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Spreadsheet supplement for case UV8076 and UV8080.

This case contains two briefs, one for each person in a two-party negotiation. They are relatively short in length and can be read in class just prior to a mock negotiation. This learning activity is appropriate for teaching negotiations skills to a broad audience, including undergraduate and graduate business school students, adult learners in a variety of settings, and in a corporate university.

This case set follows Eric and Holly Nelson, founders of Special Hope Network, a nonprofit organization providing holistic therapy services for children with intellectual disabilities and their families in Lusaka, Zambia. Eric, a pastor, and Holly, a special needs teacher, had previously adopted three children with Down syndrome and moved to Zambia to form this enterprise. They worked hard to overcome systemic obstacles to their mission, including a cultural bias against bringing children with intellectual disabilities out in public; a feeling that the family was to blame for the child's disabilities; a scarcity of qualified therapists; and a variety of economic and regulatory factors. Having originally relied on donations from US-based friends and family, they needed to finance their therapy centers, which were targeted to low-income Zambian families, and were highly subsidized. Options they explored included fundraising with local businesses, "child sponsoring" on their website, grant writing, teaching other educators and nonprofits, and tourism fundraising. This A case takes place in 2012, when the Nelsons are considering opening a for-profit resource center, marketed to middle- and upper-class Zambians. It explores the viability of this option, and asks, "Does a for-profit resource center fit with our mission to serve the neediest children?" This case is suitable for an undergraduate, graduate, or executive education class on nonprofit management or strategy. The focus is the alignment of a firm's activities, and whether they support its core mission-which can sometimes have a different answer depending on whether the firm is for profit or nonprofit.

This case set follows Eric and Holly Nelson, founders of Special Hope Network, a nonprofit organization providing holistic therapy services for children with intellectual disabilities and their families in Lusaka, Zambia. Eric, a pastor, and Holly, a special needs teacher, had previously adopted three children with Down syndrome and moved to Zambia to form this enterprise. They worked hard to overcome systemic obstacles to their mission, including a cultural bias against bringing children with intellectual disabilities out in public; a feeling that the family was to blame for the child's disabilities; a scarcity of qualified therapists; and a variety of economic and regulatory factors. Having originally relied on donations from US-based friends and family, they needed to finance their therapy centers, which were targeted to low-income Zambian families, and were highly subsidized. Options they explored included fundraising with local businesses, "child sponsoring" on their website, grant writing, teaching other educators and nonprofits, and tourism fundraising. In the B and C cases, which take place between 2018 and 2019, it is revealed that while the for-profit resource center did provide a number of valuable intangible benefits, it was ultimately not profitable. This case is suitable for an undergraduate, graduate, or executive education class on nonprofit management or strategy. The focus is the alignment of a firm's activities, and whether they support its core mission-which can sometimes have a different answer depending on whether the firm is for profit or nonprofit.

This case set follows Eric and Holly Nelson, founders of Special Hope Network, a nonprofit organization providing holistic therapy services for children with intellectual disabilities and their families in Lusaka, Zambia. Eric, a pastor, and Holly, a special needs teacher, had previously adopted three children with Down syndrome and moved to Zambia to form this enterprise. They worked hard to overcome systemic obstacles to their mission, including a cultural bias against bringing children with intellectual disabilities out in public; a feeling that the family was to blame for the child's disabilities; a scarcity of qualified therapists; and a variety of economic and regulatory factors. Having originally relied on donations from US-based friends and family, they needed to finance their therapy centers, which were targeted to low-income Zambian families, and were highly subsidized. Options they explored included fundraising with local businesses, "child sponsoring" on their website, grant writing, teaching other educators and nonprofits, and tourism fundraising. In the B and C cases, which take place between 2018 and 2019, it is revealed that while the for-profit resource center did provide a number of valuable intangible benefits, it was ultimately not profitable. This case is suitable for an undergraduate, graduate, or executive education class on nonprofit management or strategy. The focus is the alignment of a firm's activities, and whether they support its core mission-which can sometimes have a different answer depending on whether the firm is for profit or nonprofit.

