Designed to help executives identify patterns in their approaches to developing networks of relationships. A "network" refers to the set of relationships that help people to advance professionally, get things done, and more generally, develop professionally and personally. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise.
Two business partners of Hempline Inc. are trying to re-establish hemp as a feasible agricultural product in Canada. Their first request from a wood processing mill in Oregon, USA, has left them with a number of decisions to be made. Among the decisions, they must determine the number of labour hours, the number of machines to rent and the amount of land to rent for this specific order. Alternatives to renting machinery include purchasing new and used equipment. As well, they wanted to calculate the cost per ton of this experimental crop to meet effectively with the Oregon firm.
Meredith Hellicar's mission as general manager of corporate development is to make TNT Ltd. one of the biggest and most diverse transport and logistic companies in the world, with approximately $5 billion in turnover in 1993, a leading provider of logistics services in Asia. The case describes the approach she used to rank countries and select China and Thailand as priority markets. She has just presented her recommendation to the board when a major independent distributor in Indonesia contacts her for a potential partnership. She has to rapidly decide how to handle this unexpected opportunity and reconsider her priorities.
During the 20-year evolution of a family-owned, entrepreneurial sailboat company, two founders leverage their design and marketing skills to build one of the most recognized brands in the recreational boating industry. The founder then considers management succession and the need to improve financial planning and control systems to capitalize on brand value.
Paula Ellis, assistant to the publisher, believes an Internet edition of South Carolina's largest newspaper, The State, is critical to the future of the $90 million State-Record Co., a subsidiary of Knight-Ridder, Inc. Ellis supported the creation of an experimental electronic edition covering the Susan Smith murder trial. The experimental edition has evolved into a daily electronic edition called The CyberState. However, lack of advertiser interest and recent financial pressures from increasing newsprint costs have generated internal pressure to scale back or eliminate The CyberState. Ellis must determine the appropriate level of funding and establish various performance goals for fiscal year 1996.
Two psychological traps, anchoring and framing, and their role in negotiation are described. The anchoring section describes how first or opening offers can be used effectively in negotiation. Examines how opening offers serve as an anchor, changing one side's perception of the other side's bottom line and hence the set of possible outcomes. The framing section describes how framing--alternative description of an object, event, or situation--can be used effectively in negotiation. Uses a real-estate dialogue to illustrate three common varieties of framing: losses versus gains, short and long horizons, and aggregation and segregation.
Two exercises designed to illustrate the relationship between BATNAs (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) and reservation prices and three exercises that illustrate the central ideas of Pareto efficiency are presented. The BATNA exercises involve multiple negotiated alternatives and uncertainty. The Pareto efficiency exercises illustrate the value of side payments and differential valuation of issues in the creation of joint gains.
Craig Parks is a 1992 HBS graduate who, without much deliberation, returns to work for his former employer, Taylor Burton on Wall Street. The choice proves to be a poor fit for Craig. The case documents his decision-making process, personal history, and the dilemma he confronts once he realizes returning to Taylor Burton was the wrong decision.
The president of Kitchen Helper Inc. is seeking financing for his new invention. Commercial banks have refused to provide any further financing, and the president has rejected offers from venture capitalists. A private investor has expressed interest but wishes to see a cash budget and a pro forma income statement and balance sheet.
On Wednesday, February 2, 1994, Ted Rogers, president and CEO of Rogers Communications (RCI), announced that a strategic merger was being sought with Maclean Hunter Limited (MHL). Over the course of the last several weeks, a private company controlled by Mr. Rogers had purchased a block of stock representing approximately 8 percent of the shares held by the public. The focus of the case is to formulate a presentation to RCI's board of directors, which discusses the price, strategy and terms of a planned offer to acquire all remaining MHL shares.
The country manager of Gillette Indonesia is reviewing his 1996 marketing plan and considering whether the pace of market development and mix of product sales can be impacted by the level and type of Gillette expenditures in the market.
A major paper company is considering acquiring the assets of a company that is threatened by a hostile takeover. The acquisition can be evaluated in terms of industry attractiveness, comparative advantage, and cash-flow analysis.
Edmund's publishes an automobile price guide in books (600,000 units per year) and over the Internet (16,000 users a day and growing). The site can be visited at www.edmunds.com. In the marketplace, it makes money selling books. In the marketspace, they make their money on referrals--referring customers to Auto-By-Tel, a car-shopping service, and GEICO, an auto insurer, among others.
The purpose of this case is: To familiarize the students with the changing landscape of health care delivery, through chains of retail medical centers and those offering value-based care (VBC). To discuss fundamental managerial decisions about their viability through the Framework used In Innovation in Health Care: What type of innovation is this? How well aligned is each with the Six Factors of Structure, Financing, Consumers, Accountability, Public Policy, and Technology? With the answers to the two questions above, what are the critical elements of their business model? The case features pre-class polls that essentially ask the students to rate the startups on a scale ranging from bankruptcy to success in five years. This case specifically discusses how the recent changes in the organization of health care delivery affect the job choices of a newly graduated MBA. He can join a new chain of retail medical centers (RMCs), which has raised $62 million in venture capital from a firm intrigued by the idea and the team. The idea is to attract patients who cannot see their regular Primary Care Physician (PCP) because he or she is not available or they do not have one. The RMCs are located in convenient locations ( eg. next to a supermarket with a large parking lot ) in middle-class towns in Massachusetts. They are open 8-8, seven days a week, and staffed by a PCP, nurse, additional personnel, and equipped with labs and X-ray equipment. They offer attractive benefits to this staff. Although they cannot handle emergency care, they can stabilize the patients and send them to a hospital. Their prices are like those of other PCPs and far lower than an Emergency Room. The RMCs face competition from existing PCPs in that locale, urgent care centers, and nearby hospitals. He has another job offer from a chain that manages Physicians through a one-year agreement with a prominent AMC (academic medical center) to capitate payment to the MDs.