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Two partners have converted an abandoned bingo hall into a 40,000 square foot self-storage unit. It appears to be filling up quickly. The father wants to build four or five similar self-storage units each year in the surrounding cities and towns, by converting former factories and supermarkets into self-storage units. The partners want to build one unit each year in order to retain a larger ownership stake and a smaller debt component. In either situation, there are pricing and feasibility issues that must be considered.

The new chief executive office of a struggling dotcom is faced with high costs and slow revenue generation - sufficient to have burned $Cdn20 million, and profitability was not yet in sight. Fortunately, his venture cap company was still willing to advance funds and he believed that he could nail down some elephant deals to save the enterprise. He had the option of chasing smaller deals for immediate cash. In what priority should he attack his strategic issues, and in particular, what size and type of selling opportunities should he pursue.

Two brothers have developed Williams Coffee Pub into a 44-unit, quick service restaurant franchise in Southwestern Ontario. Williams Coffee Pub has a very broad positioning with different segments frequenting it in different parts of the day. The brothers have hired a new chief executive officer and they are about to hand significant operational and strategic control to this new executive and the new board of directors. The broad positioning is an issue and the future communications campaign is also an issue.

Elixir Technology is a small software development company based in Singapore that develops data analysis and report generation software and provides technical training and consulting services. By May 2003, it had successfully sold this software to corporate clients in Singapore, China and Japan, following a very adaptive marketing strategy in each market. Now the managing director is contemplating entering the Middle East but must choose an entry strategy quickly to capitalize on the current window of opportunity. Available entry choices include direct entry, or several partnership options.

The managing director of a fundraising organization has recently taken on the project of raising money for charity by managing the third edition of a calendar. He had guidance from the founder of the original calendar project that raised funds for the fire fighters in New York. He focused his energies on creating high quality calendars but they were still not printed as the due date drew near and he was encountering a number of obstacles. He was beginning to feel a bit let down, but he still had to decide how to market the calendars for maximum effect. This is a supplement to Wgirl, Wboy Calendars (A) and (B), products, 9B02A018 and 9B02A019.

Shanghai COS Software Ltd. designs and develops smart card operating systems. The company's marketing manager must decide the best basis for segmenting the burgeoning market for smart cards for wireless devices in China. She has excellent data on this duopoly market, the segments and their buying criteria. In fact, she already has received significant orders for low-end cards from each of the two large customers. However, she and the senior management team must decide on a market positioning for this young high-tech start up. She must select one of the two major customers whose size, structure and procedures are quite different. She must also decide whether the company should market low margin/high volume or high margin/low volume products. Both products seem to have a very short life expectancy in the face of rapidly changing customer expectations. The investors in the company want it to achieve profitability fairly quickly and still adopt sustainable positioning in the marketplace.

Two entrepreneurs have created a not-for-profit online back office system that can be used at no charge by any of Canada's 70,000 charities to reduce their operating costs. The cost of maintaining the system has been underwritten by major financial service firms. Just as the entrepreneurs are about to launch, a for-profit service announces a similar service that targets the same charities. The entrepreneurs are concerned about overlap, pre-emption and possible confusion in the market. They wonder if they should alter their planned strategy or perhaps should just abandon the project.

A student contemplates creating and selling calendars to fellow students in order to raise funds for charity. He must decide the nature of the calendars, the target audience, the pricing, promotion and distribution of the calendars. The supplement (B) case, product 9B02A019, outlines the promotion and distribution of the calendars, and provides a reaction to the calendar. The supplement (C) case, product 9B04A001 discusses the publishing of the third edition of the calendar.

Supplements the (A) case.

Quack.com was in dire straits. An early entrant in the voice portal market, Quack was quickly running out of money. The company's management team had just returned from a road show for a second round of venture financing, but they had been unsuccessful. To exacerbate this issue, Quack's two major competitors had each received substantial funding. At the current burn rate, Quack could survive on its bridge financing for only three more months. Moreover, after the first few months of running the voice portal, Quack's business-to-consumer model for voice portals was already showing signs of weakness. Quack's management believed the failure of its road show could be related to its B2C focus. The company was facing many major decisions that would reshape and dictate the future of the firm. This case deals with the possible options for new strategic direction.

Two young university graduates evaluate the possibility of introducing a new room reservation system for tourists in Greece, replacing some of the unreliable existing methods. Recent improvements in the telecommunications grid and the emergence of several Internet service providers across Greece, coupled with existing hardware and software technology, paved the way to a window of opportunity for their Ikaros Project, a collection of transactional interactive networked kiosks. The kiosks would allow customers to obtain real-time information on hotel room availability and make their reservations. Convinced that the system would be accepted by the tourists, there were still many considerations to be researched and resolved: acceptance of the system by the hoteliers, connection costs, system capacity, pricing and the system architecture.

In February 2007, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) was far and away the dominant food retailer in Canada with a market share of 35 per cent across its various retailing formats. As part of its long term retailing strategy and in a bid to reduce the impact of Wal-Mart Canada's entry into food retailing, in 2004 Loblaw began to build new The Real Canadian Superstores in Ontario and position them as "blockers" that resembled Wal-Mart's U.S. combination food and general merchandise superstores. It overhauled its entire logistical system to improve its cost structure and it brought in new senior executives in 2006. Unfortunately, The Real Canadian Superstores appeared to be disappointing some customers, retail analysts, industry experts and even former Loblaw executives. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart entered the retail food market in 2006 with distinctive emphasis on fresh produce and deli offerings on top of its low prices and wide assortment. The question for Loblaw's executive team was whether or not to make any strategic changes, and, if so, in what direction.

A Canadian entrepreneur has grown a start-up paper-shredding business to almost $5 million over a nine-year period and he now faces some real internal tension over the future pace and direction of growth. Although he would like rapid expansion, he refuses to sell shares or take on debt. Issues from labor to acquisitions are presented, as well as the difficulties in determining operating strategy while keeping up with day-to-day management.

The vice-president of an American logistics services provider considers establishing this service in Mexico where the logistics market is controlled by the banks and is very underdeveloped. He must decide whether to establish a greenfield operation or enter a joint venture. Issues of target segments and positioning also needed resolution.

The vice-president of an American logistics services provider considers establishing this service in Mexico where the logistics market is controlled by the banks and is very underdeveloped. He must decide whether to establish a greenfield operation or enter a joint venture. Issues of target segments and positioning also needed resolution.

The Vancouver plant manager of British Columbia Box Limited was about to make a half-million dollar decision. The plant required a new $500,000 machine, and the manager must decide which manufacturer will get the order. The case illustrates many concepts in industrial buying.

A national sales manager is confronted by a second-tier distributor who has formed a coalition of several other second-tier distributors. This group is demanding the margins earned by first-tier distributors even though they cannot yet perform the first-tier functions. However, the group is located in a region where the first-tier distributors perform poorly.

Following a store expansion in 1993, a small general merchandise retailer has not realized the expected growth in sales volume, and is now, in fact, losing money. He is evaluating his product offerings, service levels, hours, inventory, and pricing, and is trying to decide what he should do next.

Jim Wells has just developed moo shoes, specially designed shoes for cows that aid in the cure of foot problems. He wishes to market these shoes and is trying to decide price, channel, and promotion issues. Jim has access to a limited amount of investment capital and he must decide whether to proceed with his idea for moo shoes. The case contains sufficient data to calculate the potential market size, breakeven analysis, and profitability.