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Shrinking revenues and taxpayer uprisings that threatened the town of Madison, Wisconsin's financial security led the author, during his six years as mayor, to introduce W. Edwards Deming's business quality concepts to city government. He learned that, like problems in business, problems in government are more likely to lie in flawed systems than in flawed workers, and that empowered frontline employees generate more improvements than management can.

A division manager must decide whether to fight 11% across-the-board personnel cuts or, if he is to go along with the decision, how to implement the layoffs in his division. He receives conflicting advice from his vice presidents: one suggests he make up a new cost-cutting plan that will help the company while not hurting his division; the other wants him to support the downsizing decision wholeheartedly.

Combination of 90111 and 91206. Unadvertised.

A set of five exercises in capital budgeting. Student calculates and compares various decision criteria (including IRR and NPV) for capital investment projects. This is an introductory case, where relevant cash flows are provided, and the focus is on the discounting mechanics and the decision to invest. In addition, one exercise directly probes the link between positive NPV projects, and value added to the shareholders. The final "exercise" is a three page mini-case analyzing Lockheed's decision to invest in the TriStar L-1011 Airbus project. This drives home the importance of discounting and NPV, and shows the adverse effect of a negative NPV project on shareholder value.

This case traces the history of a successful discount retailer, with a clearly developed low-cost strategy, from its founding to a major decision point, where the president must decide whether to acquire a Florida-based chain of 206 stores with a very different product mix. The basic issue is not so much whether the price is a good one but whether the acquisition fits the company's strategy and whether the president should put his personnel through another acquisition only months after completing another large acquisition. If he decides to move forward with the acquisition, how should it be managed?

Spreadsheet supplement for case 291-031.

Provides a relatively simple introduction to multivariate regression analysis.

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations and require the company to analyze the project from many perspectives. ARES offers the potential to change the basis of competition in the industry through technology. The company must consider the value, if any, of being first in the industry to adopt a technology; the potential impact on customer services, quality, and reliability; and the role and value of information systems technology. Burlington grapples with how to quantify both tangible and intangible benefits, and deliberates whether investments that yield improvement in hard-to-quantify factors such as reduced delivery time and improved service reliability can be subjected to the same financial scrutiny as equipment replacement decisions such as new locomotives. Demonstrates thoughtful, creative approaches to measuring hard-to-quantify benefits.

The ARES team formally proposes that Burlington Northern implement the ARES system. The project meets resistance. In light of financial restructuring and high level of debt, executives wonder whether the company can afford ARES. Weak links during the ARES development process to corporate strategic planning, corporate capital planning, and other corporate functions raise concerns. Executives also worry about whether their 100-year-old, traditional organization can adapt to and exploit ARES's modern electronic technology. When ARES team members' zealous advocacy of the project raise concerns about objectivity in evaluation, an outside consultant is hired to audit benefits, technologies, and whether benefits can be unbundled and implemented selectively.

Intended to help students understand the many barriers organizations face as their members and their management ranks grow more diverse. As a case on business ethics, it encourages students to discuss what "fairness" and "diversity" mean when an organization is also trying to create a sense of teamwork and "fit." Based upon the open court records of Ann Hopkins versus Price Waterhouse, a sexual discrimination and sexual stereotyping suit brought by a woman who was denied partnership at Price Waterhouse. (The court found in her favor.) Includes lengthy exhibits drawn directly from Price Waterhouse.

Depicts the reformation of Nissan Motor Co.'s corporate culture and the company's subsequent turnaround in market share and profits. In 1985, Yutaka Kume became president of Nissan and thereafter, he continually emphasized the need for internal change throughout the organization. Despite the difficulty of effecting widespread change in such a large organization, Nissan's managers and employees got behind this effort. By 1990, there was a discernable difference in Nissan's image and product. The infamous "econo-boxes" of the early 1980s had been replaced by sleek new models like the Silva (240sx). This case explores many of the changes which took place throughout the organization to make such cultural change possible and effective, from the top management level, to the design department, to the assembly line. Also examines the difficulty and time needed to make lasting change in an organization.

Provides the reader with a basic understanding of organizational structure. The first section outlines some of the key tools and criteria that must be taken into account in designing organizational structures. In the second section, some archetypal forms of organizational structure and their strengths and weaknesses are described. Finally, some emerging trends in how organizations are structured are discussed in the last section of this note, supplemented by a brief summary, in timeline format, of the evolution of organizational structure in theory and practice.

In December, 1986 the General Motors Board of Directors must decide whether to accept the buyout agreement between GM and Ross Perot, a director of GM and its largest stockholder. The agreement called for GM to purchase all of Perot's GM shares in exchange for his resignation from the GM board and his resignation as Chairman of EDS, the company Perot founded in 1963 and sold to GM in 1984. The case chronicles a history of the Perot/GM merger, and the friction between Perot and GM management which led to the buyout agreement.

Spreadsheet to (292-013). Download Only.

Describes the proposed purchase of a lampshade manufacturer by Steven and Michele Rogers, recent graduates of the Harvard Business School. Focuses on their plans to raise the capital necessary to buy the company. Among the issues raised are how to structure the deal and whether or not to buy the company.

Professor Jackson is offered a spot on the slate of directors that Harold Simmons, Lockheed's largest shareholder, has nominated for Lockheed's board to oppose the slate nominated by Lockheed in the Spring, 1990 elections. Jackson must decide whether to join Simmons' slate. The case raises the issue of what factors one should take into account in deciding whether or not to join such a slate, and the broad question of the role of proxy fights in corporate governance.

Explains Jackson's reasons for his decision and describes the result of the proxy fight for control of the board.

Describes the growth and development of Fuji Xerox, Xerox's joint venture in Japan, and the evolving relationship between Fuji Xerox and Xerox. Focuses on the technological development of Fuji Xerox, and on the contributions that Fuji Xerox has made to Xerox's competitive position worldwide. Presents a number of options for modifying the relationship between Xerox and Fuji Xerox in the future, when the two firms will face increasingly serious competition from global competitors. Fuji Xerox is a $4 billion company and arguably one of the most successful joint ventures ever between an American and Japanese firm. In some ways the evolution of Fuji Xerox has been a microcosm of the broader United States-Japan relationship.

The CEO and chairman of Alantar, Inc. is confronted with the problem of how to create a more effective board of directors and also how to provide for his own successor.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 391156.