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As a family man and the president of a small consulting company, Bruce Cruickshank has a lot of hats to wear. Bruce is passionate about his business and enjoys his work, but the pressures of balancing professional life and family life are beginning to take a physical and mental toll. Bruce has a plan in mind for streamlining and expanding his business, but, as it is, he already feels pressed for time to get things accomplished at the office. His assistant is just as busy with her own duties, and it's difficult to make the time to find, hire and train a new employee. At home, Bruce's wife wishes they could spend more time together. As well, Bruce is a devoted father, and being with his children is important to him. The challenges involved in successfully combining his professional life with his family life and leisure time are uppermost in Bruce's thoughts, and he wants to find a healthier balance for the future.

MessageTech, Inc. provides digital media technology and solutions that help clients customize advertising to their specific needs. The company's proprietary technology has the potential to revolutionize the way large, geographically dispersed retailers approach advertising and promotion by allowing clients the flexibility to customize advertising content, in real-time, to suit the conditions of each individual site. Results of beta testing indicate that clients' sales increase significantly after installation of the messageTech system. Yet, the company has been unable to close on any major sales of the system. The newly appointed chief executive officer has a mandate to commercialize the new technology. He must develop a strategy that balances the company's needs for short-term performance against the actions that will ensure a viable competitive position over the long-term.

WaveRider Communications, Inc. was a Toronto-based company with a mission to become the leader in global wireless technology by developing, selling and supporting products that enabled wireless Internet service providers. It recently launched market its Last Mile Solution, offering Internet service providers the opportunity to provide wireless Internet access at broadband speeds in the unlicensed 2.4 gigahertz spectrum. The wireless Internet access industry was relatively untapped and WaveRider's vice-president of marketing wondered whether the company, as it started its growth phase, should seek an alliance with a competing technology company. To determine the feasibility of this idea, he needed to classify the competition, review the customer barriers and evaluate which technology was the best fit.

A Canadian couple working as volunteers in a human resource centre in Jamaica meet with the centre's principal to discuss their concerns about the general disorganization and lack of motivation at the inner-city community centre's remedial summer school. The principal asks for recommendations to improve the experience for both teachers and students and to address the problems of absenteeism and tardiness.

The assistant product manager at a large packaged goods firm does not receive the promotion she was expecting following her first year of employment. Simultaneously, she receives a call from an executive search firm offering her the potential to move to a competing company. She must decide whether to investigate moving or to stay with her current employer. The importance of managing upwards and the pros and cons of executive search firms are highlighted.

The newly promoted director of sales and marketing at CXP, a publishing company, has just inherited an employee conduct issue. In her previous position she became aware that a sales representative was having sexual relations with the company's clients, but the company's president was dealing with the issue. In her new role she discovers that issue still persists and this employee now reports to her. She realizes that this was a 'hot issue' and needed to determine the best way to handle the situation. There was more to consider than just dealing with the employee, there was the company's relationship with their clients and she did not want to put this in jeopardy.

The director of sales and marketing at CXP Publishing discusses with the marketing director how she is going to handle a difficult employee conduct issue, that of a sales representative who is sexually involved with some customers. Her approach to resolving the situation was going to take time, until another incident occurred, when she realized that she would have quickly change her plans. This is a supplement to the CXP Publishing Inc. (A) case (product number 9B01C004).

To resolve an employee conduct issue, an employee engaging in sexual relations with customers, the director of sales and marketing at a small advertising firm coaches the employee to develop a more professional image. Using discussion and reinforcing positive behavior, the employee and the company both benefit. This is supplement to the (A) case, (product number 9B01C004) and (B) case, (product number 9B01C005).

SalesDriver is a start-up company that develops online software packages for sales incentive contests. The vice president of marketing and distribution, who was also a company founder, considers how to address the challenge of retaining key employees in the growing high-technology industry, where employee turnover is very high.

Rose Jones is the stores clerk in a departmental supply room of a multidepartment, government-funded organization. She must decide what to do about a call from a potential supplier who seemed to be offering her a significant personal gift for placing an order.

