takes to understand the problems. Among the issues about team development, Gomez is conflicted over the lack of diversity among the organization's leadership and indeed on the entire team. More troubling is the organization's seeming lack of recognition of this fact--so much that Gomez wonders whether his own background has made this a bigger issue than it really is. In the B case, Gomez becomes more concerned about what extent he thinks his own biases and past experiences are shaping the way he sees this situation.
Using a comprehensive and simple example of a firm exposed to foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, and commodity price risk, shows how to use corporate-value-at-risk to measure and manage a firm's global exposure to risk.
Lays out the steps, the timeline, and the process by which a company is sold. Focuses on the sale of companies with enterprise values greater than $100 million. These transactions are large enough to require the help of a financial adviser and attract both strategic and financial bidders. The sale process described is that of a private auction, including a confidential information memorandum and a "roadshow" to sell the high-yield debt needed to fund the transaction. Covers issues such as identifying and attracting bidders; dealing with the concerns of the managers of the selling company; negotiating issues in a definitive merger agreement; and post-sale issues.
Set in the year 2001, as President John Kufuor contemplates a national economic strategy following his election in the first democratic transfer of power in Ghana's history. Focuses on Ghana's long history of poor economic performance and intractable poverty, highlighting the challenges of economic development in Africa and in other low-income countries. Provides a brief political and economic history of Ghana, focusing on the Nkrumah era of 1957-1966, the World Bank and IMF-led structural reforms of the 1980s, and the continuation of reforms after the first democratic elections in 1992. Details Ghana's economic and political context and cluster performance in 2001 and summarizes initiatives taken by the Kufuor administration to promote development. Detailed historical economic and social data allow an evaluation of policy results.