The materials manager at the Wilkins plant in California is surprised to find out that an auditor's report recommends a second annual physical inventory count. He has concerns about the level of the inventory that was conducted, knows changes are needed, and must decide what alternatives to consider. Explores the difficulties of managing inventory as well as typical problems that occur in growing businesses.
Resina is a global manufacturer of resins and surfacing solutions headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with three production facilities and 12 sales offices in China. The head of Asia Pacific for Resina needs to decide what should be done about Beijing and Guangdong. Should Beijing remain in operation, be shut down, or moved to another area where demand for liquid bulk resins is stronger. Similar options exist in Guangdong. In aiming towards profitable operations, he needs to consider the buoyancy of local demand, Resina's partner in Beijing, local and foreign competitors, and appropriate managers in each operation.
The world's leading cosmetics companies are competing with--and buying--local cosmetics firms for a share of China's vanity cash. French cosmetics giant L'Oreal is grabbing a major share of the Chinese make-up market. The company recently announced its acquisition of Chinese cosmetic brand Yue-Sai. The surprising announcement came just 45 days after L'Oreal made a successful bid for Raystar Cosmetics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd's skin-care brand, Mininurse, at the beginning of the year. L'Oreal has been very successful in China's high-end and middle-segment cosmetic markets. The recent two acquisitions, however, indicate that L'Oreal is focusing more on the mass market and shows its determination to step up the pace of its growth in China. It also indicates how red-hot the cosmetics trade has become in China. What competition is situation L'Oreal facing? How can L'Oreal retain its leading position in China? Is it through more acquisitions or improving on its own products? What will be the impact of the future tariff reduction?
This case (1834.0 and related epilogue 1834.1 and abridged case 1834.3) tells the story of Major General David Petraeus and the US Army's 101st Airborne Division in the months following the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the fall of Baghdad, and collapse of Saddam Hussein's government. Having completed their combat mission, and with just a few days notice, the 101st is ordered to Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and the capital of Nineveh province. Their orders were spare - get up to Mosul and Nineveh Province and get things under control. The case details the development and implementation of the 101st strategy to bring stability to Mosul and the surrounding area and provides insight into General David Petraeus and his approach to leadership. While set in a military organization in wartime, the case is not about military operations. Petraeus and his division, with little notice or preparation, undertake traditionally civilian tasks associated with reconstruction and governance. HKS Case Number 1834.0
This case (1834.0 and related epilogue 1834.1 and abridged case 1834.3) tells the story of Major General David Petraeus and the US Army's 101st Airborne Division in the months following the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the fall of Baghdad, and collapse of Saddam Hussein's government. Having completed their combat mission, and with just a few days notice, the 101st is ordered to Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and the capital of Nineveh province. Their orders were spare - get up to Mosul and Nineveh Province and get things under control. The case details the development and implementation of the 101st strategy to bring stability to Mosul and the surrounding area and provides insight into General David Petraeus and his approach to leadership. While set in a military organization in wartime, the case is not about military operations. Petraeus and his division, with little notice or preparation, undertake traditionally civilian tasks associated with reconstruction and governance. HKS Case Number 1834.0
Ron Zwanziger has just started his third company, having just sold the last one for $1.3 billion to Johnson & Johnson. As part of the deal with J&J, certain assets were transferred to the new company, Inverness Medical Innovations, which, at the time of its creation, had $24 million in half-year sales, $40 million on its balance sheet, and worldwide operations. How were Zwanziger and his team going to transform these disparate assets into a company worth $7 billion in the coming seven years?
