Teaching Materials

new for spring 2009

Teaching Materials Newsletter

New Web Site for Educators www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators This february, we will launch a new version of the Harvard Business for Educators web site. The site, which has long offered business educators access to case studies and other classroom materials, will feature improved search functions, access to a range of tools for viewing and delivering content, and a completely revamped “My Library” for organizing and sharing both print and eLearning course materials.

A new search interface and taxonomy will let educators view all available content formats (e.g., PDF, hard copy, DVD, eLearning, Spanish, English) and quickly add content to folders or courses from anywhere on the site. Advanced search will allow educators to define their inquiries by length, discipline, region, publication date, and more. We will also make it easier to find cases and articles from other institutions, including Stanford, Darden, Kellogg, and Ivey, among others. The new “My Library” section of the site will give educators a flexible home base for planning and delivering course material: instructors can view or update current courses, create new ones, deliver material to students, and share course ideas with colleagues. It will now be possible for instructors to deliver both digital print material and online courses and simulations directly to students from the site—at special student rates unavailable elsewhere.

in this issue 01

new web site

02

harvard business for educators

03

new simulations

04

new brief cases in accounting

05

New Cases, NOtes, Articles & Books

05

Accounting & Control

05

Business & Government

05 Competitive Strategy 07

Entrepreneurship

10

Finance

12

General Management

15

Human Resource Management

16

Management of Information Systems

16

Marketing

18

Negotiations

18

Operations Management

20

Organizational Behavior & Leadership

22

Service Management

22

Social Enterprise & Ethics

23

Teaching & the Case Method

23

contact information

BC

 ew ONLINE COURSE: n SPREADSHEET MODELING

Visit the site and apply for Educator Access:

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685 Subscribe to this Newsletter Electronically

| 1

Sign Up for Free Email Updates: www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators

Introducing the New Harvard Business for Educators FOR MANAGERS

FOR EDUCATORS

FOR CORPORATE BUYERS

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

GO

Search HBP for Educators

VISIT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

Advanced Search

DISCIPLINES

PRODUCTS

PCL & CASE METHOD

3 WHAT’S NEW FOR EDUCATORS

X

Search HBP for Educators

1

See More of What’s New

SIGN IN

BOOKS

The Case Study Handbook

2 REGISTERED USER? LOGIN NOW

NOT A USER? REGISTER NOW.

William Ellet

In addition, educators can apply for Educator Access. Benefits include:

The business case is a powerful learning tool. But analyzing cases and writing about them can be challenging, especially for students new to the method. The Case Study Handbook covers how to read, analyze, write about, and discuss cases effectively.

• Educator Copies • Teaching Notes • Student Pricing

4

APPLY NOW

DISCIPLINE

OTHER COLLECTIONS

PRODUCT

REGION

FORMAT

INDUSTRY

PUBLICATION DATE

LANGUAGE

Author Name:

LENGTH (PAGES)

SUBMIT

1. updated AND advanced search Use our updated search or new advanced search to quickly find the right course materials.

VIEW DETAILS

TEACHING RESOURCES DISCIPLINES eLEARNING

CASES

Online Simulations

Citibank: Performance Evaluation

Each simulation is easy to set up, has powerful administration tools, and comes with a detailed Teaching Note:

Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton

• Operations Management: Benihana • Strategic Innovation: Back Bay Battery • Supply Chain Management: Root Beer Game • Pricing: Universal Rental Car • Leadership and Team: Everest LEARN MORE & SEE DEMOS

LEVELS GUIDES

5

• Finance • General Management • MIS • Marketing • Negotiations

• Social Enterprise & Ethics

6

In his latest entry to the Teaching Post, Professor Jim Heskett offers tips and advice on how to integrate case study learning in an undergraduate setting. He addresses some of the challenges faced by students and professors, as well as case selection, setting expectations, and ways to introduce excitement into classroom case discussions.

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES BY DISCIPLINE GO NOW

Fatal Ascent: Leadership Lessons from the 1996 Everest Tragedy Michael Roberto, Professor, Bryant University

READ MORE & POST A COMMENT

Paperback for students

RELATED PRODUCTS

LEARN MORE

Analyzing a Case

Participant-Centered Learning and the Case Method

Outlines different types of case situations and describes a process students can use to analyze them.

This online program helps instructors develop skills and confidence in leading case discussions.

00:11/ 02.34

VIEW DETAILS

VIEW DETAILS

APPLY FOR EDUCATOR ACCESS TO RECEIVE:

LEARN MORE

ED S R T U UC AT D E O F R P

o Educator copies of cases, articles, and chapters o Teaching Notes o Preview access to online courses and simulations o Access to course planning tools to organize materials and get student pricing

APPLY NOW

1

2 |

2

THE CASE STUDY HANDBOOK:

THE CONCISE GUIDE TO MACROECONOMICS:

How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases (Paperback)

What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know (Hardcover)

4. organize materials and create courses: n Users can register for Basic Access to My Library for easy storing and organizing of materials. n  Instructors can apply for Educator Access to receive: oF  ree educator copies of cases, articles and chapters, and demos of eLearning programs oT  eaching Notes oA  ccess to My Courses to organize materials and deliver them to students at a special price.

BOOK CHAPTERS

CASES

PARTICIPANTCENTERED LEARNING & THE CASE METHOD

3. Browse by primary types of course materials: Articles, Cases, Books and Chapters, Online Courses, Online Simulations, Role Plays

• OB & Leadership

DEDICATED TO PARTICIPANT-CENTERED LEARNING IN ACTION

THE CASE STUDY HANDBOOK

• Entrepreneurship

• Service Management

Using Cases in Undergraduate Classes

2. See a wide range of tools for Participant-Centered Learning & the Case Method.

• Competitive Strategy

• Operations Management

THE TEACHING POST BLOG

LEARN MORE

• Business & Government

• HR Management

Citibank has introduced a new, comprehensive performance-scorecard system. A regional president struggles with a tough decision: how to evaluate an outstanding branch manager who has scored poorly on an important customer satisfaction measure. CASE

VIEW DETAILS

APPLY FOR EDUCATOR ACCESS NOW

• Accounting & Control

3 ON COMPETITION:

Updated and expanded edition by Michael E. Porter (Hardcover)

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

5. Several ways to browse: oB  y academic Discipline oB  y Level: See recommended materials for MBA, undergraduate, and Exec Ed courses. oW  ith Guides: See recommended cases and articles for specific textbooks or by course topic. 6. join our community of case teachers In The Teaching Post, HBS professor Emeritus Jim Heskett writes regular columns on topics related to Participant-Centered Learning. Join the discussion and share ideas.

New Online Simulations in Finance

new simulation

two new online simulations in Finance: Blackstone/ Celanese and M&A in Wine Country. Both simulations are designed to be easy to administer and engaging to students. Each is accompanied by a detailed Teaching Note, including screen-by-screen instructions.

Supply Chain Management: Root Beer Game

Available this Semester,

Finance: Blackstone/Celanese

Product #3712

Finance: M&A in Wine Country

In this team-based simulation, students play the role of one of three wine producers: Starshine, Bel Vino, or International Beverage. Students progress through 3 rounds of valuation, negotiation, and bidding before they must decide to accept (or reject) final offers. Ideal as a capstone experience for a 1st-year MBA Finance course or after a module covering M&A. Students should have exposure to fundamentals in Finance before playing. Available for classes in March 2009. Product #3289

Teaching faculty can receive preview access to online simulations.

Canada, 617-783-7600).

Shipments

Orders Factory

Shipments

Orders Distributor

Orders Wholesaler

Retailer

classic Beer Game developed at MIT in the 1960s, this team-based simulation illustrates how oscillations arise in a simple supply chain and how they amplify as one moves up the chain (the “bullwhip effect”). Students play one of four roles in a root beer supply chain: factory, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer.

Based on the

This simulation recreates the landmark acquisition of Celanese AG by the Blackstone Group in 2003. Students play the role of either Celanese or Blackstone and conduct due diligence, establish deal terms, and respond to bids and counterbids. The simulation includes chat functionality so students can negotiate “live.” Ideal for 2nd-year MBA elective courses in Private Equity, Valuation, and Mergers and Acquisitions.

Contact customer service at 800-545-7685 (Outside the U.S. and

Shipments

Students place orders each round (simulated week) in order to manage inventory. The objective of the game is to minimize cost across the supply chain. Inventory holding costs are set at $0.50 per case per week, and stockout costs are $1.00 per case per week. The game begins with untimed rounds but moves to shorter, timed rounds to increase pressure on decision making, mimicking suboptimal real-world conditions. Faculty can run multiple supply chain configurations within one class to accentuate the differences in resulting data and illuminate key learning points. Faculty can also monitor student progress in real time, and results are available immediately for class discussion following play. Ideal for courses in Operations Management and Supply Chain Management.

> Learn more on our web site: www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators

Supply Chain Management Simulation: Root Beer Game Product #3101

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 3

New Brief Cases in Accounting & Control Additional Cases in Marketing and OB & Leadership Harvard Business Publishing continues to expand its Brief Cases collection with new offerings in

Marketing, Organizational Behavior, and Accounting. A Brief Case typically contains 3–7 pages of text plus a few exhibits, portrays a protagonist who confronts a complex and critical decision, and requires rigorous analysis—often quantitative—by students. Every Brief Case is accompanied by a detailed Teaching Note. New Brief Cases in Accounting & Control The Talbots, Inc., and Subsidiaries: Accounting for Goodwill

Merrimack Tractors and Mowers: LIFO or FIFO?

Lyons Document Storage: Bond Accounting

Focusing on the firm’s acquisition of J. Jill, the case demonstrates what goodwill is, how it originates, how it is measured at acquisition, and how it is amortized or impaired.

A CFO proposes use of FIFO to maintain earnings growth, accepting possible tax consequences. The case demonstrates that firms often have choices about accounting policies.

A manager must analyze the refunding of bonds issued in 2000, when interest rates were higher. Students must calculate the present value of interest and principal payments.

Key topics: goodwill accounting, intangible assets, nonfinancial performance

Key topics: financial reporting, inventory valuation, LIFO, FIFO, decision making

Key topics: accounting procedures, bonds, financial analysis, financial reporting, interest rates, present value

#3254 • Teaching Note #3257

#3217 • Teaching Note #3219

#3215 • Teaching Note #3216

Marketing

OB & Leadership

Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

In the wake of sagging profit margins, a leading manufacturer and retailer of high-end women’s apparel, Harrington Collection, must evaluate an opportunity to expand into the high-growth activewear market.

A young executive arrives at Stone Finch as head of a new consulting division that quickly eclipses the old manufacturing unit as a growth engine, making some managers wealthy. The cash-cow manufacturing unit is drained of profits to fund growth elsewhere, and resentment builds over organizational and financial dysfunctions.

