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Protegra is a small company established in 1998 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company specializes in the area of computer software development and business performance consulting. Protegra features a unique organizational design, characterized by a lack of hierarchy and a collegial, professional culture centred on employee and customer values. Various information systems support Protegra's design. In the process of expanding into foreign markets and enlarging staff, Protegra has been concerned with preserving its way.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Association of African Business Schools (AABS)/EMERALD case competition</strong></p><br>In early 2005, South African company Tiger Wheels Limited (Tiger) had established a global footprint in the manufacture of aluminum alloy wheels with customers comprising several high-end automotive producers. It was the 10th largest alloy wheel company in the world with a solid balance sheet and net current assets of $42 million. Tiger had a chance to expand and grow with the potential purchase of a new world-class alloy wheel facility in Kentucky, United States for half of its estimated value. The Kentucky plant came with a significant long-term Ford contract to supply aluminum wheels at attractive prices. To Tiger's chairman, it seemed an attractive offer, but the pros and cons of purchasing the plant would have to be carefully evaluated by the board of directors. An African Tiger Case A is a part of An African Tiger case series, which includes A and B cases.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Association of African Business Schools (AABS)/EMERALD case competition</strong></p><br>In January 2007, Tiger Wheels (Tiger) and ATS informed its lead banker in Germany that it was forecasting a breach of its covenants, just 18 months after acquiring the Kentucky wheel plant. This was a critical matter and, as a result, the top management at Tiger was intimately involved in the deliberations. ATS had borrowed from a consortium of European banks to fund its growth. The borrowings were covenant driven and not set against any ATS assets. Under the loan agreement, the banks had the right to call in the loan if ATS were to breach one or more of the three covenants. The aim of the top management of Tiger and ATS was to win the confidence of the banking consortium by presenting a comprehensive strategy, including an action plan, which would restore ATS's financial health and make it compliant with its covenants once again. An African Tiger Case B is a part of An African Tiger case series, which includes A and B cases. The case series can be taught in the main strategy course of an MBA program to focus the discussion on the portfolio of competences within the resource-based view of the firm. The cases are also ideal for teaching an elective course on global strategy in MBA and executive programs. Ideally, case A and case B should be used in sequence over two sessions. In programs with time constraints, instructors could choose to use only case B as the case clearly brings out the issues of country differences and difficulties in transferring competences. In such situations, the instructor can distribute the summary of the case A from the teaching note along with case B. The important learning themes are: 1) the challenges in recognizing and developing new competences, 2) the limits of the control and influence of the majority owner in the execution of strategy, when the key competences reside with the minority shareholder and 3) the relationship between corporate response, managerial cognition, monitoring and divisional operations in a large company.

This case illustrates the rise and fall of the former chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Singapore, T.T. Durai. In June 2007, Durai was charged with corruption and sentenced to three months in jail. Just less than two years prior, he had been the prolific CEO who had transformed the NKF from a small foundation into Singapore's largest charity, with 21 dialysis centres. Durai spent 37 years of his life volunteering and working with the NKF, and initiated research, marketing and fund-raising strategies for the charity. Under Durai's helm, the charity's revenue grew from $17 million to $116 million. Dialysis centres in other parts of the world sought Durai's expertise to improve their dialysis programs. This case documents the unfolding events that led to surprising revelations in court. These include Durai's leadership style, controversial decisions, bountiful entitlements and debatable actions taken to achieve his aims. In all, the case provides a perceptive insight into how differing perceptions of responsible leadership affected the stakeholders of the NKF, and encourages readers to analyze and propose how things could be improved, or could have turned out differently.

Praxis Language is a small company in China started by three non-Chinese entrepreneurs. Originally focused on teaching Chinese to native English speakers using podcasting and other online tools, Praxis has also developed content to teach English to native Chinese speakers, which the company perceives as a much bigger market. The case describes the challenges facing the co-founder of Praxis as he navigates emerging mobile technology (hardware and software), the complexities of doing business in China, and the consequences of explosive growth.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER -Euro-Mediterranean Managerial Practices and Issues Award, European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>The case focuses on the vice-president and regional head of corporate banking for Noor Islamic Bank in Dubai as she arrives in the United States to promote the first global network for women in Islamic banking and finance, known as Durra. As a result, Islamic banks have been growing at a rate of 15 per cent per year, and have assets approaching $1 trillion, despite the recent banking crisis. Islamic banks also have a hard time filling the 30,000 new jobs created each year because of the specialized training required. One of the purposes of Durra is to help more women fill critical positions in Islamic banking and to help them manage their careers in order to assume leadership positions. The case also raises questions about how best to build a non-profit organization. Issues include how to attract new members and financial backers and how to build a useful and robust website that fulfills the needs of the organization.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has put in place a strong governance structure to ensure that excess contributions (by Canadians) can be invested with a singular mandate - to maximize the rate of return without undue risk of loss. In September 2009, a private member's bill seeks to regulate Canadian government agencies' dealings with Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries. A senior manager at the CPPIB has been asked to help craft the CPPIB's response to the bill.

The chief financial officer (CFO) of the Richard Ivey School of Business (Ivey) is reflecting on the state of the school. Ivey's MBA program was just beginning its inaugural year in the new 12-month format at the Spencer Leadership Centre (Spencer), and all signs pointed to a successful start. However, it was becoming obvious to the CFO that the Executive Education programs at Ivey would face some serious capacity constraints, given the resulting reduction in available space in the building. The CFO was considering the need for a $7 million expansion to Spencer to ensure that Ivey would be able to continue its number one position in the executive education market in Canada.

