Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 1998 (Revised May 1999)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

General Scanning, Inc. (B)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Sean McClenaghan and Charles Tillen
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:20
ShareBar

Abstract

After meeting with a mediator, Montagu and Davis decided their goals were not in accordance, and Davis left General Scanning. Montagu and Brosens wrote three-year objectives for the company and proceeded to search for a new professional manager. Chuck Winston took on the role of CEO/president with the goals of growth, profitability, consistency, and solid management. Winston decentralized the company by forming four separate divisions: Recorder Products, Laser Systems, Optical Scanning, and Laser Graphics. By the end of 1994, General Scanning was worth over $76 million, was showing a profit with a strong balance sheet, and had over 1,000 customers. Having turned around the company and grown it threefold, Winston and the founders need to decide what to do next: merge, acquire, do an IPO, or spinoff the successful Laser Systems division. There remained the haunting issue that most of the stock was held by the two founders. The case discussion challenges students to deal with the core problem of managing this technology company--that is, formally changing the roles of the founders by changing the ownership and board of directors.

Keywords

Business Units; Restructuring; Change; Business or Company Management; Ownership Stake; Strategic Planning; Hardware

Citation

Bowen, H. Kent, Sean McClenaghan, and Charles Tillen. "General Scanning, Inc. (B)." Harvard Business School Case 698-037, January 1998. (Revised May 1999.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

H. Kent Bowen

→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • November 2012
    • Faculty Research

    New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged)

    By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Matthew Preble
    • September 2009
    • Faculty Research

    Peter Schultz at The Scripps Research Institute

    By: H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Courtney Purrington
    • June 2008
    • Faculty Research

    Gordon Williams: Clinical Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital

    By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington
More from the Authors
  • New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged) By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Matthew Preble
  • Peter Schultz at The Scripps Research Institute By: H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Courtney Purrington
  • Gordon Williams: Clinical Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.