Chronicles the experience of Lucchetti, a Quinenco subsidiary, as it expanded from its historically strong domestic stronghold into Peru. Lucchetti, a pasta company, had grown to the point where there was no room to expand in the Chilean market. The Peruvian market, however, looked extremely promising. Thus, in 1996, Lucchetti Peru was born. By late 2003, however, the new state-of-the-art pasta plant was being liquidated. The management of the company was considering whether Lucchetti should leave the Peruvian market altogether and absorb a $150 million write-off or, alternatively, to continue and build a new plant to take advantage of what was left of the Lucchetti market share, despite the considerable additional investment required. Had this been a case of a good strategy plagued by Murphy's Law? Was there something they should have known or some point where the team members had made the wrong decision? The lesson to be gleaned from this failed Peruvian venture remained unclear, but they wanted to apply those lessons to future domestic and international expansion ventures.
MJINI--Urban Youth Experts was founded by two recent college graduates as a research consulting firm, focusing on the buying patterns and lifestyle preferences of the urban youth who were setting many fashion trends but whom marketers found difficult to reach. Not only could the founders leverage their backgrounds, they could help their communities by communicating, building respect, and giving back to youth groups. Although they met with some success, they faced a number of questions typical to start-up companies: How fast to grow, how and whom to hire, how to train new recruits, how to finance growth, determining the right marketing and consulting product, determining its real market worth and billing rates, and identifying the greatest opportunities.
Vina San Pedro (VSP) is the third-largest vineyard in Chile and has recently expanded its capacity. The new president is considering how fast to push into both foreign and domestic markets, where efforts should be focused, and how to balance capacity within the context of uncertain, volatile markets and the vagaries of foreign exchange. Meanwhile he must position growth in the context of new return-on-capital-employed objectives.
Integrates issues in service operations, organization behavior, and applications of management science models such as simulation and queuing theory. A complete analysis of the case includes understanding process flows, computing utilization levels, and using models of the stochastic arrival rate and service rates of the existing and proposed systems. In addition, considers the managerial issues involved in running an ambulatory care center. The Primary Care Clinic (PCC) is the only walk-in clinic on campus and presently works under a triage system. The Student Health Services (along with PCC) is scheduled to move to a new facility. The director of the PCC views the move as a good opportunity to review and improve on the present service delivery process and system. Three broad objectives have been identified for the new system: reduce the waiting time for seeing a healthcare provider, transform the perception of the clinic as an impersonal bureaucracy, and improve student perceptions (especially nonusers) about the performance and effectiveness of the PCC. To achieve these objectives, a new system of clinician teams (doctors and nurse practitioners) has been proposed.
The Boston Globe newspaper has decided to move its home delivery time up from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. to increase sales and retain more customers. Anne Eisenmenger has been assigned to coordinate this process, building consensus for change among a diverse group of stockholders: management, unions, editors, department heads, and so on. The case is helpful for joint discussion of operational and organizational issues.
When Allied Domecq purchased Casa Pedro Domecq, the intent was to absorb the new division into the company. But the Mexican subsidiary had different ideas: to operate as an independent unit but reap the benefits of being part of something larger. The conflict between various intentions, cultures, and management approaches helps define the nature and timing of this alliance.
After restructuring Scott Paper with a 34% reduction in head count and successfully selling the company to Kimberly Clark, Al Dunlap is hired as CEO by Sunbeam. This case describes the management principles of this corporate turnaround expert and his actions at Sunbeam.
Describes a new entry into the $8 billion flower industry in the United States. Combining the use of overnight air freight (Federal Express), information technology, an 800 number, and a catalog, Calyx & Corolla was changing the way flowers had traditionally been distributed, bypassing three layers of distribution, and providing very fresh flowers directly from the growers to consumers. Frames the question of how this start-up venture should grow.
Describes the entry of this store and catalog retailer of classic women's clothing into the Japanese market place. Introduces such issues as cross-border management, multi-national retailing, and joint venturing.
Lowe's chain of 306 stores was anticipating fierce competition from their major market rival, Home Depot. As they reformulated the size of their new prototype stores and the mix of their merchandise, what would be the ultimate format? What impact would it have on their advertising strategy? How could they retain their contractor business which had been the mainstay of their operation since the 1950s. In addition, how should they emphasize in their advertising: wide selection, good service, and everyday attractive prices.
Describes the means by which management has empowered the sales clerks and part time employees of this chain of 131 department stores. They are responsible for all sales and inventory management. This empowerment has led to fewer stockouts, higher sales, lower inventory levels, less inventory loss, higher profits, higher quality, and higher commitment levels on the part of employees. Also describes how their innovative management has overcome inefficiencies in the Japanese distribution system.