Key topics: industry analysis, breakeven analysis, consumer behavior, product development, brand management #3258 • Teaching Note #3259

Key topics: leadership, employee motivation, growth management, organizational design, human resources management #3214 • Teaching Note #3211

> Learn more on our web site: briefcases.hbsp.harvard.edu

4 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

acco un tin g & Con tr ol | BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT | competitive st rat egy

Cases

Newly released

N ot e s

ACCOUNTING & CONTROL

BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

New Century Financial Corporation

Korea: On the Back of a Tiger (Abridged)

A r t i cl e s Boo k s

Betfair vs. UK Bookmakers Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan, Aldo Sesia Jr. Harvard Business School Case (Library) Product #109034 (27 pages)

After years of rapid growth and stock price appreciation, New Century Financial Corporation, one of the largest subprime loan originators in the United States, reported accounting problems in early 2007. The resulting liquidity crisis forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the bankruptcy examiner assigned to investigate New Century, the company’s troubles “were an early contributer to the subprime meltdown” that fueled a financial crisis in the United States and beyond. The case study examines New Century’s business model and accounting practices and focuses on the role of management, audit committee, and external auditors in the problems at New Century, based on the findings of the bankruptcy examiner.

Learning Objective: This case introduces students to the subprime mortgage industry, helps them understand the business model, and shows how the economic transactions of subprime mortgage originators are captured by their accounting. It illustrates the risk management roles of management, the audit committee, and the external auditor.

Yasheng Huang Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #708052 (28 pages)

What caused the 1997 Korea crisis? Did the International Monetary Fund (IMF) help or hinder recovery? Did democracy help or hinder recovery? Previously seen as an economic miracle, Korea succumbed to the wave of currency crises sweeping Asia in late 1997. Did the same state-led export growth strategy that had brought about such spectacular success cause this financial meltdown? Conversely, what role had foreign investors played in setting up the crisis by pouring short-term capital into Korea’s partially and unevenly liberalized financial system? When it arrived on the scene, did the IMF do more to help Korea recover from its economic distress or did it just bail out foreign investors and prepare the way for Wall Street to buy up Korean banks and firms? Had Korea’s long move toward democracy helped or hindered government efforts to reform its economic strategy and to resolve the current crisis? This case explains the background for the exploration of these questions.

Learning Objective: To explore causes and ramifications of financial crises.

Ramon Casadesus-Masanell Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709417 (23 pages) Teaching Note #709418

Betting exchanges provide an electronic platform that allows ordinary consumers to not only back teams to win, but also lay odds for other punters to back. This business model allows punters to cut out the middleman— the bookmaker—and leads to a much more efficient two-sided market. In fact, Betfair. com’s domination of the betting exchange has threatened to undermine the core of the traditional bookmaker’s business model. The case examines two aspects of the industry: (1) What specific choices did Betfair make to become the dominant betting exchange, winning the competitive battle over Flutter. com? (2) At what stages do Betfair.com’s business model and those of the bookmakers interact? Will Betfair.com naturally come to dominate the industry, and if so, how should the bookmakers react?

Learning Objective: This case has been designed to be taught in the third module of the EC course “Competing through Business Models.” It allows a rich discussion of competitive interaction between players with different business models (Betfair vs. bookmakers) and players with similar business models (Betfair vs. Flutter). The case illustrates the power of business models that exploit the indirect network effects present in platform industries.

Cases, articles, chapters, exercises, notes, and Teaching Notes: $6.95 Executive Education ($3.95 for degree-granting academic programs)

Supplements: $3.75 Executive Education ($2.30 for degree-granting academic programs)

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 5

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

Fidelity Investments’ Charitable Gift Fund (A)

House of Tata: Acquiring a Global Footprint

Robert C. Pozen

Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #309002 (11 pages) Teaching Note #309018 Supplement #309003

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #708446 (33 pages)

Deborah Pege, an attorney at Fidelity Investments, needs to decide whether Fidelity should attempt to patent business processes involved with its new charitable gift fund. The case explores the conditions that must be satisfied in order to receive a patent and raises issues about the value of the patent versus other ways to protect intellectual property.

Learning Objective: To educate students about patents and other aspects of intellectual property protection.

Hilton Hotels: Brand Differentiation through Customer Relationship Management

Chronicles the globalization of the Tata Group, one of India’s largest business groups. Since 2000, many Tata Group operating companies have aggressively built international businesses, particularly through overseas acquisitions. After describing the globalization rationales and approaches of the major Tata Group companies, the case asks students to consider whether Tata Motors should pursue the acquisition of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands owned by U.S.-based Ford Motor Company.

Learning Objective: To consider the use of acquisitions as a tool for emerging marketbased companies to globalize their businesses.

LinkedIn Corp., 2008

Lynda M. Applegate

David B. Yoffie

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #809029 (18 pages)

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709426 (22 pages)

This case analyzes the Hilton Hotels Corporation’s CRM strategy at a key juncture in its history, immediately after the firm had been taken private by Blackstone. The case provides students with a comprehensive history of Hilton’s CRM initiative—its evolution and the role of IT enablers—and its proprietary OnQ enterprise system. The case offers a rare opportunity to engage in a longitudinal evaluation of the firm’s CRM initiative and to enable students to propose the future evolution of the initiative, based on their analysis.

In June 2008, the online professional networking service LinkedIn became a $1 billion company. But CEO Dan Nye understood that LinkedIn faced several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 2002, LinkedIn by 2008 had become the world’s leading professional networking service (PNS), with more than 23 million members. Aiming to “dominate the business of business networking,” in Nye’s words, LinkedIn allowed individual members to post a profile on the LinkedIn site and then to use the site’s tools to search for job

Competitive Strategy

On Competition Updated and Expanded Edition Michael E. Porter For the past two decades, Michael Porter’s work has towered over the field of competitive strategy. On Competition, Updated and Expanded Edition, brings together more than a dozen of Porter’s landmark articles from Harvard Business Review. Five are new to this edition, including a major revision of the strategy classic “The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy,” as well as new work on health care, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and CEO leadership. Product #2696 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-2696-7 • Hardcover • 576 pages • 2008 • $39.95

6 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

opportunities; to recruit job candidates; to find suppliers, partners, and customers; and to seek out expert advice. The company was also expanding into corporate services that would enable businesses to build and manage their own online networks. With revenue sources that included advertising, premium subscriptions, job posting services, and business solutions, LinkedIn was on track to bring in revenues in 2008 of up to $100 million. A new funding round in mid-2008 yielded a $1 billion valuation for the company. Three key dilemmas confronted LinkedIn, however. First, at a time when the “walled garden” model of online community building was under siege, LinkedIn had to decide how far it should open its platform to users. Second, in light of competition from highly popular social network services such as Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn had to decide whether to incorporate social networking into its value proposition. Third, in an increasingly global business environment, it had to weigh the option of merging with its leading international competitor, XING.com.

Learning Objective: To depict the strategic dilemmas that confront a successful technology company in a fluid, fast-changing competitive field.

mixi Mikolaj Jan Piskorski Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709413 (20 pages)

Kenji Kasahara, founder and CEO of mixi, the most successful Japanese online social network, is deciding between two strategic options in order to leverage the power of the social network: (1) B2C, or (2) C2C. In the B2C option, mixi would become a portal for online shopping for both digital content and tangible goods and would charge the business sellers a fee. In the C2C option, mixi would facilitate exchanges between mixi’s members through online flea markets or auctions and would charge the members for successful transactions. In choosing between the two options, Kasahara has to consider other upstart networks, particularly in the field of mobile social networking.

Learning Objective: To help students understand when social networks add the most value to exciting business models.

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY | en tr epr en eu rship

Affinity Labs, Inc.

PCCW now

VMware Inc., 2008

Andrei Hagiu

David B. Yoffie, Andrei Hagiu

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709405 (20 pages)

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709435 (27 pages)

In 2007, PCCW had to formulate a strategy for the growth of its successful now TV platform and its quadruple-play implementation outside of Hong Kong. Launched in September 2003 by PCCW (Hong Kong’s largest telecommunications operator), now TV had swiftly become the world’s most successful commercial IPTV deployment. By the end of June 2007, the service had an installed subscriber base of almost 820,000 and offered a choice of 143 TV channels, 71 of which were exclusive. However, opportunities for growth were inherently limited to Hong Kong (7 million inhabitants), which meant PCCW had to find ways to expand its now TV platform or seek to license parts of it internationally.

Paul Maritz took the helm of VMware in July 2008, just as the company confronted a radically new competitive environment. Since its founding in 1998, VMware had been the leading provider of virtualization software. Now it faced the kind of threat that every software company dreaded most: Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, was taking direct aim at VMware’s core market. As of June 2008, buyers of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 operating system received a free, bundled version of Hyper-V, an advanced virtualization platform product. Looming over the impending competition between these two companies was the history of the “browser wars,” in which Microsoft overwhelmed browser maker Netscape Communications by bundling the Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system. Did a similar fate await VMware? Maritz moved quickly and boldly to respond to the Microsoft threat—by deciding to offer a version of VMware’s own virtualization platform product for free. But he still had to determine whether VMware’s overall strategy was the right one.

Learning Objective: To illustrate challenges of formulating growth strategy for a multi-sided platform.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care Michael E. Porter Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #708487 (29 pages)

In 2006, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was a leading international institution for cancer care, education, and research. Since 1996, it had successfully restructured itself from a cancer hospital that was physically organized around clinical specialties into one that was organized into disease-based integrated practice units called “multidisciplinary care centers.” These units were supported by a construction project that had created new disease-specific facilities and a widely supported administrative plan in which physicians reported to leadership of both specialty-based academic departments and disease-based clinical centers.

Learning Objective: To develop an understanding of value-based health care delivery.

Joseph B. Lassiter

Learning Objective: To provide material for the evaluation of strategy for a successful high-tech company facing a newly competitive environment.

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #809019 (28 pages)

In 2006, Chris Michel left Military.com, which he founded in 1999, to start Affinity Labs, a global network of online communities. Michel raised a Series A round of venture funding and established a partnership with Monster. com, to which he had sold Military.com. Within its first year of operations, Affinity Labs launched eight vertical portals, including PoliceLink, NursingLink, TechCommunity, and IndiaOn. While the company was well ahead of its original plan to release four portals in 2007, Michel still faced a number of challenges. He had learned a great deal from the first launches of Military.com and Affinity Labs, but in the case of each new community, he now faced how best to construct the vertical and attract a sufficiently large audience. While the model seemed highly scalable because each vertical used the same core technology, every sector had its unique features. In 2007, executives from Monster.com opened up a dialogue with Michel about either selling the company or expanding their relationship. Michel wondered if the time was right to sell or if he should grow Affinity Labs further with the hope of creating a company that could command the high valuations seen recently by a number of social networking concerns.

Learning Objective: To illustrate the techniques and tools used to accelerate customer adoption in an e-commerce/social networking setting.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Abraaj Capital

Amazon.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy

Josh Lerner

Lynda M. Applegate

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #809008 (30 pages)

Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #809014 (11 pages)

Abraaj Capital addresses issues of how to respond to the fast-growing Middle East market. Questions of scaling, institutionalization, and geographic scope are among those considered.

