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Kathryn Everest, the knowledge management consultant for IBM Canada Ltd.’s business consulting service, was preparing for a meeting with the province of Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Education. The purpose of the meeting was to secure top-level support for an early-stage knowledge management program at the ministry. For the past few weeks she had conducted an initial study of ministry needs and believed that the organization could benefit from one or more knowledge management solutions, including document management, communities of practice, and an expert directory. Everest wondered how she should approach the meeting, given that there seemed to be internal ministry concerns about knowledge-sharing. As she reviewed her notes, she wanted to know which solution(s) she should recommend and what implementation challenges she could expect to face.

The knowledge management consultant for IBM Canada's Ltd. business consulting service was preparing for a meeting with the Ontario's Deputy Minister of Education. The purpose of the meeting was to secure top-level support for an early-stage Knowledge Management program at the ministry. For the past few weeks she had conducted an initial study of ministry needs and believed that the organization could benefit from one or more knowledge management solutions, including document management, communities of practice and expert directory. The consultant wondered how she should approach the meeting, given the there seemed to be internal ministry concerns about knowledge sharing. As she reviewed her notes, she wanted to know which solution or combination of solutions she should recommend and what implementation challenges she could expect to face.

An engineer for Wind to Energy has led the creation of the North American division of a German start-up company that designs wind-energy electric power generation units - wind turbines. The engineer and his fellow engineers have licensed the technology to a small-share assembler of wind turbines and are about to receive their first payment from this firm. As they look ahead, they see opportunities for revenue in possibly supplying spare parts to wind farms, or even operating their own wind farm. The challenge is to focus this start-up company.

A loan assessment officer at Export Development Canada is evaluating a proposed deal involving the export of refurbished machines used in the forestry industry. He must decide whether Export Development Corporation should extend loans to a foreign firm that is interested in purchasing from a Canadian supplier. Issues include international business risk and the role of an export development agency in facilitating a country's exports.

A graduate of a business school must consider two options available to him with similar salary packages. The first is to accept an offer to start as an assistant marketing manager with a consumer packaged goods firm, the other is a consulting assignment with a small tool & die firm. The case provides students the opportunity to value different benefits based on their risk tolerance and career aspirations.

Sun Life Financial is a large insurance conglomerate with $14.7 billion in annual revenues. The vice-president for China must formulate an approach for his company's entrance into China. Sun Life has achieved two important milestones: the right to apply for a license and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Venture with China Everbright, a local securities company. The financial vice-president must consider strategic options for entry and choose a city in which to focus his efforts in getting a license. In doing so, he needs to consider Sun Life's overall priorities, strategic direction, and how he will sell the concept to senior management in Canada.

Due to differences in incentive compensation, work experience, and objectives, sales and marketing, in many organizations often clash. At Microsoft Canada, the national sales manager, Home & Entertainment Division and the group product manager for PC marketing are considering investing a recurring $1 million a year - 10 per cent of their combined promotional budget - to produce and maintain a consumer-focused website, Microsoft Home Magazine. This proposed investment comes at a time where sales growth is slowing in the firm's PC business. As a surprising twist for students, this case is unique in the sense that it highlights an example where sales and marketing work together to achieve a common goal.

Sun Life Financial is a large insurance conglomerate with $14.7 billion in annual revenues. The vice-president for China must formulate an approach for his company's entrance into China. Sun Life has achieved two important milestones: the right to apply for license and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Venture with China Everbright, a local securities company. The financial vice-president must consider strategic options for entry and choose a city in which to focus his efforts in getting a license. In doing so, he needs to consider Sun Life's overall priorities, strategic direction and how he will sell the concept to senior management in Canada. Intended for use in an introduction to international business course, the case includes assessing internal capabilities against an environmental scan, formulating strategy and making operational decisions relating to city selection. It also introduces the idea of joint venture management and government relations.

