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It may make sense to offer 12 varieties of lattes, at least to the company that markets the offering. In most cases though, too many choices create complexity and frustrate the customer. Moreover, there are times when the offering flummoxes the company's staff. Slimming and streamlining the offering is the way to go, says this author, who suggests 3 practical steps an organization can apply to simplify things.

No industry is as visible and active in the climate change debate as the energy industry. Almost every day, managers are addressing the short-term and long-term implications of their policies for dealing with this issue. The authors of this article studied 50 firms in the oil and gas industry and found that companies that address the short-term and long-term threats and opportunities of climate change can gain a significant competitive advantage.

Behind every successful leader is a vibrant culture that engages and energizes employees. In almost every case, that culture has been defined, shaped and personified by the leader. The CEO of a company in what is arguably the most competitive industry, financial services, describes the steps that he took, and that other leaders can take, to build a distinctive, dynamic culture.

Examining the failures of even the mightiest industrial organizations can be a valuable exercise. There are lessons to be learned and applied and others to be avoided at all costs. Managers who want to use those lessons to improve the performance of their own companies will find helpful suggestions in this article.

Call it unconventional or unorthodox, but Creative Execution which can be all of these things is designed to differentiate the company sharply and take it to previously unattainable heights. Leaders will understand why and how after they've read this article.

Lots of time in the lab and the Eureka! moment are synonymous with innovation. Often, however, the best and most successful ideas are the result of mere plodding and some prosaic practices. This author describes four such practices and the key steps that can lead to successful innovation.

In the competitive South Korean credit card market, a review of the past decade of HyundaiCard's marketing strategies and evaluation of anticipated possible difficulties of being a market follower revealed several challenges for senior management. Despite a tremendously successful creative business model based on customer needs, innovative products and integration of online and offline customers, the company's performance had not progressed in the past seven years. HyundaiCard had difficulty relating its creative business model to the strong personas of the leading players in the credit card industry. How could HyundaiCard, a market follower, successfully position itself as a market leader? Could HyundaiCard's marketing strategy keep enhancing its competitive edge in the market? What future strategy would be best for HyundaiCard?

Engro Chemicals Pakistan Limited (Engro) was a very large manufacturer and marketer of fertilizer in Pakistan. It had a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures in a variety of businesses. The company was listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and was among the top companies as ranked by the KSE. In August 2007, the company's head office was completely destroyed by a fire. The office was located in Karachi and the fire destroyed all the equipment as well as the hardcopies of the accounting records. The company was suddenly faced with a catastrophic loss as the records were critical to Engro's day to day operations. The information technology (IT) department had developed a disaster recovery plan (DRP) in 2005 that was exclusively related to reestablishing the IT facilities after any event that could make the business systems inoperable. The company invoked the DRP as soon as the news of the complete destruction of the office facilities was received. The IT and finance staff had to use the backup equipment and data files to restart the transaction processing.The case includes a description of various business systems used by Engro and the data security processes that had enabled the company to restore the accounting and other systems needed at its head office. The main teaching objective is to focus on minimizing the business risks arising due to the destruction of the IT facilities. The case also has details of the DRP, which can be analysed as to its contents, and details of the management processes of Engro, which allows for a discussion on corporate governance within the company.

With a change in management in 2005 came a radical reorganization and the announcement of several new strategic initiatives. Among the initiatives was the establishment of the Vestas Technology research and development (R&D) business unit with an aim of achieving global leadership in all core technology areas and, consequently, strengthening the core competence for the company. By 2008, Vestas had succeeded in setting up a global R&D network with R&D centres in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Singapore and India, and, in early 2009, a centre was opened in the United States. This transformed Vestas into a high-tech company and put a greater emphasis on its technological innovations.

In 2005, the Qianjiang Group (QJ), a large-scale Chinese state-owned group, acquired the Italian company Benelli to expand its business in Western markets beyond Italy. Benelli's brand advantage was intended to provide the core competency for QJ to compete in the global motorbike markets; in addition, Benelli's capabilities and know-how in motorbike and scooter engineering also helped QJ complete its product portfolio. After a successful start, the many cultural differences related to an Italian business model and a Chinese company became problematic. Problems arose in integrating Chinese and Italian cultures and in coping with a completely different way of doing business, and the company was facing stiff competition from Japanese competitors. Despite excellent press and large industrial investments aimed at gaining efficiency and reducing prices, penetration of Western markets was difficult.

TISM Solutions Inc. is a dot-com company that connects buyers and sellers of expert advice through the Web site Timeismoney.com. The founders of the company spent many hours turning their concept into a business plan and, with the support and funding of Vision Venture Capital (VVC), have drafted their vision statement, technology infrastructure and business model - focusing on the business-to-consumer model. However, investors wanted more stable and attainable goals when considering a dot-com startup to invest in. VVC has clearly outlined their expectations of the company and with less than 24 hours before the next meeting with VVC, the founders had to rethink their business plan that would encourage VVC to continue the funding for their dot-com startup.

This case is set at a golf course in Aurora, Ontario. The club superintendent and the assistant superintendent will be interviewing three candidates for a green keeping position at Maple Retreat Golf and Country Club. The club superintendent must decide what questions to ask of the three applicants, keeping in mind what questions he could not ask of the candidates. This case is intended to be used for the managing people module of an organizational behavior or human resource management core course, or for a managing people elective. The case provides students with the opportunity to develop interview questions for the candidates and to interview the candidates in role play situations.

