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In April 1987 the management team of CFM International, Inc. (CFMI) was considering developing a new jet engine for the Airbus A340. The withdrawal of a competitor's engine had created an unforeseen opportunity for CFMI to re-enter a competition it had apparently lost several months earlier. Complicating the decision was the fact that CFMI was a corporation jointly and equally owned by General Electric (U.S.) and the Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation, or SNECMA (France), both of which had to approve any new programs. Both General Electric and SNECMA, the owning companies, had already moved on to other projects. Allows for discussion of international alliances in a high stakes, politically salient, global industry. Also addresses large investment decisions in an uncertain environment.

Brigham and Women's Hospital is a highly successful teaching hospital in 1992. However, the hospital sector is undergoing a major transition and the hospital faces uncertainty about changing demographic trends, new types of competitors, and technological and scientific change. It's premier OB service is declining, and many of the hospital leaders are nearing retirement. How should it craft its strategy for the 1990s?

In 1992, Apple received the only profitable standard other than IBM/Microsoft/Intel in the PC industry. The case examines Apple's dilemma of how to retain its profitability as the structure of the industry deteriorates. Apple's CEO poses the critical question: Can Apple shape the PC industry for the 1990s?

Presents some of the dilemmas of gathering competitive information and the appropriate limits for competitive analysis. Raises the issues involved and provides information about actual corporate practice.

The board and management of General Cinema has to determine whether the acquisition of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), thereby entering the publishing business, makes strategic sense. The case describes HBJ's involvement in several segments of the publishing industry: college, elementary and high school, testing, medical, scientific/technical, legal, trade, and international. Case information and exhibits rely primarily on consultant reports. For each segment, the consultants have identified key trends and key success factors, as well as HBJ's competitive position and performance. Increased industry concentration and technological changes receive special attention.

Through strategy, a company seeks to sustain its competitive advantage. Yet only recently has the study of strategy begun to examine how long a specific advantage can be sustained. Based on a study of sustainability patterns in a number of industries, this article shows how the competitive pressures associated with product imitation can be predicted by identifying the core capabilities, or isolating mechanisms, that lie at the heart of a company's advantage. A number of these dynamic core capabilities are classified according to how fast they are duplicated. The imitation of capabilities shape many strategic decisions in companies, indeed the distinctive character of companies, and that by thinking in these terms managers enhance their company's cohesiveness and responsiveness as they pursue their strategic mission in global markets.

Saatchi & Saatchi, founded in 1970, became the world's largest advertising agency in 1986. It then diversified into consulting and other managerial areas before crashing in 1989. Under a new CEO, the company restructured and refocused on its advertising agencies.

As the executive responsible for vision at Mentor Graphics, Gerard Langeler discovered that vision has the power to weaken a strong company. In its early days, Mentor's motto was Build Something People Will Buy. When clear competition emerged from Daisy Systems, Mentor's watchword became Beat Daisy. Both of these visions were pragmatic and immediate, giving Mentor a sense of purpose as it gained momentum. Once Daisy was beaten, however, company vision began to self-inflate. The final escalation came when Mentor Graphics decided to Change the Way the World Designs. The company had stopped making products and was making poetry. Finally, in 1991, Mentor went back to basics.

In today's dynamic business environment, strategy too must become dynamic. The essence of strategy is not the structure of a company's products but the dynamics of its behavior. To succeed, a company must weave its key business processes into hard-to-imitate strategic capabilities that distinguish it from its competitors. A capability is a set of business processes understood strategically. While such capabilities are collective and cross-functional, they must be built and managed by the CEO. Uses examples from Wal-Mart.

Describes the importance of industry structure and competitive positioning to the profitability of U.S. corporations between 1981 and 1994. Cites recent research indicating that persistent industry differences and persistent competitor differences account for 19% and 32%, respectively, of variation in profit. Additional evidence is developed to show the relationship between industry-average performance and competitor differences.

Describes the forty-year evolution of the U.K. frozen food industry, and traces the emergence, dominance, and the decline of Birds Eye. Its success is as a vertically integrated producer, distributor, and marketer of frozen foods that pioneers the industry in the U.K. Its decline as other firms enter all stages of the value chain is seen as a result of its earlier success that yields it an unsustainable strategic position. Examines vertical integration as a strategy, the analytic rationale to be vertically integrated, and the disadvantages of vertical integration.

Describes the change in strategy Birds Eye adopted in the 1980s in the face of declining profitability and eroding market share. Updates the (A) case.

Introduces the idea that a firm's resources are at the heart of corporate advantage. Identifies six characteristics of a resource that together describe its potential for creating value for the firm.

Highlights Kimberly-Clark's perspective on the fierce competitive battle with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the diaper industry. The competitive struggle involves a broad range of issues including: rapid product development, international threats and opportunities, diversification options, and public pressure over environmental concerns. In particular, Kimberly-Clark must decide on a response to P&G's most recent product introduction.

In 1991, Emerson Electric marked its 34th year of increased earnings and earnings per share. Its financial performance is a result of planning and control. Management sets tough financial goals. CEO Charles Knight and his senior managers spend at least half their time in the planning cycle, which culminates in annual conferences where division heads communicate--and defend--their business plans. Finally, a tight control system that focuses on short-term results tracks implementation and feeds back into the next planning conference. McKinsey Award Winner.

A reform mayor of Bolivia's capital city is taken aback by a consultant's report showing a shocking level of corruption on the part of municipal police-a force whose many duties involve regulation of the city's sprawling open-air markets. Licenses, health inspections and many other forms of public permits are routinely exchanged for money, goods, even sex. What's more, the report concludes that the vast majority of the police could not do their job even if they set out to do so: most are illiterate. HKS Case Number 1104.1

A major teaching hospital in inner-city Richmond seeks to retain its tradition as a public research hospital serving all in need, at the same time it attracts new, fully-insured patients. As a first step, a new top administrator decides to institute a "guest relations" program designed to augment the hospital's culture with aspects of hotel methods. The relatively simple idea proves less than simple to implement, however. Staff members with a commitment to the existing hospital culture are skittish; some even fear that the new policy implies better-insured patients are to receive a better level of care. A complex administrative structure exempts doctors, who report to academic, not administrative overseers, from training programs. Nurses are wary. HKS Case Number 1017.0

In response to being challenged in its home market by a smaller rival, Kirin Brewery, Japan's leading brewer, rejuvenated its lager beer and launched three new products, including a dry beer to compete with Asahi Breweries' enormously successful Super Dry. Shortly after launch of Kirin Dry, two other major Japanese brewers also introduced dry beers. Kirin executives must now develop a strategy for the 1989 beer season.

Granite Rock is an exceptionally well-run company and has consistently gained market share in a commodity business dominated by multinational giants, in spite of a 6% price premium. The case contains a brief history of Granite Rock from its founding in 1895 until 1992, the year the company received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Gives an opportunity to observe an ideologically driven company that has put its values to work for the company. Discusses the inner workings of Granite Rock, which is rich with mechanisms and management practices that drive the organization to continually improve the critical aspects of its business. The entire organization and management are driven by a passion for the process of continuous improvement. Illustrates how processes and mechanisms can be institutionalized so that a company can become an exciting and vibrant "ticking clock."

Building on its existing strengths in the systems integration business, Andersen Consulting is aiming to create the business of "business integration", i.e. to help clients re-structure their companies through an integrated and coherent review of strategy, operations and information technology capabilities. The case describes the challenges being faced by Andersen in creating the new competencies required to support this business thrust, and in integrating these competencies with its existing strengths in the systems integration business.