個案總覽

Codes of conduct have long been a feature of corporate life. Today, they are arguably a legal necessity--at least for public companies with a presence in the United States. But the issue goes beyond U.S. legal and regulatory requirements. Sparked by corruption and excess of various types, dozens of industry, government, investor, and multisector groups worldwide have proposed codes and guidelines to govern corporate behavior. These initiatives reflect an increasingly global debate on the nature of corporate legitimacy. Given the legal, organizational, reputational, and strategic considerations, few companies will want to be without a code. But what should it say? Apart from a handful of essentials spelled out in Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and NYSE rules, authoritative guidance is sorely lacking. In search of some reference points for managers, the authors undertook a systematic analysis of a select group of codes. In this article, they present their findings in the form of a "codex," a reference source on code content. The Global Business Standards Codex contains a set of overarching principles as well as a set of conduct standards for putting those principles into practice. This codex is meant to be used as a benchmark by those wishing to create their own world-class code. The provisions of the codex must be customized to a company's specific business and situation; individual companies' codes will include their own distinctive elements as well. What the codex provides is a starting point grounded in ethical fundamentals and aligned with an emerging global consensus on basic standards of corporate behavior.

In the past five years, a rising number of companies in North America and Europe have experimented with offshoring and outsourcing business processes, hoping to reduce costs and gain strategic advantage. But many businesses have had mixed results. According to several studies, half the organizations that have shifted processes offshore have failed to generate the expected financial benefits. What's more, many of them have faced employee resistance and consumer dissatisfaction. A three-part methodology can help companies reformulate their offshoring strategies. First, companies need to prioritize their processes according to two criteria: the value it creates for customers and the degree to which the company can capture some of that value. Companies will want to keep their core (highest priority) processes in-house and consider outsourcing their commodity (low-priority) processes. Second, businesses should analyze all the risks that accompany offshoring and look systematically at their critical and commodity processes in terms of operational risk (the risk that processes won't operate smoothly after being offshored) and structural risk (the risk that relationships with service providers may not work as expected). Finally, companies should determine possible locations for their offshore efforts, as well as the organizational forms--such as captive centers and joint ventures--that those efforts might take. They can do so by examining each process' operational and structural risks side by side. This article also describes a new organizational structure--the extended organization--in which companies specify the quality of services they want and work alongside providers to get that quality.

It's the busiest time of year for North Pole Workshops. Production is in high gear, and the elves are on overtime in the sprint toward Christmas. But an unexpected spike in demand for one toy may leave children around the world disappointed on Christmas morning, whether they've been naughty or nice. At the same time, another toy's popularity threatens to plummet, leaving Santa and his elves faced with the prospect of millions of unloved playthings left in the warehouse. This is the third time in three years that Santa's elves have been caught off guard by a toy's sudden surge in popularity. Earlier in the season, even just a month ago, it would have been possible to find capacity, but now every line is running full tilt. "Oh, it used to be so simple," Santa ruminates. "Wooden blocks, a train set, a doll...Now we have more than a million SKUs....Trends jump across the oceans in an instant. I've asked the elves in the field to go beyond reporting on kids' behavior and start trend spotting. I've invested in software. But still I can't help thinking that one of these days we're not going to be able to do it." Santa and his staff are determined not to disappoint the children, but North Pole Workshops must find a way to improve its response to shifts in demand. Should Santa invest in better forecasting? Or does the answer lie in a more flexible supply chain? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0512A and R0512Z are M. Eric Johnson, the director of the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business; Horst Brandstatter, the owner of Playmobil; Warren H. Hausman, a professor of operations management at Stanford University; and Anne Omrod, the CEO of the consulting firm John Galt Solutions.

It's the busiest time of year for North Pole Workshops. Production is in high gear, and the elves are on overtime in the sprint toward Christmas. But an unexpected spike in demand for one toy may leave children around the world disappointed on Christmas morning, whether they've been naughty or nice. At the same time, another toy's popularity threatens to plummet, leaving Santa and his elves faced with the prospect of millions of unloved playthings left in the warehouse. This is the third time in three years that Santa's elves have been caught off guard by a toy's sudden surge in popularity. Earlier in the season, even just a month ago, it would have been possible to find capacity, but now every line is running full tilt. "Oh, it used to be so simple," Santa ruminates. "Wooden blocks, a train set, a doll...Now we have more than a million SKUs....Trends jump across the oceans in an instant. I've asked the elves in the field to go beyond reporting on kids' behavior and start trend spotting. I've invested in software. But still I can't help thinking that one of these days we're not going to be able to do it." Santa and his staff are determined not to disappoint the children, but North Pole Workshops must find a way to improve its response to shifts in demand. Should Santa invest in better forecasting? Or does the answer lie in a more flexible supply chain? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0512A and R0512Z are M. Eric Johnson, the director of the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business; Horst Brandstatter, the owner of Playmobil; Warren H. Hausman, a professor of operations management at Stanford University; and Anne Omrod, the CEO of the consulting firm John Galt Solutions.

