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Supplements the (A) case.

In 2010, Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) considered adding photovoltaic solar panels to the roofs of some of its facilities. This was driven by both financial and environmental considerations. In 2008, the company had added solar panels to 11 buildings in a project ("Phase 1") that was justified largely as a learning exercise. The new project ("Phase 2") would have to meet both financial and environmental objectives. The case describes the company's experience with solar power generation as well as providing representative assumptions for parameters in the financial analysis. An Excel spreadsheet is available for students, incorporating the basic analytical methodology used by REI.

Speadsheet supplement for case number BE17.

The chairman and CEO of the Genzyme Corporation, one the country's top five biotechnology firms, has received a phone call requesting a meeting with the cofounder and principal of a large hedge fund that now has a 2.6% stake in his company. Before meeting with him, the CEO is aware that he needs a strategy for dealing with this "activist" investor with a track record of forcing out CEOs.

A young and upcoming French executive in a global technology company is sent to Moscow as deputy managing director to turn around the Russia subsidiary. He must report to the subsidiary's managing director (a large reason for the organization's underperformance) and to corporate. In his first three months, he took steps to prepare the organization for change. Yet the lack of more tangible actions and results leaves him open to criticism from subsidiary employees and pressure from corporate executives. How can the young executive unfreeze the situation and get movement?

After several months into his turnaround of a global technology company's Russia subsidiary, a young and upcoming French executive reflected on how to institutionalize the subsidiary's transformation by further driving cultural change and breaking down internal silos. He realized that to complete the change he may need to continue into a second year. Yet the physical separation from his family had begun to take a toll. Had the executive done enough to institutionalize change or was it still too dependent on his personal relationships and the ability to build an internal coalition and exchange favors?

After 18 months as the deputy managing director of a global technology company's Russia subsidiary, a young and upcoming French executive prepared to hand over leadership. The executive reflected on what he had achieved and how as he considered next steps. He wanted to return to his native France, but the company requested that he go turn around another emerging market subsidiary. Should he go to India, ask for another assignment, or look at other opportunities outside the company?

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 212-045.

In 2010, PepsiCo India's management is working to translate PepsiCo's new mission, "Performance with Purpose," into practice in the India market. The mission calls for continued financial performance and market leadership, as well as greater emphasis on healthy products, natural resource management, and employee empowerment. PepsiCo India and other regional PepsiCo business units have significant discretion over how to implement Performance with Purpose in their local markets. PepsiCo India has made progress under the mission but continues to be challenged by the inherent tension between short-term financial performance and long-term investments in socially responsible initiatives.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 705-475.

Matt Bruno, founder and general manager of ReSource Pro, left his job working for a New York City-based insurance program shortly after the World Trade Center bombing and arrived in China. Initially he planned to teach English, but soon the entrepreneurial spirit of the country caused him to begin exploring opportunities. He returned to New York and talked his former boss into allowing him to start a back-office services firm for their insurance company clients, which grew into ReSource Pro. By year-end 2007, ReSource Pro employed 250 people, of whom only 4 were U.S.-based. With aggressive growth plans, Bruno began examining potential cities in China for expansion. After narrowing his list of potential expansion sites to the five Chinese cities of Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan Province), Jinan (capital of Shandong Province), Nanjing (capital of Jiangsu Province), Suzhou (Jiangsu), and Wuhan (capital of Hubei Province), he now had to make a final choice.

Spreadsheet supplement for 111-070.

Toto Ltd. was a global manufacturer of kitchen and bathroom equipment, fixtures, and other related products. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with a global presence, the company was a leader in product innovation in the kitchen, bathroom and plumbing categories. One such example was a product called "Washlet," an electronic toilet seat with multiple functions: heating, showering, drying, and deodorizing. The case asks the students to conduct research on their own to estimate a potential market size of the Washlet product line in both Egypt and the United States. The students are also required to present the findings to the class.

Novartis's investment in the start-up Proteus Biomedical gave the pharmaceuticals giant access to a technology allowing for the implantation of ingestible sensors in medicinal pills and, with the help of the sensors, the collection and wireless transmission of drug-compliance data to healthcare providers for the review of pre-determined health vitals. One application of the technology was the improvement of drug compliance: if, for some reason, such "smart pills" were not taken as prescribed, patients could be reminded to comply with the recommended medication regime. The case, which is brief and based on public information, summarizes the nature and magnitude of the drug noncompliance problem, describes some of the competing solutions to address the problem, outlines Proteus's technology in this context, profiles the Proteus and Novartis enterprises, and concludes by characterizing the challenge in front of Novartis as it decides which pill(s) to make smart and how best to market the smart pill(s). The proposed thrust

This case is intended to highlight entrepreneurial thought and action - a specific style of entrepreneurial leadership - inside the context of a large enterprise. Based on both primary and secondary research, the case protagonist is Mike Fisher, Sr., Director of Lean and Six Sigma at Best Buy. The protagonist as well as his direct reports were interviewed for the case, and articles were accessed to support the general environment around which the case was developed. The setting is the HQ of Best Buy, a large U.S. based electronics and appliance retailer. The case spans the years 2005 to 2011.

It's a dynamic that plays out in industry after industry: One company makes a big acquisition, and rivals feel pressured to respond with deals of their own. But the authors' research in the tech industry suggests that alternative strategies often make more sense. They advise managers to consider three less direct responses and provide guidance on determining the best strategy.

Quick-and-dirty prototypes can help move projects forward. But many companies rapidly follow them with polished prototypes--and everyone focuses on the prototype, not on the remaining ambiguities about the problem the product is meant to solve or the obstacles in the way. This "innovation blindness" can delay a project or sink it altogether.

Thirteen years of research on more than 2,000 Japanese companies and their U.S. subsidiaries shows that the longer it takes to get from headquarters to that subsidiary, the less likely the subsidiary is to make a profit. Productivity, teamwork, trust, and staff retention can be eroded by long travel times.

Tiny verbal clues can speak volumes about your personality. New research from the chair of psychology at the University of Texas reveals that someone's use of function words--the pronouns, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs that are the connective tissue of language--offers deep insights into his or her honesty, stability, and sense of self.

What's needed today is courage from business leaders and employees alike.