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This is a PELP case study. The case services as a follow-up to Meeting New Challenges at the Aldine Independent School District (A) case. Superintendent Nadine Kujawa retired in May 2007 and Wanda Bamberg, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, was chosen by the school board to succeed Kujawa. In the midst of the economic crisis, Bamberg retained Aldine's vision and basic strategy. The system remained organized in five vertical feeder systems and continued to promote district veterans principal and area superintendent positions. Students performed well on the state assessment, but new challenges emerged. A more rigorous state test, the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR), was about to be implemented and the district grappled with flat-lining college readiness scores. Bamberg had a decision to make; she could keep the district doing what had worked so well in the past or strike out in an entirely new direction.

This is a PELP case study. In the space of three months, all Central Falls High School staff had been publicly fired, told to reapply for their jobs, and then rehired. At the heart of the controversy were low student achievement scores and graduation rates; only seven percent of 11th grade students were proficient in math, 55 percent in reading, and the four-year graduation rate was 52 percent. Coinciding with the state's intense effort to win a share of the $4.35 billion in the federal government's Race to the Top (RTTT) education reform competition, the events were often portrayed in the national media as a fight between responsible reformers and self-interested unions. But, a closer look revealed a more complex situation. The requirements of a 1997 state law, which authorized the state commissioner to intervene in low-performing schools, appeared to conflict with the state's collective bargaining law, which required districts to negotiate with their teachers' union about hours, salary, working conditions, and all other terms of professional employment. The current union contract would not expire until August 2011. In addition, there was confusion about what the process of selecting an intervention model should involve and who from among the potential stakeholders-taxpayers, district administrators, state officials, the teachers' union, teachers, parents, students and others-should participate. The mass firing also raised the issue of whether staff were actually being fired or simply laid off, which had important consequences for the district's future obligations to former employees.

For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical applications, materials science, and industrial sectors. Modularity also provided Carl Zeiss' engineers the benefit of decoupling the development schedules of individual components and subsystems. Yet the well codified interfaces at many module boundaries also opened the system up to outside providers of components, mainly software. This served research scientists who were doing cutting edge research extremely well, as they wanted to be able to apply the latest techniques and analysis tools. At the other extreme, clinical and QA/QC applications by their nature had a much higher need for automation, because of the repetitive nature of tasks. Simple, integrated solutions seemed to make more sense in these circumstances, and many applications did not demand the ultraprecision of Carl Zeiss's hardware platforms. Rather there was a call for simplicity and robustness, especially in production environments. The case exposes some of the strategic issues and opportunities facing the microscopy business.

Metrology plays a key role in the manufacture of mechanical components. Traditionally it is used extensively in a pre-process stage where a manufacturer does process planning, design, and ramp-up, and in post-process off-line inspection to establish proof of quality. The area that is seeing a lot of growth is the in-process stage of volume manufacturing, where feedback control can help ensure that parts are made to specification. The Industrial Metrology Group at Carl Zeiss AG had its traditional strength in high precision coordinate measuring machines, a universal measuring tool that had been widely used since its introduction in the mid-1970s. The market faced a complex diversification of competition as metrology manufacturers introduced new sensor and measurement technologies, and as some of their customers moved towards a different style of measurement mandating speed and integration with production systems. The case discusses the threat of new in-line metrology systems to the core business as well as the arising new opportunities.

In 2004, U.S.-based China Sourcing Group, which specialises in premium and gift products, established a sourcing office in Shanghai. The Shanghai office was responsible for sourcing vendors not only in China but also in southern Asia. It played a major role in quadrupling China Sourcing Group's revenues over the next four years. Despite its contribution to the group, the Shanghai office faced a major issue of frequent late deliveries, especially of new products that were developed from scratch. In 2009, as the Shanghai management team reviewed the performance of the sourcing office, it decided that something had to be done to improve the punctuality of that office's deliveries. What should the Shanghai office do to improve the situation?

After Port Aventura's launch as a theme park in 1995, it continued to invest heavily in new shows, rides, hotels, golf courses, a convention center, and a shopping mall, all with the aim of adjusting to seasonal adjusted demand. This transformation from a theme park to a resort posed new challenges for Port Aventura's executive team. In particular, as a theme park, the analysis of its commercial activity focused on aggregated statistical information about groups of customers. By contrast, as a resort, management now needed to know and target individual customers. Yet, the company's existing information management processes and systems were not ready to support such a one-to-one marketing approach. This case is situated in mid-2009 when the general manager asked the chief financial officer and the director of information systems to find a solution to address the marketing needs of the resort. The case discussion encourages students to identify and assess the business problems and relate them to the existing information management processes and systems. Students will also have to present a proposal that addresses this one-to-one marketing strategy.

