個案總覽

Paragon Tool, a thriving machine tool company in an increasingly tough industry, has been pouring money into growth initiatives. These efforts have shrunk the company's margins, but CEO Nikolas Anaptyxi believes they'll provide the foundation for a profitable future. Now Paragon is weighing the acquisition of MonitoRobotics, a company with proprietary technology for monitoring the functioning of robotics equipment. The acquisition, which would nearly double Paragon's revenue, could help transform Paragon from a slow-growth manufacturer into a high-growth technology company, bolster its struggling services business, and ultimately allow it to set the standard for how machines communicate with one another. At least, that's what the CEO thinks. Paragon's CFO, William Littlefield, isn't so sure. He says the move would introduce all the risks that come with acquisitions and put further downward pressure on profits. Paragon's management team is divided, and Anaptyxi must decide how to move forward. This case study explores growth issues that companies in many industries currently face. The specific dilemma here is, How far should Paragon go in sacrificing profits up front with the aim of generating real profits down the line? In R0209A and R0209Z, commenting on this fictional case are Rand Araskog, former CEO of ITT; Ken Favaro, CEO of consulting firm Marakon Associates; W. Brian Arthur, an economist known for his work on the idea of increasing returns; and Jay Gellert, CEO of Health Net, a managed-health-care company.

Paragon Tool, a thriving machine tool company in an increasingly tough industry, has been pouring money into growth initiatives. These efforts have shrunk the company's margins, but CEO Nikolas Anaptyxi believes they'll provide the foundation for a profitable future. Now Paragon is weighing the acquisition of MonitoRobotics, a company with proprietary technology for monitoring the functioning of robotics equipment. The acquisition, which would nearly double Paragon's revenue, could help transform Paragon from a slow-growth manufacturer into a high-growth technology company, bolster its struggling services business, and ultimately allow it to set the standard for how machines communicate with one another. At least, that's what the CEO thinks. Paragon's CFO, William Littlefield, isn't so sure. He says the move would introduce all the risks that come with acquisitions and put further downward pressure on profits. Paragon's management team is divided, and Anaptyxi must decide how to move forward. This case study explores growth issues that companies in many industries currently face. The specific dilemma here is, How far should Paragon go in sacrificing profits up front with the aim of generating real profits down the line? In R0209A and R0209Z, commenting on this fictional case, are Rand Araskog, former CEO of ITT; Ken Favaro, CEO of consulting firm Marakon Associates; W. Brian Arthur, an economist known for his work on the idea of increasing returns; and Jay Gellert, CEO of Health Net, a managed-health-care company.

Paragon Tool, a thriving machine tool company in an increasingly tough industry, has been pouring money into growth initiatives. These efforts have shrunk the company's margins, but CEO Nikolas Anaptyxi believes they'll provide the foundation for a profitable future. Now Paragon is weighing the acquisition of MonitoRobotics, a company with proprietary technology for monitoring the functioning of robotics equipment. The acquisition, which would nearly double Paragon's revenue, could help transform Paragon from a slow-growth manufacturer into a high-growth technology company, bolster its struggling services business, and ultimately allow it to set the standard for how machines communicate with one another. At least, that's what the CEO thinks. Paragon's CFO, William Littlefield, isn't so sure. He says the move would introduce all the risks that come with acquisitions and put further downward pressure on profits. Paragon's management team is divided, and Anaptyxi must decide how to move forward. This case study explores growth issues that companies in many industries currently face. The specific dilemma here is, How far should Paragon go in sacrificing profits up front with the aim of generating real profits down the line? In R0209A and R0209Z, commenting on this fictional case are Rand Araskog, former CEO of ITT; Ken Favaro, CEO of consulting firm Marakon Associates; W. Brian Arthur, an economist known for his work on the idea of increasing returns; and Jay Gellert, CEO of Health Net, a managed-health-care company.

Focuses on modifying operations to increase profitability at an upscale senior care facility in California. Jennifer Raiser, president of Raiser Senior Services, opened the Stratford in 1992 as a high-end, continuing-care retirement community. Ten years later, the Stratford was known as one of the most prestigious senior care communities in the Bay Area, but management struggled to keep the facility from losing money each year. Raiser and her management team were finding it difficult to raise the monthly fees each year to match the increasing costs of providing services to the aging residents. As a result, the team needed to find ways to take costs out of running the business. Contains an in-depth review of the operations associated with the primary expense categories--health care and dining services--allowing students to find specific opportunities for savings.