Learning Objective: To examine strategy in private equity.

This case enables a thorough analysis of the Amazon.com business model and its evolution from 1994 to 2001. This study ends with the company poised on the brink of bankruptcy and facilitates discussion of how to turn around the company and leverage proprietary assets.

Learning Objective: To enable discussion of business model analysis and evolution.

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 7

e n tr e p r e n e u r sh i p

Frank Addante, Serial Entrepreneur Cases, articles, chapters, exercises, notes, and Teaching Notes: $6.95 Executive Education ($3.95 for degree-granting academic programs)

Supplements: $3.75 Executive Education ($2.30 for degree-granting academic programs)

Big to Small: The Two Lives of Barry Nalls Noam Wasserman Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #808167 (22 pages)

Barry Nalls describes lessons learned during his 25-year career, including his rise at GTE and shorter-lived ventures and how these prepared him to found MASERGY, a telecommunications start-up. Even as a young boy in a family of entrepreneurs, Nalls had a reputation as a hard worker, but instead of becoming an entrepreneur himself, he built a long career at “the biggest company around.” After years of working in sales and marketing at GTE, he decided to venture out on his own. His GTE experiences armed him for some entrepreneurial challenges but also caused additional problems as he tried to start, build, and grow MASERGY. Four years after founding the venture, he now feels that he should have “taken the entrepreneurial plunge” much earlier in life.

Learning Objective: To explore when to become an entrepreneur and what career path to build before becoming one. To examine the advantages and disadvantages of developing deep functional expertise in sales and marketing, and of being an entrepreneur in a big company before founding a company yourself.

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (A) Paul W. Marshall Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #808137 (17 pages) Supplement #808138

In late November 2000, Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., the once-monopolized telecom operator owned by the Taiwanese government, was on its way to privatization. Chairman C. K. Mao had accepted the job only three months earlier, after the prior chairman resigned unexpectedly in the midst of chaos brought on by the resistance of staff who feared losing their civil servant status after privatiza-

8 |

tion. Also facing Mao was the forthcoming deregulation of the telecommunications industry on the island, which would introduce new competitors on fixed-line services to a field that already included a competitive mobile communications segment where the company’s once dominant market share was heavily eroded. Mao had to decide on the pricing strategies for the company’s various product lines, including fixed-line, mobile services, and data communication. He also needed to ponder how to revise the company’s compensation system to better motivate its staff in a deregulated market and to communicate all these changes to the unionized labor force.

elBulli: The Taste of Innovation

Noam Wasserman Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #809046 (13 pages)

Frank Addante is a 28-year-old serial entrepreneur who is in the process of building his fifth venture. Of his first four ventures, two were sold and one went public; he decided to close the last venture and return unused capital to his investors. With the passing of each venture, he has learned about forming founding teams, splitting equity with his co-founders, hiring executives to work for him, and taking (or refusing) outside funding. Now, he’s facing pressure from investors who aren’t happy with the way he is building his current team and are questioning whether he should remain CEO.

Learning Objective: To examine the lessons learned by a young serial entrepreneur during each of his five ventures, including lessons regarding working with older co-founders, splitting the equity with co-founders, hiring executives to work for him, and when to take outside funding.

Michael Norton Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #509015 (21 pages)

Ferran Adrià, chef at elBulli, the highestranked restaurant in the world for two consecutive years, faces two related decisions. First, Adrià and his team must continue to develop new and different dishes for the groundbreaking cuisine at elBulli in order to guarantee a continuous stream of innovation, the cornerstone of the restaurant’s success. In addition, they face the challenge of growing the business, exploring whether the core concepts from elBulli—this “taste of innovation”—can be applied to domains ranging from consulting to fast food. The case walks readers through an evening at elBulli, using the rave reviews of patrons to capture the full experience.

Learning Objective: This case highlights a successful process for continuous innovation in a creative industry, as well as offering guidelines for successful implementation of a “good experience” marketing strategy as opposed to a more standard product. The case includes several elBulli recipes, which students can attempt to recreate.

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

How Serial Entrepreneurs Build and Manage a Board of Directors in a Venture-Backed Start-up Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #808163 (27 pages)

This case includes structured interviews with four serial entrepreneurs about the way in which they built and used their boards in each of their companies and what they have learned through that process. These entrepreneurs were asked similar questions, such as “How do you build a board of directors in a venture-backed start-up?” “What do you expect of the board, and how do you ensure those expectations are met?” “What are the most and least value-added board activities?” “How do you manage the board?” “How does board composition change over time?” “What were your biggest surprises about boards?” and “What advice would you give first-time entrepreneurs?”

Learning Objective: To highlight the unique governance issues in small, new firms.

en tr ep ren eu rship

Jadelink and the Luxury Goods Market in China

Marc Abrahams: Annals of an Improbable Entrepreneur

Kevin Au, Barbara Li

Boris Groysberg

Ivey School of Business Case Product #908M52 (19 pages) Teaching Note #808M52

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #409013 (25 pages)

The chief executive officer of Jadelink International Limited strives to create a modern jewelry brand that represents a new perception of jade. The CEO has achieved early success, growing sales rapidly and bringing Jadelink products to Shanghai, the trendiest city in China. But the company wants to expand business to the Asian and international luxury goods markets. This requires intensive capital to continue to build up the company scale. This case examines the consideration of venturing a new business in the China market, managing business growth, and acquiring venture capital. It also encourages discussion of factors that lead to a successful entrepreneurship and deal with a business highly associated with industry tradition, people connection, and product design and innovation.

Learning Objective: This case is suitable for use in teaching MBA students and senior undergraduates in an entrepreneurship course. It can also be utilized in a new venture creation course because of the strong association with product design and innovation.

Keeping Google “Googley” Boris Groysberg, David A. Thomas Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #409039 (23 pages)

This case examines how Google has worked to avoid the potential negative by-products of rapid growth, such as bureaucracy, slow decision making, lack of visibility, and organizational inconsistency. When the case protagonist, Kim Scott, started with Google in 2004, she wondered if she would still be there in several years, as she preferred small, entrepreneurial companies. In 2008, she was pleased that Google still had the same entrepreneurial energy it had when she joined. She and her colleagues reflect on how Google has been able to maintain its culture even as the company keeps doubling in size.

Learning Objective: To illustrate how a company can maintain its entrepreneurial culture amidst rapid growth.

Marc Abrahams was a media entrepreneur who specialized in science humor. In 2008, he sought to boost the scale and monetization potential of his business. That business, called Improbable Research, encompassed a magazine (Annals of Improbable Research), a high-profile annual event (the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony), a web site (improbable. com), a series of books, and various public appearances. This case uses the story of the “improbable” emergence and expansion of that business to investigate the challenges and opportunities faced by an individual who seeks to build an enterprise around his own human capital. It includes background information on Abrahams’s early career, a summary of the various segments of his company, and a discussion of recent efforts by Abrahams to break free of constraints that have limited the size and revenue-generating ability of Improbable Research for many years. Among those efforts are a decision to distribute magazine content over the Internet for free and a major investment in producing video content for the web. The case concludes by presenting various options under consideration by Abrahams—options that dealt with both external challenges (How should he define his brand? Which markets should he target?) and internal challenges (Should he hire to fill certain key positions?). The case also features lively exhibits that illustrate Abrahams’ value proposition and analyze his business model and revenue sources.

Learning Objective: To explore key issues of human capital management, with a focus on how individuals manage their own human capital.

Negotiating Equity Splits at UpDown Noam Wasserman, Deepak Malhotra Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #809020 (12 pages) Supplement #809021 Supplement #809022 Supplement #809023

Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders

two months ago, when they completed a one-page “November Agreement.” Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked nonstop on the business, while one co-founder has been off enjoying the winter break with his family and the other worked on lucrative consulting contracts for other companies. Michael has just sent his co-founders a proposal that would reallocate the equity within their founding team, and all three founders are getting ready to reopen a negotiation they thought had been finalized.

Learning Objective: To give students firsthand experience in negotiating with team members, in the context of a founding team splitting the equity within a new venture. Also, to provide insight into the issues involved when renegotiating in the shadow of a previous arrangement. This is the core case in a series that is useful for negotiation exercises.

Robert Wessman and Actavis’ “Winning Formula” Daniel J. Isenberg Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #808127 (24 pages)

Robert Wessman took over Actavis in 1999 when it was a failing 90-person generic pharmaceutical maker in Iceland. Within 7 years he had taken Actavis to number 5 worldwide, a $1.6 billion global manufacturer with 11,000 people active in 40 countries. The case explores the reasons for the success of this global venture.

Starbucks Coffee Company in the 21st Century Nancy F. Koehn Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #808019 (45 pages)

This case explores the opportunities and challenges confronting Starbucks in the early 21st century. For more than 15 years, Starbucks has grown swiftly and successfully, helping to create a large, dynamic market for specialty coffee, building one of the world’s most powerful brands, and forging a new business model based on industry repair and responsible global citizenship. In 2008, Starbucks leadership faces a range of issues from inside and outside of the company that relate to its success. This case examines these

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 9

ENTRE P RENEURSHI P | FINANCE

issues in the context of a changing economy, increased competition, evolving consumer priorities, and the organization’s place on the larger global stage.

Learning Objective: To help students understand the possibilities and problems of rapid growth and industry leadership.

System on a Chip 2008: Global Unichip Corp. Willy Shih, Chen-Fu Chien Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608159 (9 pages) Teaching Note #609033

Though much of the semiconductor industry has shifted to a horizontal model, complexity driven by technological evolution is driving a shift in the perceived boundaries in the value chain. Global Unichip sees itself as a “virtual integrated device manufacturer,” a throwback to the vertically integrated model that fell out of favor for most chips. This case offers an opportunity to examine a highly modular industry and the impact of technology shifts on those boundaries, with significant implications for the incumbents.

Learning Objective: To examine extreme value migration in a modular system.

Work Is Good: Branding the Employ+Ability Mission Lynda M. Applegate, Susan Saltrick, Monica Higgins Harvard Business School Case Product #809028 (23 pages)

Employ+Ability, a small company that employs developmentally disabled adults, finds itself competing with low-cost producers of its core products—therapeutic hot and cold packs. How might an innovative branding campaign, centered on the company’s core value of “Work Is Good,” enable it to effectively contend with its competitors?

Learning Objective: To help students understand the challenges of social entrepreneurship, especially in low-margin, cost-conscious industries.

