個案總覽

A new political appointee with years of volunteer experience takes over a highly responsible job in the state government and is met with bureaucratic inertia. Describes a successful strategy to overcome organizational resistance to change.

Supplements the (A) case.

In 2002, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems strove to develop their long-standing partnership into a strategic alliance with increasing impact. Critical components of successful alliance implementation emerge from the analysis. Specifically, the case illuminates the links among alliance strategy, formal design of alliance structure and processes, and informal management of interpersonal dynamics where trust, perceptions, and emotions can both create and overcome formidable obstacles to effective interfirm relationships.

In 1999, a powerful struggle amidst complex corporate and interpersonal networks led to the failed merger between Banca Commerciale Italiana and Unicredito Italiano--two of Italy's largest banking groups. This case analyzes the actions of Abelli and Saviotti, co-CEOs of Banca Commerciale Italiana at that time, as well as those of central players in Banca d'Italia, Mediobanca, and several prominent national and international banking and industrial groups. The events shed light on the management of multilayered resource dependencies and tactics of political influence as a critical precondition for implementing sound business strategy.

Supplements the (A) case.