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China's entry into the World Trade Organization at the end of 2001 brought promises that foreign financial institutions would be permitted to operate through China. In 1998, Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc. had merged to create the new Citigroup Inc. Travelers brought a vast array of financial services that added to Citibank's existing portfolio of consumer and commercial lending. Travelers had developed a very extensive business in investment banking, asset management, life insurance, property casualty insurance, as well as consumer lending. Citigroup now had to determine the business prospects for each of its activities in the growing China market. Fears of social and economic dislocation might lead China to impose regulatory restrictions limiting the pace of foreign expansion. Economic growth might be impeded by the existing political structure, and reforms might not occur in the near term. A myriad of other challenges included human resources difficulties, e-commerce limitations and regional disparities. The pace of privatization of state-owned enterprises and the societal preferences in regard to alternative insurance and investment products added to uncertainties. Citibank had a record of success in less developed countries, and had developed certain competitive advantages that might be the basis for success in China, but whether and how these could be extended to other Citigroup financial activities remained an important question.

In early 2002, the co-chief investment officer of Allianz Dresdner Capital Management (ADCM), the fourth-largest asset management firm in the world, reflects on the structure of the firm's "global research platform" and any changes that might be desirable. The tasks for the student are to map the structure of the global platform, evaluate it, and recommend modifications.

McNutt Service Group, a heating, ventilating and air conditioning business, has grown to the stage where the president is considering moving the service division to a new location, to provide increased space, a greater degree of autonomy and more efficient access to the division's customer base. He must analyse the financial feasibility and evaluate the team dynamics, motivation and the morale advantages and disadvantages of a physical move.

Terralumen is a family-owned agricultural company that has expanded into consumer products. A senior executive with the company has helped build a successful joint venture over a period of 16 years with Delta, an American fast food chain. After a directors meeting, he senses that the American joint venture partners want to end the partnership, but he is unsure why. The joint venture has been profitable, and he also believes his company contributed the most to its success and that prior to the joint venture Delta had limited success in foreign markets. With the break up of the joint venture pending, he must determine how to extract the largest return on Terralumen's investment.

In September 2001, Houston-based Enron Corporation (Enron) was embroiled in a long-running dispute with various levels of government in India. The dispute involved the Dabhol Power Company (DPC), a 2,184 megawatt (MW) power project in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The dispute began in the mid 1990s. In April 1995, Enron began construction of a $2.8 billion power plant in the state of Maharashtra. In August 1995, the Maharashtrian government announced that the project was canceled based on the recommendations of a committee set up by the government to review the project. After the contract was renegotiated, construction resumed and Phase I was completed in 1999. In 2001, with Phase II of the project 95% complete, Enron announced that it would sell its DPC stake because of payment disputes with its sole buyer, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), and the failure of the Indian central government to honor its counter-guarantee.

The case focuses on opportunities and challenges for a traditional, bricks-and-mortar retailer to use the Internet as an added channel. A major implementation issue, which raised a heated debate among retailers, concerns Tesco.com's order fulfilment approach, based on in-store picked (rather than dedicated warehouses). It also insists on how can one make Internet retailing a profit-making story.

Many managers have adopted a balanced scorecard approach to measuring performance. But "balance" implies that all measures are equally important in all settings. The authors endorse the multimeasure approach, but challenge the idea that all measures are equally important regardless of the product-market strategy adopted. Results of a survey of more than 200 businesses support this position. The most successful performers emphasized the measures and perspectives (customer, internal business, innovation and growth, financial) most appropriate to their strategy type (prospector, analyzer, low-cost defender, differentiated defender).

Discusses the complete transformation and turnover in every division of Garanti Bank. Describes the multiple change projects managed and cross-cultural issues confronted during the 1990s and the organizational challenge of transforming Garanti Bank into one of Turkey's premier financial institutions.

Alfred Sloan wrote the book on hierarchical management. Turns out, though, he didn't practice what he preached, a fact that has new relevance as businesses look to the past for guidance on the future.

