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Alphabetically : W
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 The Ways Chief Executive Officers Lead
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| 16 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Farkas, Charles M.; Wetlaufer, Suzy
Publication Date: 05/01/1996
Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article
Product Description: CEOs inspire sentiments from awe to wrath, but there is little debate over their importance in the business world. Their decisions change companies and lives. But what do CEOs do all day? Where do they go? Charles Farkas and Suzy Wetlaufer analyzed interviews with 160 chief executives around the world and examined the attitudes, activities, and behaviors that shape the answers to these questions. At the outset, the authors thought they might find 160 approaches to leadership. Instead, they identified only five, each with a singular focus: strategy, people, expertise, controls, or change.
HBS Number: 96303
Subjects: CEO; Executives; Leadership; Management styles
Academic Discipline: Organizational behavior & leadership
Source: Harvard
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| The Wild West of Executive Coaching
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| 12 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Sherman, Stratford; Freas, Alyssa
Publication Date: 11/01/2004
Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article
HBS Number: R0411E
Subjects: Action planning; Coaching; Contracts; Corporate culture; Executive ability; Executives; Human resources management; Leadership; Performance appraisal; Performance effectiveness; Personal strategy & style
Academic Discipline: Organizational behavior & leadership
Product Description: Annual spending on executive coaching in the United States is estimated at $1 billion. Yet, information about coaching’s effectiveness is scarce and unreliable. No one has yet demonstrated conclusively what qualifies an executive coach or what makes one approach to executive coaching better than another. Barriers to entry are nonexistent — many executive coaches know little about business, and some know little about coaching. The coaching certifications offered by various self-appointed bodies are difficult to assess, and methods of measuring return on investment are questionable. But strategic coaching can provide critical help both to individuals and to organizations. In this article, Stratford Sherman, a senior vice-president of Executive Coaching Network, and Alyssa Freas, the founder and CEO, explore the popularity of executive coaching and investigate ways to make the most of the experience. They argue that coaching is inevitably a triangular relationship between the client, the “coachee,” and the coach. Its purpose is to produce behavioral change and growth in the coachee for the economic benefit of the client. The best way to maximize the likelihood of good results is to qualify all the people involved. Even so, many triangular relationships continue to generate conflict among all three parties. At the most basic level, coaches serve as suppliers of candor, providing leaders with the objective feedback they need to nourish their growth. Coaching gets ex
Source: Harvard
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| The Wine Industry
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| 16 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Andrew Inkpen, Rod Phillips
Abstract: This Wine Industry Note examines the wine industry as the basis for discussing how competitive advantage is created and how advantage can be lost when innovative strategies challenge the incumbent players. The wine industry in 2003 was in a state of transition. Historically, a plethora of products and fragmented international markets made it nearly impossible for a company to establish a dominant international position. In addition, because wine was an agricultural product and subject to the vagaries of the weather, reliability of supply was unpredictable. However, well-capitalized international winemakers were emphasizing global presence and brand recognition. The tremendous success New World producers had experienced in markets traditionally dominated by European winemakers was leading to increased emphasis on creating recognized brands, stable distribution arrangements, and focused advertising campaigns. Only time would tell if the wine industry remained one where terror and the mystery of the wine prevailed, or global brands displaced the local and regional winemakers.
Teaching: The wine industry is an ancient industry, it is global, it involves a product that most people are familiar with and many are fanatical about, and it is undergoing significant structural change. The focus of the industry note is on the producers/winemakers and their position within the industry. The case can also be used in the industry analysis part of a competitive strategy class and can serve as a vehicle to explore the value chain concept.
Thunderbird #: A09-03-0026
Setting: N/A Industry: Wine Industry
Subjects: Industry and competitive strategy
Source: Thunderbird
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| The Winner Takes All...Sometimes
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| 8 pp.
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Galbraith, John Kenneth
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist and author of The Affluent Society, reviews Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook’s book The Winner-Take-All Society. Frank and Cook, professors at Cornell and Duke universities, study markets in which the winner‘s rewards far outstrip those of the other contestants. Galbraith takes exception to the authors' notion that the workings of sports markets are broadly applicable to all aspects of U.S. economic life. Sometimes it's apt, sometimes it isn't. Galbraith warns. "No wheat grower, no dentist, no housepainter has a dominant position in his industry," he maintains. Still, Galbraith does agree with the authors' conclusion that a winner-take-all mentality can misallocate economic resources, resulting in grave inequalities in the distribution of income.
HBS Number: 95603 Type: Harvard Business Review Article
Publication Date: 11/1/1995
Subjects: Business & society; Competition; Game theory; Market share
Source: Harvard
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| The Winner’s Curse in IT Outsourcing: Strategies for Avoiding Relational Trauma
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| 24 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Kern, Thomas; Willcocks, Leslie P.; Van He
Publication Date: 01/01/2002
Product Type: CMR Article
Publisher: California Management Review
Product Description: Large international corporations commonly engage in IT outsourcing. However, the process of evaluating, selecting, and subsequently contracting out or selling the organization’s IT assets, people, and/or activities to a third-party supplier creates the possibility of a “Winner‘s Curse.” This occurs when the supplier overpromises on what can be delivered for the contract price. This article presents a longitudinal outsourcing case study that explicates the often abstruse Winner's Curse, its effect on post-contract management and the relationship, and how it was alleviated by a mutual renegotiation of the terms of the deal. Building on auction and IT outsourcing theory, the article provides both a model of IT outsourcing processes and a Winner's Curse typology for understanding IT outsourcing ventures. To avoid the experience of relational trauma as a consequence of a Winner's Curse, this article identifies six lessons that client and supplier companies should consider before signing IT outsourcing deals.
HBS Number: CMR221
Subjects: Competitive bidding; Information technology; Outsourcing; Suppliers
Academic Discipline: Negotiations
Source: Harvard
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| 12 pp.
| Article
Heifetz, Ronald A.; Laurie, Donald L.
More and more companies today are facing adaptive challenges: changes in societies, markets, and technology around the globe are forcing them to clarify their values, develop new strategies, and learn new ways of operating. And the most important task for leaders in the face of such challenges is mobilizing people throughout the organization to do adaptive work. The authors offer six principles for leading adaptive work: "getting on the balcony," identifying the adaptive challenge, regulating distress, maintaining disciplined attention, giving the work back to people, and protecting voices of leadership from below.
HBS Number: 97106 Type: Harvard Business Review Article
Publication Date: 1/1/1997
Subjects: Corporate culture; Employee attitude; Employee empowerment; Human behavior; Human resources management; Management of change; Management styles; Organizational learning
Source: Harvard
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| The Work of the Leader
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| 12 pp.
| Article
Pagonis, William G.
Lieutenant General William G. Pagonis led the 40,000 men and women who ran the theater logistics in the Persian Gulf War during its three phases of operation: Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Desert Farewell. His challenges included feeding, clothing, sheltering, and arming over 550,000 people. All of this was achieved in a hostile, desert region with a Muslim community distrustful of the "infidels" sent there to protect them. Pagonis built a leadership-supporting environment, combining centralized control with decentralized execution. He believes vision is defined by the leader, but the subordinates define the objectives that move the organization toward the desired outcome.
HBS Number: 92607 Type: Harvard Business Review Article
Publication Date: 11/1/1992
Subjects: Communication; Interpersonal relations; Leadership; Logistics; Management styles; Military R&D; Power & influence
Source: Harvard
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| The Wreck of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited
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| 18 pp.
| Case
H. Richard Eisenbeis; Sue Hanks; Bruce D. Barrett
At 2:53 a.m. on September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, Amtrak’s only transcontinental passenger train, plunged inot Big Bayou Canot fourteen miles north of Mobile, Alabama, killing 47 passengers. Eight minutes earlier at 2:45 a.m., a towboat, pushing six barges and lost in a dense fog, unknowingly bumped into Big Bayou Canot Bridge, knocking the track out of alignment, causing the train to derail and plunge into the mucky waters of the bayou. Blame for the accident was attributed to negligence on the part of Amtrak, CSX, Warrior and Gulf Navigation, the United States Coast Guard, and the National Transportation Safety Board-all major players in a series of complex parallel organizational subsystems that suddenly interacted in unintended and unpredictable ways. The case illustrates the difficulty of assigning responsibility in situations that are managerially and technically complex, especially when these situations deal with highly emotional and sometimes disastrous events.
Source: North American Case Research Association, Case Research Journal, Volume 19, Issue 3
Subjects: Business Ethics, Social Responsibility, Organizational Theory
Source: NACRA
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| Volume 44, Number 4, Summer 2003
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| 8 pp.
| What Creates Energy in Organizations?
Author(s): Rob Cross; Wayne Baker; Andrew Parker
Reprint 444005; Summer 2003, Vol. 44, No. 4
Topics: Leadership and Organizational Studies; Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations
Abstract: People in organizations commonly talk about the energy associated with a project, team or individual. But is energy related to performance or learning in organizations? And how is it created and transferred in groups?
To answer those questions, the authors assessed energy within seven large groups in different organizations. They collected data that allowed them to map social networks and, more specifically, determine who the “energizers” and “de-energizers” were in those groups. Their analyses, supplemented by interviews with network members, also reveal why energy is important for performance and learning and how it is created (or destroyed) in organizations. And they gave rise to a set of questions that can help managers and the people they oversee increase the energy they generate in their interactions with colleagues.
