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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2012 version)

  MC Tool

  Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

  Two partners acquired MC Tool in October 2007 for $5 million. The company was a machine shop that manufactured parts for a wide variety of applications in the energy, automotive and industrial equipment industries. In their first year of ownership, the partners focused on improving operations and enhancing sales with impressive results: sales doubled and EBTIDA increased by over 40%. But the "Great Recession" had an immediate impact in the fall of 2008 as customers cancelled orders and new sales became scarce. MC Tool's core business was cyclical and risky. The partners were considering transforming the business towards manufacturing more precise parts that would be less cyclical and less risky.

  Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Production; Manufacturing Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Ruback, Richard S., and Royce Yudkoff. "MC Tool." Harvard Business School Case 213-013, June 2013. (Revised from original July 2012 version.)

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2013 version)

  Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green

  Amy C. Edmondson, Sydney Ribot and Mary Saunders

  Describes Terrapin Bright Green, an environmental consulting and strategic planning firm, and its approach for creating integrative, systematic solutions to green-building conundrums through consulting, research, and policy-related activities. Emphasis is placed on the role of integrated design and the intensive team-based "charrette" process in Terrapin's consulting work as well as on the design trends of biophilia and biomimicry. The case focuses on the sustainable redesign of 111 8th Avenue, New York, New York, to explore the challenge of managing strategic, intangible services in the context of Terrapin's more concrete focus historically. A serendipitous discovery leads the founders to consider how the firm could systematize its process while maintaining the flexibility that made it successful.

  Keywords: integrated design; entrepreneurs; Creative Industries; CONSULTING firms; Energy; Design; Governance; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge; Labor; Organizations; Problems and Challenges; Research; Strategy; Value; Consulting Industry; New York (city, NY);

  Citation:

  Edmondson, Amy C., Sydney Ribot, and Mary Saunders. "Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green." Harvard Business School Case 613-053, May 2013. (Revised from original May 2013 version.)

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2012 version)

  Roxbury Technology Corporation

  Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

  Roxbury Technology is a Boston-based re-manufacturer of ink and toner cartridges. In early 2012 RTC was re-evaluating its approach to the company's two most important goals: reducing customer concentration and increasing profitability. RTC's largest customer accounted for about 98% of sales and the company had roughly broken even over the last two years. The two goals were intertwined because RTC's sales growth strategy had to be designed so it didn't bring the company into conflict with its largest customer. That raised its marketing costs and reduced profitability.

  Keywords: social enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Green Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Boston;

  Citation:

  Ruback, Richard S., and Royce Yudkoff. "Roxbury Technology Corporation." Harvard Business School Case 213-029, May 2013. (Revised from original September 2012 version.)

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