In early 2002, world attention turned to the upcoming election in the southern Africa nation of Zimbabwe. Once viewed as a model of relative prosperity and potential, as well as democracy in sub-Saharan black Africa, the nation faced political violence, an AIDS epidemic, and food and fuel shortages, under the rule of long-time president Robert Mugabe, the one-time revolutionary leader in what was once white-ruled Rhodesia. This case focuses on the political strategy and campaign of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), an opposition party led by former labor leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The MDC faced the daunting challenge of waging a peaceful and successful campaign notwithstanding what were widely viewed around the world as increasingly anti-democratic steps taken by Mugabe-including land seizures of white-owned farms and potential vote-rigging. Tsvangirai must balance a desire for victory with concern for his personal safety, concern for stability in Zimbabwe, and the long-term prospects for the MDC and democracy in Zimbabwe. HKS Case Number 1655.0

The Canadian biotechnology industry generates nearly $1 billion in revenues annually. This note provides a sense of the key success factors associated with competing in this rapidly-evolving business area, including an exploration of the key sectors of economic activity, current scientific and social issues affecting development of biotechnology-based businesses, the role of clusters in building an infrastructure for biotechnology activity, and the key steps involved in patenting and developing biotechnology-related products. Issues associated with financing biotechnology-based businesses in Canada are also reviewed.

The president and chief executive officer of a large food manufacturer is preparing his company's strategic agenda for the next five years. One of the top five food manufacturers in Canada, the company went public and restructured its management team six years ago. The efforts were successful, resulting in an increase in the company's market share. Recent food industry trends, however, added box stores and private label brands to the domestic competition. At the same time, the terms of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement are expected to abolish food-related tariffs within two years, opening up competition from across the border. While the company has experienced success in the past five years, the president and chief executive officer needs a strategic plan that will take the company to the next level.

The case documents the strategic options open to Quiñenco, the quoted holding company 82% owned by the Luksic family, in its ambition to become a major multilatina. Their successful strategy has been to acquire under-valued companies, enhance their assets and sell them for a gain. However, the stock price of Quiñenco has languished since the initial IPO in July 1997.

This case details the implementation of the e-business initiative--the last of Jack Welch's four company-wide strategic thrusts. First, it summarizes the 20-year change process that Welch led, detailing the initiatives he put in place. It then traces how Gerry Podesta, the e-business head in GE Plastics, implemented the new initiative. In doing so, highlights how the "social architecture" (culture and values) and "operating systems" (systems and processes) help the company drive through changes that have it named Internet Week's top e-business of 2000. Ends with questions about the effectiveness of successive pushes on "e-sell," "e-buy," and "e-make" and whether the e-business teams should be broken up and rolled back into the company.

Eric Palmer arrived at the top floor of Camden Robotics, a supplier of industrial automation tools, excited to tell CEO Tom O'Reilly about his latest win: a print ad account with a well-known local software maker. "You pulled in more business?" the boss responded. "It's really working out, then, isn't it?" Six months earlier, Palmer, the head of marketing communications at Camden, had been in a less optimistic mood as he'd walked into the executive suite. His department had recently expanded and hired some pricey designers, but because of the economic slowdown, Camden was launching fewer marketing campaigns, and Palmer had feared that his department would be targeted for layoffs. Instead, O'Reilly proposed recasting the marketing function as a business unit. It would continue to provide services to other units within the company, but it would also be free to engage in "value pricing" and could propose project work internally just as outside agencies might. In addition, the new group, Creative Central, could serve customers outside Camden in its spare time to earn revenue to defray its expenses. At first, the reaction to the news was overwhelmingly positive across the company. Palmer was thriving in the role of corporate entrepreneur. But several months into the change, the complaints started. As the discontent grows, O'Reilly is left to decide whether this organizational change is working. In R0204A and R0204Z, commentators Dan Logan, Michael McKenney, Mark P. Rice, and Jeffrey W. Bennett weigh in on this fictional case study.

