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On April 4, 2007, talk show host Don Imus, while chatting with his sidekicks on his morning radio program, referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team-which had lost a college championship game the previous evening-as "nappy-headed hos." This was not the first time that Imus and the regulars on his show-which was nationally syndicated by CBS Radio and simulcast on MSNBC-had ed racial and sexual innuendo into their early morning banter. "Imus in the Morning" had long been a show that alternated serious conversation with prominent politicians and journalists with crass locker-room humor and gibes directed at homosexuals, blacks, Jews, and other ethnic minorities, most of them figures in sports, entertainment, or politics. In the past, Imus had weathered occasional protests against his insulting brand of humor, but this time would be different. His remark about the Rutgers team was picked up by a liberal media watchdog group and posted, with an accompanying video clip, on its website and, later, on YouTube. Almost immediately, there was an outcry from black organizations and leaders, and calls for Imus to be fired. An apology by Imus did nothing to quiet critics, as other groups and individuals began to clamor for him to be taken off the air. Media coverage, spotty at first, expanded as protest grew more vocal. In a little over a week, the controversy came to a head. With advertisers bailing out and critics unappeased by apologies and a two-week suspension, NBC, and CBS abruptly canceled the long-running show. HKS Case Number 1920.0

The iPierian case profiles a startup biotechnology company leveraging the recent development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-adult stem cells that have been reprogrammed to a "pluripotent" state whereby they can differentiate into approximately 200 different cell types in the body. The science in this field is in the nascent stages, but the pace of change is rapid as new discoveries are made and as companies devise applications for the technology. iPierian has established itself as an early leader in the space by creating a consistent way to create high volumes of high quality iPSCs and subsequently differentiate those cells into motor neurons. The company must decide between three major directions-tools, drug development of therapeutics-in which it can steer the business and continue to develop its technology. iPierian must also make this decision in the context of the role of large pharmaceutical players in the industry with whom they can either partner or potentially compete against in the race to find successful applications for iPSC technology.

The chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Foods, Inc., a food processing company employing 23,000 people in more than 50 locations, has just been advised that a deadly outbreak of Listeriosis has been linked to products shipped from a Maple Leaf Foods plant and that there have been several fatalities and many more severe illnesses linked to this contamination. He must decide what to do immediately, within the next few days, and in the longer term to deal with the problem and the effect that the negative publicity will almost certainly have on the company.

"AWARD-WINNING CASE: Adjudged second best case at the ISB Case Competition 2010 held in partnership with the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Association of Indian Management Schools and sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. This case describes the successful journey of Dr. Amita Joshi in a medium-sized pharmaceuticals organization, Samuel Drugs, in India, which was facing serious performance problems. Joshi realized that the organization had strong manufacturing capability; however, it lacked marketing excellence and badly needed someone who could be tasked with making the company marketing-oriented. Joshi selected, out of turn, a young general manager of sales, Rajesh Mishra, as director of marketing. He proved to be an excellent choice and performed very well in his new role. Samuel Drugs had three subsidiaries, and one of them, Eastern Pharmaceuticals Limited (EPL), required a managing director, and Mishra was selected. He also continued to perform his previous role of director of marketing. Then conflict ensued between Joshi and Mishra. This case reveals the important roles of communication, coordination, multiple and diverse stakeholders, and organizational conflict in determining organizational effectiveness. This case also highlights the point that managers need to tackle both formal and informal aspects of an organization, rational and social sides of organizational life, and changing dynamics of relationships and networks."

An established winery's first marketing director is charged with reviving the once-hot brand. Cofounded by an expert winemaker with ties to the famous Château Lafite-Rothschild, Clos Du Val had seen its glory days, with high ratings accompanied by robust sales. During the 1990s, however, sales had begun to lag, though it was unclear why. What should the new marketing director do first? A teaching note is available to verified faculty that covers both this condensed A and B case and the longer A and B cases as well as the follow-up C case (UVA-M-0749); a multimedia case supplement featuring interviews with the principals is also available.

It is 2010, and Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, is contemplating the next steps for his organization. Founded in 2004 in California, oDesk operates an online marketplace that matches Employers with Contractors. oDesk provides fact-based information on Contractors, including experience, skills, and certifications, to Employers, who use this information as a basis for interviewing and hiring Contractors. oDesk's online marketplace also includes a payment platform and tools that allow Employers to audit and verify Contractors' work and time sheets. oDesk collects commissions, approximately 10% of gross services, on all work that goes through its platform. oDesk has enjoyed robust growth since its inception and to date has focused on a very distinct market segment: small and medium-sized employers, Contractors who provide computer programming services, and U.S.-based employers hiring overseas Contractors. Swart believes that the time has come for oDesk to expand beyond this niche, but he is concerned about maintaining oDesk's strong reputation and market positioning and, as such, he wants to grow in a very focused manner. Should oDesk expand its customer focus to include large employers? Broaden the services its marketplace offers beyond computer programming? Widen its geographic reach? Each of these growth options offers opportunities and entails costs. Swart considers each of these in turn.

Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, had announced plans to sustain GDP growth above 5 percent annually and continue the country's leadership role among emerging economies. Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil benefited from strong economic growth and stable policies under the Lula administration. Brazil also increasingly led the BRICs (the fast-growing countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in multilateral negotiations, notably in the World Trade Organization's Doha Round. Yet Brazil's actions to enforce a compulsory license of a patented therapy for HIV/AIDS and its victory in a longstanding WTO dispute with the United States over cotton subsidies had created tensions with major trading partners. Entering office in January 2011, Rousseff had the opportunity to outline a new agenda for international trade. Specifically, she had to decide whether to seek completion of the Doha Round, which was in a stalemate due to disputes over global intellectual property rules and agricultural subsidies and tariffs, or to instead pursue regional trade agreements in South and Central America. Rousseff also pledged active government involvement in the economy, described in the case as "Brazilian capitalism," but it was unclear whether fiscal expansion coupled with conservative monetary policies would reduce bottlenecks to growth and further temper Brazil's high inequality.

In January 2007, Hazem Ben-Gacem, managing director and co-head of Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), needs to decide what to bid at an auction for Moneybookers Limited, one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe. However, approximately 70% of Moneybookers revenues were related to transactions from online gaming sites (down from 100% in 2002). Although the thesis was that e-commerce transactions would soon make up a much larger chunk of the company's revenues, high gaming revenue still raised some questions. Between now and when Ben-Gacem had first submitted a bid of €60 million for Moneybookers back in November 2006, the U.S. Congress had enacted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act putting pressure on e-payment firms with gambling exposure. How would investors in ITP view this transaction? Ben-Gacem also worried about whether Moneybookers could manage the growth of its business and the evolution of regulation around monetary transactions. Moneybookers had effectively become a type of bank with deposit accounts and capital adequacy requirements and all the reporting that went along with it. But could an internet startup maintain the compliance and accounting standards necessary to handle such scrutiny? Could it succeed-and if it did, what would it be worth?

Leaders at Aquion Energy, a Pittsburgh-based battery start-up, are deciding on a market entry strategy. Should they pursue the large but unproven grid utility market or a smaller, but higher margin market?

RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service-sold via phone and live online webinars-that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction paperwork (e.g., tenant applications, credit screening, lease documents), all through a single, intuitive, web-based interface. The case explores RentJuice's early development and the challenges it confronted in scaling its direct sales effort.

This case addresses the theme of crisis leadership in a multinational enterprise in a powerful way, to help students internalize the critical challenges of a multinational company in an emerging market. In August 2007, a routine product feedback and defect analysis process identified a defective batch of batteries supplied by a Japanese vendor, Matsushita. India happened to be the recipient of the largest proportion of the defective batch. Nokia's corporate communications team, based in Finland, in cooperation with the Indian team, responded with a customary global product advisory. Instructions were made available on the Internet for customers to diagnose a defective battery and get a free replacement. Nokia was shocked to see the antagonistic response from the Indian press to the product advisory and the ensuing mayhem that spread quickly through the country. The head of Nokia India and his team had to act swiftly to preserve the company's hard-earned reputation and market share.Case A is set at a midnight strategy session at Nokia's Indian headquarters to chart the way forward. Case B is a short version of what actually happened: how Nokia and the team successfully steered the organization through the crisis and not only survived but also used the situation to create new organizational capabilities.

The case asks students to formulate a strategy to respond to various competitive threats to its Pureit Water purifier, launched in 2008, targeted at millions of low-income Indian consumers who did not have access to safe drinking water. The case describes in detail the product development and launch process that required HUL, the $3.5 billion Indian subsidiary, to innovate on many different fronts. It details competitive actions since the launch to set the stage for what the company should do next.

Shenzhen Development Bank, China's first publicly traded company, was undergoing the non-tradable share reform. Its current controlling shareholder, private equity firm Newbridge Capital LLC, needs to negotiate with its diverse minority shareholders to find a compromise on the terms of the conversion of the non-tradable shares held by Newbridge into tradable shares. Further delay in implementing this reform will put Shenzhen Development Bank into jeopardy as the bank will not be allowed to raise the additional capital it very much needed, but the negotiation between Newbridge and other shareholders was breaking down. The case discussed the non-tradable share reform in China, its causes and its implications, and from the perspective of one private equity play, discussed the issues of corporate governance, conflicts of interest, and the fiduciary duty of corporate managers in an emerging market.

