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This note reports the results of a study of 10 U.S. and Japanese companies with regard to their purchasing practices and vendor/buyer relationships. Particular attention is given to just-in-time practices in the purchasing area.

This technical note considers how one makes choices in situations where there are multiple objectives and attributes that measure performance against these objectives. In some instances, given attributes may be important because they measure impacts of a choice on specific stakeholders. The note considers elimination of alternatives by aspects, dominance, and some decision rules that do not require compensatory tradeoffs (lexicographic, satisficing). Methods for "rate and weight" (linear additive scoring rules) are described and illustrated.

This note teaches the student how to account for seasonality in time-series data. All the necessary steps to (1) deseasonalize, (2) forecast with deseasonalized data, and then (3) re-seasonalize the forecast are illustrated with examples from the coal industry.

Supplement for UV6120

This note contains a modified version of Christie and Geis's (1970) Machiavellianism Scale, which measures leadership and interpersonal style based on opportunism, self-interest, and manipulation. The instrument is designed to be used in conjunction with the technical note "Machiavellianism: Understanding the Person and the Situation."

This note summarizes several major theories of leadership. It is intended to provide a quick overview of the major concepts and points rather than an in-depth understanding of the theories. It includes the Great Man theory, charismatic leadership, and the approaches of McClelland, Winter, Bennis, Burns, Fiedler, Hersey and Blanchard, Path-Goal, Mintzberg, Kotter, Maccoby, and Schein.

This technical note contains a scale measuring Type-A behavior patterns (Bortner, 1969), describes its impact on individuals and organizations, contains two short cases describing Type-A and Type-B individuals, and presents recommendations for modifying Type-A behavior patterns.

This note describes reflective, or active, listening. A list of types of responses, from directive to nondirective, is given in an appendix. The note itself summarizes major principles of reflective listening and how they can be applied. It may be used as a summary of, or introduction to, the topic.

This note introduces basic principles of organizational design and the advantages of several common organizational structures. The principles of design are fit, differentiation, integration, technology, size, span of control, staffing, unity of command, and line versus staff. The structures diagrammed and described are functional, product, customer, geographic, divisional or M-form, matrix, amorphous, and hybrids. The note also discusses the new emerging Information Age organizational forms, which the authors call "infocracies."

This note introduces and describes scenario-building, the strategic-thinking approach developed by Pierre Wack and associates at Royal/Dutch Shell in the 1970s and helped catapult the company from seventh to second in its industry. The note defines the concept, outlines who should use it and how it links to strategic planning, and illustrates it with models and verbal examples. The note is appropriate for use in courses on business economics, strategic thinking, business policy, and leadership.

This note describes some of the characteristics of the case method and what is expected of the student for a successful experience.

This note contains suggestions on casewriting under the following headings: Objectives of the Case Method; Case Development; An Overview; Preparing To Write A Case; Sources of Case Information; The Casewriting Process; Characteristics of an Effective Case; and Teaching Notes.

This note outlines a simple but powerful model, in managerial language, for understanding why people behave the way they do. The model builds a set of relationships among perceptions, beliefs, conclusions, defense mechanisms, and behavior. The note provides a framework that has been useful in a variety of settings for practicing managers.

This note introduces the student to the FRICTO framework for evaluating alternative financial tactics. Elements of the framework are flexibility, risk, income, control, timing, and other. A simple instruction is provided.

This note explores the interaction between the use of debt and firm value and provides a brief perspective on the use of debt. It also introduces the notions of financial and operating leverage. In addition, it covers the impact of the use of debt in the presence of no taxes, corporate taxes only, and both personal and corporate taxes.

This note is designed to introduce the binomial option-pricing model. It covers the basic concepts using a one-period model and then provides an example of a two-period model. The note focuses on a conceptual approach to binomial option pricing rather than formulas.

This note explains how a financial institution should develop its corporate strategy and the factors it should take into account in developing that strategy.

This note introduces the principal alternative methods for estimating the cost of equity, including the dividend growth model, the earnings capitalization model, and the CAPM.

This note is an introduction to the concept of cost of capital as an opportunity cost and how to compute weighted-average cost of capital for a corporation.

This note discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of three primary methods of valuing a firm: (1) accounting approaches (e.g., book value); (2) multiples of earnings (e.g., p/e); and (3) discounted cash flow and related models.