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The services manager was reviewing the latest progress status of the new fish head cutting device development program. The project was behind schedule and decisions needed to be made on several contingency plans. The technical services manager also wondered how to ensure speedy development of the device without jeopardizing the joint venture relationship. (This case is a sequel to Canadian Fishing Company (A), case 9A88D006.)

A division manager for a chain of medical and research centres must deal with allegations of misappropriated funds. The chain has recently undergone an organizational restructuring, a fact which tends to muddy the issue. Case analysts address ethical and public relations considerations, in light of the fact that one of the key players has threatened legal action against the corporation.

An American project manager (with a team of 12 Americans), who is just about to conclude a week long negotiation with a team of 12 Koreans, is faced with a dilemma. He is being pushed to make a decision he is ill equipped to make; he feels it might not be in his company's best interest, but could be in the best interest of the joint venture that his firm is in the process of establishing with the Koreans.

The mid-1986 Sears new catalogue contained a 20-page section called Elements. This section bore a striking resemblance to the format of an IKEA catalogue, and the furniture being offered was similar to IKEA'S knocked-down self-assembly line. The head of IKEA'S North American operations wondered how serious Sears was about its new initiative and what, if anything, IKEA should do in response.

A three-party negotiation among a company's human resources manager, senior manager, and a supervisor over whether to reverse plans to fire the supervisor's employee. A multi-issue negotiation in which the HR representative is one of the parties. The company is concerned about a decision to retain or fire a newly transferred manager because of an alleged drinking incident.

Sunwind A.B. supplies interior trim (floor-lids) to Volvo Car company from its Säve plant. The newly appointed Managing Director is faced with capacity and quality problems on one hand and plant closure on the other. he is convinced that the successful implementation of the just-in-time, sequenced delivery of floor lids directly onto Volvo's 700 series assembly line at its Torslanda plant, only 8 km distant, would guarantee not only the viability of the Säve plant but also provide Sunwind with a sorely needed competitive advantage within Sweden's car trim industry. Participants are asked to develop an action plan for implementing the just-in-time sequence delivery of floor lids to Volvo. This requires the analysis of current operations and making recommendations for change consistent with the just-in-time approach.

On the border between Argentina and Chile, high in the Andes mountains, stands a tall, white statue of Christ, "El Cristo Redentor." It was erected by the Roman Catholic Church in 1904 as a symbol of peace and friendship between the two countries. In late 1978, some 500 youths from the two countries, along with priests and bishops, met at the foot of the statue to pray for peace. At the same time, troops were converging from both sides of the 3000 mile long border. And at sea, the Argentine and Chilean navies were heading south to a small passageway between the Atlantic and the Pacific called the Beagle Channel. This case (Part A) is the first of three parts that describe the Beagle Channel Dispute and the negotiations that took place between Argentina and Chile. Should be paired with HKS822 and HKS823. HKS Case Number 796.0.

In 1980, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services faced a crisis. Over 700 black children in Cook County, including 69 infants, waited for adoption while the agency was unable to find black parents. Director Gregory L. Color, with his deputy gordon Johnson, approached Father George Clements, a black activist Chicago priest in the Baptist community. From those meetings came One Church, One Child, a plan to use pastors of the black churches as spokesmen to reach the community. Coler and Johnson faced several hurdles as they asked a private religious institution to help solve a public agency's problem. They had to change negative attitudes both in the black community; which had grown to distrust the state agency, and among a staff suspicious of change who would implement the black adoption program. They had to revamp state laws that inhibited the adoption process. And they had to change bureaucratic procedures that had proven ineffective. The accompanying video exhibit brings to life the successful strategy of the One Church, One Child program, focusing on a presentation in a black church designed to encourage adoptions. In addition, the video includes retrospective comments from the program's administrators and vignettes of families who have adopted children as a result of the program. This case will challenge students to examine the assumptions that limit bureaucracies. Available in Spanish translation. HKS Case Number 856.0

