...The Harvard WrapItUP case studies presented in this reading including the ShareIt programs were very inviting to read about. The case study basically speaks about the founders of this company taking on an active role in day-to-day business and tightly controlling every aspect of the restaurant operation from hiring store managers to planning the menu. The young college students had to get the understanding of the power and risks of employee enfranchisement. Secondly, understand the importance of coordinating a human resource system within an operating system, and lastly, explore the role of a entrepreneur in an expanding business. This case allowed you to concentrate on multiple subjects covered in the class, such as Compensation, Incentives, Middle management, and Motivation. Please answer the following questions in the case study analysis within three pages. 1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the ShareIt Program? a. Did it address the issues WrapItUp was experiencing? b. Was compensation really the root cause, or was the HR executive myopic in her focus? c. Was the plan itself structured correctly? 2. Why do you think Reyes made a personal visit to the store managers to discuss the program? 3. Consider the financial results achieved by the two pilot stores. Based on that alone, would you say that the plan succeeded in both pilots? Why or why not? Does your opinion change if you incorporate the customer service scores? ...
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...2003年1月2日，亚历山大和他的一些亲戚、朋友共同创建了化学灯公司。他们总共发 行了500,000股股票，其中亚历山大凭他的专利占有125,000股，剩余的股票以每股1美元的 价格卖给了其他投资者。从2003年1月2日到2003年6月30日，化学灯公司发生了以下开支： 1月15日，支付7,500美元的律师费、注册手续费以及与公司成立相关的印刷费。 6月15日，花费62,500美元购置了一台设备，用来生产第一批化学灯样品。 6月24日，购买了价值75,000美元的塑料和化学原料，用于生产上市销售的化学灯。 6月底， 在化学灯公司主要负责管理的亚历山大和公司其他股东会面， 提交了一份报告， 并讨论了公司今后的营销战略。他希望公司能在8月底开始生产化学灯。亚历山大的一个朋 友苏姗·彼得森（Susan Peterson）在公司投入了可观的资金。她在会上提出，她已经接到 一个汽车配件分销商的订货要求及其希望得到的价格。那个分销商想购买大量的化学灯， 以配合他高速公路安全的推广活动，而且他有兴趣创建自己的私人品牌。 会议至此，一位几乎没有任何商业经验，甚至也不太懂财务报表的股东——拉森 （Larson）先生插话说：“我们将要讨论的这个议题很好，但是，我所看到的事实是：6个 月以前我们有375,000美元， 而现在只有230,000美元。 据我估算， 6个月来， 我们失去了145,000 本案例由访问教授 David A. Wilson 完成，并经 Charles Christensen 教授修订。 本案例仅用于课堂讨论， 而不作为正式文件、基本数据来源以及管理活动是否有效的证明。 本案例中文翻译经哈佛商学院授权，由清华大学经济管理学院组织完成。 1976 年哈佛大学版权所有。如需订购或请求复制许可，请致电话 1-800-545-7685，或致信 Harvard Business School Publishing，Boston，MA02163，或访问网址 http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu。未经哈佛商学院 的许可，禁止将本案例复制，在检索系统中储存，在表格中引用，或以任何形式或方法传播——包括电子 版，印刷，复印，录音等等。 177-078 化学灯公司 美元，却没有取得显著的成效。” 一些股东表示同意拉森的观点。事实上，从1月2日到6月30日，公司的银行存款余额从 375,000美元下降到了230,000美元。另一名股东得克鲁斯（D’Cruz）女士指出，因为公司的 经营尚未进入成熟阶段，所以这些前期开支可能更应该被视作是对公司的投资，而不是亏 损。 经过大量深入讨论， 股东们决定于2004年1月初再召开一次会议， 共同探讨公司的状况。 大家普遍认为，到那时公司的运营应该已经全面展开，现在所讨论的试运营阶段所出现的 问题在年底将会得到解决。 2003年下半年，化学灯公司确实进入了达产阶段。为了准备2004年1月初的股东大会， 公司新雇用的会计比尔·默雷（Bill Murray）列出了下列资料： 1、 2003年7月初， 一名顾问工程师交来了改进型化学灯原型， 公司共付给他23,750美元。 2、 从2003年7月到12月的6个月中，公司化学灯的销售额为754,500美元。最大的客户， 也就是那个与彼得森谈判的汽车配件经销商还欠公司69,500美元。其他客户的账款 在年底均已付清。 3、 购买了价值175,000美元的化学原料和塑料，进货均以现金付款。 4、 化学灯公司花费22,500美元在电视和行业杂志上刊登广告，介绍自己的产品。 公司在人工生产成本及生产相关费用 （租金、 水电费和监工）...
