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Spreadsheet Supplement for case 299048

A "slice of life" depiction of the range of issues and activities experienced by Frank Burke (HBS MBA 1987), the president of a minor league baseball team (the Chattanooga Lookouts). Raises questions of the applicability of MBA skills in this role and the "quotient of contentment" an HBS MBA can have in this situation. The similarities and differences of minor league versus major league operations are an important analytic component. Among the specific issues Burke confronts are finding additional revenue streams, considering ticket price increases, and the pros and cons of a new stadium.

In 1997, Lifeline Systems continues to grow its service business to $32 million, 56% of the company's total revenues. More local hospital Lifeline programs turn over their monitoring service to Lifeline Central, expanding the company's subscriber base by 30%. The company decides to invest over $11 million in a new subscriber monitoring system to maintain its market leadership. At the end of 1998, Lifeline moves its corporate headquarters from Cambridge, MA to suburban Boston to lower real estate costs. Changes in the eldercare industry also spell growth: employers become interested in providing eldercare referral as an employee benefit, cuts in Medicare result in less home health care by nurses, and Lifeline forms strategic partnerships with the American Red Cross and an assisted-living community developer.

Describes the major communication vehicles and the process via which they can be brought together in an integrated marketing communications plan.

JAFCO, a large Japanese venture capital firm, is making a second attempt to enter the U.S. venture capital market. The U.S. subsidiary, JAFCO America Ventures, is in the midst of a challenging turnaround. Going forward, the U.S. subsidiary's leadership needs to make a number of important decisions regarding investment focus, deal flow generation, compensation, and cooperation with the Japanese parent company.

Up-In-Smoke is an inventory valuation exercise using the periodic method. Completed in two steps, students are first required to value the total goods available for sale by considering items such as duty, taxes, returns, discount terms, FOB, and purchase prices. Once completed, various methods to value the inventory ending balance can be applied and compared, namely FIFO, LIFO and the weighted-average-cost method.

venture finance focus on the economics of financing; while these materials provide useful information about the mechanics of valuation and how to structure venture-capital agreements, they miss the social side of venture-capital investing. The case illustrates the theoretical concept that social capital (i.e., a person's relationship to other people in society) influences venture finance. The case can be used in a class on entrepreneurship or venture finance.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 699020.

Supplements the (A) case.

Introduces the concepts and issues related to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology. Begins with a stylized example of ERP in action. Aa brief history of the ERP industry is provided, with reference to major events and players. Additional case examples of successful and unsuccessful implementations are offered to enhance students' understanding of the impact ERP can have on the organization and to illuminate ERP issues.

Describes the design and launch of an Internet venture. Focuses on the drivers of the venture's scalability and adaptability.

Provides detailed instructions to prepare for factory demonstration day. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise.

Provides detailed instructions to prepare for factory demonstration day. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise.

Describes the transformation of a formerly state-owned meat processing plant in Russia into a privately-owned and operated food processing conglomerate under Russia's economic reforms of the 1990s. Among the challenges the CEO, Igor Babaev, and his top management team must address is what to do when sales plummet as a result of false rumors that the company's meat products are being produced with tainted and potentially deadly meat.

Supplements the (A) case.

Explores the location of the somewhat imprecise line between debt and equity. Identifies the primary business contexts that give rise to problems, the alternative tax consequences attending the debt versus equity determination, and the most prominent tests used to resolve the questions. Deals with corporate debt paying a market rate of interest and issued at par or close to it.

QI-TECH, is a Chinese manufacturer of precision coordinate measurement machines. A foreign investor who holds 50% of QI-TECH must negotiate a sale with its Chinese partner and a potential buyer (a large Western measurement machine company). For this purpose the foreign investor must value the joint venture and develop a viable deal structure and negotiation strategy.

Sabeer Bhatia, cofounder and CEO of Hotmail, is making efforts to finance and grow this business, which is based on free Web-based e-mail. Describes early, successful efforts at raising several rounds of venture capital and presents choices around a next stage of financing.

External cost pressures are motivating the adoption of case management (CM) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), but several of the organization's key professional groups are working against it. President and CEO David Dolins must decide whether CM is needed, and whether it is compatible with the employee-and patient-centered culture upon which BIDMC has built its success. CM has been touted in the health-care industry as a way to coordinate the complex, multidisciplinary process of patient care, in hopes of controlling costs without reducing quality. CM creates a new role that stands above the established disciplines--physicians, nurses, and social workers--to coordinate their activities and oversee their performance. The case describes the threat posed by CM to the professional status of physicians, social workers, and nurses. It also explores the coordination mechanisms already in place--care paths, primary nursing, care-management teams, and information systems--and questions whether CM is needed.

Onsale has been a pioneer in electronic commerce, offering excess and refurbished goods using an online auction format. The company is now planning to become a player in the highly competitive world of first-run computer merchandise as well. However, unlike other computer resellers whose business models are based on gross margins, the new Onsale model is based on the idea of fixed commissions. The case poses a number of issues raised by the new model, including supplier relationships and brand image management.