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This case details the history of Zantac, one of Glaxo's most successful products, from inception to deterioration when faced by the rise of generics. In doing so, the mini-case describes the main players, trends and obstacles dominating the pharmaceutical industry today. This case is included in Module 1 of the course Business Thought & Action.

This mini-case provides a concise description of Ford's early history, highlighting milestones like the debut of the Model T, the use of labor specialization, the first moving assembly line, the famous "$5 a day" plan for employee motivation, etc. The mini-case focuses on the challenges that Henry Ford faced (timing production activities, industrial shortages, price increases, etc.) and how vertical integration helped him to overcome many of these challenges. This case is included in Module 1 of the course Business Thought & Action.

The purpose of this note is to consider the decisions that firms' leaders make about the scope of their business. It examines three companies--Domino's Pizza, General Mills, and General Electric--who define their businesses in different ways and asks students to evaluate them from the perspective of a potential investor. They should consider the following: What does the company do? What does it sell, and how does it make money? Does the company operate in more than one line of business, and why? Which of its products or businesses make money? What are its prospects for the future? Why does each company exist in its form (i.e. Why are their lines of businesses under the control of one firm)? This short note gives students an introduction to thinking about firms from a managerial/strategic level. This case is included in Module 1 of the course Business Thought & Action.

This case explores recent dynamics of the real estate industry from the point of view of Sussex and Reilly, a Chicago real estate company serving the city market. The case includes national trends related to the use of the Internet; the appearance and growth of new competitors, many of them national firms using the Internet; and changes in the market conditions of residential real estate. The particular period when the case takes place, June 2005 to July 2007, was a time of turmoil in terms of technologies, business models, legal issues, and market conditions. While originally the case concentrated on the effects of the Internet on residential real estate, it became more complicated because of the beginning of a very severe crisis compared by many to the Great Depression. Founded in 2000, Sussex and Reilly was a dynamic, young firm, providing services to developers and commercial and residential clients in Chicago. In 2006, Sussex and Reilly's residential division employed 250 agents and had four offices in some of Chicago's most affluent neighborhoods.

It's time to reinvent the way companies develop strategy. Traditional strategy frameworks operate under the assumption that industries have distinct boundaries and that companies know who their rivals, customers, and suppliers are. Moreover, those frameworks create categories and visual representations that are static, using, for instance, maps and comparative value curves. Today, as the competitive landscape is continually redrawn and most industries are in a constant state of flux, the existing strategy tools do not offer much help. Instead of using maps, graphs, and numbers, executives should use words to write a playscript: a narrative that sets out the cast of characters in a sector, the way in which they are connected, the rules they observe, the plots in which they play a part, and how they create and capture value as the sector changes. Playscripts force companies to focus on the causes of change, and they allow companies continually to assess the relevance of their strategies. They also acknowledge that strategy could involve changing a company's links to other players. Companies can follow a three-step process to reinvent their strategies using playscripts. Step 1: Write the current playscripts for your company and your sector. Step 2: Rewrite your company's playscript and perhaps the playscript for the entire sector, focusing on how you could change the way value is created and which elements of the plot you could influence. Step 3: Future-proof your playscript by considering how customers' needs are evolving and building relationships that can reinforce your position.

Fully half of all joint ventures are a failure. That's worrying, given that partnerships and alliances are central to many companies' business models. The reasons are not mysterious: the partners have divergent strategies; the goals set for the venture are ambiguous; partnership agreements quickly become obsolete; and middle managers don't have clear strategic principles to work from. The problems can be remedied if companies switch their focus from operations and contractual obligations to strategy and commitment. This article describes how Solvay Pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceutical services firm Quintiles used the balanced scorecard and strategy maps to help them define strategic goals, create a governance structure, develop metrics, and align the two groups. The new approach yielded impressive results: The alliance reduced cycle time for clinical studies by approximately 40%, an achievement that brings new products to market much faster and leads to tremendous cost reductions.

Russia is no longer a failing superpower. After Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, Goldman Sachs predicted that Russia, along with Brazil, China, and India, would soon be among the world's most important economies. Although Russia's growth hasn't kept up with China's and India's, the world economy cannot ignore Russia. Over the past ten years, Putin has strengthened Russia's nascent capitalist economies and institutions. In the process, he has stoked the Kremlin's apparently infinite appetite for power. That represents a growing threat, not only to Russia's development but also to companies wishing to do business there. Instead of looking solely at growth rates, CEOs should come to grips with Russia's still-evolving capitalism, particularly the tensions between the state and business, to craft an effective strategy. There is money to be made in Russia, as long as companies play by the rules imposed during Putin's tenure as president. The very different experiences of Shell, BP, and Enel-each of entering the energy industry-illustrate the importance of government relations. Multinational companies must fit in with the prevailing definition of Russia's national interest; they cannot hope to succeed in spite of it. The bottom line: It is safe to invest in Russia as long as you have the right partner, which is the state or a well-connected local company.

"The Aflac Duck is a rock star in Japan," writes the company CEO. From 2003, when the duck was introduced in that country, to 2008, Aflac's revenues increased by 44%, to $16.6 billion. Seventy percent of that increase came from Japan. This article tells the often comical story of how the duck came into existence in the United States, its instant success in CNN ads on New Year's Day in 2000, its transmogrification into a popular stuffed animal, and its export to Japan-where U.S. duck wranglers had to be flown in because the Japanese were unaccustomed to using live animals in commercials. In 2009 Aflac's Japanese marketing team introduced a new incarnation of the duck: Maneki Neko Duck, which incorporates the traditional Asian good-luck white cat. A giant plush version of the cat duck toured Japan by bus, drawing crowds as big as 20,000 in city after city. At each event the company set up tables where it sold policies to enthusiastic fans.