This case traces the development of genetically-modified (GM) foods in the United States and in Europe. The US had from the start a commanding lead in GM food developmentand a correspondingly large stake in global acceptance of GM seeds and foods. The case describes evolving and contrasting US and European consumer attitudes toward GM foods, a general acceptance in the US, versus a worried rejection in Europe. The case discusses how US government and corporate leaders were convinced at first that Europe was indulging in protectionist activity, but came over time to understand that the European reaction was mostly consumer-driven and derived from citizens' suspicion of government's ability to understand and regulate scientific discoveries sufficiently to protect public health. Still, US food corporations were alarmed when in 2002 Zambia refused to accept desperately-needed US food aid on the grounds that US-made GM products might preclude Zambia selling its own produce to Europe. HKS Case Number 1832.0
This case traces the development of genetically-modified (GM) foods in the United States and in Europe. The US had from the start a commanding lead in GM food developmentand a correspondingly large stake in global acceptance of GM seeds and foods. The case describes evolving and contrasting US and European consumer attitudes toward GM foods, a general acceptance in the US, versus a worried rejection in Europe. The case discusses how US government and corporate leaders were convinced at first that Europe was indulging in protectionist activity, but came over time to understand that the European reaction was mostly consumer-driven and derived from citizens' suspicion of government's ability to understand and regulate scientific discoveries sufficiently to protect public health. Still, US food corporations were alarmed when in 2002 Zambia refused to accept desperately-needed US food aid on the grounds that US-made GM products might preclude Zambia selling its own produce to Europe. HKS Case Number 1833.0
The owner of a large greenhouse is preparing a cash budget for the upcoming selling season. He has made projections regarding future sales and expenses and also mentioned what the effect of a late spring or early winter would have on his sales.
Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other countries/sectors and in which managers are concerned about measuring the effectiveness of their commercial actions. Among the most immediate decisions they need to make is the size of the salesforce--a decision that must be made in the context of a commercial strategy that is not yet fully defined. As Nutricia defines its strategy, it also has to define the strategic control systems it will use to monitor and fine-tune the strategy moving forward.
Describes and contrasts the roles and challenges of three high-performing finance heads at Novartis Consumer Health businesses in Australia, Japan, and Venezuela. All three faced tremendous pressures in terms of managing time and limited resources, but the particular circumstances of each business made for some specific challenges. Remi Escurel, CFO for Animal Health in Australia and New Zealand and regional CFO for Asia Pacific, juggled a demanding dual role. In Australia, Animal Health was a market leader, but dependence on climate-sensitive products made for uneven performance. Tanya Ferretto served as both finance head and general manager for Animal Health in Japan, where the business was a niche player struggling for survival. Jaime Maturana filled the business, planning, and analysis role for Over-the-Counter in Venezuela, a fast-growing business in a volatile political and economic environment. Describes and contracts the roles and challenges of three high-performing finance heads at Novartis Consumer Heath businesses in Australia, Japan, and Venezuela. Examines whether the skills that made these executives successful are portable from one country or region to another. Focuses on how an administrative function such as finance can play a strategic role.
Involves the copyright issues associated with Bram Cohen's revolutionary software program BitTorrent, which makes it possible to transfer very large files, such as movies, at a high speed over the Internet. The program, which is available for free over the Internet, is used for peer-to-peer sharing of movies and music and for the legitimate distribution of licensed software, including games. Also discusses the litigation against Napster and Grokster over peer-to-peer sharing, as well as cases against Google in connection with its efforts to digitize entire libraries to facilitate electronic searches.
Black Duck Software involves a venture-backed start-up that converted software developers' concerns about violating copyright licensing agreements or open source protocols into an opportunity to help firms use technology to better manage their compliance efforts. Requires students to wrestle with the uncertainties of copyright compliance as they decide whether Black Duck should certify that their clients' code is noninfringing. Also raises questions about which growth opportunities Black Duck should pursue.
Managers receiving letters claiming that their products or services violate the intellectual property rights of another sometimes have a tendency to ignore them after their technical staff advises them that the claims have no merit. Illustrates the perils of that approach. Legally astute managers accept responsibility for managing patent disputes; they do not hand them off to lawyers with a "you-take-care-of-it" approach. Litigation is less predictable than many managers realize. A number of choices must be made without full information.
