The vice president of an innovative community hospital is proposing a plan focusing upon family practitioners to deliver an integrated health delivery system. A key issue is how to alter the incentive/compensation plan from fee-for-service (i.e., piece rates) to a schedule based on capitation (i.e., guaranteed income based on serving all the health needs of a defined population). The teaching purpose is to examine change management issues in a very complex, political environment involving professionals and develop appropriate metrics of physician accountability.
Strategy definition is not a short, discrete process. Rather, outside influences (market, political, technological, etc.) and the company's own resource allocation process continually reshape an organization's strategy.
The owner of Campbell Management Consulting, was putting the finishing touches on an industrial engineering study he had conducted at Lauzon Automotive in Southwestern Ontario over the past few months. The unionized employees had not been receptive to the study and had hampered his data collection. He was concerned about the union's likely negative reaction to his study and its recommendations.
The newly appointed division head must examine organizational or communication problems within a division of a billion dollar semiconductor manufacturer. The manager made a decision, which an employee emotionally responded to, creating the potential for conflict within the department. Cross-cultural issues come into play given that the manager, although originally from China, was educated and gathered extensive experience in the West and was thus considered an expatriate by his employees. The manager must also examine the effect of organizational culture on an employee's behavior.
CardioThoracic Systems, a company that has developed a new system for performing heart surgery on a beating heart, is facing marketing challenges. Discusses the numerous reasons for the system's low penetration (including existing techniques, surgeon resistance, and a challenging reimbursement environment) and asks for recommendations in developing a new sales and marketing strategy.
Students evaluate the consistency and liability of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos's marketing strategy. Bezos founded Amazon.com as an Internet retailer of books, and by 1999, the site also sold CDs, videos, used books, and gifts and operated an auction service.
Describes the California wine cluster, or the group of interconnected wineries, grape growers, suppliers, service providers, and wine-related institutions located in California. Also describes the wine cluster in France, Italy, Australia, and Chile, the four other major international competitors.
Describes the competitive situation facing Robert Mondavi, the leading premium California winery. Mondavi has been an industry innovator and has recently taken steps to become more international. Mondavi has to cope with growing domestic competition as well as market share growth by wineries from Chile and Australia.
The marketing head of the Boston Red Sox is reviewing the team's "Friendly Fenway" fan satisfaction program. The program is described in the context of the team's on-the-field performance, the ballpark's character, and team marketing and fan-building in general. The revenue implications of increased customer satisfaction are also raised, within the framework of team economics.
The National Football League (NFL) is negotiating its next round of national television contracts with its broadcast and cable TV partners. The revenues from these contracts constitute a major source of income for the individual NFL teams. The case provides information on the history of the NFL on television, TV ratings for major sports, TV rights fees for major sports (including the recent new NBA TV contract), and the current contract with each broadcast partner. Ideas proposed to the NFL by rights-holders and rights-seekers are also included.
The executive director of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the outreach coordinator for the Faculty of Science at the University of Western Ontario had to allocate conference spaces for about 300 students to a series of sessions highlighting and demonstrating various research actives. Space limitations meant that not all students could attend the same topics, so the task was to allocate students to the sessions in an attempt to satisfy the majority of requests. This mathematical programming exercise allows use of a relatively simple formulation to initially solve the problem, followed by attempts to include some elements of subjective fairness in the final assignment of conference slots. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A99E018.)
DayQuil Brand Sampling is part of a three-case series about the execution of a sampling project for the DayQuil brand of cold medication made by Procter & Gamble. The Brand Sampling case focuses primarily on brand management issues. The case serves to introduce students to the implementation aspects involved in a sampling program as well as to some tricky decisions regarding use of samples from a different country. In particular, the use of samples from the United States in the Canadian market requires over-stickering the expiry date and using one which is one year longer. While the use of the extended expiry date was perfectly legal and safe, the potential for consumer confusion was significant. (The other cases in this Procter & Gamble series are Managing DayQuil Sampling, case 9A98C015, and DayQuil Sampling Operations, case 9A98D020.)
This case describes a vacuum cleaner manufacturer whose program for operational improvement includes the development of performance measures. Management decides to start with the service department. Students are asked to design a system of performance measures that are simple and feasible and that relate to both company strategy and what people do. Balanced scorecard or other frameworks may be used, but students find that fitting the situation to a preconceived framework does not work as well as the other way around.
Only one year after the grand opening of EuroDisneyland, Robert Fitzpatrick left his position as EuroDisney's chairperson. In April 1993, Philippe Bourguignon took over the helm of EuroDisney, thought by some to be a sinking ship. EuroDisney publicly reported a net loss of FFr188 million for the fiscal year ending September 1992, through cumulative losses through April 1993 approached half a billion dollars. The European park fell one million visitors short of its goal for the first year of operations. In addition to the financial woes weighing on Bourguignon, he was also expected to stem the flow of bad publicity, which EuroDisney had experienced from its inception. Phase Two development at EuroDisneyland was slated to start in September 1993, but in light of their drained cash reserves (FFr1.1bn in May 1993) and monstrous debts (estimated at FF42bn), it was unclear as to how the estimated FFr8-10billion Phase Two project would be financed. Despite this bleak picture, Michael Eisner, CEO of Walt Disney Co., remained optimistic about the venture: "Instant his are things that go away quickly, and things that grow slowly and are part of the culture are what we look for. What we created in France is the biggest private investment in a foreign country by an American company ever. And it's gonna pay off."
This case chronicles the mismanagement of funds by an investment management firm for a medical center's endowment and details the subsequent lawsuit. It explores fiduciary responsibility, securities litigation, mortgage-backed securities, and endowment portfolio management while providing background on the bond crisis of 1994. To examine portfolio management, nonprofit management, finance, and law.
When Allied Domecq purchased Casa Pedro Domecq, the intent was to absorb the new division into the company. But the Mexican subsidiary had different ideas: to operate as an independent unit but reap the benefits of being part of something larger. The conflict between various intentions, cultures, and management approaches helps define the nature and timing of this alliance.