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Why has Britain declined? The case provides three interpretations: from a neoclassical economist, two institutional economic historians, and a sociologist. Their explanations partly overlap and partly conflict over such areas as technology, national culture, and social class.

Provides a vehicle for discussing the problems caused by the Great Depression.

The rapid depreciation of the peso in 1982 precipitated a crisis at Grupo Alfa, Mexico's largest private company. The company's peso cash flow was insufficient to service its large dollar-denominated debt. Students are asked to formulate a plan for restructuring Alfa's debt in the context of Mexican laws governing property and creditors' rights. To do this, students must decide on a business strategy, make financial projections and understand participants' negotiating strengths and weaknesses. Teaching objective: In addition to the basic elements of a large corporate restructuring, the case highlights the roles played by governments and legal systems. Provides a useful contrast to U.S.-style restructurings.

Addresses the controversy that surrounds highly promotional retail pricing referred to as "high-low pricing" by the trade. High-low pricing involves setting prices at an initially high level for a brief period of time, then discounting off the so-called "regular" or "original" prices for the bulk of the selling season. Discusses recent accusations by state and local authorities that such pricing policies are deceptive and covers, in detail, a recent court case involving May D&F, a subsidiary of the May Companies in Colorado. Introduces the complexity of the retail promotional environment, and the problems associated with highly promotional pricing. Understanding consumer response to promotions is critical to the case analysis.

When GE's retiring Reginald Jones turned the job of CEO over to Jack Welch on April 1, 1981, the Wall Street Journal reported that GE had "decided to replace a legend with a live wire." Some wondered if the young dynamo could fill the elder statesman's very large shoes. But Welch had a very powerful and well-articulated vision of where he wanted his company to go. By 1984, he had regrouped GE's sectors, redefined its core businesses, made massive investment and disinvestment decisions, changed the company's approach to planning, and drastically cut personnel. Despite a major recession in the world economy and flat sales, profits rose from $1.5 billion in 1980 to $2.3 billion in 1984. This case chronicles the evolution of GE through the 1970s and early 1980s, focusing particularly on the changes wrought by Reg Jones and the way in which Jack Welch took that heritage and reshaped it to fit the demands of a new decade.

By the mid 1980's Jack Welch had completely transformed General Electric with more than 300 divestitures and acquisitions since the beginning of the decade. Welch insisted that his business units be number one or number two in their markets, and have the strength of large companies and the leanness and agility of small ones. Yet, although Welch had succeeded restructuring GE the way he wanted, employee morale was low. The case focuses on Welch raising employee productivity by continuing to remove layers of management and by allowing employees to have a greater voice in their own affairs.

Astor, the wealthiest American of his time, engages in fur trading, shipping, real estate investment, and general merchandise trading. Astor's career illustrates the immediate pre-modern management era: types of decisions, time horizons, and number of transactions.

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings forecasts by brokerage firms. BTR, a large highly successful British conglomerate, is considering making a takeover offer of Norton but is troubled by a number of issues. This case takes a behind-the-scenes look at how a company like BTR would value a potential takeover target and analyze how the acquisition would impact BTR's operations and performance, and how it might stave off competing bids if it were to make an offer.

Japonica Partners, an investment firm, is trying to determine whether there is any unseen value in Sunbeam Oster Co., Inc., a Chapter 11 debtor. If there is, Japonica must consider the means by which they can acquire control of a company in Chapter 11.

William Apfelbaum, president and CEO of Transportation Displays, Inc., must restructure both the company's method of doing business and its liabilities to keep it from bankruptcy. The value he hopes to receive from the reorganized company will be an important issue in the restructuring negotiations with creditors.

A U.S. trucking company is considering using debt for the first time to acquire another company. The directors of the company are divided in their opinion of the likely impact of leverage on Continental Carriers' performance. Their differences must be reconciled and a decision reached about whether to issue new debt or equity to fund the acquisition. Students are introduced to the impact of leverage on performance variables such as profits, growth, earnings per share, and stock price. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

A company in financial distress must design a successful exchange offer or face Chapter 11. Covers valuation and negotiation issues related to financial distress and the decision to file under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

This case series introduces the strategic human resource management (SHRM) process. SHRM is an action research program designed to align the organization and management of human resources with strategy. This case describes the health care industry, Becton Dickinson's (BD) corporate history, and the way the company is organized and managed. Does BD's corporate strategy make sense? Analyzes the fit between strategy and HRM.

A vehicle for the discussion of early antitrust legislation in the United States from 1890 to 1914.

The rise of Standard Oil and its relation to the development of the American oil industry and new form of business organization.

Describes the historic evolution and current positioning of a Christian church which focuses on the attraction of "unchurched" individuals. Describes the church's strategic service vision and its current growth and leadership problems.

Consists of three selections by the most innovative of the early American railroad managers describing the organizational structures and control systems they created. Questions to be asked are: why and how such managerial techniques were created, how well they worked, and how they differ from present-day techniques.

Discusses urban rivalry and the growth of New York City early in the nineteenth century.

Concerns the role of Jay Gould in causing the creation of large regional rail systems after the Civil War in the United States. In class it will be used to show the inevitability of consolidation in that industry.

Deals with the issue of niche marketing in a worldwide market. Barco Projection Systems makes video, data, and graphics projectors for the industrial market. They have traditionally been the performance leader. In August 1989, Sony Corp. introduced a higher performance graphics projector at a considerably lower price than Barco's existing projector. As a result, Barco is faced with being preempted in their fastest growing segment by a competitor with much larger resources. Deals with how a small niche player deals with considerably larger competitors in a global environment.