Rebecca Banquette, a recently hired executive coach and Lean consultant at a staffing firm in the health care industry, has experienced a change in her Lean management philosophy and approach. Previously, she focused heavily on Lean's technical process-improvement aspects, but after a period of personal exploration and growth, she has decided to focus first and primarily on the development of people. In this case, Banquette explains and reflects on her methods for utilizing Lean tools-including the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle, the A3 structured problem-solving process, and gemba walks-to create standard work in developing leaders. She also uses a holistic framework to provide focus to her development activities, including helping others ask the right questions and building personal qualities such as humility and courage. In doing so, she commits to being the type of coach who refrains from providing answers or direct advice. Instead, she presents new information and ideas and then supports her executives by asking questions designed to build self-reflection skills. This case is both a leadership-development story and a creative application of Lean tools in a context that supports the development of robust people. Just as a process is described as robust when it can accept a wide range of inputs and produce a consistent output, people can also be described as robust when they respond flexibly to competing and ever-changing circumstances and still produce consistent results. By utilizing the concept of standard work in a leadership-development setting, we codify the process of developing people with an intentional, Lean-based framework, and we emphasize the critical, primary importance of robust people in the overall operations of an organization.

Student spreadsheet for case UV7907.

This fictional, international case explores online delivery models through the voices of two female protagonists: Melis Aydin, COO, who is from Turkey; and Athena Galini, CEO, who is from Greece. They have recently begun an online grocery-delivery (OGD) service called GidaExpress (i.e., Express Food) by closing on a TRY300,000 low-interest loan and entering a start-up incubator in Istanbul, Turkey. Aydin and Galani are evaluating three models for hiring drivers-all full-time employees who can be trained (and perhaps provide more consistent and higher-quality customer service); all independent workers who are paid a wage rate that escalates in order to meet demand; or a hybrid of the two. This story allows for a discussion of the strategic trade-offs between investing in a full-time workforce and sourcing independent workers of unknown quality using a fluctuating wage rate, and how these decisions impact the ability of the business to deliver on the value proposition.

In this B case, the follow-up to UV7854, Marissa Levine, the Virginia Commissioner of Health, considers reports for and against the merger of two health care entities in rural Virginia, as she decides whether to issue a waiver to allow it. This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth discussion of the sometimes emotional issue of rural healthcare. It is suitable for students in a classes spanning health care management, nonprofit management, public policy, governance, ethics, and the social sector.

This optional C case follows UV7854 and UV7856, and describes the results of decisions on whether to allow a merger of two health care entities in rural Virginia. This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth discussion of the sometimes emotional issue of rural healthcare. It is suitable for students in a classes spanning health care management, nonprofit management, public policy, governance, ethics, and the social sector.

Mark Seidman at the Federal Trade Commission is evaluating a proposed merger between two health care entities and competing market leaders in southwest Virginia. The rural region is characterized by poverty, unemployment, and poor population health indicators relative to the rest of the state. The merger would form a virtual monopoly, normally prohibited by federal consumer protection laws, but the two companies assert that it would allow them to remain profitable and to continue to offer health care services in the region. In the B case, Marissa Levine, the Virginia Commissioner of Health, considers reports for and against the merger as she decides whether to issue a waiver to allow it. The optional C case describes the consequences of these decisions. The case set includes excerpts from public filings, which provide rich insight into the reasoning behind each entity's opinion. This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth discussion of the sometimes emotional issue of rural healthcare. It is suitable for students in a classes spanning health care management, nonprofit management, public policy, governance, ethics, and the social sector.

Service systems are inherently subject to variability, whether through customers, service providers, suppliers, or unexpected events. Yet, customers demand excellence and consistency regardless of this variability. In general, there are two ways to handle this variability: with people or with processes. We use the concept of robustness to describe these two approaches and address when one or the other might be appropriate and discuss how and why one might transition from one approach to the other. The relationship between robust people and robust processes within a system can inform and build upon one another in a cycle that mirrors that of continuous improvement. Investing in this cycle can help an organization move toward a system that relies more on robust processes and less on hiring and training robust people, allowing the organization to be scalable while simultaneously creating new opportunities for incumbent robust people.

