個案總覽

Operations must be seen to be understood, which is why tours of operations are extremely common. Some reasons of why plant tours are valuable are offered in this note, along with a how to guide to gathering, organizing and assessing relevant data. The emphasis is on forming an overall evaluation of the operation's effectiveness.

Presents tools for undertaking five core persuasion tasks: 1) mapping the influence landscape, 2) shaping perceptions of interests, 3) shaping perceptions of alternatives, 4) gaining acceptance for tough decisions, and 5) persuading at a distance.

Describes the transition from functional to general management. Describes the distinctive challenges of the general manager's job as well as how best to manage the short-term results of assuming a position as general manager.

This note is designed as detailed supplemental material for management communication courses. It contains information on creating effective business documents in the workplace. Categories covered are: report writing, e-mails and memos, and Internet writing.

Reviews the current literature on the consumers of health care, primarily patients. Discusses their stated preferences, the sources of information they use in making their selections of plan and provider, and their behavior.

Synthesizes and extends work on barriers to negotiated agreement. Five key types of barriers are described--structural, strategic, psychological, institutional, and cultural. Approaches to overcoming these barriers are discussed.

Introduces students to negotiations between venture capitalists (VCs) and the limited partners who provide the VCs' capital. Also discusses negotiations between VCs and other VCs, including those within a VC firm itself. Explores interests, sources of negotiating power, barriers to reaching agreement, and common contractual terms. Describes how the parties try to reduce information asymmetries, align incentives, control decision making, and protect financial downside.

What is the relationship between good fortune, professional success, and a moral obligation to other people? Jai Jaikumar, who as a youth was saved by a shepherd woman after a tragic mountaineering accident in the Himalayas, and who later rose to the top of his professional domain, believed that good fortune, success, and obligation were necessarily and inescapably connected. This case recounts the extraordinary true story of Jai's mountain fall and subsequent rescue. Contains remarkable parallels to the HBR classic The Parable of the Sadhu, except that here we learn the opposite perspective, with the story revealed through the eyes of the foreigner in distress who must place his fate in the hands of a stranger.

What is the relationship between good fortune, professional success, and a moral obligation to other people? Jai Jaikumar, who as a youth was saved by a shepherd woman after a tragic mountaineering accident in the Himalayas, and who later rose to the top of his professional domain, believed that good fortune, success, and obligation were necessarily and inescapably connected. This case describes Jai's understanding of the moral implications of his rescue, and its particular relevance for his subsequent professional success and ultimate appointment as a professor at Harvard Business School. As a teacher, Jai encouraged each of his students to ask the questions that he asked himself: How did you get this far in life, and what does this mean, if anything, for your duties to others?

This note addresses the methods used to value companies in an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) setting. It provides a detailed description of the discounted-cash-flow (DCF) approach and reviews other methods of valuation such as book value, liquidation value, replacement cost, market value, trading multiples of peer firms, and comparable transaction multiples.

Discusses the industry practices of angel investors, individuals who invest privately in new ventures.

Some of the advantages and disadvantages of franchising from the point of view of both the franchisor and the franchisee are described in this note. It also gives some guidelines for what characteristics one might look for in deciding whether a business is franchisable. It is intended as background reading for students, and could be used in conjunction with a case that involves franchising as a central issue.

Provides guidelines for how to successfully enter a new senior management position. Identifies key traps into which new leaders fall and provides a framework for organizing to succeed in the first few months on the job.

This note consists of vignettes illustrating the breadth and depth of the issue of questionable payments. Petty bribes, graft, blackmail, and corrupt officials are all included in these real-life examples of managers caught in the middle of difficult situations. See also "A Note on Questionable Payments in Business" (UV0387).

Written to accompany "Questionable Payments" (UV0386), this note provides insights into the issue of questionable payments (e.g., bribery and extortion).

This note explains the idea of rights. It examines such distinctions as positive versus negative rights, and fundamental versus derivative rights.

Presents a theory about the tools a manager can use to get people to agree on a coordinated course of action and effect change in his or her organization. The extent to which people in the organization agree on the way the world works, and agree on what they want, determines which tools will be most effective.

Presents a framework for determining prices for products and services in concert with the value provided to customers. Discusses methodologies for estimating customer value.

This case introduces the field of project finance and supplies a statistical overview of the project finance market as of the mid=to late 1990s. It consists of four sections. The first section defines project finance and contrasts it with other well-known forms of financing. The second section describes the evolution of project finance from its origins in the 13th century in the mining industry, to the U.S. electric power industry in the 1970s and 1980s, and then to a much wider range of applications and locations in the 1990s. The third section provides a statistical overview of the project finance market as it exists today in terms of industry, project, and participant data. The final section discusses current and likely future trends. There is also an appendix that describes sources of industry data and other project finance information.

Describes alternative approaches to accounting for business activities during periods of inflation. Presents hints and techniques for analyzing financial statements during inflationary periods. A rewritten version of an earlier note.