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Successful managers are born with the potential to be good strategists, but they must develop their natural talents. CEOs and top management can help by identifying and promoting such talents in their employees. A questionnaire has been developed to help measure strategic management competence. Strategic managers provide subordinates with general guidelines, just as the Prussian military strategist Helmuth von Moltke issued directives to his officers. Outstanding entrepreneurs and managers create a corporate culture in which their vision, philosophy, and business strategies are implemented by employees who think independently.

In 1991, Emerson Electric marked its 34th year of increased earnings and earnings per share. Its financial performance is a result of planning and control. Management sets tough financial goals. CEO Charles Knight and his senior managers spend at least half their time in the planning cycle, which culminates in annual conferences where division heads communicate--and defend--their business plans. Finally, a tight control system that focuses on short-term results tracks implementation and feeds back into the next planning conference. McKinsey Award Winner.

In its successful efforts to sell state-owned industries during the 1980s, the Thatcher government in the United Kingdom learned that privatization is not only an end in itself but can also transform public attitudes toward ownership. Privatization produces improved performance and, among politicians, a greater focus on government's role as a regulator, rather than owner, of industry. But in the course of privatizing, conflicts arise that governments must work hard to overcome.

Most corporate improvement efforts have negligible results because they focus on activities, not results, and there is no explicit connection between action and outcome. "Results-driven" approaches offer greater potential for improvement because they focus on achieving specific, measurable goals. By committing to incremental change, managers not only can see results faster but also determine more quickly what is working and what isn't.

Masayoshi Son, the founder, president, and CEO of SOFTBANK is a good example of a new Japanese-style entrepreneurship that is emerging. Originally a software distribution business, today SOFTBANK has six divisions in different businesses, all related to the personal computer. SOFTBANK also has five wholly owned subsidiaries and participates in five joint ventures.

The takeover battles of the 1980s have given way to a battle over their meaning and legacy. On one side are critics who argue that the events of the 1980s are best understood as episodes in the greatest criminal conspiracy Wall Street has ever known. On the other side are advocates of the new finance for whom the decade represents a triumph of financial innovation.

SunLife Assurance Co., a large life-insurance firm, wishes to provide a greater degree of computer support for its sales agents. A program to encourage agents to acquire laptop computers for use in selling had been established for some time. However, only a few agents had taken advantage of the program. The company decided to develop a new system, termed Maestro, which would provide a suite of tools to help agents perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively. The tools would be made available to agents using laptops; also, agents were charged a fee for the software by the company. The development of the new tools was handled by the individual marketing group, not by the MIS function. Initial rollout of the new system has been only partially successful, and the director of individual marketing is concerned about how to improve the acceptance and adoption of the system by agents in the future.

In the summer of 1991, the semi-annual meeting of the board of Toppan Moore, a joint venture between Toppan Printing of Japan and Moore Corp. of Canada, took place in Tokyo. With sales exceeding U.S. $1 billion, Toppan Moore was a leader in the Japanese business forms industry and widely considered one of the most successful international joint ventures in Japan. While pleased with the venture's recent results, the board members want to ensure continued prosperity.

Four minority employees at Inland Steel encourage their company to initiate more aggressive affirmative action and diversity efforts. The "gang of four," as they call themselves, challenge a white general manager to join them in promoting increased opportunities for minorities and women. This case focuses on diversity, strategies for social change in organizations, and how senior managers can respond to grassroots campaigns. It can be used in Organizational Behavior and Ethics courses

Supplements Inland Steel Industries (A).

Supplements Inland Steel Industries (A).

Supplements Inland Steel Industries (A).

A long-time community development worker creates hundreds of jobs for low-income women and minorities by forming a for-profit home health care cooperative, Cooperative Home Care Associates. May be used in Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Organizational Behavior, Human Resources Management, and Ethics courses to help students explore: 1) the motives of an entrepreneur starting a venture to meet a tangible social need--the "social entrepreneur;" 2) the concept of worker-ownership and its potential consequences; 3) how to simultaneously serve the needs of various groups in an economically deprived area; and 4) the creation of jobs for individuals many dismiss as "unemployable" (single mothers on welfare, etc.).

Supplements Rick Surpin (A).

Supplements Rick Surpin (A).

Describes the outcome of the project through 1991.

Describes the decision the company chose and how it worked out. Designed as an in-class follow-up to Whistler Corp. (A).

A vice president of the U.S. Bank of Washington, a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, is asked to review a $6.5 million loan request from the Redhook Ale Brewery, a Seattle-based microbrewery. The case provides an understanding of the U.S. commercial banking industry and the role of a loan officer, and asks the student to assess a proposed loan. Provides an opportunity for financial statement and cash flow analysis.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 292057

Supplements Momenta Corp. (B).