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Method's environmentally friendly cleaning products were rapidly gaining market share, both domestically and overseas. Due to its 2012 acquisition by Belgian cleaning brand Ecover, Method now had access to Ecover's expertise in building eco-friendly factories, as well as the capital necessary to build Method's first manufacturing plant. Method can either build a factory on previously undeveloped land, known as a greenfield, or they could redevelop and recover an existing industrial site, known as a brownfield. The case highlights Method's founders' interest in the revitalization of inner cities, as well as the brand's commitment to environmental and social responsibility. It also explores the challenges and benefits of brownfield vs. greenfield development.

Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying to political activism. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must determine how to respond to the debate over North Carolina's recently signed law, commonly known as "HB2," that invalidated LGBT non-discrimination ordinances at the local level. In contrast to other organizations, Target did not threaten to leave the state. However, its public statement in support of LGBT rights prompted a boycott against its stores. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that Target was caught on the other side of the debate in 2010 in one of the earliest high-profile controversies resulting from the Supreme Court Citizens United ruling. Target had contributed to a super PAC supporting business friendly candidates. As one of the candidate's opposition to same-sex marriage became well publicized, Target faced a consumer boycott as well as a shareholder proposal to change its policies on political contributions. The case covers current campaign finance regulations as they relate to business as well as Target's lobbying activities regarding online sales tax legislation.

The Deutsche Bank cases (A and B) are designed to engage students in an Entrepreneurship or Management Information Systems course.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal government agency responsible for evaluating and granting patent and trademark applications. In 2015, the USPTO employed approximately 8,000 patent examiners who granted nearly 300,000 patents to inventors. As of April 2016, it took roughly 26 months for a patent application to move through the evaluation process, which exceeded the office's processing goal of 20 months. In August 2016, Andrew Hirshfeld, the commissioner for patents at the USPTO, considered the current state of patent examination and future possibilities. In recent years, a number of new and exciting tools enabled by advances in telework, machine learning, and other approaches had emerged. Hirshfeld hoped to maximize these tools' utility in order to enhance patent examiners' work and productivity. Helping examiners become more productive could in turn help the USPTO achieve its joint goals of processing patent applications more quickly and granting better quality patents. But the new tools and organizational changes would bring challenges too. Any changes would have to be implemented at the grassroots of the USPTO organization, and ongoing pilots would not be successful without the buy-in and cooperation of both individual examiners as well as the union.

Read any news report on the housing market, and inevitably it will include facts or figures from the real estate data giant Zillow.com. The company initially set out to solve two key economic frictions in the real estate industry-information asymmetry and the principal-agent problem-by empowering users to access real-time housing data and eliminating the need for realtors. The company soon realized, however, that American homeowners and buyers were not willing to give up the traditional real estate agent model and changed course. In the end, Zillow decided to join-rather than replace-the middlemen in the real estate industry.

Seventh Generation, a sustainable cleaning and personal care products company, has received a purchase offer from Unilever. Seventh Generation's CEO is deciding whether to accept the offer and, if so, under what terms. The deal would open many new avenues for growth and expansion for Seventh Generation, but would they be able to continue to pursue their mission "to inspire a consumer revolution that nurtures the health of the next seven generations" under the ownership of Unilever? Could Seventh Generation impact the values of Unilever to make both organizations more sustainable?

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) achieved global acclaim by launching successful missions to the moon and Mars at a fraction of the cost of prior Western missions. It is now faced with an important strategic dilemma-whether to continue exploring deep space in collaboration with NASA and other leading agencies, whether to leverage its infrastructure for societal uses, or whether to exploit a commercial opportunity related to launching small, handheld cubesats. The case explores the basis for ISRO's cost advantage vis-à-vis western entities, as well as its resource constraints and human capital considerations as it makes this important strategic choice for the future.

