個案總覽

Supplements the (A) case.

This case presents the "best practices" of a highly successful post-merger integrator that grew from $400 million in 1997, to $1.5 billion in 2000, to $4 billion in 2002. Case focus is on the $4.0 billion IT sector of Northrop Grumman (NGIT), a company confronting immense change in the rapidly consolidating defense business. This integration is unique in that the product is a complete melding of various companies, systems, leaderships, and cultures of 11 legacy organizations. Not only is the result an organization with a new identity, but also one with new strategic capabilities unavailable to any of the stand-alone legacy companies. The case is accompanied by a CD-ROM that includes videos of weapons systems (e.g., B-2 bomber) and PowerPoint presentations of their PMI process.

For Netflix's IPO, on May 23, 2002, the company selected Merrill Lynch as the lease underwriter. The case details the process the offering team followed to lead the company to a successful IPO during difficult market conditions. Covers the process for selecting the underwriters, working with the SEC, the road show, decisions on pricing, the lock-up period and directed shares, and issues relating to the SEC-mandated quiet period and material disclosures.

This case presents a thinly disguised account of Andersen's collapse, followed by a tightening of the oversight of audit firms. It raises questions on who lost and who gained, as well as the long-term implications of the changes for the accounting profession and society. It is distributed toward the end of class discussion on consulting by auditors.

Describes a failed attempt to sell new packaging machinery to a key Italian customer facing declining sales and profits in its milk business. Tetra Pak's analysis leads them to propose a new product strategy that is summarily rejected by the customer. Raises the issue of Tetra Pak's strategy in the Italian milk market and the wisdom of its proposed customer strategy. The broader question is whether the company is serving the best interest of its key accounts.

An abstract is not available for this product.

An abstract is not available for this product.

In 2003, Lee Stuart, who had successfully used the Nehemiah Strategy to create thousands of units of affordable housing in the South Bronx, was working with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization to implement the strategy in Boston. She and her colleagues faced a number of challenges in transferring the strategy, with some questioning whether the strategy was appropriate for the Boston marketplace. The project was at a critical point, and key decisions had to be made regarding project direction. Teaching Purpose: To explore a model of building affordable housing and the challenge of implementing it in different communities.

ACCION International is a major nonprofit player in microfinance. Reviews the organization's history and evolution, details current activities and relationships within its network, and assesses the organization's challenges moving forward.

Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps International, built his organization by following the advice of Theodore Roosevelt: "Be smart enough to hire good people and have sense enough to get out of their way." For eight years, Keny-Guyer helped Mercy Corps grow in size and scope and by 2001, delivered $117 million in social programs to people in over 30 countries. Convinced that much of that success had come from empowering front-line managers to lead the agency by pursuing opportunities in the field, he wanted to continue the approach. But, recent experiences in Afghanistan had exposed some weaknesses in Mercy Corps' ability to maintain an entrepreneurial approach in an emergency situation. What had worked so well in an organization of 200 was encountering difficulties now that worldwide staff exceeded 2,000. At a global leadership conference in late October 2002, Keny-Guyer met with his senior leadership team. In addition to wrestling with the political complexities of working in Iraq, he wanted to get their input on how Mercy Corps should respond if they decided it was the right course of action.

The proposed sale of Hershey Foods during the summer of 2002 captured headlines and imaginations. Six months after making its decision to explore a potential sale, the board of the Hershey Trust Company was examining two serious offers: a joint bid from Cadbury Schweppes PLC and Nestle S.A. and an independent bid from the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. In essence, the board faced both an economic and a governance decision. On the economic side, the board needed to determine the value of Hershey as a stand-alone entity compared with the bids being offered. On the governance side, the board needed to decide whether selling Hershey compromised the board's original mandate from Milton Hershey.

Supplements (9-701-076).

