This case, designed to be used either together with The British Water Industry (B):Glas Cymru and the Debate over Nonprofits (1810.0) or separately, describes the controversies in the British water industry in 2002, 13 years after it was privatized. The (A) case (revised January 2006) focuses on the industry's experience with price-cap regulation, the system of controlling monopoly that the British applied to all the utilities they privatized in the 1980s and 1990s. The case is intended to support a discussion of the difficulties of regulating of monopolies and the advantages and disadvantages of the price-cap approach. The (B) case focuses on the controversy over the conversion of a major for-profit water company into a nonprofit water company and is designed to support a discussion of the merits of for-profit and nonprofit firms and the optimal capital structure of for-profit firms. The two cases are linked together in that some observers blame difficulties in utility regulation for generating interest in nonprofit utilities. HKS Case Number 1809.0
Mikey Jones must decide what type of senior housing to develop, whether he should operate the facility himself, and what financing option he should pursue.
In order to improve income in rural communities, towards the end of 2001, Proyecto Paria Foundation (FPP) completed a plan to reactivate the cocoa economy. At the center of the plan was CARIOCA, a civil association set up to process and market cocoa, whose partners were five grower associations (50%), FPP (30%), and EMER, a commercial firm (20%). The design was successful from the start: during its first year, CARIOCA exported 100 tons of cocoa. Yet towards the end of 2003 circumstances emerged that not only threatened the operation of CARIOCA, but the very existence of the foundation: leaders of the five grower associations, instigated by local politicians, sought to take over control of CARIOCA. Opens just after these leaders had asked the FPP to leave both the board of directors and the administration of the cocoa processing plant. At that moment, the two protagonists (both leaders of the FPP) faced a dilemma: decide whether to leave CARIOCA or try to recover control of the organization. Additionally, they had to develop a long-term strategy to assure the foundation's operation in the Paria region.
An entrepreneur is looking at opening a coffee shop franchise. She has investigated a number of options and has narrowed the selection down to two. She wants to have the coffee shop up and running in six months and must make a decision on which franchise is the best choice. This case deals with service management and looks at franchising as a growth option.
This sequel accompanies the case 1800.0. In January, 1997, the Rhode Island Department of Public Health inaugurated KIDSNET, an effort to harness the power of information technology to ensure that all children in the state received proper preventive care. The medical "informatics" system was designed to track essential public-health data-such as immunizations-and make it accessible to the health care providers and public health programs across the state. "Informatics," in other words, was to improve child health by making sure that any doctor or emergency room in the state could quickly and conveniently become aware of key aspects of any child's medical history. The system was to be fully operational by the year 2000. The marriage of computer records and public health did not go smoothly, however, and, in late 1999, a consultant found that the system was "grossly underutilized." KIDSNET was tracking immunizations for but 43 percent of infants and only 31 percent of the clinics and doctors' offices in Rhode Island were submitting immunization data. HKS Case Number 1800.1
In January, 1997, the Rhode Island Department of Public Health inaugurated KIDSNET, an effort to harness the power of information technology to ensure that all children in the state received proper preventive care. The medical "informatics" system was designed to track essential public-health data-such as immunizations-and make it accessible to the health care providers and public health programs across the state. "Informatics," in other words, was to improve child health by making sure that any doctor or emergency room in the state could quickly and conveniently become aware of key aspects of any child's medical history. The system was to be fully operational by the year 2000. The marriage of computer records and public health did not go smoothly, however, and, in late 1999, a consultant found that the system was "grossly underutilized." KIDSNET was tracking immunizations for but 43 percent of infants and only 31 percent of the clinics and doctors' offices in Rhode Island were submitting immunization data. HKS Case Number 1800.0
An entrepreneur is looking at opening a coffee shop franchise. She has investigated a number of options and has narrowed the selection down to two. She wants to have the coffee shop up and running in six months and must make a decision on which franchise is the best choice. This case deals with service management and looks at franchising as a growth option.
The Global Media manager for adidas International is responsible for developing and championing a new marketing strategy at adidas called brand in the hand that is based on the convergence of cell phones and wireless Internet. The case presents company background information, data on the penetration of mobile devices such as cell phones, the growth of global mobile marketing practices, and several mobile marketing communications campaigns that adidas launched in 2004, such as a mobile newsticker for the 2004 European soccer championship. The case then introduces a specific campaign - Respect M.E. - featuring Missy Elliott, a popular female hip-hop artist, and discusses the company's mobile marketing strategy to support MissyElliott's new line of sportswear. This case can be used to highlight the role of new technology in overall marketing strategy and integrated marketing communications.
The senior officers of a national office supplies manufacturer and distributor are at odds over a slow paying, and perhaps insolvent, major distributor, and what the options are to collect the account and maintain sales in the region.
Suh Kyung-Bae, the President and CEO of AmorePacific, a South Korean cosmetics company, was an ardent globalizer. In its home market, AmorePacific had held off major multinational players such as L'Oreal and Estee Lauder and had engaged them in markets around the world, from France to China. The case discusses the company's position and options in the Korean, French, U.S., and Chinese markets. To reach their aim to run one of the top 10 cosmetics companies in the world, with 4 billion in sales by 2015 (1.2 billion from outside Korea), company managers had to ensure that as a global company, AmorePacific amounted to more than the sum of its country parts--a challenge compounded by deep differences across countries. Related questions included: in which countries should AmorePacific focus invest resources and managerial emphasis and attention? How concerned should they be about the diversity of approaches being taken in the three major countries/regions? And what role did non-organic options--aquisitions or joint ventures--plan as a way of boosting international growth rates?
In the spring of 2005, the government of Mali was negotiating major changes in the concession of Energie du Mali (EDM), the private firm that operated Mali's electricity and water services. The negotiations were being watched anxiously by the World Bank and the French bilateral aid agency, who had been promoting private participation as a mechanism for improving performance and increasing investment in infrastructure. The policy had had mixed results around the world, with many successes but also a number of high profile failures. But it had experienced the most difficulty in sub-Saharan Africa, where interest from private investors had been weaker, a relatively high proportion of the private concessions, leases, or management contracts had been cancelled and a number of others, like EDM, were in crisis. This case is designed to illustrate the difficulties of reforming state-owned enterprises in small and poor countries like many of those in sub-Saharan Africa. It can also be used to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of private participation including concessions, leases, and management contracts. HKS Case Number 1811.0
Looks at the challenges and opportunities faced by Electronic Arts (EA) as it seeks to reinforce its leadership position in game making and digital entertainment. While a leader in PC and console games, EA is also interested in creating content derived from traditional media companies, such as film studios, as well as distributing its digital content through new channels, such as cell phones.
In November 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy's new customer approach was to shun the "devils" among its customers. The "customer centricity" initiative, which was led by Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, was based on an analysis of the purchase histories of several customer groups. The central idea was to revamp stores according to the most lucrative types of customers they served--the "angels" among the company's customers. Encourages an assessment of Best Buy's strategy and, more generally, of the challenges and opportunities in managing customers for profits.
Relates the events leading up to the announcement in February 2005 that INVESTools, a Utah-based provider of investor education services, would be restating prior-year financial statements due to inappropriate revenue recognition.