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- January 2010 (Revised May 2012)
- Case
TopCoder (A): Developing Software through Crowdsourcing
By: Karim R. Lakhani, David A. Garvin and Eric Lonstein
TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,000 developers who... View Details
- Article
Refined Configuration Results for Extremal Type II Lattices of Ranks 40 and 80
By: Noam D. Elkies and Scott Duke Kominers
We show that, if L is an extremal Type II lattice of rank 40 or 80, then L is generated by its vectors of norm min(L)+2. This sharpens earlier results of Ozeki, and the second author and Abel, which showed that such lattices L are generated by their vectors of norms... View Details
Keywords: Mathematical Methods
- October 2008 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
The Christmas Eve Closing
By: Peter Tufano
In 2002, two homeowners in Massachusetts are deciding whether to refinance their home less than two years after taking out an initial mortgage and a subsequent home equity line of credit. View Details
- December 2007
- Article
Fair (and Not So Fair) Division
By: John W. Pratt
Drawbacks of existing procedures are illustrated and a method of efficient fair division is proposed that avoids them. Given additive participants' utilities, each item is priced at the geometric mean (or some other function) of its two highest valuations. The... View Details
- September 2007 (Revised March 2009)
- Exercise
Pitch Yourself!
By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Michael I. Norton
Helps students develop an elevator pitch for their most important asset—themselves. Before class students are asked to interview a potential employer and to develop preliminary elevator pitches. Once in class, students work through an exercise that helps them refine... View Details
- September 2007 (Revised November 2008)
- Case
Sinopec: Refining its Strategy
By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Julia Galef
China's oil industry, with majority ownership vested in the government, had engaged in an "equity oil" strategy for the past few years-acquiring equity interests in oil producing nations including Sudan, Angola, and Iran. Outside critics, however, suggested that the... View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
Fair (and Not So Fair) Division
By: John W. Pratt
Drawbacks of existing procedures are illustrated and a method of efficient fair division is proposed that avoids them. Given additive participants' utilities, each item is priced at the geometric mean (or some other function) of its two highest valuations. The... View Details
- November 2006
- Exercise
Sell Yourself!
By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Michael I. Norton
Helps students develop an effective sales pitch for their greatest asset--themselves. Also, broadens their understanding of how salespeople sell products and services. Before class, students are asked to interview a potential employer and to develop a preliminary sales... View Details
- August 2006
- Case
Dreyer's Slow Churned(TM) Ice Cream
By: Noel H. Watson, Steven C. Wheelwright and Brian DeLacey
Examines capacity forecasting and planning in a complex new product introduction scenario. The introduction at Dreyer's, a large dairy snack manufacturer, involves not only a new product but a new manufacturing process and product package, thus implying a significant... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised September 2006)
- Case
Apax Partners and Xerium S.A.
By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon
In 2002, Apax Partners had to decide whether to accept a less-than-perfect offer for one of its portfolio companies or to refinance it. This company, a maker of paper industry consumables with a global presence, had been purchased in 1999 and performed extremely well... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised September 2003)
- Case
Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (A), The
By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen
The CFO of General Motors' joint venture in Shanghai, Shanghai General Motors (SGM), wants to refinance almost $900 million of project finance it raised to begin operations. The highest priority is improving the terms of the financing with regard to costs and specific... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised September 2003)
- Case
Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (B), The
By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen
This case provides the outcome to "The Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (A)" in which the CFO of General Motors' joint venture in Shanghai, Shanghai General Motors (SGM), wants to refinance almost $900 million of project finance it raised to begin operations. The... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Mobile Energy Services Company
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia
When Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap became CEO of the Scott Paper Co., the company owned a large, vertically integrated production facility in Mobile, Alabama. Dunlap sold part of the production facility, a cogeneration power plant (later known as Mobile Energy Services Co.), to... View Details
- January 2003 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Zipcar: Refining the Business Model
By: Myra M. Hart, Michael J. Roberts and Julia Stevens
Zipcar is a start-up organized around the idea of "sharing" car usage via a membership organization. This case describes several iterations of the Zipcar business model and financial plan. These iterations include a very early version and a version developed just prior... View Details
- December 2002 (Revised October 2006)
- Case
Commerce Bank
By: Frances X. Frei and Corey B. Hajim
Commerce Bank has become one of the fastest growing banks in the country, despite having defied conventional wisdom about how to grow deposits. Banks historically have grown either by competing on deposit rates or through acquisitions that expand their deposit base.... View Details
- March 1999
- Case
City of Charlotte (B)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
This case shows how two operating departments-transportation and police-translate the high-level corporate scorecard for the city into departmental balanced scorecards. The transportation department follows a highly structured approach designed to link initiatives... View Details
- February 1999
- Case
PDVSA & Citgo (A): Seeking Stability in an Uncertain World
By: Ashish Nanda
In order to secure demand for its heavy oil, PDVSA buys 50% of the U.S. refining and retail company Citgo. In 1990, it buys the remaining 50% ownership of Citgo. The case describes the challenges faced by PDVSA and Citgo managements as they try to make their... View Details
- October 1997 (Revised September 2003)
- Case
Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)
By: Stefan H. Thomke, Ashok Nimgade and Paul Pospisil
Describes how Eli Lilly and Co. tries to accelerate its new drug development process with the aid of "combinatorial chemistry"--a rapidly emerging and revolutionary approach to preclinical drug discovery. The product manager of a potential blockbuster migraine drug... View Details
- June 1997 (Revised May 1998)
- Case
Mobil USM&R (A1)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
First of a two-part case on the development and use of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) at Mobil's US Marketing and Refining Division. Split from the original (A) case to give students an opportunity to suggest objectives and measures for the division's initial BSC, without... View Details
- June 1997 (Revised May 1998)
- Case
Mobil USM&R (A2)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Second of a two-part case on the development and use of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) at Mobil's US Marketing and Refining Division. This case describes the completed BSC, and how this was linked to the BSCs of the independent business units and the internal service... View Details