By mapping relationships, managers can see where energy is being created and where it is being depleted. They can then take action, encouraging simple changes in behavior to increase energy in places where its lack is hindering the progress of important organizational initiatives.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 45, Number 1, Fall 2003
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| 5 pp.
| When Crisis Crosses Borders
Author(s): Deborah Hicks Midanek
Reprint 451006; Fall 2003, Vol. 45, No. 1
Topics: International Business; Financial Management
Abstract: Evolving a global approach to corporate distress is a difficult challenge, says the author, in part because codes vary internationally, reflecting fundamental differences in approaches to bankruptcy and attitudes about financial recovery. The U.S. approach favors rehabilitation as the way to serve creditors and restore value, whereas European nations lean toward liquidation. The author, who has worked with troubled companies in a variety of roles, describes how practitioners abroad are developing new, integrated approaches.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 45, Number 3, Spring 2004
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| 9 pp.
| When CEOs Step Up To Fail
Author(s): Jay A. Conger; David A. Nadler
Reprint 453010; Spring 2004, Vol. 45, No. 3
Topics: Leadership and Organizational Studies; Corporate Strategy
Abstract: In recent years, leaders at such high-profile companies as Xerox, Procter & Gamble, Lucent, Coca-Cola and Mattel have flamed out early in their tenures. Why did such promising and previously successful individuals fail so quickly in the CEO role? And why is such failure happening today with relatively high frequency?
The individuals in charge bear some of the responsibility, of course. But the authors’ research also uncovered other major forces at play. First is the impact of the predecessor CEO‘s actions on his or her successor's performance. While outgoing CEOs do not intend to contribute to the failure of their successors, their personal needs and actions can lay the groundwork for derailment. A second force is often the succession process itself. Once again, the outgoing CEO may be responsible, having failed to prepare a successor adequately; and the board is also often guilty of lack of oversight. A third reason for failure by new CEOs is their often narrow expertise and inability to set a proper context as a leader. The authors explore these issues and then offer advice to outgoing CEOs, directors and incoming leaders that may help them avoid the troubles that some companies have faced in making a leadership transition.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 45, Number 4, Summer 2004
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| 6 pp.
| Why Don’t We Know More About Knowledge?
Author(s): Michael Hammer; Dorothy Leonard; Thomas Davenport
Reprint 454002; Summer 2004, Vol. 45, No. 4
Topics: Leadership and Organizational Studies; Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations
Abstract: More than 15 years ago, Peter Drucker heralded the beginning of the knowledge era. Since then, companies have made many attempts to leverage what they know and to increase their workers’ productivity. To bring together vast amounts of explicit knowledge, they have invested large sums in content repositories; to help people track down others with tacit expertise, they have experimented with open offices, mobile technologies and online directories. Much of this has been a waste of resources. In fact, five years ago Drucker likened our current understanding of knowledge- worker productivity to our understanding of manual-labor productivity in 1900. Translation: We‘ve got a long way to go.
To reorient managers more fruitfully, SMR asked three leading management thinkers to explain what we've learned and how we can do better in the future. For Hammer, the focus should be not on the worker but on work processes and eliminating non-value-adding work. Leonard contends that companies should foster master-apprentice relationships to get the most out of their knowledge. And Davenport urges companies not just to experiment with ways of improving knowledge-worker productivity (as many already do), but to carefully measure the results of their experiments in order to learn what works and what doesn't.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 46, Number 1, Fall 2004
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| 9 pp.
| What Are Brands Good For?
Author(s): Niraj Dawar
Reprint 461006; Fall 2004, Vol. 46, No. 1
Topics: Marketing; Corporate Strategy
Abstract: Brands are an indispensable part of modern business. That is true in large measure because of a brand’s remarkable efficiency in “aggregating” consumers — reaching large numbers of people with a promise to deliver a clearly stated benefit that sets it apart from competitors. But the information revolution is undermining the logic of aggregation, the very source of brand power. In fact, it is becoming evident that in an information-rich environment, consumer disaggregation is vastly more efficient and profitable than aggregation.
Using customized publications, e-mail, direct mail, Web sites and call centers that are based on a common platform of consumer information, companies are demonstrating that they can effectively and efficiently drive consumer behavior through two-way communications. Common underlying databases ensure that each interaction is personalized, regardless of the channel through which it occurs. And each interaction with the consumer builds the consumer database further, making future interactions even richer.
The implications of the information revolution for the role of brands in business are far-reaching. Many of the strategic and tactical tasks entrusted to brands can now be performed better, less expensively and more profitably at the level of consumer segments. And companies’ brand-centric structures are not suited to marketing initiatives that are based on reaching segments or individuals. Given this changed environment, the author calls on companies to rethink three core areas of brand management: the consumer relationship, the channel relationship and the organization of brand management. To support his case, he draws on detailed examples involving Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Tesco.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| 9 pp.
| Will Web Services Really Transform Collaboration?
Author(s): Andrew McAfee
Reprint 462016; Winter 2005, Vol. 46, No. 2
Topics: Management of Information Systems; Leadership and Organizational Studies
Abstract: Just as the Internet and the World Wide Web led to a huge change in how people interact with distant applications, so the Internet and Web services hold out the promise of drastically changing how distant applications interact with each other. But how real is this promise? If information systems could look for and find each other, share data and execute business processes, all with no (or very little) human involvement, the business world would likely be quite transformed. The author concludes, however, that Web services will not create this world, nor will any technology on the horizon. Web services, he argues, will be highly useful, but not quickly or obviously disruptive; in fact, they will reinforce existing relationships rather than catalyze new ones. What’s more, the application-integration challenges that remain unaddressed by Web services are the really difficult ones that can only be overcome by the work of managers and leaders, not technologists or consortia. The author‘s themes are illustrated by an extended example drawn from his case study of IBM's EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) organization, which has been working with independent distributors in several countries to automate the ordering of midrange computing systems. The case provides a close look at an effort to go beyond the capabilities of previous B2B technologies to build agreements and standards for application-application interactions where none previously had existed.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 46, Number 4, Summer 2005
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| 11 pp.
| When Marketing Practices Raise Antitrust Concerns
Author(s): Darren Bush; Betsy D. Gelb
Reprint 464013; Summer 2005, Vol. 46, No. 4
Topics: Marketing; Business Ethics and Public Policy
Abstract: Although most U.S. businesspeople know better than to sit down with competitors to fix prices or divide markets, they can still violate antitrust rulings. Increasingly, the government agencies that enforce antitrust laws are scrutinizing organizations’ marketing, and shifts in practices in the early 2000s have reinvigorated enforcement activity. Understanding what behavior raises antitrust flags is critical for companies with dominant market share in one or more product categories. There has been increasing scrutiny of shelf-slotting practices and category management in the retail sector, for example.
In this article, the authors take managers through the process of determining antitrust violation and then lay out five important cases in which practices that seemed to fit with competitive norms or with good citizenship, in fact, were ruled to be breaches of antitrust law — in some cases, with momentous penalties.
The article goes on to describe a sampling of the tactics that can help to temper competitiveness with caution. It concludes that a fundamental requirement is for managers to begin looking at their competitive tactics — and at the business strategies and processes that support those tactics — through the eyes of antitrust regulators.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 47, Number 1, Fall 2005
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| 5 pp.
| What Really Drives the Market?
Author(s): Marc H. Goedhart; Timothy M. Koller; David Wessels
Reprint 471007; Fall 2005, Vol. 47, No. 1
Topics: Financial Management; Corporate Strategy
Abstract: The principle that financial markets accurately reflect the underlying value of traded stocks has been widely accepted in the investment world since the 1960s. It is predicated on the assumption that investors make buy or sell decisions based on a rational view of a company’s future cash flow, after considering all the relevant information. The role of the markets is to allocate capital to companies efficiently. Recently, however, this rational view has been under attack from adherents of behavioral finance, who argue that stock markets do not reflect economic fundamentals as well as people think they do. The authors maintain that there are instances when stock market valuations can and do make significant and lasting deviations from a company’s intrinsic value. However, according to the authors’ analysis, the significant discrepancies between market value and intrinsic value are both rare and short-lived. The article cites several examples, including the late 1970s, when inflation-conscious investors pushed stock valuations too low, and the “Internet bubble” of the late 1990s. On the whole, the authors argue, financial markets value investments efficiently — even if some people invest irrationally some of the time. Although managers may occasionally find ways to take advantage of short-term discrepancies, the authors say the only way they will be able to do so is by understanding the real underlying values.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 47, Number 3, Spring 2006
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| 4 pp.
| Why Do Good?
Author(s): William F. Pounds
Reprint 473004; Spring 2006, Vol. 47, No. 3
Topics: Business Ethics and Public Policy; Leadership and Organizational Studies
Abstract: The author examines the questions of why individuals behave the way they do and if there is a natural impulse to do good. This article discusses such issues as whether an individual, pursuing his or her own self-interest, can improve the general welfare and whether people have an innate intuition that leads them to do good. In coming to the conclusion that the pursuit of self-interest can produce a lot of good if it is balanced with a bit of societal guidance, the author brings to light issues of corporate governance, performance pay, legal and monetary incentives, and other forms of regulation. It is in these arenas, the author points out, that intuition, rather than a more empirical approach, can best be put to good use. He argues that intuition has been lacking from the more utilitarian view of economics and management and that, generally speaking, a blend of both approaches is optimal.
