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In December 2013, music superstar Beyoncé is about to surprise her fans with the release of her self-titled album. The team at her company Parkwood Entertainment, which general manager Lee Anne Callahan-Longo described as "a management, music, and production company that is owned and at the highest level operated by an artist," had chosen to release the entire album at once and exclusively via the Apple iTunes Store, without any prior promotion-a significant, and potentially very risky, departure from how music was traditionally released. Sony Music's label Columbia Records, with whom Parkwood partnered on recorded-music activities, shared the costs-and therefore also the risk-of the album, which had been one-and-a-half years in development and was a particularly expensive proposition because of the many videos. How would fans and music industry insiders react to the daring launch, unveiled via Beyoncé's Facebook and Instagram accounts? Would the album be able to find a large enough audience even without traditional promotional activities? And would there be any adverse reactions, for instance from traditional music retailers refusing to carry the physical album later?

A recent MBA graduate had been renting a condominium, and a similar unit next door had just been listed for sale. Now facing the classic buy-versus-rent decision, the young grad decided it was time for her to apply some of the analytical tools she had acquired in business school - including "time value of money" concepts - to her personal life.

The Chery Automobile case focuses on the Chinese company, which, in 2007, was the fourth largest automotive company in China. Chery was growing at enormous speed, and was already exporting to over 50 countries, primarily in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Chery was determined to enter the coveted U.S. and Western European markets, and in 2007 it struck a strategic alliance with the struggling U.S.-based Chrysler Company. The case explores the barriers that Chery was facing trying to enter these markets and asks students to evaluate if the strategic alliance was the best strategy for it to eventually establish itself independently in the mature and discerning U.S. and European markets.

This case finds Chery after the collapse of its alliance with Chrysler. For Chrysler it meant losing one of its most promising routes to building a competitive small-car lineup for consumers who were pinched at the pump by rising gas prices. For Chery, it meant losing Chrysler's technical ability, quality, and regulatory ratings consistent with U.S. and Western European markets. Students place themselves in the shoes of Chery executives as the company goes about creating a new strategy to tap into the U.S. and European markets.

Parul Prakashani started out as a textbook publisher in 1961. Slowly, it diversified into a wide repertoire of non-textbooks for children, young adults and adults. In early 2013, the non-textbook division of the company is not earning enough revenue, while strong revenues are coming from textbooks. The major issue faced by Parul is how to grow the non-textbook business. This requires significant branding activity and a marketing communication plan. Phasing out the non-textbook business is not an option, since it is close to the founder's heart and lends prestige to the company. The major dilemma facing the founder is whether to allocate more resources to the non-textbook division to improve growth, and if so, how to allocate these resources. Parul must think up new products and new markets in order to stay in the business of publishing non-textbooks.

Jonathan Geibel, Director of Systems at Walt Disney Animation Studios (hereafter referred to as Disney Animation), walked through the workspace occupied by the group he had been tasked to lead. Geibel knew he was part of a creative and magical environment. The Disney studio had created more than 53 feature animated films in over three-quarters of a century-beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937 through to Frozen, released in November of 2013 and awarded the Oscar® for Best Animated Feature in March 2014, the first Academy Award® in that category for Walt Disney Animation Studios. In late March 2014, Frozen became the highest-grossing animated feature, worldwide, of all time. There was a period in the history of the 90 year-old studio, not so many years ago (and prior to John Lasseter and Ed Catmull's leadership), when Walt Disney Animation Studios had become more structured and hierarchical, and it wasn't always easy to work across departments to innovate. Yet the work, which involved both high-tech computer animation and creative storytelling, was more cross-disciplinary and dynamic than ever. Geibel wondered what he and Ron Johnson, whom he hired and teamed up with to re-envision the Systems group within Disney Animation, could do to improve the flow and the efficiency of the organization's increasingly technical and creative work. Geibel and Johnson had already made dramatic changes in the work structure and in the physical space to promote the effective teamwork that was so essential to producing compelling, engaging animated films. Now it was time to figure out how well the changes were working, and what further changes, if any, were necessary.

