Should follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B1). A new plant manager has been hired; the case describes her experience, management philosophy, goals in the plant, and handling of a production problem.

To follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B2). The division has just received a request for dramatically increased production. If it complies with the request, it will have to expedite production, override the MRP II system and the planned schedule. Should it accept the order? The case forces students to consider the tensions between an uncertain market and environment and disciplined manufacturing plans.

To follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (C1). Students must assess what their next steps would be as plant manager and group manufacturing manager.

Describes all of General Motors' major alliances with Asian firms. These include Toyota, Fanuc, Isuzu, Daewoo, Suzuki, Nissan, and Hitachi. Students can discuss the rationale of each alliance, their risks, their management problems, and their likely evolution. Also shows the differences between alliances based primarily on cost considerations and those aimed at learning from other organizations.

Deals with the issue of an entrepreneur in a very successful company deciding whether to stay through a period of great growth or to sell. What are the entrepreneur's responsibilities to the organization, to his employees, to the public? As subtopics, the issues of marketing versus having a strong product that sells itself, patents and the legal issues involved, manufacturing problems, and a rising business in a sharply declining market.

Presents a conceptual framework for understanding the process of leading organizational change. Change leaders must create dissatisfaction with the status quo, develop a vision of the future state, and manage a process that sequences and orchestrates events and changes in such a way that internal commitment is developed and resistance reduced. Practical suggestions for developing these conditions for change are provided.

Describes the many international sourcing initiatives in a multinational connector manufacturing company from the standpoint of an independent and very successful subsidiary in Japan. Students can explore the conflicts inherent in the situation and thus the more general motives for centralization and decentralization in international manufacturing companies. Japanese purchasing methods and vendor relations are also presented in great detail.

A small print and design shop describes accounting activities relating to its accounts receivable during one fiscal period. Such activities include the write-off and recovery of accounts collections during and after the discount period as described in the company's credit terms, sales allowances, and the determination of bad debt expense.

On the border between Argentina and Chile, high in the Andes mountains, stands a tall, white statue of Christ, "El Cristo Redentor." It was erected by the Roman Catholic Church in 1904 as a symbol of peace and friendship between the two countries. In late 1978, some 500 youths from the two countries, along with priests and bishops, met at the foot of the statue to pray for peace. At the same time, troops were converging from both sides of the 3000 mile long border. And at sea, the Argentine and Chilean navies were heading south to a small passageway between the Atlantic and the Pacific called the Beagle Channel. This case (Part A) is the first of three parts that describe the Beagle Channel Dispute and the negotiations that took place between Argentina and Chile. Should be paired with HKS822 and HKS823. HKS Case Number 796.0.

On the border between Argentina and Chile, high in the Andes mountains, stands a tall, white statue of Christ, "El Cristo Redentor." It was erected by the Roman Catholic Church in 1904 as a symbol of peace and friendship between the two countries. In late 1978, some 500 youths from the two countries, along with priests and bishops, met at the foot of the statue to pray for peace. At the same time, troops were converging from both sides of the 3000 mile long border. And at sea, the Argentine and Chilean navies were heading south to a small passageway between the Atlantic and the Pacific called the Beagle Channel. This case (Part B) is the second of three parts that describe the Beagle Channel Dispute and the negotiations that took place between Argentina and Chile. Should be paired with HKS821 (Part A) and HKS823 (Part C). HKS Case Number 797.0.

On the border between Argentina and Chile, high in the Andes mountains, stands a tall, white statue of Christ, "El Cristo Redentor." It was erected by the Roman Catholic Church in 1904 as a symbol of peace and friendship between the two countries. In late 1978, some 500 youths from the two countries, along with priests and bishops, met at the foot of the statue to pray for peace. At the same time, troops were converging from both sides of the 3000 mile long border. And at sea, the Argentine and Chilean navies were heading south to a small passageway between the Atlantic and the Pacific called the Beagle Channel. This case (Part C )is the third of three parts that describe the Beagle Channel Dispute and the negotiations that took place between Argentina and Chile. Should be paired with HKS821 (Part A) and HKS822 (Part B). HKS Case Number 798.0.

