Case studies

ESPE, the market leader, is a medium-sized German manufacturer of precision dental impression materials competing in a shrinking market. To grow the business, ESPE invests substantial resources in innovative impression materials and associated distribution mechanisms. Squeezed by the shrinking market, the competition is increasingly using the proprietary channels (dispensing mechanisms) and brand equity (trademark) of ESPE to maintain their market share. There is a potential infringement. Explores how ESPE is organized to execute on the options imbedded in its IP rights.

To provide students with an understanding of how to use brands and trademarks in conjunction with trade secrets, patents, and other forms of IP in mature markets to build and maintain innovation-based competitive advantage.

Chuck Smith, senior brand manager of A.1. Steak Sauce, learns that Lawry's will soon be launching a steak sauce product. He has to determine whether A.1. should defend its business and, if so, what A.1. should do. In formulating the recommendation, he has to consider competitive dynamics and work through the financial implications.

The case is based on a real $25 million project at a major U.S.-based computer manufacturer. For confidentiality reasons the company has been disguised as A&D High Tech. The Web-based online ordering system project is required by sales and marketing for the fall holiday season. If the project misses this window, the firm will lose substantial market share to competitors. The A&D High Tech case examines how to create and analyze a project plan in Microsoft Project. Specifically, data is given to build the project plan step-by-step and then analyze the plan using the Microsoft project management tool. In order to make the case manageable for students we reduced the size of the project, and corresponding number of resources, to approximately $1 million, but retained all of the features of the original project. The project plan that students construct from the data given in the case is fraught with risks, and students must apply risk management techniques to diagnose the plan. Ultimately, students must answer the management question: Will the project be completed for the holiday shopping season? This case is the first in a series; the second is the case entitled “A&D High Tech (B): Managing Scope Change.” The case can also be taught using other project management software tools, such as Primavera.

The case teaches students how to build a project plan in Microsoft Project (or other project management software tools). More important, the case teaches prospective executives how to analyze a project plan and identify risks of the plan, and define strategies to mitigate these risks. Students learn that in the planning stage of any project the risks are highest, but this is the best opportunity for proactive management intervention.

The case is based on a real $25 million project at a major U.S.-based computer manufacturer. For confidentiality reasons the company has been disguised as A&D High Tech. The Web-based online ordering system project is required by sales and marketing for the fall holiday season. If the project misses this window, the firm will lose substantial market share to competitors. Part (B) takes place three months into the original project plan. The project manager has just been fired and the management challenge is to find out what is wrong with the project and recommend fixes. In addition, the scope of the project has changed: the VP of marketing has an additional promotional bundle requirement. A&D High Tech (A) examines how to create and analyze a project plan in Microsoft Project. In order to make the case manageable for students we reduced the size of the project, and corresponding number of resources, to approximately $1 million, but retained all of the features of the original project. Part (B) gives actual work done on each task three months into the project. Students must answer the management questions: Can the project be fixed and completed in time for the holiday season? Can the additional requirements be incorporated, and if so, what is the best approach? In order to answer these questions, earned value data can be extracted from Microsoft Project and analyzed. These data provide important insights into the root cause of problems with the project. The next step is to reduce the scope of the project and reassign resources. However, one must be aware that indiscriminately adding people can slow a project down, not speed it up. Finally, the additional promotional bundle requirement from the VP of marketing provides an important outsourcing management discussion. The case can also be taught using other project management software tools, such as Primavera.

The case teaches students how to analyze a project in trouble using Microsoft Project (or other project management software tool). More important, the case teaches prospective executives how to manage a project in trouble by first accurately diagnosing the problems, then reducing scope where necessary, and finally replanning the project with reallocated resources. In addition, students will learn the tradeoffs of outsourcing to highly specialized professionals vs. average contractors.

In late 2012 Adeline Herzog Memorial Hospital in Castle Rock, Colorado, was facing a problem with patient satisfaction. The Press-Ganey scores for the third-floor nursing unit–the primary destination (70 percent) for patients admitted through the emergency department–were at the 15th percentile, and the key HCAHPS score for inpatients was well below the Colorado average. Over the past six months Jeri Tinsley, director of medical, surgical, and intensive care services, had made various changes to try to improve the patient satisfaction scores for her 32-bed unit, but the scores seemed stuck at an unacceptably low level.

Tinsley worried that if improvements were not made soon, patients would start “voting with their feet” and take their business to competing hospitals. As a registered nurse, Tinsley's expertise was helping people heal; it was not analyzing data. In particular, she was overwhelmed by the patient comments included in the surveys; she had no idea how to analyze them and could not decide which issues to address first.

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:

• Organize and analyze qualitative data using affinity diagrams

• Identify priorities using Pareto diagrams

• Identify which aspects of a problem are (1) within their control to solve, (2) within their influence to solve, or (3) outside their control to solve

Organize and analyze qualitative data using affinity diagrams

Identify priorities using Pareto diagrams

Identify which aspects of a problem are (1) within their control to solve, (2) within their influence to solve, or (3) outside their control to solve

The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the “new economy” boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.

Students will: Identify the teachable moment in a crisis that leaders can leverage as an opportunity to improve a firm's reputation or core identity, to reinforce values, and to drive change, Understand the impact on crisis management of the media landscape and regulatory decision-making, Realize the fragility of corporate cultures and the need to actively maintain them, especially during difficult times,

The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the “new economy” boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.

Students will: Identify the teachable moment in a crisis that leaders can leverage as an opportunity to improve a firm's reputation or core identity, to reinforce values, and to drive change, Understand the impact on crisis management of the media landscape and regulatory decision-making, Realize the fragility of corporate cultures and the need to actively maintain them, especially during difficult times,

The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the “new economy” boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.

