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Northeast Ventures, a venture capital fund focusing on the development of northeastern Minnesota, seeks to combine social goals with financial returns. This marriage poses several challenges.

Describes the negotiations between the City of Denver officials, airlines, consulting companies, and BAE for the construction of a backup baggage system to enable the Denver International Airport (DIA) to open. When DIA finally opens in February 1995, 16 months behind schedule, it has three separate baggage-handling systems instead of a single state-of-the-art, integrated baggage-handling system.

Addresses the following issues at a conceptual level: 1) Who is a general manager? 2) To whom is the general manager responsible? and 3) How do general managers add value?

By 2005, franchise systems will account for an estimated one-half of U.S. retail sales. But prospective franchisors need to consider carefully whether to expand a business by franchising or by opening company-owned outlets. The advantages of franchising include allowing the firm to overcome resource constraints of limited capital and thin the ranks of experienced managers. Franchising also provides a means of trading off certain functions; franchisees are more efficient in performing functions whose average cost curve turns up relatively quickly. It obviates the need for monitoring (and its attendant costs) because franchisees have invested their own capital and are motivated to work hard for profitability. It offers substantial efficiencies in promotion and advertising by leveraging the value of a trademark and brand image. And, of course, it helps in managing one's risks, because franchisors can eventually convert profitable franchise locations into company-owned operations (although this strategy raises certain ethical concerns). A beginning firm, however, needs to outline its business goals over an extended period and analyze how it can use franchising to fulfill those goals. Factors that bear upon the relative desirability of the franchise option include labor- vs. capital-intensity, demand variability, the importance of repeat customers, and the role of changing technology. A firm might well find that a "mixed system" (a mix of franchised and company-owned stores) optimizes its cost-benefit balance.

A new administration/government takes power in a state in India and cancels a power project agreed upon/created by the previous state government and an American-based energy company. The project cancellation is based on allegations of irregularities, exorbitant costs, and political pressures.

The Timberland Co., a manufacturer and retailer of footwear, outdoor apparel, and accessories, committed itself to instituting and communicating a core set of values to its employees, stockholders, and consumers. The system of beliefs emphasized community service. Central to this commitment was an alliance with the national youth community service organization City Year. Over the years, Timberland and City Year developed a close alliance that both sides contended constituted "a new paradigm" for the interaction between a for-profit business and a nonprofit organization. This case discusses Timberland's commitments to beliefs and service in light of disappointing financial results for the company and subsequent layoffs during the 1995 fiscal year. Introduces the idea of a corporate strategy for community involvement, allowing the instructor to raise questions about the choice of activities and partners, the breadth of projects and the source of motivation for such a strategy. Also allows discussion of the role of beliefs and of community service in the context of a company that has pioneered a distinct approach to these concepts.

Tells the story of the China Internet Corp. (CIC), which was founded to serve both businesses wishing to conduct electronic commerce within China and those intending to trade with companies within China. The company provides access and advertising to companies; it does not offer Internet services to the public. Details CIC's major concerns: expansion, compensation, funding, and human resource issues.

A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in India, which will sell power to India.

Named president of Disney TV and Telecommunications, Dennis Hightower has to yet again come in as an outsider and take charge. The magnitude of challenge is much larger than in 1987, and the situation facing him is subtly different.

Updates China (A): The Great Awakening. To be handed out in class following discussion of the case.

In less than 20 years, the real estate firm Colliers International expanded into a federation of 180 offices with close to 4,500 professionals in over 30 countries. Because Colliers expanded by signing up existing firms strong in their local markets, its leaders had to manage a portfolio of firms with revenues ranging from $500,000 to over $80 million. Some were over 150 years old; others less than one. Firms provided services ranging from commission-based brokerage services to advisory services more akin to consulting services involving retainer fees. Colliers leaders are considering how their organization should respond to the changing needs of real estate clients. Colliers managers need to decide what organizational structure, management practices, and IT strategy their organization requires to enter the next century.

The notion of community has been at the heart of the Internet since its early days, when scientists used it to share data, collaborate on research, and exchange messages. But how can businesses best use its community-building capabilities? Not merely by putting their products or services on-line, the authors contend. Real value will come from providing people with the ability to interact with one another--from satisfying their multiple social needs as well as their commercial needs. Companies that create strong on-line communities will command customer loyalty to a degree hitherto undreamed of and consequently, will generate strong economic returns. The authors present four different types of community: communities of transaction, interest, fantasy, and relationship.

David Martin, chief operating officer of Lexington Labs, was apprehensive about the upcoming meeting with his senior sales executives. Just a few years earlier, when the pharmaceutical company enjoyed extraordinary success, gatherings with the sales force had seemed like celebrations. But in the past 18 months, sales had begun to fall, as had earnings. And most of the top sales personnel had begun to focus on their own businesses as major changes swept through the health care industry. Martin sensed that the solution was a system to facilitate the flow of knowledge across borders. Sales executives needed to share vital information about products, customers, competitors, and selling techniques. But what kind of system would work best? Unfortunately, Martin's apprehensions were justified. The meeting only emphasized how fragmented the company had become. How can Martin get Lexington to function as one global company? In 96302 and 96302Z, Louise Goeser, Thomas H. Davenport, Barry Harrington, George Goldsmith, and G. Kelly O'Dea offer advice on this fictional case study.

