Describes the resolution of the default situation. Further examines the internal control mechanisms and distinct role of the board of directors of a typical LBO association.
In its 43-year history, Honda grew from an also-ran in the Japanese motorcycle market to a dominant force in the worldwide motorcycle and automobile markets. To do this, Honda has developed a unique organizational style based on constructive conflict and organizational learning. Over the years, Honda has been transferring this style to its subsidiaries overseas. The case looks at the specific example of Honda of America. Students are asked to analyze "The Honda Way"--how well it has been transferred to the United States and whether or not it is sustainable in the face of domestic and rapid expansion.
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award requires firms to submit applications that conform to a rigorous quality-assessment system. This case consists of several parts of a service company's 1988 Baldrige application together with material from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner Application Scorebook. Students learn how the Baldrige Quality Assessment System is designed and how to score an actual application, yielding insights about how to organize and manage a company's quality-improvement efforts.
Explores the process of purchasing a single family house through the eyes of a young couple. The couple is trying to determine what type of home to buy as well as how to finance it.
Brief description of the life history of a Xerox manager. When used with Managing Xerox's Multinational Development Center it allows for the discussion of the relationship between personal history, personal values, and career choices.
Describes a manager's role in developing a staff group responsible for enhancing the efficiency of Xerox's worldwide logistics and inventory management systems. Illustrates a range of management strategies for upward and lateral influence in a complex organizational context, as well as the use of a number of innovative human resource management techniques. If used with John A. Clendenin it allows for the discussion of career development issues.
Illustrates how ADP's top management uses formal planning and control systems to establish strategic boundaries for its business units. Top management has developed a detailed list of strategic criteria that ADP managers use to evaluate products and business units, as well as acquisition and divestiture candidates. Focuses on whether ADP should divest a profitable business that is drifting outside defined strategic boundaries.
Illustrates the management control challenges that are associated with rapid growth and geographic expansion. Situated at an offsite Executive Committee Retreat. The three founding partners of a specialized consulting firm are grappling with several difficult questions and problems: 1) the tension between local office autonomy, entrepreneurship, and the need for a unified firm strategy; 2) the increasing need for standardized ways to monitor rising costs, capacity utilization, and new business development; 3) redefining the role of the Executive Committee and the role of formal systems as the partnership continues to grow.
Distills memos written by the author each time he took over as head of a different company, memos intended to make sure his managers understood how he intended to run the company. Included are: a call for a stable earning pattern over time to be duplicated by each business unit; a requirement that the company live by operating plans underlaid by corporate and division strategy; an expectation of productivity improvement; and fairness in dealings with employees. The ground rules for managers' "core responsibilities" are organization and staffing, planning and execution, and people development.
Five trends shape the new competition: worldwide dissemination of scientific knowledge, growth in the number of global competitors, fragmented markets and shifting customer preferences, diverse and transforming process technologies, and proliferation of the number of technologies relevant to any product. Never has technology been so important, never has it been harder to gain a competitive edge by means of technology alone. Managers must link technical capabilities to customer requirements. Important principles of action are: know the technological core and link it to strategic intent, take a global view of technical competence, time is of the essence, discipline functions around the science of production, and integrate operations around the information system.
Innovative technologies become commercial products in two ways: reduction to practice of scientific knowledge and incremental improvement governed by the product cycle. In the latter, engineers, not scientists, improve the materials and design of a model. For high-tech companies, this cyclic, incremental innovation is critical. Manufacturing engineers must participate in design from the start. Technological solutions should be pulled in at the start of the product cycle.
Two businesses that deal in the same goods and services, in the same territory and with the same clientele, cannot coexist equally. Therefore, market share is a meaningless number unless a competitor defines the market in terms of the differences that separate it from its rivals. The essence of the contest lies in extending the boundary of one's advantage and preventing customers from doing the same. Because market equilibrium can be upset at any time, strategy comes into play. Strategy involves the search for a plan of action that will create and compound competitive advantage--in desperately short time periods.
As corporations restructure for greater flexibility and innovation, radical changes are taking place in managerial work. Collaborative work is increasing, hierarchy fading. Signs of change include more channels for instigating action, fewer differences between managers and those they manage, and the increasing importance of external relationships as sources of power and influence. Managers must master change in power and motivation; they accomplish things by building relationships and brokering deals. And because loss of hierarchy has deprived them of some capacity to guarantee promotion or direct work, they need new motivational tools.
Big retailers like supermarket chains often demand extra service from their suppliers, who are all too eager to forgive a late payment or meet "emergency" shipment demands with no compensation. Most suppliers don't know how much these add-ons are costing them. Suppliers can take charge by tracking individual customer performance and by putting together multidisciplinary teams to manage strategic groups of customers. With internal changes in place, suppliers can then formulate a flexible, service-based pricing system that establishes appropriate incentives without alienating customers.
Business and family are at odds in the United States. Whereas women once stayed home to care for the sick, the young, and the elderly, most now work outside the home. Yet people seem to manage and everybody gets taken care of. Nevertheless there are four reasons why business should worry about the family: 1) companies will have to compete for workers on the basis of family programs and flexible schedules, 2) both men and women want more time with their families and are blaming companies when they don't get it, 3) company inflexibility on family issues decreases productivity, 4) children are the future work force and they're not getting the personal and educational attention they need.
The driving force of modern marketing is the marketing concept--business succeeds by giving customers what they want. The social discontents and ethical issues associated with marketing arise from functional limitations on implementing the marketing concept, not from greed or deception. Developing a marketing program involves identifying three groups of consumers: 1) the market segment, 2) the program target, and 3) the program audience. To determine the effects of the marketing concept requires identifying the social payoffs and problems.
Many built-in problems and risks await the entrepreneur who is searching for capital. Being aware of the realities can help - realities like that raising money costs a lot. The process also drains managers' time and energy, which can make the business suffer. Delegating the capital search by hiring advisers to do the negotiating can also backfire if you don't choose the right adviser - one that will tailor the search to your needs.
Shareholder value analysis (SVA) applies the concept of discounted cash flow analysis to a wide range of business decisions. It is a better decision-making guide than conventional accounting analyses because it takes into account effects on the balance sheet and the time value of money. It also reflects cash flows over time. When used to guide decisions throughout a company, it ensures that the whole organization is focused on creating shareholder value rather than growth for growth's sake or earnings per share. Companies that want to use SVA must build the skills and create the incentives to institutionalize it. A case study provides an example of the use of SVA.