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The new vice president and general manager of Best Optical Ltd. is trying to formulate a strategy in response to his competitors’ actions. Best Optical is a distributor of vision hardware and other distributors are buying up retail outlets and threatening to shut Best Optical out of the market. The vice president has to decide how to respond to the threat and what implications his response will have on Best Optical’s business.

A.P. Nichols, a distributor of parts in the maintenance, overhaul, and repair industry, is facing the need to realign its strategy to cope with a competitive environment. A key component of this realignment involves changes to the culture and compensation of its sales force while simultaneously building sufficient sales capacity to take advantage of opportunities in key markets. The case focuses on the newly hired vice president (VP) of sales, who is tasked with leading the change initiative. Immediate issues facing the VP include: 1) alignment of the client service representative (CSR) team to the strategy and new model; 2) infrastructure and the need to make a commitment to invest in bringing it up to a best-in-class level; and 3) building a critical mass in the CSR group.

Pinpoint Consulting, a multi-billion dollar strategy consulting firm, has been hired by Dart Financial Corporation to provide advice on the potential acquisition of a credit card portfolio. An analyst has the task of building a model and making recommendations. The price is set at $60 million and the analyst must assess whether the portfolio is an attractive opportunity and a suitable fit for Dart Financial.

In the last two years, Ujaala Borderline had lost two key accounts and the bidding process for a third large account. Ujaala Borderline’s CEO and an executive VP had just left a meeting with the firm’s largest client, Sweekar Iron and Steel. Sweekar’s CEO had informed them that he was taking his firm’s business from Ujaala Borderline and going with another provider. He had pointed out several servicing issues that had occurred over the last two years and considered these issues to have been ignored. These problems included errors in policies and quotes, and inefficiencies in communication due to Ujaala Borderline’s many organizational changes and high staff turnover. As the CEO left the meeting, he wondered what had happened. He had recently been profiled in a national newspaper as the CEO of the leading general insurer in India, but now felt that he was embroiled in changes that he knew he had created. The CEO realized that Ujaala Borderline had many problems and knew that he had to act quickly and decisively to turn things around or else risk his job.

It was early December 2010 and a newly formed team of analysts and consultants at Kristoffer Consulting was preparing to complete its report for Bei Capelli, an Indianapolis-based hair salon catering to middle-class women. The co-owners felt that Bei Capelli had reached capacity at its current location, and wanted to develop a strategy to pursue future growth. Kristoffer Consulting was looking at growth strategies including franchising, new locations, and new services to improve Bei Capelli’s financial performance. The report was due the last week of January, and the team was trying to determine what information it needed to gather from the owners to complete the analysis. The team faced some challenging client and business integrity issues that were related to one consultant’s close personal relationship with the salon.

Tracy Chan, managing director of the Student Learning and Writing Services (SLWS) at St. Charles University in Calgary, Alberta, was faced with a difficult situation. Her newest employee, Michael Hinske, had just e-mailed her a list of faculty members he had contacted to educate on the SLWS writing program offered to graduate students. Chan quickly noticed that the faculty names were of individuals who had already been contacted. There was no indication that Hinske had made any attempt to discuss the program with other faculties on campus. Since joining the team six months earlier, Hinske’s mandate for the academic year had been to create a series of writing workshops and liaise with different faculties on campus. Chan needed a plan of action before confronting Hinske about his inability to fulfill his job requirements, including his failure to create new contacts between the graduate writing program and faculties on campus.

Joseph Vigneault and his entrepreneurial partners wanted to raise $500,000 to pursue a new venture through the purchase of a currently existing company in the $4,000,000-5,000,000 price range. A boutique investment bank introduced them to the features of the Capital Pool Company (CPC) program. Vigneault needed to decide if a CPC was an option that he and his partners should consider. He needed to consider the effect on their ownership stake in the company and calculate the return on their investment.

In 1995, the United Nations began to ease sanctions on Iraq in what was known as the “Oil for Food” program. One of the first companies to return to Iraq under the UN program was U.S.-based International Farm Equipment Co. (IFE). IFE had been an important supplier of agricultural equipment to Iraq until the Gulf War in 1990. Shortly after IFE established its Iraq office upon returning, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture demanded a direct payment of 10 per cent of all future contracts. Several other companies had agreed to make the payments, including at least one prominent competitor of IFE. The payments would be classified as “post-sale commissions” and would be conducted through a third-party agent working on IFE’s behalf. IFE’s business manager for the Middle East needed to decide how to proceed.

The controller for Asis Electronics, a subsidiary of a European-based corporation, was concerned that Asis might have overcharged the U.S. Ministry of Defense in a contract for transmitters. However, Asis’s chief financial officer did not address the matter when he learned of it. After being asked to sign an annual compliance document related to anti-corruption practices, the controller needed to decide whether or not to report the irregularities through established “protected communications channels” that ensured confidentiality.

A marketing manager at an RV park developer wants to update the company’s online presence in preparation for a new product launch. Lacking any website design skills himself, he must address various issues, such as where to find potential web design agencies, and how to select an agency. Soon after selecting an agency, the marketing manager begins to doubt his decision. The agency does not seem aligned with the marketing manager’s strategic vision for the website, and has wasted valuable time producing work that must be discarded. The marketing manager, now too close to the new product launch to hire a new agency, must determine how to ensure the agency’s work adheres to the project’s strategy, budget, and timeline.

