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This technical note defines some of the key vocabulary and theories used in ethical decisions and situations, providing a framework for the discussion of ethical issues in business. It builds on and further develops the already familiar ways in which we think and talk about ethics. It provides background, language, and concepts to identify and analyze managerial problems from an ethics perspective.

This case presents a summary of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Concept Statements #5 and #6.

This case distills the practical implications of current research on nonverbal communication. The first section sketches different kinds of nonverbal behavior: facial expressions, eye movements, physical gestures, paraverbal cues, posture, and "personal space." The next section looks more deeply at the interactive nature of nonverbal communication--specifically, how one person's behavior both influences and reflects what others do. The final section suggests how negotiators can make better use of nonverbal communication. Five themes run throughout the case: 1) we communicate far more information to other people than is conveyed by our words alone, 2) our nonverbal signals sometimes contradict the words we use, 3) much of this communication is less than fully conscious, 4) reading nonverbal communication is an art, not a science, and 5) nonverbal communication must be understood in the context of the broader set of interactions among all parties.

This case discusses the problem of balancing demand and supply of professionals within a professional services firm (PSF). It emphasizes how human resources management policies impact supply conditions and how market opportunities determine demand conditions. The case identifies the levers that can be used to bring the demand and supply in balance.

This case highlights the tradeoff between valuation ascribed to professionals at the time of a professional services firm (PSF) acquisition and the postacquisition compensation of these professionals. It emphasizes how a high valuation at acquisition carries with it the requirement to lower professionals' compensation postacquisition.

Since the 1990s, the distinction between the pharmaceutical industry and the biotech industry has blurred, creating what we can now call the biopharmaceutical industry. How and why did this happen, and where is the industry going now? Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies worked with plant- and chemical-based compounds, manufacturing drugs through chemical synthesis. Biotech companies, in contrast, sprung up starting in the 1970s and 1980s, when scientists began working on developing therapies manufactured in or extracted from living organisms such as bacteria, yeast, and mammalian and plant cells. These therapies, known as biologics, have been described as one of the "most sophisticated and elegant achievements of modern science," offering powerful therapeutic options for many diseases where previously no treatments, or only treatments of limited efficacy, were available. Biologics have included innovative therapies in rheumatology, cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, oncology, endocrinology, and other medical fields. In 2016, seven of the top ten best-selling drugs in the world were biologics. This note describes the biopharmaceutical industry, encompassing both older, larger "pharma" companies such as Pfizer, Merck, Roche or GSK, and younger biotech companies. It looks at the difference between traditional pharmaceuticals and biologics, the drug approval process, R&D, intellectual property issues, financial issues including fundraising, regulatory issues, and ethical issues.

This note provides a resource to aid in understanding brand equity: its creation, maintenance, measurement, and value. Suitable for use in introductory courses in marketing at the undergraduate and MBA levels, this note presents an overview of brand perspectives including those of Millward Brown, Young & Rubicam, David Aaker, and Bill Moran, and Interbrand.

This note explains how identity dynamics underlie many of the observable interpersonal problems that team members encounter, ranging from lack of participation and low involvement to misunderstandings and dysfunctional emotional conflict. It provides a framework for understanding how to recognize and manage identity issues in teams, including sections on communicating identities, forming impressions, and the consequences of the resulting level of congruence between people's identities and others' impressions of them. Outlines action steps managers can take to increase the level of interpersonal congruence in their teams, which should, in turn, make their teams more effective.

Data-driven marketing is not an entirely new concept or practice. With advances in information technology, many aspects of marketing operations have become informationalized. This note provides technical information about database marketing. The intent is to familiarize readers with database technologies, including data mining from a marketing perspective, databases, data warehouses, and decision support systems.

