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Canada's rate of organ and tissue donation was one of the lowest in the industrial world. The issue had come to the forefront in Ottawa and now each provincial government had to find a way to increase the donor rate. Students should develop an integrated marketing communications plan to boost awareness within Ontario.

The new program director at an indoor soccer facility must rethink his marketing strategy if the company is to break even. This case is suitable for an introductory marketing class.

Alpha Gearing Systems Shanghai Co., Ltd. (Alpha Shanghai), a joint-venture between Alpha Gearing Systems of Illinois, USA (a large producer of gearing products), and Kai Li Machine Systems (one of China's largest manufacturers of gearing systems for mopeds and motorcycles), had invested several millions of dollars in tooling in the hope of winning a major contract. The general manager of Alpha Shanghai had made the decision that the next round of negotiations would either significantly advance, or sever, the relationship between Alpha Shanghai and San Yu Mopeds, a large Chinese moped producer, and a customer which Alpha Shanghai had hoped would become one of its largest. The case decision revolves around Alpha Shanghai's senior management perspectives, strategy and assumptions which affected the negotiating process, and specifically how their communication patterns were affected by their experience and culture.

The management team must determine how to get the buy-in of the majority of its employees to ensure the success of the SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) project. The implementation of SAP would cause enterprise-wide change, replacing the current sales and distribution, human resources, finance/IS and materials management legacy systems. It would radically redefine how people, processes and technology would come together to drive the company's strategy.

The new general manager at a real estate organization needs to devise several action plans to resolve areas in need of change. After spending only one month on the job, she concluded that some changes were badly needed; however, she also knew that initiating any changes would prove to be a considerable challenge. Therefore, she needed to devise these plans while maintaining positive relations with the employees.

The founder and CEO of Medisys Health Group Inc., a corporate health care services provider, has decided the company needs a web presence. The vice president of operations, has been tasked with carrying out this idea. In order to do so, she must determine the company's needs with respect to a web site, set achievable, measurable performance objectives, and otherwise see to the implementation and administration of the site. She faces two main challenges: obtaining the necessary information, and creating consensus in the organization. The case forces readers to consider the role of the Internet in a service organization's marketing strategy, and the possible impediments which need to be overcome in order to be successful.

An employee has completed nearly one year in her first full time job and faces a decision about a pay increase offered by her headquarters office. A native of North America working in Hong Kong for an Italian fashion house, she unexpectedly assumed responsibilities well beyond her original contract. In addition, both cost of living and inflation in Hong Kong have exceeded her projections. She is concerned that the raise is insufficient for the circumstances and is wondering what to do. (A sequel to this case is available, titled Maria Mancini - Expatriate Compensation (B), case 9A98G008.)

Because of several factors, the employee decided that the raise offered by her company's director of operations was inadequate (see Maria Mancini - Expatriate Compensation (A), case 9A98G007). She had not had an answer to her carefully worded fax, nor to subsequent calls made by her from Hong Kong. Advised by the director's assistant to contact the Human Resources Director, she met personally with him while she was in Italy two weeks later. He surprised her by readily agreeing to her request for a larger raise, but despite this, she had received neither the confirmation letter nor the pay increase. Her work visa renewal requiring a formal contract was due soon and she was concerned about what to do.

A senior product manager at Abbott Laboratories Limited (Abbott) must develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to launch Abbott's ground-breaking drug, Norvir, into the Canadian market. Norvir has recently been launched in the U.S. and was used to treat patients with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). With fewer than six months before the scheduled Canadian launch date, he must make a number of decisions concerning product positioning, sales representation and promotion.

The owners of the company were concerned with the rapid rate of growth facing their company. The company had revenues of $6.3 million and employed 30 highly skilled workers. These numbers were expected to double or triple in the next couple of years. To determine how well the company was structured to achieve its future goals, they hired a consultant he had worked with successfully in the past. The consultant's major role was to make recommendations as to the appropriate organizational design (culture, people, layers of management and administrative systems) in the event that the company grew from 30 to 60 or even 120 employees. Among other issues, questions regarding compensation were surfacing, and the owners wanted to address these questions as soon as possible.

A small team of Canadian managers from a large financial institution is faced with the challenges of managing a recently acquired Mexican operation. Managers must cope with a language barrier and cultural differences as they try to restructure the over-staffed Mexican financial institution. A second teaching note (5A97L01) discusses how to use this case from a cross-cultural orientation perspective.

The president of Image Processing Systems has plans to expand but is facing the challenge of obtaining financing. After considering and rejecting the use of venture capital, he is actively considering a proposal put forward by McDermid, St. Lawrence, Chisholm; a mid-sized Canadian investment company. The proposal involves a private placement of equity followed by an IPO.

Members of TD's Personal Financial Services Division's marketing research team, were preparing their presentation to a group of the bank's senior vice-presidents. They had worked for three years developing and testing the Customer Service Index, the bank's first tangible tool to measure service quality. They now had to get the senior vice-presidents to ensure the successful adoption and use of this instrument. How could they convince their audience to accept and promote this new method of service measurement? The case is followed by a supplement case bearing the same name, case 9A93D010, set one year later.

Senior management of Hydro-Quebec were faced with the problem of how to avoid the possible cancellation of its multibillion dollar hydroelectric development project due to highly publicized opposition from aboriginal rights groups and environmental activists. This opposition was jeopardizing a major export contract by the New York Power Authority. Hydro-Quebec's financial performance, in particular its ability to continue servicing its large U.S.-denominated debt, was an important factor in the economic health and potential sovereignty of the Province of Quebec. The focus on stakeholder analysis is an excellent review of the complexity of decision-making in a highly volatile setting.

The manager and owner of The Pool Doctor, is in the process of formulating a marketing strategy for the coming year. Many strategic issues remain unresolved, such as how to advertise, whether he needs to change suppliers, and deciding upon a basic product mix to achieve maximum profits and long-term success.

Tetra Pak Inc.'s Environmental Steering Committee members review the company's communications campaign during the previous fall and must decide what changes Tetra Pak should make to make the campaign even more effective. Tetra Pak is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiss-based Tetra Pak Rausing SA. For a long time, the parent company had felt no need to actively pursue the possibility of recycling its drink boxes, mainly due to the fact that incineration for energy recovery was a widely accepted method of solid waste disposal in Europe. However, operating in Canada, Tetra Pak felt strong pressures to respond to environmental concerns over incineration and landfill site capacity problems.

The vice-president, corporate and public affairs, at an insurance company has to prepare the next year's internal communications program at a time when the company is undergoing a revolution - an effort to improve service and profits through a radical organizational and cultural change. The small communications department has played a key role and tried new methods in the company's move toward empowerment and increased accountability. At this point, creating a communications strategy on a limited budget means choosing among priorities, but a recent survey of employee attitudes has provided some input into needs.

The president and the general manager have to make some quick decisions about how to deal with the media after an advertisement has offended the black community and caused angry complaints of racism. The company also wants to develop plans to avoid similar problems in the future.

A division manager for a chain of medical and research centres must deal with allegations of misappropriated funds. The chain has recently undergone an organizational restructuring, a fact which tends to muddy the issue. Case analysts address ethical and public relations considerations, in light of the fact that one of the key players has threatened legal action against the corporation.

The general manager of a division of an international cosmetic company must decide hoe to deal with a lack of response to a memo. The general manager wrote to the vice-president of operations to elicit some response from Operations that would lead to better communication between marketing and operations. It is now only three days until the next meeting between operations and marketing and the vice-president has made no response to the general manager's memo.