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Procter & Gamble must determine an entry strategy for Eastern Europe. The case examines the former Soviet Bloc countries, the opportunity they provide for a business endeavor like Procter & Gamble, and the product choices Procter & Gamble has available to them. Students must examine the political, economic, societal, and technological (PEST) environment and determine if the newly liberalized economies of Eastern Europe provide appropriate investment opportunities for Procter & Gamble. Students must also determine the scope of the necessary investment, the time profile and the difficulties it may face. A follow-up case (9A97H002) is available.

For years, small companies have experimented with forms of open-book management. Open-book systems have smoothed change efforts by giving workers the why instead of just the how of initiatives; they have enabled employees to think like owners. Now divisions of large organizations such as R.R. Donnelley & Sons and Amoco Canada are finding that opening the books can work for them, too. It isn't easy, and companies must adapt the principles to their own situations. AES Corp., for example, found that it had to declare all its employees "insiders" when it went public. One of the reasons for large companies' interest in open-book management is the success of a role-model company, Missouri-based Springfield ReManufacturing. Leaders of divisions of large companies have been able to visit and ask questions. Other early adopters are also showing competitive advantages. Among them are Wabash National, now the nation's leading truck and tractor manufacturer, and Physician Sales & Service, a distributor of supplies to doctors' offices. Hexacomb Corp. is another large organization that has done well.

In the past, companies kept most of their research and development activities in their home country because they thought it important to have R&D close to where strategic decisions were being made. But today many companies choose to establish R&D networks in foreign countries in order to tap the knowledge there or to commercialize products for those markets at a competitive speed. Adopting a global approach entails new, complex managerial challenges. It means linking R&D strategy to a company's overall business strategy. The best individual for managing R&D abroad combines the qualities of good scientist and good manager, knows how to integrate the new site with existing sites, understands technology trends, and is good at gaining access to foreign scientific communities. As more pockets of knowledge emerge around the globe and competition in foreign markets mounts, only those companies that embrace an informed approach to global R&D will be able to meet the new challenges.

The general manager of Qualibrands (QB), a Philippine company with interests in the auto components industry, must decide what to recommend to the owner of QB regarding a proposed four-way joint venture between QB, Autobelt (Malaysia), Autoliv (Sweden), and SMACA (Philippines) to produce seat belts in the Philippines. The financial projections look good, but the general manager is concerned that there may be other aspects of the proposed joint venture that might lead to the failure of the joint venture either in total or in reaching its financial and operational goals.

Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR) in China series consists of two cases. The Kenny Rogers Roasters in China (A) case documents the efforts of a U.S.-based fast food chain to penetrate the Chinese market in the mid-1990s. The cases focus on Tony Wang, president of Franchise Investment Corporation of Asia (FICA), as he evaluates the market potential for KRR in China and selects a joint venture partner for the first restaurant. The accompanying KRR in China (B) case focuses on site selection issues which are at the heart of Tony Wang's ambitions for the restaurant chain in China. Both the (A) and (B) cases can be taught together in a single 90-minute class.

The managing director and founder of Bangkok-based Siam Canadian Foods Co., Ltd., was considering the emerging business opportunities in neighboring Burma (also known as Myanmar). Although relatively undeveloped compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, Burma had been experiencing increasing levels of foreign investment activity in recent years. Siam, who had considered entering Burma in the past but declined, needed to determine if the time was now appropriate for the company to enter the market.

Emergency Vehicle Positioning, Inc. (EVPI) has developed a satellite-based tracking system that continuously updates and displays the location of every vehicle in its network. A recently signed contract presents new technical challenges that may make the normally installed system inadequate. While it is possible to augment the system so that it will definitely work, doing so would entail considerable cost. This case is a modified version of "Integrated Siting Systems, Inc." [UV0355]. The only difference is that the latter case provides all possible conditional probabilities, offering a slightly different introduction to Bayes Theorem. In this case, only the recent conditional probabilities are provided. Indeed, except for the name, date, final paragraph (which mentions the other probabilities), and the exhibit on conditional probabilities, the cases are identical. Therefore, the teaching note for the Integrated Siting Systems case [UV0356] is also appropriate for this case.

The case opens with a discussion of the evolution of the private branch exchange industry in the 1970s and 1980s. It follows the path of Rolm from an independent company to an IBM acquisition and its problem as an IBM division. Then describes Siemens' growing interest in the U.S. PBX market. At the end IBM and Siemens are negotiating over Rolm's future.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Three decades into the environmental revolution, many companies in the industrialized nations have recognized that they can reduce pollution and increase profits at the same time. But beyond corporate "greening" lies the enormous challenge--and opportunity--to develop a sustainable global economy, one that the planet is capable of supporting indefinitely. Stuart Hart, director of the Corporate Environmental Management Program at the University of Michigan School of Business, explains the imperative of sustainable development and provides a framework for identifying the business opportunities behind sustainability. Hart identifies three stages of environmental strategy: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and the development of clean technology. But companies will not benefit from such efforts unless they draw a road map that can show them how new products and services must evolve and what new competencies they will need.

How do we face the prospect that creating a profitable, growing company might require intolerable abuse of the natural world? Monsanto--with its history in the chemicals industry--is an unlikely candidate to be creating cutting-edge environmental solutions, but that is precisely what it is doing. The need for sustainability is transforming the company's thinking about growth. Changes in global environmental conditions will soon create an unprecedented economic discontinuity. To invent new businesses around the concept of environmental sustainability, Robert Shapiro begins with a simple law of physics: A closed system like the earth's cannot support an unlimited increase of material things. It can, however, withstand exponential growth in information. So Monsanto is exploring ways to substitute information for "stuff" and services for products. For example, the company is genetically coding plants to repel or destroy harmful insects. Putting the right information in the plant makes pesticides unnecessary. Information replaces stuff; productivity increases and waste is reduced.

