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In the winter of 2003, Billy Lagor, the Hasbro toy company's brand manager for G.I. JOE, faced a set of decisions that would ultimately determine the 2004 marketing plan for the G.I. JOE brand. Under consideration were three different ways to market the military action figure: use traditional media: supplement traditional media with a short, animated DVD; or rely entirely on nontraditional marketing. In evaluating these options, Lagor grappled with a more basic question: What is the nature of the G.I. JOE and Hasbro brands? Should he market G.I. JOE as a short-term fad or as a marquee property akin to the Barbie franchise? Includes color exhibits.

The collapse of Enron will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most notorious corporate scandals in the twentieth century. Enron's employees lost billions of dollars in retirement savings tied up in Enron as stock became worthless. The rise and fall of Enron was marked by inflated earnings and substantial amounts of hidden debt, enabled by the use of special purpose entities, the application of unethical accounting techniques, and an unquestioning board of directors. The transformation of Enron from a mundane natural gas transportation company into a financial trading empire, with operations in natural gas, water, broadband, electricity, power plants, and exotic derivatives, was masterminded by Jeffrey Skilling, one-time chief executive officer, and Andrew Fastow, the company's chief financial officer. In the aftermath of the company's collapse, the U.S. Congress enacted sweeping changes to corporate governance. But why did Enron's collapse take the financial community by complete surprise? Were there any warning signs that Enron was not as financially solid as it appeared? The case examines these issues using data from Enron's 2000 10-K and Compustat data for 1984-2000.

TransFair USA, the U.S. fair trade labeling arm of the Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO), faced strategic challenges in 2003. The Fair Trade label denoted coffee (and other products) sold at a price high enough to allow small certified farmers to earn a living wage. TransFair, like the other fair trade organizations worldwide, enjoyed an exclusive niche status in the United States. In 2003 Fair Trade Certified (TM) coffee accounted for 3-5% of all coffee sold in the U.S., a substantial accomplishment given that TransFair was founded in 1998. Paul Rice, founder, president, and chief executive of TransFair USA, wanted to push Fair Trade Certified coffee beyond its niche status into the mainstream. In doing so, he faced the challenge of convincing uninformed mainstream consumers and skeptical large scale coffee roasters to buy Fair Trade Certified coffee, and the FLO to allow TransFair to certify large coffee growing estates.

In 2003, officials in Mexico's Ministry of Social Development were debating whether to eliminate a long-standing program that provided subsidized milk to poor families. In its place, they would expand a new program that gave poor families educational and nutritional cash grants provided that they kept their children in school and made regular visits to health clinics. The milk program, operated by an agency called Liconsa, had been spared so far because it did not require direct budgetary resources due to its preferential access to imported powdered milk. Nevertheless, advocates of expanding the cash grant program argued that the milk program was redundant and less effective. This case can be used to discuss the choices in designing assistance to the poor in economics and social policy courses or to discuss the theory of the consumer in economics courses. HKS Case Number 1766.0

This case highlights issues of management accounting and includes a review of product costing, excess capacity, variance analysis, and scrap costs.

Takahiko Naraki is a young entrepreneur in Japan who is trying to make his Internet-based business model work in the challenging Tokyo business world and must make a key decision: whether and how to expand his business. Discusses the work-life balance of entrepreneurs in general and this one Japanese entrepreneur in particular. Also introduces aspects of the Japanese entrepreneurial environment, including the importance of networking, the business laws regulating entrepreneurial activity, social perceptions of entrepreneurship, and the capital market for small companies in Japan.

The president and chief executive officer of Progistix-Solutions Inc. has asked an analyst to prepare an annual review of the Xerox Critical Parts Network for presentation to management in two weeks. The president expected the analyst to review the performance of the network and establish an improvement plan for the coming year, supported by specific goals and objectives. Although Xerox and Progistix were satisfied with their relationship, after five years, both parties were interested in exploring ways to improve the network, especially because competitors had adopted similar approaches. In preparation for the meeting, the analyst wanted to explore opportunities in three specific areas: First, identify opportunities to improve depot operations. Second, determine how and where Progistix could work together with Xerox on such an initiative making additional improvements in the area of inventory management. Third, improve systemwide inventory turn performance by re-examining the cut-off point for filling the technicians' trunks with inventory. This case

San Diego City Schools embarked on an ambitious, districtwide reform effort to improve student achievement in 1998. Examines the role of resource reallocation in supporting the district's reform strategy, highlighting how resource allocation choices and processes affect organizational coherence and strategy execution. In the fall of 2003, the district leadership contemplates making substantial changes to its resource allocation system in response to a serious budget crisis and mounting internal and external pressures for change.

This case is about the history, achievements, and problems of a uniquely run medical institution. It has become an award-winning, world-class institution through emphasis on and nurturing of talented, hard-working, and salaried doctors; a culture of excellence and innovation; and teamwork. In recent years, as competition for patients grew, funding and reimbursement diminished, and patients demanded better service, the center has had to find ways to provide better patient service in order to maintain its competitive edge.