Product R&D at many companies is a major bottleneck. The difficulty is that fully understanding the needs of just a single customer can be an inexact and costly process--to say nothing of the needs of all customers or even groups of them. In the course of studying product innovation across many industries, authors Stefan Thomke and Eric von Hippel found several companies that have adopted a completely new, seemingly counterintuitive, approach to product R&D: they have abandoned their efforts to understand exactly what products their customers want; instead, they equip customers with tool kits to design and develop their own products. Doing so can create tremendous value, but capturing that value is hardly a simple or straightforward process. Not only must a company develop the right tool kit, but it must also revamp its business models and management mind-set. When companies relinquish a fundamental task--such as designing a new product--to customers, the two parties must redefine their relationship, and this change can be risky. With customers taking over more of the design, companies must now focus more on providing the best custom manufacturing. In other words, the location where value is created and is captured changes, and companies must reconfigure their business models accordingly. This article offers basic principles and lessons for industries undergoing such transformations.

Eric Palmer arrived at the top floor of Camden Robotics, a supplier of industrial automation tools, excited to tell CEO Tom O'Reilly about his latest win: a print ad account with a well-known local software maker. "You pulled in more business?" the boss responded. "It's really working out, then, isn't it?" Six months earlier, Palmer, the head of marketing communications at Camden, had been in a less optimistic mood as he'd walked into the executive suite. His department had recently expanded and hired some pricey designers, but because of the economic slowdown, Camden was launching fewer marketing campaigns, and Palmer had feared that his department would be targeted for layoffs. Instead, O'Reilly proposed recasting the marketing function as a business unit. It would continue to provide services to other units within the company, but it would also be free to engage in "value pricing" and could propose project work internally just as outside agencies might. In addition, the new group, Creative Central, could serve customers outside Camden in its spare time to earn revenue to defray its expenses. At first, the reaction to the news was overwhelmingly positive across the company. Palmer was thriving in the role of corporate entrepreneur. But several months into the change, the complaints started. As the discontent grows, O'Reilly is left to decide whether this organizational change is working. In R0204A and R0204Z, commentators Dan Logan, Michael McKenney, Mark P. Rice, and Jeffrey W. Bennett weigh in on this fictional case study.

Eric Palmer arrived at the top floor of Camden Robotics, a supplier of industrial automation tools, excited to tell CEO Tom O'Reilly about his latest win: a print ad account with a well-known local software maker. "You pulled in more business?" the boss responded. "It's really working out, then, isn't it?" Six months earlier, Palmer, the head of marketing communications at Camden, had been in a less optimistic mood as he'd walked into the executive suite. His department had recently expanded and hired some pricey designers, but because of the economic slowdown, Camden was launching fewer marketing campaigns, and Palmer had feared that his department would be targeted for layoffs. Instead, O'Reilly proposed recasting the marketing function as a business unit. It would continue to provide services to other units within the company, but it would also be free to engage in "value pricing" and could propose project work internally just as outside agencies might. In addition, the new group, Creative Central, could serve customers outside Camden in its spare time to earn revenue to defray its expenses. At first, the reaction to the news was overwhelmingly positive across the company. Palmer was thriving in the role of corporate entrepreneur. But several months into the change, the complaints started. As the discontent grows, O'Reilly is left to decide whether this organizational change is working. In R0204A and R0204Z, commentators Dan Logan, Michael McKenney, Mark P. Rice, and Jeffrey W. Bennett weigh in on this fictional case study.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Nowhere is the growing interconnectedness of business more clear than in the information technology industry, where the success of any one company's innovation is dependent on the activities of a complex web of partners. Michael Cusumano of the Sloan School and Annabelle Gawer of INSEAD offer a new framework for understanding what is going on and how to orchestrate the interactions. Building on their in-depth research at Intel, a company that excels in shaping its environment, the authors show how organizations can maximize innovation. First, they say, companies must decide if they are platform leaders (companies that drive industrywide innovation for an evolving system of separately developed pieces), wannabes (companies that want to be platform leaders), or complementors (companies that make ancillary products that expand the platform's market). Managers have two major challenges: coordinating internal units that play one or more of those roles and interacting effectively with outsiders playing the same roles at different times. The authors delineate four levers of platform leadership (including productive ways to work with complementors and techniques for building a supportive internal organization) and offer practical advice to complementors as well. They provide guidelines on when to show your cards to competitors and when to hold them. As the experiences of Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, NTT DoCoMo, and others demonstrate, platform leaders need to have a vision that extends beyond their current business operations and the technical specifications of one product or one component. Complementors have an important role, but it is the platform leaders, and their decisions, that have the most influence over the innovations that complementary producers create--and the future of the industry.