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| 7 pp.
| When Bad People Rise to the Top
Author(s): Terry Leap
Reprint 49214; Winter 2008, Vol. 49, No. 2
Topics: Leadership and Organizational Studies; Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations
Abstract: Observers are often amazed when executives with impressive track records are mysteriously transformed into corrupt and tyrannical monsters once they become chief executive officers. In truth, these executives often had serious character flaws that were either hidden or ignored for years. Corporate boards and search committees are not likely to detect personality problems of promising CEO candidates simply by examining their resumes or by conducting standard job interviews. This raises the question of how corporate boards or CEO search committees can penetrate the facade of an upwardly mobile executive who is, in reality, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. What danger signals do these individuals exhibit and what measures can be taken to reduce the likelihood of hiring a dysfunctional CEO? The author identifies eight potential danger signals including: an obsession with acquiring prestige, power, and wealth; a proclivity for developing grandiose strategies with little thought toward their implementation; and a fondness for a data-driven management style that overshadows or ignores a broader vision. Even sterling CEOs occasionally exhibit one or more of the danger signals described here. Potentially bad CEOs, however, usually possess several of these characteristics, and they exhibit them repeatedly. There is no ideal method for selecting a CEO, and there may be no executive position that provides a true test of a person‘s fitness to assume the top job, but there are several ways that a company can limit its risks when deciding on a CEO. Boards are usually cautious when looking at CEO candidates from outside the organization. They are more likely to be lulled into a sense of complacency, however, when considering an internal candidate. Some suggestions for screening prospecti
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| 9 pp.
| When Supplier Partnerships Aren’t
Author(s): Brian Slobodow; Omer Abdullah; William C. Babuschak
Reprint 49219; Winter 2008, Vol. 49, No. 2
Topics: Operations Management and Research; Financial Management
Abstract: Ask any executive to describe how their company interacts with others in their supply chain, and it isn’t long before words such as “marriage,” “partnership” or “relationship” come up. However, if there is one truism at all about relationships today, it is that of constant communication. Yet in some of the most “strategic” supplier relationships, this simple concept is almost never deployed. The literature on supply chain management offers a range of metrics for suppliers, including “hard” metrics such as cost and quality and “soft” metrics such as service and innovation and the need for sophisticated models to evaluate supplier performance. But where is the discussion of holding the buyer company accountable for its end of the bargain? In very few cases do buyers adhere to supply chain metrics for themselves. Nonetheless, buyers have as much influence as suppliers on the success or failure of a supply chain relationship. Some companies are addressing this notion with mechanisms that emphasize dual accountability. Dual accountability requires a fundamental shift in the psychology of buyer-supplier relationships. Not only is tangible accountability demanded from both partners, but suppliers and buyers also must show greater communication, openness and trust. The article explores the genesis of the dual accountability concept, outlines the benefits — which range from decreased risk to improved reputation to lower total cost — and illustrates how dual accountability can be profitably applied by suppliers and buyers working together. One means of achieving dual accountability is the Two-Way Scorecard, a performance tool that measures supplier and buyer results across a balanced set of categ
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| Volume 49, Number 3, Spring 2008
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| 9 pp.
| What the Media Is Really Telling You About Your Brand
Author(s): Grahame Dowling; Warren Weeks
Reprint 49311; Spring 2008, Vol. 49, No. 3
Topics: Marketing; Corporate Strategy
Abstract: Media coverage is a key factor in creating a company’s reputation, which has been shown to influence both operational and financial performance. Scorecard rankings are a popular form of determining corporate reputations vis — vis competitors, yet many executives justifiably consider opinion-poll-style scorecards to be little more than beauty contests.
This article discusses two techniques for assessing media coverage in a way that can inform management action: profiling media communication about a company‘s actions and its products and services, and then examining the various facets of an organization's media reputation profile. Media profiling is an analysis of the specific words and phrases that people and journalists use to describe and evaluate a company. The authors illustrate the use of media profiling results in three exhibits that visually reflect important aspects of corporate reputation at a glance: “media salience,” which shows the prominence of a company's media image, and “media tone” and “coverage breakout,” which outline different aspects of company reputation.
Using the example of Apple Inc., the authors show how media profiling immediately creates a discussion that informs management action. It does so by unpacking “message macrothemes,” such as profitability or service, into microthemes that a journalist uses to discuss them. Focusing on microthemes quickly moves the discussion to an expansive language about corporate reputation. Executives and public relations managers can then prioritize their responses to various reputation scenarios. First, they should try to protect and enhance the company's good message themes, then address negative message themes head-on. For mixed message themes, managers should seek to understand both sides of the sto
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review
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| W.K. KELLOGG COMPANY (A)
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| 22 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Parry, Mark E.; Sato, Yoshinobu
Darden ID: UVA-M-0465
Published: 2/21/1996
Copyright Year: 1995
Subject Area: Marketing
Keywords: advertising strategy, brand management, pricing, promotion
Teaching Note: UVA-M-0465TN
Abstract: On April 4, 1994, General Mills, the number-two cereal manufacturer in the United States, announced a per-box price reduction between $0.30 and $0.70 on eight brands that accounted for 40% of its cereal volume. The case focuses on Kellogg’s possible responses to the General Mills price cut, providing opportunities to discuss various strategies for responding to private-label and store-brand competition. Specific responses discussed in the case include price cuts, couponing, other promotional vehicles, and advertising. Of particular interest is Kellogg‘s use of advertising to shift consumer attention from the per-box price of cereal to the per-bowl price of cereal. Also see the B case (UVA-M-0472).
Source: Darden
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| 22 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Parry, Mark E.; Sato, Yoshinobu
Darden ID: UVA-M-0465
Published: 2/21/1996
Copyright Year: 1995
Subject Area: Marketing
Keywords: advertising strategy, brand management, pricing, promotion
Teaching Note: UVA-M-0465TN
Abstract: On April 4, 1994, General Mills, the number-two cereal manufacturer in the United States, announced a per-box price reduction between $0.30 and $0.70 on eight brands that accounted for 40% of its cereal volume. The case focuses on Kellogg’s possible responses to the General Mills price cut, providing opportunities to discuss various strategies for responding to private-label and store-brand competition. Specific responses discussed in the case include price cuts, couponing, other promotional vehicles, and advertising. Of particular interest is Kellogg‘s use of advertising to shift consumer attention from the per-box price of cereal to the per-bowl price of cereal. Also see the B case (UVA-M-0472).
Source: Darden
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| Wa, Guanxi, and Inhwa: Managerial Principles in Japan, China, and Korea
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| 6 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Alston, John P.
Publication Date: 03/15/1989
Product Type: Business Horizons Article
Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University
Product Description: Western observers of global business, impressed with how much Asian cultures differ from those of North America and Europe, tend to think of Japan, China, and Korea as practicing much the same forms of business relationships. But although East Asian cultures have in common an emphasis on personal relationships as the foundation of business practices, the forms and values of these relationships differ markedly among the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. For the Japanese, the important concept is wa, or the emphasis on group loyalty, harmony, and consensus; emotional support and a long-term perspective are important. The Chinese, on the other hand, think in terms of guanxi, the special arrangements of favor-sharing that an individual has with other individuals; personal loyalties within such arrangements are more important than loyalty to an organization. Koreans emphasize inhwa, which relates to harmony between unequals and derives from the Confucian ideal of loyalty to parents, elders, and authority figures. Non-Asians hoping to do business effectively in East Asia need to understand how these concepts all translate into quite different norms of business practice.
HBS Number: BH015
Geographic Setting: Asia; China; Japan
Subjects: Business etiquette; Cross cultural relations; Developing countries; Foreign investment; International business
Academic Discipline: Business & government
Source: Harvard
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| Waking Up IBM: How a Gang of Unlikely Rebels Transformed Big Blue
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| 16 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Hamel, Gary
Publication Date: 04/01/2001
Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article
Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. In the early 1990s, IBM was a has-been. Fujitsu, Digital Equipment, and Compaq were hammering down its hardware margins. EDS and Andersen Consulting were stealing the hearts of CIOs. Intel and Microsoft were running away with PC profits. Today, Big Blue is back on top, a leader in e-business services. This is the story of how the company, which had lagged behind every computer trend since the mainframe, caught the Internet wave. Much of the credit for the turnaround goes to a small band of activists who built a bonfire under IBM’s rather broad behind. Together, building simultaneously from the top and the bottom of the organization through an ever-widening grassroots coalition of technicians and executives, they put IBM on the Web and morphed it into an e-business powerhouse. People who want to foment similarly successful insurrections can learn a lot from their example.
HBS Number: 648X
Subjects: Computer industry; Electronic commerce; Information economy; Information technology; Innovation; Internet; Organizational change; Teams; World Wide Web
Academic Discipline: Organizational behavior & leadership
Source: Harvard
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| 12 pp.
| Article
Hamel, Gary
In the early 1990s, IBM was a has-been. Fujitsu, Digital Equipment, and Compaq were hammering down its hardware margins. EDS and Andersen Consulting were stealing the hearts of CIOs. Intel and Microsoft were running away with PC profits. Today, Big Blue is back on top, a leader in e-business services. This is the story of how the company, which had lagged behind every computer trend since the mainframe, caught the Internet wave. Much of the credit for the turnaround goes to a small band of activists who built a bonfire under IBM’s rather broad behind. Together, building simultaneously from the top and the bottom of the organization through an ever-widening grassroots coalition of technicians and executives, they put IBM on the Web and morphed it into an e-business powerhouse. People who want to foment similarly successful insurrections can learn a lot from their example.
HBS Number: R00406 Type: Harvard Business Review Article
Publication Date: 7/1/2000
Subjects: Computer industry; Electronic commerce; Information economy; Information technology; Innovation; Internet; Organizational change; Teams; World Wide Web
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart and Bharti: Transforming Retail in India
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| 18 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Bose, Indranil ; Banerjee, Shilpi ; de Vries Robbe, Edo
Publication Date: 08/27/2009
Product Type: Case
Publisher: University of Hong Kong
HBS Number: HKU845
Geographic Setting: India
Subjects: Global business; Competitive strategy; Partnerships; Information & technology; Business & government; Social responsibility; Supply chain management; Strategy
Academic Discipline: Business & government
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (HKU846), 14p, by Indranil Bose, Shilpi Banerjee, Edo de Vries Robbe
Product Description: On 27 November 2006, Bharti Enterprises Ltd (“Bharti”), one of India’s principal business groups, and American retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc (“Wal-Mart”), entered into a joint venture with equal partnership for both companies. The partnership would give Wal-Mart access to the highly regulated Indian retail market, which was valued at US$320 billion. Bharti would own retail shops under the Wal-Mart franchise and the companies would jointly operate in areas of the Indian retail industry which were accessible for foreign investment, such as logistics and cash-and-carry. This partnership between the US retail giant and one of India‘s most successful corporate houses was expected to bring a dose of modernity to the Indian retail landscape. It could be questioned, however, how Wal-Mart would cope with the opposition it faced from local shop owners and civil rights groups given its poor reputation with regard to social responsibility. In addition, the state of the country's transportation network was very poor and the question remained how Wal-Mart planned to implement its supply chain management model in India.
