Integrates issues in service operations, organization behavior, and applications of management science models such as simulation and queuing theory. A complete analysis of the case includes understanding process flows, computing utilization levels, and using models of the stochastic arrival rate and service rates of the existing and proposed systems. In addition, considers the managerial issues involved in running an ambulatory care center. The Primary Care Clinic (PCC) is the only walk-in clinic on campus and presently works under a triage system. The Student Health Services (along with PCC) is scheduled to move to a new facility. The director of the PCC views the move as a good opportunity to review and improve on the present service delivery process and system. Three broad objectives have been identified for the new system: reduce the waiting time for seeing a healthcare provider, transform the perception of the clinic as an impersonal bureaucracy, and improve student perceptions (especially nonusers) about the performance and effectiveness of the PCC. To achieve these objectives, a new system of clinician teams (doctors and nurse practitioners) has been proposed.
This case describes the operations of a limited-menu restaurant to illustrate the following topics: restaurant as an operating system; cost structure in a limited-menu restaurant; areas of competitive advantage; basic process analysis in a service situation; and the development of a formula for a multisite concept.
The Boston Globe newspaper has decided to move its home delivery time up from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. to increase sales and retain more customers. Anne Eisenmenger has been assigned to coordinate this process, building consensus for change among a diverse group of stockholders: management, unions, editors, department heads, and so on. The case is helpful for joint discussion of operational and organizational issues.
Centers on the historic merger of Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp. and the subsequent quest for integration. The subtexts to this central issue include a comparison and contrast of the operating cultures and business processes of the two companies as well as their histories, positions within the auto manufacturing industry, and corporate values and image. Also introduces the dynamics of integrating the leadership of two companies. Using "what if" scenarios, students can explore the roles of the senior managers in the merger, its execution, and the subsequent integration attempts. Gives students an opportunity to envision and develop an integration strategy. Best suited for studies in strategic management, corporate entrepreneurship, global management, leadership, and change management or organizational behavior.
Deals with a nascent, high-potential business that is conceived by two MBA students who have no experience in the industry where they believe they have found a niche for an exciting new product--a technology platform that enables consumers to pay for merchandise and simultaneously participate in loyalty programs using any type of cell phone. Deals primarily with building contacts and gathering resources. Also covers career choice, building a team, venture capital, and boards of advisers.
Describes the start up of a mail order business selling women's tights in Britain. The principals, Elizabeth Preis and Dickon Addis, created a business plan while MBA students at INSEAD in France; upon graduation, they started the business. Presents the business plan, which was written to raise money.
John Esler, founder and CEO of Patio Rooms of America, founded this new venture a few months after graduating from Babson's one-year MBA program. Before studying for his MBA, Esler had substantial entrepreneurial experience that included founding and building a chain of Subway sandwich stores. He sold his chain of stores before entering the MBA program and used the proceeds to finance his studies and to underwrite the startup of his new venture. Six months into the new venture, John is experiencing a host of problems: the company's sales orders are outstripping the rate at which crews can construct patio rooms; his operating cash flow deficit is growing; he has to resolve serious disagreements with his licensor, who is also his exclusive supplier of material; and he has control and human resource issues that urgently need attention.
The department manager at Consumer Material Enterprises, Inc. wants to improve employee satisfaction in his department and starts with his own immediate subordinates. Satisfied that earlier production problems are under control, he wants to create an atmosphere of "one big, happy family." However, a visit from a summer intern reveals more tension among his staff than the department manager had realized, and he wonders how to proceed. This case emphasizes data that reflect differences in perceptions, attitudes, and assumptions between new supervisors with college degrees and old-timers who are high school graduates.
This case deals primarily with ethics and the individual's personal system and the way it affects his or her perceptions and actions. It also looks at rewards and punishments and their influence on behavior. Susan is a student employee at a campus snack bar who is caught between a wish to do what she thinks is right--take steps to stop food being taken off the premises that hasn't been paid for--and fear of negative consequences if she takes such action. She would also like to see students work harder, finish what is assigned to them on the night shift, and be punished for stealing from the cash register. Almost all students have faced peer pressure to do things that violate their value systems. The case helps students to understand why they feel so much ambivalence, sometimes going along and sometimes setting limits. Some issues are ethical; others involve criminal behavior. Issues include sexual permissiveness and experimentation, drug use and dealing, cheating, trespassing, and stealing. The case also raises questions of a company's ethics and responsibility for creating, or allowing, a climate that tolerates at best, and encourages at worst, illegal, criminal, or unethical behavior.