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...Situation: Harvard University owns a huge property which is not developed in Allston, across the Charles River and most of it in the University campus. The main motto of the Allston initiative is to focus on the growth of number of students who can rent these undeveloped properties from Harvard. The mission of HRES now is to create and design a survey by drawing lessons from a 2001 survey. These lessons will deliver information which helps in deciding on how well these undeveloped properties can attract Harvard students and how well they will be able to compete with the private homes. Problem: The challenge for HRES is on how to create and design a campus housing survey for graduate students that optimizes an equilibrium of price, locality and community space. It is also very difficult to foresee and predict future desirable homes by using a current student survey. Analysis: The capability of getting a high response rate is the key challenge for HRES survey. However the 2001 survey has a few pros and cons which are as follows: The survey leaves a first impression that it is too long, though it is rationally perfect. The aim of the survey was to include each and every situation, but it becomes very specific and comparatively takes more time than “20 minutes” as mentioned in the survey instrument. For questions which are too specific and particular to answer, students should concentrate more, read those options carefully and check the difference. For instance the question which...
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...PIAGGIO (A) By: Elena Bueso #10297661 This case study case will be addressing three main topics of discussion regarding Giovanni Agnelli’s strategy for growth as Piaggio’s CEO. The topics are the following: 1. Is Piaggio’s decision about building a new “green” engine manufacturing facility to be a strategic one? Why or why not? 2. The comparison and contrast of the strategies chosen by Piaggio, Yamaha, and Aprilia for competing in the PTW market. What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each? 3. State whether or not Giovanni Agnelli should build the new engine facility First, I do not think that manufacturing a "green" engine is a good strategy. It is a good initiative but we cannot disregard that fact that ultimately, generating profits are the main goal of any company. Yes, they are looking into the future and planning ahead how to adapt to upcoming regulations on new environmental standards, but instead they should think outside the box, and come up with different possible solutions to ensure and to make this market breakthrough a success. I think they are under looking the possibility of having "green" engine external suppliers. Even though this may contradict their manufacturing standards, there are many hidden benefits. They could do a pilot of this genius idea without putting at stake the company's well being and further more take as an example Aprilia's recipe for success. This should give them a more broad range of possibilities and help them focus...
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...ankaj Ghemawat, Raymond Hill, L.G. Thomas "Southern Co. Investment in CEMIG" Harvard Business School Case 707-512 In the spring of 1997, Southern Company had the opportunity to acquire a significant portion of the electric utility in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The shares in the utility, CEMIG, were being sold by the state government as part of a comprehensive privatization of Brazil's electric sector. Brazil's privatization was, in turn, part of a world wide movement toward deregulation and privatization of the electric sector. Like many of its rivals in the utility sector, Southern had committed itself to a strategy of growth by taking advantage of the significant opportunities for cross-border investment that were being created by this trend. The privatization of CEMIG was a particularly appealing opportunity for Southern. Not only was CEMIG one of the largest utilities in Latin America, but this investment would provide a base in the Brazilian market, which was expected to have the largest potential for further growth on the continent. Brazil was in the process of reforming its system of regulating electric utilities and of introducing competition into Brazil's wholesale generating market. These changes would further enhance the potential profitability of investing in CEMIG. In addition to the attractiveness of the investment, Southern had been able to secure non-recourse financing for half of the required amount. Keeping in mind Brazil's volatile economic history...
