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After years of success with its vaunted "Direct Model" for computer manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, Dell Computer Corp. faces efforts by competitors to match its strategy. The case 'Matching Dell' describes the evolution of the personal computer industry, Dell's strategy, and efforts by Compaq, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Gateway 2000 to capture the benefits of Dell's approach. Students are called on to formulate strategic plans of action for Dell and its various rivals.

Tells the story of Snapple's rise and fall, and poses the question "Can it recover?" Many soft-drink brands flourished in the 1980s serving New York's Yuppies, but only Snapple made the big time. It went from local to national success and was poised to go international when the founders sold out to Quaker. The brand proved harder to manage than Quaker anticipated and in 1997 was sold for a fraction of its acquisition price. The case presents factors accounting for the growth and decline and provides a qualitative study of the brand. What action should the new owners take?

Spreadsheet supplement for case 599-126.

Describes the evolution of Zucamor and its business strategy, particularly after the opening of the Argentine economy in 1992 and 1993. Traces the action that led to its association with U.S. paper giant Union Camp. Poses some of the critical challenges faced by the company's new management.

Cameron Sawyer, CEO of Sawyer & Co., seeks financing for a shopping center he is developing in Moscow. The case describes the opportunities and challenges of doing development in Russia.

The Melbourne City Link, a $2 billion privately-funded highway project, was one of the first fully electronic toll roads in the world. While the government of the State of Victoria specified this innovative tolling system in the tender for the project, it left the implementation and administration to the consortium that was selected to finance, design, build, and operate the highway. This case allows students to focus on the financing of a large-scale privately financed infrastructure project through the capital markets. It is designed to teach students about the allocation of risks that are customary in project financing arrangements where lenders have limited or no recourse to the project sponsors. By analyzing the deal structure, students can assess how specific risks were allocated to the project sponsors, construction contractors, equity investors, the banking syndicate, and the government. HKS Case Number 1539.0

In 1996, the government of Brazil attempted to sell the large, federally-owned power distribution company in Rio de Janeiro to private investors. The competitive auction for Rio Light was being heralded as a test of the entire Brazilian privatization program, which had been under criticism in the domestic and international press for its slow pace and lack of results. As the auction date draws near, the Director of Electricity Privatization at the Brazilian federal development bank is worried that the minimum-asking price for Rio Light was too high. The case presents pro-forma financial information and can be used to discuss the relevant factors for the valuation of a state-owned enterprise and the measures of success for the auction. HKS Case Number 1540.0

This note discusses organizational culture, distinguishing among surface-level artifacts, formal and informal practices and norms, and deep-seated assumptions and values. The typology can be used to perform a cultural audit of a group or organization.

This note discusses rewards in organizations. Theories of individual motivation to perform are addressed, as are ways of analyzing organizational-reward distributions. Recent reward-system innovations are mentioned, and a decision tree for assessing performance issues is included.

In April 1999, John Gummer, chairman of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), an independent, global nonprofit organization, was charged with implementing an eco-labeling program for seafood products harvested in a sustainable manner. Through the program, MSC hoped to harness consumer purchasing power and thereby reverse the decline in the world's fisheries. This case describes traditional approaches to environmental problems and recent innovative strategies, provides examples of eco-labeling for a variety of products, and explores consumer attitudes toward the environment and consumer purchase behavior. Recent crises--the dolphin-safe tuna controversy and the swordfish boycott--provide evidence of the level of public interest that MSC's broad eco-labeling plan could tap into in the council's effort to reverse the decline in the world's fisheries. Because both of the earlier campaigns were tangible and focused on specific issues, it wasn't clear to Gummer that consumers would respond the same way to a more general label applied to all seafood products. Gummer wonders how the council could get customers to start shopping for labeled products and how the MSC should approach the industry to get seafood producers, processors, and retailers all on board.

The transistor has been called the most important invention of the 20th century because it is the basic building block for microprocessors and other integrated circuits. Over 20 years ago, Intel founders Noyce and Moore predicted continued exponential growth of the electronics industry, based on industry's ability to make cheaper and smaller transistors at a learning rate of 70%. The case traces what has since happened, comparing and contrasting the learning rate for transistors with that for automobiles, and exploring which form of Moore's Law holds for Intel's chips and for DRAM. Students should get a feel for how learning curve principles might be useful in setting company strategy or predicting industry growth.

Course overview for the first-year required MBA course Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD).

Examines the market-entry strategy of a medical device company.

The note introduces the behavioral or psychological aspects of consumer price acceptance. Begins by reviewing the traditional economic approach to product pricing and consumer price acceptance--namely, that consumers should be willing to purchase anytime a product's perceived value exceeds price. This purely economic approach questioned, and the concept of transaction "fairness" is introduced as an additional component of consumer price acceptance. Through paired vignettes, the behavioral side to product pricing is explored in some detail. In the end, the traditional economic perspective on product pricing is combined with the behavioral or psychological perspective to provide a more realistic understanding of how consumers respond to a firm's pricing decisions.

On January 1, 1999, 11 European countries unified their currencies--48 years after their first integrative efforts. This marks a huge development in the structure of Europe and the world's economy. This case examines the integrative process, the Single Europe Act and its impact on market structure during the past 13 years, and monetary union. Provides data as of 1998 on European macroeconomics integration and data in the mid-1990s on integration of product markets, capital markets, and labor markets.

This case presents a look at the early start-up phase and development of Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), a company engaged in the development of a new drug-delivery technology. Focuses on the risks, the steps taken to manage it, and the manner in which the company was financed. Presents an offer to acquire the business, leading to the question of how to value such an early-stage company.

Supplements the case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Members of the development team for the AES Corp.'s power plant project in India must decide what plant technology to specify in their application for techno-economic clearance from the government of India's Central Electric Authority. Their choice is between more expensive technology that would enable the plant to meet more demanding U.S. environmental standards or less costly technology that would meet local environmental standards and free up funds for contributions to other needs of communities surrounding the projected plant. At the same time, executives at AES headquarters in Arlington, VA, are considering whether the company's traditional focus on meeting its social responsibility through CO2-offset programs is the best approach to social responsibility as the company expands worldwide.

One company can copy another's strategy, reverse engineer its technology, or benchmark its systems. But it cannot duplicate the way strategy, systems, technology, and processes are configured into a synergetic whole. Competitive advantage results from a powerful unifying focus that pulls together the company's core mission and the systems and structures that support the core. Marshall Industries provides an excellent case study of how a company achieved a compelling configuration that goes beyond strategy. Three prototypes of effective configurations are suggested: the pioneer, the salesman, and the craftsman (specific firms illustrate these prototypes). Ideally, a configuration demonstrates consistent emphases: across mission, means, and market; in support systems that direct attitudes and attention; in the prioritization of resources; and in the directing of effort, motivation, and influence. But configuration can be excessive; symptoms of this include too much attention to a single narrow goal and failure to reexamine assumptions and methods. A good configuration permits periodic reassessment and provides the means for renewal and revision. A suggested "configuration audit" is offered as a guide to managers.