Describes the highly successful efforts of a management team to turn around the performance of a $30 million Raychem division that manufactures electronic connectors. The original manufacturing system was a batch operation, with a broad product line, high inventories, and slow throughput time. Describes the process of converting the operation to a low-inventory, just-in-time plant, organized by manufacturing cells. Shows how it was done, and the impact it had on different categories of overhead cost.
This business game allows participants to make 12 scheduling decisions under conditions of demand uncertainty. It is played with groups of 3-5 participants and does not require a computer.
The vice-president of manufacturing for a company that produces pumps and electrical controls, must consider potential opportunities in the pumps market. The pump division is not living up to its potential and a reorganization of the division is being considered. Management opinion varies, and many conflicts and misconceptions must be dealt with.
Management accounting techniques, such as cost-price relationships and the evaluation of sub-units, are discussed in this introductory note. Readers are exposed to various costing methods (direct costing, absorption costing and full costing) and their appropriate uses. As well, some of the problems of cost allocations are discussed.
A co-operative involves many unique business features, and these are illustrated by Mountain Equipment Co-op. Of particular interest is the way in which customers are shareholders, and so the firm faces customer empowerment that both strengthens its market presence and also influences its product mix and pricing structure. Management faces a unique set of success criteria. Apart from its co-op nature, Mountain Equipment demonstrates the creative ways that a service sector retailer participates today in the manufacturing sector. Its proactive role involves ongoing contributions to the design of products, and even participation in the ownership of manufacturing facilities.
Management accounting techniques, such as cost-price relationships and the evaluation of sub-units, are discussed in this introductory note. Readers are exposed to various costing methods (direct costing, absorption costing and full costing) and their appropriate uses. As well, some of the problems of cost allocations are discussed.
The note examines the relationship of national culture to management. Offers a definition of culture, explains the scope of culture and its many dimensions, and describes how culture is manifested in business settings. The research of Edward Man, Geert Hofstede, and others is discussed.
Describes, in the words of its cofounder, the history of EnClean, an industrial and environmental services company, from its origins in 1984. The company grew rapidly and diversified into new businesses and new geographies both through acquisition and internally. It went public in 1989 but then suffered major losses in 1992 and 1993. The founder must now decide how to respond to a secret board ultimatum.
In 1993, Eli Lilly is preparing to build manufacturing capacity for three new pharmaceutical products that it expects to launch in 1996. Management wrestles with a decision of whether to add specialized manufacturing capacity or flexible capacity. This question touches off a broad debate within the company about which strategy to follow for future facilities decisions. This case presents two alternatives (flexible and specialized plants) and describes the benefits and costs associated with each.
Conventional finance theory demonstrates that, under simplistic assumptions, firms cannot add to shareholder value through the use of risk management activities. Modern finance theory has begun to carefully consider and examine those circumstances under which firms can add to shareholder value. This note briefly reviews the major ideas prevalent in both conventional and modern finance literature regarding the potential benefits of risk management.
Jonathan Potter is considering an investment in the newly formed McArthur/Glen Real Estate Investment Trust. The case gives some background on real estate investment trusts and their history. Also discusses manufacturers' outlet shopping centers, the type of real estate that McArthur/Glen Realty owns and develops. The REIT industry is experiencing explosive growth, and it is important to assess its role and viability both as part of the real estate industry and as part of the overall market for public securities.
Designed to serve as background reading for the "Managing Your Career" module of the second-year MBA elective Power and Influence. Describes the way in which managers learn and develop through on-the-job experience. Outlines a model for launching a "success syndrome" by building power and influence over the course of one's career. Also identifies some of the special challenges of: 1) managing one's early career, 2) developing power as a minority in the organization and the "glass ceiling" phenomenon, and 3) developing ethical judgment. Focusing special attention on the importance of self-assessment and introspection in building a successful career, the note concludes with a list of questions individuals should ask themselves periodically to take stock of their career and personal development.
Lisa Benton is in her fourth month as an assistant product manager at Houseworld, a leading consumer products company. She has been on the job since graduating from the Harvard Business School, and she has been frustrated from the start by a lack of responsibility, by her poor relationship with her boss and a colleague, and recently, by the negative performance review she received. Concerned about her future at Houseworld, Benton is considering calling her former boss from her summer job to inquire about a position. An updated version of an earlier case.
Komatsu, a leading manufacturer of construction equipment, seeks to expand aggressively through the 1990s. Key to its competitiveness is a strict adherence to target costs throughout the product development process. Komatsu conducts several design-for-manufacturability cost studies to ensure a product's profitability, sets target costs for suppliers, and uses cost reduction techniques when necessary. Because it is a crucial element of the design and manufacturing processes, Komatsu's target costing system is central to the firm's plans for growth, globalization, and diversification.
Describes Nissan's sophisticated target costing system in the context of new product introduction. On the basis of consumer analysis and a life cycle contribution study, Nissan conducts an exhaustive analysis of component costs to determine whether a new model can be profitably manufactured. Cost reduction measures are then pursued both internally and with suppliers to ensure that the model can be produced to the target cost. The target costing system is central to Nissan's continued competitiveness in the fiercely contested Japanese automobile market.
Emphasizes the connection between a firm's activities and its prices, costs, and volumes. A firm obtains a competitive advantage when it adopts a system of interrelated activities that generate superior profitabiltiy. Briefly describes differentiation and low-cost strategies.