A state college seeks to boost enrollment in its extension courses and continuing education programs. Competition from other educational institutions is strong. Satellite campuses, developed to offer students greater convenience, have not proved popular. The college president has authorized an enlarged communication budget for the coming year in a last attempt to improve the situation. The dean of extension studies must develop a plan for 1983-87. Exhibits (nine pages) include market research data, a competitive profile, a regional map, and costs and availability of different advertising media. An updated version of an earlier case.
Fisher Francis Trees & Watts is a New York fixed-income investment management firm. A portfolio manager needs to purchase $375 million of 5-year notes at the Treasury auction. Unlike previous auctions, however, this is the first time the Treasury will auction the notes in a single-price "Dutch" auction. Provides the opportunity for students to study the primary and secondary market for government securities, auction theory, and financial market structure.
PPG has built a state-of-the-art glass plant in Berea, Kentucky. The plant is pursuing the goal of a "self-directed workforce." The case describes the progress to date and the unresolved issues faced by management. These include questions about shift rotation, promotion opportunities, employee evaluation and supervision, the role of employees in policy setting, and whether or not to introduce a system of peer review. Explores the process of creating a self-directed workforce, the underlying theoretical model, and the difficulties and tensions inherent in that approach.
As CEO of Primerica, Sandy Weill has built a $6.6 billion company from acquisitions and underperforming firms. The case examines Weill's distinctive approach to building, managing, and leading an organization that seeks the benefits of scale without the problems of bureaucracy. The 1992 acquisition of 27% of Travelers is posed as a final topic for discussion. Illustrates one distinctive general manager's approach to leading a high-performing firm.
Less than a year after completing a leveraged buyout of their own company, the managers of BW/IP International were presented with an attractive acquisition candidate. To buy the target company, however, BW/IP would have to borrow more money and take on more administrative problems at a time when its managers are already very busy. The case asks students to consider how BW/IP can convince its lenders that the acquisition is a good idea. Presents two straightforward valuation exercises. Also permits a careful comparison of the capital allocation processes at a large, low-leveraged, public company, versus a small, highly-leveraged, private company.
Focuses on the new CEO of a growing software firm, the culture he's tried to create, and the need to hire a manager to spearhead a new product division. Includes details on how the search was conducted and presents resumes of four candidates who are being considered for the position. Designed to allow students to think through the recruitment, selection, and interview process.
Professional service firms, in law, accounting, advertising, consulting, and so on are ubiquitous and relatively easy to start. Few firms, however, gain scale or permanence. This case explores the reasons behind McKinsey & Co.'s exceptional success in building a prestigious, global institution and the role played by its leader in making it so. May be used with McKinsey & Co. (B)--1966. Describes many interrelated strategic, organizational, and governance issues facing the partners of McKinsey & Co. in 1956.
An introduction to processes by which indirect costs are first assigned to cost centers and then assigned to products or services produced. A simple schematic illustrates how expenditures are assigned to service centers or production centers, service centers to production centers, and production centers to products.
BEA's enhanced index fund product uses derivatives and cash market securities to find the most efficient way to "track an index." The considerations involve transaction costs, custodial fees, withholding taxes on dividends, and fees from securities lending. In this case, BEA is faced with the task of investing an off-shore portfolio so as to track the S&P 500. The choices include buying the underlying stocks, buying an S&P 500-index-linked note, buying futures or doing an S&P 500 swap, and investing in a variety of short-term fixed-income alternatives.
Reviews the history of Pohang Iron & Steel Co.'s (POSCO) development under its founding Chairman, Mr. T. J. Park. Between 1968 and 1991 the company grew from nothing to the third largest steel producer in the world. Now POSCO's opportunities for further growth in steel appear limited and Chairman Park is raising the possibility of leaving the company to enter Korea's political arena. Teaching Purpose: Strategy of a developing country, and how what appeared to be outstanding opportunities at one stage of development no longer appear as attractive at a later stage.
Describes the initial efforts at a film production plant to shift from a traditional QC inspection mentality to a worker-based process control mentality. Students can prepare SPC charts, propose actions needed, and combine steps into an overall action plan.
The plant manager of a film production operation wants to create and implement a new approach to quality within the next 12 months. Issues of personnel (and their roles), production processes (and their control), and quality standards must be addressed.
Entrepreneurship is more popular than ever: courses are full, policymakers emphasize new ventures, managers yearn to go off on their own. Would-be founders often misplace their energies, however. Believing in a "big money" model of entrepreneurship, they spend a lot of time trying to attract investors instead of using wits and hustle to get their ideas off the ground. A study of 100 of the 1989 Inc. "500" list of fastest growing U.S. start-ups attests to the value of bootstrapping. In fact, what it takes to start a business often conflicts with what venture capitalists require. Seven principles are basic for successful start-ups: get operational fast; look for quick break-even, cash-generating projects; offer high-value products or services that can sustain direct personal selling; don't try to hire the crack team; keep growth in check; focus on cash; and cultivate banks early.
Greater Southeast Community Hospital is located in the center of one of Washington, D.C.'s most troubled and isolated neighborhoods. Like so many inner-city hospitals, it serves a population struggling with high rates of poverty, crime, and illiteracy. As a result, the area suffers from the highest rate of infant mortality, cancer, and coronary disease in the D.C. area. When Tom Chapman joined the hospital in 1984, it was giving away roughly 11% of its care--or about $11.5 million worth of medical services to indigent residents. If that rate continued, the hospital would soon go out of business. His challenge: to keep Greater Southeast solvent while shoring up the community that surrounds it. Working in tandem with community residents, Greater Southeast has developed a broad range of preventive and supportive programs, such as housing, day care for children and the elderly, nursing home services, and literacy training.
Frederick Taylor's traditional scientific approach to management promised to provide managers with the capacity to predict and control the behavior of the complex organizations they led. But the world most managers now inhabit often appears to be unpredictable and even uncontrollable. In the face of this more volatile business environment, the old-style mechanisms of "scientific management" seem positively counterproductive. Just as managers have become more preoccupied with the volatility of the business environment, scientists have also become preoccupied with the inherent volatility--the "chaos" and "complexity"--of nature. They are developing new rules for complex behavior in physical systems that have intriguing parallels to the kind of organizational behaviors today's companies are trying to encourage.