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Publications
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- Faculty Publications (3,071)
- March 1998 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
Egon Zehnder International: Implementing Practice Groups
By: Michael Y. Yoshino, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis
Since its creation in 1964, executive search firm Egon Zehnder International (EZI) marketed its consultants as "generalists." As searches became more global and industry-specific in the 1990s, CEO Daniel Meiland decided the firm needed to offer specialized services. By... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Bronner Slosberg Humphrey
By: David E. Bell and Donald M Leavitt
Bronner Slosberg Humphrey has succeeded by providing integrated direct marketing solutions for major service companies such as AT&T, American Express, and FedEx. A new CEO takes over from the company's founder and is wondering how to grow the company. Options include... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised October 2001)
- Case
Teradyne: Corporate Management of Disruptive Change
By: Joseph L. Bower
Two cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. This case deals with the problems facing the head of a start-up division responsible for developing and bringing to market a new product based on technology deemed... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised November 1999)
- Case
USA TODAY Online
By: John A. Deighton and Anthony St. George
How should USA TODAY use its brand franchise to build a publishing business on the World Wide Web? Advertising Age described the first steps as "a case study in how not to do it," but by the end of 1997 USA TODAY Online is the most visited news site on the Web. Now the... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
NIKE, Inc. in the 1990s (C)
By: John A. Quelch
In 1998, Nike's earnings and sales growth slowed. Management faced new competition from Adidas. This case asks students to review the various strategies (including diversification into sports equipment) pursued by Nike to resuscitate corporate growth. View Details
- March 1998 (Revised February 2001)
- Case
PlanetAll
PlanetAll is a Web-based contact manager that automatically updates users' contact information. In early 1998, the young company must decide whether to compete with large Web sites and become a destination site or to become an enabling technology for other contact... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
Dell Online
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell
Dell started online commerce for its PCs in 1996, and by 1997 had achieved a sales rate of $3 million a day. The case describes the internal process that led to these dramatic results and poses the question of how the firm should leverage this activity to meet Michael... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised August 1998)
- Case
Pepsi Blue
By: John A. Quelch
Executives at Pepsico are considering a possible redesign of the Pepsi carbonated beverage packages worldwide to give the brand a modern, up-to-date image and "ownership" of the color blue against Coca-Cola's "ownership" of the color red. View Details
- February 1998 (Revised February 1999)
- Case
FreeMarkets OnLine
Describes the marketing strategy of an entrepreneurial start-up engaged in electronic purchasing for large manufacturers. By creating an electronic bidding platform, the company has been able to cut down procurement costs by about 15%. The case question concerns how... View Details
- February 1998 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
House of Tata, 1995: The Next Generation (A)
By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Danielle Melito Wu
The Tata Group began the 1990s as a confederation of loosely coupled firms. This case considers the rise to prominence of the new CEO of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, and his attempts to strengthen the inter-relationships among the group companies at a time when critics... View Details
- February 1998 (Revised May 1998)
- Case
Merck-Medco: Vertical Integration in the Pharmaceutical Industry
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell
Records the analyses and actions taken by Merck Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Medco, a channel intermediary (called "pharmacy benefit manager"). While many of its competitors seem to be faring poorly, Merck seems to have managed the Medco integration superbly. View Details
- January 1998
- Case
Frontgate Catalog
Frontgate is a high-end, Lebanon, Ohio-based catalog business. The decision makers are trying to determine how much financial and personnel resources to invest in the development of a Web site. The decision is being made in light of branding issues and competitor's Web... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised February 2006)
- Background Note
Creating Competitive Advantage
By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jan W. Rivkin
A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Acer America: Development of the Aspire
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Anthony St. George
Follows the development, national launch, and global rollout of the Aspire, Acer's first new product developed outside of Taiwan. Implementing a very promising new PC concept proves challenging to Mike Culver and his U.S. team, who are plagued by coordination problems... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
Lincoln Electric: Venturing Abroad
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Jamie O'Connell
Lincoln Electric, a 100-year-old manufacturer of welding equipment and consumables based in Cleveland, Ohio, motivates its U.S. employees through a culture of cooperation between management and labor and an unusual compensation system based on piecework and a large... View Details
- December 1997 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
www.springs.com
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey
Business Week's June 1997 "Rising Star" profile of Springs Industries' president and COO, Crandall Bowles, reported that she was poised to become one of the top two or three women executives in the country. In November 1997, the company announced Bowles' appointment to... View Details
- December 1997 (Revised May 1998)
- Case
CUC and HFS: Corporate Identity for a "Merger of Equals"
By: Stephen A. Greyser and Robert J. Crawford
In the wake of a major $20 billion market capitalization "merger of equals," two large consumer service firms must determine a new name for the new entity. Neither CUC nor HFS is well known among consumers. The CUC Services (e.g., shopping, travel, credit card... View Details
- December 1997 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Yale University Investments Office: November 1997
By: Josh Lerner
David Swensen, chief investment officer at Yale University, reviews the $6 billion endowment strategy, which places an unusually heavy emphasis on private equity and other illiquid securities. Changing market conditions in November 1997 cause him to rethink... View Details
- November 1997
- Case
Colly Cotton Ltd.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay
Colly Farm is an entrepreneurial cotton farm complex that has to compete on a world market. In going public it has to satisfy the market that it can remain profitable in volatile times. View Details
- November 1997 (Revised December 2000)
- Case
Corn Products International, Inc.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay
A firm that started in corn processing and moved up the value-added food chain decides to spin-off the original commodity part of the business. How does the new spin-off survive and how does it develop a strategy? Firms in the food system are separating out their... View Details