H. I. Grousbeck, Keith Sigg
1999
BestOffer.com primarily chronicles the protagonists’, Pratap Mukherjee and Jeff Reed, efforts to develop an idea into an internet company. Through a string of contacts the two approach a venture capitalist (Archer) that within hours of the first meeting…
Mary Barth, Carlos Schoenfeld
1999
In May of 1999, Antonio Regalado, an investment analyst, was charged with determining whether to invest in Dura Pharmaceuticals or Spiros II. Dura Pharmaceuticals (Dura) had built itself into one of the premier drug delivery companies in the world. Dura…
Eric Marti, Garth Saloner, A. Micheal Spence
1999
This business case study describes Siebel Systems, Inc. situation in mid-1999, as CEO Tom Siebel guides his company along a path of furious expansion. Just six years old, Siebel Systems had captured a dominant share of the market for customer relationship…
J. Roberts, J. Podolny, X. Chen
1999
Focuses on how a firm can develop organizational competencies that are difficult for others to imitate. Illustrates how a firm can create and maintain dynamic competitive advantage in an industry in which the external forces that make for success seem to…
Mary Barth, Nese Yildiz
1999
In May 1995, about nineteen months after emerging from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy it filed in 1993, Trans World Airlines issued a Proxy Statement to seek the consent of its shareholders and certain creditors for another debt restructuring plan. The…
Mary Barth, Kipp de Veer, Michael Finkelstein, John Hecht, David Luse, Steven Rogers, Rache Winokurl
1999
Within 3 years, US Office Products’ founder had grown the company through acquisitions to one of the largest global concerns in the office supply market. The company used a hub and spokes acquisition strategy that would allow for earnings accretion and…
Peter Chen, John Glynn Jr., Pratap Mukherjee
1999
The case chronicles the origins and evolution of a landmark intellectual property dispute between Cadence Design Systems and Avant! Corporation. Cadence was the leading developer of Electronic Data Automation software used in the computer-aided design of…
Nathaniel Durant, John Glynn Jr.
1999
This case describes experiences of Boards making changes with CEOs of entrepreneurial companies. The primary situation in this case is in RetailSports, Inc., an e-commerce site in the sporting goods industry. The company has a young, inexperienced CEO…
Jed Emerson, Daniel Kessler, Melinda Tuan
1998
Analyzes the experience of the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) which transformed its philanthropic practice into a social venture capital practice in 1997 with a portfolio of nonprofit enterprises in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also presents…
Robert Burgelman, Osamu Suzuki
1998
Reviews the PC videoconferencing industry, including underlying technologies.
John Roberts
1998
Raises the issue of the implications for AT&T China strategy of the firm’s decision to break itself up into three separate companies.
John Roberts
1998
Follow-on to AT&T China case (A). Discusses the strategic choices made in dealing with the market, nonmarket and organizational challenges in that case.
Eric Li, Gabriel Li, John Roberts
1998
An agreement signed in 1993 allowed AT&T to re-enter the Chinese telecommunications equipment market. Bill Warwick, the CEO of AT&T China, faces three interrelated challenges in building a business there. The first is how to compete with established…
David Baron, Chen Lichtenstein
1998
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice together with 19 state attorneys general filed an antitrust action against Microsoft Corporation for anticompetitive conduct and violation of the Sherman Act. The case details the Department of Justice’s…
Charles Holloway, Nicole Tempest, Steven Wheelwright
1998
In 1998, Cisco Systems acquired Summa Four, a manufacturer of networking equipment. Cisco was located in California, and Summa Four was located in New Hampshire. Summa Four had several complex products in production, and was about to begin large scale…
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…
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…
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..
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…