In the early 1990s, Donna Klein, Director of Work/Life programs for Marriott International, surveyed hotel and resort managers and found they increasingly were relied upon to help employees cope with the stresses of their personal lives. Immigration, child custody, spousal abuse--numerous personal issues were requiring up to 50% of managers' time and fueling extremely high turnover among the company's over 100,000 lower-wage workers. Although Marriott offered a traditional dependent care resource and referral service, Klein realized that this service was not particularly useful or appropriate for hourly workers. She understood that hourly employees needed help finding cost-effective ways to solve their personal problems and more one-on-one consultation to help them tap into their local resources. Shocked by the survey results, senior management asked Klein and her associates to devise a solution to address the problem.
McKay Nursery Co., founded in 1897 in Waterloo, Wisconsin, had a longstanding history of commitment to employees. The close-knit organization was a pioneer in the agricultural industry of several employee-friendly policies. But in the early 1980s, as McKay's owners grew older and senior management neared retirement, the next generation of managers feared for the future of the profitable, debt-free company. Middle manager Griff Mason and his colleagues were concerned McKay might become the target of a hostile takeover, which would move the company out of the community that had supported it for nearly a century. They wondered what they might do to keep the company in Waterloo and continue to retain its employees, nearly half of whom were migrant workers.
Focuses on the problem of determining whether to continue with a start-up after the first market test. The company has seen product success but is far from break-even and needs additional financing. Focuses on opportunity analysis and the use of market data to assess whether progress is being made.
Paul Olsen, a doctoral management student, is considering forming a limited partnership to open a restaurant in a renovated downtown mall in Pittsburgh. He must assess the opportunity, find investors for the anticipated $250,000 start-up costs, and create a workable business plan for the restaurant. He has no prior industry experience.