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HKS Case Number 998.0. In April 1988, The Naval Sea Systems Command (NavSea) came under fire from the naval inspector general for its excessive reliance on contractors to carry out day-to-day functions in support of its mission: the acquisition, maintenance, modernization, and deactivation of the Navy's ships and onboard systems. In the course of a routine review, the inspector general found that many NavSea contracts had no clearly stated performance requirements and that contractors were involved in sensitive activities, such as acquisition planning and source selection, that should be reserved to government employees with responsibility for protecting the public interest. The inspector general's report recommended that NavSea reduce its use of contractor support services by 50 percent over the next three years. NavSea officials quietly set about reviewing individual contracts and preparing a response to the report, but the matter was not destined to remain quiet for long. On June 14, reporters broke the story of Operation Ill Wind, a two-year investigation into illegal dealings among Navy and other Pentagon officials, defense contractors, and independent consultants. This case details the various phases of policy that took place within the US Government as pertains to NavSea. It should be paired with HKS826 (Part A). HKS Case Number 998.0.

This hypothetical case is a paradigm of the privatization decision facing many jurisdictions as they struggle with budget pressures. It tells the story of the town manager of a small Texas municipality who has reason to believe that, if she were to accept the bid of a private firm to pick up and dispose of trash, she could balance the town's budget and save enough money to avoid cutting back the hours of the town's lone social worker. Privatization, however, will mean firing two popular long-time town sanitation employees who also do assorted maintenance tasks once they've finished hauling the trash. The case calls on students to take the role of the town manager and decide, after analyzing the town's current budget and costs, as well as the private trash collection bid, whether or not to "go private." HKS Case Number 1033.0.

Follows a very creative founder and his business in becoming major forces in the sport and industry of cycling. Looks at a creative and visionary individual, Jim Gentes, and some of the important questions he faced as his first product (a revolutionary new bicycle helmet) became a market success. Details Jim's start-up experiences, including his beginnings when he stocked inventory in his bedroom, used his garage as a manufacturing plant, and expanded by trading a helmet with his neighbor for use of his garage. Giro maintained the highest quality and eventually placed its superior product on the heads of the sport's most respected athletes. Giro leveraged this reputation as the "helmet of champions" as Gentes worked hard to maintain the company's standards. His helmet became well-known among cycling enthusiasts and marketers, eventually garnering a reputation as an extemely "hot" new product. Along with success, the business became increasingly more complicated, and an increasing number of issues required more attention.

Describes the development of a fully automated production line for manufacturing radio pagers. The company regarded the project as highly successful; it becomes clear in the case, however, that there were some shortcomings as well. Some marketing issues were not properly addressed and, despite the claims of the company that the project was completed in 18 months, development of the line continued after the official end date for over a year. The student must analyze the situation to determine what lessons should be taken from the project and how best to apply those lessons to other projects.

Describes four basic organizational forms--hierarchy, division, matrix, and cluster. Diagrams of each are included. Their strengths and weaknesses under different business environment conditions are detailed. There is a table comparing the forms on several key organizational dimensions and a second table that describes key management practices in each form.

In 1989, Frito-Lay designed an information technology infrastructure to support time-based competition and organizational restructuring. The company planned to provide timely flexible information to all major decision makers at all levels. This case describes the information support architecture and its anticipated effects.

Focuses on analyzing the growth potential of the company using the company's financial statements.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 190090

Explores the issues associated with leasing office space in a softening market from the perspective of a young leasing agent. Addresses market and lease analysis, negotiating tactics and strategy, and management of a financial partnership.

A specialized manufacturer of brass valves, pumps, and flow controllers is troubled by competitive pricing in pumps and higher than expected margins for flow controllers. Managers suspect that cost accounting and cost allocations to products may be to blame. Two volume-based systems are described and illustrated.

Provides students with the opportunity to track industry evolution over time, to explore the role that signaling may play in such evolution, and to construct and validate industry scenarios.

Provides students the opportunity to track industry evolution over time, to explore the role that signaling may play in such evolution, and to construct and validate industry scenarios.

Provides students the opportunity to track industry evolution over time, to explore the role that signaling may play in such evolution, and to construct and validate industry scenarios.

Provides students the opportunity to track industry evolution over time, to explore the role that signaling may play in such evolution, and to construct and validate industry scenarios.

This case series is a vehicle for examining the strategic logic and risks of preemption. Rewritten versions of earlier cases.

Describes concept testing products. Presents guidelines for effective design, execution, and interpretation of test procedures. Discusses limitations of these techniques and sets out the situations for which they are appropriate.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 590063.

In 1980 Ford was near disaster. The company lost billions of dollars between 1980 and 1982. By 1988 the company had been transformed into one of the most successful corporations in the United States. Describes what happened and then examines how it happened. The major objective is to look at major change in a huge organization and the way the change was made.

Since Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Co., Ford vehicles have been sold and serviced the same way. By the late 1980s Ford began to consider making changes in its sales and service process. Two developments forced Ford to reconsider these processes. First, Ford found through various surveys that customers had very clear complaints about the way they were treated by car dealers. Second, with more rapid technology transfer among the automakers, product differentiation was declining. Therefore, the channels of distribution provided one of the final potential points of differentiation between automakers. This case gives the students all of the conclusions from the studies Ford had done and asks them to redesign the sales and service process to address customers' complaints and become a point of differentiation for Ford.

Set two years after a takeover attempt forced the company to restructure by leveraging up, selling assets, and repurchasing stock. The case affords an opportunity to analyze what effect the restructuring had on: 1) the cost of capital, 2) investment decisions, and 3) the competitive behavior of other firms in the industry.