This case is set in spring 2000, several months after two successive, failed missions to the planet Mars. Students are asked to evaluate the reasons for these failures in the context of NASA's "Faster, Better, Cheaper" program, which was initiated in 1992. They are also faced with the task of reconstructing a program for the exploration of Mars that considers the many uncertainties--political, financial, outcome related, and scientific--that can impact the program. Includes color exhibits.
This note explains how identity dynamics underlie many of the observable interpersonal problems that team members encounter, ranging from lack of participation and low involvement to misunderstandings and dysfunctional emotional conflict. It provides a framework for understanding how to recognize and manage identity issues in teams, including sections on communicating identities, forming impressions, and the consequences of the resulting level of congruence between people's identities and others' impressions of them. Outlines action steps managers can take to increase the level of interpersonal congruence in their teams, which should, in turn, make their teams more effective.
Compania Minera Antamina S.A. is a consortium of three large multinational Canadian mining companies set up to exploit a very large copper-zinc deposit north central Peru. The project requires about US$2 billion of financing for the development and exploitation of the deposit. The finance committee needs to determine the best means to raise the necessary funds: loans guaranteed by the sponsors or project finance. The costs and benefits are different across alternatives because the project involves both business and political risks to which the exposure for all of the stakeholders is different.
The Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) wishes to digitize many of the documents it shares with its external partners, including shipping lines and agents, merchants, and the country's customs authority. DPA also wishes to automate the many document transmissions related to ships' manifests. At the time of the case, the worldwide shipping industry is characterized by low levels of automation, a proliferation of incompatible data standards, and many independent players. All of these factors complicate digitization efforts. DPA decides to write its manifest documentation system itself and must make several other decisions related to system implementation and rollout.
Susan Griffin, owner and cofounder of a small manufacturing company, is formulating a long-term investment strategy. Griffin plans to sell her $10 million company and invest the revenue. She must decide how to allocate her investment so that she can rely entirely on investment income for her financial needs, while still maintaining a comfortable standard of living. In addition, Griffin wants to be able to offer financial help to her two children and her elderly mother.
Examines how managers use, and sometimes misuse, analogical reasoning as they formulate their strategies. Suggests a process that managers can employ to use analogies productivity.
Data-driven marketing is not an entirely new concept or practice. With advances in information technology, many aspects of marketing operations have become informationalized. This note provides technical information about database marketing. The intent is to familiarize readers with database technologies, including data mining from a marketing perspective, databases, data warehouses, and decision support systems.
National IR is a large communications consulting firm. The firm is working with a client, Catalyst Investment, in preparation of a hostile takeover bid. A senior consultant with National IR must determine if the acquisition price offer is appropriate, the perceptions of value by shareholder investors, assessment of investor reaction to alternative deal structures and assessment of the public reaction to acquisition strategies in a politicized environment to create a communication strategy for investors.
Two entrepreneurs have created a not-for-profit online back office system that can be used at no charge by any of Canada's 70,000 charities to reduce their operating costs. The cost of maintaining the system has been underwritten by major financial service firms. Just as the entrepreneurs are about to launch, a for-profit service announces a similar service that targets the same charities. The entrepreneurs are concerned about overlap, pre-emption and possible confusion in the market. They wonder if they should alter their planned strategy or perhaps should just abandon the project.
The Erie Performance Polymers division manager in China and general manager of Wuhan Erie Polymers joint venture, has just received approval for his requested transfer to divisional headquarters in the United States. In preparing the division and joint venture for the change, a key decision concerns his successor. He has received information on six candidates under consideration and knows that his recommendation will carry heavy weight in the final decision. The general manager has attempted to inculcate in his mainly Chinese workforce an appreciation for Western business practices and ability to enact them. At the same time, acknowledging their substantial differences, he has tried to mix elements of both Chinese and Western values in creating a culture for the joint venture. He believes strongly that his successor must be responsive to the tensions between the relevant cultures. As he compares them, he wonders which candidate has the best set of qualities to succeed him as general manager.
A new server at an established franchise restaurant is finishing her shift and has to decide how respond to a situation that happened with a customer earlier that day. The customer had found a lemon wedge in his milk. She resolved the problem with the customer but was concerned that this was another of many incidents that happened since she started. Should she deal with the person she believed was responsible directly or discuss the issue with the restaurant manager?
Cinatron Computing is a leading producer and distributor of managing workload software. The newly hired marketing manager has just received a phone call from the travel department requesting authorization for an employee's trip to a workshop. She thought she had already addressed this issue with the employee and now it seems he is going over her head. Why did this occur and what is her next step?
Metropolitan Maintenance is a small, locally owned janitorial service. For some time the company has been pursuing a large commercial contract, and the president has just been notified that they have been awarded the contract. Shortly after finding out the company has received the contract, he discovers that a number of employees at the site are unhappy and threatening to walk out. He must act quickly to resolve the conflict among the employees as the contract start date was only a week away.
This note discusses the role of supercomputing in nuclear weapons research, from the first UNIVAC system installed in 1953 to the planned installation of a 100 TeraOPS system at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories in 2004. Topics include military and civilian uses for supercomputers, the evolution to parallel processing, the growing importance of open source software such as Linux, and emergent scientific uses, such as genetic sequencing and AIDS research. Traditionally, supercomputers were employed to simulate complex processes that occurred over a specific period of time. For example, a nuclear explosion had a beginning (detonation) and an end. More and more, however, applications began to shift toward analyzing immense databases that contained a seemingly endless number of variables. Despite significant advances in technology, the most powerful computers available still cannot reliably predict the weather for the next week in any significant detail.
Four Star Motorsports is a family owned and operated garage specializing in rally cars and the sale of rally tires. In the winter, the business would have sales on tires if there was excess inventory, however, the owner was recently made aware of new pricing concepts through associates. The owner must investigate various pricing options during the upcoming selling season to increase revenue and to develop a plan that will allow adjustments for customers who are unhappy with the new pricing policy or an excess of tire inventory.
Aspen Grove was one of the first companies to provide applications over the Internet in 1996. It was also the first application service provider to implement a functional system for the legal market. Despite an apparent first mover advantage, the company has had limited growth and it has not expanded its customer base much beyond its original legal clients. With one of the three founders tied to the development of software and support for the company's partner and another managing the company's European division, they did not have the time they need to fully develop the company the way they originally envisioned. Because Aspen Grove did not use a proprietary database or other proprietary technology, the company soon found many new entrants competing against it. Services were charged on a per process basis, meaning that clients only paid for services that they used. While this appeared to be low risk solution for reducing information technology expenses, many potential clients were reluctant to trust sensitive legal information to a small Internet company. With many Internet companies failing or being acquired by larger companies, trust became even more critical.