A year after Rob Parson's manager decided to postpone Parson's promotion, Parson's new manager Gary Stuart faces the decision of promotion again. Stuart considers whether the efforts Parson had made were sufficient. Teaching purpose: To explore managerial problems associated with performance appraisal and performance management.
A year after Rob Parson's manager decided to postpone Parson's promotion, Parson's new manager Gary Stuart faces the decision of promotion again. Stuart considers whether the efforts Parson had made were sufficient.
Five years after economic liberalization, reform in India was stalled. Palaniappan Chidambaram had been recently appointed finance minister and was responsible for developing an economic plan. This case examines the economic and political impact of liberalization programs.
In the wake of a highly successful quarter, senior managers of Airborne Express, the third largest player in the express mail industry, review the firm's competitive position. Airborne has survived, and recently prospered, in an industry with significant economies of scale even though it is much smaller than industry giants Federal Express and United Parcel Service. The case challenges students to understand Airborne's unusual position. Detailed data allow students to analyze Airborne's relative cost position, the fit among its activities, the differences between Airborne and its rivals, and the evolution of its industry. Using these analyses, students make recommendations concerning the firm's pricing policy, its globalization efforts, and a partnership with a related company. Designed to be taught in a course on business-unit strategy.
Bill Lancaster, the new president of Black & Decker-Eastern Hemisphere, attempts to introduce a new performance appraisal and management development system. Black & Decker is a relatively weak player in the Eastern Hemisphere and Lancaster is convinced that he needs to significantly increase the number and quality of managers in the region. To assist in the development process, Lancaster is considering introducing a U.S.-designed Appraisal Development Plan (ADP) in the region. ADP uses 360-degree feedback from peers, subordinates, and supervisors to assist employees in building managerial skills and in increasing personal accountability. Despite a successful track record for ADP in Black & Decker North America, members of Lancaster's top management team are concerned that ADP will be a failure in the Eastern Hemisphere. They argue that the system faces huge cultural hurdles and that Lancaster is flirting with disaster if he proceeds.
Service Corp. International, the world's largest funeral consolidator, has just made a formal takeover bid for The Loewen Group, its key competitor. The offer is approximately 50% above the price at which The Loewen Group stock traded 30 days ago. Should The Loewen Group fight the takeover, or should it accept it? This case helps students understand how to evaluate a company's strategy relative to its external environment and internal capabilities.
The founders of Nantucket Nectars are trying to decide whether to sell their company. The case describes how the founders started the company and grew the Nantucket Nectars brand name.
Unicon supplies pre-cast concrete products to the flourishing construction market in Hong Kong. The deputy managing director, is evaluating an opportunity to pursue a blanket regulatory approval for Unicon's custom-designed concrete products with its largest customer, the Hong Kong Housing Authority. This opportunity promised to offer cost savings to both Unicon and this customer, although questions remain about the broader implications for Unicon's manufacturing operations and other customers. At the same time, management must develop a plan to expand its manufacturing capacity if Unicon hopes to capitalize on the rapidly expanding market and fend off new competitors from mainland China.
Mr. Chung Yong, president of Samsung China Headquarters was considering a recent meeting with the marketing director who was responsible for developing a marketing strategy for the entire China market. The topic at the meeting was the marketing strategy for color TVs, which had been chosen as the flagship product for the China market. Samsung had to decide whether it should focus on the low or high-end market segment (or both), and whether to import or produce locally.
Delamere Vineyard is a small, integrated winemaking business in Tasmania, specializing in pinot noir (red) and chardonnay (white) wines. Richard Richardson, Delamere's owner and winemaker, manages and operates the vineyard and winery largely alone. His products have won praise and awards in the past, but Richardson strives continuously to improve. Delamere competes in the high-priced segment, in which quality is paramount. Richardson is well equipped as a winemaker--with a Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry and 15 years' experience--but he faces both quality problems and improvement opportunities. He is also under cost pressure. Customers and industry experts provide conflicting advice. At the time of the case, Richardson faces a choice among three potential quality improvement projects: development of an effective means to prevent oxidation during the wine's maturation; implementation of a means to deepen the wine's color; and experimentation to find the optimum mix of berries and stalks during fermentation. Examination of these options reveals that they imply an emphasis on divergent conceptions of quality, as well as divergent paths to improvement. They also suggest different opportunities for longer term growth.
In February 1998, developers Ted Leonard and Charlie Sexton are attempting to acquire and develop a large multifamily site in Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. They are attempting to win financing and government approvals to develop a new kind of product for the market based on "new urbanism" precepts created by their architect, Andres Duany. They must convince their banker, city officials, and local brokers and contractors that their traditional neighborhood development plan is socially and economically viable.
It is early October 1994, and Huaneng Power International (HPI), an independent power producer in the People's Republic of China (PRC), is in the process of executing a global equity issue to raise funds for the construction of new power plants. The company is planning to list the new shares through an American Depositary Receipt program on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has recently reduced the price of the issue due to poor market conditions and investor resistance to the price range stated in the preliminary prospectus. The student must decide, as HPI management, whether the new offer price and choice of listing exchange is reasonable in light of recent market events and the political, economic, social, and technological environment in the PRC.
An agreement signed in 1993 allowed AT&T to re-enter the Chinese telecommunications equipment market. Bill Warwick, the CEO of AT&T China, faces three interrelated challenges in building a business there. The first is how to compete with established, lower-cost rivals in a market with fierce price competition. Second is how to achieve coordination among AT&T's very independent business units to serve the Chinese market. Third is what role to take in the debate about linking renewal of China's most-favored-nation status to its human rights record. In the background is the issue of whether AT&T ought to be in China.
Multimedia Development Corporation was established to build and regulate the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in Malaysia. As Malaysia's traditional manufacturing advantage due to low-cost labor dissipated and as the country targeted the year 2020 for achieving developed status, the MSC was being viewed as the catalyst to launch the Malaysian economy into the future. Malaysia's government hoped the MSC could become a hub for high technology in Southeast Asia. It was now necessary to involve private sector corporations in refining the MSC concept, setting priorities for development, and establishing the standards that would be imposed on activities in the MSC.
Ellen Moore, a systems consultant, was sent to Korea to manage a project involving a team of three North American and five Korean consultants representing a joint venture between a major Korean conglomerate and a significant North American information technology company. The Americans were to be involved for the first seven months in order to transfer expertise and knowledge to the South Koreans, who had little experience in this area. Andrew Kilpatrick, Ellen's superior, had played an integral part in securing the contract in Korea due to his depth of knowledge on the subject. Andrew chose Ellen Moore to be the key north American project manager because she had significant project management skills and impressive international experience. Upon Ellen's arrival, she discovered that the Korean consultants were far less skilled than she had expected. In addition, Ellen had understood that she and the Korean manager, Jack, were to be co-managers, but tensions immediately arose between them regarding who was given direction to the team and the scope of the project. Tensions escalated until it was clear that the project was behind schedule and the Koreans were not taking direction from Ellen. The Koreans insisted that Ellen was the problem. Andrew strongly disagreed. Andrew and Ellen must decide how to proceed.