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Lean manufacturing is a production approach whereby expending resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer is considered wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. The case discusses the deployment of lean principles at FCI, a global manufacturer of electronic connectors, as the principal catalyst in achieving a worldwide turnaround in two short years. Case (A) focuses on the global launch of the lean initiative from the corporate headquarters while Case (B) provides the details of local deployment at FCI's manufacturing site in Nantong, China.

After announcing the sudden medical leave of absence of António Horta Osório, CEO of Lloyd's Banking Group, the challenge facing the board was unprecedented. They would have to take immediate action to ensure interim leadership, and plan for the future. Should António Horta Osório return as CEO? If so, under what conditions? The board could only begin to answer these questions by addressing the source of the problem: What had caused their highly experienced and previously successful CEO to burn out? And how could they prevent it from happening again? Their collective knowledge of finance and the vicissitudes of global markets was broad and deep, but now they would be forced to discuss the undiscussable: the taboo of senior executive stress.

Incoming and outgoing foreign direct investment in an environment of politics, geography, globalization, and history. Since the end of apartheid, South Africa had undertaken substantial economic reforms in order to attract more foreign direct investment, but it was slow in coming. At the same time, South African firms had become major players in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Collectively, these investment decisions could have a major long-run impact on South Africa's economic growth and political stability. South African policymakers needed to decide what they wanted from the private sector, and how to achieve it.

This is a supplement to The Popcorn Predicament: Competition, Conflict and Buying Behaviour.

This is a supplement to The Popcorn Predicament: Competition, Conflict and Buying Behaviour.

This is a supplement to The Popcorn Predicament: Competition, Conflict and Buying Behaviour.

This is a supplement to The Popcorn Predicament: Competition, Conflict and Buying Behaviour.

This is a supplement to The Popcorn Predicament: Competition, Conflict and Buying Behaviour.

This is a supplement to The Popcorn Predicament: Competition, Conflict and Buying Behaviour.

On June 12, 2008, Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems announced plans to merge. The combined company was to be renamed Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE). Invitrogen offered to acquire Applied Biosystems for $6.7 billion in cash and stock. AB shareholders would receive $38 per share in cash and stock, representing a 17 percent premium over the share's closing price on Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

Supplement for case TB0297

A rather complex case that calls for a report that gives providers a breakdown of why they are (or are not) achieving their budgeted levels of performance. Students knowledge of variance analysis is tested here by requiring them to understand and then restructure a confusing variance analysis prepared by the business manager.

This is a supplement to ReedTrek Manufacturing (A) 9B12C051.

This is a supplement to ReedTrek Manufacturing (A) 9B12C051.

This is a supplement to Struggling to Make the Best Buy (A), product # 9B10A010.

Foro Energy developed proprietary and patent-pending fiber-laser technologies that could disrupt existing processes and services for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. These breakthrough laser technologies were protected by a strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio, which provided Foro with the flexibility to pursue a number of different business models. The market potential for oilfield applications was large, as global spending in the O&G E&P industry was expected to approach $600 billion in 2012.

Siddharth Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of H-Soft Mumbai, reflected on his meetings as he walked out of VC Ventures' offices in Mumbai. After a few months of intensely pitching his startup to several different investors, he finally had a term sheet in hand. Despite this huge milestone, Kapoor knew it was only the start of a long process of raising money. He only had three days to get back to Sharma and indicate whether he would like to initiate the diligence process. While he was familiar with some of the terms venture capital investors put into their contracts, many others were completely alien to him. Which terms were important? Which ones should he focus on negotiating? He also knew that money was only part of what the venture capital investors brought to the table. Was VC Ventures the right partner for his business? Kapoor knew he had a busy few days ahead of him as he thought through all of these questions before getting back to Vikram Sharma.

Siddharth Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of H-Soft Mumbai, reflected on his meetings as he walked out of VC Ventures' offices in Mumbai. After a few months of intensely pitching his startup to several different investors, he finally had a term sheet in hand. Despite this huge milestone, Kapoor knew it was only the start of a long process of raising money. He only had three days to get back to Sharma and indicate whether he would like to initiate the diligence process. While he was familiar with some of the terms venture capital investors put into their contracts, many others were completely alien to him. Which terms were important? Which ones should he focus on negotiating? He also knew that money was only part of what the venture capital investors brought to the table. Was VC Ventures the right partner for his business? Kapoor knew he had a busy few days ahead of him as he thought through all of these questions before getting back to Vikram Sharma.

Supplemented with case ES1271

The head of Tupperware Nordic faces high turnover and low motivation of the sales consultants. He seeks to understand how to use social media in innovative ways to address these challenges and to modernize the image of Tupperware. Instead of making significant investments in IT infrastructure, he uses existing social media tools and focuses on building emotional capital inside Tupperware.