In 1995, Paul Shipman, CEO of Redhook Ale Brewery, and his management team prepared to enter uncharted territory by taking their craft-brewing operation public in the United States. Although there already were massive large-batch breweries that were profitable, publicly traded firms, Redhook was different: it embodied the ethos and grassroots beginnings of the microbrew movement. Still Shipman wondered about the potential of the craft-brewing industry segment.

JetBlue Airways is only five days away from entering the Boston market by establishing a presence at Logan International Airport. The VP of strategy for JetBlue considers the range of potential competitive responses that he might expect from such established airlines as American Airlines, so he can anticipate and prepare. As the largest major carrier operating out of Logan, American had more at risk than the other major carriers and had not yet decided how best to compete with the LCCs. How would American respond?

Amazon.com had purchased Zappos in 2009 and was making significant investments in warehouse infrastructure. By early summer 2012, Zappos, a dominant player in the crowded online retail apparel and footwear arena must decide whether to retain its warehouse complex in Kentucky, which it had maintained since 2002, or turn over the operations to Amazon. Should Zappos continue to operate as an entity external to its parent company? Or would advancements and changes in the market be disruptive enough to force Zappos to change in order to remain competitive?

A product manager at Apple examines the past, present, and future of the PC industry in September 2011 in the wake of Steve Jobs's resignation and HP's announcement that it was exiting the PC industry in favor of enterprise software solutions and consulting. The protagonist thinks through current forces in the PC industry, including market share trends, mobile computing, ultrabooks, and cloud computing services-as well as the position of the Mac in Apple's product portfolio-and is faced with making a decision about the future of the Mac.

Kazuo Hirai, president and group CEO of the Sony division charged with manufacturing the PlayStation, is faced with a strategic crossroads as he decides which functional elements and target demographics to focus on with the PS4. He reviews the history and dynamics of the video gaming industry-including the importance of first-mover advantage when it comes to new technology-in an effort to predict its future. What's next-both for gaming in general and for home game consoles in particular-and what place should Sony be vying for in the minds and pocketbooks of the gaming public?

Strategy is complex, requiring clarity about organizational objectives as well as the variety of external forces-competitive, economic, and technological-that come into play. Ultimately, strategy is an integrative exercise. This technical note provides a concise basis for a comprehensive discussion of strategic concerns.

discussion about the firm's overall strategy, post Gulf Oil spill, moving forward. The case describes how within a single decade, BP had emerged as one of the largest energy companies in the world. Within that scope, BP had an odd achievement: It had been building an alternative energy business and had gained a reputation as being an oil company with a regard for the environment. Then a series of preventable accidents, in the United States in particular, started to chip away at the firm's status. In a matter of five years, BP went from celebrating its most profitable period to finding itself selling assets while industry watchers wondered whether the company would survive after being responsible for the largest oil spill in the United States.

This technical note highlights the most useful resources for gathering data on particular companies or industries, including information relevant to ethics, accountability, and responsibility.