Students will: Identify the teachable moment in a crisis that leaders can leverage as an opportunity to improve a firm's reputation or core identity, to reinforce values, and to drive change, Understand the impact on crisis management of the media landscape and regulatory decision-making, Realize the fragility of corporate cultures and the need to actively maintain them, especially during difficult times,

Tom McKillop, CEO of AstraZeneca, faced the classic quandary of large pharmaceutical firms. The firm's patent for Prilosec (active ingredient omeprazole) was expiring. Severe cost-based competition from generic drug manufacturers was inevitable. Patent expirations were nothing new for the US$15.8 billion in revenues drug firm, but Prilosec was the firm's most successful drug franchise, with global sales of US$6.2 billion. How could the company innovate its way around the generic cost-based competition and avoid the drop in revenues associated with generic drug market entry? AstraZeneca had other follow-on drugs in the pipeline—namely Nexium, an improvement on the original Prilosec molecule. Additionally, the company had the opportunity to introduce its own version of generic omeprazole, hence becoming the first mover in the generic segment, and/or introduce an OTC version of omeprazole that might tap into other markets. Ideally, AstraZeneca would like to move brand-loyal Prilosec customers to Nexium. In this market, direct-to-consumer advertising has remarkable efficacy. Classical marketing challenges of pricing and promotion need to be resolved for the Nexium launch as well as possible product and place challenges for the generic or OTC opportunity. Which combination of marketing options will allow the firm to best sustain the value of the original omeprazole innovation?

The central objective of the case is to teach students how marketing variables can be used by first movers with diverse product portfolios to fend off severe price competition. These variables include pricing, promotion, product, and place (distribution) options as considered in the context of branded, generic, and OTC pharmaceutical market segments.

Atari, a maker of video games, went through several owners over the years winding up controlled by Infogrames, a French publisher of video games. Infogrames later sold Atari shares in a secondary public offering, eventually reducing the parent’s share to 51.6 percent by September 2005 creating a complicated two-tier ownership structure. Two levels of management made it difficult to get things done. The financial structure was a problem for Infogrames because the French company had to consolidate 100 percent of Atari’s results even though it only owned 51 percent of the company. Atari was generating substantial losses, had defaulted on its debt, and was faced with the possibility of filing for bankruptcy without more working capital. The independent directors of Atari, when confronted with an unsolicited Infogrames buyout offer, had several options: (1) agree to the $1.68 offer (take the money and run); (2) pursue a white knight (a buyout from another investor of company that would be willing to pay a higher price and invest working capital); (3) file a lawsuit to stop the takeover to buy time or perhaps force Infogrames to increase its offer.

Communications in a turnaround How planning and executing a communications strategy is as important as other functional actions Dealing with an international ownership base with a U.S. turnaround of a legacy brand with no hard assets Fiduciary duty and governance issues arising from a takeover offer.

Bruce-Alfred Technologies (BAT) has built a successful business selling packaged software. Its marketing has long promised free technical support to all customers, a key point of differentiation from BAT's competitors. However, the call center providing tech support is now in crisis. Wait times for callers are unacceptably high, leading to low customer satisfaction and negative press. BAT managers are evaluating the Fast Track Proposal, which would create two classes of calls. Fast Track calls would be promised a one-minute wait but pay for service. Standard calls would still be free but be given lower priority and have no wait time guarantee. Considers both the operational impact of this change and the strategic considerations of backing away from free tech support.

To emphasize the impact of priorities and alternative ways of managing capacity, discuss different ways of pricing services--i.e., pay-per-transaction vs. subscription, and demonstrate the basics of the relation between utilization and delay.

BHP, an Australian mining company, threatens to enter the potash mining industry through a hostile takeover of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. Complicating matters is the fact that the Canadian potash industry has operated as a legal cartel in which the provincial government has a stake. This case enables students to assess BHP's strategy in terms of value creation and value capture, how it relates to its existing investments in the industry, and the risks and rewards of alternatives to BHP's strategy

-How cartels help firms capture value in an industry and how the threat of entry can limit the cartel members' ability to do so -How firms outside a cartel can capture value though a competitive threat -The range of strategies available to incumbents and

Considers why Blockbuster has a competitive advantage in video retailing. Details both Blockbuster's use of revenue sharing contracts with movie studios to coordinate the vertical chain and Blockbuster's “Go Home Happy” marketing campaign. Challenges readers to understand how revenue sharing contracts, which are imitable and sometimes used by Blockbuster's competitors, can nevertheless be a key part of Blockbuster's advantage.

Boeing and Airbus are contemplating entry into very-large-aircraft (VLA) markets. Both firms are convinced the market cannot support two players due to the extremely high R&D costs and the limited (and highly uncertain) state of demand. The key strategic issue is the uncertainty surrounding Boeing's development cost: to what extent would Boeing's experience with the 747 help it reduce the R&D cost of a new VLA prototype? The main point is that Boeing's strategic moves signal its private information, and that this eliminates any first-mover advantage Boeing might have had in this market.

To introduce some of the strategic issues arising in natural monopoly industries in which the winner takes all, and focus on the issues of credible preemption and signaling.

Describes how four independent, community-based nonmedical centers that offered professional services and programs to cancer patients on a voluntary non-fee basis in the 1990s came together to form the Cancer Health Alliance in 2003-2004 as a separate nonprofit to help achieve more of their mission and be more sustainable.

To understand why it is so difficult for small independent nonprofits with similar missions, activities, programs, and funding to collaborate to achieve more mission. To examine how less complex nonprofit alliances begin, how they progress along an alliance continuum, and what the options are for future growth.

