Miles Everson, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is the Global Engagement Partner (GEP) for a large U.S. financial institution and about to take over this role for a much larger global financial institution. The GEP role is a critical one at PwC. GEPs have responsibility for the firm's largest and most important clients. They must manage a vast external network of client employees and an equally vast internal network of the firm's employees. The GEP needs to have a deep understanding of the client and its industry in order to identify opportunities and problems where the firm's resources can be brought to bear and to match the firm's capabilities to the client's needs. GEPs must be able to simultaneously manage a larger number of tasks, often under great time pressure. This case describes how a very effective GEP-Miles Everson, who was named one of the top 25 consultants for 2006 by Consulting magazine-performs this role and provides insights into the attitudes, skills, and subject matter expertise necessary to be successful in this role. Insights into how Everson does this job are provided by both PwC and client personnel. As is often the case, Everson is responsible for a business (in his case Governance, Risk, and Compliance), and so he has substantial internal management responsibilities as well. The case raises questions about whether he will be able to retain these internal management responsibilities when he takes over a much larger and more complex global client and becomes the Senior Engagement Partner (SEP) on his current client. (SEPs perform an oversight role for the work being done by the GEP and his or her team and are typically very senior members of the firm.) The case also raises areas where Everson can improve.

This three-part case study presents the initial problem, the thinking, the politics, and the design negotiations that produced New York City's "NYC Acquisition Fund" in August 2006. The case concludes with a brief round-up of performance data and commentary from the Fund's first two and a half years of operation. The NYC Acquisition Fund was created to deliver loans to small and nonprofit affordable housing developers, allowing them to compete with market-rate developers to buy property in New York City on the open market at a time of rampant speculation, rapidly rising prices, and fierce competition. It represented a groundbreaking effort to use public sector funds and authority, together with foundation capital, to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars in loan capital from private lenders. In September 2008, the Fund was named a winner of the annual Innovations in American Government competition, sponsored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School, which declared it a "national model." HKS Case Number 1907.0

In November 1994, California voters were presented with a ballot initiative on a proposed "three strikes" measure, which would impose stiff penalties on repeat offenders. Under the terms of Proposition 184, offenders with one or two violent or serious felonies on their records would get much longer sentences for second or third felony crimes-in the case of a third "strike," a term of 25 years to life; moreover, these repeat crimes did not have to be violent or serious to qualify as a strike. Although California already had a three strikes law on its books, a voter-approved initiative would make it difficult for future lawmakers to tamper with the bill's tough provisions. This case consists of three parts. The first provides background on the California three strikes law, and then briefly describes the proponents and opponents of the ballot measure, and the arguments each side put forward. HKS Case Number 1908.0

This sequel is the second part of this three part case. The main case (case 1908.0) provides background on the California three strikes law, and then briefly describes the proponents and opponents of the ballot measure, and the arguments each side put forward. The next two parts can be read sequentially in class. This brief sequel summarizes the impact of the ballot initiative-which was overwhelmingly approved by voters-on both the state prison system and the state budget. The third part (supplement 1908.4) tells a different story: of two judges in Pennsylvania who pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from the owners of two juvenile detention centers, in a scheme many labeled "kids for cash." HKS Case Number 1908.1

This supplement is the third part of a three part case. The main case (case 1908.0) provides background on the California three strikes law, and then briefly describes the proponents and opponents of the ballot measure, and the arguments each side put forward. The sequel and supplement can be read sequentially in class. The brief sequel summarizes the impact of the ballot initiative-which was overwhelmingly approved by voters-on both the state prison system and the state budget. This supplement tells a different story: of two judges in Pennsylvania who pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from the owners of two juvenile detention centers, in a scheme many labeled "kids for cash." HKS Case Number 1908.4

This short case describes the tensions that often arise between finance executives attempting to curtail unproductive activities and strategy executives trying to optimize overall firm performance.

By positioning Immediate Annuities as "guaranteed lifetime income," New York Life has built itself a $1.4 billion per year business by 2009. However, to make Immediate Annuities a mainstream financial product for retirees, New York Life must understand why many retirees are reluctant to buy them and many agents are reluctant to sell them.

In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial restructuring a decade earlier, would prove as successful. But the financial problems, which seemed to have abated, looked as if they might be worsening. Thus, Hashimoto had to weigh priorities. Should he focus on long-term restructuring, immediate financial rescue, or both? Might an over-emphasis on long-term restructuring increase the chances that major banks could collapse? And what were the best economic and political strategies in these arenas? As a major developed economy, Japan offers an analog to the problems that faced the United States in its 2008-2009 financial crisis.

In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial restructuring of a decade earlier, would prove as successful. But the financial problems, which seemed to have abated, looked as if they might be worsening. Thus, Hashimoto had to weigh priorities. Should he focus on long-term restructuring, immediate financial rescue, or both? Might an over-emphasis on long-term restructuring increase the chances that major banks could collapse? And what were the best economic and political strategies in these arenas? As a major developed economy, Japan offers an analog to the problems that faced the United States in its 2008-09 financial crisis.

This case updates students on the steps Greg James took to solve the problems that instigated the crisis documented in "Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A)." We find out how James solves the process problems involved in his team's breakdown and creates team cohesion to help them function together effectively. We also learn whether or not James is successful in taking his global team to a new level of productivity and customer service.

