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Barcelo Hotels and Resorts must decide whether to allow its many hotels to continue to undertake separate promotional campaigns or to run, for the first time, a broad corporate-level promotion. Complicating the decision is the fact that the many hotels in its portfolio vary greatly in their character, clientele, positioning, and locations.

Cheezburger Network was a Web publisher of humorous, user-contributed content, using social media for dissemination, and selling advertising against the traffic of 1 billion page views per quarter. In January 2011, it raised $30 million in venture capital for the network of 50 websites that featured an entertaining array of user-generated content. Beginning with a site based on pictures of cats with whimsical captions, it had grown into a small but impressive digital empire, riding waves of viral content. CEO Ben Huh prided himself on his ability to go from idea to implementation in just a few days, but this just-in-time method made strategic planning difficult. Profitable from day one and with $5 million of revenue across 50 brand identities, Huh's challenge was to evaluate his growth to date, to look critically at the digital media landscape, and to figure out how to best to spend the $30 million.

Singapore Airlines has won countless awards for its customer service. For 16 of the past 17 years, it was named the world's best airline in Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards, and unlike many of its competitors, it managed to remain profitable in the early 2000s. But now the airline's rivals have taken note of its customer service and have begun following its lead. Can Singapore Airlines maintain its high standards as it continues to grow? Is it possible to contain costs without sacrificing service? This case teaches students about the challenges of responding to customers and strategies for satisfying customer demands.

Hardina Smythe, a recent MBA graduate, has just joined a top-tier venture capital firm in the difficult environment of late 2010. Her first assignment is to evaluate three different deals and make recommendations to the partners. Each potential investment has strengths and drawbacks for both the firm and Hardina.

Greg Mazur decided to purchase a small business after graduating from the Harvard Business School. The case explores his decision about whether or not he should finalize his deal to purchase Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods, Inc. ("GEPP"). It gives students the opportunity to consider his search process, his due diligence about the company, his post-purchase plans, his valuation analysis and the structure of the potential transaction.

Briggs Capital was a regional mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that helped owners to sell their small firms. The case presents a company that was for sale in the fall of 2010 - a troubled manufacturer of post and beam style homes and log homes. Using the actual information that was available to potential buyers, students evaluate the potential acquisition.

The development coordinator for Just Us! Development Education Society (JUDES) was reviewing the preliminary agenda for the JUDES Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting would take place some time between May 1 and May 14, 2010, National Fair Trade Weeks. The coordinator was preparing her to-do list for the event. Just Us!, a Nova Scotia, Canada-based cooperative that offered fair trade products, had a very loyal regional following, and the coordinator wanted to communicate how the premium paid for fair trade products actually helped producer communities. She was planning several events for the AGM, but, most importantly, presentations and discussion of the Community-based Tourism (CBT) trip they had taken to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2009, and had planned to take again in 2010. For the AGM presentation, she wanted to organize the trip guidelines and the budget information into a triple bottom line format.<br><br>The case can be taught in conjunction with two previous cases: Marketing Planning at Just Us! Cafes, Ivey product # 9B09A014 and Just Us! Coffee Roasters, Ivey product #9B06A027.

A consumer goods analyst has been asked to understand the governance structure and various risks facing Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA (Richemont), a Swiss-based luxury goods conglomerate. Richemont has emerged as one of the premier luxury brand houses in the world and is controlled by a single person, Johann Rupert. The case describes the development of Richemont and provides information on various aspects of the firm, including its many luxury brand houses, management's preferences and competitor information with which to conduct a comparator analysis.

Barrick Gold, the largest gold producer in the world, has taken steps to eliminate its longstanding gold hedging program. In its early years, Barrick's hedging program was a key factor allowing the firm to grow amidst falling gold prices. But Barricks management team faced questions about its hedging program when gold prices started to rise in the 2000s. The case allows students to review Barrick's hedging program and consider the impact of its decision not to hedge going forward.

Infusion had grown over the 10 years between 2000 and 2010 to become a $50 million per year international software services business with 350 employees. The president is wondering how he could move the company towards becoming a $100 million per year international business through a mixture of organic growth and initiative with partners. The entrepreneurial vision of its original founders lived on in many ways, but the company had found it necessary to install an administrative structure with a professional management layer to underpin delivery in both domestic and international markets. It had not been an easy ride. The company had encountered problems in India, and there had been periods of staff attrition and challenging deliveries to clients. Clients were beginning to pull the company in new directions. The pace of technology change appeared to be relentless. While entrepreneurship was still encouraged in the form of an incubator called Infusion Angels, the CEO was faced with some critical decisions.

As Southwest neared its 40th year of service, the company was facing some major challenges. Legacy carriers in the United States had become more efficient, and the recent mega-mergers involving Delta/Northwest and Continental/United were shaking up the industry. Smaller companies like JetBlue and Allegiant were pressuring Southwest's cost-advantage and low-fare focus. A major internal challenge for Southwest would be managing its acquisitions of AirTran, a deal announced in late 2010. To make the acquisition a success, the company would have to integrate a workforce of more than 8,000 (about 25% the size of Southwest), a fleet of aircraft different from the Boeing 737s used by Southwest, and new markets that included non-U.S. destinations.

