Raises some exciting issues concerning the role of product warranty as a strategic marketing tool. General Motors, in response to a sharp drop in its market share, makes a dramatic change in its warranty policy. Ford has to decide how best to respond to this change.
Gives students the opportunity to explore issues facing the board of directors in a leveraged buyout. RJR Nabisco is valued under different operating strategies and the source of gains in leveraged buyouts is stressed.
Focuses on the origins of economic decline and the problems of economic management in Great Britain, the oldest industrial state. Reviews the formation of macroeconomic policy, welfare policy, and industrial policy in the postwar period. Examines Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's diagnosis of Britain's ills and explores the effectiveness of her cure.
Assumes that the reader has also read Dow Corning Corp. (A). Presents two difficult decisions faced by Dow Corning's Business Conduct Committee. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
Assumes that the reader has also read Dow Corning Corp. (A). Presents two difficult decisions faced by Dow Corning's Business Conduct Committee. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
A new trademark law took effect January 1, 1989, that clarifies the basis for taking competitors to federal court for making reckless claims in comparative advertising. Comparative advertisers can make themselves less vulnerable to attack by not running ads that make false claims, that contradict the facts, or that use the truth to mislead, among other things.
In this case study, presented in the form of electronic mail messages sent within Middleton Mutual, the CIO is trying to introduce the company to expert systems. But the new systems would cost about $1 million, and the capital expenditure committee is leaning against the idea. Irma Wyman, vice president of corporate information management for Honeywell, Inc.; Thomas L. Pettibone, vice president, information systems, for New York Life Insurance Co.; John D. Loewenberg, senior vice president, corporate information systems, Aetna Life & Casualty; and Diogo Teixeira, systems consultant at McKinsey & Co. discuss the case.
As "1992" approaches, Europeans must compete in world markets or see their businesses fail. Wisse Dekker looks at the forces that have led Europeans to realize that it is companies, not countries, which must compete. He foresees widespread industry shakeouts and heightened competition for all companies. Dekker does not envision a European "fortress" closed to Japanese and U.S. companies, but believes that reciprocity should be the guiding principle in trade negotiations and that value added and the transfer of technology should be paramount in evaluating investments.
For a long time VideoStar Connections, Inc. had supplied Digital Equipment Corp. with temporary satellite networks for private TV programs. When a Digital contract for a permanent TV installation went to a new competitor, VideoStar was forced to take a fresh look at its business. Self-examination revealed the importance of the customer's perception of the business, the product, and its own needs. VideoStar's response was to determine what business to aim for, to summon help from customers and suppliers, and to build long-term relationships through its sales force to garner operational support and maintenance contracts.
American Hospital Supply's order-entry system represents a trend toward "electronic markets," networks that allow customers to compare and order from competing suppliers. By cutting transaction costs, electronic markets make it cheaper to buy than to make many products and will lead to more market activity and fewer vertically integrated companies. Customers like the efficiency and convenience of electronic sales channels but want to choose among different vendors. Business can take advantage of the trend by creating electronic markets - alone or as part of an industry group.
In today's borderless economy managers must see and think globally. Increasingly, managers and consumers all over the world speak a common language, and people everywhere can see what choices and preferences are in other countries. Companies must learn to become insiders in each market of the Triad--North America, Europe, and Japan. A headquarters mentality often prevents this; managers want to apply a home-country solution to a foreign situation or intervene in the management of the foreign market. This is reinforced by entrenched systems, structures, and behaviors. The key is to develop an equidistant view of all customers.
This book review of Robert Axelrod's The Evolution of Cooperation and Robert H. Frank's Passions Within Reason questions whether "self-interest" is really the definition of ethical behavior, as past thinkers such as Adam Smith and Charles Darwin would have us believe.
New product development is essential to revitalize companies. The process cannot succeed unless everyone contributes--general managers, marketers, engineers, designers, and manufacturing executives. A novel approach to facilitate this cooperation is the "new product development map," which gives managers a better sense of where to go by sharpening the picture of where they've been. A fictitious product line, Coolidge Corporation's vacuum cleaners, is used to show how to construct a map and develop discussion around it.
Describes the history and corporate position of a large and successful producer of faucets and related household products. Masco is considering entry into the $14 billion furniture industry. Designed to be used with Household Furniture Industry in 1986 in a strategy course on corporate strategy for diversified firms.
Concerns a 1983 joint venture between General Motors and Toyota to produce small cars in the United States. Describes the globalization of the auto industry and the competitive positions of the two companies.
Describes the forces that led to the development of a logistics analysis program by the Burlington Northern Railroad. The first half of the case describes changes in industrial structure, technology, demographics, shipper practices, and government regulation that led to the general decline of the railroad industry following World War II. The remainder contains the Burlington Northern's competitive response to its changing environment, including the company's decision to develop a logistics analysis program to improve their employees' and their customers' understanding of logistics. Also contains an example of logistics cost tradeoffs.
Describes the experiences of a seasoned Burlington Northern (BN) sales representative after the introduction of ShipSmart, a decision support system developed by the BN to help its employees and customers analyze logistics problems. After a brief description of a logistics training program for sales representatives, the case describes an opportunity for new business for the BN (shipping beer from a brewery to beer distributors by rail, rather than truck) identified by the sales representative. Realizing the new business will require the coordination of logistics channel partners (the brewery, the distributors, and the railroad) as well as interfunctional coordination (between marketing, engineering, and operations) within the railroad. The sales representative weighs the complexities of the problem and considers the use of ShipSmart to demonstrate the value of switching to rail transport to the distributors and the brewery.