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Sony AIBO: The World's First Entertainment Robot
By Youngme Moon. 2001
The Sony AIBO is the world's first "entertainment" robot. Positioned as a household "companion," the $1,500 AIBO has become a…
smash hit in Japan, appealing to both the young and the old, including those with little technical expertise. In the United States, the AIBO is in hot demand among "techies" infatuated with high-tech gadgets; however, it has yet to catch on with the mainstream. The task for Takeshi Yazawa, VP and general manager of Sony Entertainment Robot America, is to figure out how to market the AIBO to the American masses. Includes color exhibits.American Connector Co. (A)
By Gary P. Pisano, Sharon Rossi. 1992
American Connector Co. is forced to reexamine operations at its Sunnyvale plant when a Japanese competitor announces plans to build…
an "ultimate" plant in the United States. Case examines issues related to benchmarking a competitor's manufacturing capabilities and productivity. Allows students to compare two companies' manufacturing strategies and their implications for productivity and flexibility.Vermeer Technologies (E): New Beginning
By Ashish Nanda, Georgia Levenson. 1997
The Vermeer team is pleasantly surprised by the benefits and hospitality that their new surroundings offer. Their happiness is tempered,…
however, by discomfort with some elements of the "Microsoft Way." As the Vermeer engineers embark on a punishing schedule for the next release of their product, the Microsoft executives wonder whether the Vermeer team will be able to deliver on its promise.Decision-Making Exercise (A)
By David A. Garvin, Michael A. Roberto. 1996
Provides questionnaires so students can compare their experiences with different decison-making processes. Students read "Growing Pains," a Harvard Business Review…
(HBR) case study, and then work in teams to come up with recommendations using a consensus approach to decison making. The next day using Decision-Making Exercise (B) and (C) and "Case of the Unhealthy Hospital," another HBR case study, and working in the same teams, use either a dialectical inquiry or devil's advocacy approach to decision making.Sony EyeToy
By Youngme Moon, Anita Elberse. 2004
In early 2004, less than a year after its launch, Sony's EyeToy, a unique video gaming concept, had become a…
tremendous success across Europe. Developed for use with Sony's PlayStation 2 console, the revolutionary technology allowed users standing in front of a small camera to interact with game objects appearing on a television screen just by moving their bodies. Sales for the first EyeToy product ("Play"), a bundle of the camera and software, exceeded all expectations. However, sales for the second product ("Groove") were disappointing. Was it time for the EyeToy team to rethink its product development and marketing strategy? How could the team sustain EyeToy's initial success and prove that the concept was not a fad?Nigel Andrews and General Electric Plastics (A)
By Todd D. Jick. 1991
Describes some critical challenges involved in creating employee empowerment. In the context of General Electric's efforts to debureaucratise the company,…
employees were encouraged to become more "self-confident". This effort, called "Workout," was introduced all over the company. At one plant site, GE Silicone, an empowered steering committee helped to organize and lead problem-solving teams. However, one team decision was in conflict with a management decision and created a conflict in authority. Can be used to identify some of the natural ambiguities and tensions related to empowerment.Australian Paper Manufacturers (A)
By Joshua D. Margolis, David M. Upton. 1990
Describes a company which has broken an unwritten cordial agreement amongst the three Australian paper manufacturers to split the domestic…
market three ways by market segment. The company invades another's "territory" with advanced technology, quality, and, importantly, by using the other company's poor environmental record to protect itself against retaliation. The defender finds itself unable to respond by adding capacity as public pressure denies it the ability to add capacity and upgrade the technology. Having won a large share of the market, and having successfully introduced a new recycled paper product, the invader is now considering the financial, strategic, and ethical issues of further expansion.Intelliseek
By Allan Friedman, Luc Wathieu. 2005
Intelliseek harvests, filters, and mines the content of messages posted by consumers online and on discussion boards and blogs. For…
any specified consumer product brand, Intelliseek measures the volume of work-of-mouth and its valence (proportion of positive and negative comments) and produces organized sets of quotes in the manner of a focus group report. This "marketing intelligence" company has been successful selling its reports to the car industry, but finds it difficult to achieve client retention in other areas. New initiatives are suggested: (1) to arrange data in problem-specific templates so that it is more "actionable" and (2) to develop industry benchmark metrics against which the metrics can be compared in a more informative manner. The CEO of the company believes that the key to success is a streamlined, standardized approach to the metrics developed for client brands. The CMO believes that Intelliseek should go much further to capitalize on the opportunity to understand customers emerging from what he calls "consumer-generated media."Pennzoil Co.
By Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg. 1990
Focuses on Pennzoil's motor oil business. Designed to address the business strategy issues of how a firm chooses its scope…
to create competitive advantage in its core business. "Scope" can be broadly defined to include vertical scope (forward and backward integration), horizontal scope (multiple related products), and geographic scope (multiple market locations).Henkel KGaA: Detergents Division
By David J. Arnold. 2001
Henkel has to decide whether to replace its strong local detergent brands in Italy and Spain with its leading international…
brand, Persil. It faces pressure from retailers for international brand standardization. Its competitors, including P&G and Unilever, are consolidating their portfolios around a few global "power brands."Centra Software
By John Deighton, Laetitia Pouliquen. 2001
Centra is a pioneer in software eLearning. It is debating how to modify its go-to-market strategy, adding telesales to improve…
sales force productivity. At the same time, its market is evolving, and management thinks it may be about to "cross the chasm" in Geoffrey Moore's terminology. Should it "fish where the fish are biting" or should it concentrate on the enterprise customer and exclude small and mid-size corporations? If a shakeout is coming, how can Centra ensure that it either survives or is acquired by one of the survivors?Implementing Change: Note
By Todd D. Jick. 1991
Highlights the challenges of implementing major change in an organization. It first describes the common pitfalls so that implementors will…
be "forewarned." Next, it characterizes the guidelines for successful implementation as the "ten commandments", while offering a step-by-step approach for managers. Also concludes that implementation is a combination of science and art, of planning and flexibility. The role of the middle manager as implementor is stressed throughout.Nike (B)
By David C. Rikert, C. Roland Christensen. 1984
Describes Nike's corporate culture and looks closely at individual key senior and middle managers, outlining the processes by which the…
management group conducts its business and noting the values which bind the management group together. The teaching objective is to help the student understand how Nike "works" given current circumstances and to predict what problems and opportunities may develop as Nike grows.Harvey Golub: Recharging American Express
By David A. Garvin, Artemis March. 1996
Harvey Golub, CEO American Express, initiated and led a large-scale change process. The case describes the organization he inherited, two…
successive waves of reengineering, his "principles-driven" approach to decision making, and his goal of converting American Express from a diversified financial supermarket to one unified operating company.From Bolted-on to Built-in: Diversity Management and Intergroup Leadership in U.S. Corporations
By Candi Castleberry-Singleton. 2009
Cultivating and managing a diverse workforce are imperatives for corporations both in the U.S., and all over the world. At…
the global level, business leaders clearly see that their companies need globally diverse staff to compete, and they are changing the way they do business to become more diverse. Yet progress on diversity within U.S. companies has stagnated. Why are U.S. diversity efforts stalled and what can companies do to create new momentum for domestic diversity efforts? Are there lessons to be learned from global experience with corporate diversity that can help diversity management within the U.S.? And what do these troubling findings about problems in domestic programs and success abroad teach us about the challenges of intergroup leadership? This chapter examines these questions, which are critical to companies' future success. This chapter was previously published as chapter 14 of "Crossing the Divide: Intergroup Leadership in a World of Difference."Employees are the key to growth in good times and survival in bad. In times of low morale, people tend…
to want more meaning at work. A green focus will both engage and inspire your people to keep them going through tough times. The end goal of getting lean, smart, and creative through green initiatives is to improve company performance and competitive position. But to do that, you need to get people engaged in the hard and rewarding work of greening your core business, your strategies, your operations, and your products and services. In this chapter, author Andrew Winston describes how engaging people in sustainability helps to create a stronger company that will not only survive uncertain economic climates, but also prosper when times get better. This chapter was originally published as chapter 5 of "Green Recovery: Get Lean, Get Smart, and Emerge from the Downturn On Top."Free markets operate under the assumption that human beings make rational choices about consumption. Some market enthusiasts have gone so…
far as to contend that even obesity is a lifestyle choice and, therefore, society should leave people alone to determine their optimal waistlines. Behavioral scientist and physician Peter Ubel, however, argues that it's actually the interaction of modern markets with genetics and social factors, and rational with irrational behavior, that has created the obesity epidemic. This theory suggests that the free market will never be able to solve the problem on its own, as so many free market advocates have claimed. This chapter is excerpted from "Free Market Madness: Why Human Nature Is at Odds with Economics--and Why It Matters."Le Petit Chef
By Sandra J. Sucher, Alan Maccormack, Suraj Rangashayi. 2001
Brigitte Gagne, Le Petit Chef's director of microwave R&D, is deciding on the product development agenda for next year. She…
has to decide which of the available projects to fund, and evaluate the overall portfolio of projects currently under development. The recent poor performance of the firm prompts Gagne to think about reassessing the way projects are generated, evaluated, and selected at Le Petit Chef. However, Gagne has a pressing deadline to meet--the executive team is due to review the next year's agenda at a meeting in Paris tomorrow.Get Smart: Gathering and Using Environmental Data to Drive Performance and Sustainability
By Andrew Winston. 2009
If you put an energy meter inside a home and show people total usage in real time, a miraculous thing…
happens: they use about 10 percent less energy. Data makes people smarter and inspires them to make small changes to save money and energy. Likewise, companies can use data to encourage behavior change and get lean. In tough economic times, it's even more important to understand the full story of your footprint and to gather and use environmental data effectively. In this chapter, author Andrew Winston describes six ways that getting smart creates value for the organization, including saving money, driving performance, and helping you prioritize projects and support innovation. This chapter was originally published as chapter 3 of "Green Recovery: Get Lean, Get Smart, and Emerge from the Downturn On Top."Value Net Integrator: An Atomic E-Business Model
By Peter Weill, Michael R. Vitale. 2001
Value net integrators control the virtual value chain in their industries by gathering, synthesizing, and distributing information. This chapter analyzes…
the cases of Seven-Eleven Japan and Cisco Systems to illustrate how to successfully implement the value net integrator e-business model.