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This note discusses the role of supercomputing in nuclear weapons research, from the first UNIVAC system installed in 1953 to the planned installation of a 100 TeraOPS system at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories in 2004. Topics include military and civilian uses for supercomputers, the evolution to parallel processing, the growing importance of open source software such as Linux, and emergent scientific uses, such as genetic sequencing and AIDS research. Traditionally, supercomputers were employed to simulate complex processes that occurred over a specific period of time. For example, a nuclear explosion had a beginning (detonation) and an end. More and more, however, applications began to shift toward analyzing immense databases that contained a seemingly endless number of variables. Despite significant advances in technology, the most powerful computers available still cannot reliably predict the weather for the next week in any significant detail.

Aspen Grove was one of the first companies to provide applications over the Internet in 1996. It was also the first application service provider to implement a functional system for the legal market. Despite an apparent first mover advantage, the company has had limited growth and it has not expanded its customer base much beyond its original legal clients. With one of the three founders tied to the development of software and support for the company's partner and another managing the company's European division, they did not have the time they need to fully develop the company the way they originally envisioned. Because Aspen Grove did not use a proprietary database or other proprietary technology, the company soon found many new entrants competing against it. Services were charged on a per process basis, meaning that clients only paid for services that they used. While this appeared to be low risk solution for reducing information technology expenses, many potential clients were reluctant to trust sensitive legal information to a small Internet company. With many Internet companies failing or being acquired by larger companies, trust became even more critical.

Cemex, a cement multinational from Mexico, has become one of the three largest cement companies in the world, through internal growth and a series of global acquisitions over the 1999 to 2000 period. It is a relatively small player in the United States with insignificant market share. It has had conflicts with the U.S. cement industry over its cement exports to the United States, being the object of a successful anti-dumping suit brought by the U.S. cement industry before the International Trade Commission. One of its key opponents is Southdown which has testified before the USITC against Cemex. Southdown's chief executive officer is unhappy with his firm's stock price and frustrated by the lack of market recognition despite profitable operations and growth. He is considering selling his company and has talked with Cemex about being acquired. The case allows students to analyze the strategic rationale for an acquisition of Southdown by Cemex, and has information to allow students to probe questions of strategic fit and value.

A group of international business majors from a large Boston-area university traveled to Spain, France and Germany for a yearlong period of study and work. Some of the students described their initial impressions and reactions to living and studying in another country and functioning in another language. Topics discussed include adapting to life in Europe (including language, pace of life, personal space, smoking, local food, sexual norms, personal appearance, and government and bureaucracy), being away from family and friends during the holiday seasons, academics (including differences in learning and teaching styles), and language. The objective of the case is to help undergraduate students who will be living, studying, and working in another country to prepare for their experience. Supplement cases, The European Experience (B), product 9B02C032, discusses the students finishing their academic term and preparing for their work placement and The European Experience (C), product 9B02C033, follows the experience of one student on his co-op work assignment.

After completing their exchange semester, the American students felt that they had gone beyond being mere tourists. However, for most, the reality of spending a term in Europe had turned out very different from their expectations. This supplement to the European Experience (A) case, product 9B02C031 continues the discussion as students finished their academic term and prepare for their work placements. This case is the second part of a case series used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. See also European Experience (C), product 9B02C033.

Follows the experience of an American exchange student studying in Spain, as he embarks on a co-op work assignment with a major international manufacturing company. This supplement is the third part of a case series that is used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. Supplement to The European Experience (A), product 9B02C031, and European Experience (B), product 9B02C031.

A student at a large Boston-area university would soon be completing a dual degree in Management Information Systems and Business Administration. She is the oldest child and only member of a Japanese family that spoke English and was learning to represent the family business, Kashiwa Tubing, with its international accounts. It was planned that she would eventually assume leadership of the company. During her studies she became a believer in the potential and reach of the Internet. She immediately set up a Web site for the company. Within six months, the Web site generated its first major sale, a $2.5 million order from Saudi Arabia. Recently, she had begun to negotiate a multi-million dollar deal with a Taiwanese firm. The company's Japanese headquarters recently forwarded an inquiry from Nigeria. The inquiry was from a member of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, proposed a business transaction that would, if successful, represent the largest single Internet order in the history of Kashiwa Tubing. Believing in personally meeting with customers and building long lasting ties, her father suggests that she should meet with this customer, even if that meant traveling to Nigeria.

A group of international business majors from a large Boston-area university traveled to Spain, France and Germany for a yearlong period of study and work. Some of the students described their initial impressions and reactions to living and studying in another country and functioning in another language. Topics discussed include adapting to life in Europe (including language, pace of life, personal space, smoking, local food, sexual norms, personal appearance, and government and bureaucracy), being away from family and friends during the holiday seasons, academics (including differences in learning and teaching styles), and language. The objective of the case is to help undergraduate students who will be living, studying, and working in another country to prepare for their experience. Supplement cases, The European Experience (B), product 9B02C032, discusses the students finishing their academic term and preparing for their work placement and The European Experience (C), product 9B02C033, follows the experience of one student on his co-op work assignment.

After completing their exchange semester, the American students felt that they had gone beyond being mere tourists. However, for most, the reality of spending a term in Europe had turned out very different from their expectations. This supplement to the European Experience (A) case, product 9B02C031 continues the discussion as students finished their academic term and prepare for their work placements. This case is the second part of a case series used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. See also European Experience (C), product 9B02C033.