This case uses first-person sources to put the reader inside the teams that developed and marketed the Firefox browser. A brief overview of the Open Source Software (OSS) development process and the various roles played by members of a software development community, as well as a brief summary of the browser wars of the 1990s that saw Netscape Navigator fall from the dominant browser in the market to a distant second place behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer, help provide context for the case. In order to adapt the OSS development model to support a consumer-oriented product, Firefox developers adopted four rules: 'We want it to be small,' 'Let's not keep too many cooks,' 'All patches are not created equal,' and 'All users are not created equal.' The development team established a goal of 10 million downloads in the first 100 days and a 10% market share in the first year as measures of success for the new browser. In order to compete with Microsoft in the browser market, the Firefox team needed to leverage the development community to reach millions of potential end users. By providing a web-based structure for collaboration, and through a series of top-down initiatives (providing marketing tools to the community), and bottom-up initiatives (receiving and disseminating marketing ideas from the community at large), the team was able to achieve its marketing goals. In so doing, the SpreadFirefox initiative created a marketing community with roles analogous to a software development community.

Marco Polo Marine (MPM) Ltd is a medium-sized Singaporean shipping company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, involved in regional shipping and shipbuilding. The company was part of a larger Indonesian family business group, and had been built from scratch by the CEO, the heir to the group. MPM had started off providing barges to transport mining products and sand, initially for the group's mining operations, but increasingly for third parties. It subsequently entered the shipbuilding industry by establishing a shipyard in Batam, Indonesia, an island near Singapore. As a next step to grow the company, the CEO intended to become an international player in the much more sophisticated offshore marine services sector, but he had yet to decide what strategy to take to achieve it. The case study allows students to analyze a global industry and present recommendations to the CEO for positioning the company within this industry. As a company from an emerging market, MPM is an example of an aspiring "emerging market multinational" and the case discusses the challenges such companies face in catching up with more advanced incumbents in global industries. In order to penetrate this market, decisions are required as to what types of vessels to build or buy, which countries to target and how to enter this market given financial constraints and limited technical expertise.

Role play #6 (Kelly Tan) for product 9B11C024.

Agricultural commodities often are characterized by two aspects, viz., seasonality, and shelf life of the produce. Further, in countries such as India there are significant public policy dimensions (governmental regulation on pricing and markets etc.) that critically influence production, distribution, and marketing of several agricultural commodities. Furthermore, unlike their counterpart in manufacturing, agricultural commodity supply chains typically are not well-organized in such countries. Therefore, prevalence of cooperatives as an organization structure for managing several supply chain activities is also a common feature. This case has contextually been set under these conditions and it deals primarily with the issue of marketing of tea. In addition to the above-mentioned issues pertaining to marketing of agricultural commodities, tea poses unique challenges arising out of numerous varieties/grades. Owing to several of these aspects understanding the factors that influence profitability of a firm engaged in procurement, production, marketing and brand creation of tea makes an interesting study for a student of management. The case thus offers a multidimensional perspective to the problem of improving the profitability and points to various alternatives in the hands of the management to address the same. The case can be used in the core marketing course, perhaps, as a capstone case toward the end to highlight the interrelationships among different elements of marketing. The case can also be used in other courses to introduce challenges of managing cooperatives, use of auction as the procurement mechanism and also to illustrate the use of Internet as a primary marketing channel.

Having analyzed more than 1,100 companies across a range of industries and geographies, the authors outline four strategies firms are using to make smart use of new forms of communication, depending on their tolerance for uncertainty and the levels of results sought.

Can you have both respect and power? Having researched hundreds of corporate leaders, the authors conclude that it's hard to gain both: Fair managers are often perceived as less powerful than others (less in control of resources, less able to reward and punish) and this may hurt their odds of gaining certain key, contentious leadership roles. But companies would benefit by placing more value on fairness: Studies show that the success of change initiatives depends largely on fair implementation.

Despite recent progress creating more-welcoming environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees, fully 48% of LGBT respondents surveyed report remaining "closeted" at work. Research shows that they are less likely than "out" workers to be promoted and more likely to leave their job within three years. For talent managers, creating a hospitable climate for all workers should be a key goal.

