個案總覽

In 2009 the Economist continued to experience impressive growth and operating margins while many of its peers reeled from both a cyclical downturn and structural threats to print publishing. The case describes the history, organization, and business model of the Economist, and describes three issues confronting Andrew Rashbass, the group's chief executive: first, reevaluating the magazine's digital strategy; second, preparing for e-readers; and, third, positioning the company to exploit what the Economist described as an era of "Mass Intelligence" where more readers sought out sophisticated and challenging information sources.

n November 2008, in the depths of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Hamid Moghadam, CEO of industrial REIT AMB, had to act decisively to reverse the sell-off in AMB shares and position the company to take advantage of future opportunities. Considering both the long and short term, Moghadam needed to re-evaluate the company's investment strategy and business model, formulate a financial strategy for maintaining liquidity and fortifying the company's balance sheet, and consider a number of organizational issues in order to successfully navigate the company through this crisis.

This note outlines the process of designing a social strategy.

This case, a supplement to the "Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001 (Abridged)" case (710-450) and the "Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007" case (710-451), reviews the FBI's progress in its transformation effort from 2007 to 2009.

The Finnish brewer Hartwall and the Swedish brewer Pripps had to decide how to react to the rapidly changing European political, economic, and business environment in 1989-1990.

In 1991, Hartwall and Pripps made the decision to found Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH) and invest in the former USSR by buying Estonia's biggest brewery, Saku.

Sweden's Highland District County Hospital, similar to a community hospital in the US, undertook a major restructuring to integrate care delivery for medical conditions served by the Department of Medicine. Each subspecialty within the Department would form a single, co-located unit with its own budget that encompassed both inpatient and outpatient care. This case examines the experience of the Highland Gastroenterology Unit, comparing the delivery model for inflammatory bowel disease in 2001 and 2009, before and after the reorganization. The case can be used to examine health care provider strategy, integrated care delivery, and quality measurement. The case also profiles Sweden's single-payer health care system, allowing for a discussion of national health systems and health policy.

How do you blow a $1.7 billion merger? You buy a company with a popular brand name, dilute the brand, and sell it for a fifth of what you paid for it. This case explores the merger between Snapple Beverages and Quaker Oats, considered "one of the worst mergers of all time". Using this case, students will learn about the importance of a brand name. Snapple Beverages is also included in Module 3: Sources of Business Stress of the course Business Thought & Action.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Robert Mueller, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), sought to transform the storied Bureau. The FBI had long served as both the chief law enforcement agency and the main domestic intelligence wing of the U.S. government. In practice, though, law enforcement had overshadowed intelligence at the FBI. The terrorist attacks made it tragically clear that the United States required a much stronger domestic intelligence service, and Mueller believed that that service should reside within the FBI. Critics, however, called for the Bureau to narrow its scope, focus on law enforcement, and cede domestic intelligence to a new, specialized agency. Should the FBI retain both the law enforcement mission and the domestic intelligence mission? If so, how should it change itself to succeed in both missions? This case, a supplement to the "Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001 (Abridged)" case (710-450), reviews the FBI's progress from 2001 to 2007.

Discusses how Alibaba Group successfully managed new business ventures to become a leader in China's online marketplaces. Students follow Alibaba Group's transition from a startup to a multibusiness firm with over 15,000 employees in just over a decade. They analyze the evolving dynamics of internal competition and cooperation among Alibaba Group's subsidiaries. Students are also asked to address Alibaba Group's strategy, the role of its corporate center and how to incentivize subsidiary executives.

This is an abridged version of "Federal Bureau of Investigation (A)," HBS No. 707-500.

The 2008 crash hit cross-border business hard. The value of international trade was projected to decline by as much as 9% in 2009. Foreign direct investment has plunged even more: After dropping 15% in 2008, it fell by more than 40% in 2009. Though we may have reached the bottom, the prospects for the medium term don't look promising. For much of the next decade, we can reasonably expect to see weak global growth, pressures from overcapacity, persistently high unemployment, costlier capital, a greatly expanded role for governments, a much larger burden of taxation and regulation for all, and maybe even increased protectionism. It goes without saying that global firms must factor these developments into their strategies for the new decade. To successfully negotiate the rockier path before them, they must rethink their strategic vision and retool their approach to each component of strategy: product and market focus, organizational and supply chain structures, talent management choices, and, of increasing importance, the management of corporate reputation and identity. In particular, firms will need to work harder to adapt to local differences and pay more attention to developing countries-as markets, as launch pads for formidable new competitors, and as sources of process innovation.

