OIT22A
Erik Brynjolfsson, Jean-Claude Charlet
1998
Firefly Network develops software that allows Internet-based businesses to gather information about their online customers and deliver personalized information to them in return. Firefly was founded in March 1995 by a group of researchers of the MIT Media…
OIT21
Erik Brynjolfsson, Jean-Claude Charlet
1998
In 1997, BroadVision was a young, relatively small company that developed software that allowed Internet-based businesses to gather information about their online customers and deliver customized information to these customers. The firm was founded in…
IB16B
Andris Berzins, Joel Podolny, John Roberts
1998
British Petroleum had very profitable years in 1996 and l997. However, CEO John Browne knew that BP could not rest on its laurels. In Browne’s view, the company’s ability to compete was based on the extent to which it could foster learning across units..
IB16A2
Joel Podolny, John Roberts
1998
In June of 1995, John Browne became CEO of The British Petroleum Company p.l.c., succeeding David Simon who became Chairman. In the six years that Browne headed BPX he led the business through major strategic redirection and then a fundamental…
IB16A
Andris Berzins, Joel Podolny, John Roberts
1998
In 1992-3, British Petroleum plc, Britain’s fourth-largest of the great international integrated oil companies, faced a major crisis. The company was experiencing its first losses in its eighty-year history, while morale was battered by downsizing and…
IB15
Joel Podolny, John Roberts
1998
The oil industry, one of the first international businesses, exerted a tremendous influence on almost all aspects of business, economics and geopolitics throughout the twentieth century. Their products revolutionized daily life. And the struggles to…
HR8B
David Caldwell, Charles O'Reilly III
1998
Updates events since the (A) case. CEO Rodgers’ attempt to use “killer software” has not met with good acceptance. In recognition of this he has largely dropped the idea and is working on an improved version A. Downturn in the market for SRAMs has also…
HR8A
David Caldwell, Charles O'Reilly III
1998
How does a firm in a high tech industry compete when both innovation and cost effectiveness are critical? T.J. Rodgers, founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, has developed a unique human resources (HR) system that attempts to do both. This case…
HR7
Jeffrey Pfeffer
1998
Fresh Choice, a restaurant in the throes of recovering from substantial financial difficulties, had borrowed ideas on things ranging from restaurant design to recipes from a competitor. That competitor had itself been started as an imitator of the Fresh…
HR11
Charles O'Reilly III
1998
New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) is a joint venture between General Motors (GM) and Toyota. Begun in 1983, NUMMI continues to be one of the most efficient of U.S. manufacturing plants and produces automobiles that are at the top of the…
E59
Harold Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
1998
Dan Moss chronicles the protagonist’s roll-out of a new organizational structure for Club Sports International’s (CSI’s) six athletic clubs in Denver, CO. By late 1997, CSI had grown into the largest privately owned chain of upscale clubs in the United…
E57
Charles Holloway, John Morgridge
1998
This case chronicles the origin of Astra Communications, later called Synoptics. Andy Ludwick and Ron Schmidt formed the company after incubating it in Xerox PARC. The two tried unsuccessfully to convince Xerox divisions and Ethernet vendors to…
E55A
William Barnett, Lauren Dutton
1998
In 1991, Michael Malcolm had an idea for a start up company. He contacted Dave Hitz and James Lau, two respected engineers with whom he had worked at Auspex. Malcolm’s idea was a simple, special-purpose file server that would perform the same function…
E53
Charles A. Holloway, H. Irving Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
1998
This teaching note instructs on three major methods to value entrepreneurial companies and uses an example to illustrate each method. The three methods are Balance Sheet Valuations, Income Statement Valuations, and Discounted Cash Flow. For each of the…
E51
Harold Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
1998
David Dodson (II) primarily chronicles the protagonist’s efforts to manage a company in distress. In May 1995, Dodson purchases Auto Palace, an auto parts retailer in New England, from Rite Aid for $59 million (plus fees and expenses). Dodson plans to…
E52
Harold Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
1998
This case chronicles the origin of InterMarket, a software tools company developing advertising tools for the emerging Internet advertising market. Two business school graduates get excited about the possibilities that the Internet offers and decide to…
E50
Harold Grousbeck, A Tauber
1998
This teaching note discusses the market for investments from private, non firm-related, investors, mostly high net-worth individuals. Some of the topics are: the growing scale of angel investors, their investment characteristics, the inefficiency of this…
E48B
Jeff Chambers, Alex Tauber
1998
This case continues the story of McAfee Associates from the A case. The company decided to take the investment from the two prominent VC firms and focus on building the company. The company recruited a senior management team and went public in October…
E48A
Jeff Chambers, Alex Tauber
1998
This case tells the story of McAfee Associates, which was the leader in anti-virus software. The case gives extensive background on John McAfee, the founder, as well as the anti-virus software industry as it emerged in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s….
E44
Daniel Kessler
1998
The executive director of the Asian Neighborhood Design (AND) attempts to quantify the potential financial and social return for investors in his nonprofit enterprise. AND seeks to raise $2.27 million. However, as a nonprofit organization, it cannot offer…
E23
John Glynn Jr., Joseph Welsh
1998
This case tells the story of two people who started Asset Software, portfolio management software for professional money managers. The case gives background on the two founders and the process they undertook to start the company and develop the first…
OIT22B
Erik Brynjolfsson, Jean-Claude Charlet
1998
Supplements the (A) case.
SM29B
Robert Burgelman, J Kolotouros
1998
Discusses the strategic challenges facing Disney in 1996, especially those relating to the proliferation of digital content and the influence of information…
M293
Jacquelyn Thomas, Michael Rosenstein
1998
Describes the organizational, strategic, and tactical challenges that Dell Computer faces as it develops a new laptop computer that is targeted at home and small business users. Portrays the challenges that the firm faces as it attempts to manage its…