In May 2000, Sonia Syngal, director of procurement strategy and supplier relations at Sun Microsystems, needed to make a critical decision. Under Syngal's leadership, the company had just completed its first "dynamic bidding" pilot tests and, as a result, cut its sourcing costs by 30%. Given these results, the potential for cost cutting via the implementation of a dynamic bidding system on a widespread scale at Sun was enormous; on an annual basis, the company was currently spending about $9 billion in direct materials procurement. Although the potential to cut costs significantly was clear, Syngal had several other issues to consider, including: 1) Sun's suppliers and the potential impact of a dynamic bidding program on the company's critical relationships; 2) the reaction of Sun's internal constituents, namely, its commodity directors who had spent years trying to identify the most effective way to work with the company's suppliers; and 3) selecting the best software vendor, which would be difficult in a crowded space.

This case has been used since 2004 in Darden's first-year Global Economies and Markets MBA course in the module on exchange regimes and financial crises. In the early 1990s, in response to massive foreign capital inflows, the Chilean government restricted the flow of capital into the country in order to achieve a competitive and stable exchange rate and to control inflation. By the late 1990s, with the onset of the financial crises in emerging-market economies, investors began to pull their capital out of Chile and other emerging markets indiscriminately. This sudden reversal of capital flows was threatening to ignite a balance-of-payments crisis in Chile. The government must decide what to do. This is an abridged version of the A case "Chile: A Jungle for the Latin American Tiger (A)" (UV0664). The A case contains more detailed information on the development experience of Chile, in particular, on the legacy of General Augusto Pinochet and the economic policies of the "Chicago boys." This case may also be used with the B case, "Chile: A Jungle for the Latin American Tiger (B)" (UV0920), which gives an update on the policies of the Chilean central bank up to 1999 and discusses of the debate on the economic consequences of the policies. A teaching note (UV0664) is available.

This case documents the many unusual features and puzzles of Chinese financial markets (e.g., foreigners' receiving large discounts in buying Chinese shares relative to Chinese investors). The case illustrates how government policies can have a profound impact on the development of financial markets. Students analyze how policies work and why policies are imposed in China and generally not elsewhere. It also illustrates the perils and added risks from government regulation in financial markets.

Martin Stein, a recent business school graduate, is the new owner of Quality Imaging Products (QIP), a $10-million-a-year remanufacturer of printer and copier ink cartridges. Within weeks of buying the company, QIP's vp for finance, gives an ultimatum: a raise or he walks, leaving Stein with the burden of straightening out a nonfunctional financial system while customers, suppliers, product managers, and production staff compete for his attention. Presents Stein as an example of a small-company manager who must juggle a far broader range of issues in greater depth than his big-company counterparts to meet the needs of customers profitably.

How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months--from Siebel's initial involvement to a challenge from competitor Oracle to the climax. The structure of Quick & Reilly's buying center is mapped, as is the role of its parent, Fleet Bank. The fortunes of the sale rise and fall as the Siebel account manager faces one obstacle after another. Presented in three parts, with opportunities to debate the account manager's choices and actions at each stage. Part 1 describes the start of the sale from the seller's perspective.

How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months--from Siebel's initial involvement to a challenge from competitor Oracle to the climax. The structure of Quick & Reilly's buying center is mapped, as is the role of its parent, Fleet Bank. The fortunes of the sale rise and fall as the Siebel account manager faces one obstacle after another. Presented in three parts, with opportunities to debate the account manager's choices and actions at each state. Part 2 describes the start of the sale from the buyer's perspective.

How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months--from Siebel's initial involvement to a challenge from competitor Oracle to the climax. The structure of Quick & Reilly's buying center is mapped, as is the role of its parent, Fleet Bank. The fortunes of the sale rise and fall as the Siebel account manager faces one obstacle after another. Presented in three parts, with opportunities to debate the account manager's choices and actions at each state. Part 3 describes the unfolding of the sale over a 4-year period.