Keith Sherin, CEO of GE Capital, faced a decision on which hinged billions of dollars and the fate of one of America's most storied companies. On his desk sat two secret analyses: Project Beacon, a proposal to spin off most of GE Capital to GE shareholders, and Project Hubble, a proposal to sell off GE Capital in parts. A third document sketched out the implications should GE "stay the course" on its present strategy: a continued, massive build-up of regulatory and compliance personnel to meet GE Capital's obligations as a "SIFI"-systemically important financial institution-in the wake of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. No path forward was clear. A divestiture, either through a spin-off or sell-off, would reduce GE's size and financial connectedness and address market unease about GE's position as the seventh-largest U.S. financial institution. It would also unlock substantial value not currently reflected in the stock. Each faced major obstacles and execution risks, however. In particular, no one knew the precise cut-off for a SIFI designation or the time required to shed the designation. If the process took too long, or generated unexpected costs, a divestiture might destroy more value than it would create. Retaining GE Capital was risky, too, of course. Which set of risks was the right one to propose that the GE board accept?

In January 2016, two entrepreneurial brothers attended an academic conference on small business and entrepreneurship to sell their product, the Online Venture Challenge, a web-based software-as-a-service retail simulation system. The brothers also hoped to demonstrate their second product idea, Launchboard, an interactive product that enabled users to make development plans and record their progress. Both products were intended as tools for entrepreneurship educators. The brothers did not have much success selling their first product during the conference, but two professors wanted to use Launchboard that semester. The brothers needed to decide how to position their product line. Should the Online Venture Challenge be promoted as one primary product that offered multiple complementary features? Or should their two products be positioned as two separate but complementary products? Or was it better to have two stand-alone products and two corresponding businesses? The brothers needed to better understand their own business ideas to determine the approach they should take. Fittingly, Launchboard, the new tool they had created, might actually help them to do just that.

The first part (A) of the case study refers to Asia Genomics Holdings, founded by Dr. Wong Mun Yew in 2014. Asia Genomics considered itself a pioneer in genetic testing in Asia with the aim of providing safe, accurate and timely genetic testing for people with regard to commonly occurring cancer, and foetal health conditions. The technology it used was brought over from the US. The tests were simple to administer, client samples were securely handled, and generated reports that would include recommendations for clients and their doctors on next steps after diagnosis. Part B of the case is about Imagene Labs, which was created in 2016 as a new sister entity under Asia Genomics Holdings to provide genetic testing for wellness in fitness, nutrition and skin. It operated independently from the Asia Genomics business that carried out genetic testing for cancer. The recommendations for clients would come with customised nutritional supplements or facial serums to target their specific genetic conditions. Clients who had tried the product were generally pleased with the depth of the report findings and the results of the customised products. Imagene Labs had been seeing relatively quick uptake of their products and interest in the consumer market. Although Asia Genomics and Imagene Labs had clear value propositions to offer their target markets, marketing was still the biggest challenge. Beyond that, both businesses had to plan a strategy for the development of their respective future business models. This case targets participants who are interested in understanding the organisational capabilities for implementing a business model in the healthcare industry. Participants can use the business model canvas to understand the integral components of a business model, and to innovate an existing business model.

Korea Telecom has committed $4billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Hwang and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new products and services in development. The top five sectors identified by KT's team include Internet of Things (including connected cars and smart city/homes), media, health, energy, and security and surveillance. Which might provide some quick wins both in terms of revenues and market lead. Should KT develop solutions that could be exported to other countries? Should KT go all in across all five sectors, or select one or two to prioritize?

Planetary Resources, Inc. (PRI) had a bold, some said crazy, vision: to mine asteroids. One might have assumed that developing the right technology would be the greatest challenge facing PRI. But even if the fledgling company could develop and deploy the sophisticated imaging, prospecting, and communication capabilities required for mining asteroids, two additional obstacles meant success was not guaranteed. First, uncertainty remained over whether, and how, property rights to resources mined in space would be enforced. PRI's leadership's challenge was to anticipate, and perhaps shape, how this uncertainty would be resolved. Making that balancing act more difficult was a second factor: a complex and underfunded U.S. regulatory infrastructure that threatened to slow PRI's progress and escalate costs.

