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This case deals with the possible acquisition of MCA, the entertainment company, by the Seagram Company Ltd. (Seagram). MCA was owned by Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd. (Matsushita). In early March 1995, Edgar Bronfman Jr., the 39-year-old president and chief executive of Seagram Company Ltd. (Seagram), has just concluded a round of meetings with the senior management team of Matsushita. Matsushita, the largest consumer electric products manufacturer in the world, acquired MCA in 1990 for $6.59 billion. Matsushita was clearly interested in selling a portion or possibly all of MCA.

Global Financial, a subsidiary of a major heavy equipment manufacturer, makes loans to customers for purchases of the parent company equipment. Global Financial's loan application process is the major subject of this case. Customers are unhappy with the slowness of the process, and a major competitor promises to process loans much faster. The details of the processing system, including historical data, are included. This allows examination of bottlenecks in the system, and suggestions for possible system design changes.

Describes Intel's Hood River project, a new business venture within Intel which sought to establish a market presence for the PC in the living room. Describes the actions of people at different levels in the organization, including the project leader, his direct managers, and Intel's senior management. It describes how the venture was initiated, how funding was won, and how the organization was structured to pursue the opportunity. Also describes the many challenges faced by the Hood River team, which included: defining a new market, establishing and cultivating partners, competing for limited funding resources, competing for limited organization (people) resources, and aligning the objectives of the project with the strategy of the corporation.

At a time, in the early 1980s, when Peru is wracked by leftist terrorism and hampered by weak central government, the Foundation for the Protection of the Environment (FPCN), founded by a group of Peru's leading biologists, becomes a vehicle through which international environmental organizations act to protect the diverse and unspoiled world of Peruvian Amazonia. FPCN convinces a government troubled by more immediate threats that this non-governmental organization should effectively take on the management of many of the country's more than 40 protected areas. But when a new Peruvian government, led by President Alberto Fujimori, makes clear that it wants to take back such traditional public roles, FPCN must find a new role for itself. Its task is complicated by a lack of overhead funds from its donors which has led to a substantial deficit. Its leadership examines its board structure and membership as part of the strategic planning which it undertakes. HKS Case Number 1375.0

This transport privatization case describes the political complications that can accompany a privately-funded infrastructure project. The case tells the story of a Japanese construction firm and its relationship with the government of Thailand. The firm, Kumagai Gumi, is invited to build US$1 billion, 20-kilometer expressway in Bangkok, and to operate it as a toll road, under a 30-year concession contract. But a 1995 contract dispute prompts the Thai government to force Kumagai Gum first to open the road but then to sell it to Thai investors. The case allows for discussion of both a technical and political nature, focusing on the details of the contracting arrangement but also raising the question of domestic political dimensions in public projects involving non-domestic private investors. HKS Case Number 1401.0

At a time, in the early 1980s, when Peru is wracked by leftist terrorism and hampered by weak central government, the Foundation for the Protection of the Environment (FPCN), founded by a group of Peru's leading biologists, becomes a vehicle through which international environmental organizations act to protect the diverse and unspoiled world of Peruvian Amazonia. FPCN convinces a government troubled by more immediate threats that this non-governmental organization should effectively take on the management of many of the country's more than 40 protected areas. But when a new Peruvian government, led by President Alberto Fujimori, makes clear that it wants to take back such traditional public roles, FPCN must find a new role for itself. Its task is complicated by a lack of overhead funds from its donors which has led to a substantial deficit. Its leadership examines its board structure and membership as part of the strategic planning which it undertakes. HKS Case Number 1376.0

Faced with the need to dispose of an offshore oil storage installation, the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation develops what it believes is a straightforward and sensible plan: to dump the oil platform deep in the ocean, 150 miles off the northwest coast of Scotland. Doing so avoids a number of problems, including potential environmental threats involved with transporting it and otherwise disposing of it. The British government agrees but the unprecedented plan sparks outrage among environmental groups. HKS Case Number 1369.0

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, created by Congress in 1970 to curtail what was viewed as a still-alarming level of industrial accidents, had, 20 years later, become a lightning rod for controversy. Its advocates viewed it as a bulwark of the defense of sale working conditions but opponents portrayed it as abusively intrusive, creating bureaucratic nightmares for employers. With that backdrop -- and with dwindling manpower and other resources -- OSHA officials in Maine, in 1991, try a radically different approach to their task, targeting 200 businesses which data has told them are the state's most important to bring into compliance. OSHA hopes both to avoid diluting the inspection capacity it has -- and to find ways to persuade, rather than to coerce through the law, business to make improvements. The apparent success of the Maine 200 program comes at a time when the new Clinton Administration is eager to find such government "reinvention" programs it can widely replicate. HKS Case Number 1373.0

