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Jackie Taylor, an African American woman who founded a colorful theatre company, must decide whether to build a new theatre complex during an economic downturn, as construction costs rise, or wait it out. Debt is unappealing, but a new facility is essential to the company's future. Current plans mirror Taylor's aspirations for her company, and design changes will necessitate changes in strategy. Should Taylor simply focus on her brand of theatre and build accordingly, or push for a complex to develop new talent that will tell new Afro-centric stories? Will new stories appeal to an aging, but loyal audience? Perhaps Taylor should broaden storylines and focus to cater to younger, mainstream theatre-goers. Will they help pay for a new facility?

In the last decade, Noble Energy and the Delek Group have discovered almost 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, offshore of Israel. For Israel, this has been an extraordinary turnaround, from energy dependence on Arab producers to energy independence and exporter. For Prime Minister Netanyahu, this abundance poses a huge foreign-policy opportunity to lock in national relationships. For Noble, it poses significance operational challenges, funding issues, and long-term political risk.

Corporate sustainability has gone mainstream, and many companies have taken meaningful steps to improve their own environmental performance. But while corporate political actions such as lobbying can have a greater impact on environmental quality, they are ignored in most current sustainability metrics. It is time for these metrics to be expanded to critically assess firms based on the sustainability impacts of their public policy positions. To enable such assessments, firms must become as transparent about their corporate political responsibility (CPR) as their corporate social responsibility (CSR). For their part, rating systems must demand such information from firms and include evaluations of corporate political activity in their assessments of corporate environmental responsibility.

This case recounts Uber's experience in four cities at different points in time. This approach offers a way to examine Uber's strategy for market entry and evaluate the performance of that strategy in these four cities, as well as elsewhere in the world. The cases included here help frame the discussion on the future of Uber's expansion, and extract lessons for how a firm can successfully navigate the beyond-market business environment.

There is little doubt that China will be a significant power in the 21st century. The question is what kind of global actor will it be? This two-part case (presented in a single document) takes a comprehensive look at China's extraordinary rise in economic, military and diplomatic terms, and provides historical perspective on China's relationships with neighboring countries as well as the United States. Part B of the case immerses students in one of the most important geopolitical tests China faces today--its conflicts in the South China Sea--and includes commentary from experts on China's seemingly contradictory goals in the region.

The U.S. choice to go to war with Iraq, beginning in March 2003, was enormously consequential. This two-part case, developed for an HKS course called "Power Shifts: Understanding Global Change Through History," goes back in time to trace the evolution of American policy toward Iraq prior to 9/11, and the shift in thinking that led to war with Iraq during the administration of George W. Bush. The two parts of the case cover different parts of the chronology. While each could be used on its own, they are intended for use together. The (A) case, subtitled "The United States & Iraq, 1980 to 2002," briefly summarizes US policy toward Iraq after World War II, in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, and during the Persian Gulf War. It describes the frustrations inherent in the "aggressive containment" approach in the decade following. The case describes Bush Administration thinking about Iraq before 9/11, and the shift in thinking after that attack, including tensions within the Administration. The case ends in September 2002, with a tense battle between Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell over what President Bush should say about Iraq in his upcoming September 12 address to the United Nations. The (B) case, subtitled "The Road to War, September 2002 to March 2003," begins with the President's address to the UN, and continues with the Administration's efforts to persuade the U.S. Congress and the United Nations that Iraq was manufacturing WMD, the simultaneous pursuit of a diplomacy track while preparing for war, and negotiations with a critical U.S. ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The case ends with President George W. Bush's ultimatum to Saddam Hussein-that he and his sons leave Iraq within 48 hours, or face war with the United States. Case number 2130.0

Supplement to case KS1267. The U.S. choice to go to war with Iraq, beginning in March 2003, was enormously consequential. This two-part case, developed for an HKS course called "Power Shifts: Understanding Global Change Through History," goes back in time to trace the evolution of American policy toward Iraq prior to 9/11, and the shift in thinking that led to war with Iraq during the administration of George W. Bush. The two parts of the case cover different parts of the chronology. While each could be used on its own, they are intended for use together. The (A) case, subtitled "The United States & Iraq, 1980 to 2002," briefly summarizes US policy toward Iraq after World War II, in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, and during the Persian Gulf War. It describes the frustrations inherent in the "aggressive containment" approach in the decade following. The case describes Bush Administration thinking about Iraq before 9/11, and the shift in thinking after that attack, including tensions within the Administration. The case ends in September 2002, with a tense battle between Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell over what President Bush should say about Iraq in his upcoming September 12 address to the United Nations. The (B) case, subtitled "The Road to War, September 2002 to March 2003," begins with the President's address to the UN, and continues with the Administration's efforts to persuade the U.S. Congress and the United Nations that Iraq was manufacturing WMD, the simultaneous pursuit of a diplomacy track while preparing for war, and negotiations with a critical U.S. ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The case ends with President George W. Bush's ultimatum to Saddam Hussein-that he and his sons leave Iraq within 48 hours, or face war with the United States. Case number 2131.0

In April 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was again in Washington to petition Donald Trump. After years of rapid, export-led growth, Japan had slumped into recession in 1991 and never really recovered. For the past 27 years, it's economy has grown at 1.1% annually, plagued by deflation. After several attempts at quantitative easing, Abe had commenced a radical program in 2012 called Quantitative and Qualitative Easing - the first of "three arrows" to repair the Japanese economy. But in early 2018, inflation was still far below the 2% goal, growth had turned negative, and Abe faced the highest debt among the OECD. Together with demographic, energy and security problems, Abe had his hands full, while President Trump roiled the waters in China and North Korea.