The protagonist of this case, Paula, is the captain of her school's basketball team. It chronicles the arrival of a new coach, Shirley, and the interpersonal conflict and impasse that emerges as the game plan and coaching style changes.
Smokestack Village, a tourist attraction located near the Continental Divide in central Colorado, offers visitors a large railroad museum and daily excursion rides on old railroad lines. Describes a small work group, allowing students to look at the characteristics of a social system. Can trace the evolution of the emergent system and its consequences for productivity, satisfaction, personal growth, learning, and development. Also provides an opportunity to look at leadership in different ways, using concepts related to contingency, functions, style, influence, and power.
This case chronicles the events that prompt the recruits of one computer company's training program to aid one another on assignments and projects despite rules explicitly prohibiting such behavior. It emphasizes personal values and the choices made in different circumstances. It also raises questions about the responsibility of companies to design organizations that induce ethical behavior. Bill Flynn is a 23-year-old newcomer to the Brady Co. Information Systems Department. After having worked for one year in sales for a different computer manufacturer, Flynn joined the Brady Co. to develop his understanding of hardware and programming. Upon learning that the Brady training program is intensely rigorous and competitive--usually less than one-third of the recruits complete it--Flynn and other recruits begin to help one another, despite being forbidden at the outset from doing so. Flynn forms a study group with two classmates; catches two recruits photocopying former students' completed assignments and takes a copy to share with his own group; and reads the supervisors' secret files evaluating recruits' progress. After seeing comments in his own file that question his commitment to become part of the Information Systems Department, Flynn cultivates disingenuous friendships with his supervisors. When he survives the 12-month training program, Flynn is offered a formal position in the company; however, he already has secured two other job offers from competing companies. Upon hearing this news, the Brady management immediately makes a superior offer and encourages him to join the firm.
Andrew Zenoff had a variety of jobs, none of them amounting to much, before embarking on an entrepreneurial career. Despite his lack of relevant industry experience, Zenoff was remarkably good at persuading family, friends, and angels to put money into his venture. However, he was not successful at raising funds from professional venture capital firms.
Describes the deliberations of a problem-solving team at KomTek, a prosthetic hip manufacturer. The company's slight modification in one of its existing products caused some difficulty in the manufacturing process. One result is higher scrap and quality problems and, hence, lower-than-expected price-cost ratios for that product. The problem-solving team is digging through its cost accounting system and the data from the plant floor, looking for causes. The team is also closely looking into each step of the production process that might be contributing to the problems. Includes both quantitative (cost accounting and quality data) and qualitative (policies and procedures) aspects of the production process. Students should have some basic knowledge of statistics prior to considering this case.
The Newell Co., a multibillion dollar company dealing in hardware and home furnishings, office products, and housewares, was contemplating a merger with Rubbermaid, a renowned manufacturer of plastic products. Newell had a remarkable record of success in growth by acquisition. Rubbermaid would mark a quantum step in this program, but equally, would pose a formidable challenge to Newell's capacity to integrate and strengthen acquisitions. Corporate strategy and advantage is studied, particularly through the Collis and Montgomery framework, to determine whether the proposed merger is a step too far.
Canadian Closures was a joint venture (JV) between the Australian firm, Melbourne Closures (Melbourne), and Macklin Breweries (Macklin) which was based in Canada. The JV manufactured beer bottle caps based on Melbourne's technology; its only customer was Macklin's 10 breweries. Continuing product quality and performance problems resulted in the general manager being replaced. The new general manager was faced with the challenge of resolving these issues and balancing what was best for the parent companies in the short-term and what was best for the JV in the long-term. Macklin wanted reimbursement for faulty caps, which would have a significant impact on the profit objectives that both parent companies expected the JV to meet. The general manager had to find a solution that would satisfy both parent companies while minimizing negative impacts on the JV's results. The supplemental case, Canadian Closures (B), product 900M20, presents what happened and addresses another challenge later in the JV's life cycle.
The Internet investment craze was starting to catch on in Hong Kong. Tom.com Ltd., a Hong Kong-based Internet company, was planning an initial public offering at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. A portfolio manager for EuroGlobal Funds was to provide his professional opinion on the value of this investment and its appropriateness for different investors. He was aware of the difficulties in valuing Internet companies and the debate over the choice of valuation methods. Among these, one approach was to analyze the implied hyper-growth rate that Internet companies had to achieve in the next five years to justify their current valuations. He decided to apply this approach to Tom.com.