The owner of South Side Restaurant, a mid- to upper-class restaurant located in Chicago, Illinois, must decide which of three bottles of wine to add to the restaurant’s wine list. Given that the restaurant prides itself on its environmental and social positioning and that its consumers have come to expect performance in this area, the wine’s carbon footprint represents an important decision criterion. South Side Restaurant is a for-profit restaurant and the owner must balance this environmental criterion with short- and long-term financial returns.

A student is trying to incorporate various analytical tools to assist in selecting National Hockey League (NHL) players for a fantasy hockey pool, using individual player data from the 2006-2009 NHL seasons. The student must come up with a strategy in which 16 players are selected for the 2010 season.

The founder of the Lakkard Leather Company was proud of his business, and attributed much of its success to his own leadership style, which did not allow for anyone else’s participation in important decisions. When he was badly injured in a car accident, his son stepped in and kept the business going. Without any intention to take over, the son altered the leadership and operations of the company in the space of a few months, so that by the time the founder returned, the company had changed and his role was significantly reduced. The son, in the meantime, grew to like his interim position and believed he did a better job than his father. Both men became locked in a power struggle; yet the company faced several key decisions that had to be taken in terms of expansion, product offering, and sale opportunities.

The director of operations at Avalanche Corporation was faced with some major decisions. The firm was experiencing considerable difficulties in matching supply with demand. As a result, the company was overproducing and had to sell the excess at a loss. At a recent board meeting, the vice president of marketing reported on a new snowboard product, the Avalanche Racer. She presented her rationale for introducing a new ski product at this time by highlighting the growth of the ski equipment sales over the past five years. The board meeting concluded with the general manager tasking the director of operations with developing an analysis and reporting back his findings to the board the following week.

This case focuses on Solutions Care Association (SCA) — a nonprofit health care organization established in 2000 that quickly became a leader in environmental stewardship and social responsibility. With headquarters in Nevada, United States, the company had a strong mission and socially responsible culture, which helped attract talent and launch social and environmental initiatives. Despite its numerous achievements and awards, however, there was limited awareness internally and externally about these initiatives and their impact on business and society. In addition, the company did not have a comprehensive way to track and report these achievements. As an emerging leader of the integrated health care plan in the United States, Solutions Care Association had both the responsibility and the opportunity to be a model of what American health care should look like. With growing concerns over and scrutiny of the health care industry, there was no better time for Solutions Care Association to continue to strengthen its leadership position in addressing key social and environmental problems, such as providing affordable health care, reducing climate change impacts, phasing out toxic chemicals and creating a safe, culturally sensitive, and supportive environment for employees, patients, and suppliers.

High Mountain Technologies is a diversified research and manufacturing company that produces a wide array of products based on patented technology. A certified management accountant has been given the assignment of completing a capital budgeting analysis of two projects — a GPS transmitter and surveillance aircraft. Rogers has been instructed to calculate the net present value for each project, including an appropriate cost of capital, so that the company can make its final decision.

The case illustrates the challenges faced by a marketing manager when designing, implementing and evaluating trade promotion schemes in a highly competitive, fast moving, consumer goods multinational company in the emerging Asian market of India. The purpose of the case is to provide exposure to the complexities and dynamic context of Asian consumer goods marketing and learn how to design, implement and evaluate trade promotion schemes that are aligned with the branding, marketing communication and marketing strategy of the product/brand. The case illustrates marketing decisions and their implementation in the Indian market for snack foods, where factors such as products at small price points, constant product and brand innovation, and effective design of trade promotion and merchandising schemes are critical in gaining and retaining market share.

Lamont, a private golf club, had survived another year, but things weren't like the good old days, when waiting lists to join were long, environmental issues were not front and centre, and outside tournaments as a source of revenue were plentiful. The general manager has to work through a changing environment and the current situation at Lamont to set a new direction for the club. How is the club to grow, given old and new clubs drawing existing and potential members away from Lamont, declining corporate budgets to support golf outings, and competition for charity tournaments and events such as weddings? How could the general manager deliver the expected profits with costs increasing by at least 10 per cent per year?

The case analyzes the response of the non-users of shampoo in an emerging environment, namely India. The non-users belong to the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum and they respond with their perceptions about the category of shampoo and well-known brands. The entrepreneur's challenge is to obtain the insights, analyze the attitude of the non-users towards the category and brands, and prepare a strategy to position a new brand of shampoo (Super brand) in the Indian mass market.

A business school graduate has been assigned the responsibility of running a profit centre that deals in the production and sales of animal feed. The structure and operations of a mid-sized agri-input company are discussed, along with the interactions among several stakeholders in the supply chain and the sources of cooperation and conflict between them. The case details the interactional dynamics among agri-input sellers, the nature of competition between them, their sources of trade dominance and the distribution channel structure. Amid such a scenario, the graduate is trying to enhance the performance of his profit centre. On the other hand, a former classmate and recruit in an NGO is striving to achieve the developmental objectives of her organization. The case poses questions to evoke reflection on building mechanisms and institutions that deliver benefits for the many rather than profits for the few.