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This case looks at the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) and its parent company, Zuffa LLC (Zuffa), through the role of the recently hired chief marketing officer (CMO). As the CMO of the largest organization in the world's fastest growing sport, mixed martial arts, he faces many decisions about the future of the organization. The CMO must determine the best way to both manage the organization's ambitious international expansion initiatives and protect the UFC brand in new markets, while also preserving the experience for the league's core North American fan base. The CMO must evaluate the company's sponsorship relationships and develop a strategy to cope with increasing competition in both domestic and international markets.

It was June 5, 2008 and the senior promotions coordinator was beginning to feel the pressure of managing a major sponsorship event for the Toronto Sun, a daily newspaper publication in Ontario, Canada. She had recently been hired and had received the responsibility of organizing the Toronto Sun's presence in the city's annual Caribana Parade after her colleague failed to make any progress following months of handling the assignment. With only eight weeks until parade day (August 2), she felt challenged to make the company's float a success. The Toronto Sun earned its place in the parade as the primary print media sponsor for the event. Pulling the company's float from the biggest parade event in the city would mean forfeiting valuable marketing exposure. This case was designed for use in an undergraduate or MBA operations management or introductory project management course. Developed to aid instructors in facilitating discussions of key project management concepts, the case content allows for an analytical approach to covering the basic skills in planning a project, including precedence relationships, critical path, due dates, uncertainty (PERT tasks), crashing, etc. It can be used to teach students MS Project or other project management software. It can also be used for a less analytic, more managerial discussion of project management.

In 2009, just 15 years after it was founded, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) has achieved the remarkable 8th position in the Financial Times Global MBA rankings. The case describes the short history of the school and the reasons for its success. It also describes the difficult challenges the school faces to maintain its position of leadership in Asia: stiff competition from schools in Greater China, South East Asia and South Asia; recruitment of high-quality faculty members; generating new knowledge that contributes to management practice not just in China but globally; and maintaining a robust economic model to ensure long term financial sustainability.

The case is a true story with disguised names, and was developed with the help of the protagonist, "Philip Chase," who runs a "successful" executive placement agency, Retail Personnel Flow (RPF). However, the case reveals that it is perhaps not as "successful" as he seemed to think. Philip has just learned from an employee that his company's biggest client, Winterplain, is about to offer the important Kash-n-Karry contract to RPF's main competitor, NY-Lon. At first, Philip thinks it is just a rumor, but later that day discovers that a prospective candidate has already been through several rounds of interviews with NY-Lon. The HR director at Winterplain confirms that there are service quality issues. She agrees to meet Philip the next day and sends a memo listing Winterplain's concerns with RPF for him to go through before the meeting; some of the points are valid but Philip is furious about the others! It was a happy ending: RPF won back the Winterplain account, including Kash-n-Karry. NY-Lon's foray into retail placements was short-lived since it could not cope with the complexity of the retail labor market. Learning objectives: The case provides participants with an understanding of the political dynamics of the relationship between professional firms and their clients. Participants get to appreciate the role of networks in improving one's social power and influence ability. The case can also be used in role-playing how difficult political situations can be resolved.

Clayton Industries, a sixty-year-old U.S.-based firm in the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) industry, with nearly $1 billion in revenues, has gradually built a presence in a number of countries, including several in Europe. Peter Arnell, previously Clayton's successful country manager for the U.K., has been asked to take over the Italian subsidiary, which has recently been struggling on several fronts. Arnell must juggle the strategic objectives of his manager (the head of Clayton Europe) and of the firm's Wisconsin-based CEO while overseeing the day-to-day activities of the business in this new setting. Many of Arnell's challenges derive from his dual responsibilities of handling manufacturing as well as sales of Clayton products in his new home country.

