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On September 15 and 16, 2008, the British artist Damien Hirst broke all rules of the art market. He bypassed conventional distribution channels - dealers and gallery owners - by directly partnering with Sotheby's auction house - and with their help successfully sold more than 200 pieces of his works. Sotheby's auctioned art works which were less than two years old, which was another break from tradition. Hirst earned more than £110 million from the auction - in the midst of a global economic crisis and on the same day that the Lehman Brothers Investment house collapsed.

This case describes the problems facing a recent MBA graduate in his job as general manager of a medical device company owned by a parent corporation. It raises issues of corporate divisional relationships and the difficulties facing an inexperienced manager who seems to be receiving little support. This case is a redisguised and updated version of earlier case 494-005, reflecting the challenges of managing in innovation-/R&D-driven industries and across multiple international sites.

This case addresses Bank of America Corporation's contemplated joint venture with China Construction Bank to enter the Chinese credit card market. The case builds on the questions of strategic alliances in foreign markets and the state of the banking and credit industries in China generally. The teaching purposes include 1) understanding the transferability of a business model to a foreign market and assessing the implications of the political, economic, social and technological environment on a firm's strategy in that market; 2) understanding the institutional context of business in a foreign country - specifically the regulatory aspects of the banking industry in China; 3) exploring the cultural implications for business decisions, and the need to understand the nuances of the business model while translating it to radically unfamiliar environments; and 4) understanding the role that local partners play in joint ventures and exploring some aspects of partnering strategies in overcoming institutional handicaps.

In 2010, Wen Jiabao looked back at the financial crisis with some satisfaction. Using aggressive fiscal and monetary policy, China had weathered the crisis successfully, growing 8.7% annually in 2010. Most of the unemployed workers had returned to work, often demonstrating for higher wages or better working conditions. Wen, however, was really focused on his new development strategy-shifting away from export-led growth to ease domestic and international pressures. But many institutional challenges seemed to hamper domestic demand, and Wen was particularly concerned with pressures from America, on China's policies for trade, exchange rates, energy and investment.

Public Architecture is a non-profit architecture company dedicated to creating social and professional change through design for the public good. Public has focused on three strategies to create change: 1) promoting the design community's commitment to pro bono work, 2) inspiring action through creating design with a social mission, and 3) disseminating knowledge created by socially relevant design throughout the profession. As a central actor and change agent in the profession, Public Architecture created The 1% Program, a national network of architecture and design firms that have publicly pledged to donate 1% of their billable hours to the public good. However, the organization has been struggling to keep both The 1% Program and its own design initiatives integrated and reinforcing each other in creating social and professional change. Should Public split into two organizations? Would keeping the diverse elements within Public Architecture together force the entire organization to the least common denominator or would it provide them with a flexible platform for creating social change? These questions have important implications for Public's growth strategy, their funding, and resource allocation decisions.

"A European multi-family office is weighing whether and how to invest in Asian private equity. Part A moves from a discussion of the historical and current state of Asian private equity to the outlook and risks associated with such an investment. It also starts a discussion of returns on Asian private equity and whether they adequately compensate for the risks identified earlier. Part B deals with implementation questions on how to execute an investment strategy in this market from an asset manager perspective. It follows up on the returns discussion from Part A, focussing on the top performing funds and how to identify and access them. "

How do you maintain relationships with companies that serve a majority of people, but upset an outspoken minority? Winner of the 2011 Oikos Casewriting Competition, this case explores a tenuous relationship between the University of Michigan and the Coca-Cola Company. Pressured by an activist group, the university decided to cut its contract with Coke until the company satisfied the environmental and labor demands of the activists. Students will learn about student activism in a university setting and how the university seeks to satisfy student requests.

The literature on change and transformation mostly focuses on for-profit organizations, even though not-for-profit organizations offer a richer context for study, and social entrepreneurs are most often at the forefront of large-scale change. The case is an attempt to examine the evolution of a development organization. It centers on a medical professional and his thirty-year struggle in ushering in social transformation in the BR Hills of Southern India, working for tribal and forest development based on a foundation of ethics, self-organization and the assertion of human and individual rights. In 1994, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) for his efforts. This case can teach the evolution of a) a social entrepreneur into a leader; b) an amorphous service entity into an institution with a network of organizations and c) a low-profile, undemanding clientele with no voice to a demanding clientele expecting choices and rights. The case can also be used to explore the growth of a social enterprise (in terms of objectives, service delivery, roles, scale, etc.); concepts of change and social transformation; and the organizational life cycle and evolution of systems over the cycle. The case highlights the path civic service organizations (CSOs) and social actors tread over time in undertaking to provide public service.

MacroMarkets co-founder and CEO Samuel Masucci III is meeting with a strategic partner for his firm. Co-founded with Yale University Professor Robert Shiller, MacroMarkets' main innovation is the "MacroShare," which allows investors to take long or short, levered or unlevered, positions based on the value of any index. Both Shiller and Masucci are hopeful that MacroShares can help investors hedge all kinds of macroeconomic risks, including exposure to residential housing. The firm has 'battle-tested' two products-- one linked to oil, and one linked to housing -- with mixed success, and is evaluating its strategy going forward. Specifically, Masucci wonders whether the MacroShare structure might come to replace the ETF as the predominant technology for index trading.

Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals (CSP) expects final approval for its revolutionary weight loss drug, Metabical. Metabical will be the only weight loss drug with FDA approval that is also clinically proven to be effective for moderately overweight people. Barbara Printup, Senior Marketing Director for CSP, must develop the positioning strategy and marketing communications plan in preparation for the launch of the new drug. Printup must consider the consumer decision-making process and the interaction between the consumer who purchases the drug and the health care provider who prescribes the medication. Despite promising medical studies and consumer research, poor positioning of the drug in the highly competitive market for weight-loss solutions could spell disaster. Students analyze market research data and consider the optimal positioning strategy and marketing communications program.