Change is hard for all but perhaps more difficult for school leaders and other nonprofit organizations. The role that culture plays in a mission-driven organization can often be an impediment to change. This case uses a unique education institution, St. Martin dePorres School of the Cristo Rey Network, to illustrate the importance of culture in implementing change. It demonstrates how leaders can articulate a vision and create a strategy to change an organization and move toward success. The case focuses on the leadership team of Principal Mike Odiotti and Assistant Principal Judy Seiberlich and how they used cultural change as the key driver to school success. That success was defined by improved academic performance, greater accountability for students, teachers and staff and stronger empowerment of constituents. It includes an overview of how the school's leadership team used data to drive decision making. This case is ideal for MBA students, executives in nonprofit management or school leadership and can be used to illustrate change management, nonprofit leadership, culture change, mission-driven strategy or school leadership. It addresses critical issues that organizations face and provides tools and tactics that can be applied to mission-driven enterprises.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Physical Activity and Nutrition Program needed to come up with an innovative solution to the many health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease that plagued residents of poorer areas in the city, while increasing economic opportunity for neighborhood residents. The result was the launching of Green Carts, a new mobile food vending initiative to support the introduction of healthier food options to residents of "food deserts" in New York City boroughs. The challenge was navigating the diverse landscape of players and engaging all of the relevant stakeholders to come up with a solution that was both feasible and sustainable. This case exemplifies the how partnership and strategic alliances can be used to have significant social impact. The beauty of this example is that it simultaneously addresses two large social issues: 1) access to healthy food options in urban food deserts and 2) creating self-employment opportunities for members of disadvantaged communities. This case also illustrates how the public sector can act as social innovators.

Atari, a maker of video games, went through several owners over the years winding up controlled by Infogrames, a French publisher of video games. Infogrames later sold Atari shares in a secondary public offering, eventually reducing the parent's share to 51.6 percent by September 2005 creating a complicated two-tier ownership structure. Two levels of management made it difficult to get things done. The financial structure was a problem for Infogrames because the French company had to consolidate 100 percent of Atari's results even though it only owned 51 percent of the company. Atari was generating substantial losses, had defaulted on its debt, and was faced with the possibility of filing for bankruptcy without more working capital. The independent directors of Atari, when confronted with an unsolicited Infogrames buyout offer, had several options: (1) agree to the $1.68 offer (take the money and run); (2) pursue a white knight (a buyout from another investor of company that would be willing to pay a higher price and invest working capital); (3) file a lawsuit to stop the takeover to buy time or perhaps force Infogrames to increase its offer.

In March 2009, Steve Fowler, vice president of strategy and client service at full-service advertising agency Ayzenberg, had just completed what he considered to be one of the most innovative campaigns he had ever handled. Capcom, a leader in the video gaming industry, had just launched Resident Evil® 5 (RE5), the latest release of one of the industry's most valuable game franchises. RE5, a powerful asset with a passionate fan base, had warranted the use of an online viral, or word-of-mouth (WOM), campaign for its worldwide game launch. Although the creative work and appropriate media for the RE5 launch had been meticulously planned, Fowler was also interested in measuring the effectiveness of the campaign to better serve his client. In the past, measuring WOM was practically impossible. However, a software company named Meteor Solutions had found a way to do exactly that. Fowler and his team had worked with Meteor to execute several campaigns for other clients, but he had never applied Meteor tools on such a large scale. Fowler knew Capcom would want to hear specific WOM figures. What was the return on investment for the RE5 campaign and the implications for future campaigns? Had the Meteor tools provided comprehensive and actionable information, or was more work needed before these solutions could be widely used in advertising?

Tommy Li was a designer and brand consultant renowned for his black humour and bold visual impact. With business spanning Hong Kong, China, Macau, Japan and Italy, he was one of the few Hong Kong designers to have entered the international market. In his ten years of experience as a design staff member, Li learned that "getting the right client is the key to a successful design consultancy business." Therefore, Li set up his own company to have full freedom in choosing his own clients, and his "choosing clients strategically" philosophy brought him great success. Consequently, he became a famous Hong Kong designer and brand consultant with reputable local and overseas clients. With international firms many times bigger than Li's firm entering China, Li saw mounting competitive pressure. Was Li's stardom an adequate defence against firms composed of multidisciplinary teams equipped with innovation-driven design thinking and processes? Was scale a critical issue in staying competitive? Was proximity to the market an important advantage?<br><br>The brand consulting industry also faced intense competition from international business consultancies, advertising and public relations agencies. Each camp used a different approach to target the same group of brand-conscious clients. Could Li cope with these challenges?<br><br>The case was developed to teach designers and design entrepreneurs. It is also suitable for MBA and other executive classes on entrepreneurship and creative business. This case is intended to achieve the following objectives: 1) study how strategic thinking guided Li to develop his design business despite changing market conditions 2) understand how path dependence and dynamic capabilities explain Li's success and challenges in a changing business environment 3) discuss the best approach to grow a design business - building methodology and processes or becoming a star in new markets.

A small cancer diagnostics start-up is deciding whether to acquire a laboratory to make and sell its bladder cancer test or build its own manufacturing and sales team.

Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive customer feedback.