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The CFO of a high-growth company in the low-growth and fragmented funeral services industry must decide how to optimize capital structure and earnings growth while maximizing the company's market value.

In 1996, PT Freeport Indonesia, the mining subsidiary of Freeport McMoRan, had just completed an expansion of its copper and gold mine in the western half of New Guinea. The mine, which had dealt with numerous environmental and sociocultural problems over the past couple of years, had recently proposed concrete plans for dealing with problems of acid drainage and spoils deposition. Now, although under widespread criticism and attack, the company is undergoing environmental and social audits and is again contemplating a major expansion.

Mike Connors, president of AOL Technologies, examines several efforts to correct operational problems inhibiting the company's growth. What will need to be done to support growth and counter competition from Prodigy, Compuserv, and Internet-related services?

Focuses on the efforts of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) to grow the tiny island almost wholly through an expansion of its service economy. Between 1965 and 1990, Singapore achieved a remarkable rate of growth, largely by opening its economy to foreign investment and by providing these investors with a full range of business and infrastructural services. By 1990, however, the island is running out of room for expansion. To keep the economy expanding at its customary pace, the EDB crafts an ambitious strategy of regionalization. Under this strategy, Singapore plans to export its service economy, developing a string of overseas enclaves to replicate the business environment that, physically, can no longer expand in Singapore. In these enclaves, designed to rim the Southeast Asian region, foreign investors could enjoy the full range of services they had come to enjoy in Singapore. And, by providing investors in these parks with a full range of business, administrative, and infrastructural services, Singapore would become the ultimate service economy.

Sun's strategy is to identify 2-3 key leading edge differentiators for its products and standardize elsewhere, leading it to outsource the bulk of its manufacturing. Issues surrounding this strategy include: 1) selecting responsibilities within the purchasing function; 2) organizing and assigning responsibilities within the purchasing function; 3) developing long-term relationships with suppliers; and 4) developing management tools that appropriately motivate suppliers. In particular, the "Scorecard" that Sun uses as a supplier management tool is presented.

Vistakon, an independent and entrepreneurial subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, pioneered the production and marketing of disposable contact lenses with the 1987 launch of Acuvue, the first disposable extended-wear lens--a soft contact lens that patients wear for a period of less than two weeks and then abandon. By 1993, Acuvue was the leading brand of soft contact lens in the United States. In March 1994, Gary Kunkle, president of Vistakon, was presented with the test market results for an addition to the firm's product line, 1 Day Acuvue, the world's first daily disposable contact lens. The test market results raised a number of strategic issues relating to: 1) the positioning and pricing of the new daily wear disposable product; 2) cannibalization of the firm's existing extended-wear disposable lens; and 3) the mix of push and pull components required for the introductory marketing campaign to be effective in generating and coordinating demand from both eye-care professionals and consumers. In deciding how to proceed, Kunkle must evalute the risks associated with commencing an immediate launch with an unproven strategy as opposed to extending the test market.

Describes the opportunities that confront the African Communications Group, an entrepreneurial organization that plans to introduce a wireless pay-phone system in Tanzania. Provides a foundation for the analysis of value creation and of value capture. The possibility of entry by other companies, the presence of a large supplier, and uncertainties about demand all create important tradeoffs for the new venture.

Andy Chew, a British manager reassigned to Germany by a large German computer company, is in the middle of carrying out a project as a designated "change agent" in a program to reshape the culture toward one that is more entrepreneurial for success as a nimble global competitor. He is still uncertain of his support.

Royal Dutch and Shell common stocks are securities with linked cash flow, so that the ratio of their stock prices should be fixed. In fact, the ratio is highly variable, moving with the markets where the securities are intensively traded. Royal Dutch trades more actively in the Netherlands and U.S. markets, whereas Shell trades more actively in the United States. The result is that the Royal Dutch/Shell relative price moves positively with the Netherlands and U.S. markets and negatively with the U.K. market. The ability to arbitrage these disparities and their causes are major case focal points.

Rafferty Goldstone, the protagonist of this HBR case study, was one of Bulwark Securities' hottest sales reps, but he dreamed of management. So he was elated when he was chosen to fill a manager's slot that had opened up on the East Coast. Now, six months later, he's in deep trouble and doesn't know where to turn for help. But who's responsible for Goldstone's floundering? And can anything be done to direct him down the right path? In 96201 and 96201Z, Thomas J. DeLong, Ellen Hart, Kathleen Collman, John Doumani, Joseph L. Galarneau, and Julie Johnson offer advice on this fictional case study.

