MercadoLibre.com, eBay's Latin-American partner, needed to decide how far it was going to follow eBay's practice of offering "free listing days" and discounted special-feature days. Was this type of promotion prudent, given MercadoLibre.com's customer base, revenue expectations, and position in the Latin American market?
Follows the actions of GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, as he implements a growth strategy for the $150 billion company in a tough business environment. In four years, he reinvigorates GE's technology, expands its services, develops a commercial focus, pushes developing countries, and backs "unstoppable trends" to realign GE's business portfolio around growth platforms. At the same time, he reorganizes the company, promotes "growth leaders" into top roles, and reorients the culture around innovation and risk taking. Finally, in 2006, he sees signs of growth, but wonders whether it is sustainable.
Managers at Atheros, a leading provider of wireless local area network chipsets, must decide whether to join a special interest group (SIG) proposed by Intel to end an impasse over standards for the 802.11n (11n), the next generation of "Wi-Fi" technology. Two factions are supporting rival proposals for 11n standards in the IEEE, the electronics industry's chief standards-setting organization. Working outside the IEEE's formal processes, Intel's SIG would advance a compromise that could break the deadlock. Alternatively, the SIG could provoke a backlash, resulting in the IEEE's approval of a different standard for 11n. In that event, Intel and its SIG allies would suffer a severe time-to-market setback in exploiting what promises to be a large, fast-growing chip market.
Louise Chen must decide what performance assessment to give one of her employees who has, uncharacteristically, failed to meet one of her key objectives for the year. The situation is difficult for several reasons; the causes of the unacceptable performance are not clear; the employee has previously received excellent appraisals, including a recent one by the vice-president; and the employee was absent for a good part of the year on maternity leave. The various factors that influence sustained performance (ability, motivation, resources, role clarity, reinforcement) are examined, as well as steps leaders can take in improving performance of those for whom they are responsible.
The CEO of ChoicePoint, a leading company in the rapidly growing U.S. personal data industry, must reexamine the company's business model after a serious breach of data security affecting some 145,000 U.S. citizens. He must decide on steps to strengthen data protection in the company and clarify his stance on regulating a largely unregulated industry.
Randall Fojtasek, a partner at Brazos Private Equity Partners, must decide whether to invest more money in Cheddar's restaurant chain, which the firm invested in 10 months earlier. The incremental investment would fund a real estate subsidiary that would own the property on which Cheddar's built its stores, rather than its traditional approach of sale and leaseback. As he considers the issue, Fojtasek must decide how to price the new stock, how to structure the deal to limit his firm's dilution, and how to manage the personality issues involved.
David Langstaff, the CEO of Veridian, a defense company, struggles with the decision of selling the company. Langstaff has concerned himself with inculcalating his organization with the values necessary for superior achievement over the long term. But as a fiduciary, he had to come up with a single value to monetize the reputation the company had built. Langstaff wondered what was best for the firm and its customers and what his other options were. He also was concerned with how the prospect of selling the firm would square with Veridian's commitment to its constituencies and values-based leadership.
After more than 40 years of focus on a single related technology platform, XYZ Corp. had begun trying to foster an entrepreneurial climate within the organization. Its goal? To develop vibrant new ventures through a program called "Growing Green Businesses." As XYZ's main product lines were becoming commoditized and several billion dollars in free cash flow became available, the timing seemed right for this new initiative. Yet efforts thus far have failed to create a robust portfolio of new businesses. How can management transform a highly successful, but large and somewhat reluctant Fortune 500 into a truly entrepreneurial firm?
Examines how a school district can differentiate its management of high-performing vs. high-need schools based on a variety of indicators, including performance and capacity at the school level.
Tad O'Malley, a new associate at Empire Investment Group, a top-tier leveraged buyout firm, must evaluate three different deals and recommend which should receive additional resources for further investigation. He must consider the specifics of each company and each deal as well as the resources or restrictions of the firm's offices that would handle the project.
Morningstar, a publisher of data and ratings for mutual fund investors, is considering an auction-based approach to the company's upcoming IPO, with management weighing the risks and benefits of the auction approach vs. a traditional underwritten offering.
Examines forecasting earnings/performance for a commodity chemical firm during a period of high uncertainty, highlighting the combined effects of input process (natural gas), industry capacity/utilization, and cyclicality. Assuming the role of Kevin McCarthy (the top chemical industry analyst in 2004), students must analyze macro, industry, and firm-level data to determine the future performance of this firm.
Gender in the workplace. Is it still an issue? While it is increasingly easier in the early 21st century for women to work, manage, and take positions of high responsibility in American business, some issues and difficulties still remain. This series of vignettes touches on some difficult situations-for both women and men-involving sexual and romantic relationships in the workplace, decisions on whether to start a family, dress codes, family obligations, and sexual harassment.
Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co., Ltd. was a modern-day legend in China. Starting with 41 stores in 1995 and reporting a loss of 5 million Renminbi, it had grown into the largest chain store conglomerate in China by the end of 2004. This success was attributed to its adoption of IT applications. However, with China's accession to the World Trade Organization and the subsequent entry of a large number of international players, the competitive landscape is changing. Compared with global leaders, Lianhua still lags behind in terms of profitability and management. Once more, IT applications are playing a critical role in helping Lianhua to meet the new challenges and retain its market leadership position in China.
In 2001, Libby Sartain, chief people officer, arrived at Yahoo! to find a demoralized Internet company without a well-defined culture, a coordinated method to communicate with employees, or developed processes, policies, and procedures. In Sartain's first year at Yahoo!, the company was sent reeling by the collapse of the dot-com bubble. For the first time in its history as a public company, Yahoo! was forced to lay off a substantial part of its workforce. Predictably, morale at Yahoo! was shaken. There was also uncertainty at the senior executive level. Many of the company's top officers departed during the turmoil, leaving the newly installed chairman and CEO, Terry Semel, with an incomplete executive team. Moreover, Semel had yet to articulate his vision and strategy for the company, and the economic landscape was deteriorating. Almost three years had passed since Sartain's arrival, and the company overcome some crucial challenges. For the moment at least, it seemed the worst was over. Sartain had been working hard at launching an internal branding campaign at Yahoo! to transform the company's start-up culture into a more traditional one.
Introduces the venture leasing or lending industry by looking at pioneering in the industry: Western Technology investment. Asks students to walk in the shoes of a venture lender by outlining a term sheet of a "live" investment decision that Western Technology needs to make about Quinstreet, an emerging Internet start-up.