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This case explores the use of social media to support product design, customer support, marketing and HR activities at National Instruments (NI). Based in Austin, Texas, with over $1 billion in 2011 sales, NI designs, produces, and sells software and hardware platforms that simplify development of its customers measurement and control systems. Its customers, ranging from individuals (professors and their students) to large corporations, consist primarily of scientists and engineers-a pedigree shared by most NI employees. Since dedicating a full-time position to formalizing the use of social media tools in 2006, NI has infused social capabilities into its internal and customer-facing business processes, strengthening relationships and value delivered. NI's story deepens our understanding of how to build a social business strategy, create game changing innovation processes, and measure the value of its social technology investments-a key challenge facing the company. By touching on NI's history and culture, the case also allows students to consider what elements of this company's organization and culture have allowed it to build a robust social business model.

Aditya Birla Financial Services Group is a large, broad-based, Indian financial services institution offering products ranging from life insurance and mutual funds to private equity. The company has witnessed a turnaround in recent years and regained lost market share. However, in recent years, concerns about investor protection has increased financial sector regulatory oversight specifically in the asset management and life insurance space and changed the rules of the game. Additionally, the central bank has invited new banks to apply for licenses to operate in the country. In the face of these changes, the company has to figure out what its strategy should be to realize its vision of becoming a leading integrated financial services player offering customers a menu of products that support their needs at different stages of their life.

The director of an interim executive search firm, Chee Lung Tham, faced a clash of culture and management styles when his mainland Chinese client threatened to fire the American interim manager that Tham had assigned. The client, Wong Lung, ran a family-owned garment manufacturing business along with his younger brother, as well as his two overseas-educated children. While Wong needed the American manager's technology expertise, his own brother and his team of middle managers were showing resistance to the new changes. Meanwhile, the American manager found himself caught in the web of family and company politics, and completing his assignment without the cooperation of the middle management was impossible. How should Tham approach the conflict and bring all sides into a productive working relationship?

This case tracks the new product development process undertaken by Gauri Nanda, the founder and CEO of Nanda Home, as she ventures to innovate beyond her initial product launches. Having achieved commercial success with her first product Clocky, a roll away alarm clock that owners interacted with in a way they found functionally and emotionally appealing, and after two extensions of the line, Nanda thought it was time to design, develop and market another item that would solve an everyday problem with lifelike charm. She wanted to create a clock that would appeal to children and their parents by facilitating kids' going to sleep and waking up routines. However, there were several factors Nanda had to grapple with before she could commit to final manufacturing design and development. Did she conduct sufficient market research to verify the desire for the 'Clockiddie' concept and the features planned? Were her assumptions about parents and kids valid to suggest the product would be in high demand once launched? Could she keep a premium price point in a consumer market that was trending downward in willingness to pay? Should she cut back on differentiating features to reduce costs and price? Or could the product be engineered under current specifications to an acceptable cost of goods and retail price point? These decisions had to be made soon so that the product could be launched to meet the back to school buying period.

Stephan Ross, CEO or Related Companies, is considering an opportunity to invest $1 billion for the air rights over the Hudson Rail Yards in New York City. The investment would allow Related to build a platform over the operating rail tracks and develop this blighted edge of New York City into one of the top tier places to live, work and shop in the world.

Beginning in 1994, a series of articles and public disclosures indicated that Swiss banks may have retained assets belonging to victims of the Holocaust, and also may have engaged in long term attempts to block survivors' ability to recover those assets after World War II. Stuart Eizenstat, a longtime government official, and U.S. Special Envoy for Property Restitution, undertook a complex multi-year negotiation between victims' representatives, advocacy groups, government officials, and the banks in an unprecedented attempt to obtain restitution for the victims. Unifying fractous parties within an uncertain legal, social, and business landscape, Eizenstat used a unique approach of quantifying "rough justice" in order to enforce the accountability of corporate entities and governments for past injustices in Switzerland, which forms the basis of this study.

This case is used in Darden's first year Finance course, but it would be appropriate in any course introducing firm valuation. A teaching note is available for instructors. This case examines the 2012 decision by American Greetings (AG), the greeting card company, to repurchase shares. At the time of the decision, the greeting card industry was facing an important structural shift; AG stock was trading at valuation multiples that were the lowest among its peer group. Students are invited to build a simple model of the company's future cash flows and derive an implied value. Because the company is arguably in a state of maturity or decline, a discussion of steady-state economics is particularly germane.

