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Judge William Wright considers the case of the dispute of a whale carcass wherein several whaling ships claim ownership based on each one's contribution to its killing. The judge must weigh in the differing efforts and costs of three ships who each played a role at different stages of the hunting process, as well as the prevalent norms-of-ownership at the time.

Judge William Wright considers the case of the dispute of a whale carcass wherein several whaling ships claim ownership based on each one's contribution to its killing. The judge must weigh in the differing efforts and costs of three ships who each played a role at different stages of the hunting process, as well as the prevalent norms-of-ownership at the time.

Paul Frank Industries (PFI), a privately held company based in the United States, finds itself in hot water after social media criticizes a Hollywood marketing event hosted by PFI in which Native American stereotypes were prominently featured. When photos of the event are released on Facebook, two bloggers bring attention to the event through their social media channels, and the reaction quickly spreads throughout the Native American community and beyond. In the wake of this public relations nightmare, students are asked to reflect on the actions taken by Paul Frank Industries prior to, during and after the marketing event.

Godrej Security Solutions (GSS) offered both physical security products (such as safes, lockers, etc.) and electronic security products (such as cameras with analytics, closed circuit television, biometric and access control systems, burglar alarms, etc.). Although homeowners were evidently worried about their security, they were typically passive and reactive - as opposed to proactive - in addressing the problem. GSS had launched two effective advertising campaigns; however, continuing to communicate the importance of security solutions and converting this buyer inertia to action was fundamental to its ongoing success. What should the company's communication strategy be?

A controlling shareholder of the NYSE-listed Chinese online gaming company Shanda Games has offered a buyout at USD6.90 per American Depositary Share (ADS); each ADS consists of two ordinary shares. The offer provides a premium of 22 per cent to the stock's Friday close. Throughout the previous year, Shanda Games' ADS had typically traded in the range of USD3.00 to 4.50.As Shanda Games' independent directors attempt to evaluate the offer, they wonder: Should the shareholders accept it as it is? Should they ask for a higher price? Or should they look for the alternatives?

As one of the most highly capital-intensive industries, airlines require a substantial investment in physical assets to fund operations. These assets, characterized by property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) on the balance sheet, typically comprise more than half of the total assets of an airline. As a result, depreciation of these assets constitutes a major operating expense. Although methods and estimates used for determining depreciation expense can differ across industries, it is not uncommon for similar divergence to occur among companies within the same industry as well. Aircraft-related depreciation expense is determined by estimating the useful life and the residual value of the aircraft. These estimates can vary widely amongst airlines as a result of many factors including differences in corporate strategy, flying patterns, and fleet composition. As a result, differing practices and expectations can have a significant impact on each airline's reported financial results.

The case provides an opportunity to students to learn about the basic concepts in Project Management using a situation that can be easily understood by all. The case provides the instructor an opportunity to demonstrate to the students as to how precedence relationships are to be generated from assertions made about a project by the project in-charge - a feature that is generally missing in most cases on the subject. The case also provides an opportunity to develop a Linear Programming (LP) model for the project. The teaching note accompanying the case provides a simple, innovative LP formulation and outlines as to how it can be used to identify the critical path and the critical activities. The case can be taught in one session (if LP formulation is not covered). Else, since it is suitable for two sessions, the model can be developed and solved in the class in the second session.

The owner of a fine-menswear store needs to make some crucial decisions regarding his own new line of made-to-measure clothing. He has to decide how to best market a new line and make decisions regarding the target market, product, placement and promotion.

The co-founders of Parker & Pine must decide how best to launch their apparel company's first product, the boxer brief for plus-sized men. With only a few small changes to be made to the product before a full-scale launch, the partners have two important marketing decisions to make: setting the selling price for the boxer briefs and deciding how best to market them alongside the Parker & Pine brand.

The case illustrates an innovative integrated marketing campaign by Nokia to promote its new phone, the N8. In early January 2010, Stuart Wells, Integrated Global Campaign Lead at Nokia, initiated and supervised the execution of an ambitious integrated marketing campaign. The case follows the decision-making process step-by-step, with particular attention to the use of digital channels in the launch strategy and to social media measurement and ROI.

Emerging markets are challenging and require special expertise. India in particular is known to be a tricky business environment. The case follows two senior executives from Alvarez & Marsal's India practice as they deal with an urgent request from one of their US private equity clients, Sapphire Capital. A former employee is claiming that irregular activities by senior management are at the root of the company's financial difficulties. The turnaround team needs to act quickly yet must tread carefully in case the accusations prove unfounded. The second part of the case describes how the A&M team deals with the situation and the action they take to restore and restructure the ailing Indian company.

Facing reduced government funding, yet committed to broadening access to its services, Sankara Eye Care, a chain of hospitals in India, was at a crossroads in 2015. Over the years it had developed a lean operational model to provide free care to approximately 80 percent of its non-paying patients (cross-subsidized by paying patients). Continuous improvements and further innovation, however, were needed to achieve its ambitious goal of expanding from 9 hospitals to 20 by 2020. The case highlights Sankara's key decisions, including issues of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, moving from a charity to a business mindset, and determining the expansion strategy.

This abridged case deals with the quest for boundaries of corporates' social and environmental responsibility. It poses the question where the responsibility of a company might start or end in a given context and once the company has been able to assess the extent to which it holds itself responsible, what action it ought to take in this regard. In the case of Axel Springer the question is focused on the aspect how much responsibility the company might have for its supply chain: how far and how deep down the supply chain does or should responsibility of a corporation reach? On what facts does this responsibility depend? The publishing house Axel Springer AG serves as good example as it wonders about the scope of their responsibility: After making the strategic decision to move aggressively into the field of digital news and media, the company wonders about their responsibility for digital devices, in particular with respect to conflict minerals that are extracted for the production and use of such electronic devices under highly problematic conditions.

