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WPP Group acquired J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, paying high premiums in relation to earnings. In each acquisition the goodwill acquired was immediately charged off against owners' equity. Then, WPP Group established a value for the brand names of the two companies. The value totaled $350 million. The case describes the brand valuation process, the differences between U.K. and U.S. accounting methods, and motivation for the transaction.

Deals with performance assessment and improvement of a service operation in the insurance industry, a market that is highly sensitive to response time. Two branch offices in direct competition are described, and the impact of response time on performance is suggested. Management choices that impact response time are explored and the poorer performer of the two branches must decide how to respond.

A Wall Street Journal article states, "At PepsiCo, Inc., cola was king, but it is quietly being dethroned." PepsiCo is composed of three lines of business: soft drinks, restaurants, and snack foods. Using data from comparable pure-play companies, the student is asked to compute divisional costs of capital and see if they can be reconciled with the company's reported cost of capital, 11%.

A road construction company needs a new asphalt plant and must decide between two options: a drum plant with a 10-year life or a batch plant with a 5-year life. In addition, the company must decide which of two offers to accept from local dealerships for heavy equipment to support the new plant. The case provides comparison of net present value, internal rate of return, payback, and profitability index as criteria for making investment decisions.

One of the nation's foremost mini-mills' core competence is the rapid realization of technology into products. This case describes the development of a highly innovative casting technique and features the role of the company's culture in achieving its goals. The company exemplifies a learning organization.

Paul Olsen, a doctoral management student, is considering forming a limited partnership to open a restaurant in a renovated downtown mall in Pittsburgh. He must assess the opportunity, find investors for the anticipated $250,000 start-up costs, and create a workable business plan for the restaurant. He has no prior industry experience.

In June 1991, Heileman announced plans to introduce a high-alcohol malt liquor under the name PowerMaster (PM). Although the company claimed PM would be positioned as an upscale product and marketed on the basis of its superior taste, minority advocates and alcohol foes quickly assailed the company for targeting lower-income, inner-city black consumers. In the wake of protests, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), which had previously approved the PM product, initiated a review of PM and several other high-alcohol malt liquor products that BATF considered to be in violation of federal law prohibiting brewers from stating or even implying the alcohol content of their products. Shortly after, BATF requested that Heileman remove the word "power" from PM's label. Heileman cancelled plans to launch the product. The case encompasses both target marketing and ethical issues. Illustrates a problem faced by many American brewers: How can these companies increase beer sales in a slow-growing, increasingly saturated market, which is completely dominated by the Anheuser-Busch companies?

Momenta is a one-month-old high-tech company founded by Kamran Elahian who has already helped found two other successful firms. Having faced problems of teamwork and communication before, Kamran is determined to establish the right corporate culture early on. Teaching Objective: To discuss when and how corporate cultures might be established in a rapidly growing industry. May be used with Momenta Corp. (B).

Champion's forest products division owns timberlands, sawmills, and plywood mills in the Pacific Northwest. The listing of the northern spotted owl as an endangered species, and restrictions on exports of logs from state-owned lands, have disrupted the stumpage, log and product markets in which Champion competes. Tag Edwards, executive V.P. for forest products, needs to decide how to respond to these regulatory changes, using economic data and political information.

Describes Star's experiment with gain sharing over a three-year period. Background on the industry and company's history are provided to establish the context for the shift to pay-for-performance. Describes the three different gain sharing programs, the resulting payouts, and organizational impact.

In January 1988, Colby Chandler, Kodak CEO, created the Corporate Information Systems (CIS) and appointed Katherine Hudson head. She at once became the first head of IT and first woman corporate vice president in the company. Throughout 1989, Hudson inaugurated a series of organizational initiatives that not only would dramatically change the IT function within Kodak, but would rock the industry. She outsourced data center operations, telecommunications services, and personal computer support to IBM, DEC, and Business Land, respectively. Case presents the complexities in managing information systems through partnerships.

Deals with the coming of the mechanized textile industry to the United States, and with it, the nation's first factories. Considers the introduction of small spinning mills in Rhode Island, and the appearance of large integrated spinning and weaving mills in Massachusetts. These basic business and technological innovations are best presented by comparing ways in which each set of enterprises were financed, carried out processes of production, marketed goods, trained labor, and managed their enterprises. Based partly on cases by N.S.B. Gras and T.R. Navin.

This large tobacco and diversified food processor is seeking to refinance debt funds raised to accomplish a large acquisition. It has filed a large "shelf" registration that authorizes it to issue during the subsequent two years. At the time of the case, the market looks attractive and the company's CEO is trying to decide whether to issue debt and, if so, in what form. Teaching objective: to familiarize students with the shelf registration form of underwriting, to analyze an issuer's operating and financial profile preparatory to going to the public market, and to assess the position the issuing company should take towards the investment bankers who want to be awarded the business.

Pioneer is an integrated oil company. Its operations include exploration and development, production, transportation, and marketing. The case focuses on Pioneer's cost of capital calculations and its choice between a single company-wide cost of capital or divisional costs of capital. Provides students the opportunity to learn how to calculate a company-wide weighted average cost of capital. An appropriate measure of the cost of equity capital is presented so that students are able to challenge their understanding of key concepts by critiquing the company's measure and suggesting their own.

Alliant has been a leader in the health care industry in implementing total quality management. After five years, however, they do not have much to show for their efforts except a "foundation" of quality attitudes and processes. The case discusses their plans to "jump start" the quality program by implementing a new information systems strategy. Teaching purposes: Implementation issues in total quality management and the role of I/T in executing strategic change.

Explores the general history of slavery in the United States. Through detailed exhibits and a text consisting of excerpts from six first-hand observations of slavery, this note is designed to present the ethics, economics (especially the perverse incentive systems), and sociology of slavery, the worst single stain on the nation's history.

KPMG Peat Marwick executives needed to decide whether to fund full development of "The Shadow Partner," the name coined to describe a worldwide information network that would link all KPMG professionals to each other and to a wealth of data bases and information services. Partners, by sharing and gathering information through the network, would be able to use the entire company's knowledge and experience to serve clients. Many partners felt that implementation of the shadow partner was vital, as clients had greater demands and competition in the accounting industry had escalated. Other partners questioned the necessity of the shadow partner. The firm had committed to establishing a technology committee to investigate shadow partner design and cost. Since the firm was a partnership, the partners eventually had to decide whether, and to what extent, to support shadow partner implementation.

Don Cornwell and his partner Stuart Beck formed Granite Broadcasting Corp. (GBC) to acquire under-performing TV stations. Cornwell is now in his fourth acquisition. This case focuses on the management challenges and strategies he uses to turn around his stations, specifically the third acquisition.

Examines California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the world's fourth largest pension fund. Dale Hanson, CEO of CalPERS, has a problem; how does he use CalPERS' influence as the holder of a small percentage of 1,300 American companies to put pressure on corporate America to achieve better returns for shareholders? The case discusses the constraints which confront CalPERS as a quasi-state agency and describes their efforts to improve corporate governance to date.

A vehicle for a discussion of the growth of organized labor between the World Wars.