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Procter & Gamble reorganized its operations and created Global Business Units with Market Development Organizations (MDO) to augment the brand strategy work. This reorganization supported changes in culture that included reasonable risk taking. The marketing director of Procter & Gamble Canada was evaluating the potential success of launching a new product, Febreze, by using volume analysis resources available to her. The results indicated that Febreze would be a relatively small business opportunity, but the model could not take into account the various new MDO marketing tools that were not yet available. To justify the cost of launching the product, revenues would have to be significantly more than the volume model predicted. While trying to adjust to the new culture, the marketing director had to evaluate the risks associated with launching the product not knowing if the new tools would generate the additional volumes needed and the risk of losing the competitive edge if she postponed the launch.

The A case describes the career of Fairfax County (Virginia) Executive Robert O'Neill, who runs one of the highest-per-capita-income counties in the United States. The case discusses the events leading up to his hiring by Fairfax County, his experience as County Executive, and the situation at the end of the case, including the results of his efforts, the political environment, and a job offer. Students gain insight into the complex aspects of county government, including financial, legal, political, public relations, and strategic business management, as well as into O'Neill's leadership strategy. The B case (UV3179) describes his decision and rationale and a few subsequent events in the county.

The A case (UV3177) describes the career of Fairfax County (Virginia) Executive Robert O'Neill, who runs one of the highest-per-capita-income counties in the United States. The case discusses the events leading up to his hiring by Fairfax County, his experience as County Executive, and the situation at the end of the case, including the results of his efforts, the political environment, and a job offer. Students gain insight into the complex aspects of county government, including financial, legal, political, public relations, and strategic business management, as well as into O'Neill's leadership strategy. The B case describes his decision and rationale and a few subsequent events in the county.

Founders Desh Deshpande and Dan Smith reflect on Sycamore's sales strategies and consider how going public might affect the morale of its key employees. In the optical networking sector, technological change and exploding demand has created a market for talent in which many capable employees strike out on their own to found new competitors--taking their important sales relationships with them. Sycamore needed to learn how it could continue to attract--and retain--the brightest in the business.

More and more, the task of the HR department is one of identifying and articulating primary strategic values of the corporate culture. As an example, Texas Instruments shelved its cumbersome approach to updating HR policy and switched to a system that allowed the rapid response needed in a fast-changing environment. In companies with a strongly articulated value-based culture, the challenge is to apply that culture to the formulation of specific HR policies. Doing so requires that HR policies be examined for relevance to the current business environment, connection to strategic goals, adaptability to changing circumstances, applicability across the firm's theater of operations, familiarity to employees, ease of interpretation and application, specification of the bounds of acceptable employee behavior, and extent of commitment to policies by employees. The process of designing HR policies in a value-based culture is illustrated by the experiences of Texas Instruments, Bell Atlantic, and Unisys.

A cornerstone of manufacturing practice has been to separate complex tasks into simple ones for economies of scale, and service industry practice has followed a variation of this principle by splitting up high and low customer contact activities to cut costs. Low-contact activities are removed from front office jobs, standardized, and centralized in some remote back office to achieve scale economies. Here, the authors question this principle; the choice of how to organize back office work carries strategic implications. Their model provides four approaches illustrating different strategies, based on data from a study of retail bank lending operations and using examples from other service industries. The decoupling of front- and back-office operations hinges not only on cost but whether the service firm's strategy is one of cost leadership, dedicated service, premium service, or cheap convenience. Each distinct strategy poses a different set of trade-offs and important managerial issues. Decoupling can be eschewed to decrease costs, or embraced to enhance responsiveness in the front office.

A number of models have attempted to prescribe how companies should internationalize. Here, the best of these models is synthesized in a "Way Station" approach. It is tempting to take the "Low Road" (short-term, low-cost) approach in planning the trip, selecting the mode of transport, dealing with road blocks, and making a commitment. But success is most often achieved by taking the High Road. The Low Road is defined by relying on anecdotal evidence, responding only to immediate markets, exporting labor to low-cost markets, choosing markets based solely on cultural similarities, not exerting ownership control, relying on a few obvious customers, reacting to challenges with untested responses, falling into price wars instead of competing on value, and not investing in the venture as part of a global portfolio. The High Road, by contrast, emphasizes thorough market research, anticipating future customers and their needs, leading with strengths, defining success broadly, maintaining more than 50% control, diversifying the customer base, taking a long-term view, treating the new foreign venture as an integral piece of global strategy, and capitalizing on new technology in the foreign venture by feeding it back into domestic operation. Even smaller firms can take the High Road.

Petstore.com is one of four contenders for leadership in the highly competitive online pet supply business. Petstore.com faces decisions regarding potential merger partners and how to brand its service within the website managed by its ultimate merger partner, Discovery Communications.

This case describes how eight entrepreneurs discover different opportunities for new businesses to exploit a single technological invention. The case focuses on the process of entrepreneurial discovery and its implications for the creation of new firms. Many of the teaching materials on entrepreneurship assume that entrepreneurs have already discovered an opportunity. While these materials provide useful information about the process of creating new enterprises, they miss the crucial first step in the entrepreneurial process: identifying an opportunity. The case illustrates the theoretical concept of the role of information in the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities. It can be used in a class on entrepreneurship or management of technology.