David Martin, chief operating officer of Lexington Labs, was apprehensive about the upcoming meeting with his senior sales executives. Just a few years earlier, when the pharmaceutical company enjoyed extraordinary success, gatherings with the sales force had seemed like celebrations. But in the past 18 months, sales had begun to fall, as had earnings. And most of the top sales personnel had begun to focus on their own businesses as major changes swept through the health care industry. Martin sensed that the solution was a system to facilitate the flow of knowledge across borders. Sales executives needed to share vital information about products, customers, competitors, and selling techniques. But what kind of system would work best? Unfortunately, Martin's apprehensions were justified. The meeting only emphasized how fragmented the company had become. How can Martin get Lexington to function as one global company? In 96302 and 96302Z, Louise Goeser, Thomas H. Davenport, Barry Harrington, George Goldsmith, and G. Kelly O'Dea offer advice on this fictional case study.

David Martin, chief operating officer of Lexington Labs, was apprehensive about the upcoming meeting with his senior sales executives. Just a few years earlier, when the pharmaceutical company enjoyed extraordinary success, gatherings with the sales force had seemed like celebrations. But in the past 18 months, sales had begun to fall, as had earnings. And most of the top sales personnel had begun to focus on their own businesses as major changes swept through the health care industry. Martin sensed that the solution was a system to facilitate the flow of knowledge across borders. Sales executives needed to share vital information about products, customers, competitors, and selling techniques. But what kind of system would work best? Unfortunately, Martin's apprehensions were justified. The meeting only emphasized how fragmented the company had become. How can Martin get Lexington to function as one global company? In 96302 and 96302Z, Louise Goeser, Thomas H. Davenport, Barry Harrington, George Goldsmith, and G. Kelly O'Dea offer advice on this fictional case study.

CEOs inspire sentiments from awe to wrath, but there is little debate over their importance in the business world. Their decisions change companies and lives. But what do CEOs do all day? Where do they go? Charles Farkas and Suzy Wetlaufer analyzed interviews with 160 chief executives around the world and examined the attitudes, activities, and behaviors that shape the answers to these questions. At the outset, the authors thought they might find 160 approaches to leadership. Instead, they identified only five, each with a singular focus: strategy, people, expertise, controls, or change.

Planning a major change in your organization? If so, chances are you have arranged a huge rally, rousing speeches, videos, and special editions of the company paper. Stop. This sort of communication is not working. If you want people to change the way they do their jobs, you must change the way you communicate with them. Drawing on their own research and the research of other communication experts from the past two decades, the authors argue that senior managers--and most communication consultants--have refused to hear what frontline workers have been trying to tell them: When you need to communicate a major change, stop communicating values, communicate face-to-face, and spend most of your time, money, and effort on frontline supervisors.

A successful strategy for selling your products or services depends on your ability to get into the minds of your targeted customers. But sometimes the customers themselves do not know what is in their minds. A simple tool called the ACE (Attribute Categorization and Evaluation) Matrix can help managers understand customers' behavior and bring hidden product attributes to the surface. It helps companies see that a product may have different salient attributes for different customer segments. The matrix gives companies an iterative process for validating assumptions about product attributes and for monitoring changes that occur because of competition.

The collapse of communism has led many in the West to declare that capitalism has triumphed. But Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at McGill University and INSEAD, says that this idea is overly simplistic. He argues further that the push for government to become more like business ignores both the value of the alternative forms of ownership we have in the West--including cooperative and nonprofit organizations--and the purpose of balance in our societies. A business model for managing government would treat its constituents as customers in an arm's-length trading relationship. But we are not merely customers of our government; we are also subjects (who have obligations), citizens (who have rights), and clients (who have complex needs). Thus we need a wide range of management models for providing public services.

In recent years, major industries in the United States have been deregulated--for example, telecommunications, airlines, and banking--and now the winds of change are blowing through the electric utility industry. But the experts do not agree on how much change is good for the country and how fast it should occur. Thomas R. Kuhn of the Edison Electric Institute, Pradeep ("Pete") Mehra of the Ford Motor Co., Robert L. Ball of Alcan Aluminum Corp., Richard C. Green, Jr. of UtiliCorp United, Donald E. Felsinger of San Diego Gas & Electric Co., David L. O'Connor of the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources, Michael Shames of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, and John R. Hodowal of IPALCO Enterprises express their differing viewpoints in HBR's Perspectives, covering such topics as stranded costs, aggregation of small consumers, vertical deintegration, performance-based rate making, and retail wheeling of power.