In 2005, Martha Goldberg Aronson must decide whether to accept an overseas posting in a functional role with Medtronic Corp. The move would be a professional stretch, but would entail leaving a position with a plan half completed and moving her young family overseas. Profiles the youth, career, family life, aspirations, and motivations of the rising executive. Provides information about the practical, personal, and business challenges of an international assignment. Raises questions regarding work-life balance and the opportunities of the proposed stretch assignment in balance with the desire to see an existing process through to completion.
In the spring of 2005, an exhausted Philip McCrea, president and CEO of software development company VitesseLearning, reflects on the demands of his successful start-up and his desire to be closer to his growing family. Profiles the youth, career, family life, aspirations, and motivations of the founder and CEO. Provides information about the business' comparative advantages and strategic opportunities. Raises questions regarding work-life balance and the entrepreneurial satisfaction of running a successful service industry, IT-based start-up.
The marketing manager of Jewellworld.com was faced with the problem of a saturated Hong Kong market, and has to consider ways in which to expand the business. In a meeting with the marketing director, who was responsible for the development of the Hong Kong and Chinese Jewelry markets, one of the main topics was the expansion of the online shopping strategy into the B2C area in China; however, the staff of the marketing department held different views. The immediate question was whether Jewellworld.com should move into the B2C area at full speed or wait and see how other competitors fared in the China online market. The other issue was the segmentation that Jewellworld should employ if they decide to enter the B2C market in China. A competitor had established retail stores across China. The question was whether Jewellworld should aim to cover all market segments and product lines, or target young people who tend to use the Internet more frequently.
Accounting fraud issues have taken centre stage whenever there is a discussion about the bankruptcy of Worldcom. However Worldcom's performance was in turmoil even before the fraud issues surfaced. The fundamental strategic, management and industry issues that catalyzed the culture allowing fraudulent behavior that lead to the bankruptcy of the company are discussed.
An investor in General Motors Company (GM) has received the company's annual report, and is concerned with the increasing number of negative headlines in major newspapers regarding the company's business strategy and financial reporting. He must analyse GM's business and financial position and decide whether or not to sell his shares in the company. This case can be used to: facilitate a discussion about the implications of pensions on company operations and the potential burdens for corporations providing generous defined benefit plans; consider the issue of accounting for pensions and pension disclosure, including the reasonableness of assumptions and the effect on operating income; and to discuss the reasons for downgrading bonds and the implications downgrading can have on a company.
Acushnet Canada Inc. is considering using Canada Customs Bonded Warehouses to store golf shoes, gloves, outerwear and club heads inventory purchased from overseas suppliers. ACI often has to procure inventory four to six months before they needs it in order to ensure they will be able to meet customer requirements during the busy season. The critical managerial issue is considering the tradeoff between the cash flow savings (through duty postponement) and the need to meet the demand schedule, while taking into account storage limitations imposed by the private facility and their storage costs. This case can be used as an introduction to linear programming as well as an introduction to the concept of bonded warehouses.
This case documents more than 15 years of U.S.-based Cummins, a global leader in diesel and allied technology, and its investment activities in China. While the macro level indicators seem to suggest the possibility to hit $1 billion in revenues in China by 2005, there were several pressing problems that put into question Cummins' ability to realize this target. Students are presented with four specific situations and must develop an appropriate action plan. They are related to the respective streamlining and consolidation of several existing joint ventures, distribution and service, and staffing. The case presents the complexity of managing country level operations and the role of executive leadership of a country manager.
The Aurora Cultural Centre's mission is to foster a more just community, globally and locally, by providing community education on diversity and cross-cultural awareness, global development issues, and immigration/refugee issues. The centre also provide housing and settlement services to new immigrants and refugees. The organization has been facing budget deficits, administrative overload, board member turnover and staff problems. A recently appointed member of the board is preparing to lead a board strategy retreat and must make recommendations on improvements to the agency's financial performance and must determine how she can convince the board members that the situation is serious and requires immediate action.
<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Oikos Sustainability Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>Throughout the 1990s there was increasing competition for Ontario's forest land. The forest industry, including Tembec Inc., demanded from the Ontario government more certainty in the lands available to them. To reach a consensus on strategic land use, the government launched Lands for Life process and undertook extensive public consultations. Unfortunately the consultation process resulted in a polarization of stakeholders, and the 242 controversial recommendations threatened to spark a war in the woods, primarily between the forestry industry and environmentalists. Tembec's chief executive office foresaw this conflict and was determined to take a different course of action that would bring a real solution that would meet both the objectives of the forestry industry and environmentalists. He was cognizant that losing access to timber would have a devastating effect on his company, but confident that a consensus could be reach if a rational approach were followed. Students will learn to recognize the long-term opportunity associated with sustainability, and the short-term risks associated with ignoring it, to illustrate the opportunity for stakeholder consultation and partnerships, and to introduce the best practices on stakeholder collaboration and innovative problem solving. The supplement Tembec Inc. (B), product 9B05M052, presents the situation in 2005.