In March 2011, Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk, co-chairmen and co-chief executive officers at independent production company Media Rights Capital (MRC), are debating whether to accept a licensing offer from Netflix for their most ambitious project to date, a new television series called House of Cards. MRC executives had begun to pitch the series to each of the major premium cable networks in the US, including AMC, FX, HBO, Showtime, and Starz. To the surprise of the two entrepreneurs, Netflix executives had made it known they were prepared to make a bold step into the world of original programming. As thrilled as Satchu and Wiczyk were about Netflix's offer, accepting it-and thus forgoing a sought-after one-season offer from a traditional premium cable network-raised major concerns, for instance about MRC's ability to secure international rights fees, to obtain sufficient marketing support, to gain the necessary credibility in the marketplace, and to satisfy artists and other key constituents. Was Netflix the right partner for MRC?

The production, valuation, and consumption of contemporary art are guided by cultural and economic forces that play out in primary and secondary markets. Artists seek the attention of art dealers, who, along with auction houses, play a large role in determining what is and is not innovative and important-and therefore valuable-in the market. Museums, collectors, and critics also play a significant role in affecting public perception and valuation of works of art, while ancillary service providers such as advisors, insurers, and private wealth management and financial services firms support the workings of the market.

Mr. Rao, with several years of banking experience, approached People's Group Dubai, a venture capitalist firm, seeking financing for a micro-remittance-cum-foreign exchange service operation in Hong Kong. He argued that demand for currency exchange services in Hong Kong would continue to grow because of the high number of tourists who visited Hong Kong on their China tour. He also argued that a captive market of domestic workers who remitted their wages to their home countries would provide continuous demand for remittance services. Mr. Rao was confident that he could start quickly with a small office staffed by a few tellers and one manager in a busy location of Hong Kong, and then expand operations to other locations. However, financing to cover fixed assets and working capital would be required to open additional outlets. A major enabler of the proposed strategy was the telecommunication network of Western Union, which had established a presence in several parts of the world as a trustworthy provider of remittance services. Mr. Rao also intended to benefit from the technology support and expertise of the IT arm of People's Group based in Bangalore, India. People's Group Dubai welcomed realistic entrepreneurial ideas if they were backed by clear strategies for business growth and promised an acceptable rate of return on investment (ROI). With competition and low-cost micro-remittance services provided by pure Internet players, there were questions about the adequacy of technology support from the Bangalore arm in steering Mr. Rao's proposed venture to success and generating adequate ROI in the short and long run. People's Group directors debated the viability of the proposed venture.

Brodie Arens is an MBA student and summer intern at Three Jays Corporation, a jam and jelly manufacturer in Michigan. Brodie's first assignment as an intern is to update the inventory and production planning system. Initially, he begins by updating the Economic Order Quantities (EOQ) and Reorder Points (ROP) for each product. However, he soon learns that the formal production planning system was being ignored by the workers on the factory floor. Consequently, Brodie has to decide what should be done with the system and how to implement his recommendations. This case illustrates the 2 major types of errors that can occur when using Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) as a tool in production scheduling. It can be used in an inventory control or tradeoff analysis section in a production and operations management course or in a supply chain management course.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Product #915531.

Companies have long struggled to get a handle on how consumers feel about brands and products in real time. Perceptual maps are often use to help visualize a product 's relationship to other products in the competitive arena, but the data referenced to build perceptual maps is often expensive to obtain or incomplete. This case introduces students to a new tool that mines and aggregates social media to support the development of more meaningful perceptual maps.

