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In September 2004, four months after Hungary joined the European Union, the strategy group of Matav - Hungary's largest communications company - is working on its mid-term strategic plan. Since being privatized from state ownership in 1993, the company has seen several changes in its strategy, structure and culture. Nearly 15 years later, the company is a fully integrated telecommunications company involved in a broad range of services including fixed line telephony, mobile communications, Internet services, data transmission and outsourcing. The company's latest acquisition of a formerly state run telecommunications company is considered a success, and management believes that international expansion is necessary to realize dynamic growth as its domestic fixed line business is declining. As well, Hungary's mobile market is highly competitive and saturated with 80 per cent of the country having a mobile phone. The management team feels that Matav is at a crossroads with three main options: expansion in Hungary, regional expansion or focusing on organic growth in existing product lines. The team has to consider all of the lines of business in forming a strategy and whether Matav's resources and organization are suitable for a healthy future.

Majestica Hotels Inc., a leading European operator of luxury hotels, was trying to reach an agreement with Commercial Properties of Shanghai regarding the management contract for a new hotel in Shanghai. A series of issues require resolution for the deal to proceed, including length of contract term, name, staffing and many other control issues. Majestica was reluctant to make further concessions for fear that doing so might jeopardize its service culture, arguably the key success factor in this industry. At issue was whether Majestica should adopt a contingency approach and relax its operating philosophy, or stick to its principles, even if it meant not entering a lucrative market.

KaBOOM!, a successful playground-building social enterprise funded through corporate partnerships, wants to develop a performance measurement system that will enable the organization to expand its impact substantially. The board of directors and management are trying to develop a performance-oriented approach that will inform their strategy and allow them to manage operations efficiently and effectively as they grow--and, possibly, shift their emphasis to growth. What operational and impact data should they collect? How should they design a system of measures that will inform them without either drowning them in data or constraining their opportunities for growth? Can they develop a single system that will be useful to the board of directors and management--and support strategy development without inviting micromanagement?

This case study tells the story of San Jose, California, one of the first 27 cities in the country to participate in a federal domestic preparedness program. Between 1997 and 1999, a specially created city task force mounted several full-scale terrorist attack exercises, but-despite the best of intentions-found all of them frustrating, demoralizing, and divisive, creating ill will between the exercise planners and the first responders. In response, the San Jose task force took a step back and analyzed their situation. In place of traditional full-scale exercises, San Jose drew on several existing prototypes to create a new "facilitated exercise" model that emphasized teaching over testing, and was much better received by first responders. For teaching flexibility, the case has been divided into three parts. The main case describes San Jose's early experience, ending at a crucial moment, when the task force was forced to face the fact that its approach was not working. It is designed to spark a class discussion about what seems to be going awry, and how the problems might be solved. HKS Case Number 1815.0

This case study tells the story of San Jose, California, one of the first 27 cities in the country to participate in a federal domestic preparedness program. Between 1997 and 1999, a specially created city task force mounted several full-scale terrorist attack exercises, but-despite the best of intentions-found all of them frustrating, demoralizing, and divisive, creating ill will between the exercise planners and the first responders. In response, the San Jose task force took a step back and analyzed their situation. In place of traditional full-scale exercises, San Jose drew on several existing prototypes to create a new "facilitated exercise" model that emphasized teaching over testing, and was much better received by first responders. For teaching flexibility, the case has been divided into three parts. Sequel 1 is a continuation of the main case study (1815.0) and is designed to be read in the middle of class. It describes the new facilitated exercise model in brief. Students could then be asked to assess the approach taken by San Jose. HKS Case Number 1815.1

This case study tells the story of San Jose, California, one of the first 27 cities in the country to participate in a federal domestic preparedness program. Between 1997 and 1999, a specially created city task force mounted several full-scale terrorist attack exercises, but-despite the best of intentions-found all of them frustrating, demoralizing, and divisive, creating ill will between the exercise planners and the first responders. In response, the San Jose task force took a step back and analyzed their situation. In place of traditional full-scale exercises, San Jose drew on several existing prototypes to create a new "facilitated exercise" model that emphasized teaching over testing, and was much better received by first responders. For teaching flexibility, the case has been divided into three parts. Sequel 2 is a continuation of both the main case study and Sequel 1(1815.0; 1815.1) and is designed as a "take away," to be given out at the end of class. It includes the reflections of the emergency service providers in San Jose about the facilitated exercise model. It would also be possible assign students to read all three parts before class, and to hold a retrospective discussion about how San Jose analyzed and responded to its problem. Funding provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. HKS Case Number 1816.1

In October 2003, a confluence in southern California of low humidity, dead vegetation, and Santa Ana winds created the conditions for a firestorm-multiple fires that burned for some two weeks, scorched hundreds of thousands of acres, destroyed thousands of buildings, and took 24 lives. One conflagration, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, became the largest in state history. While California boasts one of the best firefighting operations in the world, with exhaustive coordination across federal, state and local boundaries, this set of fires sent the system reeling. In the midst of operational chaos, highly placed elected officials in San Diego entered the fray with offers of military aircraft and helicopters to fight the fire-which the firefighters did not want. This case tells the story of what can happen when the operational imperative-to fight fires effectively but safely-collides with the political imperative to override established procedures as necessary to protect the public.

