Well, it’s that time of year again, when first years fret about their EC class registration. The Case Rip Cord, which judges such course selection matters entirely on the basis of the entertainment value of the cases in the course, has to cast its vote for Professor Susan Fournier’s Half Course on Branding. In addition [...]
Course Selection Advice from the Case Rip Cord
Uncategorized
Apr 082002
One MAC Daddy of a Case Rip Cord
Uncategorized
Apr 012002
Congratulations to Colleen McCaffrey (OE), who appears to be the first member of the Class of 2002 to be a case protagonist! She is the primary author of MAC Development Corporation, where she appears as a major player in her family’s Chicago commercial real estate firm. This case was taught in first year Entrepreneurial Management [...]
Case Rip Cord: Down and Dirty on the Farm
Uncategorized
Mar 252002
A woman calling herself Grandma Judy called in from Flahrida this week and said she didn’t understand all the acronyms here at Harvard Business School. So, just for her, the Case Rip Cord is going to spell everything out this week. In addition, most of the cases deal this week deal with agriculture, where everyone [...]
At the End of the Day, It’s Just the Case Rip Cord
Uncategorized
Mar 112002
H-E-B Own Brands: South Texas grocery giant H-E-B is looking for answers regarding its use of private label products, and they introduce a bottled water to compete with Evian. The label has a red maple leaf, and it says “Natural Canadian Spring Water.” H-E-B customer research finds that only 19 percent of unaided customers who [...]
Case Rip Cord: Disney Remembers Crashing the 80s World
Uncategorized
Nov 122001
A number of EC classes these days have been quite memorable. Memorable in that they’ve been asking students to recall significant events from their pasts. For example, in Managing Service Operations, “Where were you when you first got MTV?” In Supply Chain, it was, “Tell us about buying your first sofa purchase.” The request that [...]
Case Rip Cord:
Uncategorized
Oct 222001
“Globalization of Markets”: In his seminal 1983 Harvard Business Review article, retired HBS Marketing Professor Theodore Levitt argues that consumers in markets worldwide crave premium products that mulitnational corporations produce in their home countries. When these mulitnationals expand globally, Levitt says they should avoid the push by marketing departments to customize their products for the [...]
Case Rip Cord:
Uncategorized
Oct 092001
Barilla, SpA: Given his experience growing up in Italy, Sisto Merolla (OJ) was asked to open this case and explain the significance of the Barilla pasta brand in his homeland. After a thorough explanation, Sisto concluded, “And one final thing. Barilla is known for being hard to overcook, so it’s always al dente. Which for [...]
Case Rip Cord: We’re Goin’ to Disneyland!
Uncategorized
Mar 262001
It’s good to see the RC teaching teams living up to the HBS application brochure and integrating the curriculum across classes. On the day before Spring Break, Septembers had a BGIE case on the British Corn Laws, and a Finance case on Canada’s United Grain Growers. These cases both sported pun names. The main question [...]
Case Rip Cord
Uncategorized
Mar 122001
Today’s Special comes from the Finance 2 Course Platform: “Due to anticipated weather conditions, the time window for doing on-line Exercise 2 has been extended… To avoid weather-related remote connection problems you are advised to take the exercise on campus.” They forgot to add, “Yes, Off-Campus Students, the slim chances your electronic umbilical cord will [...]
Case Rip Cord
Uncategorized
Mar 052001
Aravind Eye Hospital: This may be the first case we’ve seen written in the first person, and it’s actually a refreshing change of pace. In a couple instances the text actually reads “I (the casewriter).” Who would “I” be besides “the casewriter?” The case states that the protagonist wants to franchise eye hospitals like McDonald’s [...]
Recent Comments