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Nanosolar is a start-up company in the clean tech sector. It expects to be one of the first manufacturers to produce thin-film solar panels using copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) technology. Although this technology is less efficient in producing electricity than polysilicone, it is much less costly too. As it is about to enter the market, Nanosolar is facing the decision on which market to enter. Should it attempt to go into the European market which has established feed-in tariffs? Or should it enter the nascent, but growing US market?

Several top surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital (NYP) are receiving financial and administrative support to advance their surgical device inventions through the earliest stages of commercialization.

Plantar S.A. is a pig iron producer based in Brazil working toward an integrated supply chain producing 100% green pig iron. The company is gradually converting the coke fed into the blast furnaces from fossil to green (i.e., coal produced from renewable biomass). The company owns large eucalyptus plantations in Brazil, and was the first in Brazil to obtain the approval to trade Kyoto Protocol carbon credits. At the time of the case, both internationally and locally, the process and the technical methodologies were yet insufficiently defined. The World Bank saw Plantar as an opportunity to consolidate the process and showcase the Kyoto Protocol. The Plantar project was a success from a strictly financial viewpoint. In addition, it put the organization on the path of significant transformation, and new growth opportunities.

In May 2008, the executive team of MLC Corporation (MLC) became deeply involved in the examination of whether it should expand its production and distribution operations into Russia. The Russian economy had grown dramatically, mainly thanks to rising natural gas exports to Europe. A sharp rise in energy prices had further accelerated the growth of the energy sector, as well as supported the expansion of the economy. Thus, in early January 2009, Mark Olexi, the CEO of MLC, was faced with three potential alternatives. The first one was to expand plant capacity at home and continue to export, as the company had done so successfully for years. The second alternative was to risk building a manufacturing plant and distribution center in Russia, and strengthen the company's competitive position abroad. The third alternative was to await and delay both decisions because of the uncertainties caused by the global financial and economic crises. Whether Russia could manage its economy to avoid the worldwide recession and an internal financial and economic crisis was an open debate. In addition, Russia had just experienced a leadership change, energy prices had collapsed, and the Russian-U.S. relationship had deteriorated.

This is a negotiation exercise. The case involves the negotiated licensing agreement between an American manufacturer in Arizona, and a Mexican licensor in the State of Sonora. Sam Paint owns and operates the largest wholesale paint business in southern Arizona. Although he sells a variety of house-paint products, he is best known for his quick-drying paint, a process he developed and patented in the United States twelve years ago. Sam also holds a Mexican patent for quick-drying paint. Both patents are scheduled to expire in five years. This negotiation takes place in the aftermath of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the passage in Mexico of a strengthened intellectual property system

The European Recycling Platform was the only pan-European recycling organization created in response to the European Union's groundbreaking directive to promote recycling of electronic waste. Braun, Electrolux, Hewlett-Packard and Sony established ERP in 2002 as an alternative to the monopolistic e-waste takeback systems then existing in several European countries. ERP was based on the principle of producer responsibility, in which manufacturers are financially responsible for managing the end-of-life phase of their goods. By late 2007, ERP operated in eight countries. It had achieved significant market share and stimulated competition in European e-waste recycling. In November 2007, ERP's board was meeting to evaluate whether the company should greatly expand its scope. Should ERP start handling new product categories such as discarded batteries and packaging? Should it expand to more countries? If so, which countries? If it expanded, could ERP handle the additional business complexity while preserving its low-cost, outsourced model? The case looks at an organization at the forefront of efforts to address the world's growing e-waste crisis. It highlights the importance of managing the end-of-life phase of products. Students will evaluate recycling as a business and market opportunity. They will assess the industry and market changes sparked by Europe's e-waste directive.

On 27 November 2006, Bharti Enterprises Ltd ("Bharti"), one of India's principal business groups, and American retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc ("Wal-Mart"), entered into a joint venture with equal partnership for both companies. The partnership would give Wal-Mart access to the highly regulated Indian retail market, which was valued at US$320 billion. Bharti would own retail shops under the Wal-Mart franchise and the companies would jointly operate in areas of the Indian retail industry which were accessible for foreign investment, such as logistics and cash-and-carry. This partnership between the US retail giant and one of India's most successful corporate houses was expected to bring a dose of modernity to the Indian retail landscape. It could be questioned, however, how Wal-Mart would cope with the opposition it faced from local shop owners and civil rights groups given its poor reputation with regard to social responsibility. In addition, the state of the country's transportation network was very poor and the question remained how Wal-Mart planned to implement its supply chain management model in India.