Chinese business culture is unique-but not in all the ways outsiders tend to assume. The authors' research reveals three principal myths, kernels of which are true.

Monsanto has led the effort to bring biotechnology to bear on food production. Through some management missteps and consumer resistance the company had difficulties in its early years. But since Hugh Grant became CEO the picture has brightened with widespread adoption of the company's products. This case focuses on the company's product pipeline and the galvanizing effect of the CEO's promise to substantially improve global food production by 2030.

Once Spain's largest sugar company, Ebro Puleva has been transformed through a series of international acquisitions into the world's largest package rice company and second largest pasta company. In 2009, Chairman Antonio Hernandez Callejas must decide how to proceed now that the firm's sugar business has been sold. A specific question is whether the firm should sell its dairy business, which is limited to Spain. The case discusses the firm's branding strategy, approach to integration, and organizational structure used to manage a global business. The case also describes several changes in consumer behavior and the retail food market brought on by the global financial crisis.

Describes the development of the global strategies and organizations of two major competitors in the consumer electronics industry. Over four decades, both companies adapt their strategic intent and organizational capability to match and counter the competitive advantage of the other. The case shows how each is faced to restructure as its competitive advantage erodes.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 910410.

Taiwan's Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center has developed an integrated, team-based care delivery model for breast cancer care that is being expanded to other cancer types in 2009. A decade earlier, President and CEO Dr. Andrew Huang and the Center had worked with the Taiwan National Health Insurance system to create a pay-for-performance reimbursement program for breast cancer care that has since been adopted by five other providers. The program issues capitated, per patient base payments for breast cancer care, with bonus payments based upon provider reporting and performance on a set of quality measures. This case allows readers to examine health care provider strategy, development and implementation of bundled reimbursement, integrated care delivery, quality measurement, and Taiwan's universal health care system.

The CEO of the office furniture maker Herman Miller talks about his ambitious, perhaps impossible-sounding goal of relying completely on green energy by 2010.

What's the best way to buy or sell an asset? Should you hold an auction and accept the most attractive offer? Or should you identify the most likely prospects and negotiate with them privately? Auctions became increasingly popular after the internet opened wide the universe of potential bidders. The wrinkle is, auctions often set up win-lose relationships between buyers and sellers, says Subramanian, a professor at Harvard's schools of business and law. In many situations, negotiations lead to better results. Before you decide on a process, carefully consider the nature of the buyers, the characteristics of the asset in question, and your own priorities. If you can get enough of the right buyers to participate, an auction generally makes sense - unless you expect a wide range of valuations. In that case, an auction could leave a lot of money on the table - as it did in the sale of Cable & Wireless America. CWA's assets were uniquely strategic to the winner, but because it had to beat the second-highest bidder by only a little bit, the company got them at a price far below the value the deal actually generated. Can you write exact specifications for an asset? Then you probably won't go wrong with an auction. But specification can discourage creative collaboration between buyer and seller. If that will add value to your deal, or if a relationship is important, pursue a negotiation. Finally, examine your priorities. When discretion is critical, a negotiation will work better, but when you need a transparent, speedy process, an auction is the more sensible choice.

A takeover usually signals the demise of one of the two corporations involved in the tussle - no prizes for guessing which one. Breaking with this practice, some companies from emerging markets are preserving the identity of companies they've taken over and giving them near-total autonomy. The acquirers (the AV Birla Group, the Mahindra group, and the Tata group in India; the Ulker Group in Turkey; and AmBev in Brazil, among others) have also retained the incumbent management teams, including the CEOs, of the corporations they bought. The new parents lay down new values and create a fresh sense of purpose, but they leave it to the acquisitions to carry them out. Some companies are better suited to adopt the partnering approach than others. Organizations with collaborative, inclusive cultures will have an easier time than companies with a hierarchical, command-and-control style. Senior executives in acquiring companies must be comfortable achieving goals through influence rather than control. They must also have a higher-than-average tolerance for ambiguity. Respect for new ideas is critical because executives must recognize the strengths of the acquired company and resist the urge to impose their way of doing things. These traits are encoded in some organizations' DNA, but others will have to develop them. These are early days yet, but the authors' research shows that the partnering approach to takeovers seems to work better than traditional postmerger integration practices, and it has created value for shareholders.

This case illustrates the problems of a small hydroponic produce company trying to achieve breadth and depth of distribution for its product. The company is considering going around traditional channels and selling directly to stores and restaurants. The economics of the proposition are central to the case.

Provides a brief overview of the standards battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray, focusing on the events which precipitated the Blu-ray victory in early 2008.

In December 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA determined that high-purity Rebaudioside A (Reb A), a natural and calorie-free product that a young company named PureCircie manufactured from the Stevia plant, could be used in beverages, foods, and as a table top sweetener in the U.S.-the largest market for sugar and sweeteners in the world. While the FDA's determination was the breakthrough the company had hoped for, much remained uncertain-most obvious would consumers accept Reb A as a substitute for sugar or the myriad sweeteners already established in the market place? The potential seemed high given consumers' growing concerns about obesity and diabetes. Yet, nothing was certain. What worried the company's leadership was the prospect of Reb A taking off-that is, being widely accepted by consumers and used by food and beverage (F&B) companies in mainstream mass-market products such as carbonated soft drinks-and the timing of the take off. If Reb A did go mainstream PureCircle would need to at least double its capacity to secure its position in the industry. If leadership overbuilt the company's capacity and Rebaudioside A ultimately remained a niche product they would severely jeopardize PureCircle's viability. Yet if leadership waited too long, the opportunity to create substantial wealth for the company's shareholders would be lost. As it was the company's founder and CEO had already gambled by investing in enough production capacity for acceptance in the niche beverage market -- before a market for Reb A had been established.