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Conor O'Toole, Internet business executive, must consider how to take the Bank of Ireland on-line. The bank, and Ireland, and most of continental Europe, lagedlagged behind the United States in adopting Internet techologytechnology. O'Toole wondered how he should prioritize the limited resources he had to invest in Internet initiatives. He thought that the bank, established in 1783, was missing opportunities that competitors were captureingcapturing. He needed to decide what financial products to move successfully to the Internet and in what order. He wondered how he could justify the broad-ranging investments to build a new online infrastructure, a new selling context, and new product content simultaneously. Finally, he contemplated how to convey the Internet challenges and and the opportunities to senior management.

This 32-year-old nonprofit organization has dedicated itself to the care and social development of abandoned street children in Mexico. Examines the organization's efforts to achieve financial sustainability, particularly through earned income activities on its farm. Includes color exhibits.

A father and son working together in their family-owned publishing company are at a decision point because the son feels he is ready to become president at the age of 31.

Supplements the (A) case.

Explores the management of family and business issues and helps to identify a range of topics with which families in business wrestle. Describes a dilemma faced by sixty-eight-year-old Charles Anderson, the semi-retired founder of the company and the father of three sons who work with him. Charles's youngest son, Peter, who recently joined the company, is proposing that the company do long-term planning and is suggesting ideas that he believes will improve the company's customer service. His brothers have routinely turned down Peter's proposals, and tension among the three brothers is growing. Charles wants to resolve the growing tension among his sons.

Copyrighted by John Davis.

Supplements Andersen Consulting - EMEAI: Reorganization for Revitalization. An alternative to video Organizational Change at Anderson Consulting - EMEAI, Video.

Focuses on how Microsoft built one of the world's greatest franchises and poses questions about what, if anything, can stop the company. Teaching purpose: To teach building competitive advantage, the advantages of bundling, and the sustainability of competitive advantages over time.

Microsoft is planning the introduction of Internet Explorer along with Windows 95. Issues include how aggressive the company should be in providing its browser with Windows 95 and restricting OEMs (original-equipment manufacturers) from putting other browsers on their computers. Should Microsoft go for initial share, concentrate on stealing over time, retain customers, or enlarge the total size of the browser market? Students use a Markov process with initial states and switching probabilities to gain insight into resolving these issues.

Custom Research is considering terminating service to many clients to eliminate unprofitable work and concentrate on the more profitable client projects.

Supplements the (A) case.

A supplier is trying to determine if credit should be extended to two customers whose circumstances have changed. 99U per Case Records.

Noli Tingzon, newly-appointed international division VP at Jollibee, the Philippines-based hamburger chain, is faced with the challenge of expanding fast food operations in Asia in the face of stiff competition. The case describes Jollibee's six-year international expansion history and the lessons the company has learned. Against this background, Noli must decide among expansion opportunities in New Guinea, Hong Kong, and California.

In the 1990s, many international brewers sought to enter the Chinese beer market, using a variety of strategies that differed in geographic and market segment choices, the use of alliances, importing versus local production, acquisitions versus greenfield site development, marketing mix, and more. This case describes the Chinese beer market and industry and the strategies adopted by several leading participants. Can be used to examine alternative strategies for entering emerging country, consumer goods markets. Can also be used to examine how standard "five-forces" industry and competitor analysis must be adapted to deal with emerging economies with ill-functioning markets, poor infrastructure, highly changeable government policies, and weak legal systems.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 399-007.

Offered at the beginning of a twenty-five session course on general management, this note presents a structure and an outline intended to serve as a reference and provide orientation to the students as the course progresses.

Offered at the end of a twenty-five session course on general management, this note reviews the course and reflects on major parts of learning.

