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The case provides the background for a hands-on data-mining exercise. The purpose of the analysis is to identify high value customers of an online retailer in order to give them VIP treatment. The exercise is described in "Identifying the VIPs at eTOTS" (UV2918).

The case deals with the concepts relating to finalization of accounts using basic data on transactions. It is expected that income statement, balance sheet and adjusting will be passed with the help of information given within the case.

The largest hospital system in Wisconsin is trying to respond to new threats from nontraditional care providers. This case presents the hospital's dilemma as it tries to create change from within.

Examines the founding and early development of an Indian venture capital firm. Focuses on the opportunity in the Indian high-technology sector, how the founders have adapted the U.S. venture capital model to an emerging market context, and the organizational challenges of early success.

In early 1999, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., had to determine the appropriate U.S. launch strategy for the next-generation video game player, Sony PlayStation2. Despite the success of the original PlayStation1, new competitors and an uncertain consumer environment make the launch difficult. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

The senior management team of Dakota, an office products distributor, is concerned about the company's first loss in history. Explores the role for activity based costing and customer profitability measurement in a distribution company. Dakota's customers are increasingly demanding more specialized services, such as desktop delivery. Also, whereas some customers have switched to electronic ordering, others continue to place their orders manually. Pricing is based on a fixed markup of the cost of the purchased item. The managers feel that the fixed markup may not be compensating them for the higher costs of manual order processing and desktop delivery. The financial manager initiates an effort to estimate the costs of handling the different types of orders so that she can estimate the profitability of individual customers based on their actual order pattern.

This case presents the situation of an unemployed web page designer who starts a new consulting firm with personal savings and a family loan. Two months later, she is to report on operations to her father, using financial reports she must design and construct.

Describes an initiative by Guinness, LLP to revise the process by which it centrally authorizes, supports, and reviews negotiations that are undertaken worldwide on its behalf. Senior managers wished to give regional officers enough discretion to respond to local conditions while still maintaining centralized control and coordination. Includes detailed descriptions of two such negotiations, one involving the dissolution of a partnership, the other a possible acquisition.

Logitech International was a leading maker of mice and other devices for controlling computers, including PC cameras. In 1998, the new CEO learned that the Quickcam business unit of Connectix was for sale, an offer the founders had rejected because the technology was not as good as Logitech's internally developed Web camera, and purchasing an inferior product was not seen as an advantage. The CEO thought that reassessing this acquisition was a good way to examine Logitech's business and organizational model, and the strategic opportunities facing the company. Logitech was an OEM-focused and engineering-dominated company, with power centered in the business units, which developed the technology and developed the retail strategy for the products, and it faced serious competition in the branded retail market. The new CEO wondered whether the brand recognition associated with the QuickCam could be used to Logitech's advantage. The case details for discussion the strategic significance that the rights to an established brand would have on the market position and organizational structure of Logitech.

Case A: Presents three strategic options considered by a fictitious international oil and gas corporation to address the issue of climate change: fight against action, wait and see, and dynamic proactive.

This case documents how SpaceDisk started out as a provider of free Web-based storage space. When the potential for such subscription and advertising revenues began to look less attractive, and SpaceDisk saw an opportunity in launching a DAP, the company moved rapidly to develop its new service and roll out its infrastructure.

Details the evolution of an e-business strategy and capabilities over a 16-year period. What began in 1984 as an effort to automate the port of Singapore to achieve productivity savings, by 2000 had evolved into a global e-business called Portnet.com. Closes as senior managers contemplate the progress they have made and the challenges still ahead.

Gerdau Group is a family-controlled Brazilian manufacturer and distributor of long steel products. Describes the evolution of the company's strategy, organization, and smart management, making it the No. 2 steel producer in Brazil. The company must decide whether to buy AmeriSteel, the No. 2 long steel producer in the United States. Considers the strategic, organizational, financial, and human issues posed by the potential acquisition.

Jamcracker, a well-financed, young company is attempting to transform how IT services are delivered during a period of high-tech pessimism. Jamcracker is trying to popularize an "application service provider" (ASP) model of service delivery that will, if successful, take the industry to a new level of vertically disintegrated maturity. But it is a bold concept that it is selling to a cautious group of prospective buyers. The case poses questions about how to operationalize and sell the company's new service concept.

Komia Holdings SA is the second largest fixed-telephone operator in Poland. The CEO must decide whether the company should participate in the government bidding process to acquire an operating license for the third-generation (3G) wireless telecommunications in Poland. This technology will allow the company to offer high-speed Internet access as well as many promising multimedia services on mobile handsets. He must consider his company's strategy, competition from other operators, and several political debates about the bidding process that has lead to changes in the way the process is handled.

This case describes one of the greatest LBO failures of the 1990s. It presents an overview of the difficulties two experienced buyout sponsors were forced to deal with.

Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) is a key component of the security infrastructure for Microsoft--the large, internationally known software manufacturer. A hacker has informed the program manager of the center of potentially damaging security vulnerability in a piece of Microsoft's Internet server software. Neither the hacker nor MSRC knows for sure whether systems using the software have been compromised, but they do know that the vulnerability has been discussed in hacker news groups. The program manager must determine who should be told, what needs to be done, and when. This case looks at the strategy to solve the problems and deal with any possible public relations issues that arise from it.

Confronted by a business proposal that is remarkably similar to a project recently financed by a sister office, venture capitalist Monique LeMieux ponders what she should do.

In mid-2000, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was two years into a supplier development integration program. The major focus of this initiative was to strengthen relationships with "key" suppliers to fully leverage the supply chain. The qualities sought in the relationships included long-term commitments, confidential information sharing, cooperative continuous improvement efforts, and sharing risks and rewards. Both the nature of these relationships and the associated behaviors were new for UTC and represented a significant challenge. UTC believed it was making progress moving from supplier rationalization toward supplier integration. However, some UTC suppliers believed that they were not receiving any of the gains from these initiatives and viewed UTC as often focused only on cost cutting. UTC's Global Supply Management organization hoped to investigate individual supplier relationships and address supplier concerns. The objective was to assist high-potential suppliers so that they could improve their performance and, at the same time, align better with UTC's goals for a more productive and less costly set of reliable supply chain partners.