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Cyrus Maher, CEO of Waterway Industries, thinks he may be facing a human resources problem. Lee Carter is a relatively new employee whose high-powered sales ability has rocketed Maher's sleepy canoe company into unprecedented growth. But Maher has overheard Carter discussing a new job that would offer equity, and he fears her defection is imminent. Maher has begun to reconsider his employees' compensation arrangements, particularly Carter's. As he consults with his banker and with advisers in the industry, he begins to realize that the easygoing culture he created at Waterway may have changed for good. In 96408 and 96408Z, James McCann, Kay Henry, Myra Hart, Ronald Rudolph, Bruce Schlegel, and Alan Johnson offer advice on this fictional case study.

Cyrus Maher, CEO of Waterway Industries, thinks he may be facing a human resources problem. Lee Carter is a relatively new employee whose high-powered sales ability has rocketed Maher's sleepy canoe company into unprecedented growth. But Maher has overheard Carter discussing a new job that would offer equity, and he fears her defection is imminent. Maher has begun to reconsider his employees' compensation arrangements, particularly Carter's. As he consults with his banker and with advisers in the industry, he begins to realize that the easygoing culture he created at Waterway may have changed for good. In 96408 and 96408Z, James McCann, Kay Henry, Myra Hart, Ronald Rudolph, Bruce Schlegel, and Alan Johnson offer advice on this fictional case study.

Cyrus Maher, CEO of Waterway Industries, thinks he may be facing a human resources problem. Lee Carter is a relatively new employee whose high-powered sales ability has rocketed Maher's sleepy canoe company into unprecedented growth. But Maher has overheard Carter discussing a new job that would offer equity, and he fears her defection is imminent. Maher has begun to reconsider his employees' compensation arrangements, particularly Carter's. As he consults with his banker and with advisers in the industry, he begins to realize that the easygoing culture he created at Waterway may have changed for good. In 96408 and 96408Z, James McCann, Kay Henry, Myra Hart, Ronald Rudolph, Bruce Schlegel, and Alan Johnson offer advice on this fictional case study.

XcelleNet, a $35 million system software company based in Atlanta, was founded in 1986 to address the computing needs of a class of remote and mobile users and data that were rarely connected to a network. Though the clear first mover and leader in the remote enterprise computing segment in 1996, XcelleNet and its market had been stalled by successive waves of networking technology--remote LAN Access, Groupware, and the Internet/Intranet. The company's founder and CEO, Dennis Crumpler, must formulate a strategy for capitalizing on XcelleNet's first-mover advantage and responding to the opportunities created by these emerging technologies.

Describes the development of McKinsey & Co. as a worldwide management consulting firm from 1926 to 1996. In particular, it focuses on the way in which McKinsey has developed structures, systems, processes, and practices to help it develop, transfer, and disseminate knowledge among its 3,800 consultants in 69 offices worldwide. Concludes by focusing on three young consultants operating in each dimension of the firm's organization--the local office, the industry practice, and the firm's competence center. Managing director, Rajat Gupta, wonders if the changes he has made are sufficient to maintain the firm's vital knowledge development process.

AeroTech Service Group uses Internet protocols and other advanced computing technologies to interconnect the IS networks of McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace with many of its customers, suppliers, and other partners. The case discusses AeroTech's product and explores options for growing the firm.

After taking office, South Africa's new president, Nelson Mandela, must decide whether to dismantle or support Armscor, South Africa's state-owned arms company, which has been a pillar of the apartheid regime. Complicating matters is the fact that the arms industry was South Africa's leading manufacturing exporter and a major employer. If Mandela chooses to support Armscor, the company must develop a strategy to obtain a much larger share of a rapidly declining world market.

Two former consultants have raised a search fund and are looking for a company to buy and run. After eight months of looking at deals, they have just signed a letter of intent to buy the second largest book retail chain in Canada in a turnaround situation. They must now decide whether to go through with the deal and, if so, how to raise the necessary financing.

Manatep Bank, a Russian investment bank, has just announced the country's first hostile tender offer for Red October, a confectionery company located in Moscow. As the chief financial officer of the target company, Yuri Yegorov must decide how to respond, how much his company is worth, and what to recommend to the board of directors. The context of the case, the nascent Russian financial system, raises a variety of interesting and complex valuation issues such as determining discount rates in countries with high inflation and unstable governments, uncertain property rights, and poor financial information. The absence of financial and institutional infrastructure provides a stark contrast to financial markets and takeovers in more developed countries.

A leading Indian pharmaceutical company reacts to changes in its industry by trying to reposition along several dimensions from developing markets to developed ones, from bulk drugs toward pharmaceuticals in dosage forms, and from reverse-engineering products developed by others toward original research.

