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A six-step technique for solving business problems is presented: stating the problem, developing a framework for analysis, identifying key issues, performing analysis, drawing conclusions, and making recommendations. Intended to be used with a case or cases that highlight the use of these tools.

Mark Ain is the founder and manager of Kronos, which has grown to a $33 million dollar company in 13 years. The case focuses on Ain's rrole in the company. Presents data from a personality assessment of Ain and his senior management team as input to this decision. .

Provides a follow-up to Kronos (A). Describes Mark Ain's resolution of the issues, and his perspectives on the rationale for his choices.

Describes Dan Gordon's first month on the job as Chief Operating Officer of Club Sports International (CSI), a chain of 7 health and fitness clubs. Describes the company's strategy and organization. The company needs Dan to tighten up its operations and create a base that will permit CSI to grow to 30 clubs. Describes virtually no systems, controls, or mechanisms that are in place to actually manage the business. Thus students must paint this blank canvas with their view of the systems needed to manage the business, and what Dan must do to make it work.

Focuses on the young general manager of a new cable TV system and on its customer service department. Jeanne LaFrance, the general manager, has an uneasy feeling about the way in which the department is being managed. She sees symptoms of what she suspects are serious problems. It takes too long for customer service reps to answer the phones, and many customers hang up before their calls are answered. There is little in the way of performance standards, measures, or controls. Yet there is not enough data in the case for students to resolve these issues. The objective is to develop a plan for learning about these problems. What are their hypotheses about the issues? What analysis would they need to do to address these issues? How would they get the data to do this?

Focuses on the new CEO of a growing software firm, the culture he's tried to create, and the need to hire a manager to spearhead a new product division. Includes details on how the search was conducted and presents resumes of four candidates who are being considered for the position. Designed to allow students to think through the recruitment, selection, and interview process.

Supplements the (A) case.

Covers the period from Steinberg's founding in 1917 through the company's growth to a major firm in 1969.

Picks up where National Demographics & Lifestyles (A) left off, describing the company's financing and very successful performance through 1987. At this point, the founders and venture backers face some difficult choices around how and when to harvest the value they have created. Options include a public offering or sale of the company.

Describes the founding and subsequent growth of WaterTest, a New Hampshire firm run by a entrepreneur with little business background. Three Harvard Business School students are working on a project to help the firm refine its marketing strategy. The students collect a great deal of data--which is available in disk form--on the company's customers and potential customers. Students are asked to analyze this data to develop a marketing strategy for the firm.

Describes the various uses for a business plan and focuses on writing a business plan to attract financing for a new venture.

Describes the various tax laws that impact the purchase and sale of a business.

Describes the legal odyssey of two engineers who left their old employer to start a company that was directly competitive. The issues include employment contracts, technology licenses, antitrust, trade secrets, and confidential information. Provides a good opportunity for students to explore the legal and ethical issues which surround the concept of intellectual property.

Contains a list of six questions that the jury was required to answer in order to deliver a verdict.

Describes the steps necessary to purchase a small to medium size company. Provides an eight-part analytical framework. Issues covered in the framework include the following: the self-assessment, deal criteria, deal sources, resources necessary to purchase a business, the deal process, the evaluation process, negotiating the deal, and adding value and harvesting the venture.

Describes National Demographics and Lifestyles (NDL), a Colorado-based company that compiles a database from product "warranty registration cards" and sells mailing lists from this database. The company has burned through more rounds of financing than ever intended, and its founders must decide whether--and how--to approach their venture backers for more financing. And, the venture capitalists must decide whether to proceed or not. May be used with National Demographics & Lifestyles (B).

Describes the evolution of Johnsonville Sausage through a generation of management and from a small operation to a large concern of over 500 employees. Describes how each of the functional areas in the firm has evolved, and how its structure and systems have changed over the years.

Describes the issues that entrepreneurs and their firms must deal with in attempting to make the transition from entrepreneurial to professional management. The note suggests that the delegation of responsibility and the implementation of formal controls are two key steps in this transition.

Provides the background for a discussion of Nike (E1), (E2), and (E3). Outlines Nike's senior management group's early program to deal with the company's increasingly difficult competitive circumstance.

Describes the issues an entrepreneur faces in the process of raising private funds, and the securities laws which impact the process. Based in part on a note by R.E. Floor of the law firm of Goodwin, Procter & Hoar.