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The Stitch It Group (Stitch It) is a mall-based clothing alteration service. Having previously sold Stitch It to its current owners in 1990 (retaining the chief executive officer (CEO) position), the founder and CEO was presented with an opportunity in 2003 to repurchase the company. Having originally sold the business because he was too cash-strapped to grow it himself, Stitch It had since grown from three store locations to 84 stores under three brand names spread throughout Canada and the United States. In determining whether to buy back the firm he founded, the founder and CEO also needed to consider his daughter Jennifer's expressed interest in becoming an executive in the firm. How would he provide Jennifer with the proper technical training to become familiar with all aspects of the firm's business, and improve her business acumen and leadership skills? The founder and CEO had one week to inform the owners of his intent to purchase and he felt it was a good deal, considering the opportunity for growth. Even if the founder and CEO resolved to buy back his company, he wondered how to train Jennifer to take over the business one day.

By 2005, AXA had become one of the world's largest and most successful insurance companies, but Claude Brunet, Member of the Management Board, in charge of Transversal Operations, Communication, Marketing and Human Resources, believed that to achieve its ambitions the company was going to have to become much more customer focused. AXA Way, a culture change program that included many elements of Six Sigma philosophy and methodology, was the spearhead of this change. The case describes the AXA Way program, the challenges of its implementation, and how AXA overcame those challenges. Learning objectives: Understand how to manage the culture change necessary to improve customer service using Six Sigma. Six Sigma is sometimes seen as a technical change, as just a methodology, but change in attitude and mindset--in culture--are required for Six Sigma to succeed. Understand how Six Sigma can be successfully adopted in a service industry.

People in America have come to believe that business schools are harmful to society, fostering in their graduates behavior that is self-interested, unethical, and sometimes even illegal. Many are convinced that managers are simply incapable of self-regulation and have called for laws to govern executive compensation and corporate financial reporting. Sure, legislation is cumbersome, but the consequences of self-governance are apparently even worse. How did business schools become part of the problem rather than the solution? It's their own fault, maintains Apple University dean Podolny, who is in a good position to know (he has been a professor at Harvard and Stanford business schools and a dean of Yale's School of Management). Fifty years of efforts to increase rigor have left even the best business schools with a bias against teaching qualitative disciplines like ethics and leadership. What's more, the schools have allowed rankings organizations to drive their admissions policies and curricula, skewing them toward an overweening emphasis on making money. Podolny suggests a multipronged approach to tackling the problem: curriculum changes that emphasize the integration of several disciplines and link analytics with ethics; team teaching that ropes in professors from different fields to give students a holistic approach to business issues; a broader definition of scholarship that can embrace the research practices of less-quantitative academic fields; an end to using rankings to market the effectiveness of schools' MBA programs; and a willingness to rescind the degrees of individuals who act unethically in the workplace. If that sounds like a tall order, it is. Business schools will never become part of the solution, Podolny insists, until they reinvent themselves.

During a recession, when many companies face declining revenues and earnings, executives often conclude that innovation isn't so important after all. According to the authors, that's because it isn't integral to the workings of most organizations, so the creativity that leads to game-changing ideas is missing or stifled. Rigby, Gruver, and Allen, all partners at Bain & Company, point to the fashion industry as a model. Every season, successful fashion companies must reinvent their product lines - and thus their brands - or face certain death. They manage this constant challenge by creating unusual partnerships at the top that consist of an imaginative, right-brain creative director and a commercially minded, left-brain brand CEO. The authors call these alliances "both-brain" teams. Some famous examples exist outside the fashion industry: Steve Jobs and his COO at Apple, Tim Cook; the creative Bill Hewlett and the savvy David Packard; Bill Bowerman, the former track coach who developed Nike running shoes, and his business partner, Phil Knight. But fashion has gone the furthest to incorporate both-brain partnerships in its organizational model. Gucci Group and others have learned to establish and maintain effective partnerships between creative people and numbers-oriented people; to structure the business so that the partners can run it effectively and are clear about which decisions they own; and to foster left-brain-right-brain collaboration at every level in order to continue attracting talent. What makes these partnerships work? The authors have identified seven characteristics of successful partners: They are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, have complementary cognitive skills, trust each other, possess raw intelligence, bring relevant knowledge to the team, speak to each other frequently and directly, and are highly committed to the business and each other.

This is the first of a two-case series. Cirque du Soleil very successfully entered a structurally unattractive circus industry. It was able to reinvent the industry and created a new market space by challenging the conventional assumptions about how to compete. It value innovated by shifting the buyer group from children (end-users of the traditional circus) to adults (purchasers of the traditional circus), drawing upon the distinctive strengths of other alternative industries, such as the theatre, Broadway shows and the opera, to offer a totally new set of utilities to more mature and higher spending customers. **ecch European Case Awards Category Winner 2006 and ecch European Case Awards Overall Winner 2009.

