Founded by Columbia Business School classmates, Frogtek was created as a technology business with a social mission: to help micro-retailers in Latin America improve their operations through applications loaded onto mobile phones. While the market was large - 400,000 micro-retailers operated in Colombia alone - and store owners appeared interested in the service, the right approach was far from clear. The company's founders struggled with questions such as how to distribute the mobile applications and how much to charge the generally low-income store owners. In this case students work on an operational strategy for the seed-funded start-up after examining its business plan, social goals, market opportunity, and competitive environment. This case covers operational, entrepreneurial, and technological challenges in micro-retail and supply chain management in developing economies. The focus is on the "bottom of the pyramid" retail context.

Consultant Tom Li, an expert on the airline industry's use of yield management, had been asked by two colleagues to speak with trailer-leasing client TNG about the technique, which incorporates customer segmentation and other steps to optimize pricing. Li felt unsure whether the technique would work in trailer leasing, a highly fragmented commodity business in which companies rent out semitrailers to customers needing to ship merchandise. In this case students examine the trailer-leasing industry and lease data from one of TNG's branches before deciding whether yield management should be introduced by TNG management.The case illustrates the application of the deterministic linear programming model in settings beyond airlines and hotels.

Consultant Tom Li, an expert on the airline industry's use of yield management, had been asked by two colleagues to speak with trailer-leasing client TNG about the technique, which incorporates customer segmentation and other steps to optimize pricing. Li felt unsure whether the technique would work in trailer leasing, a highly fragmented commodity business in which companies rent out semitrailers to customers needing to ship merchandise. In this case students examine the trailer-leasing industry and lease data from one of TNG's branches before deciding whether yield management should be introduced by TNG management.The case illustrates the application of the deterministic linear programming model in settings beyond airlines and hotels.