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...return customers if you have to sustain the great service expected from the customers. China’s consumers are not to kind on change, but as long as you provide the best service possible over and over they will continue to comeback. 2. Wal-Mart also has to consider sustainability when deciding their vendors. In order for Wal-Mart to be as successful as they are, they have to have top of the line products from top of the line vendors. Therefore, reliability is a must. As mentioned in the case, there were complications between Wal-Mart and the vendors specifically when it came to the Return to Vendors Programs. There was no control over the time the vendors had to collect the products that were unusable or destroyed which was supposed to be no longer than 14-days, but was rarely followed. 3. The distribution system for the United States and China are very different. Almost all of the sales that Wal-Mart had for its stores in the US passed through distribution centers, but less than half was the case for its stores in China. This was happening in China because the fresh foods such as: Fish, vegetables, bread, and...
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...4011 APRIL 7, 2009 CRAIG CHAPMAN Biovail Corporation: Revenue Recognition and FOB Sales Accounting Background Late on October 9, 2003, David Maris, an analyst at Banc of America Securities (BAS), was trying to interpret the shocking events of the previous few days and finish the write-up of his first report on the Canadian pharmaceutical firm, Biovail Corporation. Maris didn’t like what he saw at the company, but he never liked writing “Sell” recommendations. In any event, he wanted to make sure he was giving the best advice to his investment clients. Biovail Corporation was one of Canada's largest publicly traded pharmaceutical companies.1 For many years, Biovail had applied advanced drug-delivery technologies to improve the clinical effectiveness of medicines. The company commercialized its products, both directly (in Canada) and through strategic partners (internationally). Historically, its main therapeutic areas of focus had been central nervous system disorders, pain management, and cardiovascular disease. Biovail's core competency was its expertise in the development and large-scale manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. It leveraged this expertise by focusing on (1) enhanced formulations of existing drugs, (2) combination products that incorporated two or more different therapeutic classes of drugs, and (3) difficult-to-manufacture generic pharmaceuticals. In the United States, Biovail distributed a number of pharmaceutical products. These included ...
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...Drivers of Industry Financial Structure The process of identification begins by considering the obvious characteristics. For example, you know that a hotel would not have any significant inventory since it is a service activity. Service Industries: Temporary staffing agency, hotel and airline; balance sheets are C, D, I & J. Eliminate J since it has a high R&D component which is unlike any of the indicated service industries. I is the temporary staffing agency since it has a relatively low % of net plant relative to assets. The primary resource of a staffing agency are the temporary workers who cannot be carried as either inventory or net plant since they are human! D is likely to be the airline since it has high unearned revenue which reflects the prepaid tickets purchased for future air travel. It also has some Accounts Payable which partially reflects those frequent flier miles we all accumulate. C remains as the hotel which has high goodwill due to industry consolidation activities wherein other hotel firms are acquired at a premium relative to book value. R&D Based Firms: Software, On-Line Retailing, Pharmaceutical and Communication Equipment. Financial statement candidates would be A, F, G & J. J is the software firm since it has substantial R&D investment relative to sales with a high gross margin since software is cheap to duplicate. Very low inventory since there is relatively little cash investment. A is clearly the on-line retailer since...
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...For exclusive use at ESADE, 2015 W14540 DISRUPTING WALL STREET: HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING 1 Brad Evans wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Derrick Neufeld solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveycases.com. Copyright © 2014, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2014-10-29 The day after the public release of the book Flash Boys, on April 1, 2014 CNBC invited Michael Lewis (New York Times best-selling author of Moneyball and The Blind Side), 2 along with Brad Katsuyama (chief executive officer [CEO] and co-founder of the new Investors Exchange or IEX) and Bill O’Brien (president of BATS Global Markets, Inc.), to talk about high frequency trading (HFT). The ensuing debate was explosive. O’Brien opened the interview with the following charge,...
