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The president of a Jordanian pharmaceutical company is contemplating how to further penetrate the U.S. market, either through its own manufacturing and sales efforts, or as a supplier to a third party

Dr. Franklin Lowe is CEO of a new kind of company in a new kind of industry--medical foods. He must select a business model and partners that will help make this a viable business.

Richmond Engineering is a successful Vancouver-based entrepreneurial manufacturer of roadway light poles that has decided to expand into Asia rather than attempting to compete in Eastern Canada or the United States. The process of finding and qualifying leads for joint ventures, the stages for developing an agreement according to Chinese business practice, and the pressures of negotiating with the Chinese are all described in detail.

This fictitious case study by Idalene F. Kesner, the Frank P. Popoff Professor at Indiana University, and Sally Fowler, assistant professor at Victoria University, explores the issues that arise when the wires get crossed between a team of consultants and their key client. The client is the CEO of a newly-merged company; the consultants have been hired to help knit together the two former companies' policies and cultures. Unfortunately, the client's impression of the current status of the new company and the consultants' assessment of the situation facing them are vastly different. In 97605 and 97605Z, John Rau, Charles Fombrum, Robert H. Schaffer, and David H. Maister advise the consultants and the client about their options, offer their perspectives on what makes a good client/consultant relationship, and discuss the difficulties that face newly merged companies.

This fictitious case study by Idalene F. Kesner, the Frank P. Popoff Professor at Indiana University, and Sally Fowler, assistant professor at Victoria University, explores the issues that arise when the wires get crossed between a team of consultants and their key client. The client is the CEO of a newly-merged company; the consultants have been hired to help knit together the two former companies' policies and cultures. Unfortunately, the client's impression of the current status of the new company and the consultants' assessment of the situation facing them are vastly different. In 97605 and 97605Z, John Rau, Charles Fombrum, Robert H. Schaffer, and David H. Maister advise the consultants and the client about their options, offer their perspectives on what makes a good client/consultant relationship, and discuss the difficulties that face newly merged companies.

This fictitious case study by Idalene F. Kesner, the Frank P. Popoff Professor at Indiana University, and Sally Fowler, assistant professor at Victoria University, explores the issues that arise when the wires get crossed between a team of consultants and their key client. The client is the CEO of a newly-merged company; the consultants have been hired to help knit together the two former companies' policies and cultures. Unfortunately, the client's impression of the current status of the new company and the consultants' assessment of the situation facing them are vastly different. In 97605 and 97605Z, John Rau, Charles Fombrum, Robert H. Schaffer, and David H. Maister advise the consultants and the client about their options, offer their perspectives on what makes a good client/consultant relationship, and discuss the difficulties that face newly merged companies.

This microeconomics case examines the pricing issues related to the sale of inexpensive vaccines for use in developing countries. The case describe the historic success of the United Nations' so-called "tiered pricing" policy. This policy had allowed the World Health Organization to purchase large volumes of vaccines at the marginal price of vaccine production-often just a few cents per dose-while developed nations paid the full average cost-often many times more. Changing political circumstances and the cost structure of new vaccines threaten the decades-old arrangement, however. HKS Case Number 1450.0

The Washington Post is now headed up by its fourth family member in three generations. The Graham family has somehow transcended the problems and pitfalls that overtake so many family-owned and operated businesses.

Starting in 1988, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) began a controversial transformation in management and governance. For its first 112 years, the AMC's structure had resembled that of a country club--volunteer leaders directed the club's operations and its small, paid staff. However, with the club slowly sinking in debt and operations spinning increasingly out of control, a group of members persuaded the membership to take the governing, volunteer council out of the direct management of the organization, hire a new executive director as CEO, and institute a "corporate-style" board of directors charged with policy and oversight. During the next six years, the revamped AMC sprang back to life. The board and the executive director instituted new budgeting procedures, initiated marketing programs, and hired more professionally-trained staff that helped erase the debt, double the membership, and triple the endowment. However, challenges remained. At the end of 1996, the reorganized board experienced a generational transition in leadership as the terms of the last of the directors who had been present during earlier transition expired. This transition provided a good milestone from which to assess the board's role within the organization and its relationship with the expanded staff and membership.

