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In October 2006, Comcast executives had entered negotiations with broadcast networks to broaden the selection of free network content distributed via its video-on-demand (VOD) service. The major broadcast networks, however, were unsure of the effect it would have on regular "linear" viewership of programs airing every evening at their scheduled times, and feared that if television audiences migrated to VOD, their revenues from selling advertising time would decrease. How could Burke and Roberts convince the networks to team up with Comcast and distribute their content via On Demand free of charge? Or was it time for Comcast to rethink its push for "free" content, and craft a different business model?

Bert Twaalfhoven (70; HBS '54) is faced with two offers to acquire the manufacturing holding company he had built up over 40 years. Despite the attractive price, which would net Twaalfhoven and his family $70 million, he is reluctant to sell the company because his original vision was to create a family-owned conglomerate which would last for generations. Of his eight children, two are appropriate successors, but neither shows much interest in following in their father's footsteps.

Describes the history of clinical computing at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and the development, since the 1996 merger to form the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, of an information system designed to support the delivery of patient care. The hospitals' CIO, John Halamka, MD, has overseen the development of an information system that places physicians at its center. Describes the design and function of five major components of the system: the On-Line Medical Record, ePrescribing, Physician Order Entry, the Emergency Department "dashboard," and the Performance Manager. Provides students with an opportunity to identify key design principles for health care information systems, and to discuss the unique implementation challenges that the health care delivery setting raises for CIOs and CEOs.

An abstract is not available for this product.

This case examines the structure of corporate goverance in three economies: Germany, Japan and the United States. It presents the structure and background on the composition of Corporate Boards of Directors. The case sets up a discussion of how corporate governance impacts on managerial decisions.

Can a company diminish employees' mistrust and distress when downsizing? Is there such a thing as an "effective" workforce reduction process? In this disguised, yet actual case, Peter Morris, manager of Coastal Power Corpus Christi Plant (Bayland) in Texas, tells his team leaders that they had to cut their workforce 10%. Throughout the (A) case a close approximation of how the dialogue went in that meeting offers several ideas for the reduction that include: length of service, experience, outsourcing, covering the plant with a single electrician, and reducing one person from each operating unit. The case includes data for students to use to generate their own assessment of who should go and who should stay. At the end of the (A) case, Morris shared his plan and asked team leaders to generate a ranking sheet of skills they value, rate employees, and build a consensus among them on where plant workers should be placed on the list. In the (B) case the assessment tool is revealed and all plant workers are ranked to identify the bottom performing employees. They are fired. Then the (B) case adds a new twist when two weeks later, Morris stood in front of the remaining employees to hear their reactions. As he explains how criteria was developed, Morris committed to a plant wide process using the same criteria for everyone remaining employed at the plant-including team leaders. We learn in the (C) case that the second "all-hands" round of rankings was consistent with the team leader's rankings.

In 2004, energy drink company Red Bull considered purchasing the Jaguar Formula One (F1) racing team from Ford Motor Company. F1 was the pinnacle of international auto racing, and Red Bull had previously sponsored F1 teams and drivers. At the time, Red Bull was expanding globally and F1 was one of the top global sports. However, F1 was not popular in the United States. To raise the sport's visibility in the U.S., Red Bull had also developed a program to find and groom outstanding young American drivers, who hopefully would eventually drive Red Bull cars. Describes Red Bull's growth and high profitability as of 2004 as well as the extensive use of sports to promote its brand, the state of F1 racing, the company's involvement in the sport prior to 2004, and considerations in choosing sponsorship or team ownership to promote Red Bull.

A brief exercise to reinforce elements of manufacturing accounting and depreciation.

The president of a metal products manufacturer and distributor is informed that the company controller is having an affair with another employee who is married to the general manager of production. The president is in the process of selling the company and wonders what affect the affair, if true, will have. Three short supplementary cases are also available: 907C21, 907C22 and 907C23.

Clearwater Seafoods (Clearwater) is a seafood company located on the east coast of Canada. It is an income trust with operations around the world. As a result of the increasing value of the Canadian dollar relative to other currencies around the world, Clearwater has recently ceased paying its distributions. The case considers the decision faced by the chief financial officer to determine the strategy the firm should take to enable it to reinstate its distributions. This involves the choice between different financial and operational means to hedge the foreign exchange risk which brought the firm into its current situation.

Spreadsheet supplement to case 2075.

Organizations that fear sharing their data with aggregators might be surprised to learn they can benefit from letting other firms disseminate their information online.

CEOs looking for ways to improve ROI should examine the practices of similar companies in other industries.

Despite Africa's regional poverty, the continent's gross national income per capita is greater than India's. That represents a huge potential market for enterprises worldwide.

If Marketing and Finance can learn to get along, both can advance their agendas.

Portable media players are helping employees make productive use of their downtime, as businesses learn how to train people via pod cast.

Often, executives who are hired from outside a firm fail because they can't fit in with its culture. Here's how to help them avoid missteps.

Most organizations bend over backward to avoid failure. They shouldn't, says economist Paul Ormerod. History shows that failure and success are inherently random, so firms should innovate and adapt.

Studies show that the more staffers' opinions of a company outshine customers', the greater that company's sales growth will be.

Should service firms show clients their inner workings or keep their cards close? Recent research touts the benefits of letting customers know how firms operate.