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Chronicles the founding and initial growth of World Wrapps, a retail quick-service restaurant chain serving gourmet, internationally flavored burritos. Gives the backgrounds of the four founders and the origin of the idea to create World Wrapps and then details how they financed and created the first store in San Francisco. Immediately, the store was a success and the management team's attention quickly went to growth and streamlining the operations of individual stores so that they could provide products and service with quality and cost efficiency. Examines a number of decisions made and to be made relating to expansion: how fast to grow, whether to franchise, whether to do a joint venture with another company, etc. Also considers how they should respond to numerous important competitive threats on the horizon. Finally, focuses on a financing decision--they have competing offers from venture capital firms that each have their advantages and disadvantages. Students are asked to advise the management team on their financing decision.

PSS World Medical has grown rapidly since its founding in 1983, largely by acquisitions. It has recently had some trouble digesting a large acquisition, and its stock price is quite depressed. The CEO and his senior management team confront the question of whether the strong culture organization they have built, and the practices they are using to manage the company, will stand it in good stead at its larger size and facing the current challenges. Also, the senior management team is wondering why Wall Street doesn't fully appreciate what the company has accomplished and its management strengths.

In the fall of 1991, Signet was just recovering from the downturn in the real estate market of the late 1980s. In an effort to improve business efficiency in the handling of the vast amounts of information Signet was maintaining, especially in light of its new credit card business, Signet decided to out source all commodity type information activities. Signet's goal was to establish a standardized, reliable, outsourced corporate-wide processing system. Given the amount of this style of work which ABC Information Systems was already doing for much larger banking institutions, Signet believed they would be the perfect match to capture the technology of an organization already far down the learning curve.

Traces the evolution of Nike from 1987 through 1998. Through a series of eight assignment questions, it examines how the company has created and sustained a competitive advantage, and how that competitive advantage is reflected in growth, profitability, and share price performance.

In 1980, Apple was the leader of the PC industry, but by 1999, it had suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Wintel camp. This case examines Apple's efforts to create sustainable competitive advantage as the PC industry evolves. After discussing Apple's history and past strategic moves (1977-1999), the case poses the question: Can Steve Jobs make Apple "insanely great" again?

In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of the entire U.S. health-care industry). The case describes the company under its previous CEO, and primarily under Ray Gilmartin, the new CEO. Discusses the strategic, organizational, cultural, and management challenges that Merck faced, as well as Gilmartin's change program from 1994 to 1998, which was aimed at helping Merck address these issues.

In 1998, Newell Co., a manufacturer of low-tech, high-volume consumer goods, acquired Calphalon Corp., a high-end cookware company, and Rubbermaid, a $2 billion manufacturer of consumer and commercial plastic products. The case focuses on Newell's strategy and its elaboration throughout the organization, as well as the importance of selecting appropriate acquisitions to grow the company. Do Calphalon and Rubbermaid fit with the company's long-term strategy of growth through acquisition and superior service to volume customers? A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Entrepreneur Doug Levine runs a fitness company with an incredibly powerful brand. His company leverages the brand to expand, both in terms of facilities and lines of business. But he may need to make significant organizational changes in order to continue the growth.

Describes Mandic BBS, one of Brazil's first Internet service providers. In April 1998, with competition increasing, its venture capitalist financier is looking to exit their investment. Aleksandar Mandic must decide which potential investor offers the best fit with his company and at what valuation and under what terms he is prepared to sell. Interested parties include a group of U.S. financial investors, an Argentine company with broad telecommunications ambitions in Latin America, and another Brazilian ISP.

Describes the death of a cancer patient in one of the nation's premier cancer treatment centers and examines the organizational and process characteristics that may have contributed to the medical error.

Describes the start-up, strategy, organizational design, and operations of SCORE! Educational Centers, an after-school tutoring enterprise. Alan Tripp, founder and CEO, is faced with growing organizational stresses and a looming venture capital deadline. Examines Tripp's leadership, management style, and strategy. Focuses on the steps he takes to build the company into a viable organization.

Dr. Hans Fritz is 37 years old when he arrives in Bangkok on March 1, 1998 to assume his position as general manager of Novartis Thailand. Novartis is the world's largest pharmaceutical company. He had lobbied to transition from a staff position to this line management assignment. He encounters an organization in chaos, a demoralized staff, and a market in crisis. The case describes his first month in this new position. His most important task at this stage is to set priorities when everything needs to be done at once. He has to decide whom to trust on his team and what to do in the short, medium, and long term.

Examines the implementation of a new patient care delivery model at Massachusetts General Hospital. Uses clinical and financial data to examine different choices for staffing non-physician health care professionals and to understand the challenges of managing change across multiple professions in the hospital environment. Recently promoted to senior vice president of Patient Care Services, Jeanette Ives Erickson must decide whether a model for patient care delivery is the best way to improve care and reduce costs in the midst of extreme budget pressures and a rapidly changing health care environment.

Intel PRC was a division of Intel Corp., a U.S. $20 billion semiconductor manufacturer. A newly appointed division head makes a decision that an employee responds to emotionally, with a deep resentment, creating the potential for conflict within the department. The incident forces the manager to examine whether there are deeper organizational or communication problems he needs to consider. Cross-cultural issues come into play given that the manager, although originally from China, was educated and gathered extensive experience in the west and was thus considered an expatriate by his employees. The case examines the effect of organizational culture on an employee's behavior.

A new MBA graduate joins a privately held family business and sets ambitious growth goals for the next five years. To enhance motivation, he proposes a new incentive plan that will grant him a share of the wealth he creates. However, the family owners have a more conservative view regarding executive compensation.

Daryl Buckmeister, CEO of The Chicken Coop, must decide whether to invest in market research, how much money to spend, and which programs to fund. His two vice presidents (of quality and marketing) have presented very different proposals.

Follows one company's path through the uncharted terrain of government regulation and the Internet. In March 1998, Network Associates announced it would begin selling powerful encryption software from its Dutch subsidiary. Such a move looked to the U.S. government like a violation of export regulations, but the company was confident it had operated within the bounds of law. Indeed, Network Associates appeared to have deftly exploited the uncertain nature of government regulation in a time of rapidly changing technology. Encryption export regulations had become highly controversial in the mid-1990s, and were the subject of ongoing legislative debate in 1998. While the regulations had been slowly evolving toward permissiveness, the pace of change did not meet the expectations of many companies in Silicon Valley. Network Associates was the first company to boldly challenge the export regulations and assert its commercial rights to sell its encryption products to foreign users. While such a move gave the company distinct first-mover advantages, it was also a strategy that contained significant political risks.

Describes the introduction of capitation by a managed care company and the challenges of managing financial risk in the Medicare population. Focuses on the relationship between the health plan and physicians.

Book-In-Time, developed at Xerox, can dramatically reduce the cost of printing "one" book. Combined with the possibilities of digital content storage and transmittal, the new technology has vast opportunities. Xerox needs a commercial plan. The case describes the state of the book publishing industry and the potential for a new technology.

Describes TelePizza, is Spain's leading chain of pizza restaurants and delivery services. TelePizza has experienced rapid growth to 500 stores since its creation in 1987. The company went public on the Spanish stock market in late 1996. Franchising has played an important role in the firm's expansion to date. For further growth, the founder and CEO is contemplating three strategies: further expansion in Spain, international expansion, or the creation of new restaurant concepts.