The end of the apartheid government in South Africa signals myriad changes in that society -- including a basic examination of how government should regulate philanthropic and nonprofit, Nongovernmental organizations. Such groups fell into two major categories -- traditional charities, most of which were formally organized, and community-based organizations, some of them informal, which had been part of the vanguard of apartheid opposition. When the post-apartheid government drafts legislation to oversee NGOs, controversy erupts. What proponents view as necessary financial safeguards, some NGO leaders view as potential government interference. HKS Case Number 1374.0

In the early 1980s, The Ford Foundation, among other funders, help create a new type of organization designed to finance the renewal of older, inner city neighborhoods, both through housing renovation and other investments. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation will not undertake projects itself but, instead, will serve as a sort of bank, choosing among proposals submitted by nonprofit development entities. But LISC was by no means making no-strings-attached grants. Instead, it wanted to assure itself -- and those providing its capital -- that it was getting a return on its investment. When a team of consultants is called in to measure LISC's return on investment, it must first consider how such a return might even be defined. Should LISC consider only financial data as regards the repayment of the loans it makes? Or should it consider the catalyzing effects of the organizations it supports on their surrounding neighborhoods? How or should such effects be measured? HKS Case Number 1370.0

This case recounts the work of a special Argentina-Uruguay bi-national commission convened to examine the economics of a proposed bridge that would link the two countries. The bridge being considered by commission officials in the spring of 1996 was to extend 41 kilometers across the River Plata estuary, from Buenos Aires to the Uruguay city of Colonias. It would be by far the longest in the world. The case recreates the problem as faced by the commission, which had to consider whether it would make financial sense for a private concessionaire to build and operate the bridge. Specifically, bridge commission staff had to critique the work and recommendations of a private consulting firm whose market projects led it to conclude that the US$1 billion bridge could successfully be financed by tolls of US$60 per car. HKS Case Number 1400.0

The rise of highly-rated nonfiction television programs has sparked concern about the techniques which television producers use to gather images and information. This press ethics case focuses on a particularly controversial technique: the decision of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) to use hidden cameras and undercover producers to gather footage said to show that the Food Lion supermarket chain was re-labeling meat so as to sell what might be spoiled meat as fresh. It also explores the motivations and sources of journalists, as well as the novel approach Food Lion used to strike back at ABC, seeking damages not for libel but for fraud, trespass, and breach of duty of (employee) loyalty, on the part of undercover reporters who actually obtained employment at Food Lion. HKS Case Number 1397.0

Faced with the need to dispose of an offshore oil storage installation, the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation develops what it believes is a straightforward and sensible plan: to dump the oil platform deep in the ocean, 150 miles off the northwest coast of Scotland. Doing so avoids a number of problems, including potential environmental threats involved with transporting it and otherwise disposing of it. The British government agrees but the unprecedented plan sparks outrage among environmental groups. HKS Case Number 1369.1

In the early 1980s, The Ford Foundation, among other funders, help create a new type of organization designed to finance the renewal of older, inner city neighborhoods, both through housing renovation and other investments. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation will not undertake projects itself but, instead, will serve as a sort of bank, choosing among proposals submitted by nonprofit development entities. But LISC was by no means making no-strings-attached grants. Instead, it wanted to assure itself -- and those providing its capital -- that it was getting a return on its investment. When a team of consultants is called in to measure LISC's return on investment, it must first consider how such a return might even be defined. Should LISC consider only financial data as regards the repayment of the loans it makes? Or should it consider the catalyzing effects of the organizations it supports on their surrounding neighborhoods? How or should such effects be measured? HKS Case Number 1370.0

In 1996, Sri Lanka had a mixed public and private bus system, with about one-third of passengers carried by public companies and two-thirds by private. The private buses were not earning enough from passenger fees to replace their buses and as a result there were many complaints of overcrowding and safety problems. The public buses were making do largely because they received free buses from the government. Improving bus service was critical for the country since approximately 80 percent of motorized passenger trips are carried by buses. The government was considering a variety of reforms including fare increases and consolidation of small public and private operators. This case can be used to discuss the politics and rationale for regulation and privatization. And the case describes a 90 year history of privatizing, nationalizing, and re-privatizing the bus industry. HKS Case Number 1378.0.