In February 1995, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the largest civil rights organization in the United States, was in the midst of a crisis. The executive director had been fired due to financial improprieties amid charges of sexual harassment. Immediately thereafter the board chairman came under fire as well. In a very close vote, Myrlie Evers-Williams, a long-standing board member, was elected the new board chair. She found herself leading an organization with severely diminished credibility and support, precarious finances, and a fractured board of directors. The case raises issues regarding board oversight, governance structure, and crisis leadership in a nonprofit setting.

This case serves as an introduction to the concept of economic value added (EVA). The student is placed in the position of Valmont's CFO to decide whether EVA can live up to its promise to motivate managers to act like shareholders and ultimately lead them to make value-enhancing decisions that can reverse Valmont's weak earnings and lackluster stock-price performance. The case works best if students are acquainted with the concepts of cost of capital and net present value. The teaching note that is available for registered faculty explains how to incorporate the accompanying six-minute video supplement. To obtain the video, please contact Darden Business Publishing at +1-800-246-3367 or [email protected].

L'Oreal's strategy is to "trickle down" technology over time from high-end outlets like department stores to mass-markets, such as drugstores. The mass market brand Plenitude has become the market leader in France, but even eight years after introduction in the United States, the product continues to lose money. The case presents qualitative market research data to enable students to diagnose the problem and develop an action plan. Includes color exhibits.

C-Car was the first automobile retailer in the United States to go public. Subsequently the owner, Mr. Gilliland, must decide how to invest the capital raised from the public ownership. This case describes in detail C-Car's highly profitable strategy of managing its stores. Concerns four potential acquisitions and their fit within C-Car's strategy.

Seven years after graduation, an MBA grad accepts the COO position in a company he's never heard of in an industry he knows nothing about. Moving up a vertical learning curve, he is involved in a crisis, and exposed to change and people management. He also must develop a complementary working relationship with the CEO.

Outlines the dynamic shifts in the external environment surrounding Planned Parenthood's operations in 1994. Health care reform was threatening some of its core customer base. The organization had to come up with a strategy and a process for adapting to the new environment.

Describes the efforts of the president of Booz.Allen, a major consulting firm, to understand and improve the way that products, services, and processes are developed and deployed throughout the firm. Proactive management of these processes proves very difficult because of the firm's decentralized decision structure and the firm's cultural predisposition to listen to its existing customers.

This case asks the student to compute Procter & Gamble's weighted-average cost of capital to determine whether another company should enter the household-products market; the student must also compute Clorox's cost of capital as a check on the P&G estimate. The case emphasizes the conceptual as well as mechanical aspects of computing cost of capital for a company with homogeneous business risk and stable capital structure.

The top management at Daewoo is reviewing its close relationship with the Uzbekistan government, focusing especially on the performance of Uz-Daewoo Auto, a strategic alliance to manufacture and market passenger cars.

In 1994, Mr Olano, special projects manager of Mega Corp., must make a recommendation to Mega's owner, Mrs. Lim, about Mega's investment in a television production facility at Clark Special Economic Zone, the Philippines. Initially the investment was to have been Mega's venture into being an OEM television manufacturer, sourcing parts and selling the output on its own. Recently, however, Aiwa and Mega have had negotiations about the plant becoming a sole supplier for Aiwa's new initiative into television production. Under the arrangement, Mega would assemble televisions for Aiwa from parts either sourced through Aiwa or sourced on its own--if these parts were less expensive yet met Aiwa's standards. Mega's profits would be about $2 per unit plus 50% of any cost saving on the components it sourced.

Claire Hurley and her business partner have obtained a supra-regional TV license for Poland. Their company has received initial funding from Polish investors and now faces the difficult challenge of raising an additional $7 million to fund the start of operations of a TV station. Claire and her partner have to resolve questions about strategic partners, company valuation, and deal structures. Teaching purpose: Explores the challenges of starting a media company in Poland. Allows discussion of entrepreneurial start-ups in transition economies. Also involves analysis of economics and valuation of TV stations. Highlights challenges of raising capital from foreign partners.