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Provides private information for students assuming the role of Tomasz Budziak in a simulated negotiation of the sale of Cementownia Odra.

Provides private information for students assuming the role of Hans-Hugo Miebach in a simulated negotiation of the sale of Cementownia Odra.

This case follows the development of a firm's first product, the public presentation of research results, and the stock market reactions. In spite of successful research, the stock price falls dramatically. Asks why this happened, how concerned the CEO should be, whether management could have prevented it, and what the firm should do now.

Intel, the largest-selling manufacturer of microprocessor computer chips, finds itself in a brand-threatening situation when a flaw is revealed in its top-of-the-line Pentium chip. The story is front-page news for weeks. The company invested tens of millions of dollars in advertising its branded Pentium chip as a high-quality component via the campaign slogan "Intel Inside." Issues include salience of the problem, when Intel knew of the problem, how it was revealed, and what actions should be undertaken. Teaching Purpose: Students analyze consequences of a company miscue that becomes a much bigger story than initially anticipated. Analogies may be made to other company crisis situations involving brands and communications.

Describes the actions taken by AES management.

Senior managers of the AES Corp., an independent power producer, must decide whether to drop the company's emphasis on corporate values and revamp organizational controls as advised by investment analysts and outside counsel. The company is recovering from an incident of environmental fraud at one of its plants where an innovative decentralized "honeycomb" structure has been put in place. Some believe the structure is too decentralized and that lack of controls contributed to the incident.

Allows students to record their personal evaluations of the communications which gave rise to the controversy detailed in Prodigy Services Co. (A).

A medical products distribution company faces strategic opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing market. Physician Sales and Service (PSS), founded by Patrick Kelly in 1983, operates in 20 states in the United States and intends to expand to 50 states by 1997. By charging premium prices for high-quality service, training its sales representatives intensively, and professionalizing management, PSS has achieved above-average profit margins and, apparently successfully coped with the organizational challenges of rapid geographic concentration. But now, in 1992, PSS must cope with the uncertainties of Bill Clinton's impending election to the U.S. presidency and his promise of sweeping health care reform.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

The restructuring of Tiffany's retailing agreement with Mitsukoshi Ltd. in 1993 exposed Tiffany to substantial yen/dollar exchange rate volatility that it had not previously faced. This new exposure requires Tiffany to establish risk management policies and practices. Management must determine whether to hedge, what the objective of hedging ought to be, how much exposure to cover, and what instruments to use. Teaching Objective: To introduce students to the problems of risk management in a relatively uncomplicated administrative situation.

Jane Kravitz (Caucasian female), strategic product manager, and Lyndon Brooks (African American male), a member of her staff at Jensen Shoes, a successful producer and marketer of casual, athletic, and children's footwear, are assigned to new positions and to each other at the start of the story. Presents their very different points of view on their first couple of months working together. Can be taught in a variety of ways: with all students receiving both cases; half receiving one and half receiving the other; or a third of the class receiving both, one third receiving one, and one third receiving the other (as is appropriate). Should be used with Jenson Shoes: Lyndon Brooks' Story.

Jane Kravitz (Caucasian female), strategic product manager, and Lyndon Brooks (African American male), a member of her staff at Jensen Shoes, a successful producer and marketer of casual, athletic, and children's footwear, are assigned to new positions and to each other at the start of the story. Presents their very different points of view on their first couple of months working together. Can be taught in a variety of ways: with all students receiving both cases; half receiving one and half receiving the other; or a third of the class receiving both, one third receiving one, and one third receiving the other (as is appropriate). Should be used with Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz's Story. This case is a revised version of Jensen shoes: Lyndon Twitchell's Story.

Since its introduction in 1983, Acutrim has been a major player in the U.S. appetite suppressant market and in the broader diet industry. This case focuses on the strategic, regulatory, marketing, and financial challenges this product and the rapidly changing diet industry pose for Ciba Consumer Pharmaceuticals as part of a large public corporation. Within this context, the case is intended to introduce students to the $33 billion diet industry and to elucidate some of the economic, cultural, and psychological factors that help shape the market for diet products, low-fat and health entrees, and a wide variety of foods in prosperous economies.

Describes six characteristics of cost systems: standard vs. actual costs; job-order vs. process costing; variable vs. full costs; disaggregate vs. aggregate cost accumulation; and specific vs. average rates for labor and overhead. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Business decisions, by their nature, involve ethical considerations because (1) most economic decisions are choices where the decision-maker could have done otherwise, (2) every decision or action affects people, and (3) every decision or set of decisions is embedded in a belief system that presupposes some basic values or their abrogation. The task of justifying moral beliefs and integrating them into business situations and the process of applying ethical standards to everyday decision-making are incomplete and can be exasperating. But the business manager has recourse to the long tradition of ethical study. This note outlines some of the basic terms used in the study of ethics and describes the task of business ethics. Most important, the text describes five theories of moral reasoning-utilitarianism, rule-based morality, a rights approach, a contemporary Aristotelian approach to virtuous character, and social justice. They lay out minimum standards for an acceptable moral decision that can serve as criteria for moral business judgments.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In a global economy, managers constantly negotiate with people from other cultures, whether the issue is coordinating operations within a multinational firm, arranging a joint venture, or convincing a foreign government to approve construction of a plant. Yet, managers have had to rely on simplistic formulas--following lists of "dos and don'ts"--or very demanding ones--"Do as the Romans do"--to deal with the cultural aspects of these negotiations. But a number of strategies are available. The author presents these strategies according to the parties' level of familiarity with each other's cultures and the extent to which they can explicitly coordinate their strategies. These factors determine the subset of strategies that are realistically feasible for an individual manager.