Globalization has prompted a new trend of cross-border acquisitions from the East to the West. Fueled by non-traditional motivations, Asian companies are acquiring respected and well-established Western brands, technology, assets and knowledge, and through these acquisitions gaining access to developed markets and talent pools. One such company, Gold Peak Electronics ("GPE"), is a multinational corporation that is among an elite group of Hong Kong electronics companies that design, manufacture and sell premium professional and home electronics products. Acquiring two high-end British premium loudspeaker companies in 1992-KEF Audio and Celestion International-has allowed GPE to take advantage of these companies' well established intellectual assets and R&D capabilities. However, cross-border acquisitions such as these are complicated, requiring companies to take into consideration differing regulations, national cultures, political factors, employee mindsets and work cultures. The acquiring company has also had to deal with human resource issues in its acquisitions, including handling work distribution and promoting employees' sense of job security. Although several years have passed since the acquisition, collaboration between GPEs various R&D sites in the UK, Hong Kong, and China is still not optimal. How can GPE successfully overcome the distances between these locations and promote innovative collaboration between its dispersed R&D sites? Was growth by acquisition of Western companies the best strategy for GPE's growth? This case illustrates opportunities and challenges for global R&D and virtual collaboration across geographic and cultural distances. This case also familiarizes students with the unique challenges in acquisitions of Western companies by Eastern companies, including human resources management and how the process of innovation and innovative thinking differs across countries.

Gilead Sciences launched Truvada, a combination pill incorporating Gilead's individual antiviral drugs, Viread and Emtriva, in the U.S. in 2004. This involved gaining FDA approval, setting a national price, and negotiating reimbursement levels with private and public insurers. While these activities had been resource intensive, their completion meant that Gilead was able to sell Truvada, a combination HIV/AIDS therapy, across the entire United States, approximately 50 percent of the worldwide market. The remaining 50% of Truvada's potential commercial success, however, would be pursued in Europe. Europe presented a more complex environment for reimbursement than the U.S. for three reasons. First, the reimbursement process differed in each European country as to required submissions and approaches to pricing. Second, the average time between the beginning and end of reimbursement negotiations was highly variable across European countries. Third, the local office for Gilead in each European country had its own estimate as to the likely length of negotiations and level of reimbursed price for Truvada, making it challenging to devise and communicate a consolidated strategy across the organization. Gilead needed to determine the order by which it would pursue reimbursement approval for Truvada in Germany, France and Spain. Germany's regulatory authority used a "free pricing" approach. In France and Spain, the government health ministers often (though not always) referenced neighboring markets' prices for a given product in order to determine the product's domestic reimbursable amount. . The approach Gilead decided upon would not only determine the future for Truvada in Europe but also would have a significant impact on the company's future financial health.

When L.C. Tu receives an emergency order, he is confronted with a range of production scheduling choices, each of which has unique costs and trade-offs. The case was designed to help students understand job-shop style production and the impact of disruptions and reactive scheduling. Students use two of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's mainstream processes as a vehicle for analysis. The case describes a real situation in which upper management accepts an emergency order. By working through the impact on the production system, students should develop a feel for how shifting demand in a large factory that is structured as a job shop alters the demands on, and utilization rates of expensive capital equipment in a complex way. As bottlenecks shift, students can explore several alternatives, each with different costs and trade-offs. Students may also reflect on the true cost of providing the extraordinary service, and whether management properly takes the impact on operations into account when it makes customer commitments.

How does a pioneer in a new product category deal with the runaway success of a follower? Can search engine marketing and social media help? In 2008 Slanket CEO, Gary Clegg, found that his product, a blanket with sleeves, had been eclipsed by The Snuggie, another sleeved blanket. Snuggie made a brazen entry into the market with a $10 million spend on television infomercials. The Snuggie quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, talked about on popular television programs such as Oprah and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and paid mock tribute to on web sites such as YouTube, where hundreds of video parodies could be found. Clegg had been counting on building his Slanket brand. Will the coming of Snuggie mean the end of Slanket?     

Explores Canadian regulators' decision to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Canadian decision in 2005 to adopt IFRS is particularly interesting because Canada had well-developed domestic accounting standards and because a significant fraction of Canadian industry was lobbying for the adoption of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and not IFRS. The case positions the student as an advisor to an important local politician. Based on cultural, economic, and political information available in 2005, the case requires the student to choose between: (i) retaining Canadian GAAP; (ii) adopting U.S. GAAP; or (iii) adopting IFRS.

