STRIVE provides employment training and placement to chronically unemployed inner-city minority youth and young adults. This case describes STRIVE's creation as a community-based, single-site nonprofit in Harlem in 1984; the development of its service model (short, intensive "tough love" job readiness training, quick placement, and long-term follow-up); and its early expansion via a group of social service affiliates in New York City and the creation of new independent STRIVEs in four other U.S. cities. The decision point is June 1997, when the advent of welfare reform and highly favorable coverage on "60 Minutes" led to an explosion of interest in and demands on the organization.
The general manager for U.S.-based Sealed Air Corp.'s Taiwan subsidiary must decide whether he's hired the right person to bridge the gap between Sealed Air's corporate culture and Taiwan's business culture. This case details Bob Kayser's experiences in trying to infuse the Sealed Air culture into the Taiwan operation, including approaches to training, compensation, and motivation.
Petrozuata is a proposed $2.5 billion oil-field development project in Venezuela. The case is set in 1997 as the project sponsors, Conoco and PDVSA (Venezuela's national oil company), are planning to meet with various development agencies and rating agencies regarding the proposed financial structure. The sponsors hope to raise a portion of the $1.5 billion debt in the capital markets, which will require an investment-grade rating. The key questions are whether the project will achieve an investment-grade rating and, if not, how to finance the project. Describes what turned out to be an extremely well-crafted financial transaction, one that was named "Deal of the Year" in 1997 by virtually every journal covering project finance.
From a strategic perspective, the Bank of Montreal, a major Canadian bank, has committed to entering the 'virtual banking' marketplace in Canada. There is also the potential to launch later in the USA and Mexico. They plan to do this in a preemptive fashion to gain first mover advantage. This means no extensive pilots and a short time to launch. The decision makers are charged with developing a complete launch strategy. They have two years of tentative ideas to work with, but a number of major decisions on product line, pricing, communications, salesforce, etc. are still to be made. The purpose of the case is to introduce students to the entire scope of marketing decisions to be made in such a situation, including fundamental decisions around targeting and positioning. It also drives students to make decisions in the face of incomplete information and short time horizons. To date, the case has been successfully used to set the stage for marketing management courses, and to kick off marketing management modules in executive development programs. (A nine-minute video can be purchased with this case, video 7A98A025.)
A major threat to the existence of the CAW is the trend towards outsourcing the production of components to non-unionized, hence lower-cost manufacturers, by the Big Three Automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler). This trend is costing Canadian Automobile Workers Union (CAW) members their jobs. The typical retaliation is CAW strikes, and negotiating job security agreements. This short-term strategy in fact encourages the move to offshore production in order to remain competitive. The purpose of the case is to discuss issues concerning the evolution of the Canadian economy from one which is manufacturing-based to one based on services, and to try to find answers to questions like: Can the CAW survive? Will the Big Three be producing cars in Canada in the 21st Century? Where else would they go? What are the concerns in moving production off-shore? What kind of strategy should the CAW follow to ensure its survival? How does Canadian automobile production relate to the global industry? How will governments impact the industry?
The new manager of the network installation coordination section had just met with her management team for the first time. The meeting did not go well as it appeared to have no direction, purpose, or resolutions. The new manager's successful history of process improvement management had prompted her move into the new position. She needed to mould the existing group into a functional team with common goals, objectives and purpose as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish this goal she must determine the factors leading to effective performance and to develop a course of action.
A buyer for Prism Canada, Inc. wondered how to outsource the company's inefficient sheet metal operation. To satisfy current and potential customers' requests to lower costs for up-coming contract bids, Donna had to decide quickly to whom to outsource and what criteria to use for choosing a supplier. The primary teaching objective is to take students through the supplier selection process, framed in an outsourcing context. Selection criteria, such as price, quality, and reputation and their relative importance will be examined. Other objectives include exploring the issues of implementing an outsourcing decision, keeping in mind employee concerns and union reactions, as well as impact on production operations. The case can be used at the beginning of a principals of buying course as an introduction to source selection.
After establishing a small but profitable skiwear business, an entrepreneur decides to sell a minority stake in the firm to outside investors. His goal is to acquire the capital needed to grow the business, even though this will entail a substantial transformation of the firm's management and financial structure. This case examines the resulting private equity transaction from both the company's point of view and that of outside investment.
A South African health insurance company grapples with designing a financially viable coverage solution for a new prescription drug treatment for male impotence.
Sun Microsystems is a pioneer in networking computing. Sun's servers maintain a large market share and are considered highly scaleable. The case describes the n-tier architecture for building and managing large networks in which thousands of workers and customers are connected to enterprise servers.
Becton Dickinson's Global One-Company Operations Group must decide on the company's global policy on gifts, gratuities, and business entertainment. A central issue is whether the policy should be established centrally and made uniform worldwide or whether it should be decided locally, depending on local circumstances and practices. The case contains numerous examples of troubling situations drawn from different regions of the world, as well as background information on growing anticorruption efforts worldwide.