個案總覽

AeroTech Service Group uses Internet protocols and other advanced computing technologies to interconnect the IS networks of McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace with many of its customers, suppliers, and other partners. The case discusses AeroTech's product and explores options for growing the firm.

This case demonstrates how forming strategic partnerships with suppliers and clients can lead to win-win-win situations in the supply chain. It can be used to discuss the importance of information sharing and the use of information technology to drive the direction of the individual relationships. It also shows how cultivating partnerships can result in a competitive advantage in a highly competitive service industry. Techniques for developing and maintaining such a relationship are also brought out in the case, and it provides an opportunity to focus on the key concepts of supply chain management as they apply to service industries.

A paper mill's paper machines are a bottleneck in the operation. The causes include poor scheduling, lack of investment, and ineffective process control. The plant manager is charged with improving this situation fairly rapidly and has a number of proposals for change from which to choose.

Volkswagen and Shanghai Sedan, have developed a joint venture to build western-quality autos in China. Having developed a supplier network capable of delivering quality components, the company now faces a need to expand capacity (demanding rapid expansion of their supplier network). In addition, Volkswagen is under pressure to bring more of the design activity over to China. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Explores the challenges confronting the CEO at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the wake of radical changes in the health care environment. As pressures have risen for cost containment in health care, the hospital has embarked on a series of reengineering efforts to reduce costs, while maintaining the quality of care. The CEO is now evaluating the results of these efforts and considering alternative strategies for improvement.

Examines two dilemmas often faced by an operations consultant. First, the dual responsibility to both client and consulting firm. Second, the management of the often competing pressure to deliver immediate results, at the same time laying the foundation for long-term performance improvement.

Explores the management of technical disasters in which time plays a central role. Uses the experience of HMS Thetis and Apollo 13 to look at both successful and unsuccessful approaches.

Examines CIBA Vision's decision on whether to launch a major new R&D initiative to develop a low-cost, daily disposable contact lens, and how to organize such a project should it proceed. One group of executives favors setting up a small, autonomous project team organizationally and geographically isolated from the company's existing R&D operations. This approach will enable focus, but poses serious issues concerning future integration.

The environmental coordinator at the Chatham Assembly Plant of Navistar International Corporation, must develop a total waste management program which addresses both corporate waste reduction objectives and regulatory requirements. At the time of the case, a plant-wide waste audit had just been completed by an outside contractor in response to the introduction of provincial legislation, referred to as 3R Regulations. The environmental coordinator must assess the competitive implications of different alternatives, design the program, decide which materials will be recycled, identify who will be involved in implementation, and take into account the reaction of different stakeholder groups. (A sequel to this case titled Navistar: Environmental Management (B), case 9A96D002, is available.)

Portrays the dilemma faced by Marsh Carter, CEO and chairman of the board of State Street Bank, in May 1995. For the past decade, the bank earned continually expanding earnings through its rapidly growing custody business. Now, as that business matures and custodial fees erode, Carter is seeking to expand the bank's presence in higher value-added financial services. Developing these will require the bank to build new sets of organizational capabilities to leverage and integrate skills located in different divisions of the bank.

Sun's strategy is to identify 2-3 key leading edge differentiators for its products and standardize elsewhere, leading it to outsource the bulk of its manufacturing. Issues surrounding this strategy include: 1) selecting responsibilities within the purchasing function; 2) organizing and assigning responsibilities within the purchasing function; 3) developing long-term relationships with suppliers; and 4) developing management tools that appropriately motivate suppliers. In particular, the "Scorecard" that Sun uses as a supplier management tool is presented.

Supplements the (A) case.

Focuses on the decision confronting senior administrators at the Brigham and Women's Hospital: whether to enter into an affiliation with the Massachusetts General Hospital. Requires students to analyze the complex institutional changes in the health environment and to determine how the proposed affiliation might influence the hospital's chances for successfully carrying out its core missions.

Summarizes Eli Lilly's history of innovation in its business, describing how the dimensions along which innovations have been made in the industry have changed. Lilly's innovation strategy has been to pursue ever higher performance products, while others in the industry have pursued more convenient products. At the time of the case, Lilly is contemplating offering services, not just products, to diabetic patients.

In 1995, Toshiba was the market leader in portable computer sales worldwide. This case describes the assembly of portable notebook computers in Toshiba's Ome factory in Ome, Japan, providing insights into some of the reasons for Toshiba's success. In addition to describing production techniques such as dynamic line balancing, this case probes the nature of the Japanese workforce and the unique problems faced by Japanese businesses.

The director of Corporate Research faces the problem of setting the annual budget for the various areas of research. See also UV0530 and UV0531.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 696-084.

Materials Technology Corp. (MTC), a high-tech materials company, is struggling in its development portfolio and to achieve a better record of delivering new products on time.

Biogen, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company, is wrapping up a project to develop a new manufacturing process for a new drug product that will reposition the company from a purely research-oriented company to a fully integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing organization. Morris Rosenburg, a senior scientist at Biogen, has been asked to perform a major evaluation of the project in order to report on lessons learned as well as to make recommendations on how to improve project management moving forward.

Describes the application of statistical process control in a service industry. In this case, Annette Kluck must decide how to adopt manufacturing-based principles to a service process ranging from customer account setup to legal services.