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In 2001, the head of the Paris Subway reflected on how to transform Line 1 into a driverless line without triggering a social conflict. After the shock of the 2000 Notre Dame de Lorette subway accident, in which a train derailed and caused 25 injuries in a Paris subway station, the state-owned Paris subway operator Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) decided to adopt new security measures and considered the opportunity to automate the oldest and the busiest line of the network. The Head of the Paris Subway, Serge Lagrange, believed that automating Line 1 would improve security as well as performance. However, the automation would bring about the downsizing of 219 drivers' positions. Lagrange had to figure out how to get the RATP employees on board, particularly drivers and trade unions. How could he convince them of the necessity to automate Line 1? How could he prevent the potentially major social conflict that might result from downsizing the drivers' positions?

This case examines a proposed growth equity investor in a Russian fashion retail chain.

The case relates to understanding and comparing the performance of two leading retail companies-Ahold and Tesco. The case introduces the tools of Dupont and Modified Dupont Decomposition. While performance as measured by return on equity has been similar for the two companies, Ahold has had significantly better stock market performance compared to Tesco. Ahold also has a significant amount of cash on its balance sheet leading to low levels of net debt. The case requires students to analyze performance using Modified Dupont Decomposition techniques to assess if firm performance is resulting from operating profitability or from financial leverage and then suggest strategies to improve performance. To perform the modified Dupont Decomposition, students learn how to reformat and condense the balance sheet and income statement to separately measure profitability arising from operating activities and financing activities. Students also see how excess cash holdings can depress profitability and what factors should drive the appropriate level of leverage for a company.

Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of the marketplace challenge and proceeded to develop and execute on a new business plan. Simon gave the team ample freedom to develop new processes and priorities appropriate to the market segment needs, but he couldn't help but wonder whether it would continue as a stand-alone unit or he would need to reintegrate it into the mainline business. He also was nervous about the plan itself. The team had established timelines and milestones, but now they had to execute and deliver thjeir first product next year.

On February 2011, a large earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand, causing loss of life. The Crusaders, a major sports franchise headquartered in Christchurch, must plan for the season, given that its facility has been extensively damaged and the season has already commenced. The franchisee board, managers, coaches and players have to deal with this catastrophe and build morale in the community by deciding what to do. The case examines the processes of decision-making and the participative nature of decisions involving players as well as management. The case examines the key role that leadership and character play in contingency and scenario planning.

This case study discusses the initiatives taken by Unilever, one of the world's leading fast moving consumer goods companies, to promote sustainability, by using the example of Lipton Tea in Turkey. In November 2010, Unilever launches the ambitious "Unilever Sustainable Living Plan", committing to a ten-year sustainable growth plan. Lipton defies the traditional approach of introducing sustainable products as a niche brand in the market. Instead the company adopts a large-scale mainstream approach, planning that by 2015, all the tea in Lipton teabags will be sourced from Rainforest AllianceTM Certified farms, and by 2020, every kilogram of tea will be sourced sustainably.

Dr. Casey had just come out of a long meeting with his business manager, Linda Baker, and he was quite concerned. She shared with him that his practice was losing $10,000 a month on monthly revenues of approximately $90,000. Just six months ago he had opened a new office and expected his profit to be growing rather than shrinking. Did he make the wrong decision? He wondered what he should be doing to at least get back to a breakeven level for his practice as a whole.

In an overview of natural gas as a fossil fuel and traded commodity, the case describes various regional markets of natural gas, highlighting diversity of price formation mechanisms across and within those markets. Recent changes in the economics of unconventional natural gas extraction-"the shale revolution"-could potentially remake those markets, steering the world toward the "golden age" of natural gas.

On January 16, 2009, after a dismal holiday season, Circuit City was forced into liquidation. Unable to meet creditors' demands, and with no acquirer in sight, Circuit City began the process of liquidating its remaining 567 U.S. stores. Circuit City had been the leader in consumer electronics retailing for nearly twenty years when its profits peaked in 2000. What led to its dramatic decline? Why did three CEOs fail to turn it around? Were these problems present before the 2000 peak?

Rose Carpenter is a successful entrepreneur who is considering the personal implications of leaving the business she created to pursue her own interests.

This case is used in Darden's first-year course "Global Economies and Markets" and taught at the University of Virginia's School of Architecture, though it is also appropriate for courses in environmental sustainability. A technical note titled "Water Markets from an Economic Point of View" (UV6903) was developed to accompany this case or other cases addressing the topic of global water supply. In 2010, Australian funds were looking for foreign investors in the country's water market. Funds advertised water as "blue gold." Australian Causeway Asset Management, for example, expected high future returns because of the "chronic supply/demand imbalance for Australian water, which will result in higher water prices. Owning Australian Water Entitlements provides investors with direct exposure to water prices." There was quite a story to be told about water on this continent of notably variable weather, especially since the "Big Dry," also known as the Millennium Drought. More than anything, the drought had supported water markets as a central tool in Australian water management. As the drought receded, the floods of 2009, 2010, and 2011 took its place, so water prices were low and potentially attractive for buyers abroad.

This case focuses on POSCO, the world's most profitable steelmaker and third largest steelmaker by volume for crude steel production. When Jung Jun-Yang became POSCO chief executive in 2009, he envisioned trust to be the foundation of POSCO's success in achieving sustainable co-prosperity with its stakeholders. Believing that "trust is POSCO's identity" and "trust is based on communication," he launched the 'trust communication' initiative in 2010. This initiative coincided with the start of POSCO's third phase of growth for 2010-2020 decade. For this phase, the company aims to become a truly sustainable corporation. The case describes the trust-related challenges that Jung faces as he launches the initiative. In addition, it shows some preliminary results from the company's nascent initiative and the problems that continue to confront POSCO's management as the company strives to achieve long-term sustainability through a system focused on 'Great Harmony', which is based on trust and communication.

