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The group product manager for Xbox Canada was working on his marketing plan for the product's second year in the Canadian market. Xbox is a video game console and trailed Sony's PlayStation 2 in the marketplace. The group product manager must present his plan at the Microsoft Global Briefing. He knew the gaming market was turbulent and fickle and he wondered what he might do as an encore to the Xbox launch program.

Rogers Communications Inc.'s interest in acquiring Videotron caused the chief executive officer at Quebecor Inc. to consider purchasing the company as well. Quebecor was a large international printing, publishing and media company and this acquisition would make the company the third largest cable TV company in Canada. The acquisition had a number of considerations: it would require CRTC approval, Videotron did not earn the same level of return on assets and sales as Quebecor's other lines of business, there were questions about the quality of Videotron's management, the purchase would limit cash flow affecting the growth and development of new products and services and countering Rogers offer could led to a bidding war. Did the company want to go down this road?

Unifine Richardson is a food manufacturer with 110 employees. The company's sole supplier of honey announced that effective immediately it was no longer able to supply Chinese honey. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency had rejected the importation of Chinese honey due to recently found traces of an antibiotic chemical. China had provided 20 per cent of the world's honey supply. Faced with escalating prices, issues with customers' preferences and possible product recalls, the purchasing manager must determine the company's next step. International sourcing, supply disruptions, supply chain management and quality issues must be considered.

Quinte MRI is a small service provider of medical diagnostic technologies. After just six weeks in operation at a medical centre, the company developed an extensive waiting list, and physicians began referring patients to competing facilities. Quinte MRI's business development coordinators must provide recommendations and an action plan to deal with this process and productivity problem in a setting with extreme variability.

CCL Industries Inc. is one of the top packagers of consumer products in the world. Over its 50-year history the company had grown from a small room to a multinational firm employing 7,500 people with over $1.6 billon in sales. CCL faces an uncertain environment that had already led to a major strategic reorientation when its plan to sell its largest division was cancelled. A global economic slowdown and lower consumer confidence coupled with extensive international operations, significantly increased the risk to CCL's sales and already slim profits. In the past, the company prospered through product diversification gained through acquisition. The economic slowdown and increased uncertainty meant that this strategy may not be appropriate in the future. The chief executive officer recognizes the time, attention, advice, composition and operations of the board of directors would likely have to be altered to reflect this new reality.

This note is a discussion of the major considerations for a marketer faced with implementing a marketing plan. A five-part framework is offered to integrate concepts ranging from capacity of the marketing team to managing commitment to change.

Warners Inc. is a world-leading packaged goods company that supplies a large number of packed goods to Marshalls International Inc., a leading mass merchandiser. The health and beauty category manager at Warners has been asked to examine its hair care category for opportunities to allow Marshalls to achieve leadership position in the category among its competitors. He must examine the leading retailers in the category and their marketing strategies, and compare them against Marshalls' strategy.

This note provides background information on alternative approaches to evaluation in the workplace. Presented is a discussion of 360-degree feedback; the arguments for and against its use; and some of the requirements for effective application. Also presented is a discussion of the balanced scorecard; its benefits and main sources of failure; some potential measures; and the relationship to strategy maps, the links it can create within the organization, and the need to link it to rewards. This note is intended to be used in conjunction with sessions on performance evaluation and rewards.

The owners of Country Paws Boarding Inc., a large boarding facility for dogs, customarily took every opportunity to get to know each dog's likes, dislikes, behaviors and tendencies in order to minimize separation trauma. This required ongoing dialog with each dog owner and observation of each canine. The owners were always eager to chat with those boarding their dogs at Country Paws in the hope of identifying potential new services and improving existing offerings. In response to dog owner expectations for canine socialization and recreation, new offering being considered was the community playground. They must determine how this offering would fit with their current line of services and what other services were worth considering.

The operations manager of a custom kitchen cabinet manufacturer wants to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the company's production line. He plans to purchase a computer numeric controlled router, but must decide whether to purchase a new or a used machine. He must also decide on changes to the cabinet manufacturing line to ensure that the plant's capacity will meet forecasted demand in the upcoming year.

Non Stop Yacht S.L. is a Web site that provides e-commerce service to the mega-yacht industry. Originally, the founder had planned to run Non Stop Yacht as an internet business. However, success with this business model is proving elusive and investors are growing restless as performance continues to fall short of the business plan. Substantial pressure to improve the company's performance had the founder considering a variety of alternative business models that would enable him to more effectively capture value from the concept of non stop parts procurement for high-end yachts. These options involve key decisions about the strategic positioning of the company and the relative advantages and disadvantages of pursuing strategic alliances with players at different points in the industry value chain.

