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Explores Toyota's target costing system, considered to be the most advanced such system of any major Japanese manufacturer. Specifically, describes Toyota's process of setting rigorous cost-reduction goals and the steps taken to achieve them.

Describes the situation faced by Nortel's Information Systems (I/S) department as the company tried to respond to changes in its environment. With the evolution and convergence in the telecommunications industry and expansion onto the global stage, the company saw the need to improve integration across business units. The I/S department was charged with helping the business units reengineer their process. Brad Taylor, director of I/S, is trying to reengineer the I/S department itself so that it could fulfill the new role. Unfortunately, the existing structure--a fragmented I/S group struggling to meet existing expectations--was poorly positioned for this role. Brad's dilemma was not only to change his own department, but to change the way in which it related to the rest of the company. Can be used to discuss the role and structure of an I/S department. Can also be used as the basis for a class on business process reengineering and/or managing organizational change.

Andrea Silbert is founder of the Center for Women & Enterprise, a nonprofit with a mission to empower women to become economically self-sufficient and prosperous through entrepreneurship. She must select a new senior sales executive, decide how to share responsibilities, and decide how to pick the best prospective funding sources.

An independent regulated telephone company has established a computer services subsidiary that seems to remain unprofitable. Managers must determine whether it is profitable or not and consider changes in pricing or promotion that might improve profitability. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

CompUSA was performing poorly until new management reorganized and redirected the business. Consequently, CompUSA became the top retailer in its industry. Management outlines its future plans.

A competitor has developed and introduced a superior product that is less costly to manufacture. Precision Worldwide must decide whether to match the competitor's product, when to do so, and how to price, given that it holds a large inventory of its now inferior product.

An independent telephone company needs to acquire a new truck for use in telephone line installation and maintenance and must decide whether to buy or lease the truck. The company must address the rate of return in a regulated industry and the best accounting treatment if the truck is leased.

Three cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. Teradyne: Managing Strategic Change provides historic and administrative background for the other two cases. Teradyne: The Aurora Project deals with the problems facing the head of a start-up division responsible for developing and bringing to market a new product based on technology deemed very important to the future but unattractive to present customers and, therefore, the operating divisions. This case deals with the same set of problems from the perspective of corporate management--in particular why the skunk works approach was necessary and what new problems this approach creates even if the project is successful.

Three cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. Teradyne: Managing Strategic Change provides historic and administrative background for the other two cases. This case deals with the problems facing the head of a start-up division responsible for developing and bringing to market a new product based on technology deemed very important to the future but unattractive to present customers and, therefore, the operating divisions. This revision is shorter and provides a simpler description of the technology involved. Teradyne: Managing Disruptive Change deals with the same set of problems from the perspective of corporate management--in particular why the skunk works approach was necessary and what new problems this approach creates even if the project is successful.

Progressive is a leader in providing nonstandard (high-risk) automobile insurance to drivers across America, with a long record of extraordinary profitability. Progressive is facing a challenge in its segment from Allstate, the industry leader, and must decide how to respond.

A company must decide whether to acquire new equipment to offer a new product line. The question is whether equipment will meet return on investment targets considering depreciation and taxation of profits. The equipment is acquired, but one year later better equipment becomes available. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Focuses on the auto supply industry and especially the relations between Johnson Controls (JCI) Automotive Systems Group's Georgetown plant and its main customer, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Toyota's U.S. assembly plant, for which JCI supplies seats on a just-in-time basis. Can be used to investigate the differing patterns of supplier relations that were traditional in the U.S. and Japanese auto industries, to examine the adaptations that Toyota made to its traditional methods to deal with a U.S. supplier, and to study the very high degree of coordination and cooperation that is achieved between the two companies. JCI's adoption of a version of the Toyota Production System is also discussed.

Advanced Material Technology Corp. (AMT), a Japan-based company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of advanced ceramic products, was considering the prospects of raising 24 billion Yen ($200 million) to finance AMT's planned capital expenditure program. The case introduces a variety of financing sources including straight debt, convertible bonds, and bonds with warrants. Currency denomination and location of a global offering are also considered. Also examines the economic and banking environment in Japan.