Supplement to case UV7778 Ryan and Robert Rosen, brothers and co-owners of BootsUnlimited.com (BU) are approaching the end of their three-week experiment in testing keywords for their Google AdWords campaign, eliminating poor-performing keywords and occasionally adding new ones. Will their campaign be a success, or will they have to find some other way to market BU's boots?

Supplement to case UV7778 Robert Rosen and his brother, Ryan, took a look at the slow pace at which the budget for their family-owned company, BootsUnlimited.com (BU), was being spent. Many of the keywords they had chosen for their Google AdWords campaign in the hopes of boosting online sales at BU, were not being clicked on. What changes did they need to make?

BootsUnlimited.com (BU) is a website offering custom-made footwear. Customers can choose from a wide variety of styles and can also create new styles based on their exact specifications. The company instructs customers on how to provide 20 different foot and calf measurements, and from those measurements, the footwear is made in a Thai production facility. BU products cater to the custom boot market and to very different segments, and the brothers who co-own the family business have designed a Google AdWords campaign for their company to target each segment. Because they were starting with a limited budget, and because BU catered to such niche markets, the Rosens decided to start with very specific keywords that would require lower bids. They believed that starting this way would keep them from running out of money too soon.

Dr. Brad Worthington, surgeon and anesthesiologist, has created BKK, a nonopioid surgical pain reliever. A combination of three FDA-approved drugs, BKK has beneficial properties beyond those of the individual medications of which it is made. Having obtained a patent for BKK, Worthington and his business partner, Thurman Ballard, are evaluating three paths to market, each with its own risks, costs, timelines, and possible outcomes: 1) seek venture capital investment to fund a New Drug Application for FDA approval; 2) partner with a compounding pharmacy that can manufacture and distribute the drug wholesale; or 3) develop a relationship with a manufacturer that can produce convenience kits containing all three drugs, bottled separately, with directions for mixing and administering them. This case provides a close look into the barriers to entry for new drug commercialization for an individual or small business. Innovations in healthcare delivery, medical technology, and even new drug development or new uses for existing drugs are often generated by those closest to patient care-nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel. But without significant resources, even the most ingenious new ideas require entrepreneurial thinking to bring them to market. Students have the opportunity to build a decision tree and explore the qualitative and quantitative data presented to justify all three options. Which should Worthington and Ballard choose?

With a $7,500 loan from a family member, Calvin Gorelick has started an online business selling specialty yoga blocks. His primary concern is whether or not the cycles of "purchase blocks, sell blocks, receive money, make loan and other necessary repayments" will allow his company to remain financially solvent. Coupled with the cash flow issue, Gorelick has noticed disturbing sales data in his first month of doing business: with each passing week, his sales drop. Although he has just a small data set, Gorelick is worried. Is this the beginning of a trend, a one-time drop in sales that will level off, or only garden-variety variability that will average out to an acceptable level of sales?

This mini-case set describes the challenges facing the new leadership of Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) to revitalize and save the Museum. Alex Nyerges and Michael Taylor arrived in 2006 at a key point in the institution's history. Membership was flagging at around 5,000, and a major construction project was $20 million over budget. Residents of Richmond felt increasingly disconnected from the museum. Some even viewed its collection as irrelevant to modern life. Nyerges and Taylor faced difficult decisions regarding membership fees, museum hours, and the need to establish community engagement. As with other museums across the nation they also faced the daunting challenge of attracting younger patrons and families while preserving the older donor base. This case set is suitable for a class in Change Management, Designing for Growth, or any Nonprofit or Leadership class.

Supplement to case UV7664

Friends Parker and Miles are brainstorming the possibilities of a local start-up-a landscaping venture that leverages their love of the outdoors and their self-taught green thumb skills in planting, mowing, edging, trimming, landscape design, and the like. Without any formal professional or business training, however, they strategize and slowly work through their "next steps," taking into account the cost of their initial investment, potential competitors, target customers, and the type of budget-friendly advertising that will gain them a share of the local market. As they conceptually differentiate themselves in a way that creates business and customer value, are they ready to launch?