A qualitative shift is taking place in the ways companies compete, managers manage, and business is conducted. The information-technology revolution makes knowledge the new competitive resource. But knowledge only flows through the technology; it actually resides in people--in knowledge workers and the organizations they inhabit. In the new economy, then, the job of the manager is to create an environment that allows knowledge workers to learn.
Linda Metzler, newly appointed production planning manager, is drafting an aggregate production plan for the company's refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners for the next year. She has considered three plans. Students are asked to devise better plans and to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative factors favoring them. Ultimately, the use of linear programming to construct aggregate plans will be introduced.
Facility location decisions made by many U.S. manufacturers during the past decade yielded disappointing results. These decisions were typically tactical, stop-gap actions that have resulted, at best, in short-lived benefits. Many firms moved manufacturing overseas to obtain a factor cost advantage, only to find that the cost advantage was fleeting, and that the distances the move introduced between manufacturing and other key groups (e.g., customers, suppliers, development, and sales) had constrained their ability to compete. This article explores the impact that facility location has on the critical capabilities that define a company's ability to compete. It discusses the shortcomings of the "tradition" approach to facility location, which ignores the internal workings of the company, and outlines a new capability-centered approach that creates sustainable benefits by fostering the development and growth of the unique set of critical capabilities required by a company's strategy, customers, and competitive environment.
This composite case explores the managerial, ethical, and logistical issues that arise when a federal employee is diagnosed with breast cancer and has difficulty dealing with her job responsibilities and co-worker reactions. The case ends with the employee on the verge of exhausting her leave options; she and the manager must work out a solution. An appendix discusses the relevance of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. HKS Case Number 1181.0.
In the late 1980s, the way New York City cared for thousands of its abused and neglected children underwent an unplanned shift. The impetus for the change came from a crisis: an explosive growth in the number of children in need of foster care. Between 1986 and 1990, the number of children in the city's foster care system nearly tripled, a tragic consequence of the crack epidemic plaguing the city. The sudden increase in demand for foster care overwhelmed the city's traditional source of foster care placements. Under pressure to find homes quickly, officials turned to a recently launched, city-run program--known as kinship foster care--to help meet the need. Kinship foster care was originally intended to be a relatively modest program. But in the wake of the crisis, the program rapidly ballooned, transforming the city agency responsible for foster care from a purchased and overseer of services into the nation's largest direct provider of foster care. This case chronicles this period of change and expansion for Kinship Foster Care and focuses on the leadership of then commissioner of the Child Welfare Administration Robert Little. It should be paired with HKS82 (Epilogue). HKS Case Number 1203.0.
Faced with the need for draconian budget cuts, Robert Little was determined to do all that he could to save his agency's struggling Kinship Foster Care Program. Preserving the core of the program would demand two major steps: reducing and restructuring other areas of his agency and shaving the reimbursement rate the city paid to the voluntary foster care agencies. Under his own roof, Little slashed his administrative budget by 20 percent, stripped away all programs not legally mandated, and pared his agency's mandated programs in protective and preventive services to the bone. The mayor's budget office still insisted on cuts within the kinship program, imposing reductions on the program's periphery by stripping down the level of supervisory staff and staff in the unit charged with approving relatives' homes. But Little was able to maintain the core of the program-its caseworkers-almost as he had hoped; although he did have to sacrifice 200 of the most recently hired workers, he did receive a commitment from OMB to rehire that number and more once the current crisis passed. HKS Case Number 1203.1
This case describes Jack Stack's efforts to revive a diesel engine remanufacturing plant owned by International Harvester. Stack engineers a leveraged buyout of the factory by its managers. He then implements a radical system for managing the company, through which every employee is trained to read complete financial reports of the company and given weekly operating data. In this way, they can see in detail how the company is progressing. The case may be used in Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management, and Entrepreneurship courses.
A successful woman executive attempts to integrate women into the construction trade in Chicago. Julia Stasch rose from office assistant to president and then chief operating officer of a major Chicago real estate firm, Stein & Co. This case describes her campaign to create expanded opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses as suppliers to construction projects and for women and minority workers on construction sites. It discusses entrenched discrimination in a particular industry and the creative change strategies implemented by one executive. The case may be used in Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Ethics, and Diversity courses.
Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, is the largest supplier of insulin in the world. Using both in-house and outside design services, it has integrated medical research, user-information, and new technologies in team-based projects that have resulted in user-friendly insulin delivery systems, such as insulin pens. These pens have been very successful in Europe and have met varying success elsewhere. The company needs to determine whether its products represent "global design." If not, then how could they? Should they? This case focuses on the use of design in positioning and marketing in the United States an innovative, prefilled, disposable, easy-to-use, pen-like syringe to replace the "drugstore" diabetics conventionally carry. Students are asked to develop a marketing strategy and launch plan to suit local conditions.
Faced with the need to reorganize completely its inefficient advertising art department, the Washington Post's design manager and team introduce new technology while carefully managing critical human resources issues. While downsizing the operation, they integrate typographers and graphic artists into a more effective, higher quality operation that satisfies employees and pleases both customers and management. The case focuses on several decisions the design manager needs to make in the midst of this transition.
This case is an in-basket exercise. Sarah Conner has just assumed control of Astral, a successful compact-disc manufacturer with some looming problems. Previously run by an autocratic manager, Astral is paralyzed following Sir Maxwell S. Hammer's death. Sarah Conner must work through a stack of messages, memos, and faxes, and decide where to begin and what to do.
Discusses what is meant by organizational effectiveness. First, the concept of organizations as social systems is introduced. Second, a model of organization effectiveness is introduced and discussed.
Describes BASF's corporate advertising program in the United States. In 1992, BASF's U.S. companies extended an existing corporate advertising campaign to continue to build awareness of the German-based multinational's corporate identity. The core theme of the campaign is "We don't make the products you buy ... we make the products you buy better." The campaign appears only on television. The goals, target audiences, messages, media, budget, and approaches to evaluation are described. Acquaints students with the objectives and detailed program specifics of corporate advertising campaigns. Examines how a non-U.S. based company seeks to build corporate awareness and identity in the U.S. despite having only a single company-branded consumer product.
Describes the approach of the German-based multinational company, Siemens Corp., to establishing an identity in the United States. The specific goals for the 1991-92 corporate advertising campaign are described. Examples of print and television messages are included, using the core theme "That was then--This is now." Target audiences are identified, and the program's media, budget, and methods of evaluating the campaign are also described. Acquaints students with the objective and detailed program specifics of corporate advertising campaigns. Examines how a non-U.S. based company seeks to build corporate awareness and identity in the U.S. despite very limited product exposure to consumers.
Tracks changes in the luxury auto market during the 1980s and early 1990s. Shifts in target consumer behavior--particularly the yuppie lifestyle--serve as the basis for manufacturer modifications of product line, positioning, and advertising. The climax of the case is the 1991 overt effort by BMW to "de-yuppify" itself in the minds of the target market.
Nestle Italy marketing executives are considering options for increasing the sales and market share of Nescafe instant coffee. Forty years after being introduced, Nescafe still has a market share of only one percent.
Describes Dan Gordon's first month on the job as Chief Operating Officer of Club Sports International (CSI), a chain of 7 health and fitness clubs. Describes the company's strategy and organization. The company needs Dan to tighten up its operations and create a base that will permit CSI to grow to 30 clubs. Describes virtually no systems, controls, or mechanisms that are in place to actually manage the business. Thus students must paint this blank canvas with their view of the systems needed to manage the business, and what Dan must do to make it work.