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In 1991, Bill George, CEO of Medtronic, the world's largest manufacturer of pacemakers, was evaluating his strategic options in light of the changing economic environment. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, governments were considering regulatory changes to reduce health care expenditures, including reduction in pacemaker prices. The case outlines Medtronics development of the cardiac pacemaker and its diversified businesses. It then examines Medtronic's pacemaker operations and the changing health care environment in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

The managing partner of an international public accounting firm must determine where his plan to restructure the office failed. The reorganization was motivated by a need to make the office more market driven. He thought he had managed the change process well; however, recent events raised considerable doubt about its success.

The University of Western Ontario's fitness unit coordinator was wondering how to improve the aerobics program. With financial and time constraints, a very seasonal demand pattern, and an entirely part-time staff with relatively short tenure, she wondered how to improve the quality of service, the suitability of classes, the number of classes, and the productivity of program administration. Students have to analyze market survey data and develop a plan of action.

Northern Telecom Canada is launching its new payphone system, Millennium. The marketing director for the new line of pay telephones is considering how to price the terminal part of the system. There are many considerations, including an extensive evaluation of the economic value of the system to the telephone company's customers, pay telephone agents, users and, of course, Northern Telecom itself. A complete marketing plan is required to sell to telcos, agents, and end users. This case requires much greater than usual preparation time.

First Fidelity Bancorporation, a holding company for eight independent banks in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas, was going through a major restructuring and rationalization in response to serious financial problems, threats of regulatory control and changing market demands. In this reorganization, the head of corporate operations and systems was considering ways to facilitate the restructuring. He was seriously considering outsourcing as an alternative way to manage the internal information systems. The case explores the simple economics behind an outsourcing strategy and the complicated technical, political and cultural rationalization of a hierarchical, independent organization into a centrally-managed operation. Follow-up cases First Fidelity Bancorporation (B): Selecting an Outsourcing Vendor and First Fidelity Bancorporation (C): Managing an Outsourcing Relationship With EDS are available.

The finance director of the Texas High-Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) is considering modifications to the financing program designed to support the development, construction, and operations of THSRC's planned high-speed rail system. The current plan achieves many objectives, including raising $6.5 billion from private sources, but a few problems remain to be addressed. These include temporary overfunding, unutilized tax losses, and certain important contingencies. Designed to highlight the shortcomings of simple valuation tools in a static analysis when applied to a dynamic project. The class discussion should isolate specific analytical issues, which may then be addressed in subsequent class sessions.

Mark Ain is the founder and manager of Kronos, which has grown to a $33 million dollar company in 13 years. The case focuses on Ain's rrole in the company. Presents data from a personality assessment of Ain and his senior management team as input to this decision. .

The marketing director of Warner-Lambert's Irish subsidiary is completing the marketing plan for the launch of Niconil, a transdermal skin patch to facilitate smoking cessation.

Planning is underway for the launch of Pert Plus shampoo in Canada following two successful product launches in the U.S. A number of launch decisions have already been made. Major decisions remain to be made on pricing and on response to probable trade pressure for compensation on inventory of the original product. The teaching objectives include the development of pricing decision-making skills through analyses of consumer behaviour, trade behaviour, and forecast financial outcomes.

Doug Mason wished to create a new product that would cater to the interests of a new age generation, and he chose the development of a beverage that would have a healthy lifestyle image. His entrepreneurial start-up led to very rapid expansion and ultimately to sales in other countries. Clearly Canadian relies upon other companies to provide equipment for transportation and distribution, enabling it to operate with relatively few employees and a small base of physical capital. The case poses an interesting question, Is the company a small service sector enterprise or a large manufacturing business?

A new company producing computer games must begin to capitalize computer software development cost. To do so requires a cost accounting system, decisions about which costs to capitalize, and how to match costs to future revenues. Teaches accounting standards for computer software development costs.

Allied, Benevolent, and Caring Services are three nonprofit social service providers competing for state social service funding. The state funding agency has decided to increase its annual budget but will provide additional funds only to a consortium of two or more providers. Each provider must decide whether to cooperate with the other providers in order to pursue state funds, and if so, how these funds should be divided among the cooperating providers.

The setting is a food manufacturing company that has stumbled in terms of its historic growth and profit achievements. In trying to recapture its momentum, the president has used information technology as one element in his program of transition. The case focuses on the strategic problem and setting, the use of information technology for organizational change, and the associated implementation problems.

Documents a pricing anomaly in the large and liquid treasury bond market. The prices of callable treasury bonds seem to be inconsistent with the prices of noncallable treasuries and an arbitrage opportunity appears to exist. Permits instructors to introduce the treasury market, the concept of creating synthetic instruments, principles of arbitrage, and institutional frictions in the bond markets.

Details a thinly disguised situation faced by a recent Harvard MBA graduate who was forced by a prospective employer to place a dollar value on a grant of stock options. There are two objectives: 1) Serves as an introduction to option valuation, in which students have an opportunity to use market data to value an option in a realistic setting. 2) The setting permits a broader discussion of the wisdom of option-based incentive plans and the popular misconceptions of the value of option grants based on a widespread misunderstanding of how options work and how they are valued.

The pharmaceutical division of a diversified company has been asked to develop a Balanced Scorecard. Research and development projects take about ten years to bring a new product to the marketplace and the division depends on good relations and active feedback from its customers for continued success. But currently, the division is evaluated by meeting monthly financial objectives. The case describes an early and less-than-successful attempt to develop a Balanced Scorecard encompassing financial, customer, internal process, and innovation perspectives.

The new vice president of international contracts for Timothy & Thomas North America, Jonathan Stein, faces tough decisions regarding the company's Pakistani contractors. In a plant in Lahore, Stein sees girls who look no older than ten, sweeping the floor. T&T shorts are currently the hottest item in Timothy & Thomas's line of casual clothes. Like the rest of the company's products, the shorts have a wholesome American image. But that image doesn't fit the image of those girls at work - or Timothy & Thomas's reputation for social responsibility. In fact, the company's new Global Guidelines for Business Partners prohibit the use of child labor. The complicated situation puts Jonathan Stein on the cutting-edge of company policy. Six experts on global sourcing and labor in developing nations discuss the agonizing decisions that confront Stein and his company.

This case describes Jack Stack's efforts to revive a diesel engine remanufacturing plant owned by International Harvester. Stack engineers a leveraged buyout of the factory by its managers. He then implements a radical system for managing the company, through which every employee is trained to read complete financial reports of the company and given weekly operating data. In this way, they can see in detail how the company is progressing. The case may be used in Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management, and Entrepreneurship courses.

A successful woman executive attempts to integrate women into the construction trade in Chicago. Julia Stasch rose from office assistant to president and then chief operating officer of a major Chicago real estate firm, Stein & Co. This case describes her campaign to create expanded opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses as suppliers to construction projects and for women and minority workers on construction sites. It discusses entrenched discrimination in a particular industry and the creative change strategies implemented by one executive. The case may be used in Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Ethics, and Diversity courses.

Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, is the largest supplier of insulin in the world. Using both in-house and outside design services, it has integrated medical research, user-information, and new technologies in team-based projects that have resulted in user-friendly insulin delivery systems, such as insulin pens. These pens have been very successful in Europe and have met varying success elsewhere. The company needs to determine whether its products represent "global design." If not, then how could they? Should they? This case focuses on the use of design in positioning and marketing in the United States an innovative, prefilled, disposable, easy-to-use, pen-like syringe to replace the "drugstore" diabetics conventionally carry. Students are asked to develop a marketing strategy and launch plan to suit local conditions.