In 2017 Wal-Mart was still the world's largest company, with over $480 billion in annual revenue and operations in 28 countries. Although it had mostly vanquished its rival discount retailers in the U.S., it was struggling to find the right growth strategy. Facing a mature U.S. market, it had looked to international sales as an engine of growth in the early 2010s, but international sales had also stagnated over the past few years. Wal-Mart's leadership had targeted the rapidly-growing e-commerce arena as strategic priority, but there it faced intense competition from dominant online retailer Amazon. In such a competitive environment, how should Wal-Mart respond to the reality that its traditional strengths no longer guaranteed robust growth?

1-800-Flowers.com was a market leader in the floral gift industry, offering solutions for everyday gift needs as well as for special occasions. The U.S. company's mission was to "deliver smiles" to its customers by designing and delivering innovative and valuable gifts. 1-800-Flowers.com had a very good brand in terms of floral distribution. However, the online market for flower and gift sales was changing rapidly, presenting new opportunities for efficiencies and market expansion. In March 2012, the company's chief executive officer was faced with a pressing decision. How could 1-800-Flowers.com gain competitive advantage through collaborations with the extended supply chain?

This case chronicles the evolution, challenges and actions taken by an integrated care telemedicine ecosystem comprising an acute hospital and nursing homes for the elderly. More generally, it describes the challenges faced by the keystone or hub organization in initiating and deploying a novel service that required the contributions and collaboration of diverse partners, many of whom were experiencing resource constraints, in the face of changing industry environment. It details the steps taken to deal with the challenges of getting wary partners with unequal resources and capabilities on board, levelling up skills, and putting in place technology and joint processes necessary for the delivery of a joint service. It demonstrates that the steps resulted in increased partner trust, improved levels of partner competency, increased service quality, and cost savings. The case can be used for courses in: (a) Information Systems, to examine the implementation of systems across multiple organizational partners in order to offer new services. (b) Platforms and ecosystems, particularly those focused on ecosystem evolution. (c) Healthcare, to discuss the development and deployment of integrated care initiatives.

Huayi Compressor Barcelona, S.L. was founded in 2013 when Huayi Group (Huayi), a Chinese state-owned enterprise, acquired Cubigel Compressors, S.A., a bankrupt Spanish industrial enterprise. While labour complications and other difficulties developed during the acquisition process, Huayi successfully managed the transition in May 2013. Despite this initial achievement, challenges related to the recovery of productivity, markets, and profitability continued. In January 2014, the general manager of Huayi Compressor Barcelona, S.L., who managed the transition, received a request to return to Huayi headquarters in Sichuan, China. From his Barcelona office, he grew concerned about several challenges: Who would be the right successor for his position? What strategy did Huayi need to consolidate its internationalization process? What knowledge could he transfer to China for future international strategies?

The CEO of a failed bank in Iceland must address what went wrong and how he should go about restoring trust in the bank by customers, debt holders, fellow Icelanders, politicians and regulators. Crippled by the global financial crisis, not only did Iceland's banks default but the country itself was in danger of dissolution. This case examines the myriad reasons for the bank failure and subsequent nationalization, and provides an understanding of the complexity of a large bankruptcy.

This case examines the cost of capital estimation for British postal service company Royal Mail plc in 2015-a time when company managers and government regulators were adjusting to private ownership after 500 years of government ownership. The case features a flawed cost of capital estimation analysis that includes common blunders. Students are invited to evaluate this analysis and provide their own alternative estimate for the cost of capital for Royal Mail.

In 2002 the Jamaican government redesigned its social safety net programs for children and the elderly. Their goal was to simplify and better target support to those individuals most in need. This case examines the new design for the PATH program, a conditional cash transfer program that rewarded mothers for getting the recommended well-child healthcare for their children and for sending their children to school regularly. The program design is complex and requires the coordination of individuals in a number of national and local institutions. In order to analyze the roll-out and implementation of the PATH Program, students need to map the program, identify points at which implementation is likely to meet challenges and design a strategy for assessing program implementation at those key points. To do this, students need to consider not only the questions they want to answer, but also the most effective strategy for gathering that information. They need to think about data sources (observation, personal interviews, focus groups, surveys, analysis of administrative data), sampling, and research design. Case number 2058.0