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Harlequin Enterprises is a well-known publisher of women's fiction and the global leader in series romance fiction. In 2013, e-book penetration of romance fiction has exceeded 50 per cent of unit sales. The vice-president of strategy is trying to make sense of the e-book opportunity and threat. She is wondering what impact e-books would have on Harlequin's business model: its relationship with authors, distributors and competitors.

Potatoes are grown across 130 countries and form the largest non-cereal food crop consumed in large per-capita measures in some of the Eastern European and South American countries. India is the world's third-largest producer of the crop and is estimated to consume about 25 million tonnes each year. Calcutta-based Sumangal Industries Limited launched a high yield investment program under the banner of the Flexi-Potato Purchase Scheme. Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), took exception to the company's collecting uncollateralized deposits from the members of the public without due registration, and issued prohibitive orders.This case puts the facts underlying the offering in perspective and conducts a micro-economic analysis to assess the strengths of the business proposition. The statistical analyses reveal that the volatility and predictability of seasonal pricing patterns that the company seeks to exploit may not continue beyond the short-term. Further, the early success of the scheme is likely to attract entry into the segment, thereby squeezing arbitrage margins and enhancing business process costs. This case also lays out facts relating to exogenous influences on the local potato market and encourages policy makers to adequately inform potential investors as a means to empower them to make sound resource allocation decisions. The conclusions of the case could be applied beyond West Bengal, and beyond India, to other agricultural produce and pyramidal investment schemes, qualified by local conditions.

This note is assigned in Darden's course elective, "Global Economics of Water." There is more than enough fresh water to satisfy the world's needs. The primary concern, however, is the geographical mismatch between water needs and the availability of water to communities who need it. Hence, a major challenge for the 21st century is to better manage this mismatch. In this note, we focus on one particular factor-climate change-and how it may contribute to future stress on water resources. We lay out the basics of climate change and the hydrological cycle, and we point to some of the intricate ways in which both phenomena are connected. This note does not contain blanket policy recommendations as to how to fight global warming beyond the general statement that the rational response to the risk and uncertainty of higher global temperatures and their associated environmental changes is to take actions that ensure against potentially adverse effects.

Interface ranks among the top three manufacturers in the carpet industry, measured by revenues per year. Through its sustainability program, the company has achieved astounding results. Still, while Interface has made tremendous strides, company leaders are not content to rest. Interface developed its Mission Zero with the objective of eliminating all negative environmental impacts. During their reading and discussion of the case, students are asked to find solutions that will allow the company to scale its sustainable sourcing program and use its purchasing power to drive the social impact investments of others.

It is five years since the Great Recession, and Morgan Stanley and its competitors are still trying to regain the confidence of investors. To that end, James Gorman, Morgan Stanley CEO and chairman, has taken the bold step of creating an institute for sustainable investing, for which Morgan Stanley will provide the initial $1 billion of investment capital in hopes of raising 10 times that amount. The pledge is the largest to date from an impact fund - toping Goldman Sachs' $250-million social impact fund as well as initiatives by UBS and JP Morgan & Chase. Students are tasked with assessing the plan's rollout and comparing and contrasting Morgan Stanley's strategy to that of its competitors. They are ultimately asked to answer the question of whether investment banking firms can drive sustainability in the marketplace.

Pacific Gas & Electric is the second-largest investor-owned utility in the country and the largest in California, serving 15 million people across 70,000 square miles in central and northern California. Revenues at the utility are sliding as Kent Harvey, the company's CFO, considers legislation coming before the California legislature that will allow utility customers to purchase up to 100% renewable power from an offsite, local facility. The program is capped at 600 MW, but if it is amended to expand capacity, PG&E will face another hit to its bottom line. Students are asked to put themselves in Harvey's shoes and decide whether the company should lobby against the bill or adjust its policies to integrate more clean energy into its portfolio.

Kellogg Chief Sustainability Officer Diane Holdorf is facing a campaign by environmental activists who allege that the company's Indonesian supplier Wilmar International is illegally growing palm and is engaged in slash and burn practices. Protestors are lining up outside the company's Battle Creek, Michigan headquarters to rally against the partnership. While Kellogg only uses a small amount of palm in its products, the partnership with Wilmar provides the company with important strategic access to the Chinese market. Holdorf will be speaking with Kellogg's CEO in two days and is expected to provide him with her recommendations on how to proceed. Students are asked examine the extent of Kellogg's accountability for Wilmar's actions and decide how to respond to the allegations against its joint venture partner.

Created in 1900 by the tire manufacturer Michelin, the Michelin Restaurant Guide was widely considered the international benchmark of food rating, and, by 2013, boasted paper editions in 23 countries, and had recently expanded to the United States and Asia. Paper sales however had dropped, following the emergence of free, online guides, global players, and more broadly, the wider diffusion of the Internet. In 2012, the Guide had launched a new range of services targeting restaurateurs. The Director of the Guide was contemplating developing the Guide even more internationally and on digital formats, but also knew he needed to limit costs.

As Fei Cheng Wu Rao, China's most popular entertainment program, enters its fourth year, company leaders grapple with questions of how to keep the show fresh and reach new markets. In particular, the show is poised to expand to Africa, yet there are significant questions about how to tailor a program designed to capture the attention of a unique demographic within China to new cultural contexts.