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...“THE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT CUSTOMERS DIDN’T WANT” Situation Analysis The case is about a health maintenance organization named ‘Quality care’ and the dilemma that it is facing whether to consider technology over human touch or not ? Allan moulter, the CEO of quality care, isn’t sure if he wants to invest in the computerized reception system that the consultant Jack Zadow has presented to him. The thing which was impossible to ignore is that Quality care’s rivals ‘Health care one’ and ‘Medicenters’ have already invested in similar systems or are planning to do so. The new system provides a self service option to the customers which collects and records the data electronically making it sharply accurate and saving time. The staff will be able to devote more energy to make sure that each customer receives personal attention. So, it promises to be a very beneficial move but Allan is quite confused about this transition. On the other hand, the CIO of the company, Pat penstone is clearly in favour of this idea as she thinks that by not adopting this new technique their customers would think that they are not high tech. Also, she is of the idea that sooner or later, they would have to install a system like this, so why not now. Allan now moves on to Ginger rooney, the VP(marketing) and turns out that she is completely against it as she didn’t like the idea of having the first person the customers meet when they come in the door...
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...For the exclusive use of Z. YUAN Harvard Business School 9-191-002 Rev. October 15, 1999 Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A) The first time Nordstrom sales clerk Lori Lucas came to one of the many “mandatory” Saturday morning department meetings and saw the sign—”Do Not Punch the Clock”—she assumed the managers were telling the truth when they said the clock was temporarily out of order. But as weeks went by, she discovered that on subsequent Saturdays the clock was always “broken” or the time cards were not accessible. When she and several colleagues hand-wrote the hours on their time cards, they discovered that their manager whited-out the hours and accused them of not being “team players.” Commenting on the variety of tasks that implicitly had to be performed after hours, Ms. Lucas said, “You couldn’t complain, because then your manager would schedule you for the bad hours, your sales per hour would fall, and next thing you know, you’re out the door.”1 Patty Bemis, who joined Nordstrom as a sales clerk in 1981 and quit eight years later, told a similar story: Nordstrom recruiters came to me. I was working at The Broadway as Estee Lauder’s counter manager and they said they had heard I had wonderful sales figures. We’d all heard Nordstrom was the place to work. They told me how I would double my wages. They painted a great picture and I fell right into it. . . The managers were these little tin gods, always grilling you about your sales. . . . You felt like your job...
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...Harvard Business Case 10-16-07 The Overhead Reduction Task Force: A Case Analysis The Facts Central Foods Corporation just hired a new General Manager, Georgia Dixon, to run the deteriorating Countertop Appliances Division. This new division was formed after Central Foods acquired Kitchen Help, Inc. six years ago. With sales decreasing quite dramatically over the past three years and overhead costs at their peak, Dixon is in charge of implementing positive changes in her department. For one of her first moves she appointed Larry Williams as head of the new Overhead Reduction Task Force. This task force is being formed to decrease overhead costs by 20% in the next four months while also increasing sales. External Factors Affecting CFC There are three main external factors that are influencing the overall sales production in this case. First off, one of CFC’s major competitors introduced a new household coffee maker that sold at the same retail price as CFC’s coffee maker, but CFC did not have the same innovation incorporated into their product. Secondly, another main competitor of CFC launched a new and improved microwave oven, which severely hurt Countertop’s sales of the same product. CFC’s product line still has not made a comparable substitute for this newly designed microwave oven. Finally, competitors’ pricing of the kitchen products was 10% lower than CFC’s pricing for the same products. CFC believed that these competitors would eventually have to increase...
