Transport for London is in charge of an extensive network of Underground (metro) stations, some of which are more congested than others. This case looks at capacity planning, with the heavy-traffic Victoria Station as its primary focus. The case provides an overview of the main activities an Underground rider must carry out to either enter the station and eventually board the train, or else alight from the train and exit the station. The case provides that quantitative data - such as passenger volume, process capacity and throughput - necessary to assess the bottleneck and opportunities to enhance circulation. The case provides some preliminary analysis as to the causes of the station's congestion, with students expected to conduct their own, more in-depth assessment using the data provided. Case number 2109.0

In 1998, the Tibet Poverty Alleviation Fund (TPAF), a small, US-based non-governmental organization, launched an initiative to bring the benefits of microfinance to the impoverished people of rural Tibet. Based on the lending model pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, TPAF's microfinance program would make small loans to individuals and families to help them start up small-scale enterprises that would, it was hoped, raise their incomes and improve their standard of living. In consultation with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government, two vastly different, but representative, communities were ed for the program: the agricultural villages of the southern Lhoka Prefecture and the semi-nomadic communities on the plateau of Nakchu Prefecture. TPAF had been established with the specific mission of using poverty alleviation techniques to demonstrate that, with some adaptations from standard models and methods, it was possible to make poverty programs work in the difficult conditions of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Nevertheless, adapting the Grameen model for use in TAR would be a challenge even for TPAF's experienced staff. This would be especially true in Nakchu Prefecture, where a scattered population, primitive roads, and a livestock-based economy would require significant modification to a program designed to make small loans to recipients who lived and worked in close proximity. HKS Case Number 1913.1

In 1998, the Tibet Poverty Alleviation Fund (TPAF), a small, US-based non-governmental organization, launched an initiative to bring the benefits of microfinance to the impoverished people of rural Tibet. Based on the lending model pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, TPAF's microfinance program would make small loans to individuals and families to help them start up small-scale enterprises that would, it was hoped, raise their incomes and improve their standard of living. In consultation with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government, two vastly different, but representative, communities were ed for the program: the agricultural villages of the southern Lhoka Prefecture and the semi-nomadic communities on the plateau of Nakchu Prefecture. TPAF had been established with the specific mission of using poverty alleviation techniques to demonstrate that, with some adaptations from standard models and methods, it was possible to make poverty programs work in the difficult conditions of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Nevertheless, adapting the Grameen model for use in TAR would be a challenge even for TPAF's experienced staff. This would be especially true in Nakchu Prefecture, where a scattered population, primitive roads, and a livestock-based economy would require significant modification to a program designed to make small loans to recipients who lived and worked in close proximity. This case follows TPAF's efforts to introduce microfinance first in Lhoka Prefecture, showing how it altered the original model to suit the peculiarities of its geography as well as its social and political structures. It then asks how, or even whether, TPAF should further adapt the program to meet the far greater challenges posed by Nakchu. HKS Case Number 1913.0

According to a World Bank report written in 2001, "in a modern, globally integrated Mexican economy, it is hard to argue for the continued existence of an institution such as INFONAVIT." The report went on to argue that the first-best option was "closing INFONAVIT." In the same year Victor Borras and a new team of managers took control of INFONAVIT under the new PAN government of Vicente Fox. In 2005 the fund issued 376,444 mortgage loans, one and a half times the number issued by INFONAVIT in 2000. During this same period of expansion INFONAVIT had: reduced its defaulted loan rate from 21.7 percent in 2000 to 6.6 percent in 2005; increased its productivity from 51 loans granted per employee to 98 per employee through outsourcing and the modernization and streamlining of operations; launched a new vivienda economica (affordable housing) program to target the majority of its members who earned less than four times the minimum wage (TMW); helped jump-start a nascent housing development industry; increased the real return to the pensioners' funds from 2 percent to 3.5 percent per year; and issued approximately $4.5 billion in mortgage-backed bonds. The case can be used to teach about government innovation, privatization, strategic management, and the public provision of financial services. It would also be appropriate for a course in international development or international housing. It raises questions about the appropriate role of government in the provision of financial services, as well as the role outsourcing and privatization can play in promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, especially when the government is a major purchaser in a market of relatively small suppliers. HKS Case Number 1878.0`

Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors without Borders) is an organization that responds to humanitarian crises throughout the world with medical staff and supplies. The organization also acts as an advocate for those it serves, providing "testimony" (temoignage) about the plight of those caught up in humanitarian crises. In the late 1990s MSF began caring for people with HIV/AIDS and in 2000 began the first efforts to provide anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to HIV-infected people in developing countries. The case describes these efforts, and, in particular, an initiative in Ethiopia by MSF Holland. The discussion of the situation in Holland focuses on the reasons why MSF began an ARV program in Ethiopia and what its future was likely to be. The case highlights the problems facing a highly decentralized organization oriented towards emergency response, which is, nevertheless, engaged in a long-term intervention. As such, it raises questions about the alignment between the organization's mission, structure, and the requirements of a particular program. It also highlights questions about organizational decision making both in terms of entry into a new initiative and exit from it. Finally, it provides an example of organizational effectiveness as advocacy - how proving the impossible is possible moves policy makers to act. The case is appropriate for classes on strategic management and operations management. HKS Case Number 1851.0