As the economies of Greater China continued the process of rapid transformation and industrialization, newly industrialized countries (NICs), such as Taiwan and mainland China, experienced dramatic changes in their business settings. Accompanying the industrialization of east Asian economies, business ethics were in a state of flux, as traditional values were often swept aside to justify profit maximization. In this ever-changing business environment, what were the characteristics and benefits of Chinese business ethics? What role did they play? Could an integrity-based business practice serve as a source of competitive advantage? What business settings were supporting business ethics? Few studies have paid attention to these kinds of questions. Sinyi was one of the most successful real estate agent companies in Taiwan and mainland China. From a Confucian perspective, Sinyi's founder cultivated a people-centered culture for both its customers and employees. By applying business ethics as a central differentiating strategy, Sinyi established an excellent corporate image and was regarded by many as the role model of responsible business. Sinyi service was regarded as premier in Taiwan. Its customer satisfaction rating was also far above the industry average. Trustworthiness and fair dealing were the company's guiding principles. This was in contrast to the-then chaotic environment of the real estate industry in Taiwan, where basic trust between buyers and sellers was rare and deceit existed everywhere. Focusing on using business ethics as a central differentiating strategy, Sinyi had grown into Sinyi Group, which successfully integrated upstream, midstream and downstream industries and established a highly-acclaimed business model. Over the past two decades, Sinyi Group had expanded its operations to mainland China and forged an alliance with global real estate brokerage Coldwell Banker. The case can be used for MBA and EMBA courses in business ethics (in a module on culture and business ethics) and strategic management (in a module on strategic business ethics). This case should provoke holistic thinking and discussion on sustainable business, Confucian entrepreneurship and the relationship between business ethics and competitive advantages.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Fortune Motors, the largest Mitsubishi dealership in Taiwan, has to consider his vision for the survival of the company. Fortune Motors' sales in 2003 had fallen below 50,000 units for the first time in 10 years, and market share had been falling for several years. The CEO had a plan to enter the business of financing used-car purchases. He thought that the balanced scorecard would be a useful tool to help him implement this change. The first step was to construct a corporate scorecard.

An entrepreneur must decide whether to proceed with the business plan for his startup business. This mini case exercise presents all startup costs to open a fruit juice outlet in a mall in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates.

Korea Auto Insurance Co. Inc. (Korea Auto Insurance) incurred both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs were incurred at branches as they performed sales and operating activities, while indirect costs were incurred at headquarters as it supported branches through the activities of the information technology, operating support, investment, marketing and general administrative teams. Indirect costs accounted for a significant part (41 per cent) of the total costs incurred. However, they could be neither directly traceable nor logically related to specific sales activities. Korea Auto Insurance currently allocated indirect costs incurred by headquarters to branches based on sales revenue. Using the amount of sales revenue as an allocation base for overhead was not regarded as a reasonable method by the Taejon City branch manager. Branch managers had complained that the current allocation base was not related to the level of actual benefits they received from the headquarters. They argued that the allocation process distorted the operating performances of branches as reflected in the books. The manager of the Taejon branch suggested that the ABC (activity-based cost) method be applied to solve the problems related to the current overhead allocation process.

In December 2007, the Economics & International Affairs director of the competitiveness cluster, Lyonbiopôle, was responsible for the international development of the cluster. Lyonbiopôle was one of seven biotechnology clusters in France. Although Lyonbiopôle performed very well at the national level, its visibility as an international cluster in the biotechnology field was uncertain. Yet, for its member firms to thrive in the globalized world of biotechnology clusters, establishing international connections for the cluster was crucial. That is why the management team of Lyonbiopôle developed an internationalization program through alliances with foreign clusters (i.e. interclusteral alliances). By improving its international visibility and reputation through alliances with world-class biotechnology clusters, Lyonbiopôle hoped to create new technological partnerships, increase investment, and create other kinds of opportunities for member firms. After having successfully established alliance partnerships in Europe, Lyonbiopôle was preparing for the second stage in its internationalization process. The case highlights the questions - in the context of industrial clusters - whether or not a smaller organization can approach an industry leader to create a mutually beneficial alliance, and how it might accomplish this.

The chairman of the board of Groupworks, a company created to consolidate independent brokers in the benefits industry, is faced with three issues. First, he must manage a liquidity problem related to debt that is coming due. Second, he must assess the merits of acquiring another company and, if the company is acquired, he must design the offering package. Third, he must review the firm's consolidation strategy. The case also lends itself to a detailed discussion of the various accounting practices employed by the company.

A management consultant is dispatched to a Central Asian Republic to conduct an operational analysis of an underperforming hotel. Initially the objective of the assignment is to turn around the business. The scope of the intervention, however, changes dramatically as the consultant finds himself in the midst of a high stakes stakeholder standoff with numerous parties vying for ownership of the business. Based on an actual consulting assignment, the case will present insight into the management consulting profession, relay a realistic account of the onsite operational analysis and business audit process, and impart the challenges managers and entrepreneurs confront in international business settings.

The president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Holey Soles - a developer, manufacturer and distributor of injected-molded footwear - was optimistic and upbeat. Sales had grown at 300 per cent in each of the past two years, it ranked number four in a leading publication's 2006 Canada's Emerging Growth Companies, and the CEO herself was a finalist for the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Sustaining the momentum that had been building since the company had been bought in 2004 was proving to be a challenge. Fast growth was stretching the capabilities of Holey Soles in all areas: securing financing, sourcing, developing new markets, maintaining high quality, expanding the product portfolio and management talent. The CEO wondered what the available options, priorities and next steps would be to continue to build a strong foundation for growth, and to reach her aggressive target of $40 million in sales by 2009.