After it introduced the extremely successful Droid smartphone into the market in 2009, Motorola quickly moved to develop the next-generation Droid 2 before the next wave of smartphones (including the rumored iPhone 4) flooded the market. The development process was moving smoothly for the company when Verizon, its biggest partner, dropped a bombshell. It wasn't happy with the mechanical camera button on the Droid 2 (citing customer feedback) and wanted it to be changed to a software button like the iPhone's. This request immediately placed Motorola in the proverbial horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, it couldn't brush away the request of its biggest and most important partner. On the other hand, changing the camera button now would mean delaying the Droid 2's entry into the market. Should the Droid 2 team remove the camera's hardware button in favor of a software button per Verizon's request, or not? John Smith, the product manager, leads the cross-functional Droid 2 team. The case setting is an emergency "war room" meeting to address this critical issue, just weeks prior to launch. John's objective is to obtain the salient facts and opinions of team members quickly so he can make an informed recommendation to his boss by the end of the day. He is concerned that this last-minute request for a design change will not only threaten to delay the launch, which would have significant financial implications, but could potentially create deep fissures in a hitherto effective team that had been running like a well-oiled machine. The case puts students in a situation that simulates a real-world discussion and allows them to experience what it is like, as a product manager, to orchestrate a meeting with cross-functional teams that have conflicting priorities and agendas. It illustrates the challenges a product manager faces while striving to make important decisions with little or no direct authority over the various teams.

Founded in San Francisco in 2009, Square finished 2012 as the darling of Silicon Valley; flush with more than $340 million in funding, the firm had grown to several hundred employees in just three short years. It processed more than $10 billion annually in credit and debit card payments from small business owners that used Square's smartphone-enabled card swipe device wherever cellular or wireless Internet service was available. However, Square's success had attracted new entrants into the mobile payments processing space, both in the United States and abroad, threatening to derail the company's remarkable trajectory. With its latest financing round valuing the company in excess of $3.4 billion, management and investors were considering which strategies would continue-even accelerate-the company's growth.

After early successes in a very selective management-training program, Daniel Oliveira, a young manager for Brazilian fashion chain Clothes & Accessories, is thrown into the deep end of the pool by being reassigned to a region lagging in sales. Early on, Oliveira discovers that his store, located in mid-sized Vitória in southeastern Brazil, is in trouble. As soon as he tries to make changes, however, he meets with resistance from long-term employees. The case details his pitfalls and growing awareness of the complexities of leading a diverse workforce and managing change.

After years of development, William Krause knew that 2014 was the year to "go big or go home." His Flexible Herbert Screw, a medical device intended to support the healing of fractured collarbones (clavicles), was ready for launch, and he had accumulated the necessary cash?$1 million by his reckoning?needed to comfortably see him through the start-up phase. Although evidence in favor of the invasive device was still inconclusive, other key players were now entering the space with remarkably similar technologies.

The case deals with the quest for boundaries of corporates' social and environmental responsibility. It poses the question where the responsibility of a company might start or end in a given context and once the company has been able to assess the extent to which it holds itself responsible, what action it ought to take in this regard. In the case of Axel Springer the question is focused on the aspect how much responsibility the company might have for its supply chain: how far and how deep down the supply chain does or should responsibility of a corporation reach? On what facts does this responsibility depend? The publishing house Axel Springer AG serves as good example as it wonders about the scope of their responsibility: After making the strategic decision to move aggressively into the field of digital news and media, the company wonders about their responsibility for digital devices, in particular with respect to conflict minerals that are extracted for the production and use of such electronic devices under highly problematic conditions.

Komatsu built a very successful business in China over the last two decades. But it is now facing rising competition from lower cost domestic Chinese companies, which are themselves trying to become global players. Facing the same situation, Caterpillar is implementing a two-brand strategy. What should Komatsu do to retain its leadership position in China?

This background note provides details of Bernard Madoff's career and the classroom recording.

In January 2013, John C. Liu, New York City's comptroller, wrote to the residents of the city about his audit of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR). Liu summarized his office's findings: "The audit found that DPR was not carrying out and overseeing capital construction projects in a timely and cost effective manner." To investigate the existence of the "planning fallacy" in organizations, information from nearly 1,800 capital projects undertaken between 1998 and 2008 was obtained from the office of the chief engineer of the New York City DPR. In light of the data, how severe was the planning fallacy during this time and could it be used for overcoming the planning fallacy?

In January 2013, John C. Liu, New York City's comptroller, wrote to the residents of the city about his audit of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR). Liu summarized his office's findings: "The audit found that DPR was not carrying out and overseeing capital construction projects in a timely and cost effective manner." To investigate the existence of the "planning fallacy" in organizations, information from nearly 1,800 capital projects undertaken between 1998 and 2008 was obtained from the office of the chief engineer of the New York City DPR. In light of the data, how severe was the planning fallacy during this time and could it be used for overcoming the planning fallacy?

Whole Foods has successfully rolled out a new store in a low-income neighborhood of Detroit and company leaders are looking to scale the model to Chicago's Englewood neighborhood and beyond. Chicago would offer $11 million in incentives, but the neighborhood lacks the hospital and university of Detroit's Midtown, whose employees frequent the grocer during lunch and after work. The brand many know as "Whole Paycheck" must find a way to make itself relevant to low-income populations and address issues of food access and poverty. Students will be asked to evaluate the business decision to enter low-income areas, considering both the "business bottom line" versus "business triple bottom line" debate.

One Acre Fund (1AF) is a nonprofit organization in rural western Kenya that helps farmers lift themselves out of poverty by providing a bundle of products and services that support farmers with quality inputs, training on farming techniques, access to credit, and assistance in achieving optimal prices. Since the organization's founding nearly a decade ago, it has grown to serve over 180,000 farm families annually as of July 2014. This high level of penetration into rural Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania makes 1AF a potential distribution channel for rolling out new products and technologies that could benefit farmers and their families. The organization prides itself on its innovative culture, and always strives to offer new products and methods to its farmers. In 2011 1AF realized that it needed to formalize its innovation process to ensure it was confident in new products before rolling them out across its entire farmer network. It therefore created a robust, multistep evaluation framework to assess new innovations on four criteria: impact, adoptability, simplicity, and operability.