Brad Powell, the newly hired senior leader of a Christian church, must lead the organization to reverse a three-decade decline and return to fulfilling its mission. Brad spent the first six months assessing the situation, building relationships, and reiterating the longstanding mission of the organization. Now, with an understanding of its history, an intimate knowledge of the immediate challenges, and a clear vision of what the organization should become, Brad is considering his strategy and next steps. As the leader of a nonprofit organization resourced by members and volunteers, Brad must lead change that produces results without compromising the mission. The B case summarizes Brad's actions and the results.

To allow students to evaluate Brad's situation and advise him on the best plan for leading change at Temple Baptist Church. To demonstrate the impact of a leader on an organization's culture, and the fit between an organization's style and its mission. To allow discussion of the paradoxes a leader must manage in changing a culture, measuring financial versus nonprofit results, leading volunteers versus paid staff, upholding mission versus tradition, and leading change with limited resources.

Shows how a regional family company threatened by national competition must make changes to its structure and way of doing business or face extinction or sale.

How does a mature business develop new growth markets, assuming it already has new products? That was the challenge facing The Coca-Cola Company and its global system of bottlers in the 2000s when demand for its core line of carbonated soft drinks flattened. The Australian bottler, Amatil, pinned its hopes on energy drinks, a fast-growth, youth-oriented category that was capturing headlines and share away from traditional products. To wrest control from the upstart brands that originated them, Amatil was targeting the retail context where young people congregated and formed their preferences, in pubs, nightclubs, healthclubs, and sporting events. This international case explores the challenges encountered when a mature company with considerable distribution assets, well-honed systems, and entrenched operating procedures attempts to sell into an underserved retail channel with requirements quite unlike those of the company's mainstream buyers. How does it attract market interest? How does it develop new routes-to-market without undercutting the cost efficiencies and delivery value that have earned it dominant position elsewhere? How does it win over what could be its core customers of the future without alienating today's faithful? These are just some of the questions that Amatil management was determined to solve.

Understand issues related to retail channel strategy development in fast-changing international consumer markets, and the challenges of adapting legacy routes-to-market systems to changing consumer demands.

Colfax Corporation was a young, privately held collection of pump-manufacturing companies from the United States and Europe. Intending to go public, it was eager to find a story for investors of how it could grow at rates faster than its subsidiaries had historically grown in their home regions and core-customer industrial markets. This case describes a singular new-growth opportunity: selling Colfax solutions into state-owned petroleum enterprises in the Middle East at a time when these producers were straining to add capacity. Designing the optimal marketing system required Colfax to weigh a complex of issues, including global resource allocation and deployment, a process for customer-relationship building, and estimates for revenue streams versus investment outlays. The design process was, in short, far more than “sticking sales rep pins in the map.” Case readers are asked to think along with the Colfax global management team in deciding, “How much can we afford to risk our current income model in order to build new capacity in a new region in a new way?”

Understanding issues related to global B2B marketing channel strategy development, as well as complexities of entering unfamiliar new international markets such as Middle East oil and gas.

After a massive storm hit the northern Illinois service area of electric utility Commonwealth Edison on July 11, 2011, more than 900,000 customers were left without power during a hot, humid summer. ComEd crews and reinforcements from more than a dozen other states worked for days afterward to restore service. Meanwhile, the company's months-old social media strategy faced its first major test. The eChannels social media team, part of ComEd's customer operations division, worked around the clock to respond to posts from customers on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. At a time when the company faced public debate and criticism over its plan to raise electricity rates, in part to invest in smart-grid upgrades, engaging directly through social media was a way to strengthen relationships with customers and the general public, consistent with an important corporate goal: “Keep the lights on and information flowing.”

After discussing the case, students will:

• Develop an appreciation for the role social media can play in shaping a company's reputation

• Understand how companies can use social media to engage customers directly in order to protect their reputations

• Understand the role these interactions with customers can play during a crisis situation

• Recognize the added reputational risk when a company's core business is directly impacted by a natural disaster

Develop an appreciation for the role social media can play in shaping a company's reputation

Understand how companies can use social media to engage customers directly in order to protect their reputations

Understand the role these interactions with customers can play during a crisis situation

Recognize the added reputational risk when a company's core business is directly impacted by a natural disaster

In March 2007 C. James Prieur, CEO of insurance provider Conseco, was faced with a crisis. The front page of the New York Times featured a story on the grieving family of an elderly woman who had faithfully paid for her Conseco long-term care (LTC) policy, only to find that it would not pay her claims. Her family had to pay for her care (until her recent death), which unfortunately resulted in the loss of the family business. The family was now very publicly pursuing litigation. For a company that depended on thousands of employees, investors, and independent agents who sold the insurance plans, this reputational risk was a serious threat. On top of this immediate crisis, all signs in the industry were pointing to the fact that the LTC business itself was not viable, yet over the years Conseco had acquired a number of LTC insurance providers. Students are asked to analyze not only what Prieur’s priorities should be in addressing the immediate crisis but also the risks inherent in the LTC industry and how this might affect Conseco’s success as a business moving forward

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

• Analyze the risks in the long-term care insurance industry

• Distinguish the various types of risk that caused a company’s crisis and recognize the potential for contagion

• Brainstorm how the risks faced by Conseco could have been avoided or better contained

• Recommend the first steps C. James Prieur and the Conseco leadership team should take to rectify the New York Times article crisis

Analyze the risks in the long-term care insurance industry

Distinguish the various types of risk that caused a company’s crisis and recognize the potential for contagion

Brainstorm how the risks faced by Conseco could have been avoided or better contained

Recommend the first steps C. James Prieur and the Conseco leadership team should take to rectify the New York Times article crisis