Electronic Arts (EA), the world's largest independent game publisher, is preparing to launch an online, subscription-based version of the most popular PC game in history: The Sims. The new game is called "The Sims Online" and it differs from the original game in two key respects: the gaming experience and the payment structure. In this context, EA managers must finalize several decisions that they believe are fundamental to the game's success, including target market selection and pricing/payment structure.

In early 2001, Trilogy Software faced a slowdown in its business, a large number of unsuccessful customer deployments, and an overall weakening in the enterprise software market. In response, the company revamped its business model and restructured the organization. Joe Liemandt, chairman and CEO of Trilogy, along with members of the company's senior management team must decide whether Trilogy University, the company's internal training program for new college recruits and other recently hired employees, supported or detracted from the company's new objectives. Specifically, they must decide whether and, if so, how Trilogy University, the traditional source of new ideas, new products, and new approaches at Trilogy, should be adapted to reflect the strategic changes that were taking place throughout the organization.

After years of strong performance with market-dominating brands, Gillette's performance slips and a new CEO is selected from outside the company to lead a turnaround. This case describes the business and financial situation he inherited and asks what he should do during his first day and week on the job.

An exercise in case format that demonstrates how to compute the cost of equity for an investment project in an emerging market using both the Lessard and the Godrey and Espinosa methods.

Describes the decision-making process employed by President George W. Bush's War Cabinet in the days following the September 11th terrorist attacks. Examines how the president and his advisers framed the problem, exchanged ideas, generated alternatives, and developed a plan of action.

One of the most frustrating parts of trading bonds in Asia today is that prior to placing a trade, buyers and sellers must spend hours phoning dealers to get quotes and aggregating market research. In July 2000, HSBC, Deustche Bank, and Citigroup joined forces with Bridge e-Markets to form BondsinAsia (BIA), which aimed at facilitating the trading of Asian fixed-income securities. Officially launched in January 2002, BIA rolled out an electronic trading system in Hong Kong and Singapore. The system replaced paper and telephone information gathering by giving access to online price and research information to market participants on an instantaneous, 24/7 basis. As BIA was preparing to expand its portal to other markets, a number of questions remained on many industry players' minds. How would the legal, regulatory, and technical issues affect BIA's cross-market franchise model?

In December 2000, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) launched the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme, a flagship e-government project. The overall e-government strategy was to use a portal for the provision of electronic public services and commercial services, making the ESD portal (www.esd.gov.hk) a key element. The government contracted a single private operator to implement and provide ESD services for five years. The contract was awarded in November 1999 to ESD Services Ltd. (ESDSL). This case discusses how the HKSAR developed ESD's business model, which is a combination of government-to-citizen and business-to-citizen models, and how ESDSL is implementing it. Also focuses on the major challenges and issues that the private operator, ESDSL, faced in building, implementing, and managing an e-government project. ESD is in its second year of implementation and an immediate issue is the slow adoption of online transactions by the public, which is important in relation to the viability of the ESD's business model.

At the end of 2001, Cathay Pacific's CXeBuy electronic procurement system was fully operational for its headquarters in Hong Kong. The 14-month implementation project aimed at applying Internet-based technology to build the most efficient purchasing process and capability in the industry. Although the project was far from complete, a member of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) queried the actual benefits realized so far as a result of e-procurement implementation. Robert Lamoureux, manager in charge of the e-procurement initiative, proposed to the PSC to formulate a methodology that user departments could apply at will to assess the impact of CXeBuy on their operations. However, some members of the committee raised concerns that such a voluntary approach would serve only a limited purpose and would fall short of providing department heads with an overview of the impact of CXeBuy on the overall corporate mission. Other PSC members were unsure of the need for such a valuation exercise at this early stage. Something had to be done to reinstate the need for accountability and support the premise that any Cathay Pacific e-business initiative had to prove its value.

AOL Europe must decide how to respond to Freeserve, a free Internet Service Provider (ISP) that has signed up 1.6 million British customers in its first six months. After becoming the leading ISP in the United States, AOL has formed a joint venture with Bertelsmann to expand into Europe. By early 1999, the new company, AOL Europe, has 2.6 million subscribers, but it has fallen behind the market leaders in Germany, France, and now, the United Kingdom. This case asks how AOL Europe should respond to the Freeserve challenge and provides information on the economics of ISPs, AOL, Europe's history and growth, and the U.K. regulatory environment to help students frame their responses. A rewritten version of an earlier case.