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart and Vlasic Pickles
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| 7 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Karen Berger
Source: Business Case Journal — 2007
Subjects: Marketing management; Supply chaion management; Management
Description: Things had gone terribly wrong. Sales in supermarkets and other outlets were way below a year ago. Factories were operating above capacity breaking from the strain of keeping up with production. Steve Young, Vice President of grocery marketing, was hot under the collar. Patrick Hunn, Team Leader of Wal-Mart Sales, for Vlasic Foods International, had made a deal with Wal-Mart that resulted in selling more pickles than Vlasic had ever sold to any one account. Wal-Mart was an important customer accounting for 30 percent of Vlasic Foods sales. By negotiating a deal with Wal-Mart to offer a gallon jar of Vlasic pickles for $2.97 at the front of the store, Hunn had given Wal-Mart its “customer stopper.” In addition, Hunn had secured an agreement that Wal-Mart would buy record numbers of cases of grocery-size pickles, relishes and peppers with each order of the gallon jar. The gallon jar of Vlasic pickles was available in over 3,000 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. It had been the deal of a lifetime, Hunn had thought at the time. Very soon it became apparent that there were far-reaching effects in every part of Vlasic’s operations, from raw material sources to manufacturing and distribution. The expected profit of a few cents per jar was not sustained due to unplanned production expenses and serious losses on the supermarket side of the business. The ultimate effect was that the bottom line at Vlasic had plummeted. The company, already compromised by the debt acquired in the spin off, was on the brink of bankruptcy. Why did marketing conclude that the deal had contributed to the shortfalls? Why did some managers, like Steve Young, believe that the gallon jar deal was an enormous mistake even though Wal-Mart purchased both gallon jars and grocery stock (less than 46 oz.) in record number
Source: SOCCR
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| WAL-MART IN 2005 (A)
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| 35 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Mead, Jenny
Darden ID: UVA-E-0282
Published: 1/18/2006
Copyright Year: 2006
Subject Area: Ethics
Keywords: ethics, ethical issues, management, public relations, publicity, leadership, diversity, strategy
Abstract: As 2004 came to a close, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, found itself facing a variety of stakeholder issues. The largest company in the world, which had ranked number one on the Fortune 500 for several years, was accused of, among other things, sending jobs overseas, destroying small-town America, paying its workers substandard wages and providing abysmal healthcare coverage, and discriminating against women and minorities. Many outsiders accused the retailer of circumventing or ignoring the principles upon which the legendary Sam Walton founded the company: respect for the individual, service to customers, and constant striving for excellence. As 2005 began, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott and other Wal-Mart executives had to address the various issues. This case details not only the rise of Wal-Mart and its notable capabilities and strategies, but also how the retailer had inadvertantly found itself with such a negative reputation.
Source: Darden
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| Wal-Mart in 2005 (B)
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| 14 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Mead, Jenny; Freeman, R. Edward
Darden ID: UVA-E-0332
Published: 12/31/2008
Copyright Year: 2008
Subject Area: Ethics
Keywords: ethics; Ethical issues; Retail; Corporate social responsibility; Stakeholder issues; Union; Environmental; Hot-topic issues.
Teaching Note: UVA-E-0282TN
Abstract: As it headed into 2005, Wal-Mart faced an array of difficult stakeholder issues, bad publicity, and a stagnating stock price. Despite good 2004 financials, fundamental issues assailed the company. More than anything, Wal-Mart needed to address the issues that had arisen over the years, and hopefully in so doing, stanch the flow of negative publicity by obliterating its reputation as the “neighborhood bully” and dropping its perennial cloak of ‘’corporate isolationism.’‘ Its future as the largest retailer in the world depended on it. This case is a follow-up to the previous ``Wal-Mart in 2005 (A)'' (UVA-E-0282) case, which gives the history of Wal-Mart and describes the various difficulties and issues it faced as 2005 began.
Source: Darden
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| Wal-Mart In The 21St Century: A Global Perspective
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| 18 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Mead, Jenny; Freeman, R. Edward; Teisberg, Elizabeth;
Darden ID: UVA-S-0100
Published: 4/1/2003
Copyright Year: 2003
Subject Area: Quantitative Analysis
Keywords: cultural conflict; International operations; International strategy; Strategic market planning; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation; Strategy formulation
Abstract: Although more consumers are answering questions about where they purchased merchandise in the United States with “I got it at Wal-Mart,” the retail behemoth has questions it needs answered about the current, international issues it faces. Where, when, and how can it use its capabilities in other countries? And how can capabilities and knowledge developed in one part of the globe be used in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe to repeat its success? The case provides a strategic analysis of the problems of international expansion as Wal-Mart dreams of hearing the I-got-it-at-Wal-Mart answer spoken in many languages.
Source: Darden
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| 18 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Mead, Jenny; Freeman, R. Edward; Teisberg, Elizabeth;
Darden ID: UVA-S-0100
Published: 4/1/2003
Copyright Year: 2003
Subject Area: Quantitative Analysis
Keywords: cultural conflict; International operations; International strategy; Strategic market planning; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation; Strategy formulation
Abstract: Although more consumers are answering questions about where they purchased merchandise in the United States with “I got it at Wal-Mart,” the retail behemoth has questions it needs answered about the current, international issues it faces. Where, when, and how can it use its capabilities in other countries? And how can capabilities and knowledge developed in one part of the globe be used in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe to repeat its success? The case provides a strategic analysis of the problems of international expansion as Wal-Mart dreams of hearing the I-got-it-at-Wal-Mart answer spoken in many languages.
Source: Darden
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| Wal-Mart Stores’ Discount Operations
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| 12 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Ghemawat, Pankaj
Publication Date: 08/19/1986 Revision Date: 04/12/2007
Product Type: Case (Library)
HBS Number: 9-387-018
Geographic Setting: United States Industry Setting: Retail industry Company Size: large Gross Revenues: $10 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 1976 Event Year End: 1985
Subjects: Competition; Cost analysis; Department stores; Discount department stores; Diversification; Expansion
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Supplement (Library), (9-793-070), 2p, by David B. Yoffie, Jonathan J. Ginns; Supplement (Library), (9-793-071), 2p, by David B. Yoffie, Jonathan J. Ginns; Teaching Note, (5-387-127), 11p, by Pankaj Ghemawat
Product Description: Facilitates a discussion of the sources of Wal-Mart Stores’ competitive advantage in discount retailing, and the future sustainability of that advantage. Also profiles the company‘s major diversification move in the early 1980s.
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
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| 22 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Bradley, Stephen P.; Ghemawat, Pankaj ; Foley, Sharon
Publication Date: 01/20/1994 Revision Date: 11/06/2002
Product Type: Case (Library)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 794024
Geographic Setting: United States Number of Employees: 440,000 Gross Revenue: $68 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 1994 Event Year End: 1994
Subjects: Competition; Strategy formulation; Industry structure; Implementing strategy
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (395225), 7p, by Stephen P. Bradley; Supplement, (797099), 5p, by David B. Yoffie, Anthony St. George; Supplement, (799118), 5p, by Pankaj Ghemawat, Gregg Friedman
Product Description: Focuses on the evolution of Wal-Mart’s remarkably successful discount operations and describes the company‘s more recent attempts to diversify into other businesses. The company has entered the warehouse club industry with its Sam's Clubs and the grocery business with its Supercenters, a combination supermarket and discount store. Wal-Mart experienced a drop in the value of its stock price in early 1993, which it still has not made up. Wal-Mart has advantages over its competitors in areas such as distribution, information technology, and merchandising, to name a few.
Source: Harvard
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| 22 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Bradley, Stephen P.; Ghemawat, Pankaj; Fol
Publication Date: 01/20/1994 Revision Date: 11/06/2002
Product Type: Case (Library)
Product Description: Focuses on the evolution of Wal-Mart’s remarkably successful discount operations and describes the company‘s more recent attempts to diversify into other businesses. The company has entered the warehouse club industry with its Sam's Clubs and the grocery business with its Supercenters, a combination supermarket and discount store. Wal-Mart experienced a drop in the value of its stock price in early 1993, which it still has not made up. Teaching Purpose: Explores the issue of sustaining competitive advantage. Wal-Mart has advantages over its competitors in areas such as distribution, information technology, and merchandising, to name a few. How sustainable are these, and what are the threats to Wal-Mart's continued success?
