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Amway is a large manufacturer of household products that uses the direct selling approach. The company was established in the late 1940s and over the years, still using direct selling, branched into the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan. With this global success it expanded further, into the Chinese market. However, the company must look at its strategy after the Chinese government implements regulations on the direct marketing business model. The supplement Amway in China (B): Adopting to a Changing Environment, product 9B04M036, looks at how the company responds to the changing social and political environment.

The Chinese government has placed a ban on direct marketing. With direct marketing being the primary marketing method the company uses, it must respond to the changing social and political environment. This is a supplement to Amway in China (A): A New Business Model, product 9B04M035.

Originally a chemical company with its focus on agriculture, American Cyanamid has expanded into three other industry segments: medical, chemical and consumer products. The executive vice-president for agriculture must decide what to do with the floundering chemical division. The supplement Cytec Industries, Inc., product 9B04M007 looks at the progress of the chemical division.

An entrepreneur comes up with a great idea for a new business that would service what he calls the time-starved segment. Using Wal-Mart as the warehouse, eBay as his storefront and the U.S. Postal Service as the distributor, he would pick-up and deliver products to businesses, conserving staff resources. He must think of as many opportunities as possible and determine any barriers that may occur. The purpose of the case is to get students to generate ideas. Students will be quick to criticize and analyze the ideas presented, but few will focus on presenting new ideas.

GigaNet, Inc. describes the effort of a 20 year computer industry veteran to transform a small telecommunications engineering firm into a viable networking technology company. Faced with an uphill battle to convince venture capitalists to invest in the company after the founders decided to seek funding from third tier venture firms, he finally wins $30 million in new investment from a consortium of high quality investors. Before the deal is finalized however, he receives an offer to buy the company from a larger rival. He now must choose between accepting the $30 million and launching an IPO in 18 months and selling the company.

Describes the evolution of the American Medical Association from its origin in 1847 to 1997, when two-thirds of physicians chose not to join the association.

Today, roughly 30 countries are classified as "emerging markets" by the World Bank. Investor interest in these markets has grown substantially over time. During the first half of the 1990s, privatization and economic liberalization that took place across emerging market countries substantially enlarged the set of emerging market securities available to foreign investors and thereby provided a strong and decisive impulse for portfolio investments in emerging markets. The purpose of this technical note is to describe some key characteristics of emerging capital markets and compare them with those of developed and less-developed or frontier markets. This technical note is the first of three notes on emerging markets. See also UVA-F-1454 and UVA-F-1455.

The board of the European Middle and High School is engaged in a negotiation with an investment bank to lease a building that it needs in order to expand the size of the school. The negotiator for the investment bank has made a tough offer to the School which is under pressure to accept it. At the moment of the decision, the board discovers it will have to make additional investments in the property. Should it go ahead and accept the deal? What are the financial and business considerations? Is the negotiator for the investment bank right to try to extract the best deal for his company?

CEO Herb Baum thinks R&D is not the same as innovation, and he thinks innovation should be everyone's business at Dial.

Kalista's Fine Chocolate is a home-base business that produces high-quality chocolate products. The company has been very successful and had purchased a kiosk at local mall to accommodate the increase in business, but the demand for Kalista's products is still growing and the owners must decide whether to move into a larger space or continue working out of their home.

MapQuest is a leading provider of mapping services and destination information as well as a publisher of maps, atlases and other guides. On the Internet, they provide these products and services both to consumers directly and to other businesses enabling these businesses to provide location, mapping and destination information to their own customers. The company completed a successful initial public offering five years ago and were in a strong competitive position. However, the markets were allowing competitors to quickly get funding in both private and public deals. As well, there were perceptions that a general stock market bubble existed for technology companies. The chief executive officer had several options available, and wanted to consider those options and present a recommendation to the board. Possible options included splitting the firm's old and new-line business units, raising capital to fund an acquisition strategy, forging a set of alliances, focusing on organic growth, and pursuing the sale of the firm.

A new biotechnology firm, Pharma Technologies, has developed a competing method for the treatment of erectile dysfunction which promises significant advantages over Pfizer's blockbuster drug, Viagra. With deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies also pursuing product development efforts, the president of Pharma Technologies is charged with deciding how to leverage his company's superior proprietary technology into a viable product before the window of opportunity closes. Students can explore the trade-offs is pursuing internal versus external development of new technology, the strategic implications of in-licensing and out-licensing, and the criteria used in identifying potential alliance partners to expedite the commercialization of new technology.