In the United States, genetically modified corn and soybeans are now widely grown and consumed. In Europe, however, they have been dubbed "Frankenstein foods," shunned by packaged food manufacturers, and subjected to a host of governmental restrictions. This case provides information on the economics and politics of agricultural biotechnology. It emphasizes the divergent attitudes in the United States and Europe about how the technology ought to be regulated and highlights the resultant strategic dilemmas for companies in the business, including DuPont, Monsanto, and Novartis. Students can analyze the technology and its regulators from both a normative public policy standpoint (i.e., asking what sorts of regulatory institutions would enhance social well-being) and the point of view of positive political economy (i.e., asking how the regulatory system is likely to evolve given the current institutional setup and the interests of the various public and private players). Raises questions of how firms can develop strategy under conditions of extreme regulatory risk.

Embraer is the story of a company from a developing country, Brazil, that has become the leader in a high-tech field, regional passenger jets. Embraer's first family of regional jets has been highly successful and, at the time of the case, it is embarking on a major commitment to a second, larger family. At the same time, though, it is embroiled in a bitter dispute at the World Trade Organization about Brazilian export financing. In addition, it faces issues related to its capital structure and corporate strategy.

Discusses the emerging role of the Internet in the health care industry and describes the strategy of WebMD in this new "ehealth" space. Issues include technology strategy, industry transformation, competition in turbulent environments, and strategic alliances.

One of the steepest challenges a strategist faces is to navigate his or her company through a period of industry transformation--an era of rapid and wholesale changes in industry structure. This note considers how periods of transformation typically unfold. It then examines how the core tools of the strategist can be deployed during such periods and how new tools come to the fore. Periods of industry transformation pose grave threats and tremendous opportunities to companies. Industry leaders are often unseated during such times, replaced by underdogs and entrants. Perhaps most importantly, periods of transformation give companies unusual latitude to influence future industry structure. Teaching purpose: Designed to support course modules that consider strategy-making under uncertainty or the intersection of competitive strategy and technology.

In 1997, Novo Nordisk was one of two leading firms globally in the diabetes-care industry, dominating the business outside the United States but struggling to win market share there. It was formed in 1989 from a merger of two Danish firms that had previously competed fiercely. In the early 1990s, communications difficulties between its American operations and headquarters in Denmark led to its failing to adapt to changing U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations. It was forced to withdraw the product it had made for the U.S. market and to inform its customers there that they would have to obtain their needed medicine from its main competitor. This case describes the company's organizational responses to this crisis. These centered on a reaffirmation of values; a definition of a new "Novo Nordisk Way of Management (NNWoM)," embodying a list of "Fundamentals"; and the creation of a group of facilitators whose role was to ensure that units adhered to the NNWoM.

The newly appointed manager of personal banking of a national bank branch faces various challenges, including managing difficult individuals, introducing changes to a staff with varying levels of receptiveness, and deciding if a small town branch should ultimately be closed. He must consider the potential impact of the branch closing on the community, the company's reputation, the employees, and his own career. He must also analyze his alternatives and develop his recommendations for an upcoming meeting.

Dawn Riley is the CEO/Captain of America True, the first coed syndicate to race for the America's Cup. Over three years, based on her vision for America True, she built the syndicate from scratch, bringing on investors and sponsors, designing and building a boat, and hiring a sailing crew to race it. In June 1999, Riley must decide how to handle the San Francisco office now that America True's base of operations is moving to Auckland, New Zealand, where racing will begin in four months. She is facing pressure to phase out the office to cut down on costs, but Riley believes that the people in San Francisco and the work they are doing are key to her vision for America True. She must weigh the tension between immediate pressures to win and the longer-term sustainability of her vision.

Supplements the (A) case.

Dawn Riley and America True are based in Auckland, New Zealand, where racing will begin in six weeks. The senior management team will be meeting in August 1999 to decide whether or not to make changes to Tag, the practice boat that they are using as a testing platform. Riley has striven to create a consensus-based approach to decision-making, and see herself as a "participant" in these meetings. She wonders if things have gotten "too democratic," and if she should step in and lead this meeting. Would changing her behavior now about such a seminal matter compromise her effort to create a collaborative decision making approach? This case provides information on sailing and design programs, and explores in depth Riley's role as a "producing manager."

Gateway has opened retail stores to differentiate itself from its competitors (e.g., Dell). Describes how the company has created an excellent service experience, but has struggled financially as a result.

In February 2007, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) was far and away the dominant food retailer in Canada with a market share of 35 per cent across its various retailing formats. As part of its long term retailing strategy and in a bid to reduce the impact of Wal-Mart Canada's entry into food retailing, in 2004 Loblaw began to build new The Real Canadian Superstores in Ontario and position them as "blockers" that resembled Wal-Mart's U.S. combination food and general merchandise superstores. It overhauled its entire logistical system to improve its cost structure and it brought in new senior executives in 2006. Unfortunately, The Real Canadian Superstores appeared to be disappointing some customers, retail analysts, industry experts and even former Loblaw executives. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart entered the retail food market in 2006 with distinctive emphasis on fresh produce and deli offerings on top of its low prices and wide assortment. The question for Loblaw's executive team was whether or not to make any strategic changes, and, if so, in what direction.