The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the "new economy" boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.
The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the "new economy" boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.
The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the "new economy" boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.
After Hurricane Katrina hit the coast of Louisiana on August 29, 2005, Wal-Mart initiated emergency operations that not only protected and reopened its stores, but also helped its employees and others in the community cope with the disaster's personal impact. This response was part of a wider effort by the company under CEO Lee Scott to improve its public image. Wal-Mart's efforts were widely regarded as the most successful of all corporations in the aftermath of the disaster and set the standard for future corporate disaster relief programs.
The case tells the story of a company where innovation is tremendously important, but not working well. In 2003, the LEGO Group had a number of positive attributes: it had a well-respected brand with some very good toy lines. It had a passionate customer base that in many areas was more sophisticated than its internal designers. And it had been able to extend the brand into many areas such as toys, games, clothing, theme parks, movies, and many others types of play, earning significant revenues (but not profits). But, in 2003, the company had gotten itself into deep trouble. Over the previous 5-10 years, the toy industry had been changing dramatically in ways that did not favor the LEGO Group. These changes, coupled with some poorly planned investments and a downturn in the sales of some important toy lines, combined to almost put the LEGO Group out of business. The company lost nearly DKK 1 billion in 2003 and its cash dwindled dangerously low. This was the largest loss in the history of the company, and many analysts believed that bankruptcy and perhaps even the breakup and sale of the company were likely. The company quickly sold off assets, reduced headcount, and outsourced production to cut costs and generate cash. But it knew, to turn around the company, it had to improve its overall innovation system. It had to improve the time to market, success rate, and profitability in its innovation system. The case presents a number of representative challenges that LEGO was facing during 2004 and beyond. Learning objectives: 1) How to restructure an innovation system. 2) How to encourage all types of innovation (innovation in pricing, business model, channel to market, branding, customer experience, etc.) and coordinate these innovations across the company. 3) How to involve external parties such as customers, complementary product producers, and external inventors in your innovation system.
The (B) case describes the specific steps that the LEGO Group took to improve innovation. They include: 1) Restructuring the company to make responsibility for each part of the business clearer. Each toy line was given responsibility for its own sales and profitability, and the Concept Lab, which before had lacked focus, was separated and charged with developing new ideas that were "obviously LEGO but never seen before." 2) The definition of innovation was redefined through the LEGO innovation matrix. 3) A new stage-gate process was implemented. 4) A new way of working with external inventors and complementary product producers was integrated into the structure and process. 5) Users were involved in the development of new toys, in particular the new generation of LEGO Mindstorms. Through these and other activities, the LEGO Group dramatically improved its performance, returning to profitability in 2005 and achieving very healthy profits in 2007. Learning objectives: 1) How to restructure an innovation system. 2) How to encourage all types of innovation (innovation in pricing, business model, channel to market, branding, customer experience, etc.) and coordinate these innovations across the company. 3) How to involve external parties such as customers, complementary product producers, and external inventors in your innovation system.
The case describes an attempt by Steve Gundrum, the CEO and President of Mattson, to improve the company's innovativeness. Mattson, located in Silicon Valley, California, is an independent developer of new products for the food and beverage industry. Mattson creates, develops, and brings to market new beverages, snacks, frozen meals, and many other food and beverage products as a contractor to the large producers in the industry. Gundrum believes there's an opportunity to improve his innovation system by borrowing from the leading-edge software firms that surround him. To test new methods of developing products, Gundrum creates a contest - to develop a better cookie - and commissions three teams: one using Mattson's traditional hierarchical team structure, one using open source (OS) development, and a third using extreme programming (XP). The Mattson Project Delta (A), (B), and (C) cases explain what happened. Learning objectives: The study and discussion of this case can help students understand more deeply the importance of team composition and structure in the innovation process. It also shows the power of reaching across industry boundaries to find new ideas, not just for products but for business process and structure as well. The key lessons in this case are that: 1) Team structure and management can make a big difference in both creativity and productivity. 2) Problem solving (internal generation of new answers to problems) and solution finding (external exploration for existing solutions to problems) can each be valuable in different situations and at different stages in the innovation life cycle. 3) Managers have many options when choosing a team structure. Further, the case provides a nice language for talking about team structure. 4) Prototyping can be applied not just for new products, but new structures and processes for innovation.