Change is hard for all but perhaps more difficult for school leaders and other nonprofit organizations. The role that culture plays in a mission-driven organization can often be an impediment to change. This case uses a unique education institution, St. Martin dePorres School of the Cristo Rey Network, to illustrate the importance of culture in implementing change. It demonstrates how leaders can articulate a vision and create a strategy to change an organization and move toward success. The case focuses on the leadership team of Principal Mike Odiotti and Assistant Principal Judy Seiberlich and how they used cultural change as the key driver to school success. That success was defined by improved academic performance, greater accountability for students, teachers and staff and stronger empowerment of constituents. It includes an overview of how the school's leadership team used data to drive decision making. This case is ideal for MBA students, executives in nonprofit management or school leadership and can be used to illustrate change management, nonprofit leadership, culture change, mission-driven strategy or school leadership. It addresses critical issues that organizations face and provides tools and tactics that can be applied to mission-driven enterprises.

Understand the role culture plays in creating change in an organization Gain an appreciation and comprehension for the relevance of shaping culture when implementing a vision Recognize norms guide people's behavior in organizations. Learn to identify the norms that promote positive cultures and those that create toxic environments Learn how to diagnose organizational culture using the “Iceberg Model” Build a repertoire of skills needed to successfully change and shape an organization's culture

Change is hard for all but perhaps more difficult for school leaders and other nonprofit organizations. The role that culture plays in a mission-driven organization can often be an impediment to change. This case uses a unique education institution, St. Martin dePorres School of the Cristo Rey Network, to illustrate the importance of culture in implementing change. It demonstrates how leaders can articulate a vision and create a strategy to change an organization and move toward success. The case focuses on the leadership team of Principal Mike Odiotti and Assistant Principal Judy Seiberlich and how they used cultural change as the key driver to school success. That success was defined by improved academic performance, greater accountability for students, teachers and staff and stronger empowerment of constituents. It includes an overview of how the school's leadership team used data to drive decision making. This case is ideal for MBA students, executives in nonprofit management or school leadership and can be used to illustrate change management, nonprofit leadership, culture change, mission-driven strategy or school leadership. It addresses critical issues that organizations face and provides tools and tactics that can be applied to mission-driven enterprises.

Understand the role culture plays in creating change in an organization Gain an appreciation and comprehension for the relevance of shaping culture when implementing a vision Recognize norms guide people's behavior in organizations. Learn to identify the norms that promote positive cultures and those that create toxic environments Learn how to diagnose organizational culture using the “Iceberg Model” Build a repertoire of skills needed to successfully change and shape an organization's culture

Steven Rogers had always thought that someday he would like to own a business with one or both of his daughters. As his eldest daughter, Akilah, finished her final semester at Harvard Business School, she told Rogers that she would like to create with him a Chicago-based real estate venture that included buying, rehabbing and renting homes in the Englewood and South Shore neighborhoods of Chicago. Rogers quickly realized that his biggest challenge was how to equitably structure the ownership of the business. He gathered advice from family business experts and slowly began to build a plan that would benefit each member of his family. Meanwhile, Akilah assumed responsibilities associated with the business as she finished her final semester at HBS. The case ends with Rogers Family Enterprises owning its first three houses.

1. Students learn how to construct an equitable business ownership plan for a family business. 2. Students learn the agreements that family businesses should have in place. 3. Students learn why successful entrepreneurs tend to be those who control the growth of their company while envisioning an empire.

AstraZeneca is preparing for the launch of Crestor, the company's first entrant in the enormous and fast-growing statin category. The team responsible for the product launch is considering how best to bring Crestor to market. Should AstraZeneca simply follow the example set by Pfizer with the exceptionally successful launch of Lipitor? Or should the company instead launch Crestor as a niche product?

To teach new product strategy for both emerging and established categories, and competitive strategy.

This case examines a company that rents and leases computers. The primary objective of the case is to provide a scenario where students can see the link between operational flow measures such as inventory, throughput, and flow time and financial flows. The case presents a scenario where a firm sees financial performance worsen even though sales increase. A link between the operational measures and financial flows allows students to understand the causes.

To provide a scenario that shows the link between operational flow measures such as inventory, throughput, and flow time and financial flows.

Describes the winning formula at Neiman Marcus that has made it the No. 1 luxury retailer in the United States in terms of sales per square foot and profitability. Highlights Neiman Marcus' efforts to define who its customers are and are not and to achieve superior focus on its customers by aligning location, price, service, and merchandise to fulfill these customers' every need. Describes ways in which Neiman Marcus prevents typical silo behavior between merchandising and selling and how it ensures that the right merchandise gets to the right customer, despite the challenge of doing this in 36 micromarkets.

To show how a company integrates two strong high-performance functions—merchandising and sales—to get the right merchandise to each customer in more than 30 diverse selling locations while consistently providing exceptional customer service.

Tel Aviv–based Diskit Khartsan Ltd. sold sprays, traps, and netting to combat Blatta lateralis, the Israeli flying cockroach. The insect, slightly over one inch (2.54 cm) long and capable of flying short distances, was noisy, unsightly, and posed a risk of food contamination. Every heat wave brought more infestations, and consumers across the Mediterranean armed themselves with Diskit's HLH™ brand products.

HLH products generated nearly two-thirds of Diskit's annual revenues. During periods of low demand, local retailers resisted devoting significant shelf space to the bulky products, which meant that during periods of high demand stockouts occurred frequently and Diskit lost sales. To address this problem, the company had implemented a trust receipts program that raised prices for retailers by 3 percent but allowed them to take Diskit products onto their balance sheets without payment until the products were sold.

