This exercise is designed to help students and professionals map their professional networks and to identify areas of strength and weakness in their networks. "Network" refers to the set of relationships that is critical to someone's ability to learn new skills and competencies, get things done, advance in his or her career, and develop personally and professionally. The exercise takes 15-20 minutes to complete.
Verne Global, a pioneering startup created to build the first large-scale data center in Iceland, faces critical challenges regarding its green strategy. Verne Co-Founder Isaac Kato is tasked with evaluating how the company can most successfully market and sell the green components of its service offering. Using only renewable energy in its data center facility, Verne can drastically reduce customers' carbon emissions, enabling customers to meet emerging government regulations and to capture the financial benefit of public goodwill arising from green initiatives. But how valuable are Verne's green benefits, and are they sufficient to compel customers to pay a premium for Verne services? Further, how can Verne best integrate its green strategy into its marketing and sales message? Finally, will Verne's green benefits enable the company to overcome obstacles in the sales process, or will they alternatively overcomplicate an already complex sales message? Kato's decision allows discussion of the emerging role of green marketing and sales and helps identify how a product or service which is good for the environment can also be good for the bottom line.
This case is appropriate for strategy courses and courses that focus on competitive dynamics. It follows FedEx from when it was the only international express-freight-delivery company with direct flights into such key Chinese cities as Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen and a virtual monopoly over South China's international express delivery market up to the competitive events that had taken some of the shine off FedEx operations in China. Leadership in the fast-growing, highly competitive Chinese express delivery market was key to FedEx's international strategy. Some of the issues students must decide are what these agreements and joint ventures could mean to FedEx's business in China and how it should respond to the increasingly crowded market.
The case 'HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0' introduces the concept of inbound marketing, pulling customer prospects toward a business through the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications like blogging, search engine optimization, and social media. Students follow the growth of HubSpot, an entrepreneurial venture which, in its quest for growth, faces significant challenges including: developing market segmentation and targeting strategies to decide which customer to serve and which to turn away, configuring pricing strategies to align with the value delivery stream customers experience, and determining whether inbound marketing programs can generate enough scale or whether traditional outbound marketing methods need to be employed to accelerate growth.
Ceres is a leading player in the growing organic gardening industry, selling seeds, small plants, and related items. Their distribution depends heavily on retail sales through independent nurseries and garden centers. Because these small dealers are unable to finance much inventory, Ceres has crafted its GetCeresâ„¢ program, which offers steep discounts and vendor financing. Ceres hopes both to accelerate its penetration into new retail accounts and to encourage dealers to accept more inventory in anticipation of seasonal sales. A key focus of the case is the relationship between marketing strategy and credit policy. The case invites students to analyze a range of financial information and to make financial projections; a student spreadsheet (product 4019) is available free of charge.
The case analyzes a successful economic initiative (Red Shield), whose profits help support a legendary religious institution (The Salvation Army) while creating social value for low-income sectors through the sale of used goods. The main focus of the case is on its growth strategy, since Red Shield must increase its financial support of the Salvation Army. In late 2007, the protagonist of the case took over as Director of the Red Shield and was expected to suggest alternatives to boost revenues in order to provide for the organization's sustainability in Argentina. The new Director faces the dilemma over what to do and he contemplates different growth options taking into account the opportunities presented by the context. The final decision remains open and students are invited to evaluate diverse strategic alternatives proposed by the Director of the Red Shield. This case may prove adequate for undergraduate, graduate, and MBA strategy and marketing courses.
It provides a framework for discussions around the implementation "pain points" of ambitious strategies with long-term objectives, which involve high uncertainties, risks and business opportunities. It opens the floor for an interesting discussion on how to take on the challenges of a changing business context and balance them against long-term objectives. Allianz and WWF joint venture evolved from a collaborative awareness-raising effort to an action-driven partnership with the ambition to lead the financial industry on the climate change issue by example. The partnership goals were to quantify climate change effects on financial services and use it as an innovation driver for products and services in insurance, banking and asset management business. In 2008, a year after the partnership was implemented, points of tension at the operational level accumulated, mainly in relation to the governance model and follow up on certain issues. In the same period, the financial markets crisis hit. This significantly changed the business environment and pushed Allianz to rethink their strategy and engage WWF on discussing where, if and how the partnership could be adjusted while keeping the core strategy. A video documenting Allianz' efforts on Corporate Responsibility can be used with this case (see link under Notes). Learning ojbectives: 1) Understand the challenges of rolling out sustainability strategies. 2) Illustrate the dilemmas of adapting to a changing business context while staying on course with long-term objectives, particularly in difficult business circumstances. 3) Illustrate the barriers and success factors of corporate sustainability partnerships. 4) Change the traditional perception of business responsibility in pushing forward the agenda for action on climate change and other "mega-issues".
IMAX was involved in several aspects of the large-format film business: production, distribution, theatre operations, system development and leasing. The case illustrates IMAX's use of its unique capabilities to pursue a focused differentiation strategy. IMAX was initially focused on large format films that were educational yet entertaining, and the theatres were located in institutions such as museums, aquariums and national parks. However, IMAX found that its growth and profitability were constrained by its niche strategy. In response, IMAX sought to grow by expanding into multiplexes. Additionally, IMAX expanded its film portfolio by converting Hollywood movies, such as Harry Potter and Superman, into the large film format. This shift in strategy was supported by the development of two technological capabilities - DMR for conversion of standard 35 mm film into large format, and DMX to convert standard multiplexes to IMAX systems. The shift in strategy was partially successful, but carried the risk of IMAX losing its unique reputation.
