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This simple case enables students to examine a supply chain coordination problem in the context of a two-level supply chain with a retailer and a supplier. The case examines a retailer's decision about its optimal order quantity from his supplier and the difference between this decentralized decision and the coordinated decision achieved when the retailer and the supplier are part of the same company. The case then asks students to find the optimal supply chain contracts that will coordinate the supply chain. This case can be used to teach the newsvendor model and supply chain coordination and contracts in courses focusing on supply chain management or in operations management courses that include a supply chain module.

In this first in a series of cases on organizational network analysis (ONA), Vic Gulas, the new head of IT at the engineering consulting firm MWH Consulting, is charged with turning a geographically organized department into one organized by function. He knows that the success of the reorganization will depend on effective collaboration, but he cannot get a sense of what collaborative relationships do and do not exist by looking at a formal organizational chart. Instead, Gulas uses ONA, a method for mapping relationships among people in a group. In the ONA results, Gulas sees a group still fragmented by geography and constrained by hierarchy and other gaps in connectivity. After studying the highly detailed assessment of working relationships within the IT department, Gulas must decide in the A case what steps he can take to align the department's network with its business objectives.

In this first in a series of cases on organizational network analysis (ONA), Vic Gulas, the new head of IT at the engineering consulting firm MWH Consulting, is charged with turning a geographically organized department into one organized by function. He knows that the success of the reorganization will depend on effective collaboration, but he cannot get a sense of what collaborative relationships do and do not exist by looking at a formal organizational chart. Instead, Gulas uses ONA, a method for mapping relationships among people in a group. In the ONA results, Gulas sees a group still fragmented by geography and constrained by hierarchy and other gaps in connectivity. The B case presents the network-building steps Gulas took on the basis of the ONA results and the results of a follow-up ONA Gulas conducted two years after the initial analysis. This second ONA revealed a network that was stronger and more appropriately connected in various ways.

American Airlines sought to reduce the fees it pays to global distribution services (GDSs) (such as SABRE) to reach travel agents. But GDSs held significant tactical advantages. For example, GDSs had signed long-term exclusive contracts with the corporate customers who were American's best customers. Furthermore, travel agents tended to favor whichever GDS offered the highest commissions - impeding price competition among GDSs. Against this backdrop, American considered how best to cut its GDS costs.

Supplements the (A) case.

This note provides an introduction to supply chain management. The note examines the fundamentals of supply chain management and provides a framework for choosing the right supply chain to fit the product a company is making and the environment it is in. Using examples of companies such as P&G, Dell, Zara, Seven Eleven Japan (SEJ) the note describes how a successful supply chain strategy can provide companies with increased market share, reduced costs, and improved customer service. The note can be used as an introduction reading for courses focusing on supply chain management or in operations management courses that include a supply chain module.

Describes the Mahindra & Mahindra Group's approach to innovation. The Group is among the top industrial houses in India and its managing director Anand Mahindra has put innovation at the core of its growth strategy. Emphasis is placed on managing the balance between structured processes and the creation of an environment in which radical innovations can succeed. The Farm Equipment Sector, one of the Group's largest and most successful sectors, is developing a revolutionary tractor outside its conventional development process with the help of a "Maverick" innovator. Not surprisingly, the project encounters numerous obstacles and setbacks. Focuses on: 1) the role of creative innovators in breakthrough innovations; 2) the need for process, structure and early feedback from markets; 3) the sources of radical product concepts; and 4) the marketing of innovations.

Supplement to 609-065

Supplement to 609065

Describes Apple's approach to innovation, management, and design thinking. For several years, Apple has been ranked as the most innovative company in the world, but how it has achieved such success remains mysterious because of the company's obsession with secrecy. This note considers the ingredients of Apple's success and its quest to develop, in the words of CEO Steve Jobs, insanely great products. Focuses on: 1) design thinking; 2) product development strategy and execution; 3) CEO as chief innovator; and 4) bold business experimentation.

A construction company experiences a crane accident with multiple fatalities. The CEO, a client, and an employee must make choices to meet the company's obligations. Set in 2006, the case looks at the choices faced by board members of a museum which is an important client and which is faced with a completion deadline, and of a key employee who has other offers of employment and is negotiating a stay put bonus. The rights and interests of the surety company that provided the construction bond are also interwoven. The protagonist is the CEO of a multi-generational family business who must now negotiate with these parties and then decide whether to attempt to raise new capital, declare bankruptcy, or try to lead a controlled wind-down. The case explores crisis management, decisions by principals operating in the zone of insolvency, construction contract types, the limits of recourse available from construction bonds, roles of board members, calculation of an employee stay-put bonus pool, subcontractor and vendor communication, and reputational issues around bankruptcy or closure of a closely held family business. Analytical tools include contract status report, contractor balance sheet, stay-put bonus pool.

As his inauguration approached, President-elect Obama faced a financial sector meltdown, a costly bailout, and massive government deficits. With the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and joblessness on the rise, Obama needed to decide whether, and how much, to use fiscal stimulus to resuscitate the economy. To help students understand Obama's options, the case reviews both the recent tax cuts under President George W. Bush, including the supply-side and demand-management justification given for them, and the broad history of fiscal policy in the United States. Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom.

China Mobile was the world's leading mobile communications service provider with over 400 million customers. In some cities, its penetration rate was over 100%. With such huge successes, Chairman Wang Jianzhou was exploring ways to expand its customer base. Nearly saturated in the cities, China Mobile needed to broaden its base of subscribers. Wang believed that further investment in China's rural villages was a key strategy that would help the fuel growth for the future. Already deeply invested in the rural areas based on the company's participation in the government-mandated "Connect Every Village" project, China Mobile took advantage of this foundation and created new products and value-added services in order to make its mobile phone network more valuable to the lifestyles of China's rural population. However, the cost of connecting remote locations was high and was often not offset by subscriber fees or usage rates of these populations. Would this investment be relegated to a socially responsible project or would it pay-off for China Mobile in the future?

