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Maria D'souza planned to expand her business by introducing a new product line of frozen foods. She wanted to estimate the attractiveness of the new expansion by estimating net present value (NPV) of the expected cash flows. Her main concern was to find a suitable discount rate to be applied to cash flows to ascertain the NPV of the project. D'souza's consultant friend asked her to analyze cost of capital of similar companies operating in the same industry. The basic principle in this case is that firms in the same industry often have similar customers, operations and assets; therefore they have similar business risks and should have similar costs of capital.

HootSuite is one of the fastest growing SaaS (Software as a Service) social media dashboards on the market. The company's vice-president of business development needs to determine the best strategy for segmenting and monetizing HootSuite users. He needs to introduce a tiered pricing plan that generates revenues without alienating users.

Jabwood, a wood trading company with four branches in Lebanon owned by the Jabado family, is contemplating international expansion into new markets - specifically, Saudi Arabia and China - to compensate for a decline in revenues. This case examines the macroeconomic environment of Lebanon, China and Saudi Arabia as well as the wood industry in those countries. The characteristics of a successful international expansion are considered. In addition to identifying the criteria of attractiveness for each country, the case requires a decision on a market entry strategy that would ensure a successful expansion for the company. Given the risks and tradeoffs in each country, Jabwood has to decide whether it should expand in either market or both and on the mode of entry it should adopt to increase its chances of success.

Patient safety is a critical issue in health care and remains a problem in almost all health care institutions. The challenge is to change the culture so that all providers of care put patient safety as job one. Traditionally physicians have suggested that patient safety is due to individual error. In contrast, patient safety is a system and cultural change. The joint chief of staff at a medium-sized community hospital wants to address patient safety by influencing his fellow physicians to change practices of patient care without appearing paternalistic. The arena of patient care and changing attitudes is a new concept at Grand River Hospital. The case examines the various means that the joint chief of staff can employ to introduce a patient safety culture at the hospital.

This case was developed to record corporate governance reform at ICBC within the context of China's banking reform. It describes the evolution of governance in China, the challenges faced by leaders at all levels, the choices made and the results of these hard decisions. The challenges and discussion are relevant to Western companies in terms of understanding the corporate governance structure adopted by large Chinese enterprises. The success of the bank and its unique governance structure bring much inspiration from East to West. Learning objectives: Participants can explore the different issues behind ICBC's governance reform. At undergraduate level in a political economy program, students can discuss the strategies involved in transforming from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy and the systematic design required to make any reform work. In MBA programs, participants can discuss issues related to corporate restructuring, governance structure, IPOs, as well as competitive strategy. At executive and board level, participants can focus on the banking governance structure and the pros and cons of the ICBC system. By the end of the class discussion, participants should have gained an insight into working with large Chinese companies. They should be able to grasp the problems arising from conflicts of interest among shareholders, directors, supervisors, the management team, strategic investors, the communist party and regulators. They should also understand the inner workings of these stakeholders, in particular the incentives of each stakeholder group, which differ greatly from those in the West. Participants will realize how corporate governance could be managed differently and how complex it could become. The discussions offer participants the opportunity to reflect on governance practices in the West and borrow elements that could be useful.

The case examines Harley-Davidson's decision to enter the Indian market. Due to India's rapidly growing economy and its swelling base of high-net-worth consumers, numerous luxury product companies lined up to enter India. The case enumerates the factors that such firms should take into account when selecting new markets to enter. Also discussed are the various post-marketing issues Harley-Davidson faced in India after its entry and the resolutions the company could implement to resolve those issues.The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the dynamics involved in selecting new markets for the firm to maximize its gain while expanding its business.

The case explores the similarities and differences between social media campaigns launched by Nissan and by Tata Motors to stimulate sales for models of their cars in India. The Nissan campaign allowed consumers to compete to star with Ranbir Kapoor, a Bollywood star and spokesman for the Nissan Micra, in a short film featuring the Micra as the hero. The Tata campaign launched India's first social streaming show, in which select teams of consumers participated in an Amazing Race-style road trip competition in different regions of the country. Both campaigns made extensive use of Facebook. Students are tasked with evaluating the two campaigns in terms of their fit with the communication objectives of each company and their effectiveness on a variety of metrics. The case includes links to advertisements and other video material. Although the case is written to be used independently, it also would work well in combination with the "Positioning the Tata Nano (A) and (B)" cases.

