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Presents a brief historical overview of Enron's rise, its strategic successes and failures, the evolution of its business model, and the organizational processes relied upon by Enron's management to drive and monitor the business. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

As a multi-generational family business with a 100-year history in industrial engineering, the Nash Engineering Company had turned many challenges into opportunities. But in the late 1990s, the market for their products collapsed. The family and executive managers were faced with several options. Should they try to continue as a stand-alone organization? Should they pursue a strategic acquisition? Should the family sell Nash Engineering? There were many factors to consider, among them individual shareholders' need for dividends and liquidity, and the family's sense of pride in their heritage. What was the best solution for the business and the family?

Cumberland Entertainment, a niche music producer, was looking for capital to finance its planned expansion. CEO, Tom Smith, entered into negotiations with private equity firms, and struck an agreement that turned out to be incomplete. As a result, serious problems arose between financial investors and management. The case series describes how the parties dealt with these problems as their relationship evolved.

Cumberland Entertainment, a niche music producer, was looking for capital to finance its planned expansion. CEO, Tom Smith, entered into negotiations with private equity firms, and struck an agreement that turned out to be incomplete. As a result, serious problems arose between financial investors and management. The case series describes how the parties dealt with these problems as their relationship evolved.

Cumberland Entertainment, a niche music producer, was looking for capital to finance its planned expansion. CEO, Tom Smith, entered into negotiations with private equity firms, and struck an agreement that turned out to be incomplete. As a result, serious problems arose between financial investors and management. The case series describes how the parties dealt with these problems as their relationship evolved.

Cumberland Entertainment, a niche music producer, was looking for capital to finance its planned expansion. CEO, Tom Smith, entered into negotiations with private equity firms, and struck an agreement that turned out to be incomplete. As a result, serious problems arose between financial investors and management. The case series describes how the parties dealt with these problems as their relationship evolved.

The primary purpose of this case is to describe the challenges facing Rasurel, the swimwear brand of Lejaby, a French lingerie company that has set itself the ambition of revitalizing the image of Rasurel in the minds of consumers. The case focuses on the issues facing the company as it considers the launch of the Rasurel Summer 2004 collection. The Lejaby management team has envisaged various options, favoring one where it would keep Rasurel in the company¿s portfolio and work on its repositioning. Bruno de Lalande, the newly appointed Marketing & Sales Director, has the task of leading the repositioning.

When the World Bank signed an agreement with the government of Peru in December, 1997 to provide a $22.5 million loan to help reform the country's antiquated and corrupt judicial system, the Bank knew it faced risks. Peru's President Alberto Fujimori was under fire and observers considered it possible that, rather than exhibiting real commitment to reform, the government may have been seeking the loan chiefly to lend a veneer of legitimacy to measures that in reality reduced judicial independence and concentrated more power in the executive. On balance, however, Bank officials who had to make the decision on whether to proceed with the agreement believed it offered a rare opportunity to address a variety of longstanding ills-including limited access to the justice system, a crumbling infrastructure, and inadequate training of judges and prosecutors. But just three months after the agreement had been signed, Peru's Congress-dominated by members loyal to the President-passed a measure which led Bank officials to question the good faith of the government. The new law limited the powers of one of the pillars of the loan agreement-the National Council of Magistrates, an independent entity mandated to , ratify and remove judges and prosecutors. The Council's members resigned en masse and, in response, the Bank postponed the effective date of the judicial reform loan by six months-halting any disbursement of funds. But in the days following the announcement, Peru's government put increasing pressure on the Bank to change its mind-and finally summoned the Bank's country director for Peru to a personal meeting with President Fujimori. The country director would have to decide whether to stick with the loan postponement-and, more broadly, take stock of what was really going on in Peru. Would the loan help a government sincerely embarked on reform? Or might it simply abet a government bent on subverting the judiciary to further its own political goals? HKS Case Number 1779.0

Herd behavior among investors has produced many of capitalism's great achievements, says Robert D. Hormats of Goldman Sachs International.

Business schools fall short on teaching ethics and leadership, says economics professor Peter Navarro.

Professors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres recommend a companywide "open" suggestion box that will lead to better ideas.

Employee engagement may influence performance and retention more than any other factor.

Law is the last great untapped source of competitive advantage, argues professor Larry Downes.

According to professors Philip Mirvis and Bradley Googins, companies are all over the place in how they define citizenship.

Professor Michael W. Klein contends that countries affording women greater economic opportunities are more successful in women's international sports.

Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton explains that companies sometimes misvalue capital investment opportunities because they fail to adjust their cost-of-capital calculations to reflect pension risks.

To compete against Wal-Mart, companies should exploit the weaknesses of other Wal-Mart competitors, say consultants Darrell Rigby and Dan Haas.

Sara Horowitz, founder of the nonprofit Working Today, explains why insurance programs for independent workers are good for business.

Professors Francesca Golfetto and David Mazursky describe how a group of Italian yarn makers market their expertise, not just their products.

At year-end 2003, Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio reached a total principal of $1.4 trillion. The U.S. government did not explicitly back Freddie Mac, a stockholder-owned organization, but investors were said to perceive some degree of implicit government backing. After its success in the 1990s, Freddie Mac made maintaining steady earnings growth in the mid-teens an explicit goal through interest rate risk management. To smooth earnings in a changing interest rate environment, Freddie Mac prided itself on modeling, measuring, and managing credit and interest rate risk. Significant resources were devoted to developing sophisticated, quantitative risk modeling and solutions. Interest rate risk was reduced largely through the use of interest rate swaps and swaptions. The motivation to smooth earnings was inherent in Freddie Mac's culture and caused business problems: The operations (e.g., accounting, audit, etc.) of the organization were not well supported, executive compensation was tied to meeting earnings estimates, and employees involved in developing creative accounting solutions to manage earnings were thought of as "first-class citizens." On January 22, 2003, Freddie Mac announced it would restate earnings for 2002, 2001, and possibly 2000. The following June, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), Freddie Mac's regulator, began an examination of Freddie Mac's culture and the events leading up to the restatement. OFHEO determined that Freddie Mac had neglected operations risk management when managing interest rate risk and earnings, leaving room for accounting and disclosure issues. How should investors view the events leading up to the $5 billion restatement and Freddie Mac's management of interest rate risk and operations risk?