Allison Transmission Division is a $2 billion unit within General Motors (GM) with a very specialized product - heavy-duty automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles. Although the division is part of GM, more than 90 per cent of its output is directed to external customers. The case presents a familiar challenge faced by many globalizing firms: a pioneer and leader in a market holding more the 60 per cent of the market in North America, but less than 10 per cent outside North America. The presence of leading original equipment manufacturers in Europe who are the key customers for Allison, and the large market potential in Europe presents a strategic opportunity, but the cultural and institutional differences present a formidable challenge. The technological differences in Europe augments this challenge and the uncertainty surrounding a new hybrid technology that is emerging in Europe make the decision even more complex. Also presented is the company's attempts in Europe for a decade leading to the trigger issue - a decision between a joint venture in Austria and a wholly owned unit in Hungary. The case provides a rich organizational context to challenge students to go beyond a typical alternative analysis to consider the broad strategic issues and identify a comprehensive strategy for Europe.
The liquid crystal display (LCD) group at Samsung Electronics is faced with a new product development challenge: should it go with product that is well received in the market but the leadership is with the competition or with a product for which the market is yet to be tested but with some remote potential to leapfrog the competition. The case highlights the global nature of competition in high technology industries and the entrepreneurial opportunity for executives to make a difference in positioning their firms for global leadership. The case can be used at two levels - in international business to understand the dynamics of global competition or in marketing to understand the different risks in new product decisions and strategies to counter these risks. Supplements Samsung Electronics and LCD Technology (B) and (C), products 9B04M047 and 9B04M048 look at the events of 2001 and 2004.
The Aurora Cultural Centre's mission is to foster a more just community, globally and locally, by providing community education on diversity and cross-cultural awareness, global development issues, and immigration/refugee issues. The centre also provide housing and settlement services to new immigrants and refugees. The organization has been facing budget deficits, administrative overload, board member turnover and staff problems. A recently appointed member of the board is preparing to lead a board strategy retreat and must make recommendations on improvements to the agency's financial performance and must determine how she can convince the board members that the situation is serious and requires immediate action.
Describes the successful turnaround of the restaurant company Yum! Brands after its spin off from PepsiCo and covers how the company's leadership planned and executed on virtually every dimension of the employee experience. The main dilemma centers on what the company should do in terms of multibranding--housing two brands in one physical location.
E-Ductions, a small privately held start-up, developed a new voluntary employee benefit: a payroll-deduction-linked credit card. The CLEAR card provided workers, especially low-income and credit-challenged employees, access to a card with tight credit limits, zero APR, and automatic repayment. The firm's initial experience suggested that the CLEAR card might be attractive to employees, employers, and the card issuer, but E-Duction needed to increase employer acceptance of its new product.
The case is a continuation of Lesser Antilles Lines (UV0351 and UV3879), which describes the price competition between two duopolistic shipping companies facing inelastic demand for cargo volume. Customers have inelastic and time-sensitive demands, restricting their strategic possibilities. The case extends this setting to multiple competitors using a multinomial logit model of customer demand.
In the late 1990s, IBM successfully moved up the value chain and became one of the largest business and information technology (IT) solution providers in the world. To achieve such a transformation, the company made a number of strategic moves to reduce its exposure in the commoditization of IT hardware manufacturing. A key success factor was the creation of IBM Global Services and its venture into the high-margin management consulting and technology services industries. Moreover, IBM orchestrated a series of strategic acquisitions, sold ailing business units, and outsourced low-value-added manufacturing to external contractors and joint venture partners. In 2002, with the success of its business model and the introduction of new computing architecture, IBM made a high-profile announcement about its new corporate strategy centered on the concept of "on demand business." Nonetheless, followed by disappointing financial results in the first quarter of 2005, IBM's stock price plummeted and hit the lowest point since Sam Palmisano took over as CEO in March 2002. The company announced a massive restructuring in its European operations to be carried out in late 2005. Although the second quarter results had improved, some began to doubt whether the "on demand" strategy would deliver the promised results. More specifically, many started to question why and how such a strategy was justified in the first place. What difficulties would the company encounter in implementing its new corporate strategy?
This social entrepreneurship case focuses on the start-up and first four years of Upwardly Global, a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded to help place immigrant professionals in jobs commensurate with their levels of skill and education. The case tells the story of "UpGlo" founder Jane Leu, describing how she reached the conclusion that both government-funded refugee aid programs, and private sector job placement firms, were failing immigrants with professional backgrounds. The case describes the business model developed by Leu and traces the organization's successful emergence as a free-standing entity, supported by a combination of philanthropic grants, and corporate and individual fees. (Leu was named a fellow in 2004 by Ashoka, the international organization that s and provides support for those it designates "changemakers," primarily those who have established successful new nonprofit service-provider organizations.) HKS Case Number 1803.0