The fast rise of Lenovo among its competitors in the computer industry raised a series of questions regarding the sustainability of its competitive position, as well as the choices it had made in its efforts toward globalization. First, how could Lenovo establish and sustain a leadership role in an industry where competitive positions were increasingly unstable? Next, how could the Chinese firm build a solid competitive position in an industry characterized by smaller and smaller margins? Finally, after the acquisition of IBM's PC business and the subsequent accelerated international expansion, could Lenovo still be considered an entirely Chinese entity or was it a truly global enterprise of Chinese origin?A video interview with Lenovo's strategy and corporate development vice-president, Lenovo: A Chinese Dragon in the Global Village - DVD, is also available.

After a massive earthquake destroyed many buildings in Haiti, reconstruction has become a source of opportunity and competition for non-governmental organizations, international business and local companies. The Haitian chairman and CEO of a very successful, multi-million dollar information technology company wants to provide affordable quality housing, especially for the disadvantaged poor, using steel frame technology from his start-up, KayTek. What he has not yet determined is how to get his product to market. He has three options: to keep sales and construction in-house, to outsource, or to franchise in order to create opportunities for young Haitian engineers to become entrepreneurs. Each option has costs, in terms not only of finances and time but also of control of brand quality and accessibility.

Chariot Comics, a comic-book production house, is refining its processes for the production of comics. Currently, launching a comic requires 52 to 54 days, which the company wants to reduce to 45 days. Working toward this objective requires analysis of the current process and a review of the various alternatives to achieving the desired time reduction.

The co-founder and president of an environmentally friendly moving supply company faces the challenge of expanding his company's brand. The company, which provides plastic, reusable moving bins and other moving supplies, has branded itself as providing a convenient, affordable and eco-friendly alternative to cardboard moving boxes. The company can expand by setting up additional corporate stores or by selling individual franchises. The co-founder and president also contemplates focusing his efforts on dominating and revolutionizing the Canadian moving industry. He also remains open to the possibility of eventually selling the company to a larger organization. In considering all options, he wants to sustain the integrity and success of the brand he has built and to ensure that any future expansion maintains his commitment to providing consumers with value, high quality and superior customer service.

In November 2011, Jacko Maree, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group, was reviewing the Group's major decisions in recent years, thinking about the future, and looking for opportunities as South Africa emerged from the global financial crisis of 2008-10. The Group had fared relatively well during the financial crisis, in the sense that no major losses had occurred, and there was almost no exposure at all to the U.S. real estate market or to derivatives based on mortgages there. Even so, the global slowdown had hurt South Africa, and Standard Bank's core businesses there had suffered as well. To keep shareholders happy, the Group needed to demonstrate a clear strategic direction and to demonstrate commitment to that strategy, possibly by pursuing acquisition(s) or other kinds of expansion.

Robin Ash has just been promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Printzhof Press and Vice President of its parent company, Education and Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Her first objective is to create an action plan that will achieve two seemingly contradictory corporate objectives: transform Printzhof into an aggressively competitive 21st century educational publisher while maintaining its close-knit and collaborative culture. Because of new technologies changing how information is delivered and used in higher education, the need for the company to evolve along with the publishing industry is obvious to Ash and other company leaders. However, Printzhof's history of success has resulted in resistance to organizational change among many longtime employees and senior managers. Still, Ash must revitalize Printzhof without destroying employee morale and loyalty. How far and how fast should she move on the critical priorities she has identified?

This is a case on CVP with multiple products. Although relatively basic, it bridges into some alternative-choice decision making, requiring students to assess how they would manage costs, how they would make a choice under constraints, and whether they would eliminate a product line that is losing money on a full-cost basis.

This is a relatively good summary case that raises a variety of basic financial accounting issues. It has been used as an exam for the first module of a course.

This disguised case describes a Midwestern institution that had had remarkable successes in preparing to operate in a managed care environment. The case can be taught as part of a sequence on managing change and works well with the McKinsey 7S model.

This case contains a set of audited financial statements for a small community hospital, and requires the students to assess where there are accounting problems, and where there are financial management problems.

This case provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the limitations on the use of comparative data in assessing the performance of a nonprofit organization. Despite these limitations, data like these may be useful, and students must decide how.

This case allows an instructor to combine several important elements into an evaluation. Students are asked to first consider the organization's strategy, then to consider the question of incentives, and finally to assess the organization's management control system in the light of both.