The new senior vice president of marketing at Vista-Sci Health Care Inc. must decide which of two very strong yet very different candidates he should promote to the position from which he has just been promoted. Both candidates have demonstrated strengths and weaknesses in their current jobs; the question is whether or not these competencies and other personal characteristics make them a good fit for the new role.

Set in India in the 1980s and 1990s, this series of cases concerns the attempts by the Unilever division Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) to create, market, and distribute a detergent for India's rural poor. The upstart, low-priced Nirma detergent, manufactured by a former chemist, has overtaken HLL in the detergent market primarily because Nirma is being distributed and sold to this previously ignored segment of India's population. In this war of laundry powders, HLL must revise its traditional practices in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution pursuant to C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond's theory of the worldwide four-tiered market, in which the "bottom of the pyramid" is an untapped and potentially lucrative market. See also UV5263, UV4263, and UV5266.

Set in India in the 1980s and 1990s, this series of cases concerns the attempts by the Unilever division Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) to create, market, and distribute a detergent for India's rural poor. The upstart, low-priced Nirma detergent, manufactured by a former chemist, has overtaken HLL in the detergent market primarily because Nirma is being distributed and sold to this previously ignored segment of India's population. In this war of laundry powders, HLL must revise its traditional practices in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution pursuant to C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond's theory of the worldwide four-tiered market, in which the "bottom of the pyramid" is an untapped and potentially lucrative market. See also UV5263, UV1972, and UV5266.

Set in India in the 1980s and 1990s, this series of cases concerns the attempts by the Unilever division Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) to create, market, and distribute a detergent for India's rural poor. The upstart, low-priced Nirma detergent, manufactured by a former chemist, has overtaken HLL in the detergent market primarily because Nirma is being distributed and sold to this previously ignored market segment. In this war of laundry powders, HLL must revise its traditional practices in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution pursuant to C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond's theory of the worldwide four-tiered market, in which the "bottom of the pyramid" is an untapped and potentially lucrative market. See also the B (UV1972), C (UV4263), and D (UV5266) cases.

Set in India in the 1980s and 1990s, this series of cases concerns the attempts by the Unilever division Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) to create, market, and distribute a detergent for India's rural poor. The upstart, low-priced Nirma detergent, manufactured by a former chemist, has overtaken HLL in the detergent market primarily because Nirma is being distributed and sold to this previously ignored segment of India's population. In this war of laundry powders, HLL must revise its traditional practices in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution pursuant to C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond's theory of the worldwide four-tiered market, in which the "bottom of the pyramid" is an untapped and potentially lucrative market. See also UV5263, UV1972, and UV4263.

Supplements the (A) case.

In the late afternoon of a hot day in July, 2001, an accident beneath the streets of Baltimore threatened to turn into a disaster. A freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire inside a tunnel that ran beneath one of the city's main streets. Not only did the tunnel accident block the major north-south train route for the eastern United States, it also released clouds of possibly toxic vapors into downtown streets. Incredibly, the first accident was followed by a second one-a break in a major water main, in exactly the same area, into which cascaded hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. It was a combination which a city official would call "everyone's worst nightmare." This case describes-blow-by-blow and meeting-by-meeting-the public emergency response to the tunnel fire and its aftermath. It details how a dozen different jurisdictions-including city, state and federal agencies-had to find ways to coordinate their response in the absence of established procedures for dealing with a situation which had never been specifically contemplated. Among the themes explored in this crisis management case is the role of the local chief executive (Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley), the conflicts and cooperation amongst agencies (including and especially fire and public works), and, more broadly, the question of how a series of crucial tactical decisions must be made in the absence of complete information (such as the level of toxic hazard). HKS Case Number 1767.0.

In the late afternoon of a hot day in July, 2001, an accident beneath the streets of Baltimore threatened to turn into a disaster. A freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire inside a tunnel that ran beneath one of the city's main streets. Not only did the tunnel accident block the major north-south train route for the eastern United States, it also released clouds of possibly toxic vapors into downtown streets. Incredibly, the first accident was followed by a second one-a break in a major water main, in exactly the same area, into which cascaded hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. It was a combination which a city official would call "everyone's worst nightmare." This case describes-blow-by-blow and meeting-by-meeting-the public emergency response to the tunnel fire and its aftermath. It details how a dozen different jurisdictions-including city, state and federal agencies-had to find ways to coordinate their response in the absence of established procedures for dealing with a situation which had never been specifically contemplated. Among the themes explored in this crisis management case is the role of the local chief executive (Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley), the conflicts and cooperation amongst agencies (including and especially fire and public works), and, more broadly, the question of how a series of crucial tactical decisions must be made in the absence of complete information (such as the level of toxic hazard). HKS Case Number 1768.0