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The case describes the circumstances surrounding the introduction of www.google.cn. In order to comply with Chinese government requirements, google.cn censors web results. This appears to contradict Google’s stated philosophy and its mission to organize and make accessible the world’s information. A public outcry ensues and Google is forced to defend its controversial decision. The case presents both sides of the debate and asks students to consider what they feel is right.

Lulu.com is an e-commerce company that distributes content for book authors, video producers, calendar designers and other intellectual property creators that can be captured in digital formats. At this time, Lulu.com has developed a successful niche market in print-on-demand books within the United States. However, the vision of its founder is much larger. The president is faced with the strategic dilemma of whether to expand Lulu.com's product offerings or to focus on internal operations for the next six to 12 months.

The Canadian firearms program initially was established to set up a shared database. However, increasing costs of the firearms program is a concern for a number of Canadians. Should the federal government continue with the program, de-escalate or cancel the program. The case requires students to simultaneously evaluate the issues of the database design, software outsourcing, IS project management and change management. It can also be used to cover cost analysis, and political influences in decision-making.

The KL Worldwide Enterprises Inc. case provides a rich context within which to explore the information technology (IT) issues that confront a global enterprise engaged in the manufacture, sales, and distribution of durable goods. The primary purpose is to give students a real-world, hands-on simulation of an IT systems development process that spans the entire lifecycle of an IT project from initial project scoping and justification through acceptance testing and deployment. The KL case emphasizes the design and delivery of enterprise resource planning, supply-chain management, decision support system, and e-commerce solutions for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. The case leads the reader into a consideration of the many opportunities to improve KL's performance through the better design and integration of IT-enabled processes and services, including designing a new e-commerce or DSS capability and reengineering KL's supply-chain and product design practices.

Use of streaming media; audio and video content delivered over an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network, was not as ubiquitous as e-mail, but was rapidly increasing. Workplace usage of streaming media hit 22 million users in October and November of 2001, increasing 11.3 per cent over the same period in the previous year. The users of streaming media were diverse. Enterprises used audio and video to jazz up their public-facing websites to improve the quality of on-line customer service, and to cut the costs of running a parallel closed-circuit television network for corporate communications and distance learning. Media and entertainment companies were aggressively pursuing the Internet as a distribution channel for movie trailers, and as an advertising channel to spur CD and DVD sales, and as a new revenue stream with pay-per-view delivery of entire films directly to a user's computer. Despite the best efforts of technology and service providers, TN-quality streaming, and the business models that depended on it, streaming media still faced several hurdles. This technical note provides a high-level background on the challenges involved in delivering audio and video content over the Internet in 2001. It then gives an overview of various technical solutions that have been developed to address those challenges. It concludes with a discussion of the six critical areas that organizations must consider if they plan to include audio and video components in their business applications. This is a supplement to Mercedes-Benz USA: Investing in IT Infrastructure, product 9B06E003.

The national manager for technical training at Mercedes-Benz USA, is considering using streaming media and distance learning as a supplement to class-room based education, but is concerned that this innovative and risky IT investment could have a negative affect on the company's quality reputation. He needs to evaluate the viability of the e-learning option, including selecting between two vendors, Microsoft and Real Networks. This case provides students with an opportunity to develop a methodology based on capital budgeting analysis for evaluating and executing IT investments. The case is particularly valuable for helping students to consider the risks related to the execution of IT investments, even when an investment has a high ROI. Supplement material, Implications of Streaming Media: A Technical Note, product 9B06E002 is available.

Accenture has long been seen as a leader in knowledge management, having received awards for many years. Over the years though, islands of knowledge have developed throughout the organization and the delivery infrastructure has become progressively more expensive. In 2004, the global knowledge management lead has been given the mandate to lead a revitalization of knowledge management. This case outlines governance challenges in the global firm, the transition to a new IT infrastructure and the strategic challenges and opportunities facing knowledge management within Accenture.

A doctor is preparing for an upcoming meeting of the Ontario Drug Quality and Therapeutics committee. At this meeting the committee would need to make a decision about adding six new drugs to the Ontario formulary. The doctor needed to review the clinical and economic evidence on each drug in order to take a position on each at the meeting. The case introduces students to the concept of formularies and presents six representative cases for class discussion.