Many economists argue that monopolies stifle innovation. But before the breakup, AT&T and its R&D units constituted probably the most potent innovation engine the world has known.

Incompetent people don't perform up to speed, don't recognize their lack of competence, and don't recognize the competence of others.

Don't extend your premium brands into other product categories--unless they are adjacent to your core categories.

As major purchasers of health care, corporations have almost as much of a stake in maintaining employees' health as employees themselves do.

If you're in the C-suite, your subordinates are probably more emotionally intelligent than you are.

Good writers who are consulted early enough can improve the product development process and, potentially, the products themselves.

Henry Jenkins, the director of comparative media studies at MIT, talks about the influence of video games in and on the workplace.

Researchers have identified four cultural tensions that will influence how Chinese leaders develop over the next 15 years.

As part of its R&D efforts, Porsche taps the resources and expertise of nearly 600 graduate students--saving innovation costs in the process.

Low turnover--typically a sign of organizational health--seems to increase a company's vulnerability to the effects of losing social capital.

The case documents the evolving characteristics of the contact lens market, driven by rapid technological innovation. The introduction of disposable contact lenses has transformed this business from a low-volume high-margin market space to a high-volume low-margin one. This transformation necessitated a drastically new supply chain solution, which would significantly reduce manufacturing and distribution costs while preserving the close relationships CIBA Vision enjoyed with the health care professionals in the local markets.

This case deals with the problems facing MMC in three of its key business areas, which surfaced in quick succession in 2003 and 2004. Its focus is primarily on the reputation risks facing the firm, and how shareholder value can be destroyed when such risks materialize. In two of the three cases, the market capitalization losses dwarf the accounting losses attribuable to fines, penalties, restitution, restructuring, etc., associated with the events.

The anthrax attacks of 2001 exposed serious inadequacies in the response of the U.S. public health system to meet such grave threats. The public health infrastructure required rebuilding to respond to any type of large-scale health emergency. The Public Health Department at Penville County had been charged with implementing an emergency preparedness and response system for the county. Federal funds were provided to the county to develop an emergency preparedness infrastructure that met the requirements specified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. County public officials had to coordinate their efforts to ensure seamless communication, coordination, and information exchange between various divisions within the public health department, external entities, and the state public health agency. Focuses on the director of Public Health Department and the challenges he faced. Explores issues related to structure, organization, culture, and technology infrastructure.

This note provides a guide for exploring interfirm rivalry through the dyadic lens and for predicting competitive responses using the awareness-motivation-capability perspective, with the goal of expanding strategists' understanding and management of competitive engagements at the most basic level. Competitive dynamics is the analysis of competition at the action and response level to predict how a firm will act or react against opponents. Understanding engagements at this level is essential because this is where firms enact their strategies, test their opponents' mettle and capabilities, defend their reputations, and signal their toughness--that is, where business rivalry occurs. The dyadic or pair-wise approach of competitive dynamics makes possible focused analysis that complements Michael Porter's conventional industry structure and its extension, the strategic groups approach.

InvestorSoft is preparing to launch its one and only product, a subscription-based software service that will make it convenient and economical for companies to manage the investor relations portion of their Web sites. The company's founder faces an uphill battle in establishing InvestorSoft as a credible supplier to buyers who prefer dealing with large, reputable firms. His immediate challenge is to settle on a set of target customers and determine whether InvestorSoft would be better off selling to them directly or through resellers who would bundle the software with other services. He must also develop pricing and promotional strategies that will secure a strong base of customers early on, to position the company for future growth.

The CEO of a French-based advertising agency network led a series of high-profile acquisitions that created the world's 4th largest global communications company, after a failed strategic alliance taught him lessons about leadership and business relationships.