Forty-one year old Andrea Wong, the president and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services. When Wong joined Lifetime, she said that the network was "widely viewed as a tired brand...ratings had flattened out, and the audience was aging." Moreover, Lifetime's stereotype had become a network that showed "women in peril" shows and movies. Wong was excited to reinvigorate the Network's brand, but when Wong actually set foot in her new office at Lifetime, she realized her task was going to be harder than she had initially imagined. Beyond the ratings problems and image problems, Wong discovered that numerous cultural issues plagued the company, problems that needed immediate fixing. In rapid fire mode, Wong moved quickly as a leader, making key people decisions in the spirit of changing a culture that lacked clear lines of responsibility, accountability, and nimbleness, while simultaneously changing Lifetime's brand reputation through its programming and marketing.
Whether they know it or not, every person is a salesperson. Too often, individuals neglect this covert reality and suffer because of it. This article stresses the importance of putting your best face, and foot, forward in order to "sell".
Sales force automation (SFA) is the use of software to automate sales tasks, including sales activities, order processing, customer management, sales forecasting and analysis, sales force management, and information sharing. An SFA system is often part of an enterprise-wide information system that connects and integrates sales activities with the organization's other operations. Therefore, SFA software is not only a tool critical to the success of today's sales force, but is also vital to the entire organization. SFA has the potential to empower companies to more efficiently manage their sales force and sales processes, to automate and standardize sales activities, and to connect the sales force with the rest of the organization. The value of these potential benefits in terms of lower costs or increased revenues has encouraged businesses to adopt SFA. Once adopted, however, SFA systems often fail to deliver anticipated benefits. The leading cause of SFA failures has been revealed as low user acceptance, which can be attributed to such factors as the disruption of established sales routines, sales force perception of the system as a micromanagement tool, differences in sales force and managerial expectations for the system, and lack of managerial support for the system as perceived by the sales force. Given these circumstances, managers who are aware of the major issues surrounding user acceptance of SFA will be more successful in implementing such systems. This article explores the utilization of SFA, the benefits derived from these systems, and user acceptance issues. Herein, we offer suggestions that will help organizations succeed in adopting SFA systems.
As more Reserve and National Guard troops are called to leave the civilian workforce and enter military service, employers must understand the legal rights those service members possess and the employers' legal obligations that are now required under The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Current data and litigation trends suggest many employers are not fully aware of their legal obligations under USERRA and the punishing legal liability they may face. USERRA applies to virtually all employers, and the law uniquely provides for both corporate and individual liability for discriminating against employees or applicants because of military service. This article provides an overview of USERRA from the perspective of employers, employees, and potential employees. Practical advice is rendered herein not only for those covered by the Act, but also for employers regarding adherence to this law while avoiding liability under USERRA.     
When the colors of all the U.S. armed services' uniforms are combined, the color purple appears; therefore, military insiders refer to inter-service operations as "purple" operations. Now a core concept, the "jointness" of U.S. military strategic response to a critical operational failure encapsulates principles and processes through which two or more armed services are best able to integrate strategies, strengths, and capabilities in ways that yield genuine synergies, despite the differences in mission and culture that naturally separate the services. The now ingrained ability of military services to "go purple" quickly has materially contributed to strategic and operational successes during the last 20 years. The internal circumstances as well as global environmental challenges faced by domestic firms, particularly at the marketing-manufacturing (M-M) interface, resonate with those faced by the U.S. military. Firms may benefit from evaluating the prospect of "going purple" at this crucial point of interface. This article integrates military-like jointness principles into an organizational framework that functions as a guide to pursuing cross-functional M-M integration more successfully. The framework also provides a methodology through which managers can determine whether and how much "purple" ought to be pursued.      
Healthcare, the largest industry in the United States, is in crisis, and threatens to bankrupt the nation's economy. Medical errors kill an estimated 98,000 people per year, and accessibility to adequate healthcare is an increasing problem for much of the country's citizenry. Despite being one of the most important keys to resolving this crisis, a national electronic healthcare network (eHealth) is under-appreciated and under-exploited, and faces several formidable barriers to implementation. Current and prospective national political leadership has focused narrowly on a subset of issues, in the belief that the crisis cannot be addressed holistically due to political interests. Yet the barriers that greatly impede eHealth's potential to help solve the crisis can only be removed in a timely manner by a comprehensive, national framework that reshapes the legal, operational, and economic landscape for eHealth. Only a greater public awareness that encourages national legislative action can enhance eHealth's potential to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare while reducing its cost.     
Service firms must remember that the way they treat their employees is exactly how those employees will, in turn, treat customers. As such, taking good care of frontline personnel should be a top management concern. One way that service employees can be shown they are valued members of the organization entails the implementation of thoughtful and organized career development programs, initiatives which help increase employees' job satisfaction and feelings of empowerment in their customer-facing roles. Before they can become enthusiastic about meeting the needs of their customers, employees have to feel that their own needs are being met within the organization. In this regard, firm investment in frontline employee career development programs will be money well spent: they are capable of reducing employee turnover and increasing customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. This article provides a conceptual model of career development which should prove useful to service managers in evaluating their own career development efforts. Also presented herein is a framework for tying together many disparate areas of career development that have heretofore been handled separately in the services literature.