In July 1991, South African president F.W. de Klerk announced the appointment of Hermanus Kriel to the cabinet post of minister of law and order. As the official responsible for oversight of the controversial national police force, the South African Police (SAP), Kriel would perhaps have the hardest job in a rapidly changing South Africa: a job made all the more daunting by recent revelations of a police role in fanning the flames of factional strife among blacks. The growing scandal had reinforced the SAP's reputation among black South Africans as one of the most hated symbols of white rule. For over four decades, the South African Police had been entrusted with enforcing the country's notorious and iniquitous system of apartheid--a task it had performed with what many regarded as excessive zeal and brutality. All this had been done by the SAP in the name of the apartheid system, which it was sworn to uphold. Yet as the 1980s drew to a close, the underpinnings of that system began to change dramatically and SAP's mission was no longer in force. This case details the changes that took place within SAP during the post-apartheid period. It should be paired with HKS829 (Part A). HKS Case Number 1095.1.

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, created by Congress in 1970 to curtail what was viewed as a still-alarming level of industrial accidents, had, 20 years later, become a lightning rod for controversy. Its advocates viewed it as a bulwark of the defense of sale working conditions but opponents portrayed it as abusively intrusive, creating bureaucratic nightmares for employers. With that backdrop -- and with dwindling manpower and other resources -- OSHA officials in Maine, in 1991, try a radically different approach to their task, targeting 200 businesses which data has told them are the state's most important to bring into compliance. OSHA hopes both to avoid diluting the inspection capacity it has -- and to find ways to persuade, rather than to coerce through the law, business to make improvements. The apparent success of the Maine 200 program comes at a time when the new Clinton Administration is eager to find such government "reinvention" programs it can widely replicate. This case allows, first, for analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Maine 200 effort as an example of gaining compliance through a new form of enforcement, and, second, for discussion of the complications, and advisability, of taking a small program "to scale." HKS Case Number 1371.0

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, created by Congress in 1970 to curtail what was viewed as a still-alarming level of industrial accidents, had, 20 years later, become a lightning rod for controversy. Its advocates viewed it as a bulwark of the defense of sale working conditions but opponents portrayed it as abusively intrusive, creating bureaucratic nightmares for employers. With that backdrop -- and with dwindling manpower and other resources -- OSHA officials in Maine, in 1991, try a radically different approach to their task, targeting 200 businesses which data has told them are the state's most important to bring into compliance. OSHA hopes both to avoid diluting the inspection capacity it has -- and to find ways to persuade, rather than to coerce through the law, business to make improvements. The apparent success of the Maine 200 program comes at a time when the new Clinton Administration is eager to find such government "reinvention" programs it can widely replicate. This case allows, first, for analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Maine 200 effort as an example of gaining compliance through a new form of enforcement, and, second, for discussion of the complications, and advisability, of taking a small program "to scale." HKS Case Number 1372.0

In 1996, Sri Lanka had a mixed public and private bus system, with about one-third of passengers carried by public companies and two-thirds by private. The private buses were not earning enough from passenger fees to replace their buses and as a result there were many complaints of overcrowding and safety problems. The public buses were making do largely because they received free buses from the government. Improving bus service was critical for the country since approximately 80 percent of motorized passenger trips are carried by buses. The government was considering a variety of reforms including fare increases and consolidation of small public and private operators. This case can be used to discuss the politics and rationale for regulation and privatization. And the case describes a 90 year history privatizing, nationalizing, and re-privatizing the bus industry. HKS Case Number 1377.0.

In many mass markets, companies are facing a predicament: customers are demanding not only ever faster order fulfillment but also highly customized products and services. The authors show how the Hewlett-Packard Co. and others have proved that one indeed can deliver customized products quickly and at a low cost. The key to mass-customizing effectively is postponing the task of differentiating a product for a specific customer until the latest possible point in the supply network. Instead of taking a piecemeal approach, companies must rethink and integrate the designs of their products, the processes used to make and deliver those products, and the configuration of their entire supply network. By adopting such a comprehensive approach, they can operate at maximum efficiency and quickly meet customers' orders with minimum amount of inventory.