10 |

FINANCE

HSBC Credit Card Rewards Program Robert J. Fisher

Aurora Capital Group—Douglas Dynamics

Ivey School of Business Case Product #908A17 (22 pages)

Nabil N. El-Hage

At the start of the previous decade, competition in the credit card market was based on price (i.e., interest rates and annual fees). After Chase and American Express launched bonus-point programs in 1993, HSBC was forced to follow in 1994. The original program was targeted at high-income consumers, as with luxury-brand redemption items. The competition reacted and consumers quickly learned to expect a points program as a standard feature. Again, HSBC differentiated its credit card products by adding a wider range of redemption items and lowering redemption levels. Problems emerged in 1997 and 1998 as the HSBC program became a source of complaints, due to operational difficulties in fulfillment and a lack of competitive advantage in the marketplace. In 1999, HSBC’s credit card was rated poorly, largely because of the problems with the bonus point system. Research was used to understand consumers and revitalize the program. Significant changes were made in the features, operations improved, and the selection of redemption items grew. By 2002, the program was rated as one of the best in the industry. The challenge is, where does HSBC go from here?

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #209010 (11 pages)

Aurora Capital, a U.S. private equity firm, contemplates whether to acquire Douglas Dynamics, the leading U.S. maker of snowplows. Does a seasonal business that is highly dependent on the weather make a good leveraged buyout candidate? This case provides a good introduction to the LBO business. What are the characteristics of a successful LBO? And how do successful PE firms create value by acquiring such companies?

Learning Objective: To introduce students to the concept of an LBO, to analyze price sensitivity for an LBO, to explore characteristics of a good LBO candidate, and to analyze how the successful PE firm generates value in an LBO.

Finansbank 2006 C. Fritz Foley Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #208108 (18 pages) Teaching Note #208149 Supplement #208724

This case provides students with an opportunity to analyze the restructuring of a Turkish multinational business group by way of a merger. Finansbank is a bank headquartered in Turkey, with additional operations in Holland, Switzerland, Russia, Romania, and Ukraine. It was founded by Hüsnü Özye in 1987, and in April 2006, the National Bank of Greece (NBG) offered to buy part of the bank. Students consider factors that contribute to Finansbank’s growth and success. In order to assess the terms of NBG’s offer, students can evaluate given valuations of the bank and analyze why the proposed deal is structured so that Özye retains a stake and buys back the non-Turkish operations. Students also consider the offer from the perspective of minority shareholders.

Learning Objective: To illustrate how capital requirements create a need for restructuring in environments where the benefits of ownership concentration are high.

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

Learning Objective: To illustrate how consumers and competitors change as markets evolve; to consider ways to differentiate products that have become commoditized; to examine a context in which an organization has transformed a product from worst to best in market through marketing activities; and to consider the implications of using rewards programs and promotional tactics to drive consumer behaviors. The case is designed for marketing management courses at the senior undergraduate, MBA, and executive levels. It is designed for a single 80-minute class.

Iceland (A) Aldo Musacchio Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709011 (24 pages) Supplement #709012

In May 2008, a team of sovereign debt analysts at Moody’s needed to decide whether to downgrade the country’s sovereign long-

FINANCE

term debt from Aaa to Aa1 or lower. Investor sentiment toward Iceland had changed radically in March, and the Moody’s team was fearful that the situation could spiral out of control. The Moody’s team knew that carry traders increased Iceland’s vulnerability to a confidence crisis, because they were quick to liquidate their holdings at the first sign of distress. The plunge in the Icelandic krona since the beginning of 2008 also forced the Icelandic people to confront a decision: Would joining the European Union (EU) protect Iceland from capricious swings in investor sentiment? What, if anything, should Iceland do to avoid a future crisis?

International Carbon Finance and EcoSecurites Andre F. Perold, Forest Reinhardt Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #208151 (22 pages)

In late 2007, EcoSecurities had to decide whether to undertake a new Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in China. EcoSecurities, an aggregator of carbon credits, was also invested directly in projects that produced carbon credits, used by governments and firms to fulfill part of their compliance obligations in cutting greenhouse gas emissions according to the Kyoto Protocol. As demand for UN-issued carbon credits rose, the UN approval process had become increasingly burdensome. The Ventilation Air Methane Project was an opportunity to break into a new sector with great potential, and EcoSecurities had to assess the economics and risks of the project.

Learning Objective: To understand the market for carbon emissions and the pricing of carbon credits; to learn about project valuation and discounted cash flow; and to think about investment risk analysis in the context of political uncertainty.

Ithmar Capital Josh Lerner, Ann Leamon Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #809032 (21 pages)

The founders of Ithmar Capital, a mid-market private equity fund that targets businesses with concerns and operations in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, are about to raise their third fund, targeting $1 billion. The firm’s current strategy as demonstrated in

finance

Ben Bernanke’s Fed The Federal Reserve After Greenspan Ethan S. Harris In this first in-depth look at Bernanke’s chairmanship of the Fed, Lehman Brothers’ chief U.S. economist Ethan Harris demystifies the policy choices and pronouncements of the new Fed chair—and explains how they influence the global economy. Harris’ accessible portrayal is the tool students need to understand and anticipate Bernanke’s decisions and communications by putting his actions into clear context. Product #2584 • ISBN 978-1-4221-2584-7 • Hardcover • 240 pages • 2008 • $26.95

Funds I ($70 million) and II ($250 million) emphasizes careful targeting of sectors and indepth work to develop the portfolio companies post-acquisition. With the industry’s greater velocity and deal size, can Ithmar continue to pursue this strategy even with a larger fund?

Learning Objective: To introduce students to the private equity environment in the Persian Gulf area.

Kmart and ESL Investments (A) Stuart C. Gilson Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #209044 (24 pages)

A major retailer is poised to emerge from Chapter 11. Two activist hedge funds (“vulture investors”) will own more than 50% of reorganized Kmart common stock, based on prior investments in Kmart’s debt claims and an infusion of new equity financing. The Chapter 11 process has generated both costs and benefits for the company. Its future profitability and the value of the reorganized business, however, are both highly uncertain.

Learning Objective: To introduce Chapter 11 and the basics of the U.S. bankruptcy practices; distressed (“vulture”) investing strategies in bankrupt companies; valuation of a company about to emerge from bankruptcy; and complicated capital structures, including issues around security, subordination, public versus private debt, etc.

Martingale Asset Management L.P. in 2008: 130/30 Funds and a Low-Volatility Strategy Luis M. Viceira Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #209047 (22 pages)

In early July 2008, William (Bill) Jacques, chief investment officer at Martingale Asset Management, a quantitative value-oriented investment manager in Boston, Massachusetts, was busy preparing for an upcoming meeting with the group that made new product decisions within the firm. The objective of the meeting was to review the backtesting and real-time investment results of a new minimum-variance strategy within the framework of a 130/30 fund. The performance results were very encouraging, but Bill still wondered if they were a fluke of the data, a result of data mining rather than the reflection of a true market anomaly. He wanted to discuss several possible explanations of the phenomenon and to decide whether Martingale should offer the strategy to its clients.

Learning Objective: To discuss the mechanics and the economic implications of leverage and short-selling for investment strategies; to discuss minimum volatility stock investment strategies and quantitative investing in general; and to discuss the management of quantitative funds, especially in the context of new product development and client offerings.

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 11

f in a n c e

SKS Microfinance Shawn Cole Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #208137 (21 pages)

Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, seeks a venture capital investment to fund his firm. SKS, one of the largest and fastestgrowing microfinance institutions in India, is a profitable for-profit institution with a social mission. In what is one of the first commercial financing deals in the world, Akula must decide at what value (and to whom) to sell equity in SKS. The case focuses on valuation, which is difficult because at the time there were no comparable publicly traded companies, and the strategic aspects of raising money.

French multinational. The case allows for a thorough analysis of buyer types (financial vs. strategic), deal strategy, and valuation. Among other topics covered in the case are the importance of due diligence, the potential for value creation by private equity firms through operational improvements, the use of footholds in deal strategy, and the challenges of cross-border acquisitions.

Learning Objective: To evaluate the characteristics and goals of different buyer types, to discuss deal strategy from a private equity standpoint, and to analyze how valuation impacts bidding strategy.

Tribune Company, 2007 Timothy A. Luehrman

Learning Objective: To teach valuation of financial institutions, particularly microfinance; to study an entrepreneur’s problem.

Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #208148 (24 pages) Supplement #208723

Thoma Bravo—Citect Corporation Take-Private

This case describes the proposed acquisition of Tribune Company by Sam Zell in 2007. Tribune Company is one of the largest newspapers and broadcasting companies in the United States. Zell’s proposed acquisition is unusual in several respects. It is two-tiered, employs an ESOP as the acquisition vehicle, and involves a high degree of leverage as well as significant asset sales, and Zell himself will own almost no common stock in the post-deal Tribune. The case is set in late October 2007, at which point the first stage of the acquisition had been completed, but the second stage had not. Recent deterioration in both Tribune’s

Nabil N. El-Hage Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #209022 (22 pages)

In 2006, Citect Corporation, a publicly traded Australian software company, was the target of a takeover battle between a financial sponsor and a strategic buyer. Thoma Bravo, the U.S.-based private equity firm, had to decide on its acquisition strategy in the face of competition from Schneider Electric, a large

operating results and its credit market conditions made it unclear whether the transaction could be closed as scheduled in 2007, or indeed at all.

Learning Objective: The case permits a discussion of the decline of the U.S. newspaper industry and an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the unusual features built into this particular transaction. The case may be analyzed from multiple perspectives: Zell’s, the employees’, the shareholders’, and Tribune’s pre-existing lenders’.

Venture Capital Vignettes: Difficult Financings G. Felda Hardymon Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #809003 (6 pages)

These three short vignettes depict investment professionals considering difficult financings for companies in their portfolios. For one reason or another, each company has underperformed expectations. Should the protagonist recommend that the firm participate or not, or should he try to revise it? Can the firm exercise any influence, and are the potential gains worth the time and effort that will be required?

Learning Objective: To introduce students to the complex and nuanced decisions about funding companies with uncertain chances of success.

GENERAL MANAGEMENT General Management

Absolute Return for Kids

Groundswell

Herman B. Leonard

Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #309036 (22 pages)

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff Corporate executives are struggling with a new trend: people using online social technologies (blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, podcasts) to discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals. The authors explain how to turn this threat into an opportunity. “An insightful book that takes a refreshing research-driven approach to helping businesses transform themselves and successfully navigate this new dynamic landscape.” —Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Edelman Digital, and columnist for Advertising Age Product #2500 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-2500-7 • Hardcover • 304 pages • 2008 $29.95

12 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) is a charity with strong financial support. ARK seeks to transform the lives of children who are victims of abuse, disability, illness, and poverty. As one of the 50 largest fundraising charities in the United Kingdom, the organization’s trustees wrestle with how to meet the needs of this vast and most vulnerable population through program expansion and delivery in Eastern Europe, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. How can the organization replicate its existing successful programs faster, within

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

both new and existing countries? How can ARK best identify new areas into which it should expand over the near term and further down the road, as well as recognize the ones that would overstretch ARK’s organizational capacity and risk its failure to maintain the highest quality of delivery?

Learning Objective: To illustrate the problems of maintaining focus and disciplined strategy in a resource-rich environment.

