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David Fletcher, manager of the Emerging Growth Fund at a New York investment management firm, decides to assemble a team of analysts to which he can delegate part of his workload. The case explores the challenges of being a producing manager and Fletcher's efforts to select and manage a team of professionals.

A telephone company is launching a new network feature, voice mail, and requires a complete marketing communication program. This case provides detailed market information to enable specification of target audiences and communication objectives. (A sequel to this case addresses media and production costs, Newton Launch (B).)

A telephone company has identified the target audiences and objectives associated with its new voice mail system (see Newton Launch (A)). This case provides very detailed media and production costs and other information to enable the preparation of a complete marketing communications program for the launch of voice mail. The two cases constitute a very thorough workout in all aspects of marketing communication, especially advertising, direct marketing, merchandising, and publicity.

The manager of a telephone company is examining all major forms of marketing research in an effort to answer questions about how to package together 15 network features for the residential market. This case is especially useful to illustrate research design issues.

The marketing manager for the Imaging Systems business unit (ISY) at Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group is considering channel strategy and channel management issues raised by the upcoming introduction of a new cardiac imaging product. Product marketing's plans call for the use of indirect distribution channels to enter a new segment; important managers in ISY's direct sales force disagree.

Describes Ralph Stayer's decision to leave the active management of the company, his decision to step back into the presidency, and the reorganization of Johnsonville into customer-focused teams.

The Brent Walker Group completed the largest out-of-court restructuring in the United Kingdom. After overexpansion in the 1980s, the company pursued a large acquisition financed with debt and then encountered falling asset prices. With the assistance of the Bank of England, the company reached an accommodation with its lenders involving deferral of interest and conversion of debt to equity. The case presents the negotiating challenges faced by the company's creditor classes and portrays the distinct roles of management, shareholders, and directors in U.K. restructuring. When studied in comparison with U.S. restructuring practices, the situation provides an interesting example of an international reorganization.

A new director of this small brewery must prepare to vote on three issues coming before the board of directors the next day: (1) approval of the financial plan for 1993, (2) quarterly dividend declaration, and (3) incentive-compensation plan for the marketing manager. The tasks for the student are to evaluate the past and prospective financial performance of the company and to assess the extremely liberal credit and inventory terms the company is extending to its distributors. The objective of the case is to introduce and exercise tools and concepts of financial-statement analysis. Perhaps the biggest insight gained by students concerns the link between incentives and financial performance: in this case, the marketing manager is motivated to build sales volume, which he accomplishes by a dramatic buildup in receivables and inventory.

In January 1993, the senior management committee of this company has to decide which major projects the company should fund for immediate implementation. The board of directors arbitrarily set a limit of European currency units (ECU) at 80 million to spend on capital projects in 1993. But various managers have proposed projects totaling ECU208 million. Students must evaluate the completed discounted cash flow (DCF) analyses presented along with qualitative factors (mainly the strategic considerations and the internal politics of the company) and choose the projects to be approved.

This introductory case considers the very sudden and large drop in market value of Oracle Systems' equity associated with two announcements in 1990. These announcements cause investors to revise their expectations about the future growth of Oracle Systems, perhaps the most rapidly growing U.S. corporation in the 1980s. The tasks for the student are to evaluate both the import of the announcements and the company's financial health. The case provides a first exercise in financial statement analysis and lays the foundation for two important financial themes: the concept of financial health and the financial economic definition of value and its determinants. The case also presents an interesting profile of an aggressive chief executive officer and suggests some potential unintended financial consequences of extreme aggressiveness.

In October 1990, the Boeing Company announced that it was launching a new aircraft model, the 777. The fanfare praised the technological superiority of the product and the fact that it filled a gap in Boeing's product line. The task for students is to evaluate the 777 against a financial standard, the investors' required returns. Gives internal rates of return (IRRs) for the 777 project under base-case and alternative forecasts. The students must estimate a weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) for Boeing's commercial aircraft business segment in order to evaluate these IRRs. As a result of this analysis, students identify the "key value drivers" and distinguish, on a qualitative basis, the key gambles Boeing is making.

This crossfunctional case in economics and finance highlights the concerns about protection of intellectual property rights as well as competition from traditional retailers in Shanghai's prime shopping venue. It begins with the history that led to Xiangyang Market's development, and concludes with a description of the future of the market. Located at the center of the shopping district in the trendy former French concession in Shanghai, the market is considered a shopper's paradise by many foreign visitors. This open-air bazaar is known for the incredible deals on quality knockoffs of designer products. The case includes an account of the shopping experience of two American tourists, giving details of their discoveries and bargaining sessions in the market.

This case requires a decision on the possible consolidation of three Midwest business-travel centers. Significant cost savings in service representatives can be achieved by combining the front-end (booking) operations. The sensitivity of cost to service-productivity levels and customer waiting time is also explored. This case and related materials can be used as part of the Workforce Planning Module.

Teaches the evolution of the corporate strategy of Sharp Corp., Japan. Sharp Corp., a second-tier assembler of TV sets and home appliances, gradually and consistently improved performance by developing expertise in electronic device technologies such as specialized ICs and LCDs and used these technologies to develop innovative end products. As a result, the company was regarded as a world leader in opto-electronics and was becoming a premier comprehensive electronics company. Teaching Objectives: Explores how the company identified, developed, and leveraged its lay technologies. Also discusses how the company coordinated across multiple businesses, and its organizational capabilities.

Linda Metzler, newly-appointed production planning manager, is drafting an aggregate production plan for the company's refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners for the next year. She has considered three plans. Students are asked to devise better plans and to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative factors favouring them. Ultimately, the use of linear programming to construct aggregate plans will be introduced.

Cases Empirical Chemicals (A) and (B) consider the capital-investment decisions to be made by executives of this large chemicals firm in January 1992. The A case presents a go/no-go project evaluation regarding improvements to a polypropylene production plant. The B case reviews the same project, but from one level higher, where the executive faces an either/or investment decision between two mutually exclusive projects. The objective of the two cases is to expose students to a wide range of capital-budgeting issues.

This case considers the unusual terms under which Rhone-Poulenc, the large French chemicals producer, acquired the U.S.-based Rorer Group, Inc., in August 1990. Set a year later, in August 1991, the case reviews the terms of the merger and the experience of the new entity in its first year, and invites the student to evaluate the "contingent value right" (CVR) issued by Rhone-Poulenc in the merger.

This case introduces the statement of cash flow through three examples of multi-year statements of cash flows from three unidentified companies.

A small manufacturer needs additional financing for expansion and production improvements. A bond issue would provide needed funds, and a zero-coupon bond would delay payments until funds provided by operations were available. Present value tables are included.

In the mid-1980s, the Holland Sweetener Co. (HSC) was facing the decision whether to enter the European and Canadian aspartame markets, following the ending of NutraSweet's patents there. A major question facing HSC was whether NutraSweet would respond to entry in an accommodating, or an aggresive, manner. Thus, NutraSweet might initiate a price war in Europe or Canada as a warning to anyone considering entry into the U.S. market, once its patent expired there in 1992. On the other hand, such a response might simply be viewed as "water under the bridge" by the time the U.S. market opened up. In that case, NutraSweet might do better opting for a live-and-let-live approach in Europe and Canada. Given the uncertainty surrounding NutraSweet's reaction, HSC had to make its entry decision in a fog. This case explores some aspects of the game between a company that is established in a number of markets and companies that seek to enter those markets.