OB75
Jeffrey Pfeffer
2009
In July, 2009, Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, received an e-mail. The two co-founders and joint co-CEOs and their colleagues at Orange Kimono Software were struggling with their pay system. Orange…
SM175
Robert Burgelman, Andrew Grove, Debra Schifrin
2009
The case covers and analyzes the major players in the Electric Car Industry, with a focus on the United States and China. The case looks at start-ups and incumbent automakers, battery makers, retrofitters, utility companies and the government. In 2009…
SI110
Glenn Carroll, Maria Shao
2009
In 2008, Maria Yee Inc. occupied a unique position as a premium “green” household furniture maker with two direct-owned factories in China and distribution through several large U.S. retailers. Yee, a Chinese-born entrepreneur in California, founded her…
SM183
Robert Burgelman, Andrew Grove, Debra Schifrin
2009
This case covers the coal industry and clean coal initiatives in the Unites States and China. Coal is a crucial source of global energy, but coal-fired plants are environmentally unfriendly and are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. One way…
EM6
Victoria Chang, William Guttentag, Roderick Kramer
2009
Kevin Reilly, at forty-six years old, had one of his first television executive experiences in the drama department at NBC, had-like many others-experienced his fair share of drama. What he described as the “three toughest years of my career” were at NBC…
E371
Andrew Rachleff, Bethany Coates
2009
As Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, drove to his fledgling company’s board meeting in September 2007, he thought about what he wanted to accomplish. His plan for the three-month-old start-up, a video distribution website born out of a joint venture (JV) between…
HR34
Hayagreeva Rao, Pamela Yatsko
2009
When Chris Chen founded VanceInfo Technologies in Beijing in 1995, the firm had 25 employees and one low-end IT services outsourcing project for a U.S. multinational. By August 2008, through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, VanceInfo…
E319
Andrew Rachleff
2009
As he sat at his July, 1998 board meeting, Carl Mitchell was speechless. His board of directors had just told him that it had unanimously decided that he should be replaced as chief executive officer of Indigo, Inc. For the past three years, Carl had…
IB89
William Barnett, Sara Leslie
2009
By 2009, NetApp, a fast growing innovator in the storage and data management market, had become successful both in the U.S. and around the world, with revenue of over $3.5 billion. Company management and industry analysts attributed this success to a…
IB98
William Barnett, Sara Gaviser Leslie
2009
Nanosolar was founded in 2002 in San Jose, California. Nanosolar’s innovative approach to photovoltaic solar power made it one of the most visible clean technology start-ups, and had attracted high-profile venture capital. The firm had made progress in…
HR33
Gili Elkin, Hayagreeva Rao
2008
In 1997, Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, established The Edible Schoolyard program at a local middle school. In this program, children who had never been outside the city prepared their own food, using fresh…
EM4
Victoria Chang, William Guttentag, Roderick Kramer
2008
Ron Meyer, 63, is the president and COO of Universal Studios, one of the “Big Six” movie studios. He oversees Universal Pictures, Focus Features (a smaller-budget, indie-type film studio) and Universal Theme Parks & Resorts. Universal Studios’ parent…
L13
David Hoyt, Hayagreeva Rao
2008
In December 2004, Donald Berwick, MD, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), challenged U.S. hospitals to reduce unnecessary deaths by 100,000 within the following 18 months. By the end of this 18 month period, over 3,100…
E322
Bethany Coates, H. Grousbeck
2008
In April 2007, Kristin Richmond laced up her sneakers and began the four mile run to Kirsten Tobey’s house. It was a Saturday morning, but the two co-founders of Revolution Foods (RevFoods), a provider of healthy meals and nutrition education to schools…
P58
David Baron
2008
Reacting to the 1973-4 Arab oil embargo, Congress enacted a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) system in 1975 that required an increase in automobile fuel economy from 14.2 miles per gallon in 1974 to 27.5 mpg in 1984. Since that time, Congress had…
P57
David Baron
2008
In 2006 Merck received FDA approval for Gardasil, the first vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV) which had been identified as the cause of cervical cancer. Merck priced the vaccine at $360 for the three injections and was working on programs for the…
P56
David Baron
2008
In 2007 the House of Representatives passed legislation that would treat carried interest as ordinary income instead of a long-term gain. The move threatened to increase the tax rate from 15 percent to 35 percent on the income of partners in private…
SM172
Robert Burgelman, Philip Meza
2008
This case describes the work of the Innovation Program Office (IPO) within the Personal Systems Group (PSG) at technology company Hewlett-Packard (HP). It shows how this group solicits, qualifies and develops ideas for new products and services.
SM35C
Robert Burgelman, Philip Meza
2008
This case describes the difficult times Charles Schwab the company faced after the dot-com bust of the early 2000s. It also describes how Charles Schwab the man returned in July 2004 to take on the CEO position, and the strategic actions he took to fix…
P66
David Baron
2008
The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement negotiated in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations was a major victory for the brand name pharmaceutical companies. Patent life was extended to 20 years in the United States…
P65
David Baron
2008
MTN, a very successful South African wireless telephone company, began in 1994 with the founding of the cellular telephone company M-Cell. In May 2008, MTN entered into exclusive discussions with Reliance Communications Ltd., the second largest wireless…
P62
David Baron
2008
Tesco PLC, the largest retailer in the United Kingdom, was pondering India. India’s booming economy and absence of major retail chains provided opportunity to both domestic and foreign firms. Entry of foreign retailers, however, was limited by…
OB41
Jeffrey Pfeffer
2008
This note summarizes a lot of the research on communication and language in its relationship to exercising power. Specifically, how language is used to negotiate power, what are the characteristics of effective communication, and how you can tell if…
P68
David Baron
2008
In November 2006, 200 German police officers raided the headquarters of Siemens AG, Europe’s leading engineering company, seeking evidence pertaining to widespread bribery. The raid followed extensive investigations of Siemens’ activities that originated…