Professor Stefano Puntoni set out to prove that breast cancer awareness campaigns were more effective when they incorporated the color pink. Instead, his studies repeatedly showed that pink made women less likely to recognize their risk of cancer and less likely to donate to research. And that led him to explore the surprising effects of gender cues in marketing messages.

In an ever-changing technology landscape, continuous adaptation is key.

Collaboration among competitors is an unnatural act, but sometimes it's the best way to reduce costs, leverage strength, accelerate scale, or amplify influence-as unlikely allies in the world of social enterprise have demonstrated. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, for example, has worked with 19 other philanthropies to create a $120 million pool of growth capital for three of its leading grantees, providing inspiration for the Obama administration's Social Innovation Fund.

The use of Groupons, the online coupons that consumers purchase to obtain deep discounts on goods and services, is skyrocketing. But many businesses struggle to understand what makes a Groupon promotion effective. For clues, take a look at the data maps of Paul Butler, which capture the gross revenue generated by every Groupon deal.

This is part of a case series. Simon Cohen parked his Acura SUV outside his Monterrey office, let the fingerprint scanner check his ID to open the door, and jogged upstairs past the huge poster showing containers and cranes at the port of Manzanillo. He paused for a moment in the company's boardroom. Here, a week earlier he had agreed with his business partners how they would restructure the company's ownership, and build on the success of the last 10 years. 'How could Thomas change his mind?' he wondered. Simon shook his head and strode into his office, wondering what to do. Over the previous 10 years, Simon and his three business partners - his brother Jose, Manfred Jaekel and Thomas Kroeger - had built up a successful freight forwarding business, with offices in Monterrey and Guadalajara. Manfred and Thomas ran their own separate, and longer-established branch in Mexico City. Simon had won some large, multinational customers, and had benefited from the increase in imports from China. By focusing on customer service, and by building up a hard-working team, he had grown bigger than the original Mexico City operation. There had been some friction over the years, but Manfred had proposed combining the companies into a group, and after some negotiation a verbal agreement had been struck on 15 August 2007. But, a week later, Thomas had phoned to say that he would not go ahead with the deal they had agreed. Simon was forced to reconsider his options.

Supplement to case LBS119. This is part of a case series. Simon Cohen parked his Acura SUV outside his Monterrey office, let the fingerprint scanner check his ID to open the door, and jogged upstairs past the huge poster showing containers and cranes at the port of Manzanillo. He paused for a moment in the company's boardroom. Here, a week earlier he had agreed with his business partners how they would restructure the company's ownership, and build on the success of the last 10 years. 'How could Thomas change his mind?' he wondered. Simon shook his head and strode into his office, wondering what to do. Over the previous 10 years, Simon and his three business partners - his brother Jose, Manfred Jaekel and Thomas Kroeger - had built up a successful freight forwarding business, with offices in Monterrey and Guadalajara. Manfred and Thomas ran their own separate, and longer-established branch in Mexico City. Simon had won some large, multinational customers, and had benefited from the increase in imports from China. By focusing on customer service, and by building up a hard-working team, he had grown bigger than the original Mexico City operation. There had been some friction over the years, but Manfred had proposed combining the companies into a group, and after some negotiation a verbal agreement had been struck on 15 August 2007. But, a week later, Thomas had phoned to say that he would not go ahead with the deal they had agreed. Simon was forced to reconsider his options.

Supplement to case LBS119. This is part of a case series. Simon Cohen parked his Acura SUV outside his Monterrey office, let the fingerprint scanner check his ID to open the door, and jogged upstairs past the huge poster showing containers and cranes at the port of Manzanillo. He paused for a moment in the company's boardroom. Here, a week earlier he had agreed with his business partners how they would restructure the company's ownership, and build on the success of the last 10 years. 'How could Thomas change his mind?' he wondered. Simon shook his head and strode into his office, wondering what to do. Over the previous 10 years, Simon and his three business partners - his brother Jose, Manfred Jaekel and Thomas Kroeger - had built up a successful freight forwarding business, with offices in Monterrey and Guadalajara. Manfred and Thomas ran their own separate, and longer-established branch in Mexico City. Simon had won some large, multinational customers, and had benefited from the increase in imports from China. By focusing on customer service, and by building up a hard-working team, he had grown bigger than the original Mexico City operation. There had been some friction over the years, but Manfred had proposed combining the companies into a group, and after some negotiation a verbal agreement had been struck on 15 August 2007. But, a week later, Thomas had phoned to say that he would not go ahead with the deal they had agreed. Simon was forced to reconsider his options.