After analyzing and discussing the case, students should be able to: • Understand the relationship between a firm's credit policy and its product market strategy • Explain the effect of growth on firms' strategy when product market strategy is capital-intensive • Understand how exogenous change in the market's structure affects firms' product market strategy and, consequently, its inventory and credit policie

The Disney Crisis Exercise is not revealed here because it is entirely an in-class experience; students should not have access to any details prior to the exercise. Complete information is available to instructors in the teaching note. In this real-time exercise, student teams will advise Disney how to respond to a crisis precipitated by vocal and well-organized influence groups that threaten its brand as part of their advocacy on behalf of social causes. The crisis occurs against a backdrop of dynamic industry and company changes, many of which have important consequences for Disney.

After completing this exercise, students should be able to:

Doug Cook, an MBA graduate, was wrestling with one of the most important career decisions of his life: Which one of three seemingly promising businesses should he acquire? Each acquisition was a viable opportunity, and each had potential to be a successful business. Cook, however, had heard numerous disconcerting stories about other entrepreneurs going through this process. He realized that until this time the biggest purchase he had made in his life was a $250,000 condominium in downtown Chicago. Acquiring one of these companies would require a financial and personal commitment greater than anything he had ever attempted. He felt a window of opportunity was closing. If he did not act now, he might find himself in the corporate world forever. Cook began by writing up a personal criteria list for his acquisition, then researching online and media sources for businesses for sale. Frustrated with that process, he hired a business broker. With the broker's help, Cook found three promising candidates from which to choose: Luxury Tassels, Inc.; Feldco Windows and Doors, Inc.; and Coyote Consulting Company. The (A) case includes income statements, pro forma forecasts, balance sheets, and organization charts for each company, in addition to Cook's financial analyses and valuation of each company. The (B) case features the letter of intent that Cook gave the owner of the company he selected. Ultimately he did purchase the company, and in the (C) case, Cook examines pathways to growing his newly acquired company.

How to be entrepreneurial through acquiring a business The importance of establishing their own decision criteria regarding the type of company they would like to acquire How to research businesses for sale The issues in working with a business broker How to analyze financial statement in the context of buying the company How to make decisions and use financial analysis to support their decisions

Doug Cook, an MBA graduate, was wrestling with one of the most important career decisions of his life: Which one of three seemingly promising businesses should he acquire? Each acquisition was a viable opportunity, and each had potential to be a successful business. Cook, however, had heard numerous disconcerting stories about other entrepreneurs going through this process. He realized that until this time the biggest purchase he had made in his life was a $250,000 condominium in downtown Chicago. Acquiring one of these companies would require a financial and personal commitment greater than anything he had ever attempted. He felt a window of opportunity was closing. If he did not act now, he might find himself in the corporate world forever. Cook began by writing up a personal criteria list for his acquisition, then researching online and media sources for businesses for sale. Frustrated with that process, he hired a business broker. With the broker's help, Cook found three promising candidates from which to choose: Luxury Tassels, Inc.; Feldco Windows and Doors, Inc.; and Coyote Consulting Company. The (A) case includes income statements, pro forma forecasts, balance sheets, and organization charts for each company, in addition to Cook's financial analyses and valuation of each company. The (B) case features the letter of intent that Cook gave the owner of the company he selected. Ultimately he did purchase the company, and in the (C) case, Cook examines pathways to growing his newly acquired company.

How to be entrepreneurial through acquiring a business The importance of establishing their own decision criteria regarding the type of company they would like to acquire How to research businesses for sale The issues in working with a business broker How to analyze financial statement in the context of buying the company How to make decisions and use financial analysis to support their decisions

“Driving Strategic Change at the Junior League (A)” describes a troubled organizational environment. Challenges included a dissatisfied membership, declining membership numbers, a large diversity among local leagues, and limited resources to meet the organization's overall objectives. The case describes a “participatory roadmap” approach, drawing on the insights of comprehensive research, and highlights a strategic-change approach that focuses on participation and local-level flexibility.

The (B) case examines how the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) took initial steps to implement the participatory roadmap. Through a purposeful messaging strategy that involved many targets and various modes of communication, AJLI leaders sought to influence and inform active members, sustainers, and their local leaders. Further, through the use of design teams, AJLI gained deep insight into the ways that implementation might vary across local leagues. Finally, these design teams enabled AJLI to make initial gains in membership and develop a cross-league learning community.

After reading and analyzing the (A) case, students should be able to:

• Describe the challenges of leading organizational change in a federated membership nonprofit

• Appraise different forms of data to determine the types of changes needed in a large-scale nonprofit transformation

• Identify ways to unfreeze the organization, encouraging individual members' readiness for change

• Formulate a plan for collaborative, large-scale organizational transformation, as opposed to a coercive strategy

Describe the challenges of leading organizational change in a federated membership nonprofit

Appraise different forms of data to determine the types of changes needed in a large-scale nonprofit transformation

Identify ways to unfreeze the organization, encouraging individual members' readiness for change

Formulate a plan for collaborative, large-scale organizational transformation, as opposed to a coercive strategy

“Driving Strategic Change at the Junior League (A)” describes a troubled organizational environment. Challenges included a dissatisfied membership, declining membership numbers, a large diversity among local leagues, and limited resources to meet the organization's overall objectives. The case describes a “participatory roadmap” approach, drawing on the insights of comprehensive research, and highlights a strategic-change approach that focuses on participation and local-level flexibility.

The (B) case examines how the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) took initial steps to implement the participatory roadmap. Through a purposeful messaging strategy that involved many targets and various modes of communication, AJLI leaders sought to influence and inform active members, sustainers, and their local leaders. Further, through the use of design teams, AJLI gained deep insight into the ways that implementation might vary across local leagues. Finally, these design teams enabled AJLI to make initial gains in membership and develop a cross-league learning community.