Hewlett-Packard hired a new chief executive officer in 1999 to lead them into the future. The company, despite a strong legacy of success, had been faltering since the late 1990s, with slow sales growth and declining profitability. Industry observers felt that HP was not responding appropriately to competitive threats in its server, printer and personal computer markets. Industry conditions were also worsening, suggesting hard times ahead. The CEO felt a dramatic move was required to improve HP's position in the market. An attempt to expand HP's IT services business through the acquisition of PriceWaterhouseCoopers was unsuccessful. The CEO was considering a merger between HP and Compaq. With the help of four role plays supplements, 9B04M085 - Hewlett-Packard: Sun Microsystems in 2001, 9B04M086 - Hewlett-Packard: Dell in 2001, 9B04M087 - Hewlett-Packard: IBM in 2001 and 9B04M088 - Hewlett-Packard: Lexmark in 2001, student groups take on the roles of competitors in various segments and plan their competitive strategy while Hewlett-Packard is dealing with the merger. The supplement 9B04M084 - Hewlett-Packard in 2004 concludes the Hewlett-Packard in 2001 case series.

This is a supplement to product 9B04M083, Hewlett-Packard in 2001, and details what happened to Hewlett-Packard between 2001 and 2004. This case concludes the Hewlett-Packard in 2001 case series, which together demonstrate the effects of competition in dynamic competitive situations.

Role play supplement to 9B04M083, Hewlett-Packard in 2001.

Role play supplement to 9B04M083, Hewlett-Packard in 2001.

Role play supplement to 9B04M083, Hewlett-Packard in 2001.

Role play supplement to 9B04M083, Hewlett-Packard in 2001.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Oikos Sustainability Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>Icelandic New Energy Company, a research and development consortium based in Reykjavik, Iceland, is considering what future direction to take. The two-person team has met their first major goal - the installation of the world's first commercial hydrogen filling station and the coordination of a public transport test project involving the operation of three hydrogen fuelled city buses. The company was founded with the overall objective of investigating the potential for eventually replacing the use of fossil fuels in Iceland with hydrogen-based fuels and creating the first hydrogen society in the world. Working towards the goal of self-sufficiency from fossil fuels, Icelandic New Energy Co was set up in 1999 by the consortium Vistorka and three major partners each contributing a part to the testing - Royal Dutch Shell (the refueling station), Norsk Hydro (the electrolysis technology to make the hydrogen) and DaimlerChrysler (fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen fuel). The shareholder agreement was established with the company's start in 1999 and is set to expire in 2005. With all of the major activities being outsourced and contracted, the team wondered how they could keep the company as a going concern and contribute to Iceland's transition to a hydrogen economy - a feat that could take more than 15 years.

Coastal Uniforms provides a cleaning service for work uniforms. In an effort to improve profitability, the company institutes a series of measures of increasingly questionable ethics, causing a downward spiral of the company's corporate culture and budget/incentive system. A sales representative for the company must decide if he should quit his job or consider legal action in response to the changes to the incentive program.

The director of marketing for Levi Strauss Canada needs to decide the future fate of the GWG brand, a fallen giant in the Canadian jeans market. For the last three years, GWG had been licensed to a small manufacturer, who has failed to meet the requirements in the license agreement. While the director is keen to use some of the latent brand equity in GWG, she know that Levi's and Dockers brands come first and that she can not divert marketing dollars towards the brand's revival. As well, she must be careful to manage her small but powerful portfolio of brands in the five main channels without cannibalizing the already declining volumes of the Levi's brand.

Originally a chemical company with its focus on agriculture, American Cyanamid has expanded into three other industry segments: medical, chemical and consumer products. The executive vice-president for agriculture must decide what to do with the floundering chemical division. The supplement Cytec Industries, Inc., product 9B04M007 looks at the progress of the chemical division.

An entrepreneur comes up with a great idea for a new business that would service what he calls the time-starved segment. Using Wal-Mart as the warehouse, eBay as his storefront and the U.S. Postal Service as the distributor, he would pick-up and deliver products to businesses, conserving staff resources. He must think of as many opportunities as possible and determine any barriers that may occur. The purpose of the case is to get students to generate ideas. Students will be quick to criticize and analyze the ideas presented, but few will focus on presenting new ideas.

A real estate analyst has been hired as a government employee to manage Canada's overseas property holdings, including its embassies and diplomatic residences. Despite strict government regulations regarding the procurement of overseas accommodations and policies relating to fiscal accountability, the analyst has witnessed the luxurious accommodations enjoyed by diplomatic staff posted abroad. She documents the abuses and reports the finding to her supervisor, who does nothing. The analyst must decide whether to take her finding further. The supplements Price of Speaking Out Against the Betrayal of Public Trust: Joanna Gualtieri (B), (C) and (D), products 9B04C030, 9B04C031 and 9B04C032 looks at her decision and the events that follow.