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. There is a new wave of business communication tools, including blogs, wikis, and group messaging software (which the author collectively calls "Enterprise 2.0") that allow for more spontaneous, knowledge-based collaboration. These new tools, the author contends, may well supplant other communication and knowledge management systems with their superior ability to capture tacit knowledge, best practices, and relevant experiences from throughout a company and make them readily available to more users. This article offers a paradigm that highlights the salient characteristics of these new technologies. The resulting organizational communication patterns can lead to highly productive and highly collaborative environments by making both the practices of knowledge work and its outputs more visible. Drawing on case studies and survey data, the article offers managers a set of ground rules for implementing the new technologies. First, create a receptive culture to prepare the way for new practices. Second, create a common platform to allow for a collaboration infrastructure. Third, plan an informal rollout of the technologies rather than a more formal procedural change. And fourth, secure managerial support and leadership. Even when implanted and implemented well, these new technologies will certainly bring with them new challenges. These tools may well reduce management's ability to exert unilateral control and to express some level of negativity. Whether a company's leaders really want this to happen and will be able to resist the temptation to silence dissent is an open question. Leaders will have to play a delicate role if they want Enterprise 2.0 technologies to succeed.
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Customers are often involved in the design or delivery of services, and in this respect, they function as co-producers of the service. What happens when customers fail to perform their roles effectively? Customer failure is not uncommon; research indicates that customers cause about one-third of all service problems. To study the issue of customer failure and its prevention, the authors conducted interviews with managers and customers in a variety of industries about experiences of customer failure, developed case studies related to the topic, and conducted secondary research to identify examples of best practices in customer-failure prevention. The authors conclude that recovering from instances of customer failure is difficult and that companies should focus instead on preventing them. An effective three-step approach is: collect diagnostic data about where customer failures occur, analyze the root causes of cases of the failure (e.g., technology, people, process issues), and establish preventive solutions, such as process redesign. The authors cite examples of companies that try to prevent customer failures. For instance, Weight Watchers International Inc. customers may offer each other encouragement at meetings and, thus, help prevent one another from failing in their weight-loss plans.
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. For both manufacturing companies and service firms, the basis of competition is shifting fast. Manufacturers are finding they must compete by selling services; service firms now have to provide products as well as services. The emerging battleground is known as "integrated solutions," and it is where leading companies such as IBM, General Electric, Rolls Royce, and EDS already compete aggressively. However, the integrated solutions approach is not simply a matter of blending products and services. Customers are buying guaranteed solutions for trouble-free operations. So the key is to develop and deploy the right capabilities--and to structure the organization so these capabilities match customer needs. This article offers a blueprint for implementing integrated solutions, drawing on extensive research on such companies as Alstom Transport, Cable & Wireless, Thales, Ericsson, and Atkins. The article highlights the importance of four prerequisite capabilities and shows the organization structures necessary for success--structures that are no longer bounded by product, service, or geographic lines. The article then lays out three levels of organizational capability to chart the journey that integrated solutions providers must take.
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Research and development projects fail more often than they succeed. In fact, of every 10 R&D projects, five are flops, three are abandoned, and only two ultimately become commercially successful. A principal problem is that many companies don't know how best to organize their labs to conduct R&D work. A classic hierarchical structure, for instance, tends to impede the rapid spread of knowledge. Matrix organizations, on the other hand, can lead to information logjams, confusion, and conflict among employees. To investigate how companies can best manage their efforts to innovate, the author conducted an in-depth study of six R&D projects at the laboratory of a Fortune 500 corporation. She found that highly successful R&D projects have four crucial factors that reinforce each other: strong and sustained corporate support; the presence of open communication patterns and a low degree of formal reporting (beyond this, R&D teams must be organized in specific ways so that informal social networks are reinforced--not thwarted--by the formal organizational structures); inclusion in R&D projects of a person who is central to the "technical-advice network"; and inclusion of someone key to the "organizational-advice network." An understanding of the interplay between informal social networks and formal organizational structures can help companies design and maintain learning organizations in which employees exchange pertinent knowledge efficiently and willingly, leading to more successful R&D efforts.