HBS Number: 9-794-024
Geographic Setting: United States Industry Setting: retail
Company Size: large Number of Employees: 440,000 Gross Revenues: $68 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 1994 Event Year End: 1994
Subjects: Competition; Discount department stores; Industry structure; Retailing; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Supplement (Library), (9-797-099), 5p, by David B. Yoffie, Anthony St. George; Teaching Note, (5-395-225), 7p, by Stephen P. Bradley; Supplement (Library), (9-799-118), 5p, by Pankaj Ghemawat, Gregg Friedman
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart Stores: “Everyday Low Prices” in China
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| 27 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Farhoomand, Ali F.; Wang, Iris
Publication Date: 09/11/2006 Revision Date: 09/30/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: University of Hong Kong
HBS Number: HKU590
Geographic Setting: China; United States Industry Setting: Government & regulatory; Retail industry
Subjects: Business & government; Competitive advantage; Competitive strategy; Consumer behavior; Expansion; Localization; Multinational corporations; Retail stores; Standardization; Supermarkets
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (HKU591), 5p, by Ali F. Farhoomand, Iris Wang
Product Description: Although Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company by revenue, was into its 9th year of operations in China, its stores were still losing money. It had created a miracle in the U.S. retail industry by revolutionizing the sector‘s business model and successfully implementing its model through innovative practices that enabled it to sell national brands at “Every Day Low Prices”. The challenge Wal-Mart faced was whether it could transport its successful model to win in a market with many differing characteristics which threatened its low-cost structure and which could nullify its competitive advantage. Concerned with the application of established domestic business models in international expansion. Also sheds light on other globalization issues such as market entry strategy, localization vs. standardization, the effect of regulation changes on the competitive landscape, and firm performance.
Source: Harvard
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| 27 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Farhoomand, Ali F.; Wang, Iris
Publication Date: 09/11/2006 Revision Date: 09/30/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: University of Hong Kong
HBS Number: HKU590
Geographic Setting: China; United States Industry Setting: Government & regulatory; Retail industry
Subjects: Business & government; Competitive advantage; Competitive strategy; Consumer behavior; Expansion; Localization; Multinational corporations; Retail stores; Standardization; Supermarkets
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (HKU591), 5p, by Ali F. Farhoomand, Iris Wang
Product Description: Although Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company by revenue, was into its 9th year of operations in China, its stores were still losing money. It had created a miracle in the U.S. retail industry by revolutionizing the sector‘s business model and successfully implementing its model through innovative practices that enabled it to sell national brands at “Every Day Low Prices”. The challenge Wal-Mart faced was whether it could transport its successful model to win in a market with many differing characteristics which threatened its low-cost structure and which could nullify its competitive advantage. Concerned with the application of established domestic business models in international expansion. Also sheds light on other globalization issues such as market entry strategy, localization vs. standardization, the effect of regulation changes on the competitive landscape, and firm performance.
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart’s Business Environment
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| 14 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Oberholzer-Gee, Felix
Publication Date: 01/05/2006 Revision Date: 12/12/2006
Product Type: Case (Library)
HBS Number: 9-706-453
Geographic Setting: Los Angeles, CA; United States Industry Setting: Discount retail Gross Revenues: $256 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 2004 Event Year End: 2004
Subjects: Business & government; Expansion; Retailing; Strategy; Strategy formulation; Unionization
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Product Description: In 2004, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. proposed to build a new supercenter in Inglewood, a low-income community near Los Angeles. The proposal was a part of Wal-Mart’s strategy to bring its supercenter format to California. Introduced in the late 1980s, supercenters added a full line of groceries and specialty departments to Wal-Mart‘s traditional assortment of general merchandise. Wal-Mart's planned entry into California caused problems even before the discounter opened a single supercenter. To compete with Wal-Mart, supermarkets in California cut grocery workers' health benefits and wages. The unions ordered a strike against the supermarkets. The labor unrest lasted five months and involved 70,000 workers. In the meantime, Inglewood's city council rejected Wal-Mart's request to build a supercenter. The retailer took its expansion plans directly to the voters of Inglewood. With the help of the California initiative process, Wal-Mart forced a public vote on the proposed 60-acre development. Will Inglewood's voters dampen the shine of “America's most admired company?”
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Strategy
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| 50 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Plambeck, Erica; Denend, Lyn
Publication Date: 04/17/2007 Revision Date: 09/30/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Stanford University
HBS Number: OIT71
Geographic Setting: China; United States Industry Setting: Retail industry
Subjects: Corporate responsibility; Corporate strategy; Entrepreneurship; Environmental protection; Operations management; Strategy implementation; Suppliers; Supply chains
Academic Discipline: Organizational behavior & leadership
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (OIT71T), 15p, by Erica Plambeck, Lyn Denend
Product Description: In October 2005, in an auditorium filled to capacity in Bentonville, Arkansas, Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s president and CEO, made the first speech in the history of Wal-Mart to be broadcast to the company‘s 1.6 million associates (employees) in all of its 6,000+ stores worldwide and shared with its 60,000+ suppliers. Scott announced that Wal-Mart was launching a sweeping business sustainability strategy to dramatically reduce the company's impact on the global environment and thus become “the most competitive and innovative company in the world.” He argued that, “Being a good steward of the environment and being profitable are not mutually exclusive. They are one and the same.” He also committed Wal-Mart to three aspirational goals: “To be supplied 100% by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment.” Against this backdrop, introduces Andrew Ruben, vice president of corporate strategy and business sustainability, and Tyler Elm, senior director of the same group. Ruben and Elm, who were chosen by Scott to lead the sustainability strategy, recognized that they needed to keep environmental improvement tightly coupled with business value and profitability for the strategy to succeed. Describes Wal
Source: Harvard
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| 50 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Plambeck, Erica; Denend, Lyn
Publication Date: 04/17/2007 Revision Date: 09/30/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Stanford University
HBS Number: OIT71
Geographic Setting: China; United States Industry Setting: Retail industry
Subjects: Corporate responsibility; Corporate strategy; Entrepreneurship; Environmental protection; Operations management; Strategy implementation; Suppliers; Supply chains
Academic Discipline: Organizational behavior & leadership
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (OIT71T), 15p, by Erica Plambeck, Lyn Denend
Product Description: In October 2005, in an auditorium filled to capacity in Bentonville, Arkansas, Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s president and CEO, made the first speech in the history of Wal-Mart to be broadcast to the company‘s 1.6 million associates (employees) in all of its 6,000+ stores worldwide and shared with its 60,000+ suppliers. Scott announced that Wal-Mart was launching a sweeping business sustainability strategy to dramatically reduce the company's impact on the global environment and thus become “the most competitive and innovative company in the world.” He argued that, “Being a good steward of the environment and being profitable are not mutually exclusive. They are one and the same.” He also committed Wal-Mart to three aspirational goals: “To be supplied 100% by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment.” Against this backdrop, introduces Andrew Ruben, vice president of corporate strategy and business sustainability, and Tyler Elm, senior director of the same group. Ruben and Elm, who were chosen by Scott to lead the sustainability strategy, recognized that they needed to keep environmental improvement tightly coupled with business value and profitability for the strategy to succeed. Describes Wal
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart’s Use of Interest Rate Swaps
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| 22 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Kimbrough, Michael D.; Faulkender, Michael; Jenkins, Nicole Thorne; Gordon, Rachel
Publication Date: 01/17/2008 Revision Date: 07/22/2010
Product Type: Case (Library)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 108038
Gross Revenue: 285 billion
Event Year Start: 2000 Event Year End: 2005
Subjects: Accounting standards; Capital structure; Derivatives; Financial strategy; Hedging
Academic Discipline: Finance
Supplementary Materials: Industry and Background Note, (108061), 20p, by Michael D. Kimbrough, Nicole Thorne Jenkins
Product Description: “Wal-Mart’s Use of Interest Rate Swaps” recounts Wal-Mart‘s use of interest rate swaps to hedge the fair value of its fixed-rate debt against changing interest rates. This case provides students with a foundation for understanding the use of and accounting for more complex derivatives. Specific issues raised include: (1) the financial statement impact of hedge accounting, (2) motivations for using derivatives, including the potential role of accounting standards, and (3) the degree to which financial statement and MD&A disclosures are sufficiently informative about the risks associated with financial instruments.
Source: Harvard
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| 22 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Kimbrough, Michael D.; Faulkender, Michael; Jenkins, Nicole Thorne; Gordon, Rachel
Publication Date: 01/17/2008 Revision Date: 07/22/2010
Product Type: Case (Library)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 108038
Gross Revenue: 285 billion
Event Year Start: 2000 Event Year End: 2005
Subjects: Accounting standards; Capital structure; Derivatives; Financial strategy; Hedging
Academic Discipline: Finance
Supplementary Materials: Industry and Background Note, (108061), 20p, by Michael D. Kimbrough, Nicole Thorne Jenkins
Product Description: “Wal-Mart’s Use of Interest Rate Swaps” recounts Wal-Mart‘s use of interest rate swaps to hedge the fair value of its fixed-rate debt against changing interest rates. This case provides students with a foundation for understanding the use of and accounting for more complex derivatives. Specific issues raised include: (1) the financial statement impact of hedge accounting, (2) motivations for using derivatives, including the potential role of accounting standards, and (3) the degree to which financial statement and MD&A disclosures are sufficiently informative about the risks associated with financial instruments.
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart, 2005
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| 9 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Yoffie, David B.; Mack, Barbara J.
Publication Date: 01/04/2005 Revision Date: 04/14/2005
Product Type: Case (Library)
Product Description: Wal-Mart has been expanding, both domestically and internationally. Covers recent developments at Wal-Mart, including new stores, new store formats, and international expansion. Teaching Purpose: To look at strategy and competition in the discount retail environment.
