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The president of a national placement agency is preparing to make a final pitch to sign Greyhound Canada as a client. Greyhound wants to reposition its brand as a mainstream travel option, particularly for suburban commuters, and needs cost-effective ways to get its message to consumers. The company views product placement as a viable tool for building brand awareness, but worries about losing control over its brand image. Even more serious are concerns about the absence of reliable metrics to assess the overall effectiveness of product placement. The case covers fundamentals of product placement, particularly with respect to strengths and weaknesses, and provides an excellent basis for discussing its value as part of an overall marketing communications strategy.

Three young MBAs create a partnership to acquire the assets of Parmalat in Uruguay. Focuses on their analysis prior to submitting a bid and their plan for improving the operations once their bid is accepted. In addition to improving operations, they must negotiate with creditors to reduce the debt burden on the company.

Cherrypicks is a Hong Kong communications start-up approaching a large Korean mobile operator for a partnership to take the operator's products to markets outside of Korea. SK Telecom's (SKT) Ring Back Tones (RBT) product is a spectacular success in South Korea, but the partnership will require major changes in Cherrypicks' business model. Further complicating matters, SKT is also a strategic investor in Cherrypicks, a very large service provider focused on South Korea and China, and typically partners with Korean entrepreneurial firms. The Cherrypicks management team must decide how they should pitch the partnership opportunity to SKT and what their preferred deal structure would be.

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A retail jeweler has relocated to a larger store and is experiencing losses for the first time. Sales and costs have increased along with the breakeven point. Changes in pricing and promotion must be explored. Alternative actions to return to profitability can be considered.

Partners in a service firm are reviewing results for 2006, wondering whether large or small projects are more profitable. Present reports make small projects look more profitable. However, activity-based accounting reveals that large projects are more profitable and that concentrating sales efforts on large projects offers potential for greater profit in a service firm.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 107060.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 107061.

Describes the use of data by teachers in a Boston public elementary school and the ways in which the district provided support and development as it implemented its strategy to improve student performance. Discusses the challenges of alignment among district departments and focuses on the school culture needed to engage all teachers in using data for instructional improvement.

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Fujifilm was the second largest manufacturer of photographic film in the world when digital imaging began to substitute for its core business. In contrast to some photography incumbents, such as Polaroid, Fuji had a relatively successful transition to digital imaging. In 2000, the company had more than a 20% share of the global digital camera market and at the same time had increased its share of the global film market to about 35% from just 18% in 1990. Despite this accomplishment, by 2006 the company felt the need to find new growth opportunities and was aggressively searching for other markets in which to apply its specialty chemicals expertise. In the process, however, the company had lost its sense of self. "If we aren't an imaging company, then what are we?" was the critical question posed by the CEO. The case examines both how Fuji was able to successfully move from analog to digital imaging and how the CEO should now think about finding a "second foundation."

Linlin Chen, a sales manager at Allnation Import and Export Co. Ltd., is in her office looking at the revenue reports for her sales in the past three months. Her numbers are very good, and she knows she is about to be rewarded with a promotion and the opportunity to become a shareholder in the company. Chen has been thinking about becoming an entrepreneur for some time. As she weighs the risks and the opportunities, she realizes that she needs to make a decision within nine days, when she will be asked to become a shareholder in the company.

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Mary Gadams, founder and CEO of RacingThePlanet is facing one of the many logistical crises that her young Hong Kong-based venture faces as it stages its popular 4Deserts(tm) adventure marathon series in Atacama Chile, Gobi Desert Mongolia, Sahara Desert Egypt, and Antarctica. How can a small company in Hong Kong continue to effectively coordinate such a far-flung, complex, global operation?

Explores the tax policy choices made by Slovakia and the impact of reforms. Set in 2006, looks at the decision facing new Prime Minister Robert Fico as he faces the public's "reform fatigue." Traces the development of tax and fiscal policies since Slovakia's independence in 1993, focusing on the 2004 implementation of the rovna dan, or "equal tax," a drastic simplification of the tax system. A major theme is the impact of labor market and welfare reform, as well as the effective tax rates of both investors and workers. Another important theme relates to Slovakia's desire to join the EU and adopt the Euro.

The Antamina Mining Company (Compania Minera Antamina, or CMA) is the world's 3rd largest producer of zinc, 7th of copper, and the largest combined operation for both minerals. This Peruvian company, whose operations are located between 4,200 and 4,700 m.a.s.l., is a leader in environmental and social responsibility. Although CMA was a fairly new company (the exploration and construction phases of the mining operations took place between 1997 and 2001, the year in which the production phase began), it had to face a series of complex challenges in order to become an economically viable organization that was both socially and environmentally responsible. Meeting these objectives has implied developing institutional capacities (conflict resolution, management of adverse social contexts, multiculturalism, self-learning, and innovation) that normally appear much later in a company's evolution. Shows some of the typical challenges that managers must face when engaging in large-scale initiatives. CMA's executives worked with tight deadlines and in a high-risk context to make quick decisions whose consequences would have long-term implications, since they would determine the type of relations the company would maintain with diverse stakeholders. In order to make these decisions, they had to establish priorities among at least three distinct logics: i) that of construction and production, where tight time limits, engineers' technical criteria, and cost reduction predominate; ii) the environmental logic, where caution predominates along with impact assessment and an active international community of stakeholders; and iii) the community-based logic, where to co-exist with the primarily indigenous and poor peasant families directly affected by the project it is necessary to obtain a so-called "social license". This phase took place in a context in which CMA had the pressing need to secure financing from international banks.

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In November 1997, Richard D. Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial Corporation, was reflecting on the success of his company since its initial public offering (IPO) in 1994. The success had come primarily from one business: credit cards. Despite the phenomenal success of the company in this one market, Fairbank's vision for the company was not limited to credit cards. He wanted to diversify to reduce Capital One's vulnerability to consumer credit market saturation and downturns. Fairbank also saw an opportunity to extend Capital One's capabilities into other markets. He saw Capital One as not just a credit card or financial services company but rather as an information-based marketing company. Because Capital One's strategy would work well in other information-driven industries, Fairbank's idea was to concentrate on growing, data-rich industries--large enough to contribute significantly to the company's growth trajectory--and focus on products and marketing channels where Capital One could leverage its capabilities in scientific testing and mass customization. Despite having investigated over 50 diversification opportunities, Capital One was not pursuing any, largely because they were a poor fit or failed to capitalize on Capital One's core competencies. A recent hire, Mike Rowen, and his team, however, had just finished a four-month long investigation into the auto financing industry. It was up to Rowen and his team to decide whether to present auto financing as the right opportunity for leveraging Capital One's information-based strategic capabilities. The team knew that if it recommended going ahead, it would have to put forth a plan that would address any concerns or objections raised by Fairbank.

Rapid growth is pushing Burt's Bees' natural personal care products into mass distribution channels, with products and brand elements that are less quirky, more commercial than they used to be. Indeed, CEO John Replogle believes that by focusing on efficacious, natural, and unique ingredients, and also by promoting earth-friendly production processes, Burt's Bees will impose superior product expectations and win over the mainstream personal care category. Can Burt's Bees become the "Starbucks of personal care" without distancing itself too much from the people, values, and narratives that have made the brand successful thus far?

In 2007 Grupo Bimbo, a leading global player in the baking industry, expands into China, while at the same time undertaking initiatives to make its U.S. and South American operations more profitable. Allows students to analyze the company's entire global strategy. Places particular attention on how a multinational firm should best adapt to differences in the basic institutions of capitalism and consumer preferences across countries as well as within them.