Poorly performing managers shouldn't necessarily heed the demands of hedge funds that call for change in a company's strategic direction. Giving in does not, on average, yield stock gains that outperform the market - that is, unless the firm gets acquired.

Companies that excel in managing partnerships for innovation put a great deal of effort into im-proving their ability to collaborate. Their plans address four critical areas.

If you're seeking attention from investors and analysts, the press can be a convenient megaphone. Cultivating relationships with the media takes patience, but the payoffs in both good times and bad are priceless.

EuroPet S.A. was a multinational company operating gas stations in many European countries. There was a growing propensity for supermarkets to attach gas stations to their retail operations, which was developing into a major threat to EuroPet. As a result, in the mid-1990s, the company began to develop and brand its own convenience stores co-located with its gas stations. However, the company was spending much more on advertising the convenience stores than its competitors did. Management now had to decide if the increase in sales attributed to advertising efforts justified the advertising spend by analyzing the market data from one large metropolitan area: Marseille, France.

EuroPet S.A. was a multinational company operating gas stations in many European countries. There was a growing propensity for supermarkets to attach gas stations to their retail operations, which was developing into a major threat to EuroPet. As a result, in the mid-1990s, the company began to develop and brand its own convenience stores co-located with its gas stations. However, the company was spending much more on advertising the convenience stores than its competitors did. Management now had to decide if the increase in sales attributed to advertising efforts justified the advertising spend by analyzing the market data from one large metropolitan area: Marseille, France.

An asset management company must replace the manager of its two signature mutual funds, who is about to retire. Two candidates have been short-listed. The management team is divided and cannot decide which of the two candidates would make the better mutual fund manager. The retiring manager presents a linear regression model to examine success factors of mutual fund managers. This linear regression is the starting point for the subsequent analysis.

An asset management company must replace the manager of its two signature mutual funds, who is about to retire. Two candidates have been short-listed. The management team is divided and cannot decide which of the two candidates would make the better mutual fund manager. The retiring manager presents a linear regression model to examine success factors of mutual fund managers. This linear regression is the starting point for the subsequent analysis.

Freeport-McMoRan's acquisition of Phelps Dodge created the world's largest publicly traded copper company. JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch advised the acquirer and arranged $17.5 billion in debt financing and $1.5 billion in credit facilities. In addition, these two firms underwrote $5 billion in equity capital through simultaneous offerings of Freeport-McMoRan common shares and mandatory convertible preferred shares. These financings created an optimal capital structure for the company that resulted in stronger credit ratings. The activities of the equity capital markets and sales groups at the underwriting firms are explored and the structure and benefits of mandatory convertible preferred shares is explained.

Jorge Rodriguez-Gonzalez, PACIV's (Puerto Rico) founding CEO is considering expanding PACIV's pharmaceutical manufacturing compliance services company to the U.K. and Europe. He has to decide whether to hire Wayne Snelgrove, and how to define the scope of his responsibilities.

The IT productivity paradox debate has been going on for more than two decades, but the controversy has been exacerbated by a 2003 Harvard Business Review article by Nicolas Carr, who argues that IT doesn't matter. This case sheds light on the major drivers of IT investment: those investments targeted at improving operational efficiencies and those focused on entrenching a firm's strategic position. It does this by looking at the IT investment strategies of two of the world's largest financial institutions, HSBC and Citigroup. Of particular interest are how HSBC and Citigroup spend on IT projects, what drives their investments and the viability of measuring the efficacy of their investments in terms of improving operational efficiency or strategic position. By comparing the IT investments strategies of both banks, students will learn about the IT valuation process, the role of IT as a strategic necessity and IT's potential role in sustaining a firm's competitive advantage. Nominee for best paper award, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS2007)

The case describes the challenge faced by the CEO and newly hired Chief Marketing Officer to reposition the Philips brand and drive the organizational changes to support the new vision. Central to the version was the Sense and Simplicity marketing campaign, which came to embody a whole new way of doing business at Philips. The primary target of the Sense and Simplicity campaign was customers aged 35-55. Philips was not thought of as a cool and attractive brand by Generation Y consumers. Philips must rewire the Sense and Simplicity campaign for the Generation Y market.