Follows the experience of an American exchange student studying in Spain, as he embarks on a co-op work assignment with a major international manufacturing company. This supplement is the third part of a case series that is used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. Supplement to The European Experience (A), product 9B02C031, and European Experience (B), product 9B02C031.

Terralumen is a family-owned agricultural company that has expanded into consumer products. A senior executive with the company has helped build a successful joint venture over a period of 16 years with Delta, an American fast food chain. After a directors meeting, he senses that the American joint venture partners want to end the partnership, but he is unsure why. The joint venture has been profitable, and he also believes his company contributed the most to its success and that prior to the joint venture Delta had limited success in foreign markets. With the break up of the joint venture pending, he must determine how to extract the largest return on Terralumen's investment.

Blue Ridge Spain was a joint venture established between a well-known American fast food chain and an old guard family-run agricultural company that was seeking to diversify in the wake of Spain's entry into the European Union. The European Regional director of the company has been dealt an unexpected professional blow. After several years of fostering a successful joint venture, the regional director is stunned to find out that the new owners of Blue Ridge want out of the arrangement. In spite of the fact that this particular joint venture has been profitable since its inception and the company has experienced brisk growth during that time, the new owners are determined to end the partnership. The regional director is left examining how he is to respond to a request that he feels is not only detrimental to his company, but also contrary to his principles. He questions the ethics of secretly undermining the joint venture in order to achieve the upper hand in buyout negotiations. As a Greek, the importance of personal relationships and social contracts only adds to his dilemma.

Monsanto, one of the world's largest producers of commodity chemicals, had decided to focus its operations on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The first shipment of genetically modified soybeans arrived in Europe in November of 1996. Genetic engineering promised to reduce the use of pesticides and curtail world hunger. Therefore, Monsanto was dismayed at the powerful opposition that developed over the next few years. A series of food safety concerns, the foremost being mad cow disease, only added to consumer skepticism. The company must examine its strategy and the relationships with key stakeholders (including governments, farmers, industry groups, environmentalists, grocers and consumers). The (A) case provides background on Monsanto, their corporate strategies and the climate in which they introduced genetically modified products in the United States and Europe. The supplement Monsanto (B), product 9B02A008, focuses on the roles of government and other regulatory bodies in the acceptance of genetically modified products.

This supplement to Monsanto Europe (A), product 9B02A007 discusses the non-acceptance to genetically modified products showing up in the poor performance of Monsanto's agricultural division, affecting its successful divisions and the survival of the company. In order to win back its respectable standing in the marketplace, Monsanto must develop new strategies to educate consumers and influence political decision makers in order to gain greater acceptance of its products.

The newly appointed manager of personal banking of a national bank branch faces various challenges, including managing difficult individuals, introducing changes to a staff with varying levels of receptiveness, and deciding if a small town branch should ultimately be closed. He must consider the potential impact of the branch closing on the community, the company's reputation, the employees, and his own career. He must also analyze his alternatives and develop his recommendations for an upcoming meeting.

Although British Airways had been lagging behind other carriers in the region, in the opinion of the new general manager for Latin America, the company had the potential to be the leading European airline in Latin America. He believed the market had all the characteristics in which British Airways had traditionally been most strong. However, after six months of visiting all the offices in the region, he began to feel that some key country managers were not supporting the changes necessary to move the company ahead. Head Office in London was also skeptical. Latin American is breaking even, so there is no real need to solve the problem, was one typical response. This case deals with efforts to implement major organizational change in a short period of time.

Seeing an opportunity, the general manager for Latin America promised London an unprecedented one-year revenue increase of 44 per cent, provided that sufficient resources were allocated to the region. The early results of his efforts to transform the company's Latin American operations are discussed. This case is a supplement to the British Airways: Latin America (A) case, 9A99C015.

Arriving in greater numbers to poverty-ridden cities throughout Latin America, international executives, by their increased visibility, become targets. Newspapers have been filled with stories of kidnappings, abduction and robbery of foreign business people. However, in many respects, Latin America posed no greater danger than the United States, and with proper preparation, risks can be managed. This note briefly presents the current security risks, and actions that can be taken by international firms and individuals to reduce these risks. Comparative statistics are also provided.

The head of a bank's Mexico Team must consider her options when confronted with the task of aiding in the arrest of one of her clients. She had just returned from Switzerland, where Swiss narcotics agents were encouraging her to lay a trap for the wife of one of her clients, the brother of a former Mexican president, who had been arrested in Mexico a few months earlier on charges of murder, illegal enrichment, and laundering money for the Mexican drug cartel. As she pondered her options, the fate of one of her former employees, who had recently been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for managing the account of a convicted money launderer, provided food for thought. She must consider extraterritoriality, bank secrecy laws, and professional ethics in international private banking.

The senior vice president of the Robert Mondavi Corp. (one of the world's leading producers of premium wine) and head of Mondavi's Chilean joint venture, faces a series of quality problems with the Caliterra brand. At the same time, he has the unprecedented task of building a state of the art winery in Chile in less than 10 months or losing the entire harvest. The case traces the process of entering into a joint venture with Vina Errazuriz, a much smaller, but well respected, Chilean company, and presents the cross-cultural communication challenges faced by the joint venture partners. Communication and trust are central issues in the case.