In early 2003, WestJet's management was reviewing its plans for growth, and specifically considering whether WestJet should move its eastern Canada base of operations from Hamilton's Munro airport to Toronto Pearson airport. WestJet had grown rapidly since its launch in 1996, and was now the second largest airline in Canada. WestJet had originally focused on Western Canada, but had entered eastern Canada in March of 2000, with an eastern base of operations in Hamilton, a secondary airport in the greater Toronto area. Pearson was Canada's largest domestic and international airport, the primary commercial airport for the greater Toronto area, and a hub of WestJet's largest competitor, Air Canada. Compared with Pearson, Hamilton was less congested and charged much lower fees. WestJet's operations had been closely modeled upon Southwest Airlines. The use of a secondary airport such as Hamilton as a base of operations was consistent with Southwest's low cost, high utilization features. With higher costs and longer turnaround times due to congestion, a base at Pearson was arguably not consistent with the Southwest business model, however, it was hard for WestJet to ignore the growth potential.

Lingo Media is a leading publisher of English language learning programs in China. But market share leadership hasn't come easily for the Canadian-based company, and doesn't equate with impressive sales or tangible profitability. Described is the company's learning journey in China and looks at the lessons learned on choosing the right alliance partner, tailoring products to unique local Chinese customers, and what unique resources are necessary to successfully do business in 21st century China.

The New Business Development unit is part of DSM, a Dutch globally operated chemical company. The unit looks for promising new ideas to develop into start-up businesses. Stamypor is a new project that the New Business Development unit is working on and the team leader of the project must decide if it should be developed into a start-up company. Students will apply their knowledge about new product development, new product evaluation, the stage-gate process, customer value, business models, and corporate venturing.

Stoned fruit has quality variations, reducing consumption. Five independent growers formed a cooperative to provide quality control and a brand name--Ripe 'N Ready--that enabled retailers to differentiate their stores and producers to differentiate the products they supplied. Consumer acceptance has been high. The issue is how to expand the concept without adversely affecting the original users of the product. Also, what new kinds of competition are they creating?

General Motors (GM) had a history of bold strategies in a wide variety of areas, including the creation of Saturn, the development of global operations and the formation of strategic alliances with Fiat, SAIC and Daewoo. Non-market strategies included pursuing government financial assistance, coping with new environmental regulations, and agreeing to very expensive health care and pension schemes. Meanwhile, GM had failed to create strategies to compete effectively with foreign automakers. By 2005, many of GM's strategic decisions seemed to have been inappropriate. Some that were undertaken for short-term gain had disastrous long-term consequences, and GM performed poorly compared with other global automakers. Many strategies had seemed disconnected, lacking an overall vision or purpose. While students may discuss each strategic decision and understand why GM acted as it did, nevertheless, students can see that the compendium of strategic decisions had moved GM into a serious crisis. In 2005-2006, GM introduced several new strategies. Whether these strategies could achieve sustainable profitability,or whether they would also bring undesirable consequences, was a subject of importance to employees, shareholders, and governments throughout the world.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Oikos Sustainability Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>CARE's Rural Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness Promotion project is a new, market-driven approach to development in Kenya. While the project has been successful from a development standpoint, it is not commercially viable. The sector manager must determine how to improve the project and make it commercially sustainable. Students will understand the advantages and opportunity for profit/non profit partnerships and social enterprise as complementary entities for social and economic development. PowerPoint slide presentation is available, product 5B05M056.

Illustrates efforts to increase student achievement through data-driven decision making in a large urban public school district. Demonstrates the challenges and results associated with how the district uses data at the central office to measure districtwide performance toward strategic goals and at the school building level to tailor instructional strategies based on a diagnosis of student needs.

The prestigious Augusta National Golf Club's secret membership is widely believed to exclude women. When feminist advocate Martha Burk receives a mysterious list of "members," she must decide how best to use this information in her efforts to crack the glass ceiling. Burk, of the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), battles Hootie Johnson, of the Augusta National Golf Club (ANGC). Both organizations make strategic use of the media to influence stakeholder groups, and each tries to put its own frame on the debate. The NCWO sees the issue as a statement by affiliated corporations of how (little) they value women, whereas the ANGC sees it as attack on a private club's right to freedom of association. The controversy brings up a host of issues that are important for corporations in dealing with NGOs, partnerships, and corporate values.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Describes the efforts of Volkswagen of America, the U.S. subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, to arrive at a process for setting IT funding priorities so that they align with business priorities and the company's overall strategy. The process is carefully thought out and executed, but still encounters difficulties. Demonstrates the details and difficulties of setting priorities for use of a scarce organizational resource. Provides opportunities to critique the company's efforts and to propose alternative approaches.

At the end of 2001, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Barclays Bank PLC were in advanced negotiations regarding the potential merger of their respective retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in the Caribbean. Some members of each board wondered whether this was the best direction to take. Would the combined company be able to deliver superior returns? Would it be possible to integrate, within budget, companies that had competed with each other in the region for decades? Would either firm be better off divesting regional operations instead? Should the two firms just continue to go-it-alone with emphasis on continual improvement? A decision needed to be made within the coming week. This case may be taught on a stand alone basis or in combination with any of the six additional Cross-Enterprise cases that deal with the various functional issues associated with the actual merger: Accounting and Finance - CIBC-Barclays: Accounting for Their Merger, product 9B04B022, Information Systems - Information Systems at FirstCaribbean: Choosing a Standard Operating Environment, product 9B04E032, Marketing and Branding - FirstCaribbean International Bank: The Marketing and Branding Challenges of a Start-up, product 9B05A012, Human Resources - Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean International Bank, product 9B04C053, Finance - FirstCaribbean Merger: The Proposed Merger, product 9B06N004, and technical note - Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.