Can a consortium of 16 organizations, including multinational corporations, local government agencies, and startups, turn a run-down Paris suburb into a "smart" (ecologically viable, high-tech, livable) neighborhood? This case explores how Bouygues Immobilier led such a project involving Alstom, Bouygues Energies & Services, Bouygues Telecom, EDF (Electricity of France), ERDF (Electricity Distribution Grid of France), Microsoft, Schneider Electric, Steria, and Total in Issy-les-Moulineaux (France). The enormous scope and diversity of the project is presented as well as the teaming strategies and governance model that facilitated its success. IssyGrid® earned the "Golden Issy" and "Grand Paris," among other awards, for its innovation and performance.

This case explores French consumer goods company Danone's novel approach to knowledge management. In 2007, Human Resource Chief (Executive Vice President) Franck Mougin assesses the company's knowledge-sharing tools and considers his options going Forward. Through informal knowledge marketplaces and sharing networks, Danone had helped managers connect with each other and share good practices peer-to-peer, rather than relying on traditional hierarchical lines of communication or IT repositories. From 2004 to 2007, Mougin and his team had found that 5,000 Danone managers around the world--the company conducted business in 120 countries--had shared about 640 now-documented good practices. In 2007, the strategic importance of saving time in a decentralized organization through adoption of colleagues' good practices was put to a test. Should the knowledge management tools be extended to include all employees and external partners on a regular basis? And on top of sharing good practices, could it be extended to include the creation of new solutions and processes? Would this require more formalization of processes and more tracking of results? The case illustrates Mougin's options on taking knowledge management into the future of Danone.

French IT consulting giant Cap Gemini is poised to purchase the consulting arm of Ernst & Young, a U.S.-based Big 5 accounting firm. In doing so, many differences need to be resolved, including negotiating with Ernst & Young entities all over the world as well as converting Ernst & Young partners into employees of publicly held Cap Gemini. Amidst all of the decisions, the market for IT consulting services is changing rapidly, further complicating the merger negotiations and implementation. Teaching Purpose: To study the range of issues that must be considered and resolved in negotiating a professional services firm merger, the valuation and motivational challenges associated with merging a private entity into a public entity, and the challenges of negotiating a cross-border merger.

The negotiations for the merger between Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young conclude, resolving issues of how to bring together Ernst & Young consulting partnerships from all over the world into the publicly held Cap Gemini. Reactions to the merger were optimistic within Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young, but analysts voiced concerns about a cultural clash between the two firms and the viability of the new firm's strategy.