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The past decade has seen a wealth of research on decision making, yet business executives seem impervious to its lessons. The problem is not that they lack the desire to make better decisions. It's that the bulk of the research does not apply to the kind of decision that's most challenging for them. Decisions vary along two dimensions. The first considers whether the decision maker can influence the terms and the outcome. The second addresses whether the aim is to do well or to do better than others. Before making any decision, the most important thing is to understand what kind it is. Decision research has produced good advice for routine choices and judgments, such as personal investment decisions, where people are choosing among the products before them, have no ability to change them, and are not competing with anyone. For these decisions, research has shown, it's important to avoid common biases. But strategic decisions, such as entering a new market or acquiring another company, are completely different. Executives can actively influence outcomes. Furthermore, success means doing better than rivals. For these decisions, executives need more than an ability to avoid common biases. They require a talent for clear-eyed analysis and the ability to take bold action.

In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly-appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, was considering shutting down mines in South Africa for safety reasons, namely worker fatalities. No company had ever done so before. Carroll felt that operating a company whose goal was anything less than "zero harm" (meaning no fatalities or serious injuries) was unacceptable. As the first woman and non-South African to lead the century-old company, many were watching her closely. Should she go so far as to make the unprecedented move of shutting down the mines? What message would that send to the company and to the mining industry? The lives of others, Carroll's reputation, and the company's performance were all on the line.

When Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo American, ordered the shutdown of the company's Rustenburg, South Africa mines in the summer of 2007, it was just the first of many steps the company would take under her leadership to achieve zero harm. The case describes Carroll's approach to stakeholder relationships (i.e., relationships with the government and unions), how the shutdown was used as a platform to change the culture at Anglo American as a whole, the challenges of sustaining such an endeavor, and Carroll's reflections on her career and leadership. In 2013, Carroll stepped down as chief executive, but her tenure at Anglo American had reverberated through the company, South Africa, and the mining industry.

In a testament to the power of social media and the effect it can have on a business, the chief executive officer of a bank adopts the habit of taking to Twitter on a daily basis to promote his company's services. But when the bank's most recent ad campaign ignites a furor among TV audiences, Twitter quickly becomes a vehicle for crucifying the bank rather than promoting it. Within a week of the ad's air date, the bank is inundated with angry tweets, Facebook messages and media criticism. It becomes clear that the bank has made a mistake and will have to act quickly to decide on an appropriate response.

In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly-appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, ordered the temporary shutdown of Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg, South Africa mines in response to a spate of deaths at the operations. The case lays out Carroll's requirements of what had to be done before the Rustenburg mines could restart operations, including the implementation of a new safety program for tens of thousands of workers that called on the help of executives from other Anglo American businesses. The shutdown disrupted operations and incurred substantial costs.

This case explores issues faced by the corporate sustainability manager at the corporate headquarters of a large hotel group in a developing nation as she implements her company's corporate sustainability strategy through supplier partnerships with bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) social organizations. Under the rubric of responsible purchasing, the hotelier's "Creating Sustainable Livelihoods" initiative engaged cause-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by exploring opportunities where the products or services of such organizations could substitute for similar products or services sourced from for-profit suppliers. The case illustrates the challenges inherent in a BoP responsible purchasing strategy, including the delicate balance between meeting business objectives while supporting social causes.

Since 2008, FOTILE has actively introduced philosophies of the traditional Chinese culture - such as benevolence, justice, courtesy, wisdom and faith - into its management, which it believes to compensate for deficiencies in western management concepts and creates a new Chinese enterprise management model. FOTILE's attempts are controversial and evoke intense discussions and reflections. The core question for class discussion is whether its philosophy is sustainable and applicable to modern enterprises generally in China? How can one integrate the western management philosophy with traditional Oriental culture? Is it really possible? This case can be used in MBA, EDP, EMBA Organizational Behavior and Corporate Culture courses. It supports a 60-90-minute class discussion. The case describes how FOTILE developed its Confucian culture-based management model in a world of market competition. It first introduces the company's background, including its startup and development processes. It next describes the transformation of FOTILE's management model from western philosophy to one based on traditional Oriental concepts. It then shows how Confucianism is applied in FOTILE's management. In particular, it describes the applications of Confucianism in FOTILE's HR management and performance evaluation.