By using standard components, Compaq's supercomputer line, known as the Alpha Server SC, attempted to avoid some of the risk associated with supercomputer development. However, more than five years after unveiling its first supercomputer, known as Turbozilla, Compaq's High Performance Technical Computing Group had yet to make a profit, despite rapidly growing demand. The bidding process for large government contracts typically resulted in discounts of up to 70 per cent, leaving little, if any, margin. More importantly, some Compaq managers had become anxious that HPTC systems had begun to consume significant company resources. Alpha servers that had previously been allocated to high margin commercial customers were increasingly being diverted to zero margin supercomputers. Highlighted is the stage by stage process of developing a new product development organization. In doing so, it demonstrates that an important capability and competitive advantage for effective knowledge transfer in global new product development is the ability to construct a network of relationships that are built over time, that lead to the creation of social capital, and that are strong and extensive enough to inhibit duplication by others. Supplement Compaq High Performance Computing (B), product 9B03M042 is available.

Daimler-Benz AG, a large automobile manufacturer in Europe and the Chrysler Corporation, one of the Big Three auto makers in North America have merged to create DaimlerChrysler. On the surface, everything seemed to be going as planned. In reality, all was not well. Organizational changes, conflicting information, and doubts about the future structure of the company resulted in the departure of numerous Chrysler employees, including many mid-level managers and engineers. While initially amalgamated into Daimler, the Chrysler Group ended up as one of three separate automotive divisions. In 2001, DaimlerChrysler recorded a $1.2 billion loss in operating profit (before one-time effects). Estimates for 2002 called for a break-even result, but the company was facing a $9 billion lawsuit filed by the fifth largest shareholder, who claimed that Daimler had deceived investors by touting the venture as a merger of equals.

Kismet Inc. was a rapidly growing distributor of tools and hobby products that focused on selling lower-priced tools through mobile tool shows. The president and treasurer of the company projected a need for funds to finance the company's rapid expansion. The partners wanted to have all the necessary information for the financial institution's account manager when they presented their financing plans.

The investment manager at Burgundy Asset Management had been given the responsibility to assess the investment opportunity presented by Wescast Industries Inc., a large automotive parts supplier that specializes in the design and manufacture of the exhaust manifold for all types of vehicles. The investment manager knew that his investment team would expect a detailed analysis of Wescast and a recommendation on the investment opportunity. He realized that he must move quickly in order to complete the analysis and prepare a preliminary recommendation for his team at the meeting the next week.

Loctite Corporation is a large industrial adhesives company. The company has implemented the five principles of lean management on its customer service operation. A recent merger of the customer engineering service operation with the dispensing equipment operation has the vice-president of technical service and application engineering looking at applying the lean principles on the equipment operations. The company initially considered equipment a secondary product line needed only to augment its service offering in the support of the core product, industrial adhesives. In addition, most of Loctite's equipment manufacturing activities were outsourced so suppliers played a key role in lean transformation. The vice-president must prepare a plan to implement the principles of lean management while meeting the goals set out by the president of the company.

Paragon Information Systems is a small business unit owned by NewTel Enterprises Limited that manufacturers hardware for information technology and systems integration. The newly appointed chief executive officer is faced with a crisis. Days after his appointment, two vice-presidents resign and start a new company. The new company recruits the entire sales team, members of the technical unit and support staff from Paragon Information Systems, a loss of almost one third of Paragon's staff within two months. The new chief executive officer must meet short-term stakeholder needs, assess, formulate and implement long-term strategies, deal with the competitive threat of the new company, and consider the leadership style and control systems required to make the necessary level of change.

Modine Manufacturing operates primarily in a single product category consisting of the manufacture and sale of heat transfer equipment. A major customer announced the cancellation of an agreement with Modine to develop a key engine component, which was needed by automotive companies in order to make their engines comply with new emissions guidelines set to take effect in several years. However, the expectation that the government would relax emissions guidelines was believed to have led to the cancellation of the project. Would other customers do the same? Considerable resources were spent on this project, causing projects that would be handled by the new product development area to be developed outside of this unit. The vice-president of technical services must analyse the company's new product strategy to determine its effectiveness in developing new products and what model the company should use for product development.

Planet Intra sold information management systems used to share information and data through a Web-based interface, giving the employees of an organization and its respective suppliers and customers access to the services. The chief executive had to determine what changes, if any, would be required to Planet Intra's overall strategy so that the venture capitalists funding the firm could achieve their desired return on investment. He must complete a valuation of the firm and formulate a detailed strategy by which the company can increase its sales and profits, becoming even more attractive to a potential purchaser.

McDonald's, one of the world's strongest and most recognizable brands, intends to extend its world's best quick service restaurant experience brand into the hotel industry by launching a hotel in Illinois. An industry observer examines the hotel venture's positioning options and the McDonald's brand extension into a different product class.