Traces Intel's history and strategy from 1968 to 1997. Examines the company's decision to exit DRAMS and its entry into microprocessors. Focuses on how the company managed to achieve and sustain its competitive advantage in microprocessors, and the threats it faces in the future.

A product development manager must plan the launch of a new toy for the upcoming Christmas season. This exercise provides a basic introduction to applying project planning techniques and associated calculations, and can be used in conjunction with computer project planning software. Activity times and their precedence relationships are explicitly given, and the students can plan and replan the project to meet the schedule deadline. (A Microsoft Project files, products 7A97D002A, 7A97D002B and 7A97D002C are available for use with this case.)

Diana Sullivan, CEO of Lenox Insurance, thought she had done her job when, after three years of hard work, she had delivered Lifexpress on time and on budget. A sophisticated computer-aided system, it enabled Lenox's 10,000-plus agents to do everything from establish a prospect's financial profile, to select the most appropriate products from the company's myriad policies, to generate all the paperwork needed to close a sale. But now Sullivan's boss, CFO Clay Fontana, seemed to be holding her accountable not only for the creation and implementation of the system but for realizing its business goals as well. And Lenox's CEO, James Bennett, appeared to concur. In this hypothetical case study, Sullivan and the other top executives at Lenox must decide who should be responsible for realizing the business goals of information technology projects. Should Sullivan have gone about the project in another way? Should Fontana and Bennett be playing more active roles? In 97308 and 97308Z, commentators James K. Sims, Thornton May, Richard Nolan, Robert A. Distefano, and John King offer advice on this fictional case study.

Diana Sullivan, CEO of Lenox Insurance, thought she had done her job when, after three years of hard work, she had delivered Lifexpress on time and on budget. A sophisticated computer-aided system, it enabled Lenox's 10,000-plus agents to do everything from establish a prospect's financial profile, to select the most appropriate products from the company's myriad policies, to generate all the paperwork needed to close a sale. But now Sullivan's boss, CFO Clay Fontana, seemed to be holding her accountable not only for the creation and implementation of the system but for realizing its business goals as well. And Lenox's CEO, James Bennett, appeared to concur. In this hypothetical case study, Sullivan and the other top executives at Lenox must decide who should be responsible for realizing the business goals of information technology projects. Should Sullivan have gone about the project in another way? Should Fontana and Bennett be playing more active roles? In 97308 and 97308Z, commentators James K. Sims, Thornton May, Richard Nolan, Robert A. Distefano, and John King offer advice on this fictional case study.

Diana Sullivan, CEO of Lenox Insurance, thought she had done her job when, after three years of hard work, she had delivered Lifexpress on time and on budget. A sophisticated computer-aided system, it enabled Lenox's 10,000-plus agents to do everything from establish a prospect's financial profile, to select the most appropriate products from the company's myriad policies, to generate all the paperwork needed to close a sale. But now Sullivan's boss, CFO Clay Fontana, seemed to be holding her accountable not only for the creation and implementation of the system but for realizing its business goals as well. And Lenox's CEO, James Bennett, appeared to concur. In this hypothetical case study, Sullivan and the other top executives at Lenox must decide who should be responsible for realizing the business goals of information technology projects. Should Sullivan have gone about the project in another way? Should Fontana and Bennett be playing more active roles? In 97308 and 97308Z, commentators James K. Sims, Thornton May, Richard Nolan, Robert A. Distefano, and John King offer advice on this fictional case study.

Demonstrates how organizations can move toward creation of processes and information technology infrastructures for effective knowledge management in order to enhance performance and productivity. More specifically, describes the knowledge management strategy of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP in terms of its components: people, processes, and technologies. Traces the history of knowledge management at the firm and the facilitating role of the Internet and intranet technologies in executing the firm's knowledge management strategy.

Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and interpretation of these reports. Also describes the company's budgeting procedures, which include a performance improvement factor to motivate annual productivity gains and cost reductions. Allows the class to discuss whether the extensive and detailed variance analysis systems promote valuable managerial objectives such as cost control, learning, and improvement. A big issue is whether an emphasis on meeting short-run budgets inhibits longer-term improvements in quality and productivity.