First-year Columbia Business School student Kristen Peters hoped her summer internship with Taylor Reed (TR) would lead to a job offer in private wealth management. Yet mid-way through the internship, Peters received poor feedback, with TR executives citing her low energy and disregard for the firm's rules by checking her phone during classroom time. Vowing to improve her image, Peters completed extra work and extended her networking efforts. By summer's end, Peters remained unsure whether a job offer would be forthcoming. In this case students examine Peters' performance and TR's culture before discussing strategies for building influence. This two-part case series asks students to identify Peter's goals, detect office politics, and discuss how she handles the company culture. It concludes that jobs often possess both meritocratic and political components.

First-year Columbia Business School student Kristen Peters hoped her summer internship with Taylor Reed (TR) would lead to a job offer in private wealth management. Yet mid-way through the internship, Peters received poor feedback, with TR executives citing her low energy and disregard for the firm's rules by checking her phone during classroom time. Vowing to improve her image, Peters completed extra work and extended her networking efforts. By summer's end, Peters remained unsure whether a job offer would be forthcoming. In this case students examine Peters' performance and TR's culture before discussing strategies for building influence. This two-part case series asks students to identify Peter's goals, detect office politics, and discuss how she handles the company culture. It concludes that jobs often possess both meritocratic and political components.

Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of the Greek yogurt company Chobani, Inc., was reflecting on what explained his young company's meteoric rise. The company held over half of the U.S. Greek yogurt market, and nearly 20% of the total yogurt market. The company's innovative approach to product design, sales, marketing, and communication had made its yogurt a hit with consumers, and its entrepreneurial and innovative culture made it popular with its employees. But by 2012, major food companies, such as General Mills and Groupe Danone among others, were beginning to aggressively promote their Greek yogurt. In addition, Chobani was rolling out innovative new products, and had to determine how to enter new markets. At the same time, Ulukaya was also focused on preserving the company's unique culture and approach to work as it grew.

Inc. Magazine's "coolest small company in America," Zingerman's Community of Businesses (ZCoB), is an exemplar positive organization known for its culture and award-winning food. This case covers the ZCoB's decision in 2013 to migrate toward broad-based employee ownership and the iterative, inclusive process by which Zingerman's Partners Group researched and crafted a new ownership design for the ZCoB. Should they use an ESOP, equity compensation, become a cooperative, or create their own model? As students learn about Zingerman's culture (e.g., its progressive views on sustainability, commitment to open book finance, decision-making by consensus) and evaluate which model might be the best match, they grapple with questions that are top-of-mind for the partners: Who will own the ZCoB, and how will it be run when the founders (who own 30-67% of each Zingerman's business) are no longer living? How can it foster a positive, thriving workforce that is the driving force behind a sustainable busi

"In November 2005 Fidelity Homestead, a savings bank in Louisiana, began noticing suspicious charges from Mexico and southern California on its customers' credit cards. More than a year later, an audit revealed peculiarities in the credit card data in the computer systems of TJX Companies, the parent company of more than 2,600 discount fashion and home accessories retail stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Justice Department, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that hackers had penetrated TJX's systems in mid-2005, accessing information that dated as far back as 2003. TJX had violated industry security standards by failing to update its in-store wireless networks and by storing credit card numbers and expiration dates without adequate encryption. When TJX announced the intrusion in January 2007, it admitted that hackers had compromised nearly 46 million debit and credit card numbers, the largest-ever data breach in the United States. "