After nearly four years of controversial reform that included layoffs, school closures and battles with the Washington Teachers' Union over tenure and seniority, Michelle Rhee resigned as Chancellor of DC Public Schools on October, 13, 2010 when Mayor Adrian Fenty lost the democratic primaries to challenger and critic of Rhee's style, city councilman Vincent Gray. Education reform had been the central focus of Mayor Fenty's ambitious administration when he hired Michelle Rhee. But now the nation's most provocative urban school reform effort was thwarted and the fate of DC schools, under newly appointed Kaya Henderson, was once again up in the air. Case number 2117.0

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sandy's massive size, coupled with an unusual combination of meteorological conditions, fueled an especially powerful and destructive storm surge, which caused unprecedented damage in and around New York City, the country's most populous metropolitan area, as well as on Long Island and along the Jersey Shore. This two-part case study focuses on how New York City prepared for the storm's arrival and then responded to the cascading series of emergencies - from fires, to flooding, to power failures - that played out as it bore down on the city. Profiling actions taken at the local level by emergency response agencies like the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), the case also explores how the city coordinated with state and federal partners - including both the state National Guard and federal military components - and illustrates both the advantages and complications of using military assets for domestic emergency response operations. Case number 2124.0

The SEKEM initiative, headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, was an unusual social enterprise by any standard. It produced organic products; provided health, education and arts programs to the local community; and-more broadly, sought to create a sustainable community that explicitly cultivated the human potential of its members. It reflected the vision of its charismatic founding director, Ibrahim Abouleish, who had run SEKEM with his son, Helmy Abouleish for more than 30 years. In 2017, SEKEM marked its 40th anniversary-a time for celebration, and also of transition for the initiative. Some of its challenges were typical of any organization at midlife. But for SEKEM, these were coupled with the loss of SEKEM's passionate leader, Ibrahim Abouleish, who died in the summer of 2017. In addition, SEKEM faced the challenges of operating in a country that had, in rapid succession, experienced a revolution, military coup, and economic collapse. The case details the history and evolution of this unusual social enterprise and tells of the dilemmas facing Helmy Abouleish and his leadership team at this critical juncture. Case number 2126.0

This case centers around the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) national goal of raising the happiness of its residents and visitors through ambitious government initiatives. They combined this bold national goal with an accountability structure (incentive plan) built on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), as more typically done at a company level. A key case protagonist is Ohood Al Roumi: the UAE and the world's first dedicated Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing. She was assigned to this role by Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Al Roumi attempted to drive national progress towards happiness in UAE society through several means: measuring happiness in the community and happiness with government services; aligning and coordinating government entities towards promoting happiness and positivity at work; and promoting happiness as a lifestyle more generally. The case details the UAE's progress through February 2018. The class discussion gives students a chance to reflect on the role of government in promoting happiness and wellbeing and how a government could go about encouraging happiness. The UAE in effect implemented a complex incentive scheme with the aim of coordinating attempts to increase happiness and wellbeing. The connection between the UAE's efforts and incentive schemes emerges in the course of the class discussion, which enables students to reflect on concrete managerial implications of the analysis.

In March 2012, a flagship vocational program in Punjab, Pakistan-the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF)-hit a roadblock. After months of planning, a pilot phase of training courses was launched in four of Punjab's poorest districts. The classes filled up, but the researchers in charge of evaluating PSDF's programs were worried. Earlier research indicated that a large portion of the target population-including a large number of women-were interested in vocational training. But, when it came time to enroll in the classes only a small fraction of the population showed up. The researchers wanted to find out why, before the program scaled up, but any delays in rolling out the program funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and the Punjab government would not bode well for PSDF. A unique public-private partnership, PSDF hoped to overhaul skills training in Pakistan by using an evidence-based, demand-driven approach. At the core of the model was a close partnership between researchers and practitioners. But embedding rigorous research in a development program did not in and of itself ensure success. Instead, with PSDF, the approach created serious tensions between policymakers and researchers, as administrative demands routinely flew in the face of applying evidence-based program design. Case number 2122.0

Supplement to case KS1261. In March 2012, a flagship vocational program in Punjab, Pakistan-the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF)-hit a roadblock. After months of planning, a pilot phase of training courses was launched in four of Punjab's poorest districts. The classes filled up, but the researchers in charge of evaluating PSDF's programs were worried. Earlier research indicated that a large portion of the target population-including a large number of women-were interested in vocational training. But, when it came time to enroll in the classes only a small fraction of the population showed up. The researchers wanted to find out why, before the program scaled up, but any delays in rolling out the program funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and the Punjab government would not bode well for PSDF. A unique public-private partnership, PSDF hoped to overhaul skills training in Pakistan by using an evidence-based, demand-driven approach. At the core of the model was a close partnership between researchers and practitioners. But embedding rigorous research in a development program did not in and of itself ensure success. Instead, with PSDF, the approach created serious tensions between policymakers and researchers, as administrative demands routinely flew in the face of applying evidence-based program design. Case number 2122.1