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In the spring of 2005, the government of Mali was negotiating major changes in the concession of Energie du Mali (EDM), the private firm that operated Mali's electricity and water services. The negotiations were being watched anxiously by the World Bank and the French bilateral aid agency, who had been promoting private participation as a mechanism for improving performance and increasing investment in infrastructure. The policy had had mixed results around the world, with many successes but also a number of high profile failures. But it had experienced the most difficulty in sub-Saharan Africa, where interest from private investors had been weaker, a relatively high proportion of the private concessions, leases, or management contracts had been cancelled and a number of others, like EDM, were in crisis. This case is designed to illustrate the difficulties of reforming state-owned enterprises in small and poor countries like many of those in sub-Saharan Africa. It can also be used to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of private participation including concessions, leases, and management contracts. HKS Case Number 1811.0

Looks at the challenges and opportunities faced by Electronic Arts (EA) as it seeks to reinforce its leadership position in game making and digital entertainment. While a leader in PC and console games, EA is also interested in creating content derived from traditional media companies, such as film studios, as well as distributing its digital content through new channels, such as cell phones.

Relates the events leading up to the announcement in February 2005 that INVESTools, a Utah-based provider of investor education services, would be restating prior-year financial statements due to inappropriate revenue recognition.

An abstract is not available for this product.

An abstract is not available for this product.

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In November 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy's new customer approach was to shun the "devils" among its customers. The "customer centricity" initiative, which was led by Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, was based on an analysis of the purchase histories of several customer groups. The central idea was to revamp stores according to the most lucrative types of customers they served--the "angels" among the company's customers. Encourages an assessment of Best Buy's strategy and, more generally, of the challenges and opportunities in managing customers for profits.

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In 2005, Martha Goldberg Aronson must decide whether to accept an overseas posting in a functional role with Medtronic Corp. The move would be a professional stretch, but would entail leaving a position with a plan half completed and moving her young family overseas. Profiles the youth, career, family life, aspirations, and motivations of the rising executive. Provides information about the practical, personal, and business challenges of an international assignment. Raises questions regarding work-life balance and the opportunities of the proposed stretch assignment in balance with the desire to see an existing process through to completion.

In the spring of 2005, an exhausted Philip McCrea, president and CEO of software development company VitesseLearning, reflects on the demands of his successful start-up and his desire to be closer to his growing family. Profiles the youth, career, family life, aspirations, and motivations of the founder and CEO. Provides information about the business' comparative advantages and strategic opportunities. Raises questions regarding work-life balance and the entrepreneurial satisfaction of running a successful service industry, IT-based start-up.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 106009.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 506021.

The Aurora Cultural Centre's mission is to foster a more just community, globally and locally, by providing community education on diversity and cross-cultural awareness, global development issues, and immigration/refugee issues. The centre also provide housing and settlement services to new immigrants and refugees. The organization has been facing budget deficits, administrative overload, board member turnover and staff problems. A recently appointed member of the board is preparing to lead a board strategy retreat and must make recommendations on improvements to the agency's financial performance and must determine how she can convince the board members that the situation is serious and requires immediate action.

Presents the basic principles of pricing, including value pricing, price sensitivity, and price customization/discrimination.

Describes the successful turnaround of the restaurant company Yum! Brands after its spin off from PepsiCo and covers how the company's leadership planned and executed on virtually every dimension of the employee experience. The main dilemma centers on what the company should do in terms of multibranding--housing two brands in one physical location.

Supplements the (A) case..

E-Ductions, a small privately held start-up, developed a new voluntary employee benefit: a payroll-deduction-linked credit card. The CLEAR card provided workers, especially low-income and credit-challenged employees, access to a card with tight credit limits, zero APR, and automatic repayment. The firm's initial experience suggested that the CLEAR card might be attractive to employees, employers, and the card issuer, but E-Duction needed to increase employer acceptance of its new product.

The case is a continuation of Lesser Antilles Lines (UV0351 and UV3879), which describes the price competition between two duopolistic shipping companies facing inelastic demand for cargo volume. Customers have inelastic and time-sensitive demands, restricting their strategic possibilities. The case extends this setting to multiple competitors using a multinomial logit model of customer demand.

In the late 1990s, IBM successfully moved up the value chain and became one of the largest business and information technology (IT) solution providers in the world. To achieve such a transformation, the company made a number of strategic moves to reduce its exposure in the commoditization of IT hardware manufacturing. A key success factor was the creation of IBM Global Services and its venture into the high-margin management consulting and technology services industries. Moreover, IBM orchestrated a series of strategic acquisitions, sold ailing business units, and outsourced low-value-added manufacturing to external contractors and joint venture partners. In 2002, with the success of its business model and the introduction of new computing architecture, IBM made a high-profile announcement about its new corporate strategy centered on the concept of "on demand business." Nonetheless, followed by disappointing financial results in the first quarter of 2005, IBM's stock price plummeted and hit the lowest point since Sam Palmisano took over as CEO in March 2002. The company announced a massive restructuring in its European operations to be carried out in late 2005. Although the second quarter results had improved, some began to doubt whether the "on demand" strategy would deliver the promised results. More specifically, many started to question why and how such a strategy was justified in the first place. What difficulties would the company encounter in implementing its new corporate strategy?

In February 2004, the general manager of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank failed to show up for work several days in a row. His absence followed a meeting of the full staff of the bank with the chair of the board, Chetna Sinha, in which tensions between the male and female staff were aired. The general manager was not the only male staff member to show his dissatisfaction. In January, another long-time male employee had quit, warning that all the male staff were planning to quit as well. Chetna Sinha had to decide whether to call back the general manager, or simply let him go. If she let him go, who would replace him? Chetna Sinha and other women in the village received a cooperative banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February 1997, and six months later founded the Mann Deshi Bank. The bank grew steadily, though not without problems, especially in filling the general manager position. In 2002, Chetna was invited to be a fellow at Yale's Global Fellows program, where she spent a year. In her absence, the bank passed an RBI exam, and operated with few problems. But on her return Chetna found many tensions that soon became unbearable. In December 2003, she called the full staff meeting that precipitated the departure of the two male employees. HKS Case Number 1806.0