After reading and analyzing the (B) case, students should be able to:

• Identify successful communication strategies for change

• Appraise the level of readiness for organizational change and design strategies to address that level of readiness

• Describe the three implementation strategies (i.e., normative-reeducative, power-coercive, empirical-rational) and the circumstances under which each would be appropriate

• Develop an interactive process for encouraging feedback on the change process

Identify successful communication strategies for change

Appraise the level of readiness for organizational change and design strategies to address that level of readiness

Describe the three implementation strategies (i.e., normative-reeducative, power-coercive, empirical-rational) and the circumstances under which each would be appropriate

Develop an interactive process for encouraging feedback on the change process

MBA students Tim Joyce and Brandon Cornuke had what they believed was a great product concept: a body powder that could be delivered in an aerosol spray. Current market-leading powders such as Gold Bond and Johnson's Baby Powder involved messy application, as they were only available in “dump-on” form. Worse, because powders deposited on top of the skin didn't adhere to it, they tended not to last long. Joyce and Cornuke believed an aerosol powder spray would solve these problems. They called their product concept Dry Goods. However, taking Dry Goods from idea to reality presented some serious challenges. How would two students without access to a lab be able to research and develop a complex chemical/physical process like aerosol delivery, let alone manufacture it once they had a proven prototype? To address these problems, the two entrepreneurs sought out a contract manufacturing partner. After identifying a number of options, Joyce and Cornuke had to decide which partner offered them the best chances of success, given their goals and financial constraints.

Students will learn about the process of hiring a contract manufacturing partner to produce a new packaged good for a startup.

What happens when a company is faced with a unique market challenge with the potential to change the way business is done—a true market disruption? This was the challenge faced by the European business team of DuPont's Tyvek Housewrap business. The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol created new challenges for the construction industry in the United Kingdom that the DuPont team felt it could meet. To enforce the Kyoto Protocol, the U.K. government threatened to fine utility companies and builders who did not adhere to new emissions standards. Deploys the Innovation Radar framework, which encourages a business to think through all the issues of a business system, leading to a successful introduction and a sustainable business. DuPont's European Tyvek team had to devise a solution at the intersection of multiple elements. Specifically: Who should it target? How should it describe the product's value proposition? Through what channels could it reach the key decision makers? How could it overcome the inertia of the existing business system?

To illustrate that all the issues relevant to bringing an innovation to market must be recognized and dealt with in an integrated fashion when introducing major new business initiatives; that the Innovation Radar is a useful framework that integrates key questions around WHAT the product is, WHO the key customers are, HOW the product affects their desired outcomes, and WHERE the product should be placed in market; and that the elements in the radar comprise a complete business system of innovation.

An industry adage held that “there are two types of rental car companies: those that lose money and Enterprise.” The company that would become Enterprise Rent-A-Car was started in 1957 in St. Louis, Missouri, by Jack Taylor. Taylor set up Enterprise offices in neighborhoods rather than at airports because he believed that Americans would welcome a local option for renting cars when their own vehicles were being repaired. In 2010 Enterprise had more than 6,000 rental locations in the United States and a fleet of 850,000 cars in service. Its parent, Enterprise Holdings (comprising Enterprise, National, and Alamo brands) accounted for nearly half of the car rental market and was more than twice the size of Hertz, the number two competitor. Enterprise's competitive advantage was the result of the combination of its practices in hiring, training, compensation, organization, customer service, IT, and fleet management, among others.

The Namaste case is a story of how Kellogg alumni couple Gary and Denise Gardner grow their Namaste branded hair care line from production at the family's kitchen table into a formidable $80 million empire within a 14-year period. The Gardners come from a longtime hair-care business lineage, the Soft Sheen dynasty, started by Gary's father decades earlier. Soft Sheen was ultimately sold to hair care giant L'Oreal for over $100 million. The Gardners claim Namaste's growth occurred through listening to the needs and desires of customers for healing hair care products that reminded them of nourishing household remedies. The hair care line became a leader in its industry but faced the dilemma of how to expand sales in new markets, especially international markets such as South Africa and Nigeria.

Students learn to develop new business opportunities including international expansion and tools of the internet to exploit the tools of vision, innovation and change resulting in new customer services and solutions. Students will focus on the basic fundamentals of sales and review the relationship of customer need identification and the reasons that make people buy. Students will assess the entrepreneurial strategies applied to fuel future growth based on an idea or product. Students will focus on the sales fundamentals that can be applied to entrepreneurial environments.

Looks at the introduction of statistical process control (SPC) into a distribution center servicing a department store chain. Focuses on the receiving process in the distribution center and describes the introduction of SPC methodology. Discusses run charts, pareto diagrams, and control limits.

To introduce statistical process control.

A successful, multigeneration manufacturing family business, with progressive human resources policies, weighs the pros and cons with family owners and company employees of selling the business to meet the challenge of global competition.

It is January 2014, and the case protagonist, David Milestone (senior advisor at the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact at the U.S. Agency for International Development's Global Health Bureau), is preparing for a meeting of global stakeholders and pharmaceutical manufacturers who are interested in reducing mortality caused by childhood pneumonia and are prepared to donate $10 million to support this effort.

Milestone's goal is to propose a strategy to address childhood pneumonia in Uganda, toward which the $10 million donation would go. In addition to effectively and sustainably reducing childhood pneumonia deaths, the plan must align the interests of various stakeholders behind the problem. A successful strategy in Uganda could be a model for interventions elsewhere. The United Nations Commission on Lifesaving Commodities for Women and Children recently identified Uganda as a “pathfinder” country, meaning it could serve as the example for other countries wrestling with the same issues. This is a remarkable opportunity to change the lives of children in Uganda—and all around the world.