AREVA T&D Ananth Raman, Vincent Dessain Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608174 (48 pages)

The case explores the rapid and highly effective turnaround at AREVA’s transmission and distribution (T&D) business by focusing on the division’s operations. The division was struggling in 2004 when newly appointed CEO Philippe Guillemot and his team improved performance substantially by focusing on four levers—industrial footprint realignment, competitive sourcing, process efficiency, and a competitive product offering. The case challenges students to identify the best path forward, starting in 2008. How can the progress achieved from 2004 to 2007 be sustained? AREVA T&D hopes to surpass ABB and Siemens in sales and profitability by focusing on superior product offerings, through “customer intimacy” (e.g., involving customers in new product development) and development of a reputation for environmentally friendly behavior. What is the role of operations management in this context?

Learning Objective: To help students understand the role of operational improvement in a turnaround setting.

ATH MicroTechnologies: Making the Numbers Robert L. Simons Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #108091 (14 pages) Teaching Note #108097

An exercise that takes students through five stages in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: founding, growth, push to profitability, relocation process, and takeover by new management. At each stage, students must confront tensions while balancing profit, growth, and control. They will encounter difficulties in the business as the

Cases, articles, chapters, exercises, notes, and Teaching Notes: $6.95 Executive Education ($3.95 for degree-granting academic programs)

Supplements: $3.75 Executive Education ($2.30 for degree-granting academic programs)

result of management’s attempts to design and use formal control systems to achieve profit and performance goals.

Learning Objective: To offer a longitudinal study of company attempting to balance innovation and control.

Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact Stacey Childress Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #309043 (31 pages)

In June 2008, Jesse Solomon, founding director of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), faced an important decision about the organization’s strategic direction. Since its founding in 2003, 125 of its graduates had joined the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and BTR had established a reputation as a provider of some of the district’s best-prepared new teachers. Yet Solomon wondered if its approach so far was the optimal choice going forward. Carol Johnson, the new superintendent for BPS, was developing a district-wide improvement strategy that prioritized performance acceleration of the district’s lowest-performing schools. But relatively few BTR graduates joined these schools—they were free to pursue teaching openings at any school in the district. Solomon knew the potential to partner more closely with the new superintendent was a time-sensitive opportunity that involved a number of questions. What were the implications of moving from an open hiring market to the placement of BTR graduates in high-priority schools? Was BTR’s model sufficient to prepare new teachers to join struggling schools in the absence of a comprehensive turnaround strategy? How could BTR continue to strengthen the quality of its program while supporting the new superintendent’s priorities?

Learning Objective: To analyze the strategy of an entrepreneurial education venture.

Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One Anette Mikes Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #109001 (22 pages)

An early adopter of enterprise risk management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change and carbon legislation, the deregulation of electricity markets, and the greater adoption of renewable technologies. CEO Laura Formusa felt that Hydro One’s risk profile had shifted, to the extent that she had to ask herself: Was the strategy tenable? The case provides a rich description of enterprise risk management in action and shows how Hydro One executives arrived at a shared understanding of the risk profile of the company. In the narrative, a diverse group of managers (the chief executive, the chief financial officer, the head of public relations, and the chief regulatory officer) voice their views on the risks, collectively bringing a multiplestakeholder perspective to the risk profile. The case challenges students to define the problems and risks that the company faces, given its strategic objectives, its evolving risk profile, and the changing environment. The case also offers a discussion ground for defining both the role of the chief risk officer and the relationship between risk management, strategic planning, and capital budgeting.

Learning Objective: To provide a rich description of ERM and to expose students to the challenges of risk assessment from a strategic perspective.

Gordon Williams: Clinical Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital H. Kent Bowen Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608168 (27 pages)

Clinical research is a critical element of biomedical research and development. This case describes the challenges of clinical research and its role in bringing breakthroughs to

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 13

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

patients. Dr. Williams leads through his own research and special programs to train clinical investigators.

Learning Objective: To understand the role of clinical research within the spectrum of biomedical research.

InnoCentive.com (A) Karim R. Lakhani Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608170 (22 pages)

InnoCentive.com, a firm connecting R&D labs of large organizations to diverse external solvers through innovation contests, has to decide if it will enable collaboration in its community. The case covers the basics of how a distributed innovation system works and the advantages of having external R&D. It also applies concepts of open source to a nonsoftware setting; describes the rationale for participation by solvers in innovation contests and the benefits that accrue to firms; and raises the issue of whether a community can be shifted to collaboration when competition was the basis of prior interaction.

Learning Objective: To cover the mechanics of open innovation and the rationale for participation by firms and individuals. To discover the challenges of moving to a collaborative model for innovation and the potential opportunities for participants in a collaborative setting.

Kidney Matchmakers Brian J. Hall Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #908068 (4 pages)

This case looks at the design and development of an unconventional market, where neither

money nor traditional “goods” are exchanged. Kidney exchange is an idea pioneered by HBS professor and market designer Alvin Roth along with a small group of innovative doctors. The case follows this group as they grapple with some of the complex questions associated with launching a national clearinghouse for kidney exchange. It raises critical questions about why and how value is created in markets, and about how important moral dilemmas (in this case, the buying and selling of human organs) complicate the connection between market exchange and value creation.

Learning Objective: To demonstrate that markets are a powerful vehicle for value creation, and to show the complexities of market design when applied in an unconventional setting.

Mattel’s Long Hot Summer Jane Wei-Skillern Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #308129 (14 pages)

In the summer of 2007, Mattel performed three major recalls of toys, mostly due to the use of lead paint and other manufacturing issues in China. This case examines specifically how those recalls were perceived by consumers and responded to by Mattel, as well as what effect they had on the toy industry, consumer safety, and manufacturing in China in general.

Learning Objective: To question the trade-offs between price and quality in manufacturing practices and strategy.

Pat Fili-Krushel (A) Kathleen L. McGinn Harvard Business School Case (Field)

General Management

Control in an Age of Empowerment Robert L. Simons In this short paperback, Robert Simons explains how to give employees the freedom to innovate while protecting your firm from loose cannons. Clear examples in the book show how to apply 4 powerful management “levers” to balance autonomy with control. Product #2672 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-2672-1 • Paperback • 64 pages • 2008 • $8.95

14 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

Product #909009 (12 pages) Supplement #909010

Pat Fili-Krushel, CEO and president of WebMD.com and past president of ABC Network, contemplates accepting Richard Parsons’ offer to become the first executive vice president of administration at AOL Time Warner. Accepting this position would be a move back into mainstream media but also a career shift from line positions to a corporate staff role. The case profiles Fili-Krushel’s media experiences and her use of interpersonal influence and negotiation, leading up to the critical decision point. After consulting with colleagues throughout the media industry, Fili-Krushel’s decision rests on her own career aspirations and her expectations about the future of AOL Time Warner.

Learning Objective: To facilitate a discussion around critical decision points faced by individuals at the mid-career point, using influence and negotiation strategies for career management and addressing job challenges; and to analyze specific influences and negotiation tactics used in different stages of a career.

Sovereign Wealth Funds: For Profits or Politics? Laura Alfaro Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #708053 (18 pages)

On March 21, 2008, the U.S. government secured an agreement from two leading sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to adopt a new set of investment principles to govern the funds’ activities. SWFs, broadly defined as investment funds owned by a nation or a government, were gaining prominence across the globe, especially with their recent investments in troubled U.S. financial firms that had suffered significant losses during the subprime mortgage crisis. Yet SWFs were viewed with suspicion amid concerns that they could have potential political interests behind their investments. Many SWFs also lacked disclosure or transparency regarding their activities or investment goals. Countries such as the United States felt that international regulation had to be imposed, but would it be possible?

GENERAL MANAGEMENT | hu ma n r esou r ces m a n ag emen t

System on a Chip 2008: Ardentec Corporation Willy Shih, Chen-Fu Chien Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #609026 (16 pages)

Ardentec Corporation is a specialist in “wafer probing,” a highly specialized niche sandwiched between the “front-end” and the “back-end” of semiconductor manufacturing. Because the semiconductor industry uses modular processes and has standard containers for a work-in-progress interchange, it has evolved to a highly horizontal structure where specialists like Ardentec can carve out unique market opportunities that are less attractive to integrated manufacturers. The company has grown rapidly, but as it starts to occupy a significant percentage of the total available market, its founders are faced with the challenge of how to maintain growth. Do they vertically integrate more into the back-end, or should they try to do acquisitions in adjacent markets? The case is intended to be used in conjunction with the Technical Note “Horizontal Specialization and Modularity in the Semiconductor Industry” (608001).

Learning Objective: To examine an extreme example of specialization, and to consider the implications for company growth.

Symyx Technologies, Inc. H. Kent Bowen Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608152 (24 pages)

Symyx is a science-based company spun out of Berkeley. Its unique materials technology has been exploited for 10 years, but the company needs a new business model. The company concept required the invention of hardware and software to do high-throughput materials discovery, and a business partnership model is needed to support scientific and engineering development. The public company must now find new ways to grow, and Isy Goldwasser, a co-founder and the new CEO, must lead the transition while maintaining unique scientific resources.

Tong Lung Metal Industry Co. Ltd. Willy Shih Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #609034 (14 pages)

Tong Lung Metal Industry Co. Ltd., a

Taiwanese maker of door lock hardware, was faced with the question of whether to continue to focus on its ODM (original design manufacturer) business or start placing more emphasis on its own brand development and growth in global markets. The case explores the bumpy history of the company and raises questions around the downstream consequences of global outsourcing strategies.

Learning Objective: To examine some of the consequences of outsourcing strategies.

Vignettes on Governance of Private Equity Firms G. Felda Hardymon Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #808168 (8 pages)

In a series of vignettes, Nigella Hardy-Smyth, an employee of an international development agency that invests partners in emerging markets private equity firms must decide how to handle various situations as they arise. As a member of the limited partner advisory board of each of the five firms, she must contend with a fund manager who has an indistinct mandate, a manager who wants to exceed the concentration limit in an investment, a star investor experiencing tension with her other partners, a founding partner who wants to fire the rest of his senior team, and a limited partner seeking preferential treatment that might benefit his fund to the detriment of the other limited partners. The process of discussing these scenarios helps the class explore the nuanced role of a limited partner in a private equity firm.

Learning Objective: To introduce students to the challenges confronting limited partner advisory boards.

World Wildlife Fund U.S.

U.S. more fully within the global WWF network and fostering longer-term trust-based relationships among all partner organizations as they work toward their shared conservation goals. The case highlights the Tesso Nilo Conservation Project, which brought together various WWF partners to stop illegal logging in Sumatra and revive its wildlife environment, and illustrates a network approach within a global multisite nonprofit.

Learning Objective: To examine the potential of implementing networks in an established, mature, global nonprofit to achieve greater mission impact. The case examines the challenges for institutionalizing such an approach as well as the required leadership, culture, and mind-set shift that is necessary for building trust and transforming the way the organization operates and works with its peer organizations worldwide.

