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Examines the Application Service Provider (ASP) business model. First, defines the ASP model and describes different ways to categorize ASPs. Next, summarizes the various ways that ASPs create value for their clients. Then, analyzes the economic model for ASPs, focusing on their revenue and cost drivers. Last, examines the payoff to ASPs from pursuing aggressive growth strategies.

Facing dwindling membership and looking to increase its revenue, the American Medical Association (AMA) signed an endorsement deal with Sunbeam Corp., a leader in the small home appliance industry, in August 1997. In the deal, the AMA would receive significant royalties from Sunbeam in exchange for the use of its seal on Sunbeam's home health-care products. Critics protested that this deal posed a conflict of interest before the AMA. Supporters argued, however, that the deal was a good way for the AMA to ease the association's financial troubles. Furthermore, the deal would be beneficial to patients because it encouraged people to monitor their own health.

Supplements the (A) case.

In June 1998, the senior management team at Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream faced a number of internal and external difficulties that were some of the most challenging problems the company had ever faced. Problems included profitability issues, record-high butterfat prices, aggressive discounting by competitors, higher margin better-for-you segment collapse, severance of Ben & Jerry's distribution contract, and management health issues. Given a mandatory and necessary financial restructuring of the company, the senior management team faced some tough employee issues and needed to make very significant decisions to overcome their difficult times.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 201067

Describes the major responsibilities and rights of family shareholders of a family owned business.

Describes online brokers, companies that use the Internet to help clients identify prospective trading partners and sometimes help their clients complete transactions. First, summarizes the various ways that online brokers create value for their clients. Then analyzes the economic model for online brokers, focusing on their revenue and cost drivers. Building on that analysis, the next section examines the payoff to online brokers from pursuing aggressive growth strategies. Delineates the differences between and advantages of being a broker versus a retailer or a market maker, and explores some of the strategic challenges facing offline brokers as they move their businesses online, e.g., the risk of self-cannibalization and the threat of disintermediation by clients. Explores the value proposition offered by these companies and the economic imperatives they face. Finally, seeks to provide a framework to evaluate whether the adoption of aggressive growth strategies is prudent for online brokers.

Spreadsheet to (9-201-056). Presents exhibits 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11. Download only.

Given the improved overall quality standards in effect nowadays, companies risk becoming complacent about quality issues. However, with supply chains becoming longer and customers becoming more demanding, quality management continues to be a challenge to companies. Describes Nestle's approach to quality management. Reviews three highly publicized incidents that occurred at Coca-Cola, Firestone, and Snow Brand Milk Products and their dramatic impact on the company and top management. These incidents highlight the fact that quality must be seen from the total supply chain perspective with the main focus on quality in use. Can also be used to study crisis management.

Marie-Jeanne Becaus-Pieters was founder and president of the Pan European network of Fish Auctions (PEFA). Created to link fish auctions across Europe, Pefa.com was the first Internet-based market exchange for the remote trading of fresh fish in real time. PEFA's strategy was primarily based on matching northern European supplies of fresh fish with the large demand for fish in southern Europe. In addition, with access to fish supplies, both large and small, in the most remote parts of northern, western, and southern Europe, buyers throughout the region would have a much broader pallet of fish products from which to choose. As of June 1998, Becaus-Pieters recognized that the major challenge lay not in the refinement of the PEFA business model but in making it work. The liquidity and viability of the exchange would depend not only on providing the opportunity of trading online but also on implementing those supply chain management processes essential to ensure the quality and the on-time, in-full delivery of the fish purchased. A 2002 POMS international case writing award winner.

Hajdu-Bet, the largest private poultry producer and distributor in Hungary, was seeking to expand and had approached the investment committee of a major venture capital company. The company had recently raised a fund to invest in opportunities in the former central and eastern European countries and was keen to find suitable candidates. Though Hajdu-Bet showed promise, the company was not prepared to compromise on the standards required of any new investment and decided to carry out a detailed assessment of Hajdu-Bet. As the members of the investment committee considered the results of the various investigations, they had to decide whether to proceed with the investment and, if so, on what terms and conditions. Alternatively, they could demand additional information, conscious that a further delay might lose them the opportunity.

