In September 2002, Marjorie Newman-Williams, director of communication for UNICEF, is poised to present the results of a two-year rebranding process at the annual meeting of the national committee heads. This case describes the organization and highlights the challenges UNICEF faces in 2002. Details of the rebranding process, including market research, the development of brand essence and brand models, and organizational challenges of consensus building, are at the core of the case.
Should Brioni, an internationally known, exclusive men's suit manufacturer and retailer extend its line to include women's apparel? The opportunity is to enter a much larger and profitable market. The dangers are: 1) compromising the existing image, and 2) failing to recognize the quite different organizational demands of the women's fashion business. Includes color exhibits.
Patrick J. McGrath, the bishop of the healthy and growing San Jose diocese, is pioneering the use of long-term, business-like strategic planning to better deliver on his churches' core mission. The adopted plan addresses issues at the heart of how the diocese is organized and services are delivered. In addition, lay leaders and priests, for the first time, will be held accountable for their performance. Only dioceses facing critical financial crises have used strategic planning in the past. The planning process was arduous, and implementation across 52 churches will challenge all the leadership skills of the bishop and his management team. Can the culture of a 2000-year-old organization successfully merge with approaches to management developed by McKinsey?
This case is one of two cases that describe the situation and poor performance at McDonald's Corp. in early 2003. This exercise instructs students to employ an unstructured brainstorming process to develop strategic options for McDonald's.
This case distills the practical implications of current research on nonverbal communication. The first section sketches different kinds of nonverbal behavior: facial expressions, eye movements, physical gestures, paraverbal cues, posture, and "personal space." The next section looks more deeply at the interactive nature of nonverbal communication--specifically, how one person's behavior both influences and reflects what others do. The final section suggests how negotiators can make better use of nonverbal communication. Five themes run throughout the case: 1) we communicate far more information to other people than is conveyed by our words alone, 2) our nonverbal signals sometimes contradict the words we use, 3) much of this communication is less than fully conscious, 4) reading nonverbal communication is an art, not a science, and 5) nonverbal communication must be understood in the context of the broader set of interactions among all parties.
This case discusses the problem of balancing demand and supply of professionals within a professional services firm (PSF). It emphasizes how human resources management policies impact supply conditions and how market opportunities determine demand conditions. The case identifies the levers that can be used to bring the demand and supply in balance.
This case highlights the tradeoff between valuation ascribed to professionals at the time of a professional services firm (PSF) acquisition and the postacquisition compensation of these professionals. It emphasizes how a high valuation at acquisition carries with it the requirement to lower professionals' compensation postacquisition.
Since the 1990s, the distinction between the pharmaceutical industry and the biotech industry has blurred, creating what we can now call the biopharmaceutical industry. How and why did this happen, and where is the industry going now? Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies worked with plant- and chemical-based compounds, manufacturing drugs through chemical synthesis. Biotech companies, in contrast, sprung up starting in the 1970s and 1980s, when scientists began working on developing therapies manufactured in or extracted from living organisms such as bacteria, yeast, and mammalian and plant cells. These therapies, known as biologics, have been described as one of the "most sophisticated and elegant achievements of modern science," offering powerful therapeutic options for many diseases where previously no treatments, or only treatments of limited efficacy, were available. Biologics have included innovative therapies in rheumatology, cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, oncology, endocrinology, and other medical fields. In 2016, seven of the top ten best-selling drugs in the world were biologics. This note describes the biopharmaceutical industry, encompassing both older, larger "pharma" companies such as Pfizer, Merck, Roche or GSK, and younger biotech companies. It looks at the difference between traditional pharmaceuticals and biologics, the drug approval process, R&D, intellectual property issues, financial issues including fundraising, regulatory issues, and ethical issues.
For centuries, Jingdezhen, the "Porcelain Metropolis" of China, produced and exported the finest porcelain treasures in the world. By the late 20th century, however, the city was in danger of losing its past glory. Although its factories still churned out more than a million pieces of porcelain a day, it was facing more competitors at home and abroad than at any time in its history. The declining quality of porcelain made in this highly respected city disappointed a number of porcelain experts and collectors. Jiangdong Crystal-color Art and Crafts Co. Ltd. (JCAC) was one of the few ceramic makers that had differentiated itself from its rivals. The company manufactured top-of-the-line luxury products and limited its distribution to the government and high-end retailers. Although JCAC was enjoying its success, a number of small and medium-size porcelain manufacturers in Jingdezhen were still struggling to make a profit. With new competitors looming on the horizon, some ceramic firms were reviewing their marketing plans with an eye toward finding a market niche. JCAC, at the same time, was aiming to develop a global brand and to revive the image of Jingdezhen ceramics. This case illustrates the problems of adopting an undifferentiated strategy in a competitive market. It explores how to identify market niches in a traditional industry and examines strategies for building a global brand.
Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd. (HKL), the property arm of the Jardine Matheson Group, is a leading property investment, management, and development company with a major portfolio in Hong Kong and other property and infrastructure interests in Asia. In early 2000, HKL was faced with significant changes in its business environment in the Central District in Hong Kong, where it was the leading landlord of Grade A retail and office real estate. It had commissioned a report from consultants to inform the company on developments in the Grade A retail and office markets and the influence it might have on the company's operations. One of the major issues was how to reposition the company's aging properties to achieve optimal returns in a competitive market.
Provides real estate market data for the analysis of an office lease or buy decision. Demonstrates what is known as the "leasing puzzle"--the answer simply being that the two forms of financing are not cost equivalent in the presence of capital market imperfections, despite both being credit forms. Explores asset-specificity arguments to support the view that generally, a firm should not own an office unless it is dictated by its core business. Presents two opposing anecdotes to illustrate why trading companies should not take the opportunity to capitalize on a buoyant real estate market. The argument is that shareholders do not need trading companies to invest in properties for them, because they can do this through their own investment portfolio activities. Also explores issues such as shareholder rights and accounting and tax implications. Analysis provides ample materials for debate.
A U.S. venture capital firm has just learned that the deal structure for purchasing an illiquid U.K. software firm is unacceptable to institutional investors. The group must decide if it still wants to go through with the deal. This decision hinges on whether the investors are confident that their due diligence has uncovered all the issues that affect both the price the investors will pay for the company and the additional amount they need to provide to help it recover.
Describes the evolution of AFP Provida, one of the early entrants into the Chilean pension fund system established in 1981. By 1999, AFP Provida was not only the largest pension fund administrator in Chile, but also the largest in Latin America in terms of number of affiliates and the second largest in terms of assets under management, after the Brazilian company Previ. Provida was also the most international firm in the industry. At the turn of the 20th century, Provida's senior management was considering how to extend the company's position in a rapidly expanding international marketplace. Describes the firm's internationalization process in terms of timing, geographic choices, and modes of entry. Also discusses Chilean special conditions for the pension fund industry, including local factors, context for strategy and rivalry, demand conditions, and related and supporting industries. Allows for the discussion of the origins of clusters in developing economies as well as the sources of international competitive advantage. Also provides an interesting evaluation of Provida's strategic choices and the sustainability of its international leadership.
This note provides a resource to aid in understanding brand equity: its creation, maintenance, measurement, and value. Suitable for use in introductory courses in marketing at the undergraduate and MBA levels, this note presents an overview of brand perspectives including those of Millward Brown, Young & Rubicam, David Aaker, and Bill Moran, and Interbrand.
This undisguised case deals with the topic of extraordinary leadership and managing crime-fighting as a business. It offers students an opportunity to design and explore a large-scale organizational change initiative and develop a comprehensive action plan for managing it. Ed Norris, an assistant commissioner in the NYPD who supervises more than 40,000 officers and is credited with assisting in the turnaround in New York's crime scene, is offered a similar job in Baltimore supervising 3,000 officers in the worst crime-laden city in America. The challenges include entrenched crime, racial tension, declining population, negative effects on business, underfunding, critical media, low arrest rates, and a police department with underused resources and a dysfunctional organization and culture. In the A case, students are asked to lay out their action plan for dealing with the situation and, in so doing, have to wrestle with most of the issues in managing large-scale organizational change. The B case presents Norris's plan and proposed changes so students can compare their own action plans with that of the actual leader. This case series has been taught very successfully as a two-day class. Both cases include extensive video clips for both student preparation and faculty use in class. A teaching note is available for registered faculty.
In late 2001, Yahoo!'s new executive leadership team faces a decision. With online advertising revenues significantly off, the company has decided to explore new strategic businesses, including online recruiting. The team must decide whether to make a bid for HotJobs.com, already under contract to be acquired by TMP Worldwide, parent of Monster.com. The deal is currently under scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission. Given the importance of career listings to the company's new strategy, should Yahoo! make a move now for HotJobs or wait for the FTC's decision?
After weighing the pros and cons of making an unsolicited bid for HotJobs.com (an online recruiting company already under contract to be acquired by TMP Worldwide), the executive team of Yahoo! decides to make an immediate move rather than wait for the Federal Trade Commission to clear the pending merger. This case examines Yahoo!s process for formulating a bid offer with limited information about the target and details the course of the company's negotiations with HotJobs.