Year Up Allen Grossman Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #308032 (30 pages)

Year Up, a nonprofit job-skills training program for low-income urban youth, has run four successful programs in four cities for the past seven years. Now, after an ambitious capital campaign, the organization is poised to grow into a national program in an attempt to reach the 4.3 million disconnected youth in the United States, but will the organization be able to maintain high-quality results as it builds to scale?

Learning Objective: To illustrate the multifaceted challenges of managing growth in a nonprofit while maintaining high-impact results.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Jane Wei-Skillern Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #308035 (33 pages)

World Wildlife Fund U.S. is a leading international conservation nonprofit that operates within a global network of WWF organizations. This case examines WWF U.S. strategy to achieve its mission of protecting natural wildlife and resources. In contrast to traditional approaches in which WWF country programs operated relatively independently, the new strategy involves integrating WWF

Rehabilitation Alliance Hong Kong: Next Step Forward Terence Tsai, Barbara Li Ivey School of Business Case Product #908M26 (15 pages) Teaching Note #808M26

The case describes the unique business model of Rehabilitation Alliance Hong Kong (RAHK), beginning with its strategic alliance with Dairy

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 15

ma n ag e m e n t o f i n fo rm ati o n system s | MARKETING

Farm to run 7-Eleven convenience stores in an aim to create job opportunities for its disabled members. The two managers then try out other forms of business, but these are not commercially effective. The case explores the challenges of managing a cooperative relationship with a social conscience and achieving social enterprise sustainability through innovation.

Learning Objective: This case is suitable for students at all levels, including postgraduate students who work in the private and public sectors, and NGOs that wish to study social enterprise (SE) development through strategic alliances. Instructors can draw from the concepts in the strategic management literature, especially concerning resources, capabilities, core competence, and cooperative strategy issues (see the recommended text below). Other important concepts and theories are utilized, including corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and sustainable business development.

MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS Information Services in the U.S. Economy: Value, Jobs, and Management Implications Uday Karmarkar, Uday M. Apte, Hiranya K. Nath California Management Review Case Product #CMR394 (20 pages)

It is well known that almost all of the largest economies in the world are already dominated by services. What may be less well known is

that many are also evolving toward becoming information economies in the sense of both value added (GNP) and jobs. While this evolution is less advanced in some countries, the United States is already well past the 60% mark in terms of economic value added. This case explores the confluence of these two trends by examining the double dichotomy of products versus services and information versus material (noninformation) outputs, thus dividing the economy into four supersectors. The data reveal that the U.S. job market is dominated by information work, and that the largest part of the U.S. economy in terms of GNP value added is the “information services” super-sector. The largest job share in terms of the number of jobs is in the “material or noninformation” service jobs, but the largest share of the wage bill is in information-related service jobs. This article discusses the reasons behind these trends, identifies major differences between information and noninformation sectors, and examines the implications for management strategy in the information economy.

SPECIALISTERNE: Sense & Details Robert D. Austin, Jonathan Wareham, Javier Busquets Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608109 (20 pages)

Three-quarters of SPECIALISTERNE’s expert software testing staff are diagnosed with some form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Usually perceived as a handicap, ASD in fact conveys talents especially suited to software testing and other highly repetitive tasks that require extreme accuracy. This case describes a growing company that struggles with

Management of Information Systems

unique challenges as it implements a social enterprise (SE) business model; it describes the difficulties faced by social entrepreneurs implementing for-profit business models in domains usually populated by nonprofits. The case is also useful as an introduction to the business of software testing.

Learning Objective: To examine the challenges of growing a for-profit social enterprise business. To examine the software testing business.

MARKETING Blogging at BzzAgent David B. Godes Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #508102 (51 pages) Teaching Note #508118

BzzAgent is a word-of-mouth marketing firm. The founder, Dave Balter, sees blogs as an important way to communicate BzzAgent’s unique positioning: transparency. He sees the firm’s blog (the BeeLog) as a way for the firm to participate in conversations with clients, employees, and “agents.” However, he has been unhappy with the level of interaction the blog has been generating and is considering shutting it down. The case provides a context for a discussion about word-of-mouth marketing and social media in general, as well as about blogs specifically. It also provides examples of other corporate blogs and allows students to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of this potentially important form of communication.

Learning Objective: To explore word-of-mouth marketing, social media, and networks.

IT Risk

BMW’s Project Switch (A): Importers vs. National Sales Companies

Turning Business Threats into Competitive Advantage

Das Narayandas

George Westerman and Richard Hunter “I couldn’t put this book down. I’m working on our three-year IS strategic plan and this book has a great combination of high-level concepts and pragmatic information and advice. It will become a must-read for every manager in my IS organization. I plan to give copies to my CEO and CFO.” —Debra Jensen, Vice President of Systems Development and CIO, Jack in the Box Product #6662 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-0666-2 • Hardcover • 240 pages • 2007 $35.00

16 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #509023 (21 pages)

BMW is faced with potential channel conflicts across several EU country markets. The case highlights BMW’s approach to redesigning its channel in Greece and provides details on the perspectives of both headquarters and country heads in terms of BMW’s channel strategy.

MARKETING

Learning Objective: To allow students to discuss a range of issues: selection, hiring, managing talent, and appraising individualorganization fit.

Flying J

Cases, articles, chapters, exercises, notes, and Teaching Notes: $6.95 Executive Education ($3.95 for degree-granting academic programs)

Supplements: $3.75 Executive Education ($2.30 for degree-granting academic programs)

Rohit Deshpande Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #508074 (25 pages)

Radiohead: Music at Your Own Price (A)

The largest retailer of diesel fuel in the United States, Flying J is rethinking its growth strategy as the economy goes into a recession. Its major customer base, owner-operated truck drivers, is facing increasing costs of doing business. Yet Flying J is considering whether to increase its price of diesel fuel.

Anita Elberse

Kenny Kahn at Muzak (A) Linda A. Hill Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #408057 (23 pages) Supplement #408069

Founded in 1934, Muzak pioneered the industry of background music. Equipped with proprietary technology and a vast music library, over the ensuing decades the Muzak franchise organization expanded geographically. Despite a history of innovation, by the late 1990s Muzak had anemic financials and low employee morale. When Bill Boyd took the helm as CEO in 1997, he assembled a new management team. The new VP of marketing, Kenny Kahn, worked with design firm Pentagram to rebrand the company, not just for customers but to spark organizational change. But because Muzak was a franchise organization, Kahn had to convince independent affiliates to pay for what turned out to be an extensive rebranding. This case can be used to show how branding can be used as a tool for spearheading culture change, how not to exercise influence without authority, and how businesspeople can effectively work with a design firm.

Learning Objective: This case can be used in OB classes in organizational change or in marketing classes focused on branding or how businesspeople can work with design firms. The case could also be used in design schools.

(PRODUCT) RED (A) Youngme Moon, Michael Norton Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #509013 (17 pages) Supplement #509014

Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #508110 (7 pages) Supplement #508111

In October 2007, the British band Radiohead caused a stir when it announced it would allow customers to decide how much to pay for its new album, released exclusively as a digital download and available only from the band’s own web site. The pricing plan represented a significant break from the industry standard of fixed prices for music, typically $0.99 for individual songs and upward of $9.99 for complete albums. How viable is such a “name-your-own-pricing” plan? And what does Radiohead’s move say about the future of the music industry?

Learning Objective: To examine how digital distribution is changing revenue and power structures, and how companies and individuals can best respond to such changes, in the context of the music industry. To assess whether flexible pricing plans are an adequate response to the significant strategic challenges in the music industry and other creative industries.

This case describes the launch and initial results of the (PRODUCT) RED campaign, a social marketing initiative conceived by U2’s Bono and Bobby Shriver to combat AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. The company licensed the (RED) brand to partner companies, which initially included Gap, Apple, Motorola, Armani, and American Express. The business model was structured to benefit partner companies by increasing consumer purchases— of (RED)-branded products such as red iPods and phones—while also resulting in increased donations to the Global Fund.

Learning Objective: First, the case focuses on how to create, promote, and manage a brand over time. Second, the case focuses on managing a novel social marketing campaign, in which consumer purchases benefit not just recipients of donations, but also (RED)’s partner companies. Finally, the case integrates these two topics, exploring brand management when sustainability is crucial not just for the success of the company but for saving lives.

marketing

Spanning Silos The New CMO Imperative David A. Aaker Individual chapters available on our web site

“David Aaker has brilliantly dissected the CMO role within complex global organizations and laid out a compelling ‘how-to’ manual for success. Aaker offers up pragmatic solutions that will enhance the collaboration and connective tissue between siloed business units. This book will unquestionably turbocharge the impact of the CMO and central marketing organizations worldwide.” —Joseph V. Tripodi, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, The Coca-Cola Company Product #2876 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-2876-3 • Hardcover • 240 pages • 2008 • $29.95

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 17

ma rket i n g | NEGOTIATIONS | OP ERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Repositioning CARE USA

NEGOTIATIONS

V. Kasturi Rangan Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #509005 (27 pages)

CARE USA, a large ($600 million) international nonprofit/NGO, had recently revamped its external branding and positioning in support of its international development work. This case lays out the challenges facing its new CEO, Helene Gayle, as she managed throughout the organization’s transition period.

Learning Objective: To explore the avenues available to an organization that wants to adapt itself to changes in its external environment and assess how it may change to be aligned with its new positioning and strategy.

The American Express Card John A. Quelch Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #509027 (23 pages)

Senior executives at American Express are reviewing the company’s marketing strategy for charge and credit cards in the United States. A variety of growth options exist for students to consider, including the further penetration of existing markets and the opening of new markets. Historical background information in the case enables instructors to analyze the phases of American Express’ card strategy over the past 50 years.

Ti-Tech (A) Benson P. Shapiro, John T. Gourville Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #508095 (16 pages) Supplement #508096

This case concerns the selection and scheduling of orders by a small industrial titanium fabricator that recently has been plagued by poor deliveries and a lack of capacity. In the case, Ti-Tech must decide which of four orders to accept, with capacity making it impossible to accept all four. Each order represents a different mix of labor, revenues, and potential future work. In this case, students choose among the four orders, given limited capacity, other business likely to come along, and the requirements of each order. The case is an updated version of Fabtek (A).

18 |

Name Your Price: Compensation Negotiation at Whole Health Management (A) Brian J. Hall, Deepak Malhotra Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #908064 (10 pages) Supplement #908065 Supplement #908066

MBA student Monroe Davies is asked by a potential employer to determine his own compensation package. This case follows Davies and Jim Hummer, president and CEO of Whole Health Management, through a unique recruitment process that raises questions of compensation and employee incentives, negotiation strategy, and human resources management.

Learning Objective: To help MBAs manage the recruitment and compensation negotiation process in a way that considers the value proposition to both the employee and the employer.