"Carlypso: Overcoming Bumps in the Road in the Used Car Industry" explores various challenges associated with scaling a start-up. In 2013, Christopher Coleman and Nicholas Hinrichsen cofounded Carlypso, a company that simplified the process of buying and selling used cars. Over the course of two years, Coleman and Hinrichsen ran into a series of challenges that prevented Carlypso from selling cars more efficiently. The case highlights several of these challenges, as well as the innovative steps Coleman and Hinrichsen took to overcome these challenges. Specific obstacles addressed in the case include: attracting used car sellers to Carlypso; reducing the amount of time required to meet with potential buyers; overcoming operational inefficiencies through the use of technology; learning the types of cars that sell quickest; dealing with copycat competitors; and figuring out how to grow monthly sales in a scalable fashion.

Proxy access grants shareholders meeting certain ownership requirements the right to nominate directors for election to the board without going through a typical proxy contest. In August 2010 the SEC approved a rule granting proxy access for shareholders meeting specific ownership requirements. The rule was challenged by US Chamber of Commerce and overturned in July 2011. Shortly after the rule was overturned, rules governing shareholder proposal process were amended so that shareholders could put forward proposals on proxy access at individual companies. Proxy access did not garner significant attentional during the first two proxy seasons after the rule was amended. However in the 2015 proxy season, over 100 companies received proxy access proposals. This case chronicles the debate on proxy access from the perspective of institutional investors, shareholders, and US company's board of directors and management.

In early 2014, Tara Fela-Durotoye, the founder and CEO of House of Tara, was contemplating one of her greatest achievements to date. Her company had been named by L'Oréal as a strategic distributor for Nigeria of leading international cosmetics brand Maybelline - marking another milestone in its ongoing success story. Lauded as a pioneer in the beauty and makeup industry in Nigeria, House of Tara was credited with launching the country's first makeup studio, establishing the first makeup school in West Africa, and creating a full makeup product line entirely dedicated to African women. From a small venture in the late 90s, the company had grown into a sophisticated organization with a broad array of products and services, a multi-channel distribution network, professional makeup schools, and high-touch customer service. With operations throughout the country, House of Tara was well placed to take advantage of the continued growth in cosmetics sales, fuelled by an emerging middle class with more disposable income. But despite the apparent opportunities, a number of distribution challenges remained. Unlike a typical beauty company operating through retail channels, House of Tara had a limited pool of beauty sales reps through which to reach the end customer. Since the mass-market segment accounted for the majority of cosmetics sales, how best could the products be made widely available? The case describes the evolution of House of Tara from a 'one woman show' initially offering bridal makeup services to a fully-fledged beauty business with a network of resellers and branded stores throughout the country. It gives an update on the latest developments that have seen House of Tara become the leading indigenous makeup brand in Nigeria, with a focus on how the local retail environment shaped its distribution strategy to reach its target markets.

The owner and president of a craft brewery and restaurant had just finished reviewing the company's mid-year results, which revealed some operational capacity issues and a limited marketing budget. As a result, the owner wanted to focus on each of the company's product lines and their contribution to the business to determine how to allocate marketing costs. Alternatively, with the company's continued growth, the owner wondered whether the brewery would be better off investing in expansion to increase its current and long-term brewing capacity.

VisionSpring enabled access to affordable eye care for low-income individuals suffering from vision impairment in developing economies. Established in the United States as a not-for-profit social enterprise, it sold more than two million pairs of eyeglasses globally, which included over one million pairs of eyeglasses sold in India. Despite achieving this scale, VisionSpring believed there was a long way to go considering the estimated 300 million people in India requiring eyeglasses for vision correction. Realizing this as a huge unmet opportunity, the company set a goal of achieving 10 times its annual sales volume in India. This was not an easy task considering the socio-economic dynamics of the base of the pyramid segment, as well as market challenges in peri-urban and rural India. The plan would require a total paradigm shift in the overall business model of VisionSpring in India.

This case is set in December 2014, and discusses the business model and challenges facing BPI Globe BanKO ("BanKO"). Established in 2009, BanKO is the Philippine's first mobile phone-based, microfinance-focused savings bank. At that time, statistics showed that eight out of ten Filipinos did not have access to a bank. A few informal moneylenders provided some 40% of small-scale business lending in the market, at interest rates that could touch around 240% per annum. The population living in 40% of the Philippines' municipalities did not have easy access to a physical bank branch. BanKO intends to address these issues by leveraging its combined assets in banking and telecommunications through a partnership between the Bank of the Philippines Island (BPI), the oldest operating bank in Southeast Asia; Globe Telecom, a leading telecommunications company; and the Ayala Corporation, one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines. BanKO aims to provide the delivery of a range of banking services through mobile solutions supported by a network of partner outlets. These outlets are existing establishments in the community, such as pawnshops and grocery retailers, which have been selected, trained and accredited to conduct customer identification for new account applications, and perform cash-in and cash-out transactions. They are the critical link to bringing financial services to communities located even in remote locations. BanKO also offers loans to microfinance institutions, including rural banks and cooperatives. As it expanded its product range and customer base, BanKO began to extend its ecosystem to involve a range of other partners including fast moving consumer group (FMCG) companies such as Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Unilever, "sari-sari" stores, social media providers such as Facebook, local governments, cooperatives and aid agencies.