In the early 1790's, a flood of newly issued public and private securities sparked an investment boom in the nascent United States. In New York, the bustling commercial district along Wall Street emerged as the center of the city's securities trade. One of the many Americans drawn into the frenetic and largely unregulated securities market was William Duer, who ultimately became a major player on the Street. As it turned out, however, Duer's financial dealings proved unsustainable, and his financial collapse helped to bring the securities boom to a halt. Shocked by the widespread devastation wrought by Wall Street's first panic, the New York legislature acted quickly to ban outdoor securities auctions and a popular class of financial instruments known as "time bargains," both of which were thought to have contributed to the boom and bust on Wall Street. Facing public outrage along with the new legal restrictions, New York's top brokers had to decide whether a new system for securities trading was needed and, if so, what it should look like.

In early 1720, the South Sea Company and the Bank of England were competing for the right to issue new shares and to exchange those shares for government bonds that were then in the hands of the public. The British government had already executed two such debt conversion with the South Sea Company. Most individuals who had converted bonds for shares in 1711 and 1719 had seen their South Sea shares appreciate in the meantime, and the government had lowered its debt servicing costs as a result of these two conversions. The conversion under consideration in 1720, however, would be on a much larger scale. In time, the South Sea Company won the bidding war, and the House of Commons approved its debt conversion plan. Now it was up to the House of Lords to approve or reject the deal.

In 1830, Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. urged the Massachusetts state legislature to introduce a limited liability regime for manufacturing corporations similar to that adopted in neighboring states. At least since 1809, shareholders in the state's manufacturing corporations had faced unlimited liability, which held shareholders personally liable for corporate debts. While unlimited liability was meant to ensure financial prudence, Lincoln and others worried that this policy was doing more harm than good and driving capital from the state. With the governor pushing for action, it was up to the state legislature to decide how to proceed.

The New York State Legislature had come to a standstill in 1829 as lawmakers refused to charter any new banks or recharter any existing banks. Four of New York's forty banks had failed since 1825, and many legislatures believed that a significant change in the banking regime was needed to shore up the state's financial systems. Others, however, feared that a major change in the law was too risky, especially since over three-quarters of the state's banks held charters that were slated to expire over the next four years. On the table was a completely untested proposal to create a mandatory public insurance fund that would back the banknotes and deposits of every state bank. As bank charters throughout New York State rapidly approached expiration, lawmakers faced a tough decision: should they pass the bill and gamble with the untried insurance fund, or should they go seek a more traditional solution to the state's banking woes?

Banks throughout New York State suspended specie payments (i.e., payments in gold and silver) in May 1837 following the collapse of several state banks, and the onset of a nationwide financial panic. Amid the chaos, the upstart Whigs were able to depose the longstanding Republican majority in the state legislature. Responding to citizen anger, as well as perennial calls for more banking capital, the Whigs drafted a novel "free banking" bill, which would override the established bank chartering mechanism and allow any association with sufficient capital the opportunity to open a bank and issue bank notes (a widely accepted form of paper money at the time). The bill also required that every note issued by a New York bank be fully backed by bonds or mortgages. if enacted, the bill seemed likely to encourage the establishment of many new banks. There was no telling what the economic impact of the bill's special bank note provisions would be. Once the bill passed the legislature, Governor Marcy had to decide whether to sign this radical proposal into law.

Can one of Hollywood's biggest flops magically turn into a Broadway hit? Xanadu, an adaptation of a 1980 Olivia Newton-John roller-disco film described by one critic as "the epic failure to end all epic failures," opened on Broadway in July 2007. Producer Rob Ahrens, the driving power behind the resurrection, anxiously awaited the verdict of audience members. Was the choice to produce Xanadu the Broadway musical the right choice?

In a six-party negotiation exercise, the TNDA Corp. plans to sell the Elcer Products Division to one of four potential buyers (industrial, financial, U.S., German). This case contains confidential information for the Pearl Equity Partners management role. Challenges include how to set up and implement the most promising sale process, come up with the right deal, and choose the best tactical approach given each party's role and objectives. This negotiation exercise draws on and illustrates the "3-D Negotiation" logic of Lax and Sebenius.

In a six-party negotiation exercise, the TNDA Corp. plans to sell the Elcer Products Division to one of four potential buyers (industrial, financial, U.S., German). This case contains confidential information for the US Industrial ElectroCeramics (US-IND) management role. Challenges include how to set up and implement the most promising sale process, come up with the right deal, and choose the best tactical approach given each party's role and objectives. This negotiation exercise draws on and illustrates the "3-D Negotiation" logic of Lax and Sebenius.