Saatchi & Saatchi, founded in 1970, became the world's largest advertising agency in 1986. It then diversified into consulting and other managerial areas before crashing in 1989. Under a new CEO, the company restructured and refocused on its advertising agencies.
Describes three subsequent generations of product development effort at an equipment firm supplying the semiconductor industry. The firm is partway into the third generation development and must decide whether and how to accelerate product development to respond to competitive pressures.
Describes how Joline Godfrey, an intrapreneur at the Polaroid Corp., introduced and developed a project that could help Polaroid move to a more service- as opposed to product-oriented focus. Also depicts the mentor-protege relationship between Godfrey and Gerald Sudbey, a senior executive in the company. Addresses two issues: intrapreneurship and mentor-protege relationships. Allows the students to explore the process of intrapreneurship, what it takes to effectively be a change agent in an organization. In addition, provides them with a textured understanding of mentor-protege relationships--the various stages they go through, and the challenges and benefits they represent.
Focuses on the strategic issue of how to approach the East German market after the Berlin wall came down in late 1989. Within an unusually rich economic-political and organizational-personal context, the chairman of GM's German subsidiary has to respond to Volkswagen's preemptive move in East Germany. The rapid and unexpected political changes complicate the decision process. How do rapid and unexpected political changes impact this response?
Should General Motors make a strategic manufacturing investment in East Germany after becoming number one in this market through an aggressive marketing strategy? The proposal, dependent on government assistance and based on a number of uncertain economic assumptions, seeks to introduce Japanese manufacturing methods into East Germany. How and why did Opel achieve market leadership in Volkswagen's back yard? Are the assumptions and objectives of the East German manufacturing investment reasonable?
Describes the factors AT&T Consumer Products managers considered in deciding whether to locate a new plant for telephone answering machines in the United States, Asia, or Mexico. Describes in depth the restructuring of AT&T during the 1980s, the competition facing its consumer products division, the division's overseas manufacturing strategy, the Mexican economy, and the country's macquilodora program. Encourages students to analyze where a company's and an executive's responsibilities lie in making a complex plant-siting decision involving overseas operations, and in making decisions about pay, benefits, bribery, gender-based hiring, waste disposal, and so forth in operating in developing countries.
By the early 1990s, Amgen--a pharmaceutical company started little over a decade ago as Applied Molecular Genetics--was within range of becoming a billion-dollar company. With two extremely successful biotechnology drugs on the market, Amgen stood as the largest and most powerful independent company of its type in the world. Top executives in the company viewed long-range planning as an important ingredient in the firm's success; many others--including some of the firm's scientists--were less sure. With Amgen's sales expected to continue to grow rapidly, the firm's long-range planning process would be put to the test. Shows the different, sometimes paradoxical perspectives held within a single, dynamically changing company toward the issue of long-range planning. Students are challenged to synthesize these views into a coherent picture of a firm's growth amid great uncertainty.
Describes the major research techniques for consumer goods new product development, i.e. pre-test markets and electronic purchase monitoring. Provides students with information on availability and utility of these services.
George Hatsopoulos, CEO at Thermo Electron Corp., is considering whether to issue shares in a subsidiary via an initial public offering (IPO). The company has developed an unusual corporate structure in which subsidiaries fund new ventures by raising debt and equity in the capital markets, rather than through the parent company.
This case describes the start-up and the early trials and tribulations of the Magasco Paper Mill. Originally designed to be a state-of-the-art operation, old customs and habits have inhibited the expected performance of the mill. The case ends with a labor dispute, a strike, and a period of enormous tension and conflict. This case should be accompanied by the B case (UV0636).
This case follows the A case (UV0634) and describes the people and events that transformed a strike and tension-ridden situation into a "world-class operation." The case outlines the issues and personalities that created this remarkable change. This case should be used with the A case.
After an LBO and near bankruptcy in the early 1980s, Harley-Davidson makes an astonishing recovery, going public in 1986. Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987 provides the occasion of an equity analyst to publish a research report in which she must issue a buy, sell, or hold recommendation for Harley's stock. Complicating her analysis is the fact that Harley still faces vigorous Japanese competition and, therefore, has a significant operating exposure to the yen/dollar exchange rate. Stimulates discussion about operating exposure to real exchange rate changes.
ABB Germany faces some newly emerging strategic and organizational challenges resulting from Europe 1992 and German reunification. In terms of organization, ABB Germany has created a holding company and has separated operations and service activities into legally independent units, a shift that is gaining popularity in Europe. Strategic opportunities and challenges are described for two business areas: standard products and transportation. Why does ABB prefer to break the organization into legally separate units? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? What, as a result, is likely to happen to the international matrix? What explains the recent success of standard products? What will happen to the transportation business in Europe? Will the German operation become ABB's European locomotive?
Set in June 1991, two months prior to Salomon Brothers' announcement that the firm had violated the Treasury Department's rules governing the auctions of new Treasury securities. Salomon Vice Chairman John Meriwether must decide how to address problems that continue to appear in the management of the firm's government bond trading activities. In April 1991, one of his managers admitted that he had submitted an illegal auction bid in February 1991. Now, one month later, there is mounting speculation in the press that Salomon tried to corner the market for May 2-year notes. Structured to allow students to analyze the ethical, legal and managerial dimensions of John Meriwether's situation. Background information about the history of Salomon Brothers and the investment banking industry, the markets for government securities, and the regulation of securities dealers and brokers is interwoven with Meriwether's story. Accessible to individuals with and without experience in investment banking.
Follows Kevin Simpson, a second-year Harvard Business School 1990 student, through his job search to his final decision between two very attractive but different job offers: a job as an international marketing manager at Eli Lilly and Co., a leading multinational health product corporation; and a position as the assistant to the president of Haemonetics, an entrepreneurial company in the biomedical equipment field. Addresses the factors Simpson should consider when making job choices as well as the issues he faces as an African-American professional.
As the executive responsible for vision at Mentor Graphics, Gerard Langeler discovered that vision has the power to weaken a strong company. In its early days, Mentor's motto was Build Something People Will Buy. When clear competition emerged from Daisy Systems, Mentor's watchword became Beat Daisy. Both of these visions were pragmatic and immediate, giving Mentor a sense of purpose as it gained momentum. Once Daisy was beaten, however, company vision began to self-inflate. The final escalation came when Mentor Graphics decided to Change the Way the World Designs. The company had stopped making products and was making poetry. Finally, in 1991, Mentor went back to basics.