HBS Number: 9-705-460
Geographic Setting: Global Industry Setting: discount retail Number of Employees: 1.4 million Gross Revenues: $258 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 2004 Event Year End: 2005
Subjects: Corporate strategy; Discount department stores; Expansion; Globalization; International business; Retailing
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (5-705-472), 3p, by David B. Yoffie
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart, 2007
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| 12 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Yoffie, David B.; Slind, Michael
Publication Date: 03/01/2007 Revision Date: 06/25/2007
Product Type: Case (Library)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 707517
Number of Employees: 1.8 million Gross Revenue: $312 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 2005 Event Year End: 2007
Subjects: Labor relations; International business; Human resources management; Merchandising; Competition; Strategy
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (707570), 4p, by David B. Yoffie
Product Description: In 2007, Wal-Mart faced challenges to its historically high growth rate. Lagging same-store sales and setbacks overseas led the company to consider strategic shifts. Wal-Mart was the world’s largest retailer, but competition had become particularly acute as the company expanded from rural markets, which it had long dominated, into urban and suburban areas. Covers developments in Wal-Mart‘s merchandising strategy and its approach to store formats; its sometimes controversial human resources practices; its efforts to improve its image through a public relations campaign; its aggressive, though occasionally problematic, move into international markets; and its leading competitors, especially Target. Exhibits provide data (current as of February 2007) on Wal-Mart's financial performance, its stock-price performance, its international operations, and its store formats, as well as on Target's financial performance.
Source: Harvard
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| 12 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Yoffie, David B.; Slind, Michael
Publication Date: 03/01/2007 Revision Date: 06/25/2007
Product Type: Case (Library)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 707517
Number of Employees: 1.8 million Gross Revenue: $312 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 2005 Event Year End: 2007
Subjects: Labor relations; International business; Human resources management; Merchandising; Competition; Strategy
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (707570), 4p, by David B. Yoffie
Product Description: In 2007, Wal-Mart faced challenges to its historically high growth rate. Lagging same-store sales and setbacks overseas led the company to consider strategic shifts. Wal-Mart was the world’s largest retailer, but competition had become particularly acute as the company expanded from rural markets, which it had long dominated, into urban and suburban areas. Covers developments in Wal-Mart‘s merchandising strategy and its approach to store formats; its sometimes controversial human resources practices; its efforts to improve its image through a public relations campaign; its aggressive, though occasionally problematic, move into international markets; and its leading competitors, especially Target. Exhibits provide data (current as of February 2007) on Wal-Mart's financial performance, its stock-price performance, its international operations, and its store formats, as well as on Target's financial performance.
Source: Harvard
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| 12 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Yoffie, David B.; Slind, Michael
Publication Date: 03/01/2007 Revision Date: 06/25/2007
Product Type: Case (Library)
HBS Number: 9-707-517
Geographic Setting: Global Industry Setting: Retail industry Number of Employees: 289,500Number of Employees: 1.8 million Gross Revenues: $312 billion
Event Year Start: 2007 Event Year End: 2007
Subjects: Competition; Human resources management; International business; Labor relations; Merchandising; Strategy
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Product Description: In 2007, Wal-Mart faced challenges to its historically high growth rate. Lagging same-store sales and setbacks overseas led the company to consider strategic shifts. Wal-Mart was the world’s largest retailer, but competition had become particularly acute as the company expanded from rural markets, which it had long dominated, into urban and suburban areas. Covers developments in Wal-Mart‘s merchandising strategy and its approach to store formats; its sometimes controversial human resources practices; its efforts to improve its image through a public relations campaign; its aggressive, though occasionally problematic, move into international markets; and its leading competitors, especially Target. Exhibits provide data (current as of February 2007) on Wal-Mart's financial performance, its stock-price performance, its international operations, and its store formats, as well as on Target's financial performance.
Source: Harvard
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| Wal-Mart: Nonmarket Pressure and Reputation Risk (A)
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| 15 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Baron, David P.
Publication Date: 05/31/2006 Revision Date: 07/29/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Stanford University
HBS Number: P52A
Geographic Setting: United States Industry Setting: Grocery stores; Retail industry
Subjects: Media relations; Public relations; Retailers; Strategy formulation; Unfair labor practices; Unionization
Academic Discipline: Organizational behavior & leadership
Supplementary Materials: Supplement (Field), (P52B), 5p, by David P. Baron
Product Description: In 2002, when Wal-Mart became the largest U.S. company in sales, it began to attract considerable attention. Its expansion into the grocery business seemed to ignite a firestorm of contention and bad press. Wal-Mart was criticized for providing low wages and inadequate health care benefits, driving small merchants out of business, damaging the culture in small towns, harming the environment, and violating workers rights. The company realized that its practice of focusing solely on customers and employees was no longer sufficient — it needed a nonmarket strategy to address the criticism and repair its deteriorating reputation. This case explores the opposition that organized around Wal-Mart’s practices and the issues raised. It sets the stage for developing and analyzing a successful nonmarket strategy for Wal-Mart.
Source: Harvard
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| Walden Woods
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| 24 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Poorvu, William J.; Segel, Arthur I.
Publication Date: 02/24/1997 Revision Date: 07/26/2004
Product Type: Case (Library)
Product Description: In 1984, Mortimer Zuckerman and Ed Linde, through their firm, Boston Properties (BP), acquired land in Concord, MA to build a 147,000-square-foot, first-class suburban office building. BP proceeded to go through the permitting and approval process with the town and was ready to commence construction when in August 1988, the state, after considerable lobbying from historic and environmental groups, delayed the project by requiring an environmental impact statement. Environmental groups from around the country continued to organize against BP’s development along with a nearby affordable housing development. While the project was delayed, the real estate market collapsed. But by the spring of 1993, the market was beginning to recover and BP had received all necessary permits. Zuckerman and Linde had to decide whether to proceed with the development or sell to the environmental group opposing them, and if they were to sell, at what price.
HBS Number: 9-897-070
Geographic Setting: Concord, MA Industry Setting: real estate
Event Year Start: 1993 Event Year End: 1993
Subjects: Environmental protection; Political risk; Real estate
Academic Discipline: Entrepreneurship
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (5-804-125), 10p, by Arthur I. Segel
Source: Harvard
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| WALL STREET JOURNAL: PRINT VS. INTERACTIVE
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| 14 pp.
| Case
Hillman AJ
One of Dow Jones & Company’s most respected brands, The Wall Street Journal, is threatened by Internet news providers, including their own Interactive Edition. The company is unsure whether the Interactive Edition will be a substitute or acomplement to the Print Edition. The case focuses on changing industry boundaries, new technology, potential cannibalization, and a threat to the company‘s traditional business model. Industry analysis of both print and interactive publishing isdiscussed, as is resource leveraging across the two formats.
Ivey Number: 9A99M030
Publication Date: 28/10/1999 Revision Date: 4/10/2001
Geographic Setting: USA Industry Setting: Printing, Publishing & Allied Industries
Company Size: Large organization
Event Year Start: 1999
Subjects: Industry Analysis, Business Policy, Product Strategy, Internet
Functional Area: General Management
Source: Ivey
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| Wall Street’s First Panic (A)
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| 27 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Moss, David A.; Bolton, Cole
Publication Date: 12/20/2007 Revision Date: 09/10/2009
Product Type: Case (Library)
HBS Number: 708002
Subjects: Business government relations; Business history; Securities markets; Stock exchanges
Academic Discipline: Finance
Product Description: In the early 1790’s, a flood of newly issued public and private securities sparked an investment boom in the nascent United States. In New York, the bustling commercial district along Wall Street emerged as the center of the city‘s securities trade. One of the many Americans drawn into the frenetic and largely unregulated securities market was William Duer, who ultimately became a major player on the Street. As it turned out, however, Duer's financial dealings proved unsustainable, and his financial collapse helped to bring the securities boom to a halt. Shocked by the widespread devastation wrought by Wall Street's first panic, the New York legislature acted quickly to ban outdoor securities auctions and a popular class of financial instruments known as “time bargains,” both of which were thought to have contributed to the boom and bust on Wall Street. Facing public outrage along with the new legal restrictions, New York's top brokers had to decide whether a new system for securities trading was needed and, if so, what it should look like.
Source: Harvard
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| Wall-to-Wall Carpet Goes Cradle-to-Cradle
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| 4 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Larson, Andrea; Archer, Geoffrey
Darden ID: UVA-ENT-0084
Published: 9/16/2006
Copyright Year: 2006
Subject Area: Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Keywords: green chemistry, innovation, carpet tiles, carpeting, EcoWorx, sustainable business, environmental, natural environment, triple bottom line
Abstract: This minicase is one of 10 in a set of short cases written to illustrate the business benefits companies realize through adopting sustainable business strategies. This one features Shaw Industries, a leading U.S. global manufacturer of floor coverings, which developed EcoWorx technology to create a carpet tile that is PVC-free and able to be recycled, upon return to the company, as a carpet tile of equal quality and performance. Using green chemistry, the company has created a sustainable business innovation that cut costs, improves revenues, positively influences health and the environment, improves the brand, and enhances Shaw’s strategic positioning going forward.
Source: Darden
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| Walnut Venture Associates (A): RBS Group Investment Memorandum
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| 32 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Roberts, Michael J.
Publication Date: 09/21/1998 Revision Date: 12/07/1998
Product Type: Case (Field)
Product Description: Describes the Walnut Group’s investigation of the RBS Group, a young software company. Includes the RBS business plan and asks students to analyze which issues/assumptions are critical, and how they can be resolved. Teaching Purpose: To analyze new ventures and due diligence.
HBS Number: 9-899-062
Geographic Setting: Massachusetts Industry Setting: software Number of Employees: 10 Gross Revenues: $5 million revenues
Event Year Start: 1998 Event Year End: 1998
Subjects: Business plans; Entrepreneurial finance; Entrepreneurial management; Software; Venture capital
Academic Discipline: Entrepreneurship
Supplementary Materials: Supplement (Field), (9-899-063), 6p, by Michael J. Roberts; Supplement (Field), (9-899-064), 2p, by Michael J. Roberts; Supplement (Field), (9-899-097), 13p, by Michael J. Roberts; Teaching Note, (5-899-240), 14p, by Michael J. Roberts
Source: Harvard
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| Walt Disney Co.’s Yen Financing
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| 11 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Kester, W. Carl; Allen, William B.
