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In March 2002, the five partners of Adams Capital Management (ACM), a venture capital firm investing in information technology telecommunications with $700 million under management, gathered to discuss whether they should change their strategy in view of the prolonged downturn in both the economy and their targeted investment sectors. Since its founding in 1993, ACM had followed a distinct strategy of targeting particular markets of interest, investing within these, and managing the portfolio companies through a defined process to liquidity. ACM's first fund had performed extremely well; its second was looking good; and the third, albeit only a year into its life, was not performing as well. ACM is considering three options: investing in companies producing more fundamental products, hiring more associates or investing in more markets, or taking bigger positions in companies in its traditional sectors. Each has its own possibilities and drawbacks. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Daniel Fisher, the CFO of Boston Automation Systems, must review a number of revenue transaction accounting policies following the issuance of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Staff Accounting Bulletin 101, "Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements." Teaching Purpose: To explore the earned and realized criteria for recognition of revenue.

Supplements the (A) case.

The company's management is faced with long-term questions regarding the rate and manner of growth in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and general industry malaise.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 803-133.

Supplements the (A) case.

This case provides an ethical dilemma for a sales force. Do they look at competitive information provided by a customer under strange circumstances or not?

In January, 2001, on the last day of the term of President William Clinton, the US Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) had reduced the maximum permissible level of arsenic in drinking water from 50 to 10 parts per billion (ppb). Incoming President Bush had quickly suspended the new arsenic standard and other "last minute" Clinton regulations to allow time for review. In October, 2001, after nine months of study, Bush's EPA Administrator, Christine Whitman had to decide what the arsenic standard should be. This case is intended for use in a graduate course in applied microeconomics to illustrate the issues in setting an environmental standard, including the problems of quantifying benefits and the possibility of local instead of national standards. HKS Case Number 1680.0

Describes the history of Connecticut's economy, its competitive challenges in the 1990s, and the steps taken to develop an economic plan for the state. A prominent issue is the competitive position of Connecticut's industry clusters and the efforts to create a formal cluster development process involving state government, the private sector, and universities.

By 1975, the collapse of the British motorcycle industry is nearly complete. Only one British manufacturer, NVT, remains in operation. In this setting, the British government commissions the Boston Consulting Group to identify and evaluate strategic alternatives for NVT and its suppliers. This case summarizes what the consultants discovered as they sized up the global motorcycle industry and Britain's place in it.

Examines factors that motivate a firm's race to acquire customers in newly emerging markets and explores conditions under which racing strategies are likely to yield attractive returns. Provides a definition of racing behavior, introduces the notion of an optimal level of investment in customer acquisition efforts, and considers reasons why firms might invest more or less than this optimal amount, including funding constraints and the impact of budgeting and compensation systems. Explains why firms may be motivated to race to acquire companies when they confront increasing returns to scale due to network effects and/or high fixed, up-front costs and/or high customer switching costs. Describes how the relative strength of the first and late mover advantages determines whether firms should seek to pioneer. New market opportunities often spark speculative bubbles and the case discusses why such bubbles may lead firms to overinvest in customer acquisition efforts. Presents frameworks for deciding: 1) whether to enter a new market in which rivals are likely to race to acquire customers and 2) how a company should respond when a competitor escalates a race.

Sun Hydraulics, 32-year-old global hydraulics engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, confronts tough choices due to the economic downturn in 2001. The company leadership debates how to maintain profitability and reduce labor costs without destroying the company's innovative culture, which is based on the idea of horizontal management and has no defined corporate hierarchy. This case includes an overview of the company's history, from its founding in 1970 to its IPO in 1997, and asks students to step into the shoes of Allen Carlson, Sun's president and CEO, to recommend specific cost-cutting actions.

