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LEGO has emerged as one of the most successful companies in the toy industry. The case describes LEGO's gradual rise, rapid decline, and recent revitalization as it is keeping up with a changing market place. Central to LEGO's management model is the ability to find the right balance among growing through innovation, staying true to its core, and controlling operational complexity.

Examines the investment process of Generation Investment Management, a "sustainable" investing firm established in 2004 by David Blood and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Places students in the position of David Lowish, director of global industrials, who must decide whether to recommend an investment in ABB India. The decision pits economic development-supplying energy to impoverished rural areas in India, against environmental damage-caused by the use of coal-fired power plants. This case and/or its teaching note includes references to case supplement videos that are intended for students to view, along with the written case, before class. As a reminder, the (A) video supplement is intended for students to view before class, along with the written case, while the (B) video supplement is for faculty only and to be used in-class.

This case explores French consumer goods company Danone's novel approach to knowledge management. In 2007, Human Resource Chief (Executive Vice President) Franck Mougin assessed the company's knowledge-sharing tools and considers his options going forward. Through informal knowledge marketplaces and sharing networks, Danone had helped managers connect with each other and share good practices peer-to-peer, rather than relying on traditional hierarchical lines of communication or IT repositories. From 2004 to 2007, Mougin and his team had found that 5,000 Danone managers around the world-the company conducted business in 120 countries-had shared about 640 now-documented good practices. In 2007, the strategic importance of saving time in a decentralized organization through adoption of colleagues' good practices was put to a test. Should the knowledge management tools be extended to include all employees and external partners on a regular basis? And on top of sharing good practices, could it be extended to include the creation of new solutions and processes? Would this require more formalization of processes and more tracking of results? The case illustrates Mougin's options on taking knowledge management into the future of Danone.

This case and the Warner Bros. Pictures: The Harry Potter Dilemma case are set in December 2010 and represent industry consultants thinking about how to market the final installments of very successful movie franchises. Both Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures want to market their movie to gain the greatest gross (i.e. box office ticket revenue). Each company must take into account the scheduling of the other players in the market. The cases also deal with changes in the movie industry. These include the expansion of the number of 3D movies and the importance of franchise movies.

This case and the Paramount Pictures: The Transformers Dilemma case are set in December 2010 and represent industry consultants thinking about how to market the final installments of very successful movie franchises. Both Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures want to market their movie to gain the greatest gross (i.e. box office ticket revenue). Each company must take into account the scheduling of the other players in the market. The cases also deal with changes in the movie industry. These include the expansion of the number of 3D movies and the importance of franchise movies.

This case explores the problems that Tetra Pak India faced in its ambitious goal of recycling post-consumer cartons (PCC) in India, and the approach that it adopted in overcoming obstacles. It provides a deep understanding of PCC recycling and Tetra Pak's broad program of incorporating social, environmental, health, and ethical issues in its day-to-day operations. Evident in the case are Tetra Pak India's efforts to meet environmental objectives and the seemingly insurmountable challenges in India that appeared to prevent it from attaining its goals. The case offers students an opportunity for an intellectually stimulating discussion on whether or not, and how, Tetra Pak India overcame problems to succeed in its PCC recycling initiative. Students will be able to understand the importance of the partnerships and alliances that Tetra Pak forged with non-governmental organizations, scrap dealers, rag-pickers, commercial establishments, and organizations that championed the cause of the environment. With ever-changing mindsets, increasing regulations, and growing customer expectations in India, Tetra Pak would have to be on its toes to ensure that its success from the PCC recycling initiative could be sustained and scaled up in the future. The case explores how Tetra Pak India could face the challenges of the future.

Financial results and conditions vary among companies for a number of reasons. The differences in industry characteristics, in company policies, in management performance, and in responsiveness to the macroeconomic environment are reflected in the financial statements published by publicly held companies and can be highlighted through the use of financial ratios.

Cargill, Inc., the privately owned, U.S.-based agribusiness company, was one of the largest sellers of palm oil in the world. Starting in 2007, the company was targeted by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that advocated environmentalism. RAN targeted Cargill because the production of palm oil in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia destroyed rainforests. RAN pressured Cargill's customers such as Nestle to demand palm oil produced by sustainable farming. Palm oil producers formed an industry monitoring body called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). A September 2011 announcement of Indonesia's withdrawal from the RSPO warranted a response from Cargill to combat the strident protest of RAN. Cargill's CEO had to come up with a plan of action to respond to RAN's demands.

The protagonist is considering acquiring a timber property located in rural China, a region where almost no timberland investment has taken place. The question is how to value the property, including understanding the appropriate risk-adjusted return.

The protagonist is trying to decide whether to purchase and develop an aquifer lying beneath rural land near Fresno, California. The project could fill a void for local farmers as well as surrounding municipalities and a variety of other customers throughout California.

