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This case and the Paramount Pictures: The Transformers Dilemma case are set in December 2010 and represent industry consultants thinking about how to market the final installments of very successful movie franchises. Both Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures want to market their movie to gain the greatest gross (i.e. box office ticket revenue). Each company must take into account the scheduling of the other players in the market. The cases also deal with changes in the movie industry. These include the expansion of the number of 3D movies and the importance of franchise movies.

This case explores the problems that Tetra Pak India faced in its ambitious goal of recycling post-consumer cartons (PCC) in India, and the approach that it adopted in overcoming obstacles. It provides a deep understanding of PCC recycling and Tetra Pak's broad program of incorporating social, environmental, health, and ethical issues in its day-to-day operations. Evident in the case are Tetra Pak India's efforts to meet environmental objectives and the seemingly insurmountable challenges in India that appeared to prevent it from attaining its goals. The case offers students an opportunity for an intellectually stimulating discussion on whether or not, and how, Tetra Pak India overcame problems to succeed in its PCC recycling initiative. Students will be able to understand the importance of the partnerships and alliances that Tetra Pak forged with non-governmental organizations, scrap dealers, rag-pickers, commercial establishments, and organizations that championed the cause of the environment. With ever-changing mindsets, increasing regulations, and growing customer expectations in India, Tetra Pak would have to be on its toes to ensure that its success from the PCC recycling initiative could be sustained and scaled up in the future. The case explores how Tetra Pak India could face the challenges of the future.

Cargill, Inc., the privately owned, U.S.-based agribusiness company, was one of the largest sellers of palm oil in the world. Starting in 2007, the company was targeted by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that advocated environmentalism. RAN targeted Cargill because the production of palm oil in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia destroyed rainforests. RAN pressured Cargill's customers such as Nestle to demand palm oil produced by sustainable farming. Palm oil producers formed an industry monitoring body called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). A September 2011 announcement of Indonesia's withdrawal from the RSPO warranted a response from Cargill to combat the strident protest of RAN. Cargill's CEO had to come up with a plan of action to respond to RAN's demands.

Whether you are constructing a new building, installing a new computer, or introducing a new product to the market, you are using project management strategies to get from A to B. This note concentrates on the Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). By reading this note, students will find that these techniques have been designed to ensure high-quality projects are completed on time and on budget.

The protagonist is considering acquiring a timber property located in rural China, a region where almost no timberland investment has taken place. The question is how to value the property, including understanding the appropriate risk-adjusted return.

The protagonist is trying to decide whether to purchase and develop an aquifer lying beneath rural land near Fresno, California. The project could fill a void for local farmers as well as surrounding municipalities and a variety of other customers throughout California.

Human genomics promises to be a wellspring of innovation, diagnosis, and treatment--but it needs an industry cluster if it's to reach its full potential. How and where is such a cluster likely to arise?

Research shows that today's most sought-after young professionals are constantly looking for their next job. Gaps between what they want in terms of professional development and what their companies provide are largely to blame.

Detailed, hard-to-compile data on private equity, venture capital, and real estate firms shows that the number of women in senior finance positions is stuck in the single digits--and 60% of the firms studied had no female senior investment professionals at all.

In a new study by a scientist at the Planck Institute, people who simply believed that a championship golfer had used their club played better than other people who played with the same club. In this Q&A, the researcher discusses the psychological phenomenon that explains how people "catch" success from others: positive contagion.

Airline rewards are still based on miles flown. This is a mistake, according to Hal Brierley, the executive chairman and chief loyalty architect of Brierley + Partners. In this column, he points out the biggest problems with airline loyalty programs--and some ways to fix them.

The world needs more entrepreneurs--the people who make innovation real and advance the "frontier economy." It's a failure on the part of society if their ranks are too thin. But imagination in how to educate entrepreneurs seems to be lacking. Startup Weekend and The Launch Pad are two programs that show what works.

A snapshot of monthly activity on popular social sites, along with a depiction of key demographics.