What strategies can companies use to both survive a recession and thrive when it ends? The authors studied the strategy selection and corporate performance of 4,700 public companies during the past three global recessions: 1980 to 1982, 1990 to 1991, and 2000 to 2002. They found that of companies that survive a recession, about 80% take more than three years to regain their prerecession growth rates for sales and profits. Just 9% of them flourish after a slowdown, doing better on key financial parameters than they had done before it and outperforming rivals in their industry by at least 10% in terms of sales and profits growth. One strategy has the greatest likelihood of producing postrecession winners: a combination of cutting costs, mainly by improving operational efficiency (rather than by slashing the number of employees relative to peers), and developing new business opportunities by making significantly greater investments than rivals do in R&D and marketing while also investing in plants and machinery.

As companies recover from recession, their ability to execute is more important than ever: Recovering markets do produce opportunities, after all. Regulations are changing, as are your competitors' structures and your consumers' preferences. Will your company be ready to seize these chances for growth? Seven questions can help you gauge your execution agility: (1) Do you miss opportunities that others spot? (2) Are your hydraulics broken? (3) Do you reward mediocrity and call it teamwork? (4) Are your core values a joke? (5) Are you talking about the wrong things? (6) Have your Vikings become farmers? (7) Do you rely on heroic leadership?

Most companies treat all big cities in China as one animal, all growing cities as another. It's much more effective to define markets by economic outlook, consumer attitudes, and culture.

This case follows UV4253, which is designed to allow two integration teams, each representing one of two different companies, to construct a joint post-acquisition-integration plan. The confidential background about one of the companies is provided in this case for one of the teams. UV4254 provides confidential information about the other company.

In January 2010 Mark Pincus is deciding how to double the number of Zynga games' players to 500 million without sacrificing profitability. These ambitious growth plans required changes to product, corporate strategy, and customer acquisition and retention. With regard to product Pincus needed to decide to invest in evolving the successful games or develop new games. With regard to corporate strategy, Pincus had to choose whether each game should compete on its own, or force every game to build functionalities that support other Zynga games too. Finally, to ensure customer acquisition and retention Pincus faced the choice between deepening commitment to Facebook or developing its own distribution channels.

This case is designed to allow two integration teams, each representing one of two very different companies, to construct a joint post-acquisition-integration plan: Titan Products, Inc., a large, publicly traded, North American multinational (approximately $3 billion in annual sales); and Franz Schuler GMBH, a smaller, family-owned and -operated European company (approximately $500 million in annual sales). Some of the issues addressed by this role-play case include (1) organization of Schuler, (2) staffing of management positions, (3) joint-distribution channels, (4) resolution of culture conflicts, (5) focus of strategic and operational decisions, and (6) performance metrics for assessing the success of the acquisition. The role-play requires about 60 minutes of team preparation, 30 minutes of negotiation, and a normal class session (85 minutes) to debrief. The instructions and assignment questions for the case are self-contained.

This case follows UV4253, which is designed to allow two integration teams, each representing one of two very different companies, to construct a joint post-acquisition-integration plan. Some of the issues addressed by UV4253 included (1) organization of Schuler, (2) staffing of management positions, (3) joint-distribution channels, (4) resolution of culture conflicts, (5) focus of strategic and operational decisions, and (6) performance metrics for assessing the success of the acquisition. The confidential background about one of the companies is provided in this case for one of the teams.

Toll Brothers has lost focus on what it does best. This is the surprising story of a dominant luxury home builder whose volatility during the housing boom and bust has nearly devastated the company. Students use this case to analyze business stress, decline, and how to respond. The case is complementary to an excerpt from "How the Mighty Fall: A Primer on the Warning Signs" by Jim Collins. Toll Brothers is also included in Module 3: Sources of Business Stress of the course Business Thought & Action.