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

• Perform a stakeholder analysis

• Appreciate the challenges involved in improving public health, especially in developing countries

• Create a patient journey and use it to identify potential impact points

Perform a stakeholder analysis

Appreciate the challenges involved in improving public health, especially in developing countries

Create a patient journey and use it to identify potential impact points

Discusses the challenges that internal departments face as organizations grow and expand. The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, grew significantly over a short period of time, creating considerable problems in the finance department, as staff and systems failed to keep pace with the evolving demands placed by the museum departments. These problems resulted in outdated policies and procedures, unhappy users, and frustrated employees. The finance department needed big changes but had to make them while maintaining vital functions, improving morale, and instituting new policies and procedures. Discusses several key nonprofit management issues, including change management, the role of leadership in a crisis, the challenge of informal personnel networks and knowledge management, and key financial issues facing nonprofit organizations.

The case puts students in the position of a young analyst working for a Chicago-based student housing developer. The premise is that the analyst, Tricia, must prepare a report for the firm's partners detailing her recommendations regarding a variety of green upgrades for a potential value-added acquisition project. The redevelopment project is based on two multifamily student housing redevelopment projects in Denton, Texas (led by Iconic Development). The case focuses solely on the operating expense reduction that took place at the property and does not address potential changes to property revenues.

The objective of the case is to provide a framework for students to evaluate various sustainable retrofitting projects in a multifamily property. Students must analyze the energy impact, cost, financial returns, and environmental impact of each potential property upgrade, and then decide which upgrades to recommend to management.

Fiserv, a pioneer in electronic payments, would like to increase the number of consumers who receive bills electronically. Currently, adoption is relatively low. To help guide their efforts, Fiserv managers have done extensive customer research and have segmented the market based on customer perceptions of e-billing. Students must recommend which segments to target and why. To support their recommendations, students must calculate the likely financial costs and benefits of adoption, estimate the likely returns for targeting different segments, and make targeting and positioning recommendations based on these calculations. Because Fiserv's direct customers are billers (such as utilities and credit card companies) and its end users are individual consumers, the case allows a focus on both B2B and B2C issues.

This case gives students the opportunity to estimate the relative profitability of different segments and to make targeting and positioning recommendations based on these calculations. It highlights the importance of assessing segments based on both quantitative and qualitative considerations. It also emphasizes the potential difficulties associated with targeting multiple segments at once.

The purpose of this case is to introduce the topic of socially responsible investing from both the investor and investee perspectives. The students will walk away with an understanding of 1) how to evaluate a portfolio company on a social/environmental mission and on traditional financial criteria, and 2) what considerations should be top of mind for a social venture considering accepting an equity investment. Wes Selke is a portfolio manager at Good Capital, an investment fund created to increase the flow of capital to innovative nonprofit and for-profit social ventures that are using market-based solutions to solve problems of poverty, illiteracy, and inequality. In 2007, Good Capital is ready to make its first growth equity investment in a for-profit social enterprise and Selke is considering Better World Books as the firm's primary target. Selke must evaluate whether or not the firm is a financially sound investment and if its social and environmental missions can be preserved upon a liquidation event. If Good Capital proceeds with the investment, Selke must also rework some of Better World Books' current procedures, including fine-tuning the philanthropic giving strategy that is the main component of its social mission.

To expose students to both the investor and investee perspectives in social venture capital (SVC) deal ensuring they understand the criteria that must be considered when evaluating a potential investment in a for-profit social enterprise (investor perspective) and know what questions to ask both the investor and your organization before accepting an equity investment (investee perspective). To emphasize the importance of structuring a deal so that the social/environmental mission of a portfolio company is preserved upon exit.

The purpose of this case is to introduce the topic of socially responsible investing from both the investor and investee perspective. The students will walk away with an understanding of: 1) how to evaluate a portfolio company on a social/environmental mission as well as on traditional financial criteria and 2) what considerations should be top of mind for a social venture considering accepting an equity investment. Wes Selke is a portfolio manager at Good Capital, an investment fund created to increase the flow of capital to innovative non- and for-profit social ventures that are using market-based solutions to solve problems of poverty, illiteracy, and inequality. In 2007, Good Capital is ready to make its first growth equity investment in a for-profit social enterprise and Selke is considering Better World Books as the firm's primary target. Selke must evaluate whether or not the firm is a financially sound investment, and if its social and environmental mission can be preserved upon a liquidation event. If Good Capital proceeds with the investment, Selke must also rework some of Better World Books' current procedures, which includes fine-tuning the philanthropic giving strategy that is the main component of its social mission.

To expose students to both the investor and investee perspectives in social venture capital (SVC) deal ensuring they understand the criteria that must be considered when evaluating a potential investment in a for-profit social enterprise (investor perspective) and know what questions to ask both the investor and your organization before accepting an equity investment (investee perspective). To emphasize the importance of structuring a deal so that the social/environmental mission of a portfolio company is preserved upon exit.