Drawing on a rich set of company examples, Thomas H. Davenport, a professor at the University of Texas's Graduate School of Business, provides a fresh, high-level perspective on enterprise systems that will help senior executives think rationally about their large-scale investments in this technology. Enterprise systems present a new model of corporate computing. They allow companies to replace their existing information systems, which are often incompatible with one another, with a single, integrated system. By streamlining data flows throughout an organization, these commercial software packages, offered by vendors like SAP, promise dramatic gains in a company's efficiency and bottom line. It's no wonder that businesses are rushing to jump on the ES bandwagon. But while these systems offer tremendous rewards, the risks they carry are equally great. Not only are the systems expensive and difficult to implement, they can also tie the hands of managers. Unlike computer systems of the past, which were typically developed in-house with a company's specific requirements in mind, enterprise systems are off-the-shelf solutions. They impose their own logic on a company's strategy, culture, and organization, often forcing companies to change the way they do business. Managers would do well to heed the horror stories of failed implementations. FoxMeyer Drug, for example, claims that its system helped drive it into bankruptcy. Using examples of both successful and unsuccessful ES projects, the author discusses the pros and cons of implementing an enterprise system, showing how a system can produce unintended and highly disruptive consequences. Because of an ES's profound business implications, he cautions against shifting responsibility for its adoption to technologists. Only a general manager will be able to mediate between the imperatives of the system and the imperatives of the business.

In this interview with Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill and HBR senior editor Suzy Wetlaufer, Franco Bernabe discusses the six-year period in which he transformed his organization from an unprofitable, politically-controlled collection of operating companies into a lean, competitive, global enterprise. Few CEOs will face crises as disruptive and dramatic as those encountered--and overcome--by Bernabe. In 1992, when Bernabe was appointed CEO of Eni, Italy's large, energy-focused industrial group, his announced goal was to transform the company from a political quagmire into a clean, market-driven business ready for its first public offering. The resistance to his plans was intense, but that wasn't the worst of it. Soon after he took power, an investigation known as Mani Pulite--Clean Hands--led to the arrest of much of Eni's senior management team, including the company's chairman. One of those senior managers even made the false claim--based on hearsay--that Bernabe himself had taken a huge bribe. Simply put, Bernabe's story is not just that of a CEO steering a massive strategic reinvention. It is a story of leadership, and an unlikely one at that. In this interview, it becomes clear how Bernabe survived his tumultuous first months as CEO and then led the company's transformation. To begin with, he was unique in having both an encyclopedic knowledge of Eni's operations and a view of the company's future from 30,000 feet. But perhaps more than anything, Bernabe's power to lead has come from within. He follows, he says, an inner compass pointed toward humanity and justice. In difficult times, Bernabe seeks consultation from others. But ultimately, he makes all important decisions alone so as not to be buffeted by the needs, emotions, or agendas of others. Such solitude, he believes, is one of the burdens--and necessities--of leadership.

While it is true that there is great promise in integrated cost systems, there is also great peril, according to Harvard Business School Professor Robert Kaplan and Claremont Graduate School Professor Robin Cooper. The authors explain that unless managers approach integration very thoughtfully--with extremely careful customization--they could end up with a system that performs neither function well and that drives decision making in the wrong direction altogether. Operational-control and ABC systems have fundamentally different purposes. Their requirements for accuracy, timeliness, and aggregation are so different that no single, fully integrated approach can be adequate for both purposes. If an integrated system used real-time cost data instead of standard rates in its ABC subsystem, for example, the result would be dangerously distorted messages about individual product profitability--and that's precisely the problem ABC systems were originally designed to address. Proper linkage and feedback between the two systems is possible, however. Through activity-based budgeting, the ABC system is linked directly to operations control: managers can determine the supply and practical capacity of resources in forthcoming periods. Linking operational control to ABC is also possible. The activity-based portion of an operational control system collects information that, while it mustn't be fed directly into the activity-based strategic cost system, can be extremely useful once it's been properly analyzed. Finally, ABC and operational control can be linked to financial reporting to generate cost of goods sold and inventory valuations--but again, with precautions.