Monsanto, an American company founded in 1901, originally specialized in chemicals. In 1995, the firm reoriented its strategy around more lucrative, but unproven, fields such as agricultural biotechnology. Describes how, in the space of a few years, Monsanto became market leader of bioengineered cereal crops--commonly known as genetically modified organisms--but is accused of applying an unsafe gene technology and trying to dominate world food supplies. The firm is caught up in a worldwide controversy. Documents how Monsanto was implicated in a trade dispute and reacted poorly to public criticism, particularly in its lack of dialogue with stakeholders. Illustrates how public pressure obliged Monsanto to stop following a promising strategy.

The managing director, the financial director, and the technical director of a large construction and property firm in Hong Kong are in disagreement. The firm is being squeezed and needs to free cash to pay maturing loans that the banks are calling in in response to the Asian financial crisis. The two senior officers, both from mainland China, agree on deferring payments to their major suppliers, whereas the technical officer, an expatriate from the United Kingdom, insists that the supplier contracts must be honored. Differing ideas regarding relationships and control are rooted in their different cultural traditions. The managing director and his financial director have to decide what to do.

Pramtex, an Australian company established in 1985, was one of the emerging star players in optical disk production equipment. Known for its high-quality products, the company had a solid presence in all key Asian markets. So far, Pramtex had stayed ahead of its competitors by concentrating on production line technology for emerging disk formats. However, the company was becoming increasingly vulnerable to competition as the industry matured. John Reef, product manager at Pramtex, had reason for concern when he learned that one of their major Japanese customers, Kimura K.K., had decided against purchasing three machines from Pramtex for a new factory in Taiwan. This was the second Japanese customer Pramtex had lost in a single week.

Describes the relationship between Freqon, a producer of frequency converters, and NordAlu, a supplier of extruded aluminum components, over a period of 13 years. Shows how early successes were not sufficiently followed up by improvement efforts later on. Having achieved a substantial level of interaction, joint projects, and sales during the 1990s, by 2000 the relationship was almost back to its original state of limited joint interest and tension between the two companies. Was this just a natural evolution or could the two firms have gone on to a better joint working relationship? The description of the relationship is unique, as case writers rarely have the opportunity to access information for a period of more than 10 years. A winner of the 2002 DSI Best Case Study Award.

Describes a decision to be made on the future of manufacturing for tape drives at Hewlett-Packard. HP has used several different manufacturing partners in the earlier versions of its products. Now HP is facing a decision to outsource manufacturing and create a virtual supply chain for the next product generation. Provides opportunities to discuss the strategic and operational challenges of outsourcing and the use of electronics manufacturing services companies in supply chain operation.

The United States and Europe exhibit very different approaches to information privacy--a condition of limited access to identifiable information about individuals--from both regulatory and managerial perspectives. Grounded in different cultural values and assumptions about the meaning of privacy (a "human rights" issue in Europe versus a contractual issue in the United States), these differences have led to regulatory and managerial conflicts. In this article, the differences between the two approaches are explored. U.S. corporations would be well served to embrace some of the premises of the European perspective. However, the United States would be poorly served by the creation of a federal regulatory structure such as some commonly found in Europe.

This article presents a perceived shopping utility framework for analyzing the impact of retail price format on store choice. Retail price format, in turn, determines three key performance metrics: number of shoppers, number of trips, and average spending per trip. When choosing a store, consumers evaluate both the fixed and variable utilities of shopping. The fixed utility does not vary from trip to trip whereas the variable utility depends on the size and composition of the shopping list. Summarizes prior findings on store choice, analyzes how retailers can improve their performance, and interprets the practices of leading retailers. Presents a framework that can accommodate situations where retailers face multiple segments of buyers with different sensitivities to fixed and variable utilities.

This article interprets the early experience of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in terms of the market for technological mediation. A firm involved in technology mediation takes advantage of gaps between general technological opportunities and particular user needs in specific places at particular times. If the economic opportunities are renewed frequently, then the business can grow and adapt to take advantage of them. This concept provides a framework for explaining many facets of business behavior accompanying the diffusion of Internet access technology.

Data remains one of our most abundant yet underutilized resources. This article provides a holistic framework that will help companies maximize this resource. Outlines the elements necessary to transform data into knowledge and then into business results. Managers must understand that human elements--strategy, skills, culture--need to be attended to along with technology. Examines the experiences of over 20 companies that were successful in their data-to-knowledge efforts. Identifies the critical success factors that must be present in any data-to-knowledge initiative and offers advice for companies seeking to build a robust analytic capability.