The case outlines the conflicting ethical demands on a Danish pharmaceuticals company, Novo Nordisk, that is operating globally and is aspiring to high standards of corporate social responsibility. A recent report alleges that multinational pharmaceutical companies routinely conduct trials in developing countries under alleged unethical conditions. The company's director reflects on how to respond to a request from a journalist for an interview. This triggers a discussion on the appropriate ethical principles and how to communicate them. As a company emphasizing corporate responsibility, the interaction with the media presents both opportunities and risks to Novo Nordisk. The case focuses on clinical trials that are required to attain regulatory approval in, for example, Europe and North America, and that are conducted at multiple sites around the world, including many emerging economies. Novo Nordisk has implemented numerous procedures to protect its various stakeholders, yet will this satisfy journalists and non-governmental organizations, and how should the company communicate with these stakeholders?

Do subliminal cues have an effect on behavior? This question is at the heart of many debates in advertising. In this exercise, students can determine, through their own experience, the impact of subconscious cues on their decisions. In this simulation, the instructor places a number of specific cues throughout the building. Students, in turn, are tasked with creating an advertising poster for a chain of children's play centers. Inevitably, their posters incorporate some, and sometimes all, of the cues. The exercise can lead to a deep and constructive discussion on the effect of subconscious cues on consumers.

When, in 1997, the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) decided to consolidate the Human Resources systems used by its three military services (Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force) into a small number of tri-service ones, it saw the challenge as an IT problem that could be solved through an IT solution. The goal was to increase efficiency and cut costs, and both would be achieved - the MOD thought - by streamlining the more than two hundred customized computer applications developed over time by each of the three services to meet their specific needs. The Texas-based Electronic Data Systems corporation (EDS) was hired to implement the project. But the first effort soon collapsed: the MOD had overestimated how much those systems had in common, and how quickly and easily they could be harmonized. This case describes the unusual partnering approach the MOD and EDS developed in order to make their second attempt a successful one. Realizing that what was needed was a business change, as opposed to an IT solution, the MOD revised the contract to better reflect the more fluid and organic process that would be required. There were a number of essential components to that new workflow: the decision to integrate EDS staff into all management meetings in order to develop mutual trust and a common knowledge base; the establishment of a clear division of labor and responsibilities by which MOD would focus on efficiency and EDS on IT, and an agreement to prioritize the schedule and resolve cost overruns after the fact. HKS Case Number 1900.0

On September 16, 2008, President Rodriguez Zapatero recognized the severity of Spain's macroeconomic situation and clearly pointed to the culprit in front of the Spanish Congress: "Let nobody doubt it; there is already a wide consensus about the origin of the crisis: [It is] in the U.S. and its subprime mortgages." During the last eight years, Spain had gone through a phenomenal expansion that has had many important ingredients: immigration, housing boom, banking and financial market regulation, current account deficit, and productivity growth. This case analyzes how they interacted during the period 2000-2007 and what drove the Spanish recession in 2008.

In the summer of 1992, hedge fund manager George Soros was contemplating the possibility that the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) would break down. Designed to pave the way for a full-scale European Monetary Union, the ERM was a system of fixed exchange rates linking together twelve members of the European Union, including Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. However, the impact of German reunification after 1989 had created significant strains within the system. Moreover, financial deregulation and the growth of cross-border flows of "hot" money increased the likelihood that a speculative attack on one or more ERM currencies might succeed. Soros had to decide which currencies to bet against. The Italian lira? The British pound? The French franc? Or all three? The result could determine the success or failure of the project for a single European currency.

Under the leadership of Tim Flynn, Chairman and CEO of KPMG, the firm made a number of changes in compensation, governance, and culture in order to address the underlying reasons for actions that occurred prior to him becoming CEO that led to the accounting giant paying $456 million to the federal government over allegedly selling illegal tax shelters. These changes included a common compensation bonus pool for the entire firm and rewarding people for professionalism as much as for business development; strengthening governance by adding a lead director to the board, removing the chairman and deputy chairman from board member selection, and creating separate committees for professional practice, ethics, and compliance and operations; and enhanced its ethics and compliance program through human resource processes (e.g., recruiting, orientation, training, and exit interviews), implementing periodic and required ethics courses, active firm leadership in these courses, and establishing multiple channels of communication for employees to raise concerns with an explicit "no retaliation" policy. In January 2007, 86% of the employees were proud to work for the firm, compared to 60% in 2005. Employee turnover was at an all-time low. And the Tax Practice, the source of the problems, was the fastest growing such practice in the Big Four accounting firms at 18%.

In August 2006, Genevieve ("Jeh-neh-veev") Thiers, founder and CEO of Sittercity.com looked over at Dan Ratner, Sittercity's vice president and her boyfriend of five years. It had taken her six long years to build Sittercity into the nation's leading babysitting web service. Thiers had begun Sittercity in 2001 in Boston as a way to connect babysitters and parents online, at a time when no one else had thought to manage care-giving connections via the Web. She had started the company right out of college while working full-time, but by 2006, Sittercity had sitters available across the country, was larger than all of its competitors combined, and Thiers still owned two-thirds of the venture. The company now had plans to add pet, elder-care, house and tutoring services in 2007, and Thiers wondered what other challenges she and Ratner would face as she continued to grow her venture.