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Claire Hurley and her business partner have obtained a supra-regional TV license for Poland. Their company has received initial funding from Polish investors and now faces the difficult challenge of raising an additional $7 million to fund the start of operations of a TV station. Claire and her partner have to resolve questions about strategic partners, company valuation, and deal structures. Teaching purpose: Explores the challenges of starting a media company in Poland. Allows discussion of entrepreneurial start-ups in transition economies. Also involves analysis of economics and valuation of TV stations. Highlights challenges of raising capital from foreign partners.

The dynamics of a work relationship between an entrepreneurial mother and her daughter are explored.

Focuses on David Dodson's efforts to purchase Auto Palace (ADAP), an auto parts retailer. His negotiations with the seller and investment bankers are examined. Students are asked to recommend how he should proceed in the final negotiation meeting.

Founded in 1992, Grand Junction produced a very competitive product in the emerging ethernet desktop switching market. Howard Charney, CEO and a founder of Grand Junction, had spent the summer of 1995 in meetings and negotiations with his senior management team, his investment bankers, and representatives of Cisco to discuss whether Grand Junction should be acquired by Cisco or issue stock in an initial public offering (IPO). Prior to being solicited by Cisco, Charney had not really given any thought to being acquired. Grand Junction was on a fast growth curve, the IPO market was hot, and he and the other founders had planned from the beginning to take the company public. Yet Cisco was very interested, and although it had required a lot of work to get Cisco to a reasonable price, it was possible that the two companies would reach an agreement. Charney, however, was torn between the two options--he wondered which was financially more attractive, how his employees would react, and whether going public was really so important.

Every seasoned investor knows that detailed financial projections for a new company are an act of imagination. Nevertheless, most business plans pour far too much ink on the numbers--and far too little on the information that really matters. Why? William Sahlman suggests that a great business plan is one that focuses on a series of questions. These questions relate to the four factors critical to the success of every new venture: the people, the opportunity, the context, and the possibilities for both risk and reward. A great business plan is not easy to compose, Sahlman acknowledges, largely because most entrepreneurs are wild-eyed optimists. But one that asks the right questions is a powerful tool. A better deal, not to mention a better shot at success, awaits entrepreneurs who use it.

The Vermeer team works day and night to develop its software offering, unforeseen difficulties and internal tensions notwithstanding. In less than a year, the product is ready. The Vermeer team waits anxiously for the market to pronounce its verdict.

The success of the Vermeer software offering suddenly transforms the start-up into a sought after company. After arduous negotiations, Vermeer management is faced with the choice of continuing as an independent company or being acquired by Microsoft or Netscape.

Microsoft has acquired Vermeer, and Vermeer executives are both excited and concerned as they prepare to move to Redmond. Even though the acquisition has been financially rewarding, the Vermeer engineers worry how well they will adapt to their new home. Meanwhile, Chris Peters, their new boss, is trying to ensure a smooth integration of the Vermeer team into the Microsoft organization.

The Vermeer team is pleasantly surprised by the benefits and hospitality that their new surroundings offer. Their happiness is tempered, however, by discomfort with some elements of the "Microsoft Way." As the Vermeer engineers embark on a punishing schedule for the next release of their product, the Microsoft executives wonder whether the Vermeer team will be able to deliver on its promise.

Vermeer engineers work at the breakneck pace of "Internet time" to develop the next version of their software product, winning accolades from Microsoft management. Even before this version ships, however, they are faced with another punishing development schedule for the next release, leading some to question the development process and the pressure it imposes on the developers.

Supplements the (F) case.

Discusses the dimensions of the institutional environment surrounding business, including the role of stakeholders and the need for new collaborations in emerging markets; the key assumptions of the institutional perspective on businesses and markets, especially in contrast to assumptions of neoclassical economics; and managerial implications--analytics, skills, and success factors.

Rubbermaid, a consumer-products company widely praised for its innovation, has instituted a company-wide experiment to stimulate innovation even further. The experiment consists of creating small cross-functional business teams within each division, with each team being responsible for the creation, management, and profitability of a particular product line. The staffing, reporting structure, and management of the business teams vary across divisions; and clear differences emerge in the performance of four highlighted teams. Specific topics include: options for staffing, structuring, and managing cross-functional business teams; the difficulty of implementing cross-functional teams in a company with a strong functional structure; the difficulty of balancing accountability and empowerment in "entrepreneurial" teams within established firms; and the impact of different management approaches on the functioning of business teams.

The general manager of Gillette Singapore faces issues of managing change during the company's global integration with Parker Pen.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

This case describes the process that entrepreneur Paul Farrow went through to establish his kayak company between 1992 and 1996. After being laid off from a more traditional corporate position, Farrow came across an idea that suited his business skills, experience, and values. The case chronicles the steps he took to be the first in the industry to design and produce an inexpensive, high-performance recreational kayak from recycled plastic materials. Key to Walden Paddlers' $1-million sales in 1995 was the company's ability to forge close alliances with key suppliers and customers while keeping fixed costs down by managing a virtual corporation.

In 1984, Mortimer Zuckerman and Ed Linde, through their firm, Boston Properties (BP), acquired land in Concord, MA to build a 147,000-square-foot, first-class suburban office building. BP proceeded to go through the permitting and approval process with the town and was ready to commence construction when in August 1988, the state, after considerable lobbying from historic and environmental groups, delayed the project by requiring an environmental impact statement. Environmental groups from around the country continued to organize against BP's development along with a nearby affordable housing development. While the project was delayed, the real estate market collapsed. But by the spring of 1993, the market was beginning to recover and BP had received all necessary permits. Zuckerman and Linde had to decide whether to proceed with the development or sell to the environmental group opposing them, and if they were to sell, at what price.

Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions, including a request that Vermeer's first CEO be an outsider.