Like many other states at the time, Minnesota found itself facing several serious long-term public health challenges in the mid- and late-2000s, including rapidly rising health care costs and residents' increasing vulnerability to chronic diseases arising from unhealthy behaviors like smoking as well as higher obesity rates. Compounding these challenges, in 2008 a major economic recession took hold across the country, prompting states to target health and human services programs for extensive budget cuts. In Minnesota, even as the recession started to subside, analyses of the state budget indicated that it needed new strategies for slowing the growth rate of health care spending; and in response the state legislature passed a major health reform law that, among other things, aimed to reduce costs. A key component of this law was the establishment of the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP), which sought to reduce smoking and obesity rates - two of the main drivers of a number of chronic diseases and, hence, of higher long-term health costs for the state. In designing and launching SHIP, state health officials decided to focus on developing a close partnership with the private sector. This, they believed, would enable them to combine government's wide ranging authorities and subject matter expertise in public health with the private sector's broad reach and its advanced marketing and communication practices and resources. This case tells the story of how leaders of the SHIP initiative worked with businesses and corporate executives in an effort to have as far-reaching an impact as possible. It highlights the mutual advantages of a public-private partnership while also illustrating challenges the two sides encountered as they worked to develop and implement the program. HKS Case Number 2004.0.

In July 2012, a gunman entered a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire, killing 12 people, injuring 58 others, and traumatizing a community. This case briefly describes the shooting and emergency response but focuses primarily on the recovery process in the year that followed. In particular, it highlights the work of the Aurora Public Schools, which under the leadership of Superintendent John L. Barry, drew on years of emergency management training to play a substantial role in the response and then unveiled an expansive recovery plan. This included hiring a full-time disaster recovery coordinator, partnering with an array of community organizations, and holding mental health workshops and other events to support APS community members. The case also details the range of reactions that staff and community members had to APS' efforts, broader community-wide recovery efforts, and stakeholders' perspectives on the effectiveness of the recovery. HKS Case Number 2024.0.

Supplement case to product HKS892. HKS Case Number 2025.0.

This video-based case explores how an impact evaluation for a promising after-school program in New York City went awry. In 2006, New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg created the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO). Designed as an innovation fund, CEO tested anti-poverty programs by applying an evidence-based approach. One of CEO's programs, Teen ACTION, was developed to provide after-school service-learning opportunities to at-risk youth. Teen ACTION's model was based on a rigorously evaluated program which had proven to significantly reduce rates of teen pregnancy and course failure among participants when compared to a control group. But when it came time to evaluate Teen ACTION's impacts, CEO ran into significant hurdles. With rare candor, CEO officials, Kristin Morse and Carson Hicks discuss on video how flaws in the program's evaluation strategy, coupled with random unforeseen events like the Swine Flu, rendered the evaluation results unusable. HKS Case Number 2027.0.

The chief executive officer of Oy Moomin Characters Ltd. (Oy Moomin) had dramatically increased revenues since he joined the firm, but breaking into the major markets of the world, including the United States, was proving to be quite difficult. The firm's long-standing relationship with its master agent, Bull's Press of Sweden, had given the firm a dominant presence in the Nordic region and Japan but little presence elsewhere. He must consider his options for sustaining the growth of the firm, which involves developing a strategy for the character licensing industry, understanding sources of sustainable value creation, and adapting to the demands of a global marketplace.

The managing partner for Malvern Investment Services was faced with a dilemma. In two weeks, she would be hosting the firm's annual conference and would be announcing the Investment Advisor of the Year. Having narrowed down the list to four finalists she now had to make the final decision. This was her first conference as the managing partner and she knew that every announcement, presentation and interaction she had with her partners and staff would be scrutinized for hints of the firm's direction under her leadership. The choice she would make regarding the Investment Advisor of the Year award would be analyzed to determine the traits that she valued most highly in Malvern's best advisors. Each of the four advisors under consideration was highly regarded by branch managers, peers and clients. As she viewed the biographies, she wondered how to evaluate them with respect to the award.

WestJet, Canada's second largest national airline, is preparing to launch a social media initiative to coincide with the year-end holiday season. As the company's executive vice-president (Sales, Marketing and Guest Experience) reviews the plan, he is seeking answers to three questions. Does the proposed initiative fit or mismatch with WestJet's brand image? Will the initiative deepen or dilute the engagement the airline currently enjoys with its guests (as it calls its passengers) and WestJetters (as it calls its employees)? What specific outcomes can WestJet achieve through the initiative and how can those outcomes be improved?