Organizations typically depend upon performance evaluation measures to provide feedback to managers regarding the achievement of strategic objectives. However, performance evaluation is often focused on negative aspects of performance, suggesting that managers may not be receiving enough reinforcement of the positive elements of their decisions. When applied effectively, performance measures not only create desirable motivation, but also encourage communication and the exchange of information among managers. Under this scenario, individual managers achieve their personal goals, while the organization satisfies its strategic objectives. The application of positive organizational scholarship principles to performance evaluation metrics can help make the evaluation process more effective. Using performance measures framed in a positive manner can help generate more creativity, more problem-solving ability, and greater communication among managers, leading to progress toward organizational objectives. We illustrate this approach with the application of positive metrics to the balanced scorecard for mid-level managers in implementing business strategy.

Sponsorship of large sporting and cultural events has become a major marketing communication tool, particularly when firms obtain exclusive rights and garner the hype associated with this honor. Concomitantly, ambush marketing-defined as attempts by competitors to exploit the event-has also increased in prominence. This article outlines what is known as the Li Ning affair, whereby major Olympic sponsor Adidas was ambushed by lesser-known Chinese sportswear company Li Ning, whose namesake founder was the most decorated Chinese Olympian and who lit the Olympic flame at the 2008 Beijing Olympiad. Data collected immediately following the closing of the Beijing Games isolates what we call the Li Ning effect-or, being incorrectly identified as an official sponsor-and the positive effects this has on measures of brand attitude and recommendation likelihood. As presented herein, seven lessons about ambush marketing can be derived from the Li Ning affair, which sponsors and those considering sponsorship opportunity might wish to learn.

One unfortunate consequence of the focus on "charismatic," "transformational," and "visionary" leader behaviors during the past few decades has been the tendency to diminish the importance that transactional leadership behaviors have on leadership effectiveness. We say that this is unfortunate because recent research has shown that transactional leadership, in the form of contingent reward and punishment behaviors, can have substantial effects on a variety of important employee attitudes, perceptions, and measures of job performance. Therefore, in this article we discuss some possible reasons why transactional leadership has been relegated to a lesser role than transformational leadership, summarize the research that indicates the importance of leader contingent reward and punishment behavior to leadership effectiveness, and identify some of the mechanisms that these forms of leadership behavior work through to influence employee attitudes and behaviors. Following this, we address ten misconceptions managers often have regarding the administration of rewards and punishments, and provide some recommendations about how leaders can improve their effectiveness in administering recognition and discipline in organizational settings.

In this article, we present the findings of a study examining the exploding problem of counterfeit trade via the opinions of U.S. executives as compared to their counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Tahiti. Their responses provide insight as to how companies in different countries are attacking piracy and consumer complicity with counterfeit products. Per our study, executives in Australia, Tahiti, and the U.S. had similar perspectives: they viewed the seller as the main driver of counterfeit trade for reasons of profit. These executives perceived the demand for counterfeits as being driven by desirable product attributes and the ease of obtaining them. Likewise, they cited two anti-counterfeiting actions-site licenses and reduced price/rebates-as being able to reduce the demand for illicit products. In contrast, South African executives observed the main reason for piracy as weak enforcement of intellectual property (IP) and the lure of exorbitant profits, with little value in any anti-counterfeiting actions other than special packaging. These executives put forth that South African consumers are complicit due to limited education and low disposable income, and the ready availability of counterfeits. Executives from New Zealand were the most optimistic, believing that piracy and complicity can be reduced by many anti-counterfeiting actions, including special packaging, reducing price, emphasizing product benefits/warranties, stressing the harmful effects of using fake products, offering site licenses, and listing of authorized sellers.

Faced with the challenges of consumer resistance due to the separation of roles between producer and consumer, as well as overpowering marketing tools and techniques, a company can resolve the problem by letting consumers join in the process of value co-creation. Advocating the consumer-oriented perspective, this article explains how and why consumers co-create, which leads to the development of a typology of consumers' co-creative practices. Four interrelated categories (participation-for-self, creation-for-self, participation-for-others, creation-for-others) are illustrated with the proposed four Cs strategies-choice, complement, cause, and communality-to foster these different practices accordingly. From well-established to newly-developed, these consumer-oriented strategies work to enhance deeper consumer involvement yielding a possibility to attain continual and interconnected benefits for a company. However, implementation is based on a company's readiness and willingness to achieve different degrees of commitment. This article promotes collaborative efforts between consumers and companies, and highlights mutuality of benefits which leads to sustainable relationships.