This note discusses the role of supercomputing in nuclear weapons research, from the first UNIVAC system installed in 1953 to the planned installation of a 100 TeraOPS system at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories in 2004. Topics include military and civilian uses for supercomputers, the evolution to parallel processing, the growing importance of open source software such as Linux, and emergent scientific uses, such as genetic sequencing and AIDS research. Traditionally, supercomputers were employed to simulate complex processes that occurred over a specific period of time. For example, a nuclear explosion had a beginning (detonation) and an end. More and more, however, applications began to shift toward analyzing immense databases that contained a seemingly endless number of variables. Despite significant advances in technology, the most powerful computers available still cannot reliably predict the weather for the next week in any significant detail.

Examines how managers use, and sometimes misuse, analogical reasoning as they formulate their strategies. Suggests a process that managers can employ to use analogies productivity.

Provides an overview of the wide variety of organizations other than firms, government ministries and regulatory agencies, and universities that may have significant effects on competitiveness. These intermediary entities, referred to as institutions for collaboration (IFCs), include, for example, chambers of commerce, industry associations, professional associations, trade unions, technology transfer organizations, quality centers, think tanks, university alumni associations, and others.

This note is designed for use in an MBA-level marketing research course. The note provides students with an overview of how to construct perceptual maps from data. It concentrates on the attribute-rating method and overall-similarity method for constructing the maps. It also describes preference regressions and basic multidimensional-scaling procedures and includes examples from the automotive and movie industries.

Examines factors that motivate a firm's race to acquire customers in newly emerging markets and explores conditions under which racing strategies are likely to yield attractive returns. Provides a definition of racing behavior, introduces the notion of an optimal level of investment in customer acquisition efforts, and considers reasons why firms might invest more or less than this optimal amount, including funding constraints and the impact of budgeting and compensation systems. Explains why firms may be motivated to race to acquire companies when they confront increasing returns to scale due to network effects and/or high fixed, up-front costs and/or high customer switching costs. Describes how the relative strength of the first and late mover advantages determines whether firms should seek to pioneer. New market opportunities often spark speculative bubbles and the case discusses why such bubbles may lead firms to overinvest in customer acquisition efforts. Presents frameworks for deciding: 1) whether to enter a new market in which rivals are likely to race to acquire customers and 2) how a company should respond when a competitor escalates a race.

Leaders who leverage difference are able to take a fresh stance! This note explores the proposition that the "diversity is good for business" premise is a function of individuals' and organizations' inability to fully capitalize on the impact diversity can have on broad organizational functioning. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the note proposes a new diversity model that focuses on what needs to be in place in order to leverage difference, not merely tolerate, appreciate, or celebrate it.

This problem set focuses on process-analysis calculations, including throughput, capacity, cycle time, and utilization. See also UV3512 and UV3516.

Explicitly considers the most common propagation models for financial variables and explains how to determine the statistical properties of these variables and simulate their future values. Covers arithmetic Brownian motion, geometric Brownian motion, mean-reversion, and jump-diffusion processes. Several examples and exercises are provided from the petroleum industry.

Discusses the role of professionals in the Enron debacle. Argues that professionals failed to prevent or predict Enron's collapse because of the conflicts of interest they faced. Concludes with observations on management and regulation of conflicts of interest facing professionals.

Describes the challenge of starting new ventures or new activities in established companies, especially if they diverge from the mainstream of ongoing commitments. Fledgling ventures require a different kind of management that acknowledges their uncertainty, intensity, and need/desire for freedom from mainstream constraints. One challenge is how integrated or not the new activity should be with the rest of the organization. Provides criteria for making this choice and offers some examples.

The concept of customer relationship management (CRM) and why it is important is examined in this note. It also examines the implementation process: corporate culture and strategy, software providers, technology and ways to measure the success of a CRM program. Many traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses are creating electronic commerce operations, therefore traditional CRM has expanded to include doing business on the Internet and this note looks at electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) as well. Also included are some examples of companies that have successfully implemented a CRM program, a list of CRM software vendors and examples of CRM software solutions.