This case addresses one over-arching problem - a broken career development system - and two concrete manifestations (symptoms) of the problem at CH2M HILL, an employee-owned engineering services firm. The first manifestation of the problem was unusually high voluntary turnover, at least by CH2M HILL's standards, among newer employees. The second was a lack of qualified internal candidates for top jobs. The voluntary turnover problem was the most immediate issue. Exit survey data and engagement survey data pointed to a lack of advancement opportunity as the main reason for high voluntary turnover among new employees. The second problem was less acute but still serious. Though CH2M HILL thought of itself as a career employer, fewer than 25 percent of top managers in early 2012 had been promoted from within. Internal candidates were not filling positions near the top and some top positions were vacant for months because the right person could not be found for the position, inside or outside the company. Both problems suggest the larger issue needs to be addressed -organizational careers need to be reinvented in the firm. Jan Walstrom, Chief Learning Officer, had been charged with rebuilding CH2M HILL's career development systems and processes. It fell to her to determine what steps she could take to solve the over-arching career development challenge while addressing the two concrete manifestations in the short run.

Mitch Daniels, Governor of the State of Indiana, knew he had to make a difficult choice as he sat in his office in December 2010. Should he aggressively push the state legislature to pass comprehensive education reform-a major priority of his administration-or, instead, push for a new "right-to-work" law that he believed might be critical to improving his state's competitiveness? He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to do both during his second term. He prided himself on being an action- and results-oriented governor. He prided himself on being able to work with both Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature. In the elections of fall 2010, the Republicans regained control of the Indiana House of Representatives. Passage of a right-to-work law was not a major part of their election platform because of the union opposition they thought it would generate. Quietly, however, Republicans did support a right-to-work law that was expected to attract more jobs to the state in a very difficult economic environment. Daniels had to weigh the political ramifications as he considered which initiative to pursue. He knew that despite his various accomplishments, this choice would likely impact his legacy as governor. As he weighed the decision, Daniels began to jot down notes about the tradeoffs relating to his various options.

Morning Star, a collection of affiliated companies, had grown steadily since 1970 when Chris Rufer, president and founder, started the business hauling tomatoes to processing plants in a truck. The company's main products continued to be tomato-based, including a 40% share in the tomato paste and diced tomato market in 2013. Different from traditional manufacturing companies, Morning Star relied on self-management to execute the work in any part of the organization. The company was built on individual freedom, with the expectation that employees would take responsibility for holding their peers accountable and address performance failures directly. The case explores how the company can establish a compensation model that fairly compensates employees for their performance and provides a broad incentive to hold others accountable, while being consistent with self-management. This case includes color exhibits.

In the spring of 2008, the recession had decimated the company's core business, construction equipment rental. The economic downturn resulted in a significant decrease in North American construction and industrial activities and had adversely affected the company's revenues and operating result. The stock of the company quickly fell from the mid-$30 range in late 2007 to $3 in March 2009. In addition, two of the company's former chief financial officers had been charged with securities fraud and other violations, by both the U.S. Attorney's office and the SEC. The Board was faced with the resignation of the founder and chairman, management succession issues, the failed merger with Cerberus, and the lawsuit in Delaware. The Board was responsible for overseeing the change in a number of senior management and board positions which became increasingly difficult due to the turmoil and poor performance of the company. Recruiting and retaining talent in senior management and the board was central to the success of the company, which relied on their people for strong performance. In addition the company's total indebtedness was approximately $3.3 billion, including $146 million of subordinated convertible debenture. The company's substantial indebtedness had the potential to have adverse consequences in a number of ways, including: increase their vulnerability to adverse economic, industry or competitive developments; require the company to devote a substantial portion of their cash flow to debt service, reduce the funds available for other purposes; limit their ability to obtain additional financing; and decrease their profitability or cash flow. And the company was still dealing with multiple purported class action and derivative lawsuits that had been filed against it. It was during this time the board started looking for candidates both for the CEO and Chairman positions.

Abridged version of one of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a complete integrated package. Explores five distinct jobs--store manager, district manager, regional vice-president, division senior vice-president, and president of the U.S. Stories business units--and, for each level, describes the key management tasks, planning, decision-making, and leadership processes and critical choices that lead to superior execution and operational performance. Provides background information on Staples' organization and strategy.