MGT5531
Leadership, Strategy and Human Resources
Spring, 2011
Case Catalogue
Each case is listed below, along with resources that I can supply to the team. Teams may, of course, do their own supplemental research to gather additional information and get an update on the focal organization.
Columbia Space Shuttle:
Multimedia case and Teaching Note. The case deals with what was happening on the ground during Columbia’s mission as technical and managerial personnel tried to assess risk and debate options. Those who argued that risk was high lost the argument, forestalling efforts to avert the catastrophe that ensued. The multimedia case is structured so that access to information depends in part on the role an individual is assigned – the idea being to give each person the knowledge that his/her character would have had.
Cypress Semiconductor :
Written case. The case focuses on the distinctive, unorthodox thinking and leadership of
T. J. Rodgers, the feisty founder and longtime CEO of Cypress.
GE’s Talent Machine
This case provides an overview of GE’s people management and people development strategies, and uses Jeff Immelt’s rise to CEO as an illustrative example. GE has a reputation as one of the best in the world at developing talent, and the case focuses on how they do it.
Meg Whitman @ eBay:
Written case. The case focuses on the hiring and subsequent arrival of Meg Whitman as
CEO of what was, at the time, a relatively tiny internet startup.
Paul Levy at Beth Israel Deaconness:
Multimedia and print cases. Basically, this tells a story about organizational change as viewed from the perspective of the change agent – in this case Paul Levy, the new CEO of a large Boston teaching hospital that provided quality care but was going broke. The multimedia case includes substantial interview material with Levy, and assorted auxiliary
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materials.
Philips vs. Matsushita :
Written case and brief video. The written case is a big picture story of two firms –
Philips in the Netherlands, and Matsushita in Japan – who evolved to become global competitors. The case provides a multi-decade historical sweep of how each firm evolved its leadership, strategy, and structure. The video clip shows one of the Philips
CEOs talking to an executive class at Harvard.
Starbucks Harvests International Growth
Like many other companies, when growth began to slow in the domestic market,
Starbucks put increasing emphasis on growing internationally. But after founder CEO
Howard Schultz pulled out of the CEO role, Starbucks seemed to lose some of its steam, and eventually Schultz decided he needed to come back in to run the company.
Zappos.com 2009
The case chronicles Zappos rise from dot com startup to the net’s dominant player in shoe retailing, with a particular emphasis on how the company manages people and culture. The case ends as Zappos faces the possibility of being acquired by Amazon.
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