This case examines the importance of forecasting expected returns in asset allocation decisions. While the case is targeted to MBA students in an investments or portfolio management course, it is also appropriate for an advanced undergraduate course. It is written from the perspective of a new employee at a small investment management firm that was surprised by the market crash of 2008 and subsequent market rebound in 2009. The CIO of the firm is meeting with an important client to explain his asset allocation recommendations for 2008 and 2009 and to suggest a new allocation going forward. He enlists the help of this new employee in preparing the materials for this presentation. The case requires students to analyze the ability of simple valuation ratios to forecast returns. Students will use a smoothed price-to-earnings ratio to forecast future returns and given step-by-step instructions for the analysis. In addition, students must use their regression results to form a simple (two-asset) tactical asset allocation strategy to better understand the importance of forecasting expected returns for asset allocation decisions and how such forecasts could be used to form a simple tactical asset allocation model. Students also will examine the issues associated with performance measurement for a tactical asset allocation or market-timing investment strategy.

Jeff and Debra Moore are the founders of Just Us!, a fair trade coffee cooperative, retailer and wholesaler. Just Us!'s mission is to actively promote fair trade and its benefits for producers in developing countries. The Moores have maintained a strong commitment to educating consumers while building strong brand identity and upholding constant growth. To support the main distribution channel in grocery stores, management opened four cafés (two each in Wolfville and Halifax) and distributed products on university campuses. Just Us!'s overall sales continued to grow, but sales were leveling off. In addition, the prevailing economic climate in Canada and increasing competition were worrying the founders. Recently, the Moores hired a new marketing director who was required to incorporate unique knowledge of fair trade practices, ethical purchasing and social entrepreneurship, combine it with typical growth-driven marketing decisions and ultimately propose a marketing plan that would consolidate coffee shop operations.

In 2006, Samsung Electronics semiconductor business was the world's largest supplier of flash memory components. The company, however, did not originally invent flash technology and entered the market in the early 1990s behind technology leader Toshiba Corporation of Japan. This case explains how Samsung became a leader in the global market for flash memory over the following fifteen years. Readers are asked how they would make investment decisions to maintain this leadership position going forward.

This technical note provides a simple, yet powerful, optimization exercise to demonstrate the benefits of diversification in a portfolio and the importance of asset allocation. While the note is targeted for MBA students in an investments or portfolio management course, it is also appropriate for an advanced undergraduate course.

What issues commonly arise in international financial management? Kenichi Watanabe and Takumi Shibata, CEO and COO of Nomura Holdings Inc., one of the leading investment banks in Asia, have the opportunity to expand their firm internationally through the acquisition of various parts of Lehman Brothers, an insolvent global investment bank. In evaluating this opportunity, students must consider the complexities of such expansion, including the challenges posed by a multinational insolvency, the difficulties of post-merger integration in a cross-border acquisition, and more general issues related to currency hedging and international taxation.

In 2009, Whole Foods stands at a crossroads. Their incredible growth over the past 25 years has vaulted them into the ranks of the largest US supermarkets and they have arguably led to the widespread acceptance of natural and organic foods in the United States. Yet more recently, Whole Foods has come under attack as having abandoned their prior social mission as they have increasingly sought to deliver economic growth. The case begins with their acquisition of Wild Oats, at that time their largest competitor and describes many of the mechanisms they have used to successfully integrate prior acquisitions. Furthermore, the case shows the significant tension between their social mission and their far-flung supply chain, while discussing some of the tradeoffs that exist in the development of the "industrial organic" model. Finally, the case 'Whole Foods: Balancing Social Mission and Growth' also allows for students to assess CEO John Mackey's new model of "conscious capitalism." Is Mackey's idea a workable model, or just an excuse for Whole Foods extensive growth while avoiding progressive practices such as a unionized workforce?

Since 2006, SK Telecom has worked to develop strategic corporate social responsibility programs that are aligned with its business operations and corporate mission. The case tracks the original assessment process the company went through and successive organizational design efforts to align its CSR strategy and implementation architecture. In 2009, the company is going through reorganization, and the protagonist is considering how well the existing structure of SK Telecom's CSR efforts supports its strategy. The key dilemma he is faced with is whether to change the design of the CSR organization, or perhaps revise the CSR strategy to better match the existing organizational architecture.

This technical note provides a list of resources for researching various aspects of managing human capital within organizations.