Hambrecht & Quist (H&Q), an investment bank headquartered in San Francisco, has a very unique culture relative to its Wall Street counterparts. Firm members and even competitors describe the culture as entrepreneurial, team-driven, non-bureaucratic, and change-oriented. H&Q's unique culture has given it a number of competitive advantages, including the ability to attract high-quality staff, the ability to win business among its target group of emerging growth companies, and the ability to maintain below-average SG&A costs. However, competition in the investment banking industry is intensifying in 1997-98 due to an unprecedented wave of mega-mergers between investment banks and commercial banks. The new combined banking entities are able to offer customers a broader array of products and services than H&Q is able to offer, creating a significant amount of pressure for H&Q to sell to, or merge with, another financial institution itself. Industry analysts believe it is not a question of whether, but rather of when H&Q will lose its independence. However, H&Q management believes that "selling out" would destroy the very culture that made the firm successful. What action should Dan Case, the CEO and chairman of H&Q, take to balance the seemingly competing demands of maintaining the firm's culture and positioning the firm for future growth?
Describes, in detail, events precipitating crises. Provides both conventional and new explanations of crises. Presents a chronology of crises as the events unfold, and a brief summary of four particular countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand) and their perspective development strategies (18 presented).
On October 15, 1996, Virginia-based CSX and Pennsylvania-based Consolidated Rail (Conrail), the first and third largest railroads in the eastern United States, announced their intent to merge in a friendly deal worth $8.3 billion. This deal was part of an industry-wide trend toward consolidation and promised to change the competitive dynamics of the Eastern rail market. Students, as shareholders, must decide whether to tender shares into the front-end of a two-tiered acquisition offer. To make this decision, they must value Conrail as an acquisition target and understand the structure of CSX's offer.
Eight days after CSX announced it was going to buy Consolidated Rail (Conrail) for $88.65 per share, Norfolk Southern made a hostile $100 per share bid for Conrail. Over the next several months, the potential acquirers upped their bids while exchanging criticism in the popular press, prompting analysts to call this one of the nastiest takeover battles of the 1990s. The case is set in January 1997, just before Conrail shareholders are scheduled to vote on the proposed deal with CSX. It analyzes the trend toward consolidation in the U.S. railroad industry, the bidding war for Conrail, and the various provisions in Pennsylvania's anti-takeover laws, which restrict the market for corporate control. It also explores the strategic and financial implications of a bidding war and challenges the assumption that failure to acquire is a zero net present value endeavor. Finally, it examines the nature of and economic basis for regulating the market for corporate control.
In early 1997, Cephalon, awaited an FDA panel's decision on whether its drug, Myotrophin, would be approved. If the drug was approved, the firm might need substantial additional funds to commercialize as well as to buy back rights to it (which had been sold earlier to finance its development). The firm's CFO is considering a variety of financing strategies, including buying call options on the firm's own stock and paying for those options by issuing shares at the current time.
Follows the career of Katie Burke, HBS MBA 1995. Offers the opportunity to discuss a variety of issues, including innovation, software development, entrepreneurship, new venture design, and career choices.
The Computer Shoppe has five year's worth of customer information of past computer system purchasers in its database. While sales are good, the owner is wondering how he can use the customer information available to him to increase sales.
The Computer Shoppe has five year's worth of customer information of past computer system purchasers in its database. While sales are good, the owner is wondering how he can use the customer information available to him to increase sales.
Classic Pen has diversified from its core blue and black pen business by introducing new specialized colors. But costs have risen and margins on blue and black pens are decreasing. The controller turns to activity-based costing (ABC) for an explanation.
Geffen Records faces new challenges due to emerging technologies, namely, streaming audio and CD-recordable drives. These technologies have the ability to reshape the foundation on which the music industry is founded. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
Discusses Amazon.com's newest and biggest challenge: The threat of Barnes & Noble's entrance into the on-line bookselling industry with its new site--barnesandnoble.com.
Describes how a credit derivative may be used to structure a profitable transaction between a bank and its client. Design and risk management issues are discussed in the context of this new class of derivative security.
Two entrepreneurs, Andrew Ive and Aldo DiBerlardino, are poised to launch their first product. The decisions they make will have a crucial impact on the future of their company.
The managing director and operations director of the manufacturing arm of a joint venture were experiencing severe difficulties. Transferred three years ago, they shared management responsibilities with other expatriates. The workforce was predominately locals. The performance of the company was not meeting expectations of either of the joint venture partners, a problem especially acute for the managing director, whose father was chairman of the partner's holding company. Problems included high turnover, changing roles with the recent departure of a firm originally in a 3-way partnership, intercultural communications and general confusions as to what to do.
The general manager faces a difficult decision whether to sell the family business to a publicly listed company with the needed resources and experience to bring the firm to the next level of success. Complicated by complex family relations, including the death of his uncle who ran an Indonesian subsidiary and his father's departure to attend to the large losses from this business, he wonders what the best course of action is. Not the least of his concerns is the increased importance of mainland China business to his Hong Kong company and the problematic nature of some of these activities. In addition, he has a personal ambition to practice law, after suspending these interests for several years to serve the family's needs. (A supplement to this case under the same name, case 9A98F003, addresses a number of social and emotional complexities.)