The newly hired head of Strategic Resources Planning and Management at Royal Bank of Canada Investments (RBCI) must develop a dashboard mechanism for strategically assessing and managing RBCI's non-interest expenses, excluding brokerage fees associated with providing value-added service to clients. After a week of analysis, two things became apparent; first, the four major business units within RBCI were operating independently, neither collaborating on projects nor sharing information. Second, most of the non-interest expenses spent was related to information technology projects. Consider that RBCI was spending nearly $700,000 per day on service delivery, the senior management team was extremely eager to see what the head of Strategic Resources Planning and Management would propose. This case presents information technology portfolio management challenges facing large organizations, and challenges students to develop performance metrics that will be useful at the most senior levels of the organization.

R.J. Thompson Data Systems sells, implements and maintains management information systems. The president of the company receives a call from a potential client to demonstrate a system that they had rejected earlier. The company would benefit from a large sale, however, the president reflects on the experience from the last presentation to this company; R.J. Thompson Data Systems spent considerable time preparing the presentation, only to be treated poorly and to have the offer rejected. He must decide if he should rally the team again.

Schering Plough is a large pharmaceutical company with over 22,000 employees worldwide, and over $6.8 billion in sales worldwide. The company is considering two options to replace its flagship drug, Claritin (an antihistamine), as Claritin's patent is soon to expire. One drug is targeted toward nasal congestion, the other towards asthma; however, each drug is at a different stage in the development process, one has greater market potential but was still in its early development stage, the other drug could be launched within the year but would appeal to a much smaller market. The company must decide which drug to pursue or whether to focus on both drugs or neither. The case allows students to do a traditional NPV analysis and decision analysis and the use of simulation.

The general manager of BookMart, a major online book, movie and CD store was struggling to manage a serious breach of the company's information systems, which jeopardized both the company's reputation and its ability to provide service to its customers. He must develop an immediate plan to address the security breach internally; how to communicate the situation to customers and the media and develop a long term plan that will minimize the risk against possible future attacks. The supplement A Hacker Attack: An e-Commerce Nightmare, product 9B05E003 looks at the general manager's short and long term plans.

BookMart has a breach in the company's information systems. In this supplement to A Hacker Attack: An e-Commerce Nightmare, product 9B05E002, the general manager has to develop immediate and long term plans to deal with the situation.

Two managers discuss issues related to radio frequency identification (RFID) trends and adoption, including how the technology works and how it might be used. The purpose of the note is to engage a class in a discussion regarding the way in which managers look at new technologies, RFID being one example.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Barclays Bank PLC were in advanced negotiations regarding the potential merger of their respective retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in the Caribbean. Currently there are four systems in operation in the region. All are carry-overs from the pre-merger operation of the bank. Each of the systems has different pros and cons consisting of degree of fit with the organization strategy, likely impact on organizational culture, and functionality. As part of the effort to standardize practices across the organization, a choice for one standard operating system must be made. This case may be taught on a stand alone basis or in combination with any of four additional cases that deal with various functional issues regarding the actual merger and integration. The four additional cases deal are: CIBC-Barclays: Should Their Caribbean Operations be Merged?, product 9B04M067; Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean Bank, product 9B04C053; CIBC-Barclays: Accounting for Their Merger, product 9B04B022 and Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.

Kathryn Everest, the knowledge management consultant for IBM Canada Ltd.’s business consulting service, was preparing for a meeting with the province of Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Education. The purpose of the meeting was to secure top-level support for an early-stage knowledge management program at the ministry. For the past few weeks she had conducted an initial study of ministry needs and believed that the organization could benefit from one or more knowledge management solutions, including document management, communities of practice, and an expert directory. Everest wondered how she should approach the meeting, given that there seemed to be internal ministry concerns about knowledge-sharing. As she reviewed her notes, she wanted to know which solution(s) she should recommend and what implementation challenges she could expect to face.

The vice-president - RBC Banking business & information solutions must develop an implementation plan for the bank's new paperless transaction system. The new system will reduce costs in proof processing and will facilitate the role of the customer service representatives, allowing the CSRs to shift from transactional to sales oriented roles. The system must be implemented across the company within 12 months. Challenges concerning the timing of installation, sequence of rollout, scope management and prioritization must be addressed.

Domglas Inc. must estimate the potential demand for ready-to-eat soup packaged in glass jars for the convenience of microwave-oven owners. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A80E002.)

The chief executive officer of Brent-Harbridge Developments had just received confirmation of several upcoming property auctions. Brent-Harbridge Developments was currently asset short after some successful recent disposals, which made the CEO keenly interested in three of the properties being auctioned. She needed to prepare a bidding strategy in order to try to acquire at least one or perhaps more of the development properties being auctioned. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E042.)

Management at PCB Manufacturing, Inc. was concerned that a significant number of faulty printed circuit boards were reaching their customers. Should the testing system be changed so that the number of bad boards being shipped decreases? (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E043.)