On September 23, 2008, in the midst of an historic crisis in the U.S. financial markets, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, said: "We are pleased that given our longstanding relationship, Warren Buffett, arguably the world's most admired and successful investor, has decided to make such a significant investment in Goldman Sachs." He added that the deal "will further bolster our strong capitalization and liquidity position," calling Buffett's decision "a strong validation of our client franchise and future prospects." For his part, Buffett called Goldman "an exceptional institution" with "...an unrivaled global franchise, a proven and deep management team, and the intellectual and financial capital to continue its track record of outperformance." This case provides an opportunity to evaluate Goldman's decision to raise capital, the cost of the firm of Buffett's investment, and the decision by Warren Buffett to make the investment, all in the context of a profound market crisis that may have altered the usual metrics for such decisions.

John Mason, a principle at Oldwell Partners, was facing a decision of whether or not to invest in DiagnoFirst, a molecular diagnostics firm. DiagnoFirst's key product was a genetic test that identified a subset of prostate cancer patients with a high risk of clinical progression and death. DiagnoFirst had applied for patents, in both the U.S. and EU, for the sequence of 40 genes, the new methodology for gene amplification, and the specific mechanics of the genetic tests. Mason's decision to invest in DiagnoFirst was based in part on the likelihood of obtaining patents and in part on the projected cash flows of the business under various scenarios. This case examines issues of intellectual property in science, international differences in patent law, and the decision-making process of venture capital in biotechnology deals.

This case describes the history and activities of the A-Team, a major alliance of bicycle assembly firms and parts suppliers in Taiwan, which was created in 2003. A strategic alliance with competitors posed challenges. For the A-Team, it was more complicated because the alliance was between both competing bicycle assembly firms and between parts suppliers. By 2006, progress had been made in making the alliance work but the senior executives were wondering what they could do to ensure future progress. The case can be used in a strategy module or course on alliances/joint ventures in a section examining the competition versus cooperation challenge.

The case describes existing performance management systems at a leading business school in India, the National Institute of Management (Central India campus) (NIM (CI campus)). The institution, which ranked among the top 20 business schools in India, is facing critical issues of attracting and retaining faculty members. The director of NIM (CI campus) has implemented a unit based performance measurement and incentive system that has worked favourably and enabled the institute to recruit top academicians. However, the management committee believes that the system has outlived its utility and desires to replace it with more robust systems that are less vulnerable to misuse. The faculty members, however, support retention of the existing system. The key teaching objective of this case is to understand performance management systems from perspectives of different stakeholders and develop a framework that meets all objectives of performance management. The case enables users to understand all steps in performance management and examine shortcomings at each stage. The role of incentive systems both as a tool to enhance individual performance and as a management control mechanism is also discussed. The case provides users an opportunity to evaluate the strategic significance of performance management. The case is to be used along with Performance Management at the National Institute of Management (Central India Campus) (A) No. 9B08C020.

In 2008, the acquisition of the General Healthcare Group (GHG) in the United Kingdom had propelled Netcare Limited (Netcare) from a predominantly South African operation into one of the largest private hospital groups in the world. One of Netcare's key long-term goals was to deliver innovative, quality health-care solutions to patients in every continent. Recent South African parliamentary legislation had introduced the potential for regulated pricing and collective bargaining in medical centres, which could change the industry structure and possibly affect Netcare's strategy. As acquisition at home would be increasingly subject to stringent scrutiny from competition regulators, Netcare wondered what the impact of global acquisition would have on executing its strategy. What lessons could be learned from the GHG acquisition, how could those lessons be leveraged for further international growth, and what continent would be best suited to expansion? The case illustrates the international expansion strategies of Netcare, and illustrates the challenges of operating in an emerging market. The ability to overcome these challenges is the basis of a competitive advantage when entering developed markets.

IMAX was involved in several aspects of the large-format film business: production, distribution, theatre operations, system development and leasing. The case illustrates IMAX's use of its unique capabilities to pursue a focused differentiation strategy. IMAX was initially focused on large format films that were educational yet entertaining, and the theatres were located in institutions such as museums, aquariums and national parks. However, IMAX found that its growth and profitability were constrained by its niche strategy. In response, IMAX sought to grow by expanding into multiplexes. Additionally, IMAX expanded its film portfolio by converting Hollywood movies, such as Harry Potter and Superman, into the large film format. This shift in strategy was supported by the development of two technological capabilities - DMR for conversion of standard 35 mm film into large format, and DMX to convert standard multiplexes to IMAX systems. The shift in strategy was partially successful, but carried the risk of IMAX losing its unique reputation.

