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Commerce Bank has become one of the fastest growing banks in the country, despite having defied conventional wisdom about how to grow deposits. Banks historically have grown either by competing on deposit rates or through acquisitions that expand their deposit base. Commerce has the lowest deposit rates in each of the local markets it serves and has acquired no other banks, yet its growth rate is unparalleled. Its secret? Commerce differentiates itself on service. Explores the highly refined service model that guides the design of its operations and service features and considers the trade-offs involved in competing on service.

Surfing on cross of multiple consumer trends, Résonances was launched in 2000 as a life-styled retail chain selling authentic/traditional household items. Early 2002, the six stores are still unprofitable. A new owner-manager takes over and gives himself 18 months to turn the company around and instill more "magics" in the stores.

Zaplet faces internal challenges following the dramatic change in the economy and the resulting market demand for its product.

Sheldon Bloomfield, senior vice-president of character properties for Multi-Media Worldwide, has a hit with Baby Ruby. Originally a children's book character, Ruby has become the fastest growing kids' show on television. In fact, Bloomfield's starting to wonder whether Baby Ruby is his evergreen property--the one that will generate licensing income for years to come. Bloomfield has many offers on the table, including one from the nation's leading fast-food franchiser to make Baby Ruby its next kids' meal tie-in. But the fact is, no one wants to risk making a big financial commitment to a relatively new property, and most of the companies are demanding exclusives--which would eat away at Bloomfield's profits even more. The pressure is on. If Bloomfield doesn't make these deals, he may not get another chance. But if he does make the deals, and Baby Ruby ends up on everything from T-shirts to collectible spoons, the public may lose all interest in her. In R0212A and R0212Z, commentators Grant McCracken, a visiting scholar at McGill University and the author of Culture and Consumption; Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises; Timothy Rothwell, a senior vice-president of Universal Studios Consumer Products Group; and Bill Griffith, creator of the comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, offer their advice in this fictional case study.

Sheldon Bloomfield, senior vice-president of character properties for Multi-Media Worldwide, has a hit with Baby Ruby. Originally a children's book character, Ruby has become the fastest growing kids' show on television. In fact, Bloomfield's starting to wonder whether Baby Ruby is his evergreen property--the one that will generate licensing income for years to come. Bloomfield has many offers on the table, including one from the nation's leading fast-food franchiser to make Baby Ruby its next kids' meal tie-in. But the fact is, no one wants to risk making a big financial commitment to a relatively new property, and most of the companies are demanding exclusives--which would eat away at Bloomfield's profits even more. The pressure is on. If Bloomfield doesn't make these deals, he may not get another chance. But if he does make the deals, and Baby Ruby ends up on everything from T-shirts to collectible spoons, the public may lose all interest in her. In R0212A and R0212Z, commentators Grant McCracken, a visiting scholar at McGill University and the author of Culture and Consumption; Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises; Timothy Rothwell, a senior vice-president of Universal Studios Consumer Products Group; and Bill Griffith, creator of the comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, offer their advice on this fictional case study.

Sheldon Bloomfield, senior vice-president of character properties for Multi-Media Worldwide, has a hit with Baby Ruby. Originally a children's book character, Ruby has become the fastest growing kids' show on television. In fact, Bloomfield's starting to wonder whether Baby Ruby is his evergreen property--the one that will generate licensing income for years to come. Bloomfield has many offers on the table, including one from the nation's leading fast-food franchiser to make Baby Ruby its next kids' meal tie-in. But the fact is, no one wants to risk making a big financial commitment to a relatively new property, and most of the companies are demanding exclusives--which would eat away at Bloomfield's profits even more. The pressure is on. If Bloomfield doesn't make these deals, he may not get another chance. But if he does make the deals, and Baby Ruby ends up on everything from T-shirts to collectible spoons, the public may lose all interest in her. In R0212A and R0212Z, commentators Grant McCracken, a visiting scholar at McGill University and the author of Culture and Consumption; Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises; Timothy Rothwell, a senior vice-president of Universal Studios Consumer Products Group; and Bill Griffith, creator of the comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, offer their advice on this fictional case study.

The marketing manager for a hockey team has been told by senior management that revenues for the next season must increase or the franchise will be sold. The previous year's high-budget advertising campaign did not bring in the single-ticket sales results he expected. A database of past ticket holders is available and the question arises how to use this database. Using pivot tables, and recency, frequency and monetary value analyses, he must determine how to increase the return on the marketing investment. An Excel spreadsheet, product 702A22, is also available.

The new director of logistics at Holt Renfrew, a high-end retailer of men's and women's fashions, has been asked to prepare a detailed plan for dealing with the company's $40 million warehoused inventory and its chronic stock-out problems. Given the opportunity to prove how logistics can benefit the company's profit margin, the director prepares a three-fold strategy: improve the physical layout and process flow in the distribution center, upgrade the distribution systems and business processes, and re-allocate human resources. His challenge is augmented by the need to receive merchandise from international suppliers and distribute it quickly to compete in the fast-paced fashion industry.

