SW Construction (Holding) Limited is a construction company that develops and manages properties. After a number of successful years in exclusively developing its own properties, the company has suffered a loss in revenue. The executive director is concerned that they have not been able to obtain a government contract. He must determine how the company can win more government contracts by collecting and analysing data from the last 20 auctions.
Visteon Inc. is a manufacturer of integrated systems for the automotive and electronic equipment industries. An engineer was asked to examine the manufacturing process of one of its products to recommend changes that would reduce the failure rate at the final assembly pressure test. He conducted experiments to collect data, and now must analyse the data to determine what changes will improve plant throughput.
Helped the Aged Canada, a non-profit organization, has hired Kate Archer to manage their prosthetic clinic in Haiti. After her arrival in Haiti she learns that its key employee does not meet her performance expectations. Communicating with the employee, a deaf-mute, however, was very difficult and required the use of another employee as translator. She must communicate her performance expectations to the employee. The supplement to this case, Kate Archer In Haiti (B), product number 9B01C036 describes how Kate develops a contract and finalizes the agreement with the employee.
The Microsoft Corporation is one of the most successful software developers in the world. The company has been involved in an anti-trust suit with the U.S. Justice Department since the early 1990s and is about to launch the latest version of their combined personal computer operating and Internet browser software. The company, when faced with government intervention, must determine how to effectively rally support to fight the challenge and continue with normal business at the same time.
Gino SA was a major European-based manufacturer of burner units that are sold in China through exclusive contracts with three distributors. As a result, the three Chinese distributors have significant bargaining power with Gino. A leading boiler manufacturer, who is currently purchasing through a distributor, has approached Gino to receive OEM treatment (a further discount by purchasing the burners direct from the manufacturer, in return for a commitment to purchase a percentage of their burners from Gino). In deciding whether or not to pursue the company's first direct OEM relationship, the marketing manager must consider the impact of his decision on the distributors, the competition and the company's corporate management.
Procter & Gamble is a major player in the global hair care industry. In a practice common to many companies facing fierce competition in a lucrative market, Procter & Gamble hired a competitive intelligence contractor to monitor the activities of a rival company. As a result, Procter & Gamble acquired valuable information on the competitor. While legal counsel confirmed that the information was not gained through illegal activities, senior executives acknowledge that Procter & Gamble's own core values may have been compromised.
Teck Cominco is an integrated natural resource group with activities in mining, smelting and refining ores. A number of complaints of ill health by contract workers at one of the plants lead to medical tests. The test results revealed elevated levels of thallium. Concerned about employee safety, plant management immediately shut down the operation until it was safe for workers. The operations manager must plan how he will handle the media over the next few weeks.
A university student has taken a summer job as the manager of a house painting franchise. He is determined to offer customers quality work and to hire painters who can work long hours to help him achieve his high production goals. Six employees were hired and trained by the end of May. By mid-June, however, he is faced with a crisis situation: three of the employees have resigned and another has had a job-related accident. The manager must deal with the injured employee and the owner of the home where the accident occurred. He also needs to hire new employees and to consider whether his management played a role in the number of resignations.
In the early 2000s, a university graduate working as a project manager for a small Chinese consulting firm is in the middle of a very important project when he receives a call from a former colleague offering him an attractive package to move to a new company. His decision would affect many stakeholders and he wonders what might happen to the project he is working on. He has only three days to decide whether to stay with the firm or accept the offer.
The president and chief executive officer of a large food manufacturer is preparing his company's strategic agenda for the next five years. One of the top five food manufacturers in Canada, the company went public and restructured its management team six years ago. The efforts were successful, resulting in an increase in the company's market share. Recent food industry trends, however, added box stores and private label brands to the domestic competition. At the same time, the terms of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement are expected to abolish food-related tariffs within two years, opening up competition from across the border. While the company has experienced success in the past five years, the president and chief executive officer needs a strategic plan that will take the company to the next level.
A respected dentist wants to expand his office space to accommodate his growing business and has approached his bank for funding of the project. The newly appointed manager of commercial accounts considers the loan request. He wants to ensure his assumptions are reasonable to minimize the risk. He must analyse the financial performance and financial statements, determine the type of loan required and evaluate alternatives.
Hemosol is a small biotech company that is under pressure to meet its research and development targets. The company is anticipating the completion of the second phase of testing of one of its products within the next year. Before the company can move on to the next phase of testing, Hemosol must obtain more capital. The company will need to rely on the investment community for funding, however, they have been struggling with developing relationships with investors. Hemosol's president has approached the executive vice-president of the Equicom Group Inc., an investor relations firms, for assistance in putting a strategic plan together to improve the company's performance and reputation.
Gino SA is a manufacturer of burner units that are sold through exclusive contracts with distributors. As a result, the three distributors have significant bargaining power with Gino. A leading boiler manufacturer, who is currently purchasing through a distributor, has approached Gino to receive OEM treatment (a further discount by purchasing the burners direct from the manufacturer in return for a commitment to purchase a percentage of their burners from Gino). In deciding whether to pursue the company's first direct OEM relationship, the marketing manager must consider the impact of his decision on the distributors, the competition, and the company's corporate management.
Flight SQ006, operated by Singapore Airlines, crashed on 31 October 2000. The accident was the first with fatalities in the 28-year history of the airline. More accustomed to favourable reports associated with its successes, the airline had to confront the challenges of managing a fatal accident and subsequent adverse publicity, which proved potentially damaging to its image and reputation.
Bethlehem Steel's 2001 bankruptcy filing inspires an employee's daughter to evaluate her father's pension plan, weeks after September 11's tragedies exacerbated a weakening U.S. economy and just months before her father planned to retire. Battered equity markets and plummeting interest rates foretell a "pension crisis," while the daughter discovers the history and government role in U.S. private defined-benefit pension plans. She tries to apply her newly acquired finance skills as an MBA student to estimate the pension plan's true asset-liability condition and to advise her father about his upcoming retirement from a historically dominant U.S. company that has lost its competitiveness to global producers.
Cisco Systems's company strategy was acquire, acquire, acquire during the 1990s. Along the way the firm tailored an integration process unique to each acquisition that Cisco consumed. From the day the intended purchase was announced, human resources and business development teams traveled to the acquired company's headquarters to familiarize themselves with the new acquisition. The day after the deal closed, the human resources arm of the business development department hit the firm with tailor-made orientation programs. Cisco's approach had worked well between 1994 and 2000 with over 70 acquisitions. By 2001, Cisco's buying spree slowed and acquisitions dropped to only two that year, causing public speculation that the firm had over-shopped. Yet in early 2002 John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, announced he still intended to acquire eight or ten companies that year. What new post-merger integration challenges would the firm face? This case provides an opportunity to examine Cisco's post-merger integration (PMI) strategy that takes place in a fast time period in order to achieve cost savings, high earnings, and an integrated culture. Students will discover how Cisco realizes value from its acquisitions and the role of executives in the acquired companies. They will also be challenged to think about how Cisco's PMI strategy reflects their corporate strategy and culture.
Describes a major organizational transformation process at John Hancock Financial Services in which CEO Stephen Brown takes a series of measured steps to turn the old-line mutual insurance company into a competitive, performance-oriented financial services firm. At the end of the case, Brown is considering whether to take the company public. Raises question of leadership, alignment, and culture change.