When Alice Rivlin became the first director of the Congressional Budget Office in February 1975, she found herself in charge of a new agency with no staff, no permanent offices, a very sketchy mandate from Congress as to its duties and responsibilities, and few allies on Capitol Hill. The case traces the early history of the CBO, from Rivlin's appointment to the agency's first appearance before the House Appropriations Committee the following year. The 1974 Budget Act which created CBO required the agency to provide cost estimates on bills, economic forecasts, and an annual budget report to Congress. Rivlin envisioned an agency that would also provide detailed policy analysis to Congress, but her view proved controversial on the Hill. In addition to her other roles as director, Rivlin spent considerable amounts of her time articulating and defending this vision during her first year. HKS Case Number 872.0

Pension portfolio management focuses on the balance between risk and return on assets held. With a new ruling of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, pension fund managers and sponsors must also pay close attention to the surplus--the difference between assets and the present value of the fund's obligations to current and future retirees. FASB 87 mandates reporting of the fund surplus in terms of the net present value of the liabilities according to market interest rates on long-term bonds. Thus the sponsor must ask which assets best match the variability pattern of the liabilities. The low risk of bonds makes them attractive for meeting the predictable obligation toward today's work force and present retirees but unattractive for meeting the uncertain obligations toward tomorrow's work force. Stock and real estate are better investments for these obligations. The goal is to define the true pension fund risk, long term as well as short term. Then management can decide on the trade-off between risk and expected return.

An essential step in improving productivity is measuring it appropriately. But managers have trouble working with the experts who design and implement measurement systems. When they evaluate and use productivity indexes, managers should keep in mind certain guidelines: The most sophisticated measurement system is not always the best; there is more to manufacturing efficiency than how hard employees work; measurement systems should consider all relevant factors; when comparing the efficiency of plants or companies, comparisons must be fair; managers should be aware of the ambiguities and complexities that afflict all productivity data and, above all, when using systems, put relevance before technical precision or elegance.

U.S. trade policy is mired in obsolete assumptions about the practices and principles of global economics. It is stuck in a time when the United States could assume sole responsibility for the world trading order. Business and government leaders must acknowledge that there are five different economic systems operating in the world today--centrally planned, mixed, developing, plan-driven, and rule-driven--only one of which corresponds to the traditional U.S. model. The United States needs to embrace "tailored trade"--negotiating with different countries differently, according to their economic systems. The result would be a more practical and flexible approach to trade--one that would not only serve U.S. interests but also correspond to the world as it really is.

Twenty years from now, the typical large business will have half the levels of management and one third the managers of its counterpart today. Work will be done by specialists brought together in task forces that cut across traditional departments. Coordination and control will depend largely on employees' willingness to discipline themselves. Behind these changes lies information technology. Information-based organizations pose their own management challenges: motivating and rewarding specialists; creating a vision to unify an organization of specialists; devising a management structure that works with task forces; and ensuring the supply, preparation, and testing of top management people.

No one cost system gives managers all the information they need to promote operational efficiency and produce the highest quality product at the lowest cost. Cost systems must serve three functions--inventory valuation, operational control, and product cost measurement. This system for operations management performs three functions: it reports information according to production cycles, differentiates between fixed and variable costs, and allocates costs only to cost centers directly related to production activities. A more subjective system is advised for measuring product costs, starting with interviews with supervisors and including transaction measures as well as traditional volume-related measures.

A leadership change in a company is unsettling. Key players may act on unconscious feelings that can disrupt and possibly sabotage a sensible succession process. The CEO, board, and other top managers are most vulnerable to these forces when the CEO first recognizes the need to retire, when the successor is chosen, and when the new CEO takes charge.

When an employee is discovered indulging in unorthodox, immoral or criminal behavior while off duty, can the employer discipline or fire the person? What are the rights of the company, and what are the rights of the worker? The company may argue that its reputation has suffered but unless it can prove a clear link between the off-duty conduct and the job, it will lose its case. The worker's life away from the workplace is protected constitutionally by a right to privacy and a right to associate freely with others. An unorthodox, questionable, or even immoral private life is usually no grounds for disciplinary action.

Jim, an employee of the nuclear division of Fairway Electric, discovered a report written fifteen years ago about a flaw in the design of their Radon II nuclear reactor. The flaw did not present a safety hazard but was expensive to fix. The company had not told customers about the report. After getting no response from the CEO, Jim took the story to a local newspaper. Word soon got out that Jim was a whistle-blower. This created much negative feeling toward Jim within his department. The CEO asked the vice president of the nuclear division to talk with Jim, pressuring him either to transfer to another office or, preferably, to quit. Jim refused. How should the situation have been handled? Experts from human resource management, public relations, and industry tell what they would have done in this situation.