Stan Williams, leading nanotech researcher at Hewlett Packard Laboratories, must decide whether to renew the firm's sponsorship of California NanoSystems Institute, spend the funds on internal R&D, or fund foreign universities. Illustrates the challenge of managing firm-university collaborations and develops implications for national competitiveness.
Provides students with an abridged version of the Offering Circular provided to investors for the proposed merger of the Caribbean operations of two international banks. Taking the perspective of an investment adviser, students are asked to evaluate the proposed merger and make a recommendation to the existing shareholders regarding how they should manage this investment going forward (i.e., sell or hold the shares in the new company). Presents an opportunity to discuss several issues involved in valuing international companies using somewhat limited data while assessing the value of the proposal to existing shareholders.
In early 2003, WestJet's management was reviewing its plans for growth, specifically considering whether WestJet should move its eastern Canada base of operations from Hamilton's Munro Airport to Toronto Pearson Airport. WestJet had grown rapidly since its launch in 1996 and was now the second largest airline in Canada. WestJet had originally focused on western Canada, but had entered eastern Canada in March 2000, with an eastern base of operations in Hamilton, a secondary airport in the greater Toronto area. Pearson was Canada's largest domestic and international airport, the primary commercial airport for the greater Toronto area and a hub of WestJet's largest competitor, Air Canada. Compared with Pearson, Hamilton was less congested and charged much lower fees. WestJet's operations had been closely modeled on Southwest Airlines'. The use of a secondary airport such as Hamilton as a base of operations was consistent with Southwest's low-cost, high-utilization features. With higher costs and longer turnaround times due to congestion, a base at Pearson was arguably not consistent with the Southwest business model; however, it was hard for WestJet to ignore the growth potential.
The MTR Corporation Limited, the semi-privatised railway company in Hong Kong, was transforming itself from a local transportation company to become a global player. Despite MTR's proven rail-property model in Hong Kong, the company was faced with a new set of economic, cultural, regulatory and operational challenges abroad, particularly in China and Europe where it was expanding into. This case illustrated the growth model of a local company during internationalisation and analysed the trade-offs of different strategic decisions when entering into new markets.
In 2005, John C. Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC), confronts the collapse of a delicate agreement among business, government, and public interests in rebuilding on the World Trade Center site. Provides information on the leadership development of the protagonist, tracing his youth and education, his military service, his leadership at Goldman Sachs and the State Department, his long involvement in philanthropy and nonprofit enterprises, and his chairmanship of the LMDC. Raises questions about leadership legacies and the application of different leadership tools across a range of tasks and environments.
Tad O'Malley, a second-year student at Harvard Business School, must choose among three offers from private equity firms. Each firm presents a unique combination of history, culture, and compensation. Traces Tad's strategy in obtaining these offers and lets students decide which he should accept.
George Scheppler, president and CEO of Pine Ridge Winery, LLC, (the "Company") sat in his office overlooking the steep hillside vineyards of the Pine Ridge Winery in Napa Valley. It was June 2005, and he was preparing for the upcoming board of managers meeting where he would discuss the Company's long-range plan with its owner, Leucadia National Corp. Leucadia, a well-respected diversified holding company, had 2004 revenues of $2.3 billion. The Company had 2004 revenues of $13.8 million from its two wineries: Pine Ridge Winery (Pine Ridge) in California and Archery Summit Winery (Archery Summit) in Oregon.
Examines investor relations and financial communications in a large company with a diverse group of financial stakeholders. Total is an "energy major" based in Paris, France. The importance of its product and its impact on economies and environments combine with the size of the company to make Total highly visible to investors, governments, environmental groups, and other shareholders. The highly technical nature of Total's many internal activities and the breadth of its complex operations further impacts communication efforts. In addition, as a Continental European firm (in particular, French), Total has strong societal expectations regarding its interactions with employees/citizens vs. shareholders. Examines how Total creates a consistent and clear financial communication that provides information to these diverse stakeholder bases and their different desires for the company. Also asks students to consider how this communication strategy will need adjustment due to a period of high oil prices and a resulting windfall profit during 2005.
While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact that the lead time for planning, building, and certifying a new $600 million plus production-scale facility is five years. In addition, ensuring that the best process technology is incorporated into such a new plant makes the task facing David Ebersman, the senior vice-president of products operations, and his management team a daunting one. Frames the issues Ebersman and his team face and outlines the approach to date.
Examines the growing tensions between strategies of national development and the rules of international business. At issue is how increasing globalization is changing the rules of national development for both developing and developed countries. The comparative focus on aquaculture, and the catfish industry in particular, also offers a window into a growing international industry and its potential as a source of poverty alleviation around the globe. Also discusses the U.S. antidumping policy and its processes of investigation.
Describes the creation of an open source software venture in Norway, Australia, and the United States that lands a strategic OEM deal with a leading Japanese manufacturer of embedded devices (PDAs in this instance). Details the evolution of the two companies' relationship and the differences in mindset and culture--Norwegian/Japanese as well as small venture/big venture and software company/hardware company. There are also conflicts with a U.S. software venture that is serving as the general contractor for the project. The co-founders must decide how to deal with certain requests by the Japanese partner.
In 1999, the automotive industry was in a difficult situation: overcapacity and customer demand for faster delivery and better service drove executives to explore the potential business value of the internet. The authors provide a teaching case, which is based on an analysis of the DCXNET initiative which bundled all e-business actions taken by DaimlerChrysler to exploit the opportunities of this then new technology. The teaching case describes the strategic planning process for e-business at DaimlerChrysler, resulting organizational structures and an outline of the components of DCXNET. Furthermore, the authors provide results of the initiative, success factors and lessons learned.
In 1995, Sumio Abekawa, Daiwa Bank's president, received a letter on July 18 from Toshihide Iguchi, vice-president of the bank's New York branch. In that letter, Iguchi confessed that over the course of 11 years, he lost nearly $1.1 billion (approximately 123 billion yen) through the unauthorized trading of United States Treasury Bonds and had sold securities the bank had in custody to cover losses. Two months later, Daiwa's senior management reported the loss to the Federal Reserve Board of New York (FRB) and the New York State Banking Department. The bank directors faced several questions: Had the bank taken the appropriate steps to comply with U.S. reporting requirements? What was the potential liability of the directors? Would the Japanese bank directors be held liable for violating the law of a foreign country? How could the Japanese Ministry of Finance help?
In 2003, industrial manufacturer Eaton, the NGO Environmental Defense, and shipping giant Federal Express formed a partnership to develop a hybrid electric delivery truck. While Environmental Defense had experience setting up successful partnerships with corporations, this was the first time that a product with a significant high tech component would be launched in the commercial marketplace. Eaton fulfilled its goal of delivering a working prototype on time and FedEx began a small pilot program with the hybrid truck in 2004. Media coverage of the new truck was positive and the project won the Roy Family Award for Environmental Excellence at the Kennedy School of Government in May 2005. However, the path to full-scale commercialization of the vehicle was both costly and complex. HKS Case Number 1820.0