OB23
Jeffrey Pfeffer
2004
The director of personnel for a small technical research and development facility calls you in as a consultant. Five years earlier he had forced an affirmative action hire of a woman biophysicist who had not worked out well and was resented by the rest of…
E179
H. Grousbeck, Alicia Seiger
2004
The case takes the reader through Julie’s initial effort to raise money simultaneous to identifying an industry and an acquisition target. Julie eventually settles on the for profit post-secondary education industry and raises funds to purchase a small…
SI54
William Barnett, Dave Boennighausen
2004
This case explores the economic growth issues of Bozeman, Montana, and the role that a new non-profit organization, the Yellowstone Business Partnership, could have in directing Bozeman’s future. Bozeman’s economy had grown rapidly, but with growth came…
OB50
Michael Hannan, Greta Hsu
2004
On April 26, 2003, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker opened its second retail store in the newly renovated San Francisco Ferry Building. It joined a number of other prestigious artisan food and specialty retail shops at this prime location at the foot of…
OB46
Michael Hannan, Greta Hsu
2004
On April 26, 2003, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker opened its second retail store in the newly renovated San Francisco Ferry Building. It joined a number of other prestigious artisan food and specialty retail shops at this prime location at the foot of…
SM136
Robert Burgelman, Philip Meza, Robert Pearl
2004
What impact could information technology have on the problems affecting health care in the U.S.? It seemed that IT would be able to make a fast impact in improving transaction processing (reducing costs) and improving accuracy of diagnoses and treatment…
SM126A
Robert Burgelman, Lyn Denend, Robert Siegel
2004
In the spring of 1999, Matrix Semiconductor was a young start-up on the verge of what the founders considered to be a major technological breakthrough. For more than a year, the company had been focused almost exclusively on the invention of its…
OB44V
2004
Keith Ferrazzi, a graduate of Harvard Business School, became the youngest chief marketing officer of a Fortune 500 company (Starwood). Later he was the CEO of a successful high technology start-up. He was also the subject of an article in Inc. magazine…
SM60B
William Barnett, Irene Wang
2004
This case provides a background of the disk drive industry and discusses the experience of Seagate Technologies. On July 21, 1998, Steve Luczo became CEO of Seagate Technologies. By 2003, Luczo had managed to turn around Seagate from negative net income…
SM123
Federico Antoni, Robert Burgelman, Philip Meza
2004
This case examines the challenges and opportunities for strategic integration at LVMH, a Paris, France-based global luxury brands company. The company is comprised of established and newly-developed brands of luxury goods such as apparel, leather goods…
SM129
Robert Burgelman, Jean-Bernard Rolland
2004
This case examines the strategic opportunities available to Samsung Electronics in 2004 and beyond as the company attempts to penetrate the digital home. Key issues include the role of horizontal industry models versus vertical industry models in…
SM128
William Barnett, Ilya Levtov
2004
The case examines the challenges faced by the CEO of NASDAQ-listed software company Roxio, following its acquisition and relaunch of the controversial Napster brand, for distribution of digital music. The company faces stiff competition, primarily from…
SM119C
Victoria Chang, Chip Heath
2004
In mid-2000, 34 year-old Keith Yamashita, founder and principal of Stone Yamashita Partners (SYP), a nine-year-old strategy, branding, design, and culture change consultancy, sat in a conference room in SYP’s loft office space in San Francisco. As he…
SI53
Linda Darling-Hammond, Michael Milliken, James Phills
2004
Alan Bersin was hired as the superintendent of San Diego City Schools (SDCS) in 1998. Over the course of four years, he and his Chancellor of Instruction, Anthony Alvarado, led an aggressive reform effort in SDCS: reorganizing the central office…
SM119B
Victoria Chang, Chip Heath
2004
In mid-2000, 34 year-old Keith Yamashita, founder and principal of Stone Yamashita Partners (SYP), a nine-year-old strategy, branding, design, and culture change consultancy, sat in a conference room in SYP’s loft office space in San Francisco. As he…
E187
Glenn Carroll, Greg Powell
2004
On Labor Day, 2002, Cocoa Pete’s Chocolate Adventures launched their small selection of gourmet chocolates at high-end supermarkets in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company’s founder, Pete Slosberg, had carved a niche out of the stagnant chocolate…
E175
H. Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
2004
The note focuses on creating and explaining a framework for how an effective and value-added Board of Directors should operate in an entrepreneurial venture. The note describes the legal and professional responsibilities of directors and also identifies…
HR26A
Victoria Chang, Charles O'Reilly III, Jeffrey Pfeffer
2004
On June 8, 1998, California-based Wells Fargo and Minneapolis banking company, Norwest announced a “merger of equals” in a stock deal valued at $34 billion and one that created the Western Hemisphere’s most extensive and diversified financial services…
E140B
William Barnett, Brad Wolfe
2004
This case documents the many challenges faced by protagonists John Fowler and Josh Greenberg, two young post-MBAs who embarked on a brave journey otherwise known as the search fund process. Although possessing limited real-world experience, these best…
E170
H. Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
2004
The case is based on a fictitious company. It focuses on how an entrepreneur who has built a thriving company should manage his Board of Directors. The entrepreneur started the company from scratch. As the company expanded, the Board also expanded to a…
E188
Glenn Carroll, Greg Powell
2004
In 2000, chocolate was consumed by 81 percent of U.S. adults. Despite the popularity of chocolate in the U.S., many analysts believed that the market was far from saturated, noting that European per capita consumption of chocolate remained considerably…
HR26B
Victoria Chang, Charles O'Reilly III, Jeffrey Pfeffer
2004
On June 8, 1998, California-based Wells Fargo and Minneapolis banking company, Norwest announced a “merger of equals” in a stock deal valued at $34 billion and one that created the Western Hemisphere’s most extensive and diversified financial services…
E185
Jerker Denrell, Chris Tilghman
2004
Professional success in the venture capital industry depends in part on a venture capitalist’s ability to learn about new areas of potential investment. By definition, a “venture” is a new pursuit; its specifics are unknown in the beginning. For…
HR25A
Charles Catalano, Charles O'Reilly III
2004
Following the do-com bubble burst in August 2001, Libby Sartain, new chief of people and SVP of human resources at Yahoo!, must determine the direction of human resources management at the traumatized media company. Suffering revenues, a collapsed stock…