By early 2009 Starbucks had nearly 17,000 stores worldwide, with about a third of these outside the United States. Despite multibillion-dollar annual revenues, the giant coffee retailer's yearly growth had declined by half, quarterly earnings had dropped as much as 97 percent, same-store sales were negative, and its stock price was languishing. Factors such as a global economic downturn and increasing competition in the specialty coffee market from large players such as McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts had driven this decline, resulting in the closings of hundreds of domestic stores already, with many more planned. Founder Howard Schultz, who had recently returned as CEO, and his executive team were convinced that Starbucks's growth opportunities lay overseas, where the firm already had a strong foothold in markets like Japan and the United Kingdom and was preparing to open hundreds of new stores in a variety of locations. But recent international challenges, including the closing of most Australian stores due to sluggish sales, made clear that Starbucks had more to learn about bringing its value proposition—a combination of premium coffee, superior service, and a “coffeehouse experience”—to foreign soil. The key question was not whether Starbucks could transport its value proposition overseas, but how the value proposition's three elements would play in recently entered and new markets. And the stakes of making the right international moves rose with each U.S. store closure. Schultz and his team also faced a broader question, one that applied to both their U.S. and foreign stores: Could they “grow big and stay small,” remaining a huge retailer that delivered both high-quality products and a consistently intimate and enjoyable experience to consumers worldwide? This case presents this challenge in the context of Starbucks's history, well-established value proposition, and domestic and international growth and vision.

The key objectives of the case focus on the successful growth of local city brand, to a country brand, to a global brand, leaving the questions: 1. How much more can it grow? 2. Can it? 3. What is the impact of new competitors in a given market and/or the impact of the global economy on discretionary spending by a loyal customer base? 4. How important is it to the sustain a brand's core value(s) proposition when innovating for new audiences and customer preferences?

This case describes a newly promoted middle manager in a global, multi-cultural organization who is challenged by a number of factors in the workplace which are impacting her and her team's ability to perform to the expectations of her regional manager. While it would be easy to blame the new manager, deeper analysis in fact reveals that many forces are at work here in addition to her inexperience including communication of strategy and performance objectives, mismanaged team members, cultural inconsistencies, and a lack of leadership direction and/or skill from the very top to her supervising manager.

After reading and analyzing the case, students should be able to 1) analyze and diagnose unmet expectations for performance at work, 2) apply motivation theories and constructs to common behavioral and attitudinal challenges in a team setting, and 3) learn to avoid the fundamental attribution error described in the social psychological literature on judgment in decision-making.

The case puts students in the shoes of Todd Davis, founder and CEO of a boutique brownfield redevelopment firm, Hemisphere Development, in 2010. Davis is wrestling with decisions and processes surrounding the potential acquisition and redevelopment of the former Delphi Automotive plant in Columbus, Ohio. When making the investment decision, Davis (and students) must consider various factors: What is Hemisphere's implicit investment strategy, and what are the firm's core competencies? How should the firm finance this transaction to achieve an acceptable return?

• Practice creatively structuring and financing unique transactions

• Describe the importance of baseline analysis in dealing with contaminated or potentially contaminated properties, and understand that the timing of baseline analysis can be crucial in determining the viability of a transaction

• State the importance of each type of constituent in public-private transactions

• Recognize the benefits of specialized/niche expertise in deal-makin

Practice creatively structuring and financing unique transactions

Describe the importance of baseline analysis in dealing with contaminated or potentially contaminated properties, and understand that the timing of baseline analysis can be crucial in determining the viability of a transaction

State the importance of each type of constituent in public-private transactions

Recognize the benefits of specialized/niche expertise in deal-makin

Founded in San Francisco in 2009, Square finished 2012 as the darling of Silicon Valley; flush with more than $340 million in funding, the firm had grown to several hundred employees in just three short years. It processed more than $10 billion annually in credit and debit card payments from small business owners that used Square’s smartphone-enabled card swipe device wherever cellular or wireless Internet service was available.

However, Square’s success had attracted new entrants into the mobile payments processing space, both in the United States and abroad, threatening to derail the company’s remarkable trajectory. With its latest financing round valuing the company in excess of $3.4 billion, management and investors were considering which strategies would continue—even accelerate—the company’s growth

Square presents an opportunity for classes in strategy and technology management to contemplate the following:

• How can a startup disrupt an established set of incumbents without provoking a harsh competitive response?

• How can a growth company in a rapidly changing industry expand beyond the core competency that fueled its initial growth?

• Which growth platforms make the most sense for a company in a complicated ecosystem with many players offering divergent solutions?

How can a startup disrupt an established set of incumbents without provoking a harsh competitive response?

How can a growth company in a rapidly changing industry expand beyond the core competency that fueled its initial growth?

Which growth platforms make the most sense for a company in a complicated ecosystem with many players offering divergent solutions?

Hewlett-Packard (HP) had a long history of engaging in corporate citizenship, dating back to its founding. By 2009, however, under the leadership of its latest CEO, Mark Hurd, the company had lost its focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Hurd instead focused on undertaking a financial turnaround and overcoming other reputational challenges; he viewed CSR and philanthropic efforts as costs rather than as strategic levers. He instituted widespread cost-cutting measures to get HP back on track, including reducing CSR expenditure. The HP board, however, did not want to let CSR go by the wayside; in fact, it wanted HP to reorganize and restrategize its approach to corporate citizenship.

The case focuses on this strategic transformation from traditional, cost-center CSR to business-aligned social innovation. It outlines the details of the board's approval of the new strategy, and then discusses how HP employees worked to reorganize their CSR activity. The new team, the Office of Global Social Innovation (OGSI), had to devise a pilot project to demonstrate the new approach. The project under consideration was an engagement that would improve the early infant diagnosis process for testing infants for HIV in Kenya—an area virtually unknown to HP. The case asks students to assess the work of the OGSI team thus far, and to put themselves in the shoes of one team member who had to justify the project to HP's leadership.

The case is especially important for demonstrating the most recent shifts across some leading companies regarding how they position CSR, as well as how for-profit leaders can structure partnerships for impact.

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to: understand current shifts from traditional corporate social responsibility work to social innovation; understand the challenges facing leading companies as they seek to do well (enhance the company's bottom-line performance) by doing good (making social impact); identify best practices for developing partnerships for impact; articulate a project's social impact and how it aligns with a desirable business impact.