Innovation and the management of intellectual capital are playing an increasingly important role in competition in high-technology industries. To operate in markets where innovation is cumulative, such as in electronics and semiconductors, firms frequently need to engage in extensive licensing and cross-licensing. This need is amplified by recent increases in the strength of patent protection and by the more active licensing stance of intellectual property owners. A high-quality patent portfolio not only reflects the firm's inventive capacity, but may significantly increase its cross-licensing bargaining ability and reduce royalty payments. In addition, it may directly contribute to its product and process innovation.

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, created by Congress in 1970 to curtail what was viewed as a still-alarming level of industrial accidents, had, 20 years later, become a lightning rod for controversy. Its advocates viewed it as a bulwark of the defense of sale working conditions but opponents portrayed it as abusively intrusive, creating bureaucratic nightmares for employers. With that backdrop -- and with dwindling manpower and other resources -- OSHA officials in Maine, in 1991, try a radically different approach to their task, targeting 200 businesses which data has told them are the state's most important to bring into compliance. OSHA hopes both to avoid diluting the inspection capacity it has -- and to find ways to persuade, rather than to coerce through the law, business to make improvements. The apparent success of the Maine 200 program comes at a time when the new Clinton Administration is eager to find such government "reinvention" programs it can widely replicate. This case allows, first, for analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Maine 200 effort as an example of gaining compliance through a new form of enforcement, and, second, for discussion of the complications, and advisability, of taking a small program "to scale." HKS Case Number 1371.0

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, created by Congress in 1970 to curtail what was viewed as a still-alarming level of industrial accidents, had, 20 years later, become a lightning rod for controversy. Its advocates viewed it as a bulwark of the defense of sale working conditions but opponents portrayed it as abusively intrusive, creating bureaucratic nightmares for employers. With that backdrop -- and with dwindling manpower and other resources -- OSHA officials in Maine, in 1991, try a radically different approach to their task, targeting 200 businesses which data has told them are the state's most important to bring into compliance. OSHA hopes both to avoid diluting the inspection capacity it has -- and to find ways to persuade, rather than to coerce through the law, business to make improvements. The apparent success of the Maine 200 program comes at a time when the new Clinton Administration is eager to find such government "reinvention" programs it can widely replicate. This case allows, first, for analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Maine 200 effort as an example of gaining compliance through a new form of enforcement, and, second, for discussion of the complications, and advisability, of taking a small program "to scale." HKS Case Number 1372.0

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, created by Congress in 1970 to curtail what was viewed as a still-alarming level of industrial accidents, had, 20 years later, become a lightning rod for controversy. Its advocates viewed it as a bulwark of the defense of sale working conditions but opponents portrayed it as abusively intrusive, creating bureaucratic nightmares for employers. With that backdrop -- and with dwindling manpower and other resources -- OSHA officials in Maine, in 1991, try a radically different approach to their task, targeting 200 businesses which data has told them are the state's most important to bring into compliance. OSHA hopes both to avoid diluting the inspection capacity it has -- and to find ways to persuade, rather than to coerce through the law, business to make improvements. The apparent success of the Maine 200 program comes at a time when the new Clinton Administration is eager to find such government "reinvention" programs it can widely replicate. HKS Case Number 1373.0

Faced with the need to dispose of an offshore oil storage installation, the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation develops what it believes is a straightforward and sensible plan: to dump the oil platform deep in the ocean, 150 miles off the northwest coast of Scotland. Doing so avoids a number of problems, including potential environmental threats involved with transporting it and otherwise disposing of it. The British government agrees but the unprecedented plan sparks outrage among environmental groups. HKS Case Number 1369.1

In July 1991, South African president F.W. de Klerk announced the appointment of Hermanus Kriel to the cabinet post of minister of law and order. As the official responsible for oversight of the controversial national police force, the South African Police (SAP), Kriel would perhaps have the hardest job in a rapidly changing South Africa: a job made all the more daunting by recent revelations of a police role in fanning the flames of factional strife among blacks. The growing scandal had reinforced the SAP's reputation among black South Africans as one of the most hated symbols of white rule. For over four decades, the South African Police had been entrusted with enforcing the country's notorious and iniquitous system of apartheid--a task it had performed with what many regarded as excessive zeal and brutality. All this had been done by the SAP in the name of the apartheid system, which it was sworn to uphold. Yet as the 1980s drew to a close, the underpinnings of that system began to change dramatically and SAP's mission was no longer in force. This case details the changes that took place within SAP during the post-apartheid period. It should be paired with HKS829 (Part A). HKS Case Number 1095.1.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Executives today face many difficult, potentially explosive situations in which they must make decisions that can help or harm their firms, themselves, and others. How can they improve the ethical quality of their decisions? How can they ensure that their decisions will not backfire? The authors discuss three types of theories--theories about the world, theories about other people, and theories about ourselves--that help executives understand how they make the judgments on which they base their decisions. By understanding those theories, they can learn how to make better, more ethical decisions.

Linda Doyle, president and CEO of Harvard Business School Publishing Corp., has succeeded in turning around the organization after several difficult years. She has launched several strategic and organizational initiatives, and has instilled a new philosophy and vision. Now, however, there are disagreements over the use of the centralized marketing organization and the degree of autonomy still held by the product groups.