In February 2004, the general manager of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank failed to show up for work several days in a row. His absence followed a meeting of the full staff of the bank with the chair of the board, Chetna Sinha, in which tensions between the male and female staff were aired. The general manager was not the only male staff member to show his dissatisfaction. In January, another long-time male employee had quit, warning that all the male staff were planning to quit as well. Chetna Sinha had to decide whether to call back the general manager, or simply let him go. If she let him go, who would replace him? Chetna Sinha and other women in the village received a cooperative banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February 1997, and six months later founded the Mann Deshi Bank. The bank grew steadily, though not without problems, especially in filling the general manager position. In 2002, Chetna was invited to be a fellow at Yale's Global Fellows program, where she spent a year. In her absence, the bank passed an RBI exam, and operated with few problems. But on her return Chetna found many tensions that soon became unbearable. In December 2003, she called the full staff meeting that precipitated the departure of the two male employees. HKS Case Number 1806.0

American businessman, Greg Casagrande, founder and president of the South Pacific Business Development Foundation (SPBD) in Samoa has a decision to make: who should he hire to be the next general manager of SPBD, when the contract of his current general manager ends in January 2005. Should he hire a local Samoan or a palegi, a foreigner? Casagrande founded the SPBD, a microfinance institution (MFI) providing financial services to poor people, in January 2000. He hired a Samoan with an MBA from the US to be his general manager. Nine months later Casagrande discovered that the general manager was engaging in a variety of fraudulent activities, as were some of his staff. Casagrande was forced to leave his home in New Zealand to fly to Samoa to step in directly. He instituted a number of reforms, including the decision to lend to women only. Casagrande's reforms put the SPBD back on track and, in 2002, he hired Minh Lai, a Vietnamese-Canadian investment banker, to become the general manager. Lai built on Casagrande's reforms, expanded the client base, and introduced new products, including a savings product. But questions still remained. Was SPBD having its intended impact on the lives of its women clients? Would SPBD reach its goal of financial self-sufficiency by 2006? HKS Case Number 1804.0

In 2003, Minh Lai, manager of the South Pacific Business Development Foundation (SPBD), a nonprofit microfinance institution providing financial services to women in Samoa, made a decision to lend to fa'afafines after several asked whether SPBD would lend to them. Fa'afafines are biologically men, but dress and behave like women. How boys become fa'afafines varies. It may be a matter of choice by a boy to take on a female role or it may be a role that they are raised to play by a family that has no or few daughters and needs someone to carry out female tasks within the household: cooking, cleaning, and washing. HKS Case Number 1805.0

In February, 2004, the general manager of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank failed to show up for work several days in a row. His absence followed a meeting of the full staff of the bank with the chair of the board, Chetna Sinha, in which tensions between the male and female staff were aired. The general manager was not the only male staff member to show his dissatisfaction. In January, another long-time male employee had quit, warning that all the male staff were planning to quit as well. Chetna Sinha had to decide whether to call back the general manager, or simply let him go. If she let him go, who would replace him? Chetna Sinha and other women in the village received a cooperative banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February 1997, and six months later founded the Mann Deshi Bank. The bank grew steadily, though not without problems, especially in filling the general manager position. In 2002, Chetna was invited to be a fellow at Yale's Global Fellows program, where she spent a year. In her absence, the bank passed an RBI exam, and operated with few problems. But on her return Chetna found many tensions that soon became unbearable. In December, 2003, she called the full staff meeting that precipitated the departure of the two male employees. HKS Case Number 1806.1

Microlending, defined as very small loans advanced to very low-income entrepreneurs, has attracted wide attention as a potentially effective means to aid the economic development of impoverished nations. This case focuses on one of the largest and most successful of such microlenders, Mexico's Compartamos ("we share") organization, and raises questions about the most effective business model and scale of microlenders. Specifically, the case tells the story of how Compartamos, which had found great success making small loans in villages and rural areas, fared when it sought to expand into Mexico City. A series of reverses--higher default rates, personnel problems, and unexpected competition and regulatory issues--implicitly pose the question of whether Compartamos and microlenders of its type, which historically have relied on peer group pressure to ensure repayment of otherwise unsecured loans to small start-up businesses, can expand and adapt to an urban setting. HKS Case Number 1761.0

Microfinance is a field that has received increasing attention over the years in the development community. It consists of the delivery of financial services to people excluded from traditional banking institutions. For many years, most work was done on issues like credit and saving methodologies. However, the emphasis has switched in recent years to institutional sustainability to maximize impact through the commercialization of microfinance. A key component of microfinance commercialization is the mobilization of funds from money and capital markets, to decrease dependency on donors and governments and to enhance the financial intermediation of microfinance institutions. One of the most innovative ways to mobilize funds for microfinance lending is through the establishment of microfinance funds that channel investments from capital markets to microfinance institutions either as loans, guarantees or - less often - equity. BlueOrchard Finance has been a major actor in this arena through the management of the Dexia Microcredit Fund (DMCF). HKS Case Number 1762.0