Sara Tsien must decide what performance assessment to give one of her employees who has, uncharacteristically, failed to meet one of her key objectives for the year. The situation is difficult for several reasons; the causes of the unacceptable performance are not clear; the employee has previously received excellent appraisals, including a recent one by the vice-president; and the employee was absent for a good part of the year on maternity leave. The various factors that influence sustained performance (ability, motivation, resources, role clarity, reinforcement) are examined, as well as steps leaders can take in improving performance of those for whom they are responsible.

This case describes the history and activities of the A-Team, a major alliance of bicycle assembly firms and parts suppliers in Taiwan, which was created in 2003. A strategic alliance with competitors posed challenges. For the A-Team, it was more complicated because the alliance was between both competing bicycle assembly firms and between parts suppliers. By 2006, progress had been made in making the alliance work but the senior executives were wondering what they could do to ensure future progress. The case can be used in a strategy module or course on alliances/joint ventures in a section examining the competition versus cooperation challenge.

A newly promoted assistant deputy minister of business and trade must decide which of two candidates to recommend for her previous role as executive director, business and consumer regulation. One candidate is creative, innovative, client focused and an inspirational and charismatic leader with a history of ruffling some feathers with other departments within the government. The other candidate seems to lack drive and innovativeness but has earned the respect of his team and others within various government departments with whom he has interacted. This appointment is being made at a time of change within the government as it faces severe budgetary pressures and believes that there are opportunities to do many of its traditional functions in new, more cost-effective ways.

The three-case series is about how a medium-sized Taiwanese company approached competition with 3M in global markets. The series covers a 14-year period. The A case starts in 1994, when 3M decides to launch a lawsuit against companies (including Hopax) selling repositionable notes that compete with 3M's highly successful Post-It notes in the United States. How should Hopax respond? The B case explains that, unlike the other players, Hopax decides to fight in court. Staples, Hopax's largest customer in the United States, decides to cancel its contract. What should Hopax do now? The C case recounts the events that follow until 2008 and explains how the company applies principles of judo strategy to become the second largest supplier of repositionable notes in the world. The series allows students to explore options to smaller innovative companies as they try to compete in global markets with large, resource-rich, players who do not hesitate to use courts to try to eliminate their smaller competitors.

This supplement to Hopax (A), product number 9B10M004, explains that, unlike the other players, Hopax decides to fight in court after Staples, Hopax's largest customer in the United States, decides to cancel its contract.

This supplement to Hopax (A), product number 9B10M004, recounts the events that followed until 2008 and explains how the company applied principles of judo strategy to become the second largest supplier of repositionable notes in the world.

Twitter has become an incredibly popular micro-blogging service since its launch in 2006. Its founders have ambitious plans for the service, and are backed by hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital funding, which values the company at $3.7 billion in 2011. Twitter seems to attract a diverse audience of users, such as political organizers looking to disseminate information to their followers; businesses looking to reach out, in real time, to potential customers; and social users. The company charges consumers nothing for its service. By 2011, competitors have emerged, some of whom are financially strong. It remains unclear - at least to some observers - whether the company will ever make money from its service.

By 2009, China's exports had increased dramatically from $250 billion in 2000 to a projected $1,500 billion in 2009. This enormous growth of exports severely damaged competing businesses in the advanced nations, particularly the United States and Europe. China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 guaranteed China's right to export to these nations, but at the same time the WTO required China to adhere to certain rules that sought to support fair trade and create a level playing field. Several broad subjects each gave rise to a series of trade disputes: the protection of intellectual property, health and safety concerns about China's products, labour and environmental standards, China's manipulation of their currency, and costs and prices determined by the government rather than free markets. This case examines each set of trade disputes and China's attempts to resolve them. Many disputes were embedded in cultural practices and ideological positions and so they might not disappear quickly. Shortcomings in China's legal and judicial system hampered enforcement. In addition, many rested on the government's desire to protect the interests of Chinese businesses and their employees, and so China might alter its practices only if confronted with credible retalitory threats. China's central government experienced the principal-agent problem where its wishes and decisions could be ignored by local governments and firms. Meanwhile, changes in industry structure within the advanced nations were altering the negotiation positions of Western governments. The case examines the WTO dispute resolution procedures and enforcement mechanisms that have been directed at China's trade disputes.

This note develops a comprehensive new set of concepts to understand buying processes of parents choosing among complex educational services using the example of Montessori private schools.

This note develops a comprehensive new conceptualization of the complex processes that accompany large scale high technology product/service bundles using the example of nuclear power plants.

This note develops a comprehensive new set of concepts to understand buyer behaviour for complex high technology consumer products using the example of notebook computers.

This case describes how Netflix created the business model of delivering DVDs using mail services. Essentially, Netflix exploited a whitespace that other players, such as Blockbuster, could not engage in primarily because they were constrained by their own business models. The case allows the instructor to develop the details of the capabilities that have allowed Netflix to deliver the values its customers desire. The case can then explore the competitive dynamics between Blockbuster, Netflix and Wal-Mart, a new entrant, in this space. Finally, the case describes future technologies, such as Video on Demand (VOD), that in turn pose a threat to Netflix's business model.<br><br>There are two follow-up cases: Netflix Inc.: The Second Act - Moving into Streaming, 9B16M080 and Netflix: Proving the Skeptics Wrongs, 9B16M081.