Ellis finds itself in a weakening competitive position largely due to the lack of rationalization in its plants. Driven by a strong traditionally decentralized sales organization, Ellis finds that all plants want control over all product lines. As a result, overall economics of scale are not achieved, and duplication of resources has weakened Ellis' cost position. Case gives enough data for students to make specific recommendations.
Top management at Consolidated Foods was concerned about consumer complaints and threatened boycotts, some relating to television and print ad content and others relating to sponsorship of television programs thought to portray excessive sex or violence. Describes the situation up to January 1981.
On August 3, 1981 President Ronald Reagan terminated 12,000 air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, for violating their no-strike oath. Provides background on the human resources policies and practices of the Federal Aviation System and information concerning the negotiations and impact of the terminations.
Almost all managers escape some job-induced anxieties by retreating into time consuming activities that entail fewer threats than more challenging executive activities. Much of executives' job anxiety is produced by three tasks: streamlining daily routines, meeting demands to improve performance, and getting subordinates to achieve better results.
Managers and subordinates often experience confusion about what style to use when they write letters and memorandums. They make revisions and rancor builds. Style is more than a matter of using words with appropriate denotations; it is also using words with appropriate connotations. Thus, style is partly a matter of tone. A workable definition of style in business writing is: that choice of words, sentences, and paragraph format which by virtue of being appropriate to the situation and to the power positions of both writer and reader produces the desired reaction and result.
Investments in plant and equipment are sensitive to differences in how managers view the importance of short- vs. long-term issues. Yet most managers depend on highly analytic techniques like discounted cash flow analysis to evaluate capital investment proposals, and these techniques are often biased against long-term investment. Such methods place most of their emphasis on net present value or internal rate of return calculations, and as their use has increased, the growth of capital investment and R&D spending in the United States has decreased. McKinsey Award Winner.
Joint ventures are common methods of managing projects that involve different countries. Managers need to consider whether a shared management or dominant parent approach works best for a specific enterprise. Thirty-seven experiences point up the difficulties of working with more than one parent. Dominant parent ventures, those managed by one company like wholly-owned subsidiaries, are more successful than shared management ventures, where both companies contribute functional personnel. Problems often arise in shared situations because managers of international ventures have communication problems and different attitudes regarding: time, the importance of job performance, material wealth, and the desirability of change.
Calls for a decision on whether Hart Schaffner & Marx, the nation's leading manufacturer of high quality, branded suits, should expand its product line by marketing suits that are separately ticketed (i.e., the coat, vest, and slacks are sold from individual hangers and priced separately by the retailer rather than being sold and priced as an ensemble). Serves as a vehicle for discussing product policy issues in the context of a fragmented, mature, and highly competitive industry. Related issues of channel management, pricing, and advertising also must be analyzed. Demands skilled quantitative analysis of a complex breakeven situation.
Westinghouse had just issued its annual report to shareholders for the year ending December 31, 1973. The report indicates that sales have increased to a record $5.7 billion but that net income is down almost 20% from its record level of $199 million in the previous year. The chairman's letter to shareholders suggests that while earnings were not very good in 1973, he expects them to recover in 1974. May be used as either the 1st or 2nd case in a 2nd-year MBA course dealing with the analysis of corporate financial reports. The objective is to introduce students to the concept of "quality of earnings." Much of the focus of the case deals with the flexibility management has in making accounting decisions which determine net income.
A newly appointed country subsidiary manager must decide on action for an operation losing $1 million per month. He is constrained by price controls on one hand and sensitive union relations on the other. Furthermore a major loss-contributing plant has recently been converted as a Europe-wide source.
Duncan Field, having left employment in the cable television industry, is attempting to find and buy a cable system with a financial backer. Traces Duncan's career path preparing for this move, shows development of his financial backing, follows his search, and describes an unsuccessful acquisition negotiation. Duncan must decide whether or not to place a large, forfeitable deposit on a system he wants to acquire, but on which he has no information from the current owner.
May be used as background material for courses in industrial marketing and industrial procurement. Surveys the economic, behavioral, and organizational influences that shape buying decision-making in corporations and other institutions. Also describes the kinds of strategies purchasing groups formulate for dealing with their suppliers and supply environments.
Used as a background reading for a course or course module on pricing, this note describes the several basic parameters relevant for price determination. Provides a conceptual approach to formulating pricing strategy, dealing with such topics as skimming versus penetration pricing, cost analysis for pricing purposes, demand elasticity, and price leadership.
Market leadership and technological innovation have marked Sealed Air's participation in the U.S. protective packaging market. Several small regional producers have introduced products which are less effective than Sealed Air's but similar in appearance and cheaper. The company must determine its response to this new competition. Feasible options range from doing nothing to introducing a new product. Raises product line management issues, particularly cannibalization, and affords the opportunity for the development of a marketing plan for any new product introduction. Software for this case is available (9-587-513).
The loan negotiation process between bankers and company managers is not always skewed in the banker's favor. Success depends on negotiating strategy. Managers need to learn to think like the banker and identify the bank's objectives in making the loan, meet those objectives with the least damage to their company's position, order the restrictive covenants by priority so they can give in on one or two without hindering the company's overall objectives, and influence the banker to relax or withdraw noncrucial restrictions.
MacDowell Corp., a producer of construction supplies, terminated its exclusive distribution arrangement with San Fabian Supply Co., its sole distributor in the Philippines for nearly 20 years. Paul Cheng the owner of San Fabian had to decide whether to accept MacDowell's decision or drop the line altogether. The case raises the notion of "relationships" in channels of distribution. MacDowell and San Fabian both felt that they were better positioned to serve the end-user and increase market penetration.
Massey Ferguson began fiscal year 1981 in default on $2.5 billion of outstanding debt. The company's future depends on the ability of lenders, the governments of Canada and Ontario, and management, to agree on a refinancing plan. The case reviews Massey's performance and position in the industry and raises questions about the company's ability to compete in the long run. Provides information on the firm's claimants in order to focus students on the issues of a refinancing.
Presents a discussion of corporate diversification. Covers historical background, the concept of strategy for a diversified company, and concepts of value creation.