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Enables a thorough analysis of Submarino.com, a B2C e-commerce company with a presence in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Portugal. Examines the company's global operations as well as its organizational design and operating and management capabilities. Considers the company's challenge of determining its strategic and financial priorities as it launches a rapid growth plan with limited resources in 2001.

Examines the strategies and tactics used by U.S. negotiator George Mitchell during his two-year tenure as chairman of the all-party talks in Northern Ireland. His efforts culminated in the signing of the historic Good Friday Accords.

Many firms have implemented company-wide systems called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, designed to integrate and optimize various business processes, such as order entry and production planning, across the entire business. Such systems are complex, and implementing one can be difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Limited reports in the popular press suggest that these systems have achieved mixed success at best; some imply that failure of implementation threatens the existence of the company. Here we present an objective view of ERP systems, based on interviews with operating managers, IT personnel, and consultants. The dominant reason for adopting ERP was to simplify and standardize IT systems; the second most common reason was to have access to accurate information. Cost of implementation generally ranged from 1.5% to 6% of annual revenues, with the software portion of the costs being just the tip of the iceberg. Implementation time varied from 12 months to 4 years. Return on investment in ERP was mixed--from 5% to 20%. For all the negative press ERP systems have received, our interviews indicated that all firms represented in our sample were pleased with them, despite some problems. Successful implementations were characterized by thorough senior management involvement, a cross-functional implementation team, clear guidelines for performance measurement, and detailed plans for training users. Importantly, a single ERP system does not provide an end-to-end solution, as most companies use other systems for specialized functions. Overall, though, the future of ERP is very promising.

Examines the extended conflict between free traders and protectionists in 19th century Britain. It culminates with Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel's decision at the end of 1845 about whether to repeal the Corn Laws, a series of acts that had protected British agriculture for almost 200 years. With landowners and industrialists battling fiercely over the issues, nearly everyone agreed that the decision would be momentous.

Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Vancouver Division faced a challenge in 1990. Although its new inkjet printers were selling well, inventory levels worldwide were rising as sales rose. In Europe, high product variety was making inventory levels especially high. HP considered several ways to address the inventory issue: air-freighting printers to Europe, developing more formalized inventory planning processes, or building a factory in Europe.

Supplements the (A) case.

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Strategic Intelligence Pte. Ltd. is a Singapore-based research and media company. The newly appointed director of advisory services is considering the challenges in building the company's latest service offering. The company's strong emphasis on this new service is a departure from its previous strategy of attempting to develop its existing events, custom research, and online information services in a relatively even manner. He needs to formulate a plan that will ensure that the new service contributes about half of the company's revenue within the next year.

Describes a leading pharmaceutical company's approach to developing e-business capabilities throughout the organization. Highlights the company's decision to approach e-business on a more centralized manner.

Creating and sustaining a third-world-based technology company to compete globally (i.e. in the first-world) poses many challenges. Such challenges are examined through the genesis and progression of Infosys Technologies Ltd. Key decisions made by Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy are particularly highlighted.

Many in the nonprofit sector doubt whether organizational performance can be measured. Jumpstart, a 10-year-old nonprofit, developed performance measurement and management systems from its inception. The organization has experienced explosive growth and attributes a great deal of its success to creating a performance culture.

Describes the issues surrounding the funding of a centralized research service that supports two related divisions. The company has a very decentralized and financially driven culture, and the centralized service is used unequally, setting up a conflict. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement.

Canadel is Canada's leading manufacturer of casual dining room furniture. Following Canadel's entry into the U.S. market in 1992, sales had multiplied eight-fold and were expected to reach $125 million in 2000. The three brothers that made up the company's top management team were discussing recent sales results and future orientation of the firm. Questions that surfaced included growth in existing and new markets and competition from established industry giants and new upstarts. The brothers were determined to assess these opportunities and threats in the upcoming weeks.

A Harvard professor points the finger at venture capitalists, investment banks--and the Federal Reserve. He also explains what managers of the next wave of Internet companies must do to avoid the irrational exuberance of the dot-com bubble.

Most companies seemingly do their best to alienate customers by making them feel like faceless targets of marketing campaigns. The director of Hallmark's Loyalty Marketing Group describes three ways to forge emotional bonds with clients.

Ever since retailers equipped their cash registers with bar code scanners, we've been promised a brave new world of supply chain management, one free of stockouts and overstocked warehouses. But inaccurate data are sabotaging this vision.

TQM, thought leadership, dot-com, dot-bomb, golden parachute: the litany of business jargon could go on for pages. HBR talks with Marjorie Garber about jargon, why we respond to it as we do, and why it's here to stay.