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Supplements the (A) case.

Describes the evolution of Wit Capital from its origins as a small brewery to an online investment bank advising both small technology-based companies seeking to raise capital and large companies seeking to acquire Internet companies, as well as offering retail brokerage services to individual investors seeking access to initial public offerings. Discusses Wit's continuing evolution in 2000, when it sold its retail brokerage unit and refocused on traditional corporate clients. Provides details of Wit's value propositions to its target clientele and some data regarding the value provided and service quality delivered. Written for a second-year MBA course in Service Management. Can also be used in courses focusing on the Internet, General Management, Entrepreneurship, Service Management, and Service Operations.

Provides a brief overview of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and phantom stock plans for owners of closely held companies. ESOPs can be used as a tool of corporate financing, and can provide employees with ownership interests. Phantom stock plans can reward executives for value creation without giving up ownership. Covers typical company motives for establishing such plans, regulation, tax advantages, administrative costs, issues of corporate governance, and payment of plan benefit. Includes a two-page bibliography with references to further sources of legal and tax information.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 201034

This case presents the managerial dilemma faced by the treasurer of South Carolina in 1998. Until last year, the South Carolina state pension fund (with over $17 billion in assets) was barred by the state constitution from investing in equities. After the constitution was amended, the state government had to decide how much to invest in equities and what assets to choose. Using domestic and international data, the concepts of standard deviation, correlation, covariance, diversification, and risk are introduced. Additionally the case looks at the equity premium from a global setting. This case covers two days and will be used early in the Risk and Return module, just before the introduction of the CAPM.

Reuters Greenhouse Fund had successfully invested in a portfolio of 79 companies working in areas relevant to Reuters Group's strategic interests. It had itself facilitated a powerful network among the companies and, become a respected global venture capital firm. Funding requirements for 2001 had grown beyond Reuters Group's expectations, and CEOs John Taysom and David Lockwood must decide on the best funding strategy.

Bush Boake Allen, a flavor and fragrance firm, is considering strategic options that would integrate customers into its innovation process via a potentially disruptive Internet-based technology. As this approach could result in dramatic changes to the firm's business model and relationship with customers worldwide, Julian Boyden, president, CEO, and chairman, faces serious opposition from senior managers.

The founders of University Technology Ventures, a fund of funds designed for university professors, face numerous challenges in raising their first fund. The role, economics, and structure of funds-of-funds are examined in the course of examining the partners' dilemma.

A publicly traded funeral home and cemetery consolidator faces imminent financial distress. The company has aggressively grown through use of debt. Restructuring the debt is potentially very costly to creditors, shareholders, suppliers, and other corporate stakeholders. Cross-border and accounting issues potentially complicate the restructuring.

Beenz.com, an incentive-based Web currency and customer management tool, is reassessing its business in August 2000, one year after launch. The original vision was to make the currency globally available and recognized. However, the company's rapid internationalization and growth have presented a number of pressures that challenge that vision.

Pokemon, the colloquial name given to a collection of 150 fantastic, animal-inspired creatures with organic powers and the capacity to evolve, are the stars of video games, trading card games, and TV cartoons. Conceived in Japan in 1996, Pokemon quickly became that nation's favorite toy phenomenon, and attracted the attention of Nintendo of America, which, in February 1998, purchased all intellectual rights to everything bearing the Pokemon name outside Asia. Launched in September 1998, Pokemon quickly took the United States by storm, single-handedly resuscitating Nintendo's lagging video game sales and earning stature as one of the top three licensing success stories by year-end 1999 (on worldwide sales of $7 billion and U.S. sales of $1.2 billion). How did management at Nintendo and licensing partner 4Kids Entertainment accomplish this and, perhaps more importantly, can they sustain (and perhaps grow) Pokemon's success over time? Is Pokemon just a passing fad to be "milked," or can it be managed as a sustainable brand franchise? Was Pokemon's success simply a fluke, an unpredictable function of mere good fortune, or is sound brand strategy and planning the cause? Includes color exhibits.

Supplements the (A) case.

Abstract to follow.

Businesses will soon be able to conduct commerce through peer-to-peer networks, bypassing the costs and the limits of centralized B2B exchanges.

Microsoft's Richard Purcell makes the case for dedicating a senior manager to protecting your customers' on-line privacy.

Many companies know they should benchmark their business practices against those of companies outside their own industry. But how to begin? Here's a practical guide.

In a global economy, marketing managers need to consider factors that don't apply in domestic markets. When an Israeli refuses to buy a German car, for instance, the issue isn't product quality. It's history.

Why own your computer applications? You can rent just what you need, when you need it, from a new breed of application service provider.

Reverse auctions certainly look like a good deal for buyers. Who wouldn't want hoards of suppliers bidding one another's prices down? But a new study reveals important downsides that should make buyers beware.

The short answer is: not much for the U.S. economy. Here's why.