The call for new types of collaboration in outsourcing saw the development of the enterprise partnership model by Xchanging in 2001. The case looks at the history of one such partnership with BAE Systems. History shows why the model was attractive to BAE Systems against several other models. In Part 1 of the case, we look at and ask students to assess the in-house, fee-for-service outsourcing and management consultancy options for transforming HR through shared services. In Part 2, the case details the distinctive features of a joint-venture model that was eventually adopted and of the supplier competencies needed. We follow the relationship through the phases of preparation, realignment, streamlining, and continuous improvement, initially up to 2003. Students are asked to assess the model, progress, and what the future holds. In the third part of the case, we follow subsequent developments, including the change in the nature of outsourcing with BAE Systems from March 2007, the launch of Xchanging on the stock market in April 2007, its continued expansion, and its troubled history from 2010 to 2012. The case gives insight into the conduct of a distinctly different form of outsourcing, into how the client and the supplier deal with outsourcing over a number of years, and how a supplier navigates through a highly dynamic 21st century global environment while trying to expand its market services and revenue growth.

John Gilleland, CEO of TerraPower, returned to his office after a lengthy meeting with potential investors. It was October 2012, and TerraPower was in the process of raising a $200M Series C round to finance the ongoing development of its next-generation nuclear reactor. Though early in the fundraising process, Gilleland noted that this most recent conversation was similar to conversations with other interested cleantech growth equity investors. The conversations circled around a common theme: "This is the biggest idea that's ever been presented at our partners' meeting. We love what you're doing, but it's not right for us as an investment." Outside of raising money from typical growth equity and infrastructure funds, Gilleland could partner with a government and/or form a joint venture with an existing nuclear power player. Reliance Industries as an investor in TerraPower could provide an entry point into the fast growing Indian market. At the same time, Gilleland and Gates had talked with China National Nuclear Corp. about a possible cooperation with TerraPower. Whom should Gilleland call next?

In 2006 the French bank Crédit Agricole bought the Greek Emporiki bank, for €2.8 billion, at the peak of a bull market for bank takeovers. Six years, a major financial crisis, and 5.2 billion of losses later, in a context of great uncertainty in the European banking sector, what decision should Crédit Agricole take regarding Emporiki? Through the example of this European cross-border acquisition the case looks at the Greek banking system before and during the unprecedented Greek sovereign debt crisis; the efforts of Greece and the main actors of the European financial system to prevent the battled country from having to exit the euro zone; and the potential scenarios for Greek banks in mid-2012.

The case assembles texts giving perspectives on the Great Depression by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, Anna Schwartz and Ben Bernanke. This should allow for a discussion of the role of fiscal and monetary policies in reaching and escaping outcomes in which the interest rate is close to zero for a long time.

In 2012, GREE was one of the world's most profitable mobile social gaming companies. Its success in Japan was due both to its in-house games and to the development platform that it offered to third-party game developers. Its biggest challenge was to replicate the success of this two-pronged strategy in international markets, where it had to contend not just with many other game developers (e.g. Zynga), but also with the mobile platform providers themselves (e.g. Apple's iOS and Google's Android).

Edison Schools, Inc., a pioneer in the for-profit management of public schools, demonstrates the challenges and opportunities related to private sector involvement in the delivery of a public good. Follows the organization from its start-up through its initial public offering and, eventually, through its decision to execute a management buy-out to exit the public market. Explores at the corporate level the tension between Edison's effort to generate profits while achieving excellent educational outcomes.

This case, GSB No. E-459, explores the SeaMicro CEO's decision of whether or not to sell the company in early 2012. SeaMicro, a developer of low-power servers, has risen quickly as an innovative and significant force in a server market dominated by giants, including HP and Dell. In the fall of 2011, the company is approached by AMD, the industry's second largest microprocessor manufacturer behind Intel. AMD has faced challenging times in the recent past and is looking to acquire SeaMicro as a way to reinvent itself and establish a leadership position in the rapidly growing cloud computing space. Andrew Feldman, SeaMicro's CEO, must consider the implications of his decision to sell in the context of a variety of factors including his fiduciary duty to his investors and employees, other strategic opportunities with the likes of Dell, Samsung and ARM, and his own future.

