Robert Burgelman, Sami Inkinen, Christof Wittig
2004
In 2004, MySQL was a small $10M Scandinavian software company that had come into a position to seriously challenge the big three IT companies IBM, Microsoft and Oracle in their high margin, $10Bn database business. The reason for this was a new phenomenon…
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…
George Foster, David Hoyt
2004
In 1993 there was a major realignment of college football conferences, as three schools left the Big East Conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, leading to a wave of changes as the Big East moved to replace the departing schools. The…
Elena Pernas-Giz, Kate Surman, Stefanos Zenios
2004
It was June 2004 and members of the Material Flow Committee (MFC) at Stanford Hospital and Clinics were faced with the challenge of implementing important process improvements in the operating room. Though notable progress had been made in the recent…
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…
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…
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…
William Barnett, David McKendrick, Kyra Gebhardt
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…
George Foster, David Hoyt
2004
In 2004, the Bank of the West Classic was the longest continuously running women’s professional tennis tournament. The tournament was owned by IMG, which managed the careers of many premier athletes and operated prestigious events (both sporting and non…
Robert Burgelman, Philip Meza
2004
In early 2004, with the organizational integration of the Compaq acquisition mostly completed, top management was looking toward capitalizing on the potential competitive advantages of the strategic integration of both companies in order to achieve the…
Robert Burgelman, Philip Meza
2004
Prior to its merger with Compaq, HP depended upon profits from its wildly successful imaging and printing business to support the company’s far less successful computer businesses. Two years after the merger, HP still relied on its printing business…
Charles Bonini
2004
Wildcat Dynamics was an oil exploration company founded in 1955. The company had been quite successful in bringing in wildcat wells in various parts of the United States. In mid-2004, the company was trying to decide whether to drill on a parcel of…
David Baron, Erin Yurday
2004
Citigroup, the world’s largest project finance bank, provided financing for extractive projects such as mining, logging, and oil exploration. Some of these projects took place in developing countries and in rainforests and other endangered ecosystems….
David Baron, Erin Yurday
2004
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) launched its campaign against Citigroup in April 2000 with the objective of forcing Citigroup to recognize and take responsibility for its role in rainforest destruction through its financing. After two challenging…
David Baron, Erin Yurday
2004
Ilyse Hogue, campaign manager for the Global Finance Campaign, said that RAN started gaining traction with Citigroup when the stars aligned in the summer of 2002—Citibank was vulnerable from the criticism resulting from the Enron and Grubman scandals, and…
Stefanos Zenios, Zoe Cohen
2004
This note provides an overview of the role of employers, carriers, and consumers in the private health insurance market in the U.S. The first three sections provide an overview of the history of employer-based health insurance, cost trends, and types of…
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…
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…
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…
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…
David Baron, Erin Yurday
2004
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) worked “to protect the Earth’s rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action.” RAN accomplished its mission by organizing campaigns to…
David Baron
2004
McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain, with over 30,000 locations. This case describes several non-market issues that could significantly impact the McDonald’s business. Issues covered include the increase in U.S. obesity rates…
Rick Aubry, Greg Powell
2004
TransFair USA, the U.S. fair trade labeling arm of the Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO), faced strategic challenges in 2003. The Fair Trade label denoted coffee (and other products) sold at a price high enough to allow small certified farmers to…
Victoria Chang, George Foster
2004
Visa was the world’s leading payment brand and its vision was to be “The World’s Best Way to Pay.” Visa attributed an important part of its success to high profile sponsorships such as its Olympic Games sponsorship. Visa also sponsored numerous events…