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AMD Dresden: Copy Inexactly! Willy Shih Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #609004 (16 pages)

The establishment and growth of AMD’s manufacturing site in Dresden, Germany, illustrates how processes develop in an organization and how those processes get institutionalized into a unique culture. AMD has made an investment in the region—the Free State of Saxony in the eastern part of Germany (the former GDR) that leverages a historic and rather unique skill base in engineering and the sciences and catalyzes the rebirth and growth of one of the largest semiconductor clusters in Europe. Contrary to conventional wisdom in the semiconductor industry, the Dresden team copied from its home corporate locations in the United States only those processes and practices that it felt would work in Germany, rather than follow a copyexactly strategy. Dresden becomes AMD’s sole worldwide manufacturing location for

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

microprocessors, but now the company is faced with the question of whether it can successfully transplant the highly successful culture to other global locations because of favorable investment incentives.

Learning Objective: To look at how processes and values/culture become established in an organization, and the capabilities and disabilities that brings.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Shapiro Cardiovascular Center Michael E. Porter, Robert S. Huckman Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608175 (28 pages)

This case considers the situation facing Gary Gottlieb, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), prior to the opening of BWH’s integrated cardiovascular center. The case allows students to develop an appreciation of the strategic, financial, organizational, clinical, and physical aspects of integrating health care delivery around specific categories of disease. It provides an opportunity to evaluate BWH’s approach to integration along all these dimensions and to identify the nature of the trade-offs that hospitals—specifically, academic medical centers—face as they attempt to create disease-specific models of integrated care. Finally, students have the opportunity to evaluate the degree to which integrated models of care can be developed within academic medical centers.

Learning Objective: To examine the strategic, financial, organizational, clinical, and physical aspects of integrating health care delivery around specific categories of disease.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics Willy Shih, Chintay Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608123 (25 pages) Teaching Note #609040

Chi Mei is a Taiwanese industrial group that makes a major diversification into the technology-intensive TFT-LCD flat-panel display industry. Because the diversification strays quite a bit from the group’s core competence in petrochemicals, it is an opportunity to examine how the firm was able to become a global leader in the relatively short span of 10 years. Such organic diversifications are relatively unusual by Western standards,

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

especially forays into technologies and markets that have relatively high entry barriers and no deep-rooted national technological or scientific foundation. As such, Chi Mei is an interesting vehicle to examine the rise of a major Asian industrial cluster with global scope, one that has no participants or competitors in the West. The case can also be used to expose students to the global supply chain for key information technology components. Taiwan and Korea are today the major world centers for the manufacture of semiconductors (in particular, DRAM and flash memory) and flat-panel displays. Taiwan is also the center for notebook computer manufacturing, and Taiwanese companies, through their China-based manufacturing and assembly operations, drive 60% of the IT exports from China. Yet few students even know the identity of these major global players. Taiwan and Korea-based TFT-LCD flat-panels are the critical components in notebook computers, computer monitors, and flat panel televisions from essentially all well-known global brands.

Learning Objective: To examine diversification in high-tech industries and how it can lead companies away from their core competence.

Gazprom (A): Energy and Strategy in Russian History Rawi Abdelal Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709008 (18 pages) Supplement #709009 Supplement #709010

Critics have accused Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer, of eschewing market principles in favor of the foreign policy priorities of the Russian government, ever since the energy giant cut off its supply to Ukraine in January 2006. The purported motive for the decision, however, seems to indicate the opposite: The company claimed that it had no other choice, because the sides failed to conclude a contract on the terms of future trade. The case takes a look back in history for clues that may resolve this paradox. It highlights how politics shaped the economics of the natural gas trade in the former Soviet Union and Europe from the late 1960s until the end of the 1990s; sketches the story of the creation of Gazprom by the first post-Soviet government of Russia; and describes how the erection of new sovereign borders in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union,

coupled with overall political and economic transition, created major problems in the gas trade between the former Soviet republics— problems that emerged with the greatest intensity in Russian-Ukrainian relations.

Learning Objective: To provide the relevant background essential for the understanding of current dynamics of the natural gas trade in Europe and Eurasia, and to illustrate the effect of political changes over time on the development of an industry.

role plays and Introducing RolePlanner Role plays enable students to “learn by doing,” experimenting with negotiation and decision-

Patient Flow at Meldon Hospital (A) Anita Tucker Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #608171 (19 pages) Supplement #608172

making skills under the guidance of an instructor. But many role plays require multiple steps and roles, and administering them

Meldon Hospital challenged a team of physicians to improve patient flow from the Emergency Department to intensive care units (ICUs). One team member, Thornton Burgess, director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), encountered workarounds by two physicians attempting to transfer their patients to the SICU because the other ICUs were full. Reflecting on the wasted effort and confusion caused by the workarounds, Burgess sent an email outlining the situation to the team. His email generated a negative backlash and a chain of defensive emails from involved staff who felt criticized.

can be challenging. Now the

Pfizer Inc.: Building an Innovation Center

progress and assess survey results.

Stefan Thomke

Currently, 24 role plays are

Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #609037 (17 pages)

available on the RolePlanner

The case describes Pfizer’s efforts to build and run an innovation center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As the center goes through different periods of leadership and strategic models, its relationship with the corporation and other research sites is explored. The case study describes in detail the challenges of building an innovation center within a large corporation, including organization, incentives, and scientific issues.

RolePlanner online platform provides a seamless mechanism for distributing role-specific information and timing its delivery. Once an instructor uploads the student role assignment list and sets the timing of the various steps, the platform “runs itself” and provides students with a single home page throughout the activity. Instructors are able to monitor

platform. See a sample role play online (Hamilton Real Estate, #2210)

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators

Learning Objective: To explore how to build an innovative organization within a large corporation (for students in the MBA and Executive Education programs).

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 19

O PERATIONS MANAGEMENT | ORGANIZ ATIONAL BEHAVIOR & LEADERSHIP

The Flaxil Label (A) Gregory Barron Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #909001 (10 pages) Teaching Note #909004 Supplement #909002 Supplement #909003

This case focuses on the 2001 negotiation between Mytex Pharmaceuticals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The outcome of the negotiation would determine the new label for Mytex’s blockbuster drug for arthritis, Flaxil. The negotiation is rather qualitative and differs from the typical price negotiation with which students are familiar. However, at stake was $500 million in Flaxil sales as well as the safety of millions of patients. The (A) case presents the perspective of Mytex and the FDA on new data suggesting that Flaxil may have a side effect.

Learning Objective: This case facilitates a discussion of the psychology of rare events and explores positions versus interests, qualitative negotiations, and value creation and agency.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR & LEADERSHIP Adobe Systems: Working Towards a “Suite” Release (A) David A. Thomas Harvard Business School Case (Field)

Product #409014 (23 pages) Supplement #409015

The case examines the tools a manager can use to keep her project on track and to manage conflict and tension as Adobe prepares to launch Creative Suite 3, the biggest software release in the company’s 25-year history. The protagonist, Yvonne Murray, is a group program manager at Adobe who is responsible for coordinating the integration of her business unit’s product—Device Central—in Creative Suite 3. Murray is copied on an email warning the Device Central product team that Device Central could be pulled from the Creative Suite 3 marketing materials and even from the launch entirely because it was in danger of missing a deadline. Murray wonders if and how to respond to the email that was addressed to her Device Central colleague, group product manager Carol Linburn.

Learning Objective: To understand the tools a manager can use to implement a project or spearhead change within an organization, without relying solely on direct authority or title.

Israeli Special Forces: Selection Strategy Boris Groysberg Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #409041 (19 pages)

Ron Guntz, commander of recruiting for Israel’s Special Forces, had been instructed by his superiors to evaluate the process by which he selected solders for the 20-month-long training program. Was the army conducting

Organizational Behavior & Leadership

Ethics for the Real World Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life Ronald A. Howard and Clinton D. Korver

this process in an ideal manner? This case examines the Special Forces training in light of the types of missions soldiers are expected to execute and asks students to consider whether the Special Forces recruitment and training process identifies the best possible candidates for future Special Forces service.

Learning Objective: To allow students to discuss a range of issues: selection, hiring, managing talent, and appraising individualorganization fit.

Leading Citigroup (A) Lynn Sharp Paine Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #308001 (26 pages) Supplement #308002

The (A) case describes a series of controversial events and alleged misdeeds that placed Citigroup in the public spotlight in the fall of 2004 and launched investigations by regulators in Japan and Europe into the company’s business practices. CEO Chuck Prince must decide what to do to right the company and restore its reputation.

Learning Objective: To illustrate the importance of sound business practices, and to develop students’ understanding of the leaders’ roles in shaping corporate behavior.

Leading from the Side Thomas J. Delong Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #409023 (3 pages)

Harriet Cornwall, a partner at the law firm of Kensington Palmer, LLP, is made lead over a fellow group of attorneys. Put in charge of guiding her colleagues in their annual goalsetting initiative, she notices four attorneys who need special attention. Cornwall must address their poor performance and goals as a colleague rather than as a manager.

Learning Objective: To discuss methods for constructive lateral management.

Individual chapters available on our web site

“This wise book offers wonderful and important guidance. Ethics often seem obvious in the abstract and in hindsight. But life is not lived that way, and acting ethically is very hard in the day-to-day moments where choices are actually made. Howard and Korver show all of us how to do, and be, better.”

—Larry D. Kramer, Stanford Law School Product #2106 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-2106-1 • Hardcover • 224 pages • 2008 • $24.95

20 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent Boris Groysberg Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #409033 (11 pages)

The law firm, Sloan & Harrison, was dealing with some discontent among its junior nonequity partners. These partners were concerned

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR & LEADERSHI P

with the transparency of the advancement process, their ability to position themselves as both leaders within the firm and rainmakers, and the politics of promotion within the firm. The firm must find solutions to these challenges. Senior partners wondered: Was the path to partnership structured in the best interests of the firm? What could and should be done to address the non-equity partners’ concerns? What were the ultimate effects of discontent within the NEP ranks upon the firm’s functioning overall?

Learning Objective: To explore several issues: managing professional service firms; employee development; mentorship; setting expectations; managing performance; feedback; employee promotion; up-or-out promotion systems; employee retention and turnover; employee motivation; employee morale; employee job satisfaction; employee commitment; and work/life balance decisions.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (A) Jay W. Lorsch Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #409018 (11 pages) Supplement #409019 Supplement #409020

Larry Scott, the new CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association, arrives amid turmoil. Players and tournaments clash over opposing interests. As a result, the board members who represent them are equally divided and feel conflicted about their roles. They aren’t sure how to help their constituents while also fulfilling their duty of oversight of the WTA as a whole. In order to make women’s tennis more popular and profitable, Scott must find a way to get the board of directors to resolve their differences and work together for the greater good of the organization.

Learning Objective: To learn how to resolve conflicts among board members, and to understand the governance challenges unique to a stakeholder organization.