In 2009 Brandeis University was coping with a budget deficit brought on by the global financial crisis, prompting its president and board of trustees to announce the closing of the Rose Art Museum and the sale of its $350 million collection. The news came as an unwelcome surprise to the museum's director and board of overseers, as well as to students and faculty, with many objecting to the lack of transparency in the decision-making process.

PatientsLikeMe (PLM) is an online community where patients share their personal experiences with a disease, find other patients like them, and learn from each other. The company was founded by Jamie and Ben Heywood when their 29-year-old brother was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. In less than five years, PLM has grown to 15 patient communities where over 80,000 patients discuss 19 diseases. In December 2010, PLM is discussing its planned launch of a General Platform that would expand the number of diseases covered from 19 to over 3,500. Is it the right move, and what does PLM need to do to make it a success?

The president of Oakville Hydro Energy services needed to make a decision on the installation of an electricity-generating engine at the regional municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant in Burlington, Ontario. This engine installation was in support of the production of green power, by which the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) introduced a feed-in tariff that paid a premium for the generation of this type of green power. One of three specific engines would be purchased and installed to generate electricity from the combustible gases produced during wastewater treatment. The president had to decide which engine generator would produce the most favourable output and the best return for Oakville Hydro and the municipality. The president also needed to decide whether or not to integrate the existing on-site gas storage tank into the controls of the generator system.

First-year Columbia Business School student Kristen Peters hoped her summer internship with Taylor Reed (TR) would lead to a job offer in private wealth management. Yet mid-way through the internship, Peters received poor feedback, with TR executives citing her low energy and disregard for the firm's rules by checking her phone during classroom time. Vowing to improve her image, Peters completed extra work and extended her networking efforts. By summer's end, Peters remained unsure whether a job offer would be forthcoming. In this case students examine Peters' performance and TR's culture before discussing strategies for building influence. This two-part case series asks students to identify Peter's goals, detect office politics, and discuss how she handles the company culture. It concludes that jobs often possess both meritocratic and political components.

ALAC was a small importer of specialty industrial chemicals. The case explores the different financing alternatives to facilitate the company's explosive growth in working capital. At the end of 2009, the company was awarded the United States distributorship for the specialty chemical di-isononyl phthalate (DINP) from a large Taiwanese producer and had almost tripled its sales in 2010. It expected to double its sales in 2011 and to dramatically increase its profits. ALAC critically needed to obtain financing for the explosive growth in its inventory and accounts receivable balances.

Gemini Investors was a private equity firm focused on small and lower middle market businesses. Gemini's target investment size was between $4 million and $6 million and a typical portfolio company had revenue of between $8 million and $30 million. In early 2015, Gemini was completing the investment of Gemini's Fund V and it was deciding whether it should raise a fund sized similarly to their prior funds, or alternatively, raising a significantly larger fund.

Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also government policies supporting a rival technology. Wen Yibo has used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately held company providing the entire supply chain of water treatment, waste water, and integrated municipal solid waste capabilities. The company's services include engineering, manufacturing, consulting, "engineer, procure construct," "build operate transfer," and other forms of public-private partnership. The handling of municipal solid waste takes up to 50% of the annual budget of many urban areas in the developing world. The ability to use private sector funds and expertise could be critical to urban development. However, state owned enterprises can observe the success of private business and can enter and compete using their own skills, contacts, and inexpensive capital. The government may also be interested in subsidizing incineration over composting as a part of "waste to energy" strategy, even though this is less efficient than generating electricity from a coal or gas plant. The company has to decide whether to stick to its waste management roots or expand into an opportunistic incineration technology with minimal and nominal waste-to-energy benefits.

Can an online discussion forum supply insight into the evolution of brand meaning? In 2003 Porsche launched a sport utility vehicle, dividing Porsche purists from newcomers to the brand. Vocal members of online and offline Porsche communities ridiculed the Cayenne SUV and disapproved of the new breed of driver. Some opposed offering Porsche Club membership to them, and some even refused to extend the fraternal Porsche "wave" or headlight flashing to them on the road. Porsche's values of speed, luxury, and a certain masculine zeal resonated strongly with its devotees, while drivers of the Cayenne (which came to be known as "the SUV for soccer moms") tended to be safety-conscious, family-oriented, and conservative. Evolving debates on forums allow a class to debate whether the brand had strayed too far from its core values and was at risk.

In late 2008, executives at Coca-Cola had to decide what to do with a fan-created page on Facebook that had amassed over one million followers in three months. From a legal point of view the fan-created page was in violation of Facebook's terms of service, because a non-copyright holder was using the imagery and logo associated with a known brand. Facebook contacted Michael Donnelly, Group Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing for The Coca-Cola Company, to let him know that he was in the position to take down the hugely popular fan-created site or, conversely, he could take it over and make it an official marketing channel for the company. Coke was already revisiting its social media policies, with the Diet Coke and Mentos user-generated video incident fresh in its memory. Those videos, which featured elaborate geysers with Diet Coke as their main ingredient, were among the most viewed online videos at the time but were not initially sanctioned by the company. Donnelly knew that opening up the brand to creative consumers was necessary, but he and his team had to figure out how and to what extent they should do so while still protecting one of the world's most valuable brands.