Publication Date: 01/09/1987 Revision Date: 09/05/1991
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 287058
Geographic Setting: United States Gross Revenue: $1.7 billion sales
Event Year Start: 1985 Event Year End: 1985
Subjects: Capital markets; Bonds; International finance; Currency; Hedging
Academic Discipline: Finance
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (290009), 12p, by W. Carl Kester; Spreadsheet Supplement, (XLS066), 0p, by W. Carl Kester, William B. Allen
Product Description: Walt Disney is considering hedging future yen inflows from Disney Tokyo. It is evaluating techniques using FX Forwards, swaps, and Yen term borrowings. Goldman Sachs presents a rather unusual but potentially attractive solution: Disney could issue ECU Eurobonds and swap into a Yen liability. The case explains how this alternative would work and suggests to the students ways to evaluate the hedging choices.
Source: Harvard
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| Walt Disney Co.: The Entertainment King
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| 27 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Rukstad, Michael G.; Collis, David J.; Levine, Tyrrell
Publication Date: 03/09/2001 Revision Date: 01/05/2009
Product Type: Case (Library)
HBS Number: 701035
Geographic Setting: United States Industry Setting: Entertainment industry Number of Employees: 110,000 Gross Revenues: $25.4 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 1923 Event Year End: 2000
Subjects: Competitive advantage; Corporate strategy; Diversification; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (705495), 12p, by David J. Collis
Product Description: The first ten pages of this case are comprised of the company’s history, from 1923 to 2001. The Walt years are described, as is the company‘s decline after his death and its resurgence under Eisner. The last five pages are devoted to Eisner's strategic challenges in 2001: managing synergy, managing the brand, and managing creativity. Students are asked to think about the keys to Disney's mid-1980s turnaround, about the proper boundaries of the firm, and about what Disney's strategy should be beyond 2001.
Source: Harvard
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| 27 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Rukstad, Michael G.; Collis, David J.; Levine, Tyrrell
Publication Date: 03/09/2001 Revision Date: 09/01/2005
Product Type: Case (Library)
HBS Number: 9-701-035
Geographic Setting: United States Industry Setting: Entertainment industry Number of Employees: 110,000 Gross Revenues: $25.4 billion revenues
Event Year Start: 1923 Event Year End: 2000
Subjects: Competitive advantage; Corporate strategy; Diversification; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation
Academic Discipline: Competitive strategy
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (5-705-495), 12p, by David J. Collis
Product Description: The first ten pages of this case are comprised of the company’s history, from 1923 to 2001. The Walt years are described, as is the company‘s decline after his death and its resurgence under Eisner. The last five pages are devoted to Eisner's strategic challenges in 2001: managing synergy, managing the brand, and managing creativity. Students are asked to think about the keys to Disney's mid-1980s turnaround, about the proper boundaries of the firm, and about what Disney's strategy should be beyond 2001.
Source: Harvard
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| Walt Disney Company: Investor Communications Strategy
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| 52 pp.
| Case
Author(s): McNichols, Maureen; Tayan, Brian
Publication Date: 09/01/2007
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Stanford University
HBS Number: A195
Geographic Setting: United States Industry Setting: Entertainment industry
Subjects: Annual reports; Communication strategy; Financial reporting
Academic Discipline: Finance
Product Description: As the chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Company, Tom Staggs was responsible not only for the financial management of the company, but also for the communication of the company’s financial and strategic objectives to its investor base. Because of Disney‘s stature as the world's most iconic entertainment brand, the company had a particularly broad investor base: over 991,000 common shareholders in fiscal year 2006 compared with 51,400 for Time Warner. Staggs had to develop and implement a communication strategy that was appropriate for the diversity of this investor base, which included individual, institutional, brokerage house, and mutual fund investors. In doing so, he had to be mindful of the fact that these constituencies often had different time horizons and investment perspectives. In addition, Staggs had to bear in mind several other factors. First, he had to consider that any message delivered was perceived by investors as a direct reflection of management's capability and credibility. Second, he had to consider how the company's stated objectives influenced the behavior of its employees. Third, he had to decide how to implement the communication strategy across a wide array of channels, keeping in mind the purpose of the forum, regulatory requirements, and investor expectations.
Source: Harvard
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| Walt Disney’s Dennis Hightower: Taking Charge
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| 7 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Nanda, Ashish
Publication Date: 11/11/1994 Revision Date: 05/06/1996
Product Type: Case (Field)
Product Description: Describes the challenge facing Dennis Hightower in 1987. He has been recruited from outside for a newly created position as head of Disney Consumer Products European operations. Hightower has to win initial acceptance of entrenched country managers, integrate the company’s diverse subsidiaries closer together, and revitalize European operations. Teaching Purpose: Students are asked to develop an action plan that Dennis Hightower should follow over the next three months. This helps them explore the key strategic and organizational challenges facing Hightower, what pace of change is appropriate for the situation, and how he should try to build credibility and support within the organization. May be used with: (9-395-056) Dennis Hightower: Walt Disney‘s Transnational Manager; (9-396-316) Dennis Hightower: New Horizons.
HBS Number: 9-395-055
Geographic Setting: Global Gross Revenues: $50 million revenues
Event Year Start: 1987 Event Year End: 1987
Subjects: Business policy; Corporate strategy; Entertainment industry; Europe; International business; Management of change; Marketing organization; Organizational change
Academic Discipline: General management
Supplementary Materials: Supplement, (9-395-149), 3p, by Ashish Nanda; Teaching Note, (5-395-201), 26p, by Ashish Nanda; Case Video, (9-396-512), 8 min, by Ashish Nanda
Source: Harvard
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| WALTER HUNDHAUSEN GMBH
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| 25 pp.
| Case
Harling, K — GISMA Business School
Achenbach, U — GISMA Business School
Distributor: ecch (www.ecch.com) Reference: 307-230-1 Language: English
Category: Strategy and General Management Data source: Field research
Product Year: 2007
Geo location: Germany Industry: Foundry Size: 650 employees Timing: 2004
Topics: Germany; Foundry industry; Restructuring; Fixed cost; Flexibility; Production; Strategic change; Labour union; Production and operations management
Abstract: In 2004, management at Walter Hundhausen GmbH, Germany (WH) anticipated that the company would lose 6 million euros on sales of 118 million euros. Management had to decide how to address the situation: whether it would continue radical marketing, make a strategic change, sell the business or close it down. WH sold high-performance castings made from ductile iron mostly to the motor vehicle and mechanical engineering industries. The company was bought from Thyssen-Krupp Automotive by Georgsmarienhutte Holding GmbH (GMH) in 2000 and was the largest company in a group it was building to make parts for the motor vehicle industry. WH had been losing money when it was purchased by GMH. The case describes how management worked to turn around the company during the four years under GMH’s ownership. Initial efforts were successful, in part because of commitments made by the management of GMH and WH and with the support of workers through their Work Council. But costs rose dramatically in 2003 and 2004, undoing the early success and putting WH back into losses. Management was then faced with what should be done with the business. Significant issues in finding a solution, were the labour institutions in Germany and the changing nature of the foundry industry. The decision was further complicated by the earlier commitments made by management, including the decision to continue to employ over
Source: ecch
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| Walton Arts Center
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| 19 pp.
| Case
Donald D. White; John Todd
The Walton Arts Center (WAC) experienced significant growth in revenues during its five-year life. The president who guided the WAC through its formation, facility construction, and growth was challenged by the WAC Council (its governing board) to stop operating losses. His response had been to cut selected expenses, but a broader search for new income sources appeared to be necessary. This, in turn, led to an examination of the WAC’s leadership team, organizational structure, strategic planning process, stakeholder analysis, financial status, and marketing strategy. WAC‘s evolution from start-up through its early growth and development was used to plan its future.
Source: North American Case Research Association, Case Research Journal, Volume 20, Issue 3
Subjects: Strategic Management, Not-for-Profit Organizations, Organizational Growth, Marketing Strategy, Leadership
Source: NACRA
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| Walton Instruments Manufacturing—1980
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| 11 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Jaikumar, Ramchandran
Publication Date: 10/01/1981 Revision Date: 06/18/1985
Product Type: Case (Gen Exp)
Product Description: Provides an opportunity for students to examine the impact of different manufacturing control methods on the manufacturing infrastructure. Information flow, inventory control, quality control and process flows interact and different trade-offs are examined. Introduces concepts of inventory control and notions of quality control. Based on an earlier case by R.H. Hayes, R.T. Lund, and W.E. Sasser, Jr.
HBS Number: 9-682-027
Geographic Setting: Unspecified Industry Setting: test instruments, medical electronics Gross Revenues: $3.6 million net sales
Event Year Start: 1970 Event Year End: 1970
Subjects: Electronics; Inventory management; Medical supplies; Process flow; Production controls; Quality control
Academic Discipline: Operations management
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (5-685-030), 13p, by Ramchandran Jaikumar
Source: Harvard
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| Waltz on the Danube
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| 23 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Segel, Arthur I; Dessain, Vincent; Loizillon, Anais
Publication Date: 08/20/2003 Revision Date: 03/10/2004
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 804021
Geographic Setting: Hungary
Event Year Start: 2003 Event Year End: 2003
Subjects: Equity capital; Project management; Project finance; Joint ventures
Academic Discipline: Finance
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (804159), 8p, by Arthur I Segel; Spreadsheet Supplement, (804703), 0p, by Arthur I Segel, Anais Loizillon
Product Description: Describes the intricate parts of an early real estate deal from the standpoint of the developer including feasibility analysis, market choice, acquisition of land, project development, design and construction issues, investment returns, and equity financing issues. Thirty-two-year-old Dr. Philipp von Wilmowsky is director of Hungarian operations for ECE Projektmanagement, a German real estate development conglomerate. He has been working for two years on the development of a 30,300 square-meter (m2), 75 million Eurodollar shopping project located in the city of Gyor, Hungary. Allows students to analyze the viability and attractiveness of the project and perform calculations on project returns (including co-investor returns), cost analysis, sensitivity analysis, composition of leasing revenues, and loan structuring.
