Anatolia National Telekom is a multiparty negotiation simulation patterned after the Turkish government's aborted attempt to privatize its state-owned telecommunications monopoly, Turk Telekom, in late 1997. Provides participants with an opportunity to identify and negotiate complex issues related to the valuation and sale of a state-owned enterprise in an emerging market. Members of each negotiating team are valuing a 20% equity stake being offered by three "selling" teams to three prospective "buying" teams representing different types of foreign investors.
Focuses on the turnaround and strategic repositioning of Ducati, an Italian maker of high-end sport motorcycles, and describes the current concerns with the growth prospects of the company. Federico Minoli, the CEO and strategic mind behind the turnaround, knew that Ducati could not grow indefinitely in its current niche. One alternative was to attack Harley Davidson's niche with a Ducati interpretation of a cruiser.
The music industry has changed dramatically as a result of technological and business innovations that have transformed how music is acquired, and how value is created and distributed. Napster, Inc. operated one of several Web sites that allowed Internet users free access to MP3 music files--which eventually led to lawsuits around issues of the protection of intellectual capital. These issues lead to the examination of the forces at play in the transformation of the music industry, the strategic alternatives for players in the industry and the legal context underpinning the strategic alternatives, with a particular focus on the protection of intellectual capital.
Examines the challenges encountered by a start-up company that seeks to operate on a global basis virtually from Day One. Based in Mountain View, CA, NetLogic Microsystems is a semiconductor company that was founded by a semiconductor industry veteran in 1996. Follows the founder's efforts to identify and research the initial opportunity, hire staff and senior management, fund product development, generate sales, form partnerships and alliances (many of them international), raise institutional capital, and evaluate a possible acquisition. Because of the nature of the semiconductor industry, which finds many steps of its value chain rooted in Asia and other countries around the world, NetLogic had to be global early on in its life cycle. Despite the fact that its founder and management team possessed international roots and connections, being global presented NetLogic with a host of challenges not typically faced by an average start-up.
Discusses the conceptual framework for financial reporting as set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Discusses the objectives of financial statements, assumptions of financial accounting, characteristics of accounting information, accounting principles for recognition and reporting, constraints of financial reporting, and elements of financial statements.
Explains in simple terms and numerical examples how the language of accounting is spoken and communicated to financial statement users. Describes terms such as "debits," "credits," "journal entries," "t-accounts," and "financial statements."
Ruth Parks owns Top Resources, a temporary employment agency, with offices in Kansas and Missouri. She discovers an employee working at a big-box store. The employee is collecting workers' compensation (WC) for an injury she claims occurred while on assignment for Top Resources. The bigger picture paints Parks's concern that the temporary nature of employment agencies lends itself to greater risk of WC fraud. This case raises ethical issues concerning truth-telling, whistle-blowing, and workers' compensation. It raises questions concerning employee versus employer rights and the limited effects of regulations in adjudicating these claims.
In late 1999, Madison Avenue was experiencing phenomenal growth in sales, clients, employees, and services provided. The stress and strain on the firm's employees was considerable and threatened to jeopardize the high-quality, active-ad management for which the firm was developing a positive reputation. From late 1999 through July 2000, the firm embarked on a number of initiatives to improve its internal processes so that it could scale successfully, meet the needs of its customers, maintain the quality of the services it provided, and improve efficiency enough to generate operating profits. The case describes the many efforts made within Madison Avenue to improve its processes.
By July 2000, Madison Avenue had experienced extraordinary growth in sales, employees, clients, and service offerings. From late 1999 to July 2000, the company had taken several initiatives to redesign its internal processes so that the firm could continue to grow, while maintaining the quality of its service offering and increasing efficiency enough to show profitability. Matt Garvin, the company's chief strategy officer, was considering a host of new service offerings to complement its core service--active management of online advertising. The question to Garvin was twofold: What opportunities made strategic sense for the company? What strategic opportunities matched well with the company's operational capabilities? How reliable, robust, and responsive are they? Can they handle the growth, scale, and scope that Garvin is contemplating. Can be taught alone as a strategy case or in conjunction with the (B) case to emphasize the product-process matching problem. If taught together, one case can be assigned to half the students, the other case to the other half to simulate more fully the organizational challenge of communicating across functional specialties--i.e., the service equivalent of product development, production, marketing, and sales.
In early 2000, Verizon Communications implemented a Human Resources Balanced Scorecard to evaluate the effectiveness of and payoffs from human resource management. This case describes the benefits of the scorecard and the challenges of measurement and implementation. Teaching Purpose: To help students understand: 1) how to implement a Balanced Scorecard, 2) how to measure and improve the effectiveness of support functions, and 3) how to link non-financial measures to financial measures of support functions when financial benefits are difficult to quantify.
Describes a young Web consulting firm going through a very rapid period of growth in late 1999 and 2000. The founder/CEO sees himself as a strategist and marketer who is less well-suited to the operational details, that are expanding as the firm grows. A president is hired, but fired soon after. Raises issues of what the founder's role is and should be, whether a new president is required, whether the new expanded senior team can take on some of these responsibilities, and if or how the founder must change.
Throughout 1999, PepsiCo closely tracked several potential strategic acquisitions. In the fall of 2000, it appeared that the right moment for an equity-financed acquisition had arrived. At this time, PepsiCo management decided to initiate confidential discussions with The Quaker Oats Co. about a potential business combination. Gatorade, a key brand in Quaker's portfolio, had long been on PepsiCo's wish list, but PepsiCo's managers, led by CEO Roger Enrico and CFO Indra Nooyi, were committed to upholding the value of PepsiCo's shares and, as a result, were determined not to pay too much for Quaker. This case provides information that allows students: to assess the value of Quaker's businesses, estimate potential synergies associated with a Pepsi-Quaker merger, and come up with an effective negotiation strategy.
This technical note, written for students, gives a first "how to do it" introduction to studying by the case method. The note argues that success follows from a combination of good attitude, good "infrastructure," and good execution. This could be distributed along with a course syllabus or advance materials and was written with the objective of helping students more quickly achieve levels of effective preparation and discussion.