Many Japanese managers are concerned that traditional methods such as consensus management, the ringi decision-making system, seniority promotions, lifetime employment, and Japanese-style long-range planning will inhibit their companies' ability to adapt to rapid technological change and global competition. Three examples of Japanese companies illustrate some common problems with traditional Japanese management methods.
Describes the events surrounding the sale of a particular large block of a thinly traded stock. Brings the situation to the point at which the seller has received an offer, and must now decide what to do.
Describes a dilemma faced by Citibank's country manager for Indonesia. His superiors have asked him to raise his profit goal for 1984. But to produce increased profits he would either have to reduce the amount lent at below-market rates, particularly to prime customers and government entities, or to increase the bank's sovereign risk at the time of a downturn in the Indonesian economy. The goal is to illustrate the role of country managers and some of the difficult tradeoffs they face.
Describes the history, management, and organization of an extremely successful bank holding company. The company has had a very charismatic chairman, has made MBAs bank presidents at very early ages, and has a long record of innovation. Now deregulation and a coming change of leadership may threaten the "system" that has made the bank so successful. The teaching objectives are to display the advantages and drawbacks of management based on a strong personality and strong values in the face of major market changes.
A recent business school graduate is asked to analyze three business plans (excerpted) and to make investment recommendations on each to her venture capital firm partners.
Describes the history of Nike, its economic strategy, and the industries in which it competes. The teaching objective is to ask the student to identify and evaluate Nike's economic/technical strategy.
Describes Nike's corporate culture and looks closely at individual key senior and middle managers, outlining the processes by which the management group conducts its business and noting the values which bind the management group together. The teaching objective is to help the student understand how Nike "works" given current circumstances and to predict what problems and opportunities may develop as Nike grows.
Explores the president of Nike's leadership, and focuses on his general management style, his personal philosophy, and his pattern of working with key members of management.
Focusing on middle manager Harry Leidboldt, this case presents a clear-cut strategic issue--should Nike move into the leisure shoe business? The teaching objective is to first view the decision as a business problem--can Nike succeed in this business? and secondly, to review the effectiveness of the process by which a middle manager helps senior management deal with strategic issues.
Provides the background for a discussion of Nike (E1), (E2), and (E3). Outlines Nike's senior management group's early program to deal with the company's increasingly difficult competitive circumstance.
Deals with challenges confronting a new divisional manager of Nike's apparel division, David Chang. The teaching plan would focus on a diagnosis of the division's current strategy and what future strategic moves might be considered.
A senior manager at Nestle's headquarters is reviewing the role of the central marketing staff with respect to Nestle's operating companies around the world. Two specific examples of the role of the central staff in guiding the advertising and packaging decisions of the operating companies are presented.
The market leader in an overcapacity industry with a commodity product is trying to restore industry price levels. Price cutting has hurt overall industry price levels and the leader must determine whether (and how) to bring up price levels or exit the market.
Presents guidelines for effective marketing planning. Provides a general outline of the contents of a typical marketing plan, the process by which the plan is developed, and considers the benefits successful firms reap from their planning efforts and the problems that mark the efforts of the not-so-successful users of marketing planning. Provides a framework for examining the relationship between a firm's strategy and the design of its marketing organization. Discusses how marketing organizations are structured and some basic principles of organization design.