This case describes the implementation of a business intelligence project in a South American holding composed of Chilquinta Energía, the third-largest distributor of electricity in Chile and one of the leading energy companies in Latin America, Energas S.A., which distributes natural gas to 34,000 customers in Chile, and Tecnored, an energy service company. Balanced scorecard concepts are not easy to put in place and the Chilean group decided to adopt an original and difficult approach: to learn and implement the BSC without the traditional leadership of external consulting. Despite the success of the implementation, the case outlines the ongoing challenges facing this type of multi-functional project.

Porter Airlines is a regional airline operating out of Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Porter operates only Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 turboprop aircraft and has flights to destinations in Canada and the United States. Porter targets business passengers who find the Toronto International Airport unattractive. Since its inception, Porter Airlines disproved many who thought it was doomed to failure by successfully navigating the first few years of its existence. It tapped into unmet customer needs with a unique strategy. However, a critical question that needed to be addressed was whether this particular business model, so successful thus far, would remain valid. Additionally, Porter needed to decide how it planned to expand and how aggressive it should be when entering new, highly competitive markets.

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York-based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40 percent in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that specializes in forecasting consumer behavioral change, and capitalizes on the disconnect between stock prices and consumer behavior. In the case of Green Mountain Coffee, many other sophisticated investors have taken short positions in the stock, leading Barakett to question whether his fund had the right trade thesis.

Cambridge NanoTech (CNT) is an interesting example of how a successful university research project was used to build a small scale business which designs and manufactures research equipment for a new class of chemical reactions called Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). CNT's business model is particularly interesting since the university researchers/founders developed a product that was specifically meant to serve other university researchers rather than trying to immediately jump to commercial, high volume manufacturing applications. Their product was specifically designed to be low cost, easy to use, flexible, and to have very short delivery times which made it very attractive to university researchers operating large research projects (typically on the order of millions of dollars/year). A large profit margin was possible due to the lack of competition and the perceived high value associated with having these technical capabilities since commercial machines of this type were typically a significant fraction of a million dollars. After a successful launch in 2005, the company experiences serious friction between the co-founders which is resolved when one of the co-founders buys out the other. In 2010, the company is profitable but is facing increased competition and the need to grow its business. The company is considering several different strategies.

This case presents a series of decision points along with a simple process for ascertaining underlying source(s) of disagreement, which represents an important managerial tool. The president of First Mates' Wholesale Boating Supply Company, is faced with the reality of missing year-end earnings projections and breaking a 30-year streak of successive earnings increases. He has asked all his direct reports to meet with their teams and brainstorm about ways to finish the year in strongly and successfully. The case presents a number of those ideas for students to debate and discuss as they decide which ones the company should pursue.

In late 1996, Sherwin-Williams CEO John Breen sat at his desk, preparing for another meeting with his board of directors. The room was dark except for a small stream of light that escaped the curtains hung heavily over the windows. Outside, rain was falling onto the company's corporate headquarters and on the streets of Cleveland. Breen stared at the portraits of company founders Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams that loomed above him on the wall. What would they think about the company's direction under his watch? Both had invested their life savings to create Sherwin-Williams in 1870. More than 125 years later, a market shift was taking place. Some paint companies were experimenting with new formulations-using different materials to make paint that would send fewer toxins into the air. Would the founders agree with the decisions Breen had made as he guided the company into this new era?

Finalist and 3rd Place winner in the 2011 Oikos Casewriting Competition. In early 2008, Clorox released a new line of environmentally friendly cleaning products called GreenWorks. Following the success of smaller firms such as Seventh Generation and Method, Clorox targeted the niche market of green products, with an estimated market size of $150 million. Using its competitive advantages in distribution and economies of scale, Clorox priced its GreenWorks products below those of smaller competitors. Surprisingly, Clorox's market entry did not steal revenue from smaller players, but instead caused the market for green cleaning products to explode, leaving Clorox with several strategic questions.

This case supplements the "Flying J (A)" case.

