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Katherine Mason is a program officer at InterExchange, a firm that administers academic-exchange programs with the former Soviet Union. After returning from an extended period of time in three of the former Soviet republics, Mason discovers that the finance department has instituted new reimbursement policies. She must decide how to interpret and react to the memos concerning expense-report reimbursement. The twist in the case is that because of a past incident, Mason does not have a positive relationship with either her division head or the controller. Mason is convinced that the new policies fail to take into account the individual nature of financial transactions conducted in foreign countries. How should she present her arguments and explain her position to the controller?

The president and CEO of Russell Reynolds examined the company's expansion strategy, especially in emerging markets. He evalulates how quickly the company should open new offices abroad and in which countries.

Too often, promising strategic plans never come to fruition. A common cause of such failures is a breakdown in implementation--the internal processes and events needed to bring a strategy to life. Results from a large-scale research project, surveying 500 middle managers in five large firms in different industries, led to a framework for strategy implementation. The framework analyzes the pitfalls and requisite managerial responses in four chronological stages of implementation: Pre-Implementation, Organizing the Implementation Effort, Managing the Implementation Process, and Maximizing Cross-functional Performance. Managerial levers for coping with the requirements of these different phases include goal-setting and modifications of structure, leadership, communications, and incentive systems. A thread that runs through the entire sequence is the need not to overlook middle managers when the focus is on customers, competitors, and senior management decision making.

Delegating responsibility is hard. Not delegating can be disastrous. Former Oklahoma City fire chief Carl Holmes shares his best practices for efficient leadership.

Many managers feel overwhelmed. They have too many problems--too many monkeys--on their backs. All too often, they say, they find themselves running out of time while their subordinates are running out of work. Such is the common phenomenon described by the late William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass in this 1974 HBR classic. They tell the engaging story of an overburdened manager who has unwittingly taken on all of his subordinates' problems. If, for example, an employee has a problem and the manager says, "Let me think about that and get back to you," the monkey has just leaped from the subordinate's back to the manager's. This article describes how the manager can delegate effectively to keep most monkeys on the subordinate's back. It offers suggestions on the care and feeding of monkeys and on how managers can transfer initiative. In his accompanying commentary, Stephen R. Covey discusses both the enduring power of this message and how theories of time management have progressed beyond these ideas. Management thinkers and executives alike now realize that bosses cannot just give a monkey back to their subordinates. Subordinates must first be empowered, and that's hard and complicated work. It means bosses have to develop their subordinates and establish trust. Perhaps even more important and relevant than it was 25 years ago, Covey says, this article is a powerful wake-up call for managers at risk for carrying too many monkeys.

The senior market associate of Trojan Technologies reflected on the water shortages anticipated in developing countries created by their explosive economic growth. Trojan sold water disinfecting equipment, and the senior market associate's job was to find new areas for growth. China was particularly intriguing because it had as much water as Canada, but 40 times the population, and its economic boom would further stress current water resources. Trojan had set growth hurdles of 30% per year, and it needed new markets to reach that objective. The task in new market development was to determine whether Trojan should enter China and, if so, when, where, and how. The associate knew little of China: how decisions were made for water disinfecting equipment, whether Trojan's patents would be protected, and what level of resources would be required. The vice president of new business development wanted to see recommendations within the month.

One of Dow Jones & Co.'s most respected brands, The Wall Street Journal, is threatened by Internet news providers, including their own Interactive Edition. The company is unsure whether the Interactive Edition will be a substitute or a complement to the print edition. This case focuses on changing industry boundaries, new technology, potential cannibalization, and a threat to the company's traditional business model. Industry analysis of both print and interactive publishing is discussed, as is resource leveraging across the two formats.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Second place winner of the MDC of Hong Kong Case Writer of the Year Award</strong></p><br>The senior market associate of Trojan Technologies reflected on the water shortages anticipated in developing countries created by their explosive economic growth. Trojan sold water disinfecting equipment, and the senior market associate's job was to find new areas for growth. China was particularly intriguing because it had as much water as Canada, but 40 times the population, and its economic boom would further stress current water resources. Trojan had set growth hurdles of 30 per cent per year, and it needed new markets to reach that objective. The task in new market development was to determine if Trojan should enter China, and if so, when, where and how. The associate knew little of China: how decisions were made for water disinfecting equipment, whether Trojan's patents would be protected, and what level of resources would be required. The vice-president of new business development wanted to see recommendations within the month.