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...MKTG 489 Harvard Case Study Classic Knitwear, Inc. Gross margin is defined by dictionary.com as “margin of profit: the ratio gross profits divided by net sales.” In order for a company to increase marginal profit, more units need to be sold. Situation Analysis Classic Knitwear, Inc. (Classic) is a publicly traded company that was established in 1995 as a manufacturer/distributor of unbranded casual knit apparel. In 2005 Classic reported revenues of $550 million in it’s U.S. domestic sales, however in September 2006 Chief Marketing Officer Brandon Miller released Classic’s plan to introduce a new line of insect repellent clothing in order to increase gross margins. After conducting a SWOT analysis with the information provided, some of the following strengths of Classic’s were identified; - Classic is identified as the #2 player in casual knitwear sector w/ 16.5% market share. - Low production cost w/ offshore production - Moderate cost advantage over U.S. w/ high volume low-SKU production *more strengths listed in the appendix. Having such a strong and stable stance in the knitwear market is a huge benefit for Classic, and will only increase the chances for success when introducing their new line of insect repellant clothing. Although Classic has many strengths, one of the companies weaknesses is that CEO Robert Ortiz “perceived too much risk in foreign markets. “ pg 1. This fear of expanding the company may prove detrimental to the launch and success of...
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...1. Identificación de Competidores por medio de la Cruz de Porter Hemos decidido para hacer un examen más exhaustivo del caso realizar el análisis de la Cruz de Porter por completo. No sólo enfocándonos en los competidores (Aer Lingus, British Airways) sino también ver las otras variables para poder comprender mejor el escenario en el que se desarrolló la nueva compañía. RYANAIR Clientes Proveedores Sustitutos Competidores ENTORNO COMPETITIVO ESCENARIO Poder de negociación de los Clientes: Ryanair ha decidido finalmente ingresar al mercado interno que ofrece la ruta Dublin-Londres. Como consecuencia de la inclusión de una aerolínea adicional a este mercado, resultará inevitable un aumento en la competencia, que se traducirá en bajas de precio a favor del consumidor (Ryanair oferta sus vuelos sin restricciones a un precio de penetración un 52% menor que los que proporcionan AerLingus y British Airways) pero a su vez en altas en los costos para mantener las ventajas competitivas que los hermanos Ryan pretenden resaltar. Si éste precio de penetración (98 libras irlandesas) no resulta lo suficientemente llamativo como para que el consumidor elija Ryanair como su principal aerolínea para cruzar de Dublin a Londres en lugar de optar por las 2 compañías más tradicionales de la zona, la empresa se encontrará ante una fuerte presión por parte del consumidor, que podría llegar a desestabilizar su estrategia. La fuerza negociadora del cliente, podría obligarlos a replantear...
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...Fundada en 1943, IKEA es una corporación multinacional de origen sueco, dedicada a la venta minorista especializada en muebles y objetos para el hogar más grande del mundo con presencia en más de 17 países . La visión de esta empresa se enfoca en “crear una mejor vida diaria para la mayoría de gente”, ofreciendo muebles y accesorios para el hogar de buena calidad y diseño, a un costo que mucha gente los puede comprar. Uno de los principios más arraigados en la compañía es el desarrollo de relaciones fuertes, de soporte mutuo y de larga duración entre IKEA y sus proveedores. Durante los años 80´s las autoridades Danesas establecieron limites máximos de emisión de Formaldehido, un gas producto de los pegamentos utilizados en la fabricación de muebles, encontrando que IKEA excedía estos limites por lo cual fue multada y la empresa se enfrentó a una disminución del 20% de sus ventas debido a la mala publicidad. Este hecho llamó la atención de la compañía acerca de los asuntos ambientales por lo cual IKEA comenzó a desarrollar planes de conservación ambiental de la mano de instituciones como Greenpace y World Wide Fund for Nature. En Mayo de 1995 cuando la compañía aún continuaba fortaleciendo sus planes de responsabilidad ambiental se encontraba frente a un nuevo reto: La demostración del uso de mano de obra infantil por parte de algunos de sus proveedores de tapetes en la India. Esta situación enfrentaba a Marianne Barner, gerente del área de negocios de tapetes de IKEA...
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