When Alice Rivlin became the first director of the Congressional Budget Office in February 1975, she found herself in charge of a new agency with no staff, no permanent offices, a very sketchy mandate from Congress as to its duties and responsibilities, and few allies on Capitol Hill. The case traces the early history of the CBO, from Rivlin's appointment to the agency's first appearance before the House Appropriations Committee the following year. The 1974 Budget Act which created CBO required the agency to provide cost estimates on bills, economic forecasts, and an annual budget report to Congress. Rivlin envisioned an agency that would also provide detailed policy analysis to Congress, but her view proved controversial on the Hill. In addition to her other roles as director, Rivlin spent considerable amounts of her time articulating and defending this vision during her first year. HKS Case Number 872.0

Senior corporate communications executives of a major financial services firm are reviewing the company's sports sponsorship program and are considering expanding it. Hancock already is the corporate sponsor of the Boston Marathon and has the opportunity to sponsor the Sun Bowl (football game). Major questions include the role and evaluation of sports sponsorship as part of Hancock's image enhancement initiatives.

Scarce managerial talent, sales force turnover, and client attrition were potential problems underlying IDS' disappointing performance at mid-year 1987. The marketing vice president had three potential "fixes": 1) increasing or decreasing the $35 million budget for marketing programs, 2) accelerating the expansion of the 6,746-person sales force numerically, and 3) emphasizing the strategic geographical expansion of the sales force. The teaching objective is to show the intricacies of planning, organizing, and budgeting as a three-way interaction which impacts results.

Presents a problem involving rehabilitating a small office building in Boston. Describes an investment decision which is knowingly underfunded. As construction proceeds, the developer realizes that it is not up to building code and faces difficult business and ethical decisions regarding restructuring the deal, finding other sources of capital, replacing the contractors, and dealing with a difficult building inspector. Also points to the necessity of doing accurate financial planning.

In early 1985 the CEO of Waste Management, Inc. is deliberating over several equity-linked debt alternatives to finance the retirement of debt. The teaching objective is to expose students to various forms of equity-linked debt financing alternatives.

Describes a major electric utility's highly successful effort to institute a comprehensive quality improvement program throughout the organization. Designed to be used in a comparative analysis of the quality improvement effort described in Paul Revere Insurance Co. (A). Students learn that there is no one "right way" to build the concept of defect-prevention into an organization (as espoused by such quality experts as Deming, Juran, and Crosby). Rather, the design and implementation of a quality improvement strategy need to be tailored to such variables as the nature of demand for an organization's service, its service-delivery process, corporate culture, organizational climate, financial performance, industry structure and trends, and competing demands for organizational attention. Important topics dealt with are program implementation, problem-solving methodology/philosophical roots, rewards and recognition, measuring results, maintaining momentum, and limitations/problems.

Describes the competitive situation facing the market leader in antiknock additives, the Ethyl Corp. Demand is declining rapidly and Ethyl has to decide whether to close capacity, and if so, how. Raises issues of corporate as well as SBU strategy because antiknock additives are Ethyl's principal product.

The CEO of ServiceMaster Industries has convened an internal task force to come up with ideas for reorganizing the company to accommodate unusually fast growth. In developing both alternatives and criteria for appraising them, the task force has to keep in mind the strong company culture.

Describes the challenges facing the president of an old-line foodservice and food processing equipment manufacturing company as it attempted to accelerate sales and profit growth through the introduction of innovative products. The introduction of a "revolutionary" combination oven, ongoing labor confrontation at the headquarter's plant, and a series of acquisitions were among the issues occupying Louise O'Sullivan as she prepared to enter her third year as the senior executive of Groen. The policies and practices of Dover Industries, designed to motivate operating company presidents "to think like owners," are also described because of their relevance to her behavior and performance in that job.

Describes in detail the research mounted by five individuals with a $20,000 budget to combat drug abuse among Boston's school-going population. Using the focus group methodology they discover that most of the current anti-drug advertising is useless. They create their own storyboards but are not sure if they are truly better.

United Parcel Service (UPS) in 1987 faced serious challenges to its long-standing policies of on-the-job training and promotion from within. Increased competition in its traditional business of ground transport found UPS lagging in computerization and in need of technical expertise it could not simply cull from within its ranks. Whether, when, and how the new people were to be hired and assimilated, and to what extent the UPS culture and/or the new people would have to adapt, were the key questions.