Road rage, school rage, and customer rage are becoming almost everyday occurrences. Customer rage is an intense anger coupled with expressions of physical, verbal, or other potentially harmful behaviors in response to a dissatisfying service experience. It can potentially result in severe negative consequences for firms, employees, and even other valued customers. Fortune 500 firms are so concerned about this problem that some are installing new software in their call centers to detect rising levels of anger in customers' voices so that management may intervene to prevent an incident escalating to rage. Furthermore, the Entrepreneur magazine noted that Americans are getting angrier every year. This article examines the underlying psychological processes of stress and coping that propel some consumers to experience extreme negative emotions, including rage and, finally, resentment. It explores the triggers (antecedent conditions) that give rise to rage behaviors; identifies the tipping points for extreme anger and rage incidents; and explores the extent to which these circumstances and coping behaviors can be generalized across Eastern and Western cultures. It also recommends a course of action to enable managers to prevent or, at least, better manage customer rage.

Current conditions in the U.S. mortgage industry provide a rich context for exploring the positioning and information used in advertisements for mortgage products. This article examines television, radio, and print advertising messages employed to promote prime and subprime mortgage products. An analysis of these advertising messages reveals marked differences in the marketing for prime and subprime mortgage offers. Prime mortgage market advertisements tended to emphasize 'the American dream of homeownership' and low rates, and often provide detailed loan terms. On the other hand, subprime loan advertisements were based on fear appeals, emphasizing debt problems and encouraging consumers to rely on the lender/broker for help. These important differences in the information available to consumers for various mortgage products may have exacerbated industry information asymmetries and contributed to the current mortgage crisis.

While luxury brands are one of the most profitable and fastest growing segments of the brand pantheon, they are the least understood. There is no established definition as to what a luxury brand is; no clear understanding of the value dimensionality of luxury brands; and no rigorous conceptualization of the different types of luxury brands. They are generally treated as homogeneous. Little wonder that the management of these brands is shrouded in mystery. This article explores the value dimensionality of luxury brands, differentiates among luxury brands, and proposes a typology to help firms understand the managerial implications and challenges of each type. All luxury brands are not the same-they can mean different things to different people or even different things to the same people, which makes target marketing of luxury brands both difficult and important. This also means that they react differently to each other both in times of economic prosperity and in downturns. This article also explores strategies for migrating mass-market brands into luxury brand markets.

This article explores the rise to quality leadership by Japanese automakers, the decline in U.S. automakers' quality reputation, and whether poor quality still contributes to the U.S. automaker's competitive woes. Perception plays a key role in quality competition but not necessarily in ways that we commonly think. The ways in which information about quality performance is displayed plays an important role in customer perception. Quality should not be seen as a stand-alone asset but rather it must be understood in the context of other assets, including a firm's brand equity. It is quality's relationship to brand equity that helps explain the current quandary of U.S. automakers, and this relationship holds lessons for other industries.

This article provides an in-depth look at a value-based channel management model at Cisco Systems for managing the Value-Add Reseller (VAR) channel. In March 2001, Cisco initiated a change from a volume-based channel management model, which had been driving out partner value, to a value-based model that tied channel rewards to specific channel value-add activities. Critical components of this new model include: identifying opportunities for channel value-add; architecting channel programs to enable channel value-add; tying financial rewards to value-add channel activities including a "holdback system"; and exercising significant discipline to manage field pressures for volume-based rewards and diluting certification requirements. It demonstrates that VARs can serve as a significant sales channel, profitably selling complex solutions to satisfied customers under a value added channel management framework. They can also uncover demand opportunities that are incremental to the pull marketing of even a strong brand like Cisco. However, companies need to exercise significant discipline to avoid mixing volume-based rewards with a value-based framework.

Few early enterprise systems (ESs) implementations lived up to expectations. How can companies meet or exceed their expectations for enterprise systems? Far from providing a quick fix, the potential of ESs is better achieved through a slow and diligent learning process. This approach emphasizes the need for organizations to focus less on the technical and temporal aspects of ES projects and rather to view them as forming part of a long journey led by users. New social networks emerge as a result of the problems and opportunities based around learning, building, and sharing users' experiences. This article develops a new model for successfully mastering enterprise systems, which is labeled "the long conversation." The application of this model has important implications for practitioners involved in the implementation of an ES.

Most consumers don't understand how interest rates work and can't make sound decisions about borrowing. So wouldn't employees be better served by company programs that ventured beyond retirement planning and helped them stop pouring money into credit card fees and payments?

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, talks with renowned autism and genomics researcher Stephen Scherer about how to tackle a big, messy problem.

New research indicates that leaders who crack the whip in stressful situations don't get good results.

Hortifruti´s Tierra Fertil (Fertile Land) Program was created in Costa Rica in the 1970s as a result of an initiative carried out by the Uribe family, founders of Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos - Corporacion de Companias Agroindustriales group (CSU-CCA). In 1973, with only five supermarkets, the group had a hard time supplying its points of sale with quality farming products to respond to its consumers´ demands. As a result, that year, Hortifruti-a company owned by CCA--started to organize Costa Rican farmers in order to establish some business criteria, including profit margins and minimum and maximum quality standards. Once these criteria were determined, Hortifruti proceeded to introduce production programs based on market demands. Safer and more hygienic product conditions were promoted both at the packaging and transport stages, including special requirements for suppliers. Small farmers who were unable to meet these requirements and who lived along the way to a point of sale, had their produce picked up at the farm. In 2005, Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, bought CSU-CCA. Strategies, business model, management practices and work procedures of the newly-acquired organization were revised in order to adjust them to Walt-Mart's equivalents. Given that the Tierra Fertil program had entailed challenges in technical and economic infrastructure development, education, financial resources and cultural differences, the initiative represented a new conceptualization of the "conventional" value proposition as well as a deep understanding of local needs and CSU-CCA believed that Wal-Mart Central America should continue the program. Jorge Cordero, recently-promoted Agriculture Director for Central America, was in charge of elaborating and presenting arguments to help Wal-Mart executives decide about the usefulness of this supply model in Central America operations.