The manager of customer service and operations at a branch of financial services institution is considering his options following the third cash shortage, totalling almost $5,000, within a two-month period. His career and anticipated promotion depended on effectively handling this situation.

Daren Kemp, a partner at leadership consultancy and executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, is responsible for the firm's relationship with Standard Chartered Bank (Standard Chartered). Standard Chartered is one of 94 companies in Heidrick's strategic partners program (SPP). The purpose of the SPP is to build strategic, value-based relationships with clients. Kemp joined Heidrick in 2008 and by 2010 has successfully built a strong relationship with Standard Chartered. The case describes how Kemp and his team grew this relationship and raises questions about what can be learned from this experience and applied to the other accounts in the SPP.

The founder of a new online news site, The Mark, has launched his venture at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the newspaper industry. While he believes that his advertising-based business model is the future face of the industry, he is yet to attract much of a readership. The founder must now decide what strategies are needed to establish his business in the competitive Canadian news landscape.

Likened in his native China to a rock star of entrepreneurship, Ma had risen from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of modern Chinese business in less than 20 years. How did a former English teacher who had not even been exposed to the internet until the end of the 1990s become iconic among internet multimillionaires? Was there something special about Ma that helped him stand out among an increasingly well educated class of Chinese entrepreneurs?

The case discusses the entrepreneurial paths taken by two men, a father and son team, who created a highly successful business venture in regional marine offshore industry in the first decade of the 21st century. The factors that contributed to venture's rapid growth are examined as well as the challenges they faced in taking their company, Ezra Holdings, to the next level of fast growth. Started in 1992, the entrepreneurs leveraged on their knowledge of the regional oil and gas (O&G) and marine engineering businesses to grow the firm into a global offshore support services company with market capitalisation of US$1.2 billion by the end of January 2010. The firm began as a small company managing and operating supply vessels supporting offshore O&G activities in the region. From managing small vessels, they moved on to build the essential capabilities needed to operate efficient offshore support services for O&G exploration and production projects of major global firms. To drive growth, they embarked on a series of asset acquisitions and joint ventures with other players. In a highly capital-intensive business, they were successful in prospecting for funds needed to secure the operating assets of their business. As they moved up the value chain in their segment of the industry, they also kept a lookout for industry veterans or specialists and technical staff from acquired companies to build their human resource pool. Ezra's decade of rapid growth is examined from several perspectives: • Entrepreneurship as the dynamic process of structure and action. • Capability building as an essential condition for new venture success as reflected in Ezra's resource acquisition strategies for funds, human capital and technical knowhow.

Mekong Capital, a private equity firm specializing in investing in Vietnam, had grown dramatically since its inception in 2002 and faced numerous organizational issues in 2007. There was a shortage of qualified middle managers, an overall lack of leadership, and a culture of making excuses for performance shortfalls. These issues not only plagued Mekong, but also the portfolio companies that they took positions in. The case recounts how the founder and managing partner of Mekong undertook a process to profoundly change the culture, leadership, and accountability within the company to try to transform it so that its people would align and come together as a team, holding themselves responsible to deliver results and committed to the long-term future.

The manager of the Japan Equities Fund is faced with an increase in "hot money" moving quickly in and out of the Fund. This short term trading is an attempt to take advantage of the difference between the closing times of the Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges. The CFO of the fund manager considers the various strategies available to limit such short term trading, which will be presented soon to the Fund's board of directors.

The ACE Venture Fund case is a 501(c)3 social venture fund that hopes to invest in projects that help the poor around the world. The donors of the fund, 15 Boston-based high-tech entrepreneurs, were interested in backing social entrepreneurs who had innovative and unique approaches to solving social problems. The case provides opportunities for students to: understand how to develop a cohesive strategy for a venture focused on maximizing social value; explore the range of approaches available to evaluate the social impact of investments in the nonprofit sector as well as in the field of corporate social responsibility; appreciate the importance of defining the metrics, especially in the field of social value creation, since there are no standardized definitions for even the commonly used metrics; understand the specific data needs under various approaches; and understand the implications of the data requirements of various approaches on project selection for funding.

This case describes the process of launching and developing a U.S.-Belarus joint venture that produces wood pellets in Belarus for sale in countries in the European Union. The combination of high demand for biofuels in EU countries and the potential for producing a good product at a low price in Belarus, provides a compelling business opportunity for brothers Victor and Aleksey Kruglov. Victor, who lives in the U.S., had experience in business in the U.S., and has access to capital. Aleksey, who lives in Belarus, has experience in wood-products production in Belarus, and has access to qualified workers. Having a well organized operation and continuous demand for its products, the company grew quickly. However, growth put the company in jeopardy in state-controlled Belarus. Local institutions (city and regional governments) perceived successful firms as sources of revenue for solving city infrastructure problems. Central institutions viewed successful firms as potential parts of their system of the larger government-controlled economy. Government involvement would most likely require the firm to follow specific directives, implement specific procedures for export operations, and share revenue. To avoid the threat of government control, the partners saw three options. Staying its course, their company could continue to grow and accept the role of major donor for the city's needs, and become a part of the larger government-managed wood-processing industry. Alternatively, it could control its growth by slowing down or splitting up into several smaller firms located in different regions and still stay considerably invisible. A third option was to relocate operations entirely, to a country that provides a friendlier environment for business operations, yet has similar cultural and economic advantages.