Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity confronting venture capitalists. The students will have to assess the fit between Peter Wendell, the particular opportunity, and the terms being offered.
Contains brief introductory material for the body of the case, which is Nixon's August 15, 1971, speech announcing the suspension of the convertibility of gold and wage-price controls. The case will allow discussion of the problems of the Bretton Woods system, the relationship of domestic and international economic problems, and the process of institutional change.
The Heinz Ketchup product manager must decide whether or not to launch a new plastic bottle and, if so, what marketing program and support to place behind it.
Manufacturing companies are confronted today with an array of new systems to improve production efficiency. Chief among these are: materials requirements planning (MRP), kanban (the Japanese just-in-time system), Israel's optimized production technology (OPT), and the latest approach, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). A rundown of each methodology explains strengths, weaknesses, and trade-offs to help managers choose a system to match their needs. Examples of applications of each system worldwide are included.
Entrepreneurs draw up business plans for new ventures to make marketing, pricing, financial, and other projections. More often than not, though, their estimates bear little relationship to reality. Planning for new enterprises differs fundamentally from planning for existing companies, given the inherent instability of start-ups. Entrepreneurs should summarize milestone events in a project's plan in order to learn about the enterprise's viability and make adjustments in strategy and goals as necessary. Examples of ten milestones a new product or service might experience are included.
In an effort to retain more corporate earnings, exercise more managerial control, and meet demands of local constituents, governments worldwide are seeking greater domestic ownership of foreign subsidiaries within their borders. A study of corporate responses to India's Foreign Exchange Regulation Act of 1973 (FERA) shows that multinational corporations facing forced equity dilutions have at least four strategic options available: strict compliance, exit, negotiation, and preemptive action. Certain practical considerations limit management's strategic options: the implications of setting a precedent, the corporation's decision-making structure, the level of bargaining power, the political climate, and management's own biases.
To reduce high manufacturing overhead, companies should look beyond their direct labor and materials costs to the costs of transactions. These transactions are the exchanges of materials and/or information that are necessary to move production along. They do not directly result in physical products but instead in a kind of "augmented product" that the customer buys--on-time delivery, quality, variety, and design improvement. Three approaches to managing the costs of these transactions are to analyze which transactions are necessary and improve the methods of carrying them out, to increase the stability of operations, and to rely on automation and systems integration.
The marketing mix concept is an essential part of marketing theory. It has endured because it is both effective and simple. Now there are several ways managers can add more strength to the concept while maintaining its simplicity. By applying such ideas as consistency, integration, and leverage, managers can see how a marketing program must fit the needs of the marketplace, the skills of the company, and the vagaries of the competition. To meet such disparate demands, the elements of the marketing mix must make the most effective use of company strengths, take aim at precisely defined segments, and protect the company from competitive threats.
Traditional forecasting techniques, which rest on the assumption that tomorrow's world will be much like today's, are inadequate in a fluid and turbulent business environment. When forecasts made by Royal Dutch/Shell in the late 1960s signaled major disruptions in the world oil market, company planners realized they needed a more realistic way to think about the future. Beginning in 1971, the company decided to develop a series of scenarios to explore the future business environment. By listening to planners' analysis, Shell's management was prepared for the 1973 oil crisis. The power of scenarios becomes evident when the world changes. McKinsey Award Winner.
Describes three years of the Volcker monetary policy experiment. The Federal Reserve changed the focus by its operating procedure from an interest rate instrument to a reserve instrument and it reaffirmed its commitment to hitting its preannounced monetary growth target. At the same time Congress initiated widespread deregulation of financial institutions. The case encourages discussion on the best strategy and implementation of monetary policy, the effect of deregulation on its conduct, the causes of the recession and disinflation, and the competitive implications of the recent changes in monetary policy for competitive institutions.
Contains a description of some issues confronting management of CML Group. They have decided to go public, have selected an underwriting team, and must make final decisions about the size, composition and pricing of the issue. Because stock prices have fallen since the decision to go public was made, the company is faced with the prospect of lowering the number of shares to be sold, lowering the offering price, or withdrawing the issue altogether. Can be handed out at the end of class discussion of CML Group, Inc.: Going Public (B).
Provides background information on the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) industry and the Waters Chromatography Division, an operation engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of HPLC instrument systems and chemical products. An overview of Waters' marketing effort in general and sales/service operations in particular provides a lead-in to the focus of the case: a diary-style account of a day in the field with Ray Burnett, a Waters field sales representative. Includes information on Ray's background and his current supervisor, a general description of Ray's job responsibilities, and a detailed account of one day's customer calls. Written for use in the communication section of the first year marketing course taught at HBS. The primary teaching objective is to show how one company executes the selling function.
Presents a sequel to the (A) case, which features a diary-style account of "a day in the field" with Ray Burnett, a field sales representative for Waters Chromatography Division.
The manager of international finance of a major U.S. electronics company is concerned about the exposure of the firm to changes in exchange rates. Of particular concern is the exposure of operations to changes in real exchange rates. The teaching objectives include: 1) understanding operating exposure and contractual exposure; 2) understanding the issues in estimating operating exposure; 3) understanding possible actions to neutralize operating exposure; and 4) assigning responsibility for the management of operating exposure.
Robert Malott, Chairman and CEO of FMC, must decide whether or not to continue his work on product liability law reform, an issue on which he has worked for almost 10 years. Malott must decide how extensive his own involvement should be and what arguments he can or should make to persuade fellow members of the Business Roundtable and other business leaders to join him.
A recent college graduate decides to buy a small multiple-unit building in Boston as a residence and an investment. He learns about finding and valuing properties, property management, construction, and mortgages. After some difficulty he finds a building in an area that is increasing in value. The previous owner has run out of funds to complete renovations.
Describes the concept of exposure; the dependence of a goal on an uncertain external event. Describes in detail how hedges may be constructed to eliminate exposure, including the algebra of cross-hedging and hedge ratios. The relevance of regression analysis is discussed. A running example clarifies the text.
Two forest products manufacturers negotiate the sale of a group of assets. ACRS would allow the buyer to rapidly depreciate the stepped up basis to justify a high valuation. The seller recently paid greenmail, and this transaction may be linked to its desire to avoid paying off a second investor.