INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES

CASE DESCRIPTIONS

	Select a Chapter Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12
Chapter 3
Compaq Computer: Intel Inside? Publication Date: Apr 14, 1999 Revision Date: May 25, 2000 Author(s): David E. Bell; Ann Leamon Product Number: 9-599-061 Length: 8p Description: Presents the results of quantitative and qualitative market research on the possible acceptance of a non-Intel processor in Compaq Computer's consumer notebook line. If the low-priced, non-Intel notebook is a success, the company will maintain or increase its 45% share of the market. If not, it could cease to be a player in the market it has created and filled. Students must evaluate the reliability of the research and decide which of three products to produce. Teaching Purpose: Introduces students to different types of market research. Helps them determine how to evaluate the results from an operational point of view. CompuSound Calling Publication Date: 1996 Author(s): J.L. Bowey Product Number: 9B00A006 Length: 20p Description: The proprietor of CompuSound Inc. has recently introduced a hardware product for voice communication over networks. Sales to date have fallen short of expectations in the company's originally targeted sound board market and positioning the company in the dynamic PC audio and Internet telephony market appears to be an even greater challenge. With limited resources, the proprietor must decide how to quickly bring his products and technology to market. There are plenty of opportunities for this innovative company, but the difficulties in prioritizing such an entrepreneurial firm are central to the case's illustrative purposes. CompuSound gives students an understanding of the complexity of marketing high technology products, especially for new start-ups. The role of strategic alliances, particularly for research and development purposes, is also portrayed. Finally, the case shows how entrepreneurs become reluctant to relinquish opportunities that were part of the owner's original vision. Computer Shoppe Publication Date: 1997 Author(s): M.R. Pearce; M. Brudzynski; L. Lo; P. Spence Product Number: 9A98A009 Length: 5p Description: The Computer Shoppe has five year's worth of customer information of past computer system purchasers in its database. While sales are good, the owner is wondering how he can use the customer information available to him to increase sales. Customer Value Measurement at Nortel Networks—Optical Networks Division Publication Date: Feb 13, 2001 Revision Date: Apr 02, 2001 Author(s): Das Narayandas Product Number: 9-501-050 Length: 25p Description: Since 1995, Nortel Networks' Optical Networks (ON) division has been incorporating customer satisfaction and loyalty measures into its business practice to increase customer value. Over the years, key process owners in various parts of the organization have become accustomed to receiving such information in the format with which they are familiar. Recent initiatives by the Customer Value Measurement (CVM) team have shown that the current methodology does not provide all the insights required to achieve the full potential of customer value measurement. The CVM team now needs to present Nortel's senior management with the optimal combination of the many choices for soliciting customer perceptions that would make the best use of the available resources, minimize the intrusion on customers' time, and add value for the business and customers alike? Teaching Purpose: To show how customer satisfaction and customer loyalty programs are implemented by firms to enhance customer value. IBM and Apple Computer Alliance (A) Publication Date: Author(s): Robert E. Spekman; Lane Crowder; Katarina Paddack Product Number: UVA-M-0510, 0511, and 0512 Description: This case and its companions (see UVA-M-0510, 0511, and 0512) help students understand and articulate the stark realities that bring competitors together as alliance partners. The A case sets the stage for the series, describing the rationale for the alliance, the areas of conflict, and how each company sees the problems. Students are urged to examine strategies to solve the two partners' differences, and to determine if the alliance is even worth salvaging. IBM and Linux (A) Publication Date: Jun 26, 2003 Author(s): Carliss Y. Baldwin , Siobhan O'Mahony , James Quinn Product Number: 9-903-083 Length: 19p Description: In the fall of 1998, Dan Frye, member of IBM's emerging technologies and business team, is trying to decide whether to forge a strategic alliance with the Linux Development Community (LDC). Just two years earlier, IBM had its first exposure to an "open source" software program when it selected Apache as the web server program for the web site of the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games. Based on its success with Apache, and Frye's