Air New Zealand is a national airline faced with a number of important strategic and financial issues. The company's recent acquisition of Ansett Australia had proved to be disastrous and a severe financial drain for Air New Zealand. Key issues facing Air New Zealand include the long-term strategic positioning of the business, and determining anticipated financing needs, the appropriate gearing ratio or capitalization (debt-to-equity) rate, and available sources of financing. A recent research report had summarized two fundamental questions that impacted on the company's stock price and needed to be addressed: Would the New Zealand government relax Air New Zealand's ownership restrictions in order to allow Singapore Airlines to increase its stake from 25 per cent to 49 per cent? If so, would any proposal fix Air New Zealand's balance sheet to allow Air New Zealand and Ansett to once again become viable airline competitors? Supplement to this case is Air New Zealand: The Recapitalization Decision (B), product number 902N20. .

Jack Perkowski established Asian Strategic Investment Corp. (ASIMCO) in February 1994. ASIMCO became one of the largest components organizations serving the Chinese motor vehicle industry. This case shows the process of human capital development at ASIMCO. Describes ASIMCO's management restructuring efforts, its management development strategy, and its system of fast-tracking leaders through the leadership development program. Instead of transplanting Western management models into China, ASIMCO strongly believed in creating a centralized, top-down management model that could be adapted to China's unique environment.

Toybox is the visual effects division of Command Post, Canada's largest full-service, postproduction company and industry leader in technical and creative services for film, television, video, and digital audio productions. Toybox's visual special effects manager believes that future growth requires an improved information system for managing digital projects. For example, during recent production work on a feature film, difficulties in workload, signoffs, and rework reached an unsustainable level. The visual special effects manager must choose between an off-the-shelf product and a custom, in-house solution. However, his decision is complicated by the creative work environment and the number of systems to which the new system must be integrated.

Monsanto is the biotechnology leader in agriculture. How does it use its leadership in Round Up to fund long-term research and development in biotechnology that is acceptable to the priority system of consumers in different parts of the world? Includes color exhibits.

Martha McCaskey, a project leader at a consulting firm, is asked to complete a project at a crucial point in her career. Successful completion of the project would gain McCaskey a promotion and a significant raise. McCaskey, however, cannot see a way to complete the project without compromising her values. She must decide whether to maintain the high degree of integrity that has always characterized her work or to compromise and "play the game."

Launched in 1998, Russian Standard vodka quickly became the highest selling premium vodka in Russia, ahead of Stoli, Smirnoff, and Absolut. Russian Standard¿s success can be attributed to the high quality of the vodka itself, its innovative and distinctive bottle, to its strong presence in bars, and to a brand identity that is proud to leverage its Russian heritage while promising world-class standards of quality. The company, which also owns a successful bank, Russian Standard bank, is considering whether it should launch Russian Standard in the biggest premium vodka market in the world - the US - and whether it should adapt its marketing mix or stick with the strategy that has been so successful in Russia.

The new CEO of DEI airlines is faced with the challenge of creating a customer service oriented culture in a company that is losing money, needs to shed staff, has a terrible reputation among passengers, and is still driven by the subcultural differences resulting from its merger ten years ago.

ING Direct's strategy of focusing on simple products, low cost operations, aggressive pricing and advertising, has enabled it to be highly successful and profitable even though its flagship product the savings account is a low margin product. The case explores how ING Direct's strategy has enabled it to achieve its successful market position. The teaching objectives for this case are to illustrate how companies can successfully enter 'mature markets' and still succeed in carving out a successful position to achieve profitability. The case also illustrates how a corporate can be successful by maintaining consistency between its strategy and operations.

This case series presents profiles written by six members of the HBS Class of 1976 from the 10th and 20th reunions. The six alumni represent a cross section of the class of 1976 and provide a snapshot of life at the time of the reunions. "Profiles of the Class of 1976" is to be used with case supplements: 403081, 403082, 403083, 403084, 403085, and 403086.

ApproTEC markets a range of technologies to improve the income of subsistence farmers and other small-scale entrepreneurs in East Africa. Having achieved considerable success in its first eight years, the two founders/entrepreneurs are seeking ways to scale the impact of its operations across Eastern and Southern Africa. The question is, what should they do to accomplish this? Includes color exhibits.

On August 21, 2001, Keane, Inc. announced the acquisition of Metro Information Services, Inc. This case analyzes the challenges facing firms and examines transactions whose major source of value creation hinges on intangible assets (e.g., people or knowledge).

Collectively owned township and village enterprises (TVEs) played a pivotal role in China's rapid growth during the 1980s and 1990s. Although they originated in the policies and institutions of the Maoist era, TVEs thrived only after Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms redistributed property rights, taxing powers, and responsibility for the provision of public goods. These reforms made local governments dependent on their TVEs for tax revenues and gave party cadres powerful incentives to promote economic growth. Local officials often helped TVEs under their jurisdiction to gain access to technologies, capital, and production permits. Instead of rapidly privatizing its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), China gradually liberalized aspects of its economy in a controlled manner, often establishing a "market track" alongside its planned system. As the SOEs' share of output and employment shrank, that of the TVEs dramatically increased. By the mid- to late 1990s, TVEs accounted for nearly 40% of China's industrial output and had created about 100 million jobs. Nevertheless, party officials questioned whether the TVEs were a viable form of organization for an economy with ever-larger firms, more complex products and production processes, and the need for more capital and more skilled managers.