Viki is a web portal that provides video content with crowdsourced multi-lingual subtitles. It relies on an active community of fans to add captions and subtitles in numerous languages to premium videos (movies, television shows) from around the world - thus opening up new markets and enabling new viewers to enjoy the content. Leveraging crowd-sourced subtitling enables Viki to distribute non- English, non-US television content to foreign markets quickly and cheaply. The case begins as Nadine Yap, vice president at Viki, prepares for a major redesign of the website to meet the requirements of the growing company. She laments that when the company fixes bugs or makes improvements, community members often complain and even leave. The community of fans and 'subbers' is at the heart of what Viki does, so staying authentic is crucial to the company's sustainability. How should Yap and Viki go about maintaining the delicate balance between being an authentic site that is supported by an informal community and a slick, commercial operation?

On January 6, 2010, Stanko Grmovsek was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for making profits of an estimated US$9 million over 14 years based on insider tips from his best friend from law school, Gil Cornblum. Grmovsek and Cornblum had operated an illegal insider trading scheme from 1994 until 2008. Using his role as a corporate lawyer at various law firms, Cornblum had passed material non-public information related to 46 takeovers to Grmovsek, who then traded illegally using brokerage accounts located in the Bahamas and Ontario. On October 27, 2009, Grmovsek pleaded guilty to all charges against him in both Canada and the United States following a joint investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

This case explores how to manage the political risks of using a controversial energy extraction technology in the European Union. San Leon Energy, an Irish energy firm, was committed to developing large unconventional shale gas reserves in Poland. To reach these reserves, San Leon needed to use a technique called hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"). Pioneered in the United States during the early 2000s, fracking involved pumping a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into a reservoir at high pressure to crack shale formations, releasing gas to flow up the well. The natural gas produced by this process provided a substantially cleaner energy alternative to coal. Additionally, since large, previously inaccessible shale gas reserves were located in the United States, Canada, China, and parts of Europe, fracking had the potential to revolutionize the geopolitics of the energy industry. However, American and European environmental groups grew concerned that fracking could contaminate local drinking water, generate air pollution, cause minor earthquakes, and crowd out investment in renewable energy alternatives. The Polish government supported fracking as a way to dramatically bolster the country's domestic gas production and reduce its energy dependence on Russia. Yet in 2011 and 2012, environmental protests worldwide grew, causing several countries, including Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Romania, and parts of Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to issue temporary fracking bans. Since San Leon Energy's management called Poland "the heartbeat of our company," the company faced the challenging tasks of mitigating environmentalists' concerns and preventing a Polish or EU-wide fracking ban.

In the spring of 2008, the marketing manager of Wheaties was getting ready for a meeting to discuss ideas about how to reinvigorate one of the most iconic and well-known cereal brands in America, which over the preceding few years had experienced a steady decline in market share. The only limitation the manager would impose was that any new product could not replace the original Wheaties. Otherwise, she was open to any opportunity to differentiate Wheaties from the orange box and yet fully embody the brand equity.

Many organizations underestimate the challenges associated with the use of a knowledge management system (KMS). To better understand the nature of these challenges, this case describes the knowledge management efforts of a state governmental agency in the United States: Technology Project Authority (TPA). The case focuses on the three main phases of the TPA's knowledge management strategy, between 2004 and 2008. Under pressure to improve its business processes to sustain its expertise in IT project management, TPA implemented two KMS during the period covered in the case. In the end, the second KMS was still not used as intended. Giving our teaching objectives, students are asked to determine the characteristics of an organizational environment conducive to knowledge management activities, to evaluate the strategic alignment of the KMS, and to suggest a tailored method of analysis and reengineering for an integrated system such as the KMS needed at TPA.

The microstock photography industry took shape in the early 2000s, when iStockphoto commercialized its online catalogue of images contributed by a community of amateur and semi-professional photographers. This case takes place about four years after iStockphoto's purchase by Getty Images, an event that signalled a shift of market dominance from traditional stock photo houses to their microstock competitors. The industry has changed dramatically. Three firms - iStockphoto, Shutterstock and Fotolia LLC - control the lion's share of a mature market, and each dominates a particular segment. The Fotolia management team must find ways to grow Fotolia N.A., even as competitors also seek to exploit the "long tail" in the market. The case asks students to develop strategies to generate new revenue in this rapidly changing environment.

On January 15, 2009, shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of Canada geese. The geese were then sucked into the plane's twin engines, causing total engine failure and the loss of power. Case A of this three-part series recounts how over the following four minutes, Flight 1549's Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles grappled with a variety of extreme challenges. Not only did they have to keep the plane under control, but they also had to quickly decide whether they could make an emergency landing at a nearby airport - or find another alternative to get the plane down safely in one of the most crowded regions in the country. Cases B and C then describe how, after the plane landed in the cold waters of the Hudson River, emergency responders from many agencies and private organizations - converging on the scene without a prior action plan for this type of emergency - scrambled to both rescue passengers and crew and stabilize the aircraft as it began to move downstream. Case Number 1966

A senior product manager for a telecommunications company has been asked to propose ideas for generating new revenue from video gamers who use his company's Internet services. The manager has commissioned the development of "experience maps" for three subsegments within the gamer segment. The experience maps, which are reproduced in the case, provide students with an opportunity to generate customer insights based on real qualitative data.