Request for Information - Harvard Business School Press

Kyocera Corp.:
The Amoeba
Management
System
Harvard Business School Publishing
Case Map for
Horngren, Foster & Datar: Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 10 th Edition
(Prentice Hall)
HBSP
#195064
12p
TN #195065
J Boats HBSP
#197015
18p
TN #199042
Japan,
semiconductors,
electronics, 1990-
1993
Newport, RI,
sailboats
Chapter 23: Performance Measurement,
Compensation, and Multinational Considerations
Vyaderm HBSP Seattle, WA,
Pharmaceuticals #101019 pharmaceuticals,
15p
17,500
TN #101043 employees, 2000
Describes Kyocera's unusual approach to profit
centers. The firm's basic units of operation are profit
centers called "amoebas," which are sales or
manufacturing units with full responsibility for their
planning, decision making, and administration.
Amoebas are expected to find ways to improve
production and lower costs, reflecting the belief of
Kyocera's founder that profits are generated during
the manufacturing process.
Traces the 20-year evolution of a family-owned,
entrepreneurial sailboat company. Illustrates how
two founders leveraged their design and marketing
skills to build one of the most recognized brands in
the recreational boating industry. Ends as the founder
considers management succession and the need to
improve financial planning and control systems to
capitalize on brand value. Illustrates how
entrepreneurs successfully utilize the levers of
control by focusing on core values, risks to be
avoided, critical performance variables, and strategic
uncertainties in a small, family-run business.
In 1999, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals
introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA)
program to focus the company on long-term
shareholder value. The EVA program consists of
three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA
drivers (operational practices that improve EVA
results), and an EVA-based incentive program for
bonus-eligible managers. Over the next two years,
the implementation of the program runs into several
stumbling blocks, including resistance from regional
managers, who push for "line of sight" EVA drivers;
the difficulty of managing a large number of EVA
centers; and unexpected bonus adjustments due to
poor EVA performance. The decision point focuses
on the competitive situation in a business unit where
the sudden exit of a competitor produces an
unexpected one-time "windfall" in earnings.
Vyaderm's top managers struggle with the question
of whether to adjust the EVA results to prevent
demoralizing managers in future years when EVA
results are likely to decline. Requires students to
calculate EVA bonus payouts.
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