Superior Savings Bank was a small community bank that had been operating in Superior, Wisconsin, since 1924. Its corporate office was located downtown and two nearby branches were opened-one in a prominent grocery store, SuperOne Foods, and one in a big-box supercenter, Walmart. The Board of Directors and top management were content with the bank's size and performance. However, in 2012, another growth opportunity presented itself, and a decision had to be made whether to maintain the status quo or add a third branch. The bank had the option of offering services in a soon-to-be-constructed SuperOne Foods in the east part of town (3 miles from the corporate office). The bank's President and CEO, David H. Stack, needed to determine whether to expand or keep the bank's operations at its current level.

The case opens with Paul Cope's excitement and optimism about the future possibilities of the library-automation industry. His optimism was tempered by the fact that the library market was very mature and libraries in both Canada and the U.S. were confronted with shrinking budgets. Although Paul Cope was hopeful about the future possibilities of the library-automation industry, A-G had to find a way to increase revenues in its North American business in the face of declining library budgets. The case describes the library-automation industry, the market segments served, the products offered by the firms in the industry, the trends affecting the industry, and the challenges faced by incumbents in the industry. It then describes competition in the PAC segment, which was intense throughout the 2000s. Competing technologies included SaaS (Software as a Service) and open-systems software. Markets were also changing. One ongoing issue was that library patrons belonged to a generation accustomed to Google-like search engines and the latest and greatest technologies, so held high expectations for a library's ease of use and breadth of content. Libraries needed to make radical changes to redefine their relevancy with their community of users and to keep up with changes in technologies including eBooks, eJournals and other online resources. The case then describes A-G itself-how it innovates, its product line, and its financial statements over the past five years. The case ends with the challenges facing Paul Cope and A-G. The case will challenge students to integrate industry and competitive dynamics with market demands and technological trends and devise a set of worthy strategic alternatives commensurate with its financial resources to help A-G continue to grow in the future.

In 2011 Nespresso, the premium single-serve coffee brand of the multinational Swiss company Nestle, found itself at a crossroads. Between 2006 and 2010 Nespresso had managed to nearly triple sales - from CHF 1.16 billion to well over CHF 3 billion. But despite its meteoric growth in recent years, competitors were moving to try to challenge Nespresso's dominance of the premium single-serve coffee market by launching their own single-serve concepts. Some of these competitors had developed capsules compatible with the Nespresso system, and had aggressively pushed into the supermarket channel where Nespresso itself remained completely absent. Nespresso had to understand the degree to which it could sustain its competitive advantage in the premium single-serve coffee market in the face of growing competition, and develop strategies to address the growing threat of competitors who were offering Nespresso compatible capsules. The case helps students to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts of innovation, branding, business system fit, sustainable competitive advantage and responding to low-cost competitors. It is intended for MBA courses in Strategic Management, Innovation and Marketing. It can also be used in executive education programs, for example as part of a competitive strategy program to discuss issues related to strategy, competitive advantage and responding to low-cost rivals.

Mr. Kincade is contemplating starting a business. Students must analyze the financial forecasts and assess the level of risk

This case enables students to gain insights in two areas of control system design: transfer pricing and how a myopic view of control systems can create problems; in two instances the company considered a specific behavioral aspect of a measurement scheme, but neglected to recognize the possibility of undesirable side effects of its approach.

This case requires students to determine an appropriate price for a product in a market where the company is not the price leader

This case focuses on the compensation system for a primary care physicians group at a large physician-hospital organization (PHO). Apogee comprised a diverse group of practices and was in the process of modifying a compensation system that it had developed and implemented one year earlier in a largely fee-for- service environment. The physician leaders need to decide how to change the system, given that a major payer, representing about 30% of its revenue, was switching from fee-for-service to capitation.

This case lends itself to the use of a rather simple spreadsheet, which can be used to both build a budget and to examine opportunities for increasing the budgeted surplus.

It's 2008 and Spanish food retailer Superado is on course to miss its financial targets. According to company policy, this means that Superado should withhold all bonuses for the year. But the company has an unbroken tradition of paying out bonuses and treating its workforce well--and it enjoys low staff turnover and high productivity as a result. In this fictionalized case study, based on a Harvard Business School case by Zeynep Ton and Simon Harrow, CEO Luisa Fernandez faces a dilemma: Should Superado reward its employees for maintaining outstanding productivity in an economic crisis, or should it save its resources as a buffer against worse to come? Daniela Beyersdorfer, Vincent Dessain, and Zeynep Ton present this fictionalized case study with expert commentary provided by Nicolas Hollanders and Marcos Barberan.

It's 2008 and Spanish food retailer Superado is on course to miss its financial targets. According to company policy, this means that Superado should withhold all bonuses for the year. But the company has an unbroken tradition of paying out bonuses and treating its workforce well--and it enjoys low staff turnover and high productivity as a result. In this fictionalized case study, based on a Harvard Business School case by Zeynep Ton and Simon Harrow, CEO Luisa Fernandez faces a dilemma: Should Superado reward its employees for maintaining outstanding productivity in an economic crisis, or should it save its resources as a buffer against worse to come? Daniela Beyersdorfer, Vincent Dessain, and Zeynep Ton present this fictionalized case study.