In March 1999, Renault, the ninth largest car maker in the world, announced acquisition of a 36.8 percent stake in Nissan Motor for $5.4B. Second, Carlos Ghosn would take charge of the struggling company. The news shocked Japan as well as the global business community. Would a Westerner be able to bring about change in a Japanese company with a deep-rooted tradition of bureaucratic behavior and a consensus-building style? Case A describes the steps that led to the acquisition of Nissan. Case B covers the story of Carlos Ghosn and how he changed the company and brought profitability to Nissan. The case discusses such techniques as the art of listening and understanding in depth, formation of cross-functional teams, and Ghosn's three management principles: transparency, 5% strategy and the rest execution, and communication of company direction and priorities.

This case traces the development of the worldwide watch industry from its inception through to mid-1990. In particular, it allows the reader to observe some fairly dramatic shifts in industry leadership, as well as several dramatic examples of product redefinition along the way. The case is rich enough in content to allow the reader to identify a number of often-recurring reasons for the changes in industry leadership.

Illustrates the challenges associated with centralizing IT decisions at Cisco after a decade of decentralized planning and project funding. When Brad Boston became Cisco's new CIO in 2001, he found that managers were starting to get frustrated with the results of their latest IT initiatives. Boston believed that Cisco needed to focus on its global infrastructure before investing in more functional tools and applications. Under the leadership of Boston and an executive operating committee, Cisco selected three major enterprise projects that required an unprecedented level of process planning and cross-functional cooperation, a major change from Cisco's legacy of entrepreneurial drive. As these three projects started to wind down in 2004, Boston and the operating committee were thinking about what types of new projects the IT organization should support. Raises issues about change management, centralized planning, IT prioritization and resource allocation, enterprise cooperation, and project funding.

Harley-Davidson manufactures and sells motorcycles. It also provides financing for retail purchases and dealer stock. Although Harley's performance has been very strong, analysts and the press have questioned its use of a special-purpose entity to sell securities collateralized by its financing activities. Harley's management must decide how to balance the street's suspicion of this activity with its strategy of providing a "whole motorcycle experience" and the high level of profits created by the current arrangement.

The American Institute for Foreign Studies (AIFS) organizes study abroad programs and cultural exchanges for American students. The firm's revenues are mainly in U.S. dollars, but most of its costs are in eurodollars and British pounds. The company's controllers review the hedging activities of AIFS. AIFS has a hedging policy, but the controllers want to review the percentage of exposure that is covered and the use of forward contracts and options. AIFS sets guaranteed prices for its exchanges and tours a year in advance, before its final sales figures are known. The controllers need to ensure that the company adequately hedges its foreign exchange exposure and achieves an appropriate balance between forward contracts and currency options. To obtain executable spreadsheets (courseware), please contact our customer service department at [email protected].

IBM Europe is trying to expand business-to-business (B2B) efforts with its large distributors of midrange systems. These efforts aim to automate many transactions and business processes, removing the need for human involvement. IBM has completed an initial project with the German company Magirus; this project automated the transmission of midrange system orders for Magirus' internal information systems to IBM's systems. The leaders of the IBM effort face two principal challenges: accelerating the pace of subsequent efforts and convincing more distributors to take part.

Focuses on using compensation as a lever for organizational improvement, highlighting topics such as developing institutional capacity for accountability, effecting organizational change, and working to address systemic misalignment.

Focuses on implementing complex school district reforms and the realities of leading and sustaining large-scale organizational change.

Highlights how one school district leverages human capital management to help create a high-performing system.

The Wilmont Chemical Corporation produces a variety of industrial products, including a specialty chemical called SC. The company uses an actual costing system and the LIFO inventory method. At the beginning of each year, the company's controller estimates the total direct cost (omitting any manufacturing overhead allocation) per unit of producing SC. Unfortunately, the market demand and selling price are difficult to predict, as are the raw material and direct labor costs. Monthly budgets are prepared in advance, and are subsequently compared with actual results. The controller is wondering if the company's financial statements would be more "managerially relevant" if the company changed to an estimated costing system, where raw material inventory is kept at estimated costs and finished goods inventory is kept at estimated production costs. The case provides information for comparing the actual operating results for a month with the budgeted amounts. Students are asked to prepare three monthly income statements: one using the company's actual costing system; one using an estimated costing system; and, one using a hybrid costing system that incorporates both actual and estimated costs. They are then asked to take a position as to which of the three income statements presents the most managerially relevant information.

Hydrochem, Inc. produces only one product - condutronic plates. The company uses an actual process costing system but is considering changing to a standard costing system. Manufacturing costs consist of raw material, direct labor and manufacturing overhead, and the company uses full absorption costing. Students are provided with account balance information at the beginning of the month and with information regarding the company's events and transactions during the month. Students are asked to prepare two income statements for the month and balance sheets as of the end of the month. One set of financial statements is to be prepared using the company's actual costing system, and the other set of financial statements is to be prepared using the proposed standard costing system. Students are asked to explain the differences between these two sets of financial statements and to take a position as to which set of financial information they prefer.