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Publications
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- Faculty Publications (1,989)
- June 1994 (Revised September 1994)
- Background Note
Commercializing Technology: Imaginative Understanding of User Needs
The transformation of technology into commercially successful products is a process fraught with risk and uncertainty, and increasing pressure on time to market is exacerbating the difficulties. This note first describes a study conducted by Hewlett-Packard to improve... View Details
- June 1994 (Revised September 1995)
- Case
Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust
By: Peter Tufano
Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc. (LOR), which profited by selling portfolio insurance to institutional investors, attempts to rebuild itself after the 1987 stock market crash by creating new products to meet the unsatisfied needs of equity investors. LOR... View Details
- April 1994 (Revised August 1996)
- Case
American Express (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch
In January 1993, the American Express board met to decide who would succeed James D. Robinson, III as chairman and CEO. The board needed to act in the spotlight of intense media and investor scrutiny, and after leaks had revealed that there was a conflict among the... View Details
- April 1994 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (1987-1989)
Describes the actions taken by the new CEO to return the company to profitability, to clarify the vision, and then to build the infrastructure (human, capital, and information) needed to support the long-term change in strategy and organization. Ends with senior... View Details
- April 1994 (Revised September 1994)
- Case
KENETECH Corporation
Involves a strategic decision about how fast to ramp up sales. Improvements in technology have driven down the cost of electric power generated from wind turbines to the point where they are competitive with fossil-fuel plants. KENETECH needs to raise equity capital to... View Details
- March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
- Case
Reading Energy
Reading Energy builds facilities that produce energy from nontraditional fuels. A privately held, entrepreneurial organization, it has spent six years developing a plan to build a waste-to-energy plant in the town of Robbins, Illinois. The plant would burn municipal... View Details
- January 1994 (Revised August 1994)
- Case
Ocean Spray Cranberries: Environmental Risk Management
Ocean Spray Cranberries, one of the nation's most successful agricultural cooperatives, faces some difficult environmental management problems associated with water usage and wetlands development. Because of federal and state wetlands laws, new bogs for expansion had... View Details
- 1994
- Chapter
Competition Policy and Privatization: An Organizational Perspective
By: James Langenfeld and Dennis Yao
Competition (antitrust) policies in Central and Eastern Europe need to address both short-term problems associated with the transition to a market economy as well as the development of institutions suitable for a mature market economy. In this paper we employ an... View Details
- December 1993 (Revised January 1994)
- Case
Montana Land Reliance
By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Thomas Patterson
The Montana Land Reliance is a small not-for-profit organization in the business of creating conservation easements on private lands in Montana. The easements preserve the scenic character and recreational value of the lands by precluding subdivision and other forms of... View Details
- October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
- Background Note
Accounting for Productivity Growth
Introduces students to the arithmetic of the accounting for national productivity growth. It defines labor productivity, capital productivity, and total factor productivity, describes the relationships among them, and discusses the phenomena that cause them to change... View Details
- August 1993 (Revised August 1994)
- Background Note
Rhetoric of Change
By: Nitin Nohria
Describes the ways in which managers communicate the need to change, specifically the way in which they use vision, crisis, and transition as rhetorical strategies to mobilize change. Also discusses strategies used by those trying to resist change, setting up what may... View Details
- July 1993 (Revised November 1993)
- Case
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Marketing Strategy for the Debut Bond Offering
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the first supranational financial institution of the post-Cold War era, is planning its debut in the international capital markets through a bond issuance of $500 million. The bank must determine its marketing... View Details
- December 1992 (Revised October 1993)
- Case
BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine Seeks to De-Yuppify Itself
By: Stephen A. Greyser and Wendy Smith Schille
Tracks changes in the luxury auto market during the 1980s and early 1990s. Shifts in target consumer behavior--particularly the yuppie lifestyle--serve as the basis for manufacturer modifications of product line, positioning, and advertising. The climax of the case is... View Details
- November 1992 (Revised May 1993)
- Case
American Mobile Satellite Corporation
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Laura Goode
American Mobile Satellite Corp. (AMSC) has a license to provide wireless mobile communications via satellite throughout the United States and 200 miles of coastal waters. The first satellite launch is scheduled for 1994 and, in the interim, AMSC is providing limited... View Details
- September 1992
- Case
Vintage Directions, Inc.
Focuses on the problem of determining whether to continue with a start-up after the first market test. The company has seen product success but is far from break-even and needs additional financing. Focuses on opportunity analysis and the use of market data to assess... View Details
- September 1992 (Revised November 1996)
- Case
Royal Automobile Club Rescue Services Division: Transformation Through Technology
By: W. Earl Sasser and Roger H. Hallowell
The Royal Automobile Club uses a new computer and telephone system to improve its service standards and profitability. After the initial impact of changes from technology, the organization faces a need to choose between future technological development or... View Details
- May 1992
- Supplement
Fabtek (B)
By: Rowland T. Moriarty Jr. and Benson P. Shapiro
Presents an urgent order for repair service from an important customer who had purchased an item from a competitor. The item, which TiFab had bid on, went out at a price that TiFab predicted was below the amount necessary to ensure quality manufacture. Now the customer... View Details
- May 1992 (Revised August 1993)
- Case
Forest Policy in Malaysia
The governments of Malaysia and the Malaysian State of Sarawak need to assess possible changes in forest policy. Environmentalist pressure threatens traditional market relationships and patterns of business-government interaction. Harvest regulations, subsidies, trade... View Details
- May 1992
- Article
Coordination in Split-Award Auctions
By: James J. Anton and Dennis Yao
We analyze split award procurement auctions in which a buyer divides full production between two suppliers or awards all production to a single supplier, and suppliers have private cost information. An intriguing feature of split awards is that the equilibrium bids are... View Details
- January 1992 (Revised March 1993)
- Case
Maison Bouygues
By: John A. Quelch
The vice president of marketing is reviewing the 1991 marketing plan and budget for Maison Bouygues, the leading builder of new single family homes in France. Due to recession, the company's sales are forecast to be flat and adjustments may need to be made in the... View Details