case study

Kristin was enjoying her senior year at Stanford University in 2000. A number of the Fortune 500 firms had called her for interviews. Clearly, they recognized her talents and offered several exciting employment packages for her to consider. Kristin?s future was looking bright as she poured over the offers and decided to accept MBI?s offer for a junior executive management position.
Kristin worked hard for nearly 10 years and rose quickly in the company. By the summer of 2012, MBI had sent her back to Stanford to earn an MBA, promoted her on 4 separate occasions, including promotion to Senior Vice President status and all of the perks that came with the job. A normal work week found Kristin working an average of 12 hours per day 6 days a week. She had a geographically far-flung area of responsibility that required extensive travel; so, despite living in the Washington, DC, she had little time to enjoy its offerings.
She began to tire at about the 7-year mark and had considered resigning her position. A sense of loyalty to MBI kept her from doing so, but she was feeling trapped in her job by the 200 emails she received daily, the long hours, the seemingly never-ending schedule of conference calls, and the fact that her ?life? centered around MBI and little else. Still, she felt obligated to MBI.
Kristin?s reputation as a manager was stellar, primarily due to her inane ability to develop innovative management approaches that helped MBI win several lucrative government contracts that saved millions of dollars in costs for the government. Competitor companies respected and feared her at the same time. Some of these companies went so far as to approach Kristin with job offers that promised salaries approaching $250,000 plus perks per year. Her experience with MBI caused Kristin to question what she really wanted in life. She knew that even more would be required of her than what she already faced daily at MBI. Her siblings all had families, and there were subtle questions from her parents about when she would start her own family.
At the same time, Becky, her only close friend and college roommate at Stanford, had called her recently and suggested a meeting to discuss the possibility of forming a small start-up company together. Becky was a first-rate designer of mobile applications who also had begun to tire of the demands of working for CIAS, a large company that had been working on a tablet similar to today?s iPad. Becky wanted Kristin because of her management skills, her connections with the government, and her creative spirit. Becky believed strongly that she and Kristin would make great business partners. Kristin initially gave the idea very little thought, but continued weariness and dissatisfaction with the way her life was headed caused Kristin to give the idea some serious consideration.
REQUIREMENT: Students will be provided a scenario that highlights the critical issues relative to a corporate mindset versus that of a small business. Students must identify at least three critical issues and provide a narrative to compare and contrast the issues relative to what the student might do in terms of remaining in the large corporation versus entering the small business sector.
STUDENT ROLE: Your role is that of Kristi as she ponders her future.
ADMINISTRATIVE INSTRUCTIONS:
? This paper is to be written in the third person. There should be no words such as ?I? and ?we?.
? Grades will be partially based on adherence to the established deadline; grammar and organization; grammatical accuracy; sentence and paragraph structure; and, clarity of expression and presentation of ideas.
? The case study must be typed, double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font with margins not wider than one inch and four to six pages in length excluding the title page and reference page
? Be prepared in Microsoft Word or Rich text format.
? Include references other than the textbook.

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Case preparation questions (to help you in your preparation of the case):

1. How did Ducati become the second most profitable motorcycle maker in the world despite its small scale? What is the fundamental economic logic of Minoli’s turnaround?
2. Can Ducati sustain its position in the sport segment? Can Honda and the other Japanese manufacturers stop its growth in this segment?
3. What strategic alternatives are available to Minoli in 2001
4. Which alternative would you recommend? Why?