In 2011 Nespresso, the premium single-serve coffee brand of the multinational Swiss company Nestle, found itself at a crossroads. Between 2006 and 2010 Nespresso had managed to nearly triple sales - from CHF 1.16 billion to well over CHF 3 billion. But despite its meteoric growth in recent years, competitors were moving to try to challenge Nespresso's dominance of the premium single-serve coffee market by launching their own single-serve concepts. Some of these competitors had developed capsules compatible with the Nespresso system, and had aggressively pushed into the supermarket channel where Nespresso itself remained completely absent. Nespresso had to understand the degree to which it could sustain its competitive advantage in the premium single-serve coffee market in the face of growing competition, and develop strategies to address the growing threat of competitors who were offering Nespresso compatible capsules. The case helps students to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts of innovation, branding, business system fit, sustainable competitive advantage and responding to low-cost competitors. It is intended for MBA courses in Strategic Management, Innovation and Marketing. It can also be used in executive education programs, for example as part of a competitive strategy program to discuss issues related to strategy, competitive advantage and responding to low-cost rivals.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In many companies, pricing receives surprisingly little attention. Following work that included a study of pricing at 15 small and medium-sized companies, the authors conclude that most companies can improve their pricing capabilities -and thus their profitability -over time by taking a disciplined approach. The authors identify two key elements of pricing -price orientation and price getting -and five levels of pricing capabilities. They observe that the companies they studied that achieved better pricing had top managers who championed the development of pricing skills. While competition, costs and price sensitivity within a market affect the parameters within which companies set prices, superior pricing is almost always based on skill, the authors maintain. Companies differ substantially in their approach to price setting, but most fall into one of three buckets: cost-based pricing, competition-based pricing or customer value-based pricing. Customer value-based pricing uses data on the perceived customer value of the product as the main factor for determining the final selling price, and many scholars consider customer value-based pricing often to be a preferable approach to price setting for existing products. The authors argue that according to their research many companies can improve their pricing capabilities by cultivating their understanding of the value they bring their customers. But implementing customer value-based pricing is not easy, the authors caution. They find that developing and implementing a sophisticated, customer value-based pricing program is a multiyear project that demands a high degree of executive attention and requires substantial changes in processes and thinking within the company.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article.

"High sustainability" companies significantly outperformed their counterparts over an 18-year period in terms of both stock market and accounting criteria, such as return on assets and return on equity. They also exhibited lower performance volatility. Currently, organizations that exhibit a broad-based commitment to sustainability on the basis of their original corporate DNA are few and far between. For most companies, becoming sustainable involves a conscious and continuing effort to build long-term value for shareholders by contributing to a sustainable society. The authors studied the organizational models of companies that they refer to as "sustainable" by comparing them with companies that they call "traditional." They focused on two primary questions: (1) How do sustainable companies create the conditions that embed sustainability in the company's strategy and operations, and (2) What are the specific elements of sustainable companies' cultures that differentiate them from those of traditional companies? The authors have developed an identity and cultural model for how to create a sustainable company. While the model is straightforward, implementation is by no means easy, because it is grounded in largescale change - something that few companies seek out or do well. The first stage involves reframing the company's identity through leadership commitment and external engagement. The second stage involves codifying the new identity through employee engagement and mechanisms of execution. Both are ongoing processes. Once the second stage begins, the two stages reinforce each other. Employee engagement enables even more sophisticated external engagement, since a broader range of employees will be able to effectively engage with outside stakeholders. Mechanisms of execution bind leadership commitment, since these organizational-level attributes continue from one generation of leaders to the next.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article.

Superior Savings Bank was a small community bank that had been operating in Superior, Wisconsin, since 1924. Its corporate office was located downtown and two nearby branches were opened-one in a prominent grocery store, SuperOne Foods, and one in a big-box supercenter, Walmart. The Board of Directors and top management were content with the bank's size and performance. However, in 2012, another growth opportunity presented itself, and a decision had to be made whether to maintain the status quo or add a third branch. The bank had the option of offering services in a soon-to-be-constructed SuperOne Foods in the east part of town (3 miles from the corporate office). The bank's President and CEO, David H. Stack, needed to determine whether to expand or keep the bank's operations at its current level.