The case describes an attempt by Steve Gundrum, the CEO and President of Mattson, to improve the company's innovativeness. Mattson, located in Silicon Valley, California, is an independent developer of new products for the food and beverage industry. Mattson creates, develops, and brings to market new beverages, snacks, frozen meals, and many other food and beverage products as a contractor to the large producers in the industry. Gundrum believes there's an opportunity to improve his innovation system by borrowing from the leading-edge software firms that surround him. To test new methods of developing products, Gundrum creates a contest - to develop a better cookie - and commissions three teams: one using Mattson's traditional hierarchical team structure, one using open source (OS) development, and a third using extreme programming (XP). The Mattson Project Delta (A), (B), and (C) cases explain what happened. Learning objectives: The study and discussion of this case can help students understand more deeply the importance of team composition and structure in the innovation process. It also shows the power of reaching across industry boundaries to find new ideas, not just for products but for business process and structure as well. The key lessons in this case are that: 1) Team structure and management can make a big difference in both creativity and productivity. 2) Problem solving (internal generation of new answers to problems) and solution finding (external exploration for existing solutions to problems) can each be valuable in different situations and at different stages in the innovation life cycle. 3) Managers have many options when choosing a team structure. Further, the case provides a nice language for talking about team structure. 4) Prototyping can be applied not just for new products, but new structures and processes for innovation.
The case describes an attempt by Steve Gundrum, the CEO and President of Mattson, to improve the company's innovativeness. Mattson, located in Silicon Valley, California, is an independent developer of new products for the food and beverage industry. Mattson creates, develops, and brings to market new beverages, snacks, frozen meals, and many other food and beverage products as a contractor to the large producers in the industry. Gundrum believes there's an opportunity to improve his innovation system by borrowing from the leading-edge software firms that surround him. To test new methods of developing products, Gundrum creates a contest - to develop a better cookie - and commissions three teams: one using Mattson's traditional hierarchical team structure, one using open source (OS) development, and a third using extreme programming (XP). The Mattson Project Delta (A), (B), and (C) cases explain what happened. Learning objectives: The study and discussion of this case can help students understand more deeply the importance of team composition and structure in the innovation process. It also shows the power of reaching across industry boundaries to find new ideas, not just for products but for business process and structure as well. The key lessons in this case are that: 1) Team structure and management can make a big difference in both creativity and productivity. 2) Problem solving (internal generation of new answers to problems) and solution finding (external exploration for existing solutions to problems) can each be valuable in different situations and at different stages in the innovation life cycle. 3) Managers have many options when choosing a team structure. Further, the case provides a nice language for talking about team structure. 4) Prototyping can be applied not just for new products, but new structures and processes for innovation.
The case describes Microsoft's first significant acquisition in Europe and its first in the telecom equipment (software) market. SendIt is a publicly listed Swedish start-up, which offers the only Windows based solutions to the IP-based mobile phone services market. The acquisition starts in high tone, loses momentum and is finally integrated with some degree of success.
The case describes Microsoft's first significant acquisition in Europe and its first in the telecom equipment (software) market. SendIt is a publicly listed Swedish start-up, which offers the only Windows based solutions to the IP-based mobile phone services market. The acquisition starts in high tone, loses momentum and is finally integrated with some degree of success.
The case describes Microsoft's first significant acquisition in Europe and its first in the telecom equipment (software) market. SendIt is a publicly listed Swedish start-up, which offers the only Windows based solutions to the IP-based mobile phone services market. The acquisition starts in high tone, loses momentum and is finally integrated with some degree of success.
The general manager for U.S.-based Sealed Air Corp.'s Taiwan subsidiary must decide whether he's hired the right person to bridge the gap between Sealed Air's corporate culture and Taiwan's business culture. This case details Bob Kayser's experiences in trying to infuse the Sealed Air culture into the Taiwan operation, including approaches to training, compensation, and motivation.
Zhang Ruimin, founder and CEO of China's Haier Group, must decide whether to acquire Red Star Electric Appliance Co., an insolvent local manufacturer of washing machines. Although Haier, slated to become one of China's first global brand names, has successfully turned around other failing enterprises by infusing its distinctive culture and management style, it is not clear whether that approach will work at Red Star. Both Haier and Red Star are "collective enterprises."
What ever happened to Japan? In the early 1990s, it lost its status as an economic juggernaut and found itself a beleaguered nation in its worst recession since World War II. Two new books help explain why the country has been struggling: Japan: A Reinterpretation, by Patrick Smith, and Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior, by Noboru Yoshimura and Philip Anderson. The books demonstrate that Japan achieved its prominence by playing follow the leader. In other words, Japanese companies, or kaisha, copied the West's high-growth industries and caught up with the United States more through competitiveness and efficiency than through innovation. How can Japan rebound? It may be that effective change can be led only by Japan's younger generation. Japanese students are likely to demand a higher standard of living than their parents had. The growth of a consumer culture, Crawford says, could encourage individuals to develop a healthier sense of self--which, in turn, could help the country spawn the innovative culture needed to succeed in a fast changing global economy.