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis Robert Steven Kaplan, Chris Marquis Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #408003 (22 pages)

Marc Buoniconti is the co-founder of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a nonprofit medical research organization. The project was founded in 1985 by Marc and his father,

Nick, a former Hall of Fame football player, when Marc suffered a spinal cord injury. In 2007, with Marc still confined to a wheelchair, the Miami Project had developed into the world’s largest spinal cord injury research and treatment center. It had 250 employees, operated from a $37 million state-of-the-art facility located on the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine campus, and had raised in excess of $275 million since its inception. However, there was still no cure for spinal cord injury, and many of the project’s supporters were becoming anxious for a substantial clinical breakthrough. Fundraising was always a concern, particularly as government spending on research was declining. Marc and his father were keenly aware of the challenge of maintaining the enthusiasm and financial backing of the Miami Project’s supporters. Yet they needed to avoid overpromising the likelihood of potential breakthroughs, which required painstaking research and stringent clinical trials. The leadership also questioned whether the mission should remain focused on spinal cord injury or whether it should be broadened to include brain trauma and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The case provides an opportunity to discuss the challenges of nonprofit management and medical research and to debate appropriate strategy for the Miami Project in 2007.

Learning Objective: To analyze medical research and organizational issues, to understand the particular demands of nonprofit development, to evaluate the protagonist’s leadership, and to debate appropriate focus and strategy for 2007 and beyond.

The Redgrove Axial Workshop Michel Anteby Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #409034 (13 pages)

Marc Fontaine, a new manager at a global manufacturing concern, is on a fast track to a senior managerial position. One morning, in a storage room, he discovers some ornamental artifacts made with the same materials used for official production. He suspects workers have been making these items with company materials. At that moment, a worker enters the room to fetch a tool. Fontaine asks him what is going on with these items, but the worker claims ignorance and quickly leaves. Fontaine is meeting his boss and the plant director that afternoon. What should he do? Say something? Pretend nothing happened? This case deals with group dynamics, informal behaviors, and ethics at work.

Service Management

Ownership Quotient Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr., and Joe Wheeler Hundreds of large organizations worldwide have used the groundbreaking Service Profit Chain to improve business performance. Now The Ownership Quotient reveals the next generation of the chain: customer and employee “owners” of a business. The lifetime value of a customer-owner can be equivalent to that of more than a hundred typical customers. And that makes the lifetime value of an employee who can promote customer ownership priceless. This powerful and practical book reveals how to add that value to a company and delight employees, customers, and investors. Product #1023 • ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-1023-2 • Hardcover • 240 pages • 2008 $35.00

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 21

SERVICE MANAGEMENT | SOCIAL ENTER P RISE & ETHICS

SERVICE MANAGEMENT Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for Service Innovation Mary Jo Bitner, Amy L. Ostrom, Felicia N. Morgan California Management Review Case Product #CMR397 (30 pages)

With the global focus on service-led growth has come increased need for practical techniques for service innovation. Services are fluid, dynamic, experiential, and frequently co-produced in real time by customers, employees, and technological entities, often with few static physical properties. However, most product innovation approaches focus on the design of relatively static products with physical properties. Thus, many of the invention and prototype design techniques used for physical goods and technologies do not work well for human and interactive services. This article describes one technique—service blueprinting—that has proven useful for service innovation. Service blueprinting is securely grounded in the customer’s experience, allowing the clear visualization of dynamic service processes. The technique is described in detail including real case examples that illustrate the value and breadth of its applications.

Service-Logic Innovations: How to Innovate Customers, Not Products Stefan Michel, Stephen W. Brown, Andrew S. Gallan California Management Review Case Product #CMR396 (18 pages)

Service innovations reportedly involve innovating intangible products, but this

article argues for a more radical service-logic perspective that challenges the traditional, attribute-based view of innovation. Rather than innovating products and services, the focus here shifts toward innovating customers’ value co-creation roles. This article presents a case-based managerial framework that reveals how service-logic innovations change the customer’s role as a buyer, payer, or user, and shows how firms can innovate through smart offerings, different value integration approaches, and reconfigured value constellations.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE & ETHICS Carrefour China: Building a Greener Store Andreas Schotter, Paul W. Beamish, Robert Klassen Ivey School of Business Case Product #908M48 (19 pages) Teaching Note #808M48

Carrefour, the second-largest retailer in the world, had just announced that it would open its first “green store” in Beijing before the 2008 Olympic Games. David Monaco, Asset and Construction Director of Carrefour China, had little experience with green building and was struggling with how to translate that announcement into specifications for store design and operations. Monaco has to evaluate the situation carefully from both ecological and economic perspectives. In addition, he must take China’s infrastructure and regulatory situation into account—no official green building standard exists, and only a few suppliers of energy-saving equipment operate. He had already collected energy and cost

Free Exam Copies and Teaching Notes

Faculty authorized on our web site receive: Educator copies of cases, articles, and book chapters Preview access to online courses and simulations Teaching Notes Course planning tools—with special pricing for students > Apply Online: facultyaccess.hbsp.harvard.edu

22 |

Teaching Materials Newsletter • Spring 2009

data from several suppliers, and wondered how this could be used to decide among environmental technology options. Given that at least 150 additional company stores were scheduled for opening or renovation during the upcoming three years in China, the project would have long-term implications for Carrefour.

Learning Objective: This case addresses a variety of issues related to corporate environmental sustainability and strategy implementation. Depending on its particular course use, one or more of the following teaching objectives could be emphasized: (1) to examine an organization’s environmental sustainability activities in regard to a specific operating issue as well as its impact on both the environment and the financial bottom line; (2) to evaluate the role of the internal and external environments of a company in regard to environmental sustainability activities; and (3) to examine strategy implementation in an emerging market context. The course can be taught at the undergraduate, graduate, and Executive Education levels.

Corruption in Germany Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #709006 (25 pages)

Why do managers become corrupt? Does corruption ever pay? When do friendly relations cross into bribery? How can CEOs manage and prevent outbreaks of corruption? These and other questions are raised by three short case studies of corruption in Germany: at the global engineering firm Siemens, the automaker VW, and the chemical giant BASF. While German law not only permitted overseas bribery but even made it taxdeductible until 1999, it was not welcomed in some nations where Siemens did business, such as in the United States—or in Germany after 2000. However, the old practices continued. Cooperative management-labor relations, often seen as key to the post-World War II German industrial powerhouse, went sour at VW, as a top manager secured key concessions by paying for union leaders’ lavish foreign travel and visits to prostitutes. After vitamin prices sagged in the late 1980s, BASF and the Swiss chemical firm Hoffmann-La Roche plotted a global cartel that lasted a decade and raised the prices of

SOCIAL ENTER PRISE & ETHICS | TEACHING & THE CASE METHOD

many vitamins by 50% or more. In the end, even after record-setting criminal fines and jail time for some executives, some observers argued that such practices were likely to recur.

Learning Objective: To discuss the causes of and possible solutions to corrupt business practices.

Phil Chan (A) Paul W. Beamish, Jean-Louis Schaan Ivey School of Business Case Product #908M38 (8 pages) Teaching Note #808M38 Supplement #908M39

The case deals with a scam that has been run out of Nigeria since 1990. Foreign companies are approached for their assistance in facilitating an international transfer of funds in order to receive a very large but unearned commission. In this case, a Hong Kong–based manager who is traveling to Nigeria is unaware that he is walking into a situation where his company is about to be cheated. The objective of the case is to raise the issue of ethics in the conduct of international business.

Learning Objective: To raise the issue of ethics in the conduct of international transactions. It is not a case about doing business in Nigeria; rather, it provides an opportunity to alert students and managers to the dangers of indiscriminate greed. The case can be used in courses on strategic management, ethics, and international business. Although to some the case may appear straightforward, its value may come from the following: (1) Not everyone is sensitive to these issues. Millions of dollars have been lost to swindlers! (2) This is not an isolated phenomenon; and (3) Managers may inadvertently find themselves in a more sophisticated and less purely greeddriven scam. The question then becomes, how does one get out of such a situation once in it? and (4) Managers may inadvertently be drawn into the fallout from one of these scams through the actions of suppliers, affiliates, etc.

Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll: The MTV Approach to Tackling HIV/AIDS Tarun Khanna Harvard Business School Case (Field) Product #709429 (28 pages)

This case explores the role that MTV, with its heavy diet of music and general youthoriented media content, plays in spreading public-service messaging to contain the scourge of HIV/AIDS worldwide. There is a focus especially on MTV’s efforts in several emerging markets, particularly the parts of Africa that have a heavy incidence of the disease. MTV has developed a DNA of public service announcements that it claims are of central relevance to its high-risk customer base. How core is this to the strategy of a for-profit firm like MTV? What role can a multinational play in helping develop the health care “soft” infrastructure in such emerging markets?

CONTACT US Customer service is available 8 am to 8 pm, Monday through Friday (Eastern Standard Time) Phone:

1-800-545-7685 Outside the U.S. and Canada, call 1-617-783-7600 Fax:

617-783-7666 Email: [email protected]

Learning Objective: To explore the role of corporate social responsibility in a multinational’s strategy and the role of a multinational in fostering health care infrastructure in emerging markets.

TEACHING & THE CASE METHOD Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) James L. Heskett

Web:

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators

Supplement Supplement Supplement Supplement

#908409 #908410 #908411 #908412

Professor Kenneth Carpenter has received word that he has inadvertently offended one of his students. He is pondering a possible response.

Learning Objective: To illustrate participantcentered learning and teaching methods.

Harvard Business School Case (Secondary Source) Product #908408 (2 pages)

Teaching & the Case Method

The Case Study Handbook New for students By William Ellet, writing consultant, Harvard Business School “By far the best and the most comprehensive case study self-help book I have ever read.” —Rastislav Kulich, graduate, Harvard Business School

Ideal for students new to the case method, The Case Study Handbook covers: How to quickly establish a base of knowledge about a case How to write persuasive case-based essays How to talk about cases effectively in class Faculty authorized on our web site can view a full-length PDF of the book online, and individual chapters are available. Product #1584 • ISBN 978-1-4221-0158-2 • Paperback • 273 pages • 2007 • $24.95

www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators • 1-800-545-7685

| 23

NEW ONLINE COURSE Spreadsheet Modeling This new online course demonstrates how to use Microsoft Excel 2007 to create spreadsheet models to solve business problems. For use in undergraduate, MBA, and Executive Education courses, it is ideal for students with a range of Excel skills from basic to advanced.

Ideal as a supplement to courses in:

Authored by:

o Finance

Wayne Winston, Professor, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Bloomington; author of bestselling book Excel 2007: Data Analysis and Business Modeling

o Accounting o Operations Management o Operations Research o Marketing o Business/Spreadsheet Modeling

Sarah Fairchild Sherry, Senior Lecturer, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Bloomington Product #3252

o Statistics/Quantitative Methods o Economics/Managerial Economics o Excel

60 HARVARD WAY | BOSTON, MA 02163

Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. Product #7298 150980109

© 2009 Harvard Business School Publishing.

Printed on Recycled Paper