Far Eastern Textile, a major Taiwanese textile and telecommunications company, is considering its options for raising US$130 million in a new round of global fund raising. The options of a new common stock or long term debt issue are explored but specific attention is paid to an option raised by the company's investment banker. This option entails the issuance of an innovative convertible debt instrument which combines a zero coupon and a significant conversion premium over the current price of the company's common stock. The benefit and costs of a delayed equity instrument for both corporations and investors is examined, as well as issues regarding security pricing in different financial markets.

The president of Blinds To Go, a small retail fabricator of custom-made blinds, announces his plans of expanding the business across North America one region at a time. With substantial backing from an investment firm, the business has quintupled its revenues in less than two years and is looking to expand aggressively across the United States. However, the company has experienced significant turnover in its senior management positions. The company struggles with the issue of how to get and keep the senior management talent needed to achieve the growth the company wants.

Blinds To Go, a small retail fabricator of custom-made blinds, is looking to for the best talent it could to help them achieve their aggressive expansion goals. Emphasis was put on establishing internal programs that would groom candidates for senior management positions. Despite the temptation to bring in a vice-president from outside the company, the company believed it was in their best interest to develop and promote talent from within. This is a supplement to the Blinds To Go - Wanted: People To Lead Explosive Growth (A) case, (product number 9B01C002).

Grand & Toy is one of Canada's largest commercial suppliers of office stationery. The president of Grand & Toy is wary of the competitive threat posed by Staples, a well-known U.S. office supply company, and is reviewing his company's budget forecast to plan for a meeting with senior managers. He wants to use this opportunity to rethink the company's strategy and ensure all competitive threats and opportunities have been considered.

Velsicol Chemical Corporation, a global company focused on producing specialty chemicals, has formed a joint venture with the Estonian government called Velsicol Eesti AS that would produce benzoic acid. The plant that will produce this chemical was previously part of a conglomerate owned and controlled by the Russian government. When Estonia became an independent state this plant was passed on to the country which then privatized and sold a percentage of it to Velsicol. The newly appointed plant manager came from a benzoic plant outside the country and was responsible for government relations, cost management, liaison with the board of directors, performance standards and staffing. He must quickly put together a management team that would be familiar with the current operations and capable of working together to achieve the company's goals. In order to do this, he needed to better understand the employees with whom he was working. A follow-up case, Velsicol Eesti AS (B), is available, (product 9B00M008), as well as a cultural note on Estonia, (product number 9B00M014).

A summary of Estonia's history, economics, industry and culture is provided in this note as a supplement to be used with the Velsicol Eesti AS (A) and (B) cases, products 9B00M007 and 9B00M008.

Waterloo Regional Police Service, along with seven other police services, collaborated and invested resources in a computer system project that would streamline functions such as computer aided dispatching, records management, mobile workstation environments and most importantly, information sharing between these police services. The project has been in progress for several years, and a number of major issues with the computer system vendor were still unresolved. The chief of the Waterloo Regional Police Service must decide whether to continue with the installation of the computer system or move on to other options.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - AIB Case Competition, Academy of International Business, and Indiana University Center for International Business Education and Research (IUCIBER) International Case Competition</strong></p><br>Meridco Magnesium is an international automotive parts supplier of magnesium die-cast components with manufacturing plants in Canada, the United States and France. The company has a strong market position in North America; however, two out of the three plants are not performing well. The vice-president of the company's Global Technologies Organization division believes the weaker performance in the two plants is due to resistance to technological innovations. He must determine the reasons for this resistance and develop a plan to resolve the weak performance in the plants before the upcoming annual board meeting. Three supplements further discuss the issues each of the plants have with new technology. Meridco Magnesium: The French Perspective, product 9B01M007; Meridco Magnesium: The Canadian Perspective, product 9B01M008, and Meridco Magnesium: The American Perspective, product 9B01M009.

The president and general plant manager of the French plant of a major magnesium die-cast auto parts manufacturer discusses with the company's vice-president their concerns with the policy on implementing new technology in the plant. This is a supplement to Meridco Magnesium: International Technology Transfer, product 9B01M006.

The vice-president of a major magnesium die-cast auto parts manufacturer is determining why two of the three company plants are not performing well. He meets with the head of each plant to discuss their views on technology innovations in the company. This is a supplement to Meridco Magnesium: International Technology Transfer, product 9B01M006.