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Describes the change process Whitbread employed in transforming its organization and culture from a single underperforming business operating in a relatively stable environment to a multibusiness, high-commitment, and high-performance corporation operating in more competitive markets. Describes how CEO David Thomas employed the Strategic Fitness Process (SFP), a strategic leadership process for organizational and cultural change, to create commitment to change within his leadership team and among 100 key executives in all parts of the company. Allowing a senior team to reinvent the corporation, SFP guides the senior team in developing a statement of strategic and organizational direction. SFP then guides the senior team through a systematic diagnosis as well as through change development and execution.

Supplements the (A) case.

The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a successor to the Uniform Product Code and will improve the efficiency and traceability of the global food system. Focuses on how best to implement this new system and respect the privacy of the ultimate consumer. Teaching Purpose: To analyze the impact of EPC on the global food system.

In mid-2003, CEO Chris McCormick felt L.L. Bean was in a good position to begin to grow again. For nearly 90 years, the company sold clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts through its catalogs and a single retail store in Freeport, Maine. In the three decades prior to 1996, sales growth averaged nearly 20% per year. In 1995, sales hit $1 billion, but stagnated for the next six years--growing at less than 2% annually. The company responded with a structural reorganization and investment in its Internet sales channel. In 2002 and early 2003, McCormick led an effort to reduce overhead and improve its internal systems, including the elimination of 1,000 jobs--which reduced year-round headcount by nearly 15%. After these initiatives, the company remained profitable and enjoyed a strong balance sheet, but sales growth remained near zero. Most significantly, between 2000 and 2002, L.L. Bean opened three retail stores in shopping malls outside Maine. McCormick viewed these three stores as the first of a chain of stores that would form a new selling channel and enable L.L. Bean to grow. Early results from the three new stores were below expectations; L.L. Bean spent significant time examining its retail store activities in an attempt to learn where it could improve. As the company began to apply those lessons in the stores, performance picked up, fueling McCormick's optimism that L.L. Bean could grow with retail stores.

Describes the evolution and passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 from the perspective of the senior counsel on capital markets for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.

HP had been a highly successful and respected company for decades. It was well known for its company culture and management practices--the HP way--which emphasized both profits and people. Changing markets, strong competitors, and the growth of its computer business, however, battered the company in the mid-1990s. To turn things around, HP hired Carly Fiorina, the first outsider to lead the company. Describes Fiorina's strategy and the impact of decisions she made with respect to the acquisition of Compaq and HR policies on HP's venerable culture and performance.

A new, minimally invasive medical device has achieved only one-third of its budget. Was the problem one of marketing strategy, sales, reimbursement, and/or clinical trials?

Supplements the (A) case.

Describes the acquisition of Nat West by Royal Bank of Scotland. Describes the strategic rationale for the acquisition and the process by which the integration of the two banks was accomplished. The acquisition is remarkable for how successful it was, given the typical high rate of failure of similar acquisitions. Teaching Purpose: To teach about the general lessons of successfully implementing mergers and acquisitions.

Provides a broad overview of the numerous internal and external forces that were driving change in the global pharmaceutical industry in 2003. These forces--including downward price pressures, political and social pressures, increased development costs, new technologies, new and different competitors, consolidation, and threats to its basic business models--were changing the way drugs were discovered, developed, manufactured, tested, regulated, marketed, sold, and purchased. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

After years of strong performance with market-dominating brands, Gillette's performance slips and a new CEO is selected from outside the company to lead a turnaround. This case describes the business and financial situation he inherited and asks what he should do during his first day and week on the job.

Describes the actions and behavior of a new CEO in his first days and weeks as he sets expectations for his top management team and introduces processes and disciplines to begin the turnaround of a global consumer products company.

Examines the strategic change agenda set by a new CEO as the initial priorities in the turnaround of this leading global consumer products company.

Discusses one of General Electric's flagship divisions--the world's leading provider of medical diagnostic imaging equipment. Provides an opportunity to examine a multinational confronting massive technological and demographic changes around the world. Genomics has created a global opportunity by making personalized medicine seem possible--medical intervention that caters to the genetic makeup of the individual and emphasizes prevention more than cure. Yet, the pursuit of this opportunity requires fundamental changes in the business model at a time when the model is being stressed by the idiosyncratic needs of catering to the large Chinese market and adapting to the needs of an aging population around the world. Demonstrates how multinationals can create value both by replicating their business models worldwide and by adroitly splitting the value chain across national boundaries.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 702-428.

Progressive Insurance had refused to play Wall Street's earning game. Progressive didn't manage reported earnings nor did management give guidance to analysts. Management then considered taking their unique disclosure strategy one step further to become the first to move to monthly reporting of operating results. Significant benefits had accrued from Progressive's refusal to play the earnings game. Management's time wasn't wasted manipulating reported results or talking to analysts, and reported numbers didn't mislead internal or external decision making. However, there were significant costs, as well. Unguided analysts' forecasts were often well off the mark, causing Progressive's stock price to fluctuate widely around quarterly earnings announcements. Analysts' forecasting abilities seemed to be getting worse--during four consecutive quarters in 1999-2000, management felt compelled to give mid-quarter warnings that earnings would fall significantly below the First Call's consensus estimate. To eliminate the need for such mid-quarter warnings, management considered moving to monthly reporting of operating results. With this data, analysts presumably would be able to update their forecasts. Management must decide if the release of monthly results would give competitors information to use against Progressive, and if the release of monthly results would increase or decrease Progressive's stock price volatility.

Introduces Grey Warner, the vice president of Merck's Latin America region, and his efforts to improve the organizational effectiveness of the region and to introduce a more global business culture and values. Discusses Merck's ethics and values, its Latin American organization, the change methodologies used, and the political and economic conditions in the region. The change methodologies included Myers Briggs personality type assessment, 360 degree feedback management evaluations, a new strategic planning process, and especially, organizational fitness profiling to discover and overcome barriers to achieving the strategic vision. Teaching Purpose: Allows students to examine the management of foreign operations--especially the management of change and the cultural implications thereof.

Supplements the (A) case.

Examines Merck's change effort in Brazil from the perspective of the local employees.

Examines Merck's change effort in Mexico from the perspective of the local employees.