Rafferty Goldstone, the protagonist of this HBR case study, was one of Bulwark Securities' hottest sales reps, but he dreamed of management. So he was elated when he was chosen to fill a manager's slot that had opened up on the East Coast. Now, six months later, he's in deep trouble and doesn't know where to turn for help. But who's responsible for Goldstone's floundering? And can anything be done to direct him down the right path? In 96201 and 96201Z, Thomas J. DeLong, Ellen Hart, Kathleen Collman, John Doumani, Joseph L. Galarneau, and Julie Johnson offer advice on this fictional case study.

Rafferty Goldstone, the protagonist of this HBR case study, was one of Bulwark Securities' hottest sales reps, but he dreamed of management. So he was elated when he was chosen to fill a manager's slot that had opened up on the East Coast. Now, six months later, he's in deep trouble and doesn't know where to turn for help. But who's responsible for Goldstone's floundering? And can anything be done to direct him down the right path? In 96201 and 96201Z, Thomas J. Delong, Ellen Hart, Kathleen Collman, John Doumani, Joseph L. Galarneau, and Julie Johnson offer advice on this fictional case study.

Erox Corp. is a biotechnology start-up that creates products containing synthetic human pheromones. It was founded in 1989, went public in 1993, and brought in a turnaround team in 1994. Sales ramped from $110,000 in 1993 to over $1 million in 1994, with prospects for continued hypergrowth. Pheromones are odorless biochemical cues secreted by people and animals to influence the behavior of others of the same species. Biotechnologists have discovered human pheromones, and Erox has patents protecting its use of synthetic human pheromones for men and women in cosmetic products such as perfumes, colognes, and body lotions. Realm is preparing a national U.S. retail launch of its fragrance product lines: Real for women and Realm for Men. Michael Stern, VP marketing and sales, has developed a successful direct-marketing campaign using a 30-minute infomercial. His challenge is to develop a leveraged marketing communications campaign to support the launch of Realm in Bloomingdales.

Susan Lyons, a vice president at DesignTex, a firm that develops high-end custom fabric collections, wants to create an environmentally responsible fabric that will provide a model for sustainable design. Lyons consults with William McDonough, a noted designer of environmentally sustainable buildings and materials, whose stated ideal is that "no environmental risk is acceptable." The A case follows the development of a new furniture fabric and asks students to decide whether McDonough's principles go too far--whether it is really necessary or feasible to redesign the chemical protocols to produce a completely compostable product that emerges from an absolutely clean manufacturing process. See also the B case (E-0100).

A large diversified steel and energy firm is pressured by a corporate raider to spin off its steel business in order to increase its stock price. As an alternative to the spinoff, management proposes replacing the company's common stock with two new classes of "targeted" stock that would represent separate claims against each business segment's cash flows, allowing the stock market to value each business separately (and more accurately).

Harvey Golub, CEO American Express, initiated and led a large-scale change process. The case describes the organization he inherited, two successive waves of reengineering, his "principles-driven" approach to decision making, and his goal of converting American Express from a diversified financial supermarket to one unified operating company.

Two entrepreneurs face a tough decision when confronted with disappointing test results from the medical application they have chosen to commercialize their innovative process technology. They must decide whether to redesign the technology's current lead-application or to change applications altogether.

This case provides an opportunity to introduce and apply the pure-expectations theory of interest rates. It also brings out the fundamentals of option pricing by considering the refinancing option embedded in the long-term mortgage alternative. Because of the refinancing option, the spread charged by the bank for the long-term mortgage is too low, which suggests that an arbitrage opportunity is available by constructing a "homemade" interest-rate swap.

Focuses on the decision confronting senior administrators at the Brigham and Women's Hospital: whether to enter into an affiliation with the Massachusetts General Hospital. Requires students to analyze the complex institutional changes in the health environment and to determine how the proposed affiliation might influence the hospital's chances for successfully carrying out its core missions.

Allows students to observe two competing businesses transform themselves over time. By following the competitive actions and reactions over more than 10 years, students gain an appreciation of how rivals raise the competitive ante, search for new ways to add customer value, and come to realize that sustaining a competitive advantage is difficult.