In October 2001, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile telecommunications company, launched the world's first commercial third-generation (3G) mobile service. However, the new service faced technological obstacles. Many observers were skeptical about its future success. But 3G in Japan was only DoCoMo's first step in a grand plan to have its standards of 3G technology and service established worldwide. By late 2001, DoCoMo had formed alliances with major telecommunications players in Asia, Europe, and the United States to develop 3G networks. Despite technological setbacks and astronomical fees for obtaining a license to operate 3G in some European countries, DoCoMo and its partners continued to build the infrastructure for the new-generation service. Analysts saw these moves as a gamble.

.Discusses how Hong Kong is positioning itself as the gateway to China and as Asia's world city. The Hong Kong SAR government's (HKSARG) program Brand Hong Kong (BrandHK) uses the tagline "Hong Kong: Asia's world city." HKSARG has spent some U.S. $1.24 million of taxpayers' money on the branding program and it is important to measure its effectiveness. The public is somewhat confused about the messages displayed and the distinction from previous campaigns run by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The case highlights HKTB and its successful experience in marketing Hong Kong as a tourist destination and what BrandHK can learn from it. Also focuses on the HKSARG's attempt to market BrandHK with traditional marketing tools and how new marketing tools, such as the Internet, could and should be used.

Henleys, one of the largest electronics companies in the world, started to import domestic appliances and personal care (DAP) products into the Chinese market in 1990. Soon after, Henleys established a DAP manufacturing facility in China and from a pool of three candidates, selected a state-run distributor, Dongxi Co., as the sole distributor in Shanghai. Over several years, Dongxi developed an extensive retailer network for the new DAP market in Shanghai, and the average annual growth rate was 200% between 1990 and 1997. The cooperation between Henleys and Dongxi was productive until 1999, when Dongxi's efficiency slid into decline and many salespeople departed from the company, including the deputy general manager, who had been in charge of DAP distribution. Henleys faced a series of decisions regarding the possible restructuring of the distribution channels in a business environment quite different from that of 1990, when Henleys had made its distributor selection decisions.

In mid-1993, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (HWL), a respected company based in Hong Kong, was planning to demolish the Hilton Hotel to make way for a highly lucrative office building. The Hilton Hotel was one of the territory's oldest and best-known landmarks. It was wholly owned by HWL. To proceed with the redevelopment plan, HWL proposed to compensate the Hilton Group for an early termination of its 50-year management contract. The cost for compensation was estimated to be around U.S. $125 million. Before approaching the Hilton Group for the buy-out, the chief development executive of HWL hoped to convince himself and the directors that the deal was necessary and that the redevelopment plan would be beneficial to both the group and its shareholders. This case explains the background to the Grade A office rental market in Hong Kong and provides statistics to illustrate the major trends in the market and causal factors over 20 years.

In the uproar surrounding the accounting scandals and the current crisis of confidence in American business, no one has discussed the role of strategy. But deficiencies in strategic thinking arguably have contributed to the current mess. Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard framework exemplifies current thinking because it is widely respected; yet, it is prey to the same deficiencies. The alternative strategic map proposed here rises above these deficiencies, translating into a kind of dashboard that serves both the formulation and execution of strategy.

The realities of putting tactics to work confound people on the corporate firing line every day. Today's tumultuous marketplace and growing business complexities don't help. And frontline managers and employees are the ones facing many of these challenges while trying to make top management dreams a reality. Attention must focus on the critical, yet often neglected, issue of effective tactical implementation, including many of the misconceptions and factors that contribute to its failure or success. Based on an ongoing research program on marketing implementation challenges, five key principles of tactical implementation are highlighted here, followed by eight recommendations to help managers cope with it--recommendations that apply to all aspects of business.

For decades, marketing channel management has been widely written and talked about but never connected with any "real world" business position. What's more, the many articles and textbooks on the topic seldom provide any hint as to who is supposed to be doing all these functions. At last, based on a national study and a systematic review of the literature to find the most likely suspect, we have identified the erstwhile unknown channel manager. It is now up to top management to provide the selection criteria, training, rewards, and respect for this newly recognized position, because it is central to corporate success.