Describes Salomon Brothers' recovery from the August 1991 Treasury auction scandal. Details the impact of the firm's disclosure of bidding improprieties and describes how the new management team, led by Warren Buffett and Deryck Maughan, guided the company through the ensuing crisis. The impact of the crisis is followed through the end of 1992.
Describes and examines from its inception Benetton's long-running and increasingly controversial image advertising campaign. Initiated in 1985, the highly visual campaign runs internationally primarily in print and on billboards. In its early years, it was widely praised as creative and socially aware. More recently, especially in the United States, many observers, including some Benetton customers and retailers, have been critical of the advertising; some criticisms point to the advertisements as "shocking." Details of the campaign are described, along with reactions to it from observers and retailers. In addition, the rationale of the program is articulated, as well as Benetton's philosophy behind the communications. In mid-1994, management is reviewing the campaign in the wake of particularly vocal criticism of the most recent ads. Teaching Purpose: Focuses on the pros and cons of the advertising strategy over time--particularly in terms of objectives with consumers, the trade, and other stakeholders. Among the major elements for analysis are customer and media responses, as well as the fit of the advertising in various cultures, markets, and customer segments. Includes color exhibits.
In June, 1994, the Senior Vice President of BayBank's Investment Management Group is preparing a strategic plan for her organization's line of mutual funds. Sixteen months earlier, BayBank, Massachusetts's leading retail bank, had entered the mutual fund business by successfully launching BayFunds, a family of proprietary mutual funds. Now management faces a new set of marketing challenges to develop the business further. How can the mix of funds offered be extended to meet changing market and economic conditions, and what combination of proprietary and third-party funds would be most effective in attracting and retaining customers? In addition, management must also find ways to integrate the mutual funds business further into BayBank's core operations and systems while coping with a complex and uncertain regulatory environment.
How should a company behave in a "multifaceted relationship," when a supplier, customer, or partner is also a competitor? This dilemma is faced by a growing number of firms, especially in high-technology and global industries. Aside from technology and globalization, trends in regulation, diversification, product characteristics, and outsourcing often lead to these multifaceted relationships. What are the methods for managing them? One response is "stay away or get out," but avoiding or exiting complicated relationships can be costly. Another method is to "divide and conquer"; by carefully partitioning the separate modes of interaction with the other firm, the company can act as if the multifaceted relationship does not exist. An alternative approach is to "centralize intelligence," either by having different departments or divisions that interact with the competitor keep each other informed, or by creating a task force or committee whose function is to pool all information about the relationship. It is simplistic to urge all firms to launch blithely into multifaceted relationships; but when such relationships are inevitable, companies that learn to live with and benefit from them can stake out a better position for the future.
Beginning in 1992, "Beavis and Butt-head," an animated series on MTV about two uncivilized teenaged misfits, became both a runaway popular sensation and the symbol of a heated national debate about violent and inappropriate programming on television. Especially after the show was blamed for inspiring a five-year-old to set a fire that killed his younger sister, the controversy posed difficult decisions both for MTV's parent company, Viacom, and for advertisers, including some of America's biggest.
The Greenland case describes the experience of four young Norwegian men determined to set a world record for unsupported crossing of Greenland. The case describes the team, their preparations, and their experiences as they crossed in "good" weather that was often whiteout blizzard conditions with temperatures dropping as low as -78 degrees F. Throughout the case, one of the team members reflects on things he learned about himself, about the team, and about leadership from the experience (recorded in italics). The teaching note (available to registered faculty) is supplemented by a PowerPoint presentation that helps introduce the expedition to Greenland, other "risky recreation," and the concepts related to resonance or flow. A video supplement is also available. The case lends itself to a profound discussion of leadership on its own and leads in nicely to a discussion of world-class performance and the purpose of life, which both startles and pleasantly surprises most students and participants.
Royal Trustco presents a chronology of some of the key decision points in the history of the firm (the parent firm of Royal Trust) from 1980 to 1992. To clarify the concept of corporate governance, a number of interesting discussion questions are presented: How did Royal Trustco get to the point where the directors had to sell the company to save it? Why did this happen? Was it appropriate for Royal Trustco directors to keep paying dividends given the problems the company faced? Were there any signs that the company's actions might lead to problems in the future? Could the problems have been prevented? Why might the board not have believed the CEO's assessment of the situation? What are a director's legal obligations in the operation of a firm? What can a director be held responsible for? If you had been a director of the company, would you have resigned at any point in time? Why or why not? The case is intended to serve as the starting point for a discussion of corporate governance in Canada.
Consumer Bank pondered the possibilities of launching a credit card in the Asia Pacific region. The bank's New York headquarters, and several of its country managers in the region, were not enthusiastic. But others were supportive because of the opportunity to expand the bank's customer base from the limited branch expansion allowed by local law. Students make a decision, and if a "go" decision is made, they work out a comprehensive launch plan.
This case concerns the promotional activities of Nashua Photo, the nation's largest mail-order photofinishing firm. Discount-price mailers (inserted in local newspapers, for example) were used to generate new customers, but also allowed existing customers to pay a lower price. Students must evaluate not only the results of last quarter's 125 separate promotions in light of this "leakage," but also the appropriateness of discount-price mailers within Nashua's marketing mix.
A heavy equipment manufacturing firm is considering three different levels of investment in a professional services firm that performs consulting engineering work for industrial firms. To assess the impact of the different levels of investment, financial statements need to be prepared using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), for one year after the planned investment.
Explores the life and concerns of Bob Fifer, HBS class of 1979 and CEO of Kaiser Associates. Explores the many influences on Bob's development and his subsequent career choices. It is written as a biography with extensive quotes from interviews with Bob. He describes the role of his upbringing and Jewish ethnicity in the formation of his early self-concept. Highlights the career-related choices he makes, including college at Harvard, attending business school, and entering consulting. After years of success and driven workaholic behavior, Bob experiences disillusionment and personal tragedy.
Time Life has historically been a continuity book publisher, selling 20-volume book series via direct mail. Now, however, music and video/TV divisions have been added, and the CEO is trying to craft a strategy that will align the divisions so they can produce multimedia products. There is also an immediate decision facing the CEO about the advertising for a new book and TV series, and questions for the division managers about how to shape and improve their businesses' creative processes.
The director of marketing of a recently acquired trust company is faced with preparing a marketing plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Historically, the trust company has not had a marketing or sales function. The director faces some major challenges: establishing marketing's role in the trust company; helping the trust company be more accepted by the bank that acquired the company; helping the trust company move from its unprofitable start-up mode to a profitable operation. She wondered how to begin.