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(19,306)
- Faculty Publications (4,219)
- May 1997
- Teaching Note
Introduction and Overview: Managing Product Development, Instructor's Note
By: Marco Iansiti
The first module, comprising three cases and a team exercise, provides an impressionistic look at all the issues raised in greater detail in subsequent classes. It thus enables students, who come to the course with a range of experience and skills, to get up to speed... View Details
- May 1997
- Teaching Note
Product Development Foundations, Instructor's Note
By: Marco Iansiti
As emphasized in the course overview, excellence in product development is built on three foundations: the activities aimed at generating, retaining, and integrating knowledge. They form the critical building blocks for the conceptualization and implementation of any... View Details
- May 1997
- Teaching Note
Product Development Process, Organization and Improvement, Instructor's Note
By: Marco Iansiti
Explores how development projects fit (or do not fit) within a firm's development strategy and its wider competitive goals. Module materials, and this note, focus on two broad approaches to process design (sequential and flexible) that were originally introduced in the... View Details
- May 1997
- Teaching Note
Module Overview: Coordinating and Managing Supply Chains: Matching Supply and Demand TN
By: Ananth Raman
Prepares students to configure operating and distribution systems to provide product (or service) supply to match customer demand. Begins by introducing students to the supply-demand mismatch problem, documenting its significance in many companies, and suggesting ways... View Details
- April 1997
- Case
Peoria Engine Plant (A): (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton
Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and... View Details
- April 1997
- Case
Display Technologies, Inc.
By: Jonathan West, H. Kent Bowen and Ryota Matsui
Display Technologies, Inc. (DTI) is a new joint venture between Toshiba and IBM Japan that is manufacturing the most advanced form of flat panel displays. With success in achieving significant production volumes, DTI has been asked to double its output as quickly as... View Details
- April 1997
- Background Note
Note on Value Drivers
By: Benjamin C. Esty
Presents a framework for analyzing strategic decisions. Takes as given the practice of value-based management whereby managers use value as a primary criterion when making financial, strategic, or investment decisions. Through a simple valuation model, it shows how... View Details
Keywords: Decisions; Equity; Financial Strategy; Investment; Profit; Framework; Growth Management; Value Creation
- April 1997 (Revised May 1997)
- Case
Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative
By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In late 1994, James Down, member of Mercer's Executive Committee, has to decide whether or not he should push ahead with the writing and publication of a book on growth--at a time when the more successful business publications focus on reengineering and cost cutting.... View Details
- March 1997 (Revised July 1998)
- Case
SOS-Kinderdorf International: Caring for Orphaned Children
SOS-Kinderdorf, founded in 1949, has grown rapidly into one of the largest orphanages in the world with children's villages, kindergartens, schools, youth facilities, and other complementary programs in 130 countries. This case describes the evolution of the... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised June 1999)
- Background Note
Committed and Flexible Resources
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Stresses the difference between costs committed in advance of knowing actual demand (committed costs) and cost incurred proportional to demand. Committed costs appear fixed since their supply is independent of the amount actually used. Flexible resources are supplied... View Details
Keywords: Cost
- February 1997 (Revised July 2001)
- Background Note
Introduction to Activity-Based Costing
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Introduces the fundamental notions of activity-based costing (ABC). Motivates ABC by means of a simple example, a single and a diversified pen factory. Proceeds to show how ABC assigns costs more accurately to products and customers by: 1) identifying the activities... View Details
Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management
- February 1997
- Case
Advent of Venture Capital in Latin America, The
By: Debora L. Spar
Widely regarded as the leader in international private equity, Advent International is considering the establishment of a private equity fund in Latin America in 1996. Typically, Advent entered new private equity markets through the creation of multicountry regional... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
Launching the BMW Z3 Roadster
By: Robert J. Dolan and Susan M. Fournier
James McDowell, vice president of marketing at BMW North America, Inc., must design Phase II communication strategies for the launch of the new BMW Z3 Roadster. The program follows an "out-of-the-box" prelaunch campaign centered on the placement of the product in the... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
American Management Systems, Inc.: The Knowledge Centers
By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Sylvia Sensiper
Senior management at AMS, a business and information technology consulting company, is growing at 28% annually and assimilating 1,800 new hires a year. AMS has recently instituted a new knowledge management strategy, a group of six knowledge centers (virtual... View Details
- February 1997
- Case
Transportation Displays, Incorporated (D): Exiting from a Successful Restructuring
By: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Hemmer, Eric Rahe, David Shorrock and Stephen Voorhis
Following a successful corporate turnaround and, more recently, a leveraged recapitalization, management of a highly profitable, fast--growing outdoor advertising company must consider alternative ways to harvest cash flow from the company without jeopardizing the... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised November 2007)
- Case
Tale of Two Electronic Components Distributors
By: Ananth Raman and Bharat P. Rao
Discusses the role of distribution intermediaries in the electronic components industry, and describes operations at two of these distributors. Serves as a vehicle to discuss the functions provided by distributors in the channel. Also lets students understand the... View Details
- January 1997
- Case
Dr. Sergio Ceccuzzi and SMI: Negotiating Cross-Border Acquisitions in Europe (B)
Since the 1960s, SMI has quietly executed a series of brilliantly negotiated takeovers throughout Europe, often acquiring companies much larger than itself. Despite formidable obstacles, SMI has managed to acquire state-owned competitors in Italy and France, as well as... View Details
- January 1997 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
OXO International
By: H. Kent Bowen, Marilyn Matis and Sylvie Ryckebusch
OXO, a kitchen tools and gadgets company, was started by a businessman who had 30 years of experience in the housewares industry. With his wife and son as founders, he creates a new niche in the gadgets industry for high-end gourmet stores. The company has headquarters... View Details
- January 1997
- Exercise
Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, David Carlson, VP, Management Information Systems
This case provides the confidential role information necessary for one person in a four-person negotiation simulation about a major corporate change. Specifically, it describes the role of David Carlson as he attempts to negotiate a new uniform corporate information... View Details
- January 1997
- Exercise
Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Helen Freeman, VP, Small Appliances Division
This case provides the confidential role information necessary for one person in a four-person negotiation simulation about a major corporate change. Specifically, it describes the role of Helen Freeman as she attempts to negotiate a new uniform corporate information... View Details