Bombardier, a Canadian manufacturer of passenger railcars and market leader in the United States, faces aggressive competition from a new entrant, U.S.-owned Morrison Knudsen, that has come into the industry with closely related capabilities in engineering and transportation construction. Bombardier must decide is how to respond to the loss of market share and the strategic threat posed by the new competitor.

SaleSoft, a start-up firm, markets Comprehensive Sales Automation Solutions (CSAS) that automate a firm's sales, marketing, and service functions. Even though the product has received very favorable responses from prospects, product complexity and a long buying cycle have made it difficult for the firm to convert interest into sales orders. SaleSoft now has an opportunity to sell a part of the total CSAS solution as a stand-alone product. This "Trojan Horse" (TH) product offers an easy way for the firm to enter new customer accounts, gain quick sales, and generate much needed revenues. However, it could potentially distract the firm from its primary objective and cannibalize CSAS sales. SaleSoft needs to decide whether to continue selling CSAS or launch TH. And, the firm needs to develop a detailed marketing strategy to implement this decision.

As a central component of its Vision 2020 strategy, the city of Wellington, New Zealand has developed preliminary plans to transform itself into a "wired city." The overarching project was called Info City. Info City actually consisted of a collection of sub-projects, each focusing on a different way in which the city could promote and foster the use of information technology to help move toward the "2020 Vision." One of the sub-projects was called City Link. The objective of City Link was to create a high-speed digital communications infrastructure for the downtown business district. Fiber optic cable was to be used to "wire up," simply and inexpensively, the city's downtown businesses, to provide a backbone network that businesses could utilize, however they wished, to make themselves more competitive. A company had recently been formed to bring together a number of parties interested in advancing the project. A telecommunications architecture was being developed, and plans for stringing cable were underway. While Richard Naylor, the project's champion, wasn't sure exactly how the city's businesses would use the cable, he was confident that once the infrastructure was in place, ideas for its utilization would readily emerge. This case provides a setting for exploring the issue of cities "competing," much as do businesses, and the ways in which IT can be utilized in the competition. Also raises interesting social policy questions about who should pay for such an undertaking, who should benefit, and so on.

Northeast Ventures, a venture capital fund focusing on the development of northeastern Minnesota, seeks to combine social goals with financial returns. This marriage poses several challenges.

By 1993, Ecolab has established a dominant market position in the institutional cleaning industry. As the company's principal competitor, Diversify, drives sales aggressively, Ecolab president Al Schuman faces a choice about how best to market Ecolab's offerings. Should Ecolab's sales personnel continue to focus on building relationships first and worrying about numbers only later? Or has the time come to change the firm's approach? Even as Schuman focuses on this choice, there are some faint rumblings of internal dissension.

The Timberland Co., a manufacturer and retailer of footwear, outdoor apparel, and accessories, committed itself to instituting and communicating a core set of values to its employees, stockholders, and consumers. The system of beliefs emphasized community service. Central to this commitment was an alliance with the national youth community service organization City Year. Over the years, Timberland and City Year developed a close alliance that both sides contended constituted "a new paradigm" for the interaction between a for-profit business and a nonprofit organization. This case discusses Timberland's commitments to beliefs and service in light of disappointing financial results for the company and subsequent layoffs during the 1995 fiscal year. Introduces the idea of a corporate strategy for community involvement, allowing the instructor to raise questions about the choice of activities and partners, the breadth of projects and the source of motivation for such a strategy. Also allows discussion of the role of beliefs and of community service in the context of a company that has pioneered a distinct approach to these concepts.

Tells the story of the China Internet Corp. (CIC), which was founded to serve both businesses wishing to conduct electronic commerce within China and those intending to trade with companies within China. The company provides access and advertising to companies; it does not offer Internet services to the public. Details CIC's major concerns: expansion, compensation, funding, and human resource issues.

A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in India, which will sell power to India.

Named president of Disney TV and Telecommunications, Dennis Hightower has to yet again come in as an outsider and take charge. The magnitude of challenge is much larger than in 1987, and the situation facing him is subtly different.

In less than 20 years, the real estate firm Colliers International expanded into a federation of 180 offices with close to 4,500 professionals in over 30 countries. Because Colliers expanded by signing up existing firms strong in their local markets, its leaders had to manage a portfolio of firms with revenues ranging from $500,000 to over $80 million. Some were over 150 years old; others less than one. Firms provided services ranging from commission-based brokerage services to advisory services more akin to consulting services involving retainer fees. Colliers leaders are considering how their organization should respond to the changing needs of real estate clients. Colliers managers need to decide what organizational structure, management practices, and IT strategy their organization requires to enter the next century.