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Supplements Starlite Corp.: General Information.

Virtual Vineyards markets wine from small California vineyards directly to consumers through its site on the World Wide Web. It also facilitates fulfillment of customer orders. The case focuses on the ways in which Virtual Vineyards provides value to end consumers through cofounder Peter Granoff's accessible but informal evaluations of individual wines and through its electronic Internet with the customer.

A second-year Harvard MBA student considers the pros and cons of three job offers. He identifies several concerns and evaluates each job in terms of how well they meet these concerns. He assesses probabilities for whether the jobs will be successful for him.

Supplements the (A) case.

Presents two methodologies for making decisions in the face of conflicting objectives, pricing out, and additive scoring systems. This material is followed by four exercises designed to develop and test understanding of the basic methodology. The exercises include an MBA who must make a job decision, an MIS manager choosing a database program, and an office manager who must select an office site.

Involves seven canonical decision problems--basic problems in management that arise with surprising frequency. Although these exercises are simplified versions of these problems, they have been written to preserve the "essence" of the decision situations. The problems include product development sequencing, options for flexibility, market research, litigation, inventory decisions under uncertainty, bidding decisions, and choosing among theories.

Explores the challenges confronting the CEO at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the wake of radical changes in the health care environment. As pressures have risen for cost containment in health care, the hospital has embarked on a series of reengineering efforts to reduce costs, while maintaining the quality of care. The CEO is now evaluating the results of these efforts and considering alternative strategies for improvement.

Examines two dilemmas often faced by an operations consultant. First, the dual responsibility to both client and consulting firm. Second, the management of the often competing pressure to deliver immediate results, at the same time laying the foundation for long-term performance improvement.

In January 1996, an investment manager of a hedge fund is considering purchasing an equity interest in a start-up biotechnology firm, Rocky Mountain Advanced Genome (RMAG). The asking price is $46 million for a 90% equity interest. Although managers of the firm are optimistic about its future performance, the investment manager is more conservative in her expectations. She asks an analyst to fashion a counterproposal for RMAG's management. The tasks for students are to apply the concept of terminal value, interpret completed analyses and data, and derive implications of different terminal-value assumptions in an effort to recommend a counterproposal. Little computation is required of the students.

A brief history of foreign direct investment (FDI) is explored, emphasizing conflicts, developments in the legal framework governing FDI, and international agreements and nonbinding principles formulated to resolve disputes brought in by FDI. Propositions provide a context from which core issues may be discussed by the students.

Major Insurance Co. is a $15 billion insurance company that is an active, multi-family mortgage leader. This case is part of a negotiation game simulation that also includes Sunshine Villas, Silver Lane Apartments, and Jason Bosworth.

Stream International's Crawfordsville, Indiana facilities undertake the design and implementation of an activity-based costing project. After analyzing the costs assigned to 161 work activities, Crawfordsville managers present five proposals for change based on ABM results, then meet to decide which to implement.

Companies that compete effectively over the long run in technology-intensive fields exhibit an ability for both continuous (or incremental) innovations and discontinuous (or radical) innovations. The latter, which lead to the creation of entirely new businesses and product lines, pose a unique set of challenges for management. They typically require a long, investment-intensive process, marked by pervasive uncertainty, unpleasant surprises, and no guarantee of success. Conventional approaches to new product development, while appropriate for continuous innovation, are inappropriate and sometimes even detrimental when applied to the more discontinuous regime of innovations. For instance, the familiar admonition to be customer-driven is of little value when it is not at all clear who the customer is or will be, or when the product class itself does not yet exist. This article presents four discontinuous innovations--CAT scanners (by GE), optical fibers (by Corning), cellular phones (by Motorola), and NutraSweet (by Searle, now Monsanto)--which explore the process of developing discontinuous innovations and demonstrate how they are different from incremental innovation.

The case covers all major aspects of Benetton's successful corporate strategy and innovative business system from its creation till the present. It also provides a complete overview of Benetton's unique communication philosophy and the controversy generated by it, along with a wealth of independent market research data from many countries.

Summarizes the accounting principles governing employee stock options, including the recently issued accounting standard SFAS 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation. Presents the theoretical issues involved with valuation and measurement of employee stock-based compensation. Illustrates the accounting standard setting process in a unique and volatile situation.

In February 1995, Banc One faced the replacement of the "Uncommon Partnership," a basic operating strategy that had served it well for years. Leadership now struggled with the new protocols for replacement operating strategies.

Reports the strategic choices made by Dewar's and briefly describes the implementation of the campaign from its launch in September 1993 through September 1995.

Dewar's is considering employing new media options. The company had committed resources to a new CD-ROM magazine, Launch, in 1994, as its first experiment with new media. During 1994, a number of additional opportunities have been presented to both Leo Burnett and S&S including other CD-ROM "digizines" and World Wide Web sites. Jamie Prusak must now decide how to evaluate these new opportunities, as well as several other lower technology media alternatives, in terms of costs, effectiveness and efficiency, and long-term impact on the brand's two target markets.

Explores the management of technical disasters in which time plays a central role. Uses the experience of HMS Thetis and Apollo 13 to look at both successful and unsuccessful approaches.