This case focuses on one of the largest and most successful of such microlenders, Mexico's Compartamos ("we share") organization, and raises questions about the most effective business model and scale of microlenders. Specifically, the case tells the story of how Compartamos, which had found great success making small loans in villages and rural areas, fared when it sought to expand into Mexico City. A series of reverses--higher default rates, personnel problems, and unexpected competition and regulatory issues--implicitly pose the question of whether Compartamos and microlenders of its type, which historically have relied on peer group pressure to ensure repayment of otherwise unsecured loans to small start-up businesses, can expand and adapt to an urban setting. HKS Case Number 1761.1

After more than 10 years of operation, the Women's Thrift Cooperatives (WTCs) in the impoverished Karimnagar and Warangal districts of Andhra Pradesh are an established part of the lives of their women members. As such they represent opportunities and challenges for the women and the non-governmental organization, the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF), which planted the seed for their growth and has since supported them with technical assistance. The cooperatives are savings institutions that also lend money to their members and they rely solely on the spread between the interest they pay on the savings and the interest they earn on their loans to support their operations. In recent years the fund utilization of the thrifts has decreased, leading to some concern about their financial sustainability. The members and CDF are attempting to do something about this by starting a dairy cooperative to sell milk in the city of Warangal - the women will use the proceeds from loans from the thrifts to finance their milk purchases. There is also concern that the thrifts' accounting practices are disguising some loans in default, resulting in an overly rosy financial picture. CDF and the leadership of the cooperatives have to work out how to get the thrifts to recognize the losses that the defaults constitute without undermining their faith in the thrifts. And finally, there is pressure on the CDF from the leadership themselves to relax its rule, which the thrifts freely adopted, that prohibits leadership participation in electoral politics. The thrifts have provided a fertile training ground for women to become involved in the public life of the village, and they are now in demand as candidates for political office, given the early 1990s Indian constitutional amendments that set aside one-third of all local council seats for women. HKS Case Number 1656.0

In 1995 Haiti's banking sector undergoes reformtwo important aspects of which are a lowering of the reserve requirement on banks and a lifting of the interest rate ceiling on loans. These reforms give banks the opportunity to expand their lending activities, but who to lend to? Some banks turn to the informal sector, which dominates the Haitian economy, and to microfinance as a way to serve entrepreneurs working in this sector. Pierre-Marie Boisson, Chief Economist of Sogebank, the largest bank in Haiti, begins selling the idea of microfinance to his board of directors in the late 1990s. By 2000 the new microfinance affiliate of Sogebank, Sogesol, opened its doors for business. A year later it has 2,200 active clients and has extended over 4,500 loans. As expected Sogesol is incurring losses, but it had built a sound operational base with the help of Accion International, which is a part-owner and technical assistance provider. Its challenge for the coming year is to further improve its productivity to maximize the number of clients each of its loan officers serves and to expand beyond metropolitan Port-au-Prince to Haiti's provincial towns. Beyond these internal challenges, Sogesol faces two external threats. Competition from other microfinance providers not only threatens its market share, but, more ominously, threatens to create overindebtedness of entrepreneurs in the informal sector. The solution to this problem is a credit bureau system that allows lenders to share information about their borrowers. But a central bank effort in the mid-1990s to institute such a system failed, and it is unclear who will lead a renewed effort. The other external threat Sogesol faces is the uncertain regulatory environment in which it is operating. Haiti has no microfinance regulations, and Sogesol is operating under the umbrella of Sogebank's bank regulations. HKS Case Number 1657.0

Nat Henshaw, president of CEI Ventures Inc. (CVI) a subsidiary of the nonprofit Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), was involved in a balancing act. He was a manager of a for-profit venture capital fund, Coastal Ventures Limited Partnership (CVLP), with a social mission that valued good-quality jobs, employee ownership, and a concern for the environment. Henshaw and his board of directors were also thinking about the next venture capital fund, which they wanted to have in place when they began to wind down the investment activity of the current fund. Did they have the right balance between profit and social mission? Could they invest the remaining 60% of CVLP's funds in the next two years in a manner that struck the right balance? And did they have a good enough track record to attract investment into a new fund? Many students will be unfamiliar with this type of institution and the case provides sufficient details on the institutional structure of a community development venture capital fund and the way it operates to serve as an introduction to this subject. It demonstrates the way in which both institutionally and operationally the fund is designed to promote both profitable investments and a social mission. Nevertheless, the fund faces considerable problems in maintaining this balance. The case can then serve as a platform for a discussion of the effectiveness of such an institution in promoting community economic development. More generally, this case can be used to teach students about the "double bottom-line," where the bottom line is of a business which is the subsidiary of a nonprofit institution, which set up the business in the first place as part of its efforts to fulfill its mission. Such arrangements are becoming more common in the US nonprofit sector and they raise issues about the legitimacy of for-profit subsidiaries and the blurring of the line between the for-profit and nonprofit world. HKS Case Number 1669.0