Delta Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of switching power supplies, hoped to enter the market for gasoline-electric hybrid power trains for automobiles by being a major component and subsystem supplier. While most public awareness of hybrid vehicles fell to the tier one integrated vehicle manufacturers, Delta felt it had an opportunity to enter the market via new automotive market entrants in China who had comparatively fewer capabilities and were willing to purchase major subsystems. Yet the company faced a dilemma -- a major customer wanted Delta to transfer ownership of key intellectual property as a condition of doing business. The case affords students an opportunity to consider whether a technological shift will enable what seems traditionally to be a highly integrated product designs to shift to a modular architecture, and consider the implications for appropriability of returns.

As Zuo Zongshen drove the transformation of the Zongshen Industrial Group from an early imitator in the motorcycle business to a company that increasingly focused on innovation as a way to get out of the hyper-competitive commodity business, he continually faced new challenges. The company had become a leader in gasoline powered motorcycles and small gas engines, but increasing taxes and restrictions on the use of motorcycles in congested urban areas had spawned a new industry, electric motorbikes, which posed a threat to the company's core business. Sourcing the technology for these e-bikes, and hiring and retaining the management and creative talent the company needed, were continuing challenges. The case traces the development of capabilities in the Zongshen Industrial Group, how it used the early imitation phase to foster rapid technological learning and upgrading, and how it used a unique corporate structure and listing strategy to finance the acquisition of important technologies.

A middle manager at a large company is unable to get her engineering customers and corporate bosses to see eye to eye on a public relations decision, and now her corporate boss seems to have totally misinterpreted her intentions. Suitable for MBA or executive education classes, this field case is a composite of actual experiences and fabricated elements. The case addresses a scarcity of material on the unique dilemmas faced by middle managers.

Appropriate for general management courses emphasizing lean operations strategy implementation and large-scale change management across a network of global manufacturing facilities. In this case, site-level leadership, including senior, midlevel, and supervisory positions, must respond to a critical corporate directive to achieve a 25% cost reduction. Under the direction of an advisory firm, the development and implementation of an operational Transformation strategy is the responsibility of the new VP of operations. Three key elements of the Operational Excellence Transformation Program are described in detail and year-one progress in three first-wave sites is presented through interviews. Students must critique the progress and offer suggestions for the VP, who must evaluate the results at the three sites and plan for a continuation of the rollout across other sites. A teaching note (OM-1400TN) is available.

Companies face many challenges as they struggle to move from the start up to growth phase. Management may need to develop new talents. Infrastructure will need to be built and new activities engaged. Blue Orb is such a company. In the summer of 2009, the management team at Blue Orb was transforming the company from a research driven organization, with a specialty product serving a small market, to a direct market retailer playing in the video game industry.<br><br>The case describes the situation and decisions faced by the founder and CEO of Blue Orb and the acting chief marketing officer (CMO) as they attempt the transition to a market driven company, with few resources and a short time frame. An immediate tactical decision needs to be made regarding the hosting of a video competition; but larger strategic decisions regarding the marketing function and general direction of the company are just over the horizon.<br><br>This case is appropriate for use in an entrepreneurship course when the class is prepared to discuss marketing activities for new ventures, or the transition from start up to growth strategies. The case raises issues regarding generating market awareness and trial, as well as implementing strategy. The case may also be used in a business strategy class to illustrate decisions related to alternative paths to market and dealing with channel partners.

During his 10-year tenure, the president and CEO of CIBC Mellon had presided over the dramatic growth of the jointly owned, Toronto-based asset servicing business of CIBC and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon). In mid-September 2008, the CEO was witnessing the onset of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The impending collapse of several major firms threatened to impact all players in the financial services industry worldwide. Although joint ventures (JVs) were uncommon in the financial sector, the CEO believed that the CIBC Mellon JV was uniquely positioned to withstand the fallout associated with the financial crisis. Two pressing issues faced the JV’s executive management team. First, it needed to discuss how to best manage any risks confronting the JV as a consequence of the financial crisis. How could the policies and practices developed during the past decade be leveraged to sustain the JV through the broader financial crisis? Second, it needed to continue discussions regarding options for refining CIBC Mellon’s strategic focus, so that the JV could emerge from the financial meltdown on even stronger footing.

This note intends to clarify various discounted cash flow valuations and their usefulness. It examines how different methods analyze cash flow from different perspectives but finally arrive at an identical decision.