The case describes two pilot projects on applying activity-based costing to measuring the cost of treating patients. It presents process maps and financial data relating to the processes used during (1) an office visit to a plastic surgeon for three different diagnoses, and (2) application and removal of three different casts in the orthopedic cast room. Students calculate and compare the costs and margins of the three procedures at the two different sites using the hospital's existing cost system and a proposed new system based on time-driven activity-based costing.

Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok-a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique aspects of New Balance's strategy-focusing on fit and performance by offering long-lived shoes in a wide variety of widths and eschewing celebrity endorsement of its products-and discusses New Balance's operations decisions to support that strategy. These include significant use of domestic manufacturing at a time when nearly all other competitors sourced finished shoes from Asian suppliers and an emphasis on improving inventory management for its network of small and large retailers. Set just after the announcement of the Adidas-Reebok transaction in 2005, with New Balance having recently initiated a companywide effort to improve operational performance through the application of concepts from lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. Asks students to consider whether New Balance should change aspects of its operations strategy in light of the consolidation among its competitors or whether the Adidas-Reebok transaction represents an opportunity for New Balance to emphasize the importance of moving forward with its current approach.

Learning Resources is a family-owned educational toy company that, by late 2011, was facing a myriad of challenges, including increased competition, entry into new markets, new distribution methods, rising costs of production in China, and changing customer behavior. The company lacked a clear strategy and suffered from organizational misalignment. Rick Woldenberg, the former CEO of Learning Resources, is called back to the helm after a four-year absence to address these issues, increase performance and set a direction for the company, all while remaining true to the values of his family's business.

On January 1, 2012, the LEGO Group announced a major new initiative to enhance its market penetration in Asia. Later in the year, a cross-functional group of senior managers gathered at company headquarters to discuss the status of the Asian initiative and the risks associated with it. The aim of the meeting was to outline four scenarios for the future that could help managers assess what key success factors and actions were required for coping with the challenges presented by each scenario and to prioritize them. Students will have an opportunity to enact the scenario exercise themselves, devising their own scenarios, and deciding whether the LEGO Group should build a factory in an Asian location in the next five to seven years. In order to facilitate a discussion about the challenges of designing a "winning organization," the case also presents difficult choices that executives had to make about the LEGO Group's strategy, choice of primary customers, core capabilities, and organizational structure. In order to facilitate a discussion about the challenges of designing a "winning organization", the case also presents difficult choices that executives had to make about the LEGO Group's strategy, choice of primary customers, core capabilities, and organizational structure.

The owner and general manager of a large retail establishment faced a dilemma about whether his long-time yard manager was still the right person for the job. The business increasingly depended on providing superior customer service in order to compete in the market. Recently, the owner had placed a personal friend in the operation as an assistant to the yard manager. This new addition had shown a real talent for developing employees and driving performance improvements. As a result, customer service feedback had drastically improved. The owner realized that the assistant had become the real leader of the yard. He wondered how to keep the momentum of the changes going while still showing due respect to a loyal employee.

In 1985, M.C. Mehta, a lawyer and head of his own environmental NGO, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India to enforce the 1981 Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in the environs of India's National Capital Region (NCR). In 1988, World Bank experts had advised the Indian government that given the extent to which air pollution in the National Capital Region came from an increasingly large fleet of passenger vehicles, an effective policy would be to mandate relatively clean compressed natural gas (CNG) in public transportation vehicles. Although the government had actively considered a series of policies, it had failed to implement any. By the early 1990s, New Delhi was the fourth-most polluted city in the world. By June 1998, the sub-particulate matter concentration in Delhi's air was three times higher than the standards set by India's Central Pollution Control Board. This case follows India's Supreme Court ruling in 1998 that all buses, taxis, and auto-rickshaws in Delhi be switched to clean fuels by March 31, 2001. Public transportation operators, the regional government, and Delhi residents all had interests at stake and were not necessarily supportive of the changes. The case is divided into 3 parts-A, B, and C-and sets up an analysis of how the Supreme Court ultimately achieved its mandate.