Ho Tak Kee was originally a professional publisher and printer that started in the 1950s in Hong Kong. Having faced static performance for decades, the founder and grandfather of the family decided to close the printing department. This pushed his youngest son, On-ping, to a critical decision: whether and how to continue the family business. Under pressure, On-ping turned to his son John for support but the request put John in a difficult position of choosing between a professional career and the family business. As a young man without much life and work experience, John had to go through a personal development process to shape up as a leader in order to make the family business thrive again and keep the family together. Case (A) is from John's point of view as he is making his decision and is intended to stimulate students to look at a family business from a third generation's perspective. Case (B) starts with John's decision to join Ho Tak Kee.

Ho Tak Kee, originally a professional publisher and printer that started back in the 1950s in Hong Kong, faced static performance for decades. This forced the founder and grandfather of the family to decide to close down the printing department. This decision pushed his youngest son, On-ping, to a critical point resolving whether and how to continue the family business. Under pressure, On-ping turned to his son John for support but the request put John in a difficult position of choosing between a professional career and the family business. As a young man without much life and work experience, John had to go through a personal development process to shape up as a leader to be able to make the family business thrive again and keep the family together, while formulating his entrepreneurial vision for the future of the business and family. Case (A) runs from John's point of view as his is making his decison and is intended to stimulate students to look at a family business from a third generation's perspective. Case (B) starts with John's decision to join Ho Tak Kee.

In 2008, Daqi was one of the largest Internet portals for user-generated content and leading word-of-mouth marketing provider in China. Grace Zhou, Daqi's CEO, was contemplating the risks and benefits of expanding Daqi's services into three new content areas-news, music, and popular bloggers. Each potential area of Daqi's expansion offered extensive benefits, such as major growth opportunity, as well as risks, including private lawsuits, government censorship, and significant capital investments. The case focuses on how Zhou must weigh the pros and cons of expansion both in each of these three areas, as well as the potential of a merger.

In April 2005, Alexandra was the owner of an Australian farm that produced olives, including Kalamata table olives. Alexandra had invested in the expansion of her farm in anticipation of the evolution of her market from domestic trade in Australia to international export. There was, however, a disruptive dispute before a WTO tribunal between Australia and the EU regarding the protection of Geographical Indications, which identify a product's origins and are treated as trademarks in some respects by international trade rules. Though Alexandra prepared her Kalamata olives in the traditional Kalamata technique, her use of the regionally specific name was threatened by the intellectual property rights provided by GIs. The case focuses on what should be the legal outcome of the WTO dispute, as well as possible business strategies by Alexandra in the event of an adverse outcome to Australia.

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Whether they know it or not, every person is a salesperson. Too often, individuals neglect this covert reality and suffer because of it. This article stresses the importance of putting your best face, and foot, forward in order to "sell".

Forty-one year old Andrea Wong, the president and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services. When Wong joined Lifetime, she said that the network was "widely viewed as a tired brand...ratings had flattened out, and the audience was aging." Moreover, Lifetime's stereotype had become a network that showed "women in peril" shows and movies. Wong was excited to reinvigorate the Network's brand, but when Wong actually set foot in her new office at Lifetime, she realized her task was going to be harder than she had initially imagined. Beyond the ratings problems and image problems, Wong discovered that numerous cultural issues plagued the company, problems that needed immediate fixing. In rapid fire mode, Wong moved quickly as a leader, making key people decisions in the spirit of changing a culture that lacked clear lines of responsibility, accountability, and nimbleness, while simultaneously changing Lifetime's brand reputation through its programming and marketing.

It provides a framework for discussions around the implementation "pain points" of ambitious strategies with long-term objectives, which involve high uncertainties, risks and business opportunities. It opens the floor for an interesting discussion on how to take on the challenges of a changing business context and balance them against long-term objectives. Allianz and WWF joint venture evolved from a collaborative awareness-raising effort to an action-driven partnership with the ambition to lead the financial industry on the climate change issue by example. The partnership goals were to quantify climate change effects on financial services and use it as an innovation driver for products and services in insurance, banking and asset management business. In 2008, a year after the partnership was implemented, points of tension at the operational level accumulated, mainly in relation to the governance model and follow up on certain issues. In the same period, the financial markets crisis hit. This significantly changed the business environment and pushed Allianz to rethink their strategy and engage WWF on discussing where, if and how the partnership could be adjusted while keeping the core strategy. A video documenting Allianz' efforts on Corporate Responsibility can be used with this case (see link under Notes). Learning ojbectives: 1) Understand the challenges of rolling out sustainability strategies. 2) Illustrate the dilemmas of adapting to a changing business context while staying on course with long-term objectives, particularly in difficult business circumstances. 3) Illustrate the barriers and success factors of corporate sustainability partnerships. 4) Change the traditional perception of business responsibility in pushing forward the agenda for action on climate change and other "mega-issues".

This note discusses the legal issues entrepreneurs must consider as they form their company as a legal entity. In Q&A format, the note concisely defines the types of entity available and discusses when and how to engage a lawyer.