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Presents a call to manage the sales force actively in today's intensely competitive world. Suggests five steps that are necessary to make the sales force effective, beginning with clear specification of the sales task to be achieved.

Presents a survey discussion of retailing and current issues. Examines the impact of changing consumer attitudes on the industry and outlines the industry's response: consolidation, adoption of technology, use of brands and private labels, and changing relationships with vendors.

Presents an overview of managed care. Describes the relationship between provider and insurance companies, examines the implications for consumers, and discusses financial arrangements and operational characteristics commonly observed in the industry. Also provides a background to other HBS health care cases.

The basics of project management are described and applied to a simple tutorial problem. The steps for project management, as well as the calculation of the critical path, using CPM, are presented.

The note begins by suggesting various dimensions along which competitive situations may differ. It then introduces the matrix game structure and means to analyze a matrix games through iterative domination. The terms, Pareto-optimal and equilibrium are introduced. The note ends with a review of several classical matrix game structures: No Conflict Deliemma and Battle of the Sexes.

Describes the various legal forms of organization including proprietorships, partnerships, limited partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies. Explains the tax and liability attributes of each form, as well as other issues, which may influence the choice of legal form.

The Mexico-U.S. border environmental situation is outlined in this note which provides background information on the region. The nature and extent of the pollution problem and a brief overview of the current system of environmental regulation and enforcement in Mexico and under the North American Free Trade Agreement is also reviewed. The note also provides two caselets of companies operating in the border region. The principle objective of this note is to familiarize students with some of the major debates surrounding the relationship between globalization (expansion of international trade and investment) and the natural environment. It offers the chance for students to learn about the Mexican-U.S. border situation and to consider both the causes of and possible solutions to the serious and complex pollution problem in the region.

Describes several classes of intellectual property: patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, and confidential business information. A rewritten version of an earlier note.

The rapidly changing environment of the pharmaceutical industry has lead to the acceleration of a rift between marketing and sales in a pharmaceutical firm, and to a stronger need to tightly integrate these two functions. The case is a vehicle to initiate discussion around potential structural, systems, and informal approaches to building bridges between marketing and sales.

Discusses the concept of charitable lead and charitable remainder trusts, some of their mechanics, and typical circumstances in which they are used.

Collaborative filtering is explained. Collaborative filters leverage the online community to make personalized recommendations to each end-user by comparing their preferences with those of other users with similar profiles.

Examines rules-based systems.

Discusses the control mechanisms and contracts utilized by venture capitalists. The emphasis is on understanding potential conflicts of interest and how the contracts mitigate those conflicts.

An overview of the new drug development process in the United States, using the migraine drug Imitrex as an illustrative example.

A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to create an advantage, a firm must configure itself to do something unique and valuable. The firm must ensure that, were it to disappear, someone in its network of suppliers, customers, and complementors would miss it and no one could replace it perfectly. The first section uses the concept of "added value" to make this point more precisely. Second, competitive advantage usually comes from the full range of a firm's activities--from production to finance, from marketing to logistics--acting in harmony. The essence of creating advantage is finding an integrated set of choices that distinguishes a firm from its rivals. The second section shows how managers can analyze the full range of activities to understand the sources of added value.

This note is a description of the competitive structure of the Mexican beer industry in 1994. It is written to provide information necessary to evaluate the Mexican market in regard to its export potential and/or investment potential. Labatt Ice, was written at the same time, and it compares the Canadian and U.S. markets. This note enables the discussion to be extended to also include the Mexican market.

As of early 1998, virtually all U.S. states had adopted legislation permitting the organization of limited liability companies. This note describes this new type of entity and the reason why it has become so popular.

Discusses various valuation methodologies for analyzing entrepreneurial firms. Gives a description of the methodologies and describes when each method is appropriate.

Discusses the economics of the private equity market and recent efforts by the U.S. Small Business Administration to promote greater angel financing.

This note provides an overview of the current state of capital-structure theory. It is well suited to an advanced corporate-finance course, after students have been exposed to the basic theory. One perspective on capital-structure choice is to view it as posing trade-offs among five elements: (1) the tax benefits of financing, (2) the explicit costs of financial distress, (3) the agency costs of debt (including an array of indirect costs linked to financial distress), (4) the agency costs of equity, and (5) the signaling effect of security issuance. The first two elements reflect the "modern, traditional" balancing theory of capital structure. The third and fourth build on agency theory and imperfect information and emphasize the individual incentives of decision makers. The fifth element recognizes that the very act of issuing a security can convey new information to investors when there is imperfect information. While newer theories provide a rich array of insights into aspects of financial policy beyond how much debt the firm should undertake, the downside is that at present there is no overarching synthesis of these theories. As a result, practical application requires careful identification of how these particular theories are relevant to the business, the markets, and the situation at hand.