Contains four short stories about small firms challenging large firms. Illustrates some of the ideas that have been termed "judo strategy." In each case, one can argue that the small firm attempts to use the large firm's size and incumbency to constrain the large firm and provide an opportunity for the small firm. The four vignettes are: (1) Softsoap pioneers the liquid soap market with little competition, at least initially, from the incumbent bar soap manufacturers; (2) Red Bull creates and dominates the energy drink market with little early competition from incumbent beverage companies; (3) U.K. supermarket chains attempt to enter the retail gasoline market but trigger an aggressive price response from the integrated majors; and (4) Freeserve makes large inroads in the U.K. ISP market against dominant incumbent AOL. Each occurrence demonstrates ideas considered "judo strategy"--situations in which small competitors exploit the size and incumbency of a larger firm to find opportunities to make inroads against the large firm without effective retaliation or defense (just as, some authors argue, a small person can throw a large person with judo techniques by using the larger person's weight and inertia against him).

Recounts the history of the evolution of browser market shares from 1994 forward. Netscape's Navigator establishes a huge early lead, but is then displaced by an equally dominant offering from Microsoft. Highlights the role of Microsoft's dominance in desktop operating systems and Microsoft's bundling of the browser with the operating system.

Paragon Information Systems is a small business unit owned by NewTel Enterprises Ltd. that manufactures hardware for information technology and systems integration. The newly appointed CEO is facing a crisis. Days after his appointment, two vice-presidents resigned to start a new company. The new company recruited the entire sales team, members of the technical unit, and support staff from Paragon Information Systems--a loss of almost one third of Paragon's staff within two months. The new CEO must meet short-term stakeholder needs; assess, formulate, and implement long-term strategies; deal with the competitive threat of the new company; and consider the leadership style and control systems required to make the necessary level of change.

In 2000, the Hong Kong government introduced the Language Benchmark Assessment for all teachers in Hong Kong. As part of its education reform, the government wanted all teachers to take the tests to prove that they were skilled enough to teach. The pressure to upgrade English raised hackles and drew severe criticism from the 75,000-strong Professional Teachers' Union. Provides a study of why the government introduced the test, the critical issues in implementing the test, and how the government is managing the results of the first benchmark test. Presents issues such as the validity of the test, what the testing proved, and what has been solved in administering the test. Also presents the issue of whether the test is being used for selection and/or recruitment purposes.

Discusses Hong Kong's attempt to become a knowledge-based economy, its socioeconomic condition, and key trends in labor and manpower as well as manpower projections to 2005. Questions what it would take for Hong Kong to achieve the status of a knowledge-based economy, what industries Hong Kong should focus on, what kind of people it should develop and attract, and how it can develop its human resources. Highlights the mismatch between the skills of the workforce and the needs of industry, examines how to bridge the skills gap, and outlines Hong Kong's challenge in attracting talented, skilled people and specialized resources. Also focuses on Hong Kong's population policy and its new approach to bringing highly skilled knowledge workers and other skilled professionals from Mainland China and other foreign countries through the Admission of Talents Scheme and the Admission of Mainland Professionals.

Chronicles the origins and evolution of a landmark intellectual property dispute between Cadence Design Systems and Avant! Corp. Cadence was the leading developer of electronic data automation software used in the computer-aided design of sophisticated integrated circuits. In 1991, four Cadence employees left to form a competitive firm, ArcSys (later changed to Avant!). In 1994, Gerald Hsu, a senior Cadence executive, resigned and joined Avant! as its new CEO. This move started a series of legal disputes between the companies revolving around trade secret protection. Shortly after Hsu's departure, Avant! continued to hire many Cadence employees, including a number of critical programmers. In addition, there was evidence that some of these people stole some of Cadence's most valuable source code. Cadence began legal actions, including criminal charges, against Avant! and some of its employees for violation of trade secret laws. Chronicles the highlights of the legal battle, the marketplace battle between the firms, and the public relations struggle. Concludes by asking what the two CEOs should do in their respective positions. The central issues are: what is intellectual property, how to protect intellectual property, and how to respond effectively to perceived theft of intellectual property. Background on the industry and company is given.

Examines the challenges and opportunities that entertainment conglomerate Disney faces as it tries to commit itself to embarking on a "Digital Decade" in 2003. The company has built its business models largely around analog distribution technologies. Although the company has had a difficult time in the past few years, it still generates a tremendous amount of cash.

A new publishing company has just purchased the Pacific Sentinel, a fictional West Coast newspaper. The new publisher is willing to invest $1 million in the future success of the paper and has asked the executive editor and advertising manager to develop a joint plan for how the money should be spent.