One of Dow Jones & Company's most respected brands, The Wall Street Journal, is threatened by Internet news providers, including their own Interactive Edition. The company is unsure whether the Interactive Edition will be a substitute or a complement to the Print Edition. The case focuses on changing industry boundaries, new technology, potential cannibalization, and a threat to the company's traditional business model. Industry analysis of both print and interactive publishing is discussed, as is resource leveraging across the two formats.

Like many other financial institutions, ING faces the challenges and opportunities of globalization. This case examines financial integration within the European Union, the attempt to harmonize regulations and the creation of a single currency. The Basle Accord establishes international standards for a financial institution's capital as a percentage of loans. There is currently an attempt to modify these standards to reflect the differences in risk associated with different types of assets. The case also examines emerging markets and the foreign exchange crises that repeatedly impact these countries. Finally, the case examines the shift towards electronic commerce and the possibility of entering new markets without having to build or acquire physical facilities. Students are encouraged to analyze these basic changes in the environment of business and to consider how these changes may impact the globalization strategy of a financial institution.

This case describes the decisions made by Shell in response to the situation presented in the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

After the Brent Spar episode and the 1995 events in Nigeria, Shell undertakes an intensive review of its values and business principles. At the same time, it conducts the largest multi-stakeholder consultation in its history in an effort to better understand society's evolving expectations for companies like Shell. Based on its findings, the company launches an effort to change its culture and embed in the organization a revised set of business principles. The company is considering whether as part of the transformation effort to begin public reporting on its environmental and social as well as its financial performance. The issue is sharpened when Shell receives a challenge from a small group of shareholders in the form of an unusual (for a British company) shareholder resolution.

This article reviews a central tension in management--the relationship between customers and innovation. It explores the contrast between serving and creating customers and examines the sometimes uneasy relationship between an innovation orientation and a customer orientation. From this discussion, the article develops a model that provides an inclusive paradigm of the different strategies that firms have used to resolve the tension and explores the dynamics of the change process for several well-known companies. It concludes by developing the managerial implications of the model, with particular emphasis on how new technology is changing the desirability of alternative strategies.

Deloitte & Touche was losing talented women, and CEO Mike Cook wanted to stop the loss, especially as the accounting and consulting fields became more competitive. The firm commissioned an analysis of the situation; now it had to consider the results and develop a plan change.

Deloitte & Touche women's initiative changed the workplace culture at the firm, solved retention problems, and brought external benefits. Now a new CEO must decide how to take this a step further as competition for talent was even stronger, young people had different needs and aspirations, and the firm's global offices had not yet embraced this U.S. initiative.

Northwest was a major producer of newsprint, with pulpmills in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, from which they supplied various North American markets. The assistant controller was reviewing which mill supplied which market, in an attempt to find some opportunities for cost savings, and planned to develop and use a model to investigate both the immediate newsprint allocation problem and also some longer-term strategic issues. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E035.) The supplement, Northwest Newsprint, Inc. (B), product # 9B09E003 addresses the ability of price changes to mitigate supply chain issues and improve supply chain profitability.

Although British Airways had been lagging behind other carriers in the region, in the opinion of the new general manager for Latin America, the company had the potential to be the leading European airline in Latin America. He believed the market had all the characteristics in which British Airways had traditionally been most strong. However, after six months of visiting all the offices in the region, he began to feel that some key country managers were not supporting the changes necessary to move the company ahead. Head Office in London was also skeptical. Latin American is breaking even, so there is no real need to solve the problem, was one typical response. This case deals with efforts to implement major organizational change in a short period of time.

Seeing an opportunity, the general manager for Latin America promised London an unprecedented one-year revenue increase of 44 per cent, provided that sufficient resources were allocated to the region. The early results of his efforts to transform the company's Latin American operations are discussed. This case is a supplement to the British Airways: Latin America (A) case, 9A99C015.

This addendum to George's T-shirts (UV0680) offers a revised forecast in the form of a cumulative distribution function for the two key uncertainties in the case. It can be used as the basis for introductory risk analysis tools such as Crystal Ball or @Risk.