intuition that Linux could be a critical, strategic step in the new "network-centric" computing environment, Frye and his colleagues are trying to decide whether an alliance between IBM and LDC would serve their interests--and, if so, how IBM could manage the alliance with a loosely affiliated group of software developers. Norpak Corporation: The Search for a Perfect Partner Publication Date: 1993 Revision Date: Author(s): D.W. Barclay Product Number: 9A94G002 Length: 15p Description: The president of a small Canadian high-tech firm needed a strategic partner to access global markets. The search took him to Korea where Samsung became his partner of choice. Issues emerge around the partner selection process and around negotiating and maintaining a relationship with such a large global enterprise. SPOTNIK MOBILE (C) - PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION Nicholls-Nixon CL ; Litman O 9B04M037, Ivey Case Supplement Description: In the (A) case, the co-chief executive officers are considering a variety of different business models for developing a public wireless LAN network for Internet service in major "hot spot" locations. The (B) case focuses on whether they should pursue a strategic partnership with a major telecommunication company, and under what conditions. The (C) case takes place nine months later, after a deal has been struck. Described is how the agreement was reached and presents the challenges that the co-chief executive officers face in prioritizing their efforts, and making the partnership work, in the face of a rapidly changing competitive environment. This is a supplement to Spotnik Communications (A) and (B), products, 9B02A025 and 9B03M030. Internet Customer Acquisition Strategy at Bankinter; Narayanan, V.G.; Brem, Lisa; Mertines-Jerez; F. Asis; Harvard Business School Publishing; 2/12/2003; (19 pages) Reference Number: 9-103-021 Description: Ann Peralta, director of the Internet network in Bankinter, needs to know whether the thousands of new customers pouring in from other portals are profitable for the bank. Bankinter, a relatively small Spanish bank, has a large presence as an Internet financial services provider. Leading the way to profitability through the Internet will give Bankinter a major competitive advantage over the larger, more established Spanish banks. Peralta uses tools such as customer relationship management, activity-based costing, customer profitability, and lifetime value computations to determine how valuable this cohort of new customers is for the bank and in doing so, can decide on future customer acquisition strategies. Teaching Purpose: To evaluate the Internet customer acquisition strategy and to value customers at Bankinter. The HP-Cisco Alliance (A ) Publication Date: Apr 16, 2003 Author(s): Tiziana Casciaro; Christina Darwall Product Number: 403120 Length: 21p Description: In 2002, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems strove to develop their long-standing partnership into a strategic alliance with increasing impact. Critical components of successful alliance implementation emerge from the analysis. Specifically, the case illuminates the links among alliance strategy, formal design of alliance structure and processes, and informal management of interpersonal dynamics where trust, perceptions, and emotions can both create and overcome formidable obstacles to effective interfirm relationships. They Bought In. Now They Want to Bail Out.; McNulty, Eric; Harvard Business Review; 12/01/2003; (9 pages) Reference Number: R0312A Description: Chief Technology Officer Barry Golding is meeting with Mathews & Co.'s department heads to ask for another round of investment so he can begin implementing customer relationship management software at the menswear chain. For months, he has been the CRM project's cheerleader, and it is Barry whose reputation is at stake. He quickly loses control of the meeting. One department head is disappointed that so few of her wish list items are in Barry's latest plan. Another is sour on the project now that he's discovered he won't get any payback for two years. The CEO, who has given the project his blessing, isn't present to back up Barry. Barry can't see what he could have done to keep the department heads on his side. But a friend later tells him about what she calls the "blue sky paradox:" You have to get people to dream big to sell a project, but by doing that you set them up to be disappointed. What can Barry do to save the project? Commenting on this fictional case study are Nathaniel Leonard, the supply chain director of Goodyear's Engineered Products business; Andrew McAfee, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School; Barry J. Gilway, the executive vice-president of Zurich North America Services; and John Freeland, the managing partner of Accenture's CRM practice. Return to Instructor Resources