The president is considering three steps to deal with financial and operating problems at Kettle Creek (see Kettle Creek Canvas Company 1985 (A)). They were to sell equity, even the whole business if necessary, to recruit a board of directors, and to hire a general manager. She reviews three applicants' resumes for the job. Do any of them fit the bill?
Raises the powerful issues of measuring marketing performance in a not-for-profit services setting. Also raises several interesting ethical issues. LifeSpan Inc., a Minneapolis based not-for-profit organization is the parent holding company of three hospitals and several health services corporations. Abbott Northwestern, LifeSpan's premier hospital, adopted a very market oriented approach to increase its share of a business that was both shrinking in size and becoming increasingly competitive. The company initiated a telemarketing advertising campaign which resulted in a flood of inquiries. The marketing group would like to nearly double the advertising budget; the board of directors would like some evidence that advertising, phone calls, inquiries, and other programs lead to filled beds and increased business.
Describes the evolution of Johnsonville Sausage through a generation of management and from a small operation to a large concern of over 500 employees. Describes how each of the functional areas in the firm has evolved, and how its structure and systems have changed over the years.
Asks where in the Hewlett-Packard (HP) network of groups and sectors the Manufacturing Productivity Division should be placed. Provides a great deal of background regarding marketing, sales, and engineering at HP. It is thus possible to expand and broaden the discussion of the integration of the sales, marketing, and engineering functions at the division, group, sector, and corporate levels.
Focuses on the development of a "market driven" culture at Hewlett-Packard (HP); the conflict between autonomous, well integrated divisions making products responsive to their own markets and a greater degree of systems integration at the corporate level; and the integration of the sales, marketing, and research and development functions.
The objective is to reconcile the trade-offs involved in setting an agricultural policy in delicate ecological settings and determine the role business should play in an imperfectly competitive developing region.
Discusses the fostering of entrepreneurship and innovation in the large corporation. It traces the development and history of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) from 1946 to the present with particular emphasis on the leadership of Jan Carlzon, CEO from 1981 to the present. He transformed the company's culture from a technical to a marketing force through personal leadership, internal corporate communications training, human resource policies and procedures, and other organizational tools.
The rapidly growing American subsidiary of an international resort company seeks to identify the factors underlying its success. The case describes the forces that shape the industry's structure, raising the issue of where it is possible for Club Med to establish a sustainable competitive advantage. Classic sources of competitive advantage are dealt with, leading to the role of corporate culture in creating a sustainable competitive advantage. The case also focuses on service quality from the standpoint of customer dissatisfaction and its associated costs.
Highlights the issue of high employee turnover in a multi-site, international subsidiary of a large resort company. Also described are service-quality problems the company has because the amount of value added through employee interaction with customers is high. Analysis of recruiting and hiring as a process flow is required to analyze the situation. There is also a cross-cultural issue due to a structural imbalance in the ratio of non-American (primarily French) managers to American managers.
Provides an update to the global competitive interaction between Caterpillar and Komatsu described in companion cases Caterpillar Tractor and Komatsu Ltd. Caterpillar's response to Komatsu's growing market share is outlined, then the impact of rapidly changing dollar/yen exchange rates provides Caterpillar with an interesting pricing decision.
Describes an attempt by Fox Broadcasting to enter the U.S. television broadcasting industry as a fourth network. Intended to integrate the analysis of major investment decisions with business strategy. Leads to a discussion of the investment decision based on industry structure, competitive positions, and sustainability.
The Paul Revere Insurance Co. lost its number one position in disability insurance, its main product, and formulated a strategy to regain the lead through a comprehensive quality improvement effort. The case describes the forces influencing the strategic direction of this effort, its structure, and its process over a two-and-a-half-year period. Many issues are raised regarding the design of quality improvement efforts, their implementation, and the continual efforts that must be devoted to them if they are to be an ongoing process. Situation-specific factors relating to this case are explored to determine to what extent this company's method can be duplicated by other service firms. May be used in a comparative analysis of the quality improvement analysis described in Florida Power & Light's Quality Improvement Program.
Brings the history of People Express up to the summer of 1986. Raises the question of whether its innovative human resource policies were successful pr problematic.
Describes the internationalization of the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fast food chain, focusing on KFC's entry into Japan. An entrepreneurial country general manager, Lou Weston, battles numerous problems to establish the business and is eventually highly successful. In doing so, Weston ignores or circumvents policies and control from KFC's headquarters and becomes very upset when more sophisticated planning, coordination, and control systems begin to constrain his freedom. The case presents both the headquarters and subsidiary perspectives and allows discussion of the conflicts between strategic planning and control and entrepreneurial independence in a multinational company.
Focuses on the compensation plan for Fieldcrest sales representatives. Management is reviewing the structure of the plan and must decide how to establish compensation goals and guidelines for the following year so that sales efforts are allocated among products and/or accounts in the best manner. Provides information about the industry, the competitive environment, recent market developments, and the details of the compensation plan as well as comments by managers and salespeople.
Describes a company that had problems of fraudulent financial reporting. Provides an opportunity to discuss the roles of top management, financial management, internal and external auditors, and the audit committee of the board of directors in such circumstances. The problems relate to premature revenue recognition, inadequate reserves for inventory obsolescence, and possible insider trading.
Describes People Express business strategy and whether it was successful. Describes changing environment in the airline industry and asks students to make decisions concerning a new business strategy for People Express. Follow-up to the (A) case.
Describes situation facing Don Burr at People Express in May of 1985. Purpose is to get students to make a business policy decision. Follow-up to People Express - March 1984.
When Procter & Gamble launched Pampers in Europe, it directed the marketing strategy from European headquarters. The result: a big flop. In pushing new strategies successful MNCs diverge from traditional hierarchical structures in which the top formulates--and the national subsidiary simply implements--strategy and planning. By cooperating and co-opting capabilities, the parent's sales and market share get a big boost from the country unit's technical expertise, market knowledge, and competitive awareness--all without losing boundary-crossing benefits like scale economies.