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Presents the estate plan worked out by the son to deal with an estate planning issue. The plan involves the use of deferred compensation employment contract with the family business, a key-man life insurance policy, and a split-dollar life insurance policy.

Describes a division of Corning Glass Works that finds itself with deep financial and organizational problems. Severe conflict and lack of coordination exist between functional groups. Employees do not have a sense of direction and morale is low. Provides sufficient data to determine that the cause of these problems is a change in business environment that had been followed by change in organization and management. Can be used for analysis of organization-environment relationships and action planning for change and environment.

Family businesses frequently face an agonizing experience when the entrepreneur watches while others take over the business. While bitter power struggles peak, the fortunes of the company may slide downhill. To avoid problems a critical network of family managers, employees, relatives, and outsiders must focus upon facilitating family and business transitions through mediation, dialogue, and future role building. The healthiest transitions involve those old-versus-young struggles in which both the family managers and the business change partners.

Present performance appraisal techniques evaluate behavior by making subjective and impressionistic judgments rather than quantitative judgments and providing inadequate information about performances. Static job descriptions contribute to the inadequacy of appraisal systems as they do not define the subtleties of the relationships which will influence employees' roles and careers. Employees need to develop political skill in addition to professional competence and this need demands a dynamic job description, a critical incident process, and a psychological support system.

The left hemisphere of the brain controls logical thinking processes and the right hemisphere controls simultaneous processing. Human tasks often activate one side of the brain while leaving the other largely at rest. There may be a fundamental difference between formal planning and informal managing corresponding to differences in these two hemispheres of the brain. Educators will have to revise their notions regarding management education in order to bring about a balance between developing analytic and intuitive thought.

Describes Kodak's long-awaited challenge to Polaroid in the field of instant photography. Provides technological and company background of both Polaroid and Eastman-Kodak and their respective product lines. Discusses Polaroid's claim that Kodak infringed on 10 Polaroid patents.

Test marketing should be conducted to provide a dress rehearsal for launching of a new product by a company. Test marketing gives information to improve marketing productivity and avoid disasters. It should be used in conjunction with other marketing information. Recent technological developments allow laboratory simulation of test marketing which can reduce test marketing costs significantly. Researchers may use mathematical market simulation models.

Briefly describes the process of case writing, the general nature of cases, and the advantages to students of learning by the case method. An approach to studying a case, individually or as a group member, for classroom discussion is outlined. Also summarizes the basic characteristics of a case discussion.

Helps students fully capitalize on the case method. Succinctly introduces the benefits, format, and process while offering lots of "how-to" advice. Widely used as an introductory handout for executive, MBA, and undergraduate courses. Describes how case discussion enables the exchange of managerial experience and knowledge. Emphasizes the need to identify the real issues and do rigorous analysis in the course of reaching a management decision and that there is typically more than one "right" answer.

Designed for use as an in-basket exercise in a general management course. Focuses on the first few hours work of the new president of Yellowtail Marine, Robyn Gilchrist, and the decisions she has to make. The decisions mix strategic and operations issues and make the case suitable for policy classes or small business courses.

Describes in nonmathematical terms the nature of capital asset pricing model and possible use in estimating a company's cost of equity capital.

Describes the FCC hearings which were designed to determine Comsat's cost of equity. Comsat's risks are examined, and expert testimony is given. Objective of the case is to estimate Comsat's cost of equity.

Successful meetings begin by identifying their objectives as information-digestive, constructive-originative, or legislative. A chairperson should draw up agenda items in advance. The purpose and definition of the items should be clear, and placed in order of urgency or in suitable association with other items. The greatest single barrier to successful meetings is the chairperson's self-indulgence. A chairperson is most effective when committed only to the goals of the group, and acting as a servant rather than master of the group. The best meetings are those that have two leaders, one a social leader, the other a project or task leader.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 276195

Spreadsheet supplement to case 276183.

Raises the dilemmas of making strategic decisions within an organizational construct. The divestment of a division of the company raises not only strategic issues but organizational and interpersonal ones as well. The decision is framed through the strategic planning process, and the case presents data in the form the general manager had available.

The use of organizational control systems may backfire easily on management. A system cannot control performance; it can only provide information to the manager and often the information is misleading. Two major approaches are usual for control strategies. The external control strategy stresses supervision and makes employee manipulation of results difficult. The internal motivation strategy develops participative goal setting and rewards overall job performance. When choosing either strategy, a manager should consider four issues: consistency between strategy and managerial style; organizational climate, structure, and reward system; reality of job performance measures; and individual differences among subordinates.

Although the product life cycle (PLC) concept has been the mainstay of marketing strategy for many years, its accuracy and empirical basis are both questionable. In many cases, products do not develop along the traditional stages. The possible variations are so unpredictable that the most effective system employs unique information systems for each product. Product class, product form, and brand are the three stages of PLC, however, the model has little validity for brand life cycles. An effective model predicts sales drops and rises, and it serves as an indicator of the short-term success of strategy. Market-communication models greatly improve product life code models because they quantitatively measure the influences on sales, evaluate different opinions, and provide advance warning signals.

Reliance on growth of sales to solve financial dilemmas indicates weakness. Standard accounting techniques such as marginal income and break-even accounting encourage growth, but do not consider how fixed and variable overhead expenses affect profits. Cost analysis is an inadequate system; simplifying and shrinking production is the best way to ensure return on investment. Simple actions like improving the efficiency of accounts receivable procedures and reducing useless inventory frees cash quickly. Liquidating fixed assets for capital also serves to shrink overhead and improve efficiency.

In 1969, Megalith centralized its financial and control functions. John Boyd, senior vice president for finance, hired four brilliant young managers to "bring the group out of the stone age." By 1975, this management team had created a near-perfect finance office of 630 employees. But two of the "young stars" have just quit, and Boyd is sure the constraints of salary ceilings are responsible. He talks with a compensation consultant (Hay Associates).