Source: Harvard
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| 23 pp.
| Case
Author(s): Segel, Arthur I.; Dessain, Vincent; Loizillon, Anais
Publication Date: 07/25/2003 Revision Date: 03/10/2004
Product Type: Case (Field)
Product Description: Describes the intricate parts of an early real estate deal from the standpoint of the developer: feasibility analysis, choosing a market, acquisition of land, project development, design and construction issues, investment returns, and equity financing issues. Thirty-two year-old Dr. Philipp von Wilmowsky is director of Hungarian operations for ECE Projektmanagement, a German real estate development conglomerate. He has been working for two years on the development of a 30,300 square meter (m2), 75 million Eurodollar shopping project located in the city of Gyor, Hungary. The case allows students to analyze the viability and attractiveness of the project and perform calculations on project returns (including co-investor returns), cost analysis, sensitivity analysis, composition of leasing revenues, and loan structuring. Teaching Purpose: To look at the role of the real estate developer or project manager, characteristics of retail properties, and the structuring of joint ventures in the real estate industry.
HBS Number: 9-804-021
Geographic Setting: HungaryIndustry Setting: real estate
Event Year Start: 2003Event Year End: 2003
Subjects: Eastern Europe; Equity financing; Europe; Joint ventures; Project finance; Project management; Real estate; Retailing
Academic Discipline: Finance
Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (5-804-159), 8p, by Arthur I. Segel
Source: Harvard
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| WANGYOU MEDIA: ENTERTAINING THE YOUTH
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| 14 pp.
| Case
Liu, S; Li, L; Zeng, H
Publisher: China Europe International Business School
Distributor: ecch (www.ecch.com) Reference: 807-037-1 Language: English
Category: Entrepreneurship Data source: Field research
Product Year: 2007
Geo location: China Industry: Internet Size: 120 employees Timing: 2006
Topics: China; Internet start-ups; Culture conflict; Growth stage; Leadership; HRM (human resources management)
Abstract: In 2005, Buddy and several partners created WangYou.com to capture the booming opportunity in user-generated contents, which have created several miracles like Youtube and My Space. WangYou is a ’lifestyle media‘ company providing users a combination of a personalised media experience with a social context for participation. Besides the fierce competition, WangYou also faces some internal challenges. Most of its initial staff were recruited among users, who are very young, less educated and less experienced. Buddy recruited some professional managers in order to help improve the management of the business. However, the conflicts between newcomers and old staff brought big trouble to the company. In the end, he had to let the newcomers go. Is that the right decision?
Source: ecch
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| Want to Perfect Your Company’s Service?: Use Behavioral Science
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| 16 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Chase, Richard B.; Dasu, Sriram
Publication Date: 06/01/2001
Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article
Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. It may seem like the topic of service management has been exhausted. Legions of scholars and practitioners have applied queuing theory to bank lines, measured response times to the millisecond, and created cults around "delighting the customer." But practitioners haven’t carefully considered the underlying psychology of service encounters—the feelings that customers experience during these encounters, feelings often so subtle they probably couldn‘t be put into words. Fortunately, behavioral science offers new insights into better service management. In this article, the authors translate findings from behavioral-science research into five operating principles: 1) finish strong; 2) get the bad experiences out of the way early; 3) segment the pleasure, combine the pain; 4) build commitment through choice; and 5) give people rituals and stick to them. Ultimately, only one thing really matters in a service encounter--the customer's perception of what occurred. This article will help you engineer your service encounters to enhance your customers' experiences during the process as well as their recollections of the process after it is completed.
HBS Number: 682X
Subjects: Behavioral sciences; Customer relations; Customer retention; Customer service; Psychology; Service industries; Service management
Academic Discipline: Service management
Source: Harvard
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| Wanted: A First National Bank of Innovation
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| 8 pp.
| Article
Author(s): Phelps, Edmund S.; Tilman, Leo M.
Publication Date: 01/01/2010
Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article
Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing
HBS Number: R1001G
Geographic Setting: United States
Subjects: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial finance; Innovation; Managing creativity & innovation
Academic Discipline: General management
Product Description: Historically the U.S. economy has been about ideas, experiment, and exploration. U.S. dynamism-the country’s ability and proclivity to innovate-depends on multiplicity: variety among new ideas, a pluralism of beliefs among financiers, and diversity among consumers. Dynamism has been in decline over the past decade. Venture capitalists bemoan a dearth of innovative ideas, and investors bewail a precipitous drop in their returns. Total venture investment is running at less than $20 billion per year. The current financial system chokes off funds for innovation. As an antidote, this article proposes the establishment of a new government-sponsored enterprise - the First National Bank of Innovation. It would be structured as a network of “merchant” banks that invest in and lend to innovative projects, and it would have some features of the Farm Credit System in the United States. A dedicated funding arm would raise money in the capital markets at attractive rates. Banks would pass these funds on to entrepreneurs at rates commensurate with the risks of their projects. The banks in the network would be dedicated to “relationship-based” investing and lending. Thanks to comprehensive risk-based disclosure, strict oversight and transparency would emerge. As the new year dawns-and as businesses crawl out from under the weight of the global recession-our focus is on reinvention. This HBR Spotlight examines that theme from various perspectives: how to manage corporate transformation, what we un
Source: Harvard
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| Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company’s Global Strategy
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| 19 pp.
| Case
Author(s): McFarlan, F. Warren; Abrami, Regina ; Kirby, William C.; Manty, Tracy Yuen; Wong, Keith Chi-Ho
Publication Date: 02/26/2008 Revision Date: 07/09/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 308058
Geographic Setting: United States; China Gross Revenue: $7 billion (US)
Event Year Start: 2007 Subjects: Business history; Foreign investment; Globalization
Academic Discipline: General management
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (310089), 4p, by F. Warren McFarlan, Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, Keith Chi-ho Wong
Product Description: With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to develop into a broad business conglomerate. Beginning in 1994, when it first began its operations in the United States, Wanxiang started to expand its role as a parts supplier into a discerning acquirer of distressed companies in the U.S. While it saw acquisition as an exciting means for growth, company strategy at its Hangzhou, China headquarters also included vertical integration with a goal of developing a full-on electric car. Were these two goals divergent or complementary: mutually supportive or exclusive?
Source: Harvard
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| 19 pp.
| Case
Author(s): McFarlan, F. Warren; Abrami, Regina ; Kirby, William C.; Manty, Tracy Yuen; Wong, Keith Chi-Ho
Publication Date: 02/26/2008 Revision Date: 07/09/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 308058
Geographic Setting: United States; China Gross Revenue: $7 billion (US)
Event Year Start: 2007 Subjects: Business history; Foreign investment; Globalization
Academic Discipline: General management
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (310089), 4p, by F. Warren McFarlan, Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, Keith Chi-ho Wong
Product Description: With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to develop into a broad business conglomerate. Beginning in 1994, when it first began its operations in the United States, Wanxiang started to expand its role as a parts supplier into a discerning acquirer of distressed companies in the U.S. While it saw acquisition as an exciting means for growth, company strategy at its Hangzhou, China headquarters also included vertical integration with a goal of developing a full-on electric car. Were these two goals divergent or complementary: mutually supportive or exclusive?
Source: Harvard
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| 19 pp.
| Case
Author(s): McFarlan, F. Warren; Abrami, Regina ; Kirby, William C.; Manty, Tracy Yuen; Wong, Keith Chi-Ho
Publication Date: 02/26/2008 Revision Date: 07/09/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 308058
Geographic Setting: United States; China Gross Revenue: $7 billion (US)
Event Year Start: 2007 Subjects: Business history; Foreign investment; Globalization
Academic Discipline: General management
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (310089), 4p, by F. Warren McFarlan, Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, Keith Chi-ho Wong
Product Description: With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to develop into a broad business conglomerate. Beginning in 1994, when it first began its operations in the United States, Wanxiang started to expand its role as a parts supplier into a discerning acquirer of distressed companies in the U.S. While it saw acquisition as an exciting means for growth, company strategy at its Hangzhou, China headquarters also included vertical integration with a goal of developing a full-on electric car. Were these two goals divergent or complementary: mutually supportive or exclusive?
Source: Harvard
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| 19 pp.
| Case
Author(s): McFarlan, F. Warren; Abrami, Regina ; Kirby, William C.; Manty, Tracy Yuen; Wong, Keith Chi-Ho
Publication Date: 02/26/2008 Revision Date: 07/09/2008
Product Type: Case (Field)
Publisher: Harvard Business School
HBS Number: 308058
Geographic Setting: United States; China Gross Revenue: $7 billion (US)
Event Year Start: 2007 Subjects: Business history; Foreign investment; Globalization
Academic Discipline: General management
Supplementary Materials: Case Teaching Note, (310089), 4p, by F. Warren McFarlan, Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, Keith Chi-ho Wong
Product Description: With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to develop into a broad business conglomerate. Beginning in 1994, when it first began its operations in the United States, Wanxiang started to expand its role as a parts supplier into a discerning acquirer of distressed companies in the U.S. While it saw acquisition as an exciting means for growth, company strategy at its Hangzhou, China headquarters also included vertical integration with a goal of developing a full-on electric car. Were these two goals divergent or complementary: mutually supportive or exclusive?
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