This case describes the implementation of a business intelligence project in a South American holding composed of Chilquinta Energía, the third-largest distributor of electricity in Chile and one of the leading energy companies in Latin America, Energas S.A., which distributes natural gas to 34,000 customers in Chile, and Tecnored, an energy service company. Balanced scorecard concepts are not easy to put in place and the Chilean group decided to adopt an original and difficult approach: to learn and implement the BSC without the traditional leadership of external consulting. Despite the success of the implementation, the case outlines the ongoing challenges facing this type of multi-functional project.

This case presents a series of decision points along with a simple process for ascertaining underlying source(s) of disagreement, which represents an important managerial tool. The president of First Mates' Wholesale Boating Supply Company, is faced with the reality of missing year-end earnings projections and breaking a 30-year streak of successive earnings increases. He has asked all his direct reports to meet with their teams and brainstorm about ways to finish the year in strongly and successfully. The case presents a number of those ideas for students to debate and discuss as they decide which ones the company should pursue.

Cambridge NanoTech (CNT) is an interesting example of how a successful university research project was used to build a small scale business which designs and manufactures research equipment for a new class of chemical reactions called Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). CNT's business model is particularly interesting since the university researchers/founders developed a product that was specifically meant to serve other university researchers rather than trying to immediately jump to commercial, high volume manufacturing applications. Their product was specifically designed to be low cost, easy to use, flexible, and to have very short delivery times which made it very attractive to university researchers operating large research projects (typically on the order of millions of dollars/year). A large profit margin was possible due to the lack of competition and the perceived high value associated with having these technical capabilities since commercial machines of this type were typically a significant fraction of a million dollars. After a successful launch in 2005, the company experiences serious friction between the co-founders which is resolved when one of the co-founders buys out the other. In 2010, the company is profitable but is facing increased competition and the need to grow its business. The company is considering several different strategies.

Porter Airlines is a regional airline operating out of Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Porter operates only Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 turboprop aircraft and has flights to destinations in Canada and the United States. Porter targets business passengers who find the Toronto International Airport unattractive. Since its inception, Porter Airlines disproved many who thought it was doomed to failure by successfully navigating the first few years of its existence. It tapped into unmet customer needs with a unique strategy. However, a critical question that needed to be addressed was whether this particular business model, so successful thus far, would remain valid. Additionally, Porter needed to decide how it planned to expand and how aggressive it should be when entering new, highly competitive markets.

Finalist and 3rd Place winner in the 2011 Oikos Casewriting Competition. In early 2008, Clorox released a new line of environmentally friendly cleaning products called GreenWorks. Following the success of smaller firms such as Seventh Generation and Method, Clorox targeted the niche market of green products, with an estimated market size of $150 million. Using its competitive advantages in distribution and economies of scale, Clorox priced its GreenWorks products below those of smaller competitors. Surprisingly, Clorox's market entry did not steal revenue from smaller players, but instead caused the market for green cleaning products to explode, leaving Clorox with several strategic questions.

In late 1996, Sherwin-Williams CEO John Breen sat at his desk, preparing for another meeting with his board of directors. The room was dark except for a small stream of light that escaped the curtains hung heavily over the windows. Outside, rain was falling onto the company's corporate headquarters and on the streets of Cleveland. Breen stared at the portraits of company founders Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams that loomed above him on the wall. What would they think about the company's direction under his watch? Both had invested their life savings to create Sherwin-Williams in 1870. More than 125 years later, a market shift was taking place. Some paint companies were experimenting with new formulations-using different materials to make paint that would send fewer toxins into the air. Would the founders agree with the decisions Breen had made as he guided the company into this new era?

Delta Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of switching power supplies, hoped to enter the market for gasoline-electric hybrid power trains for automobiles by being a major component and subsystem supplier. While most public awareness of hybrid vehicles fell to the tier one integrated vehicle manufacturers, Delta felt it had an opportunity to enter the market via new automotive market entrants in China who had comparatively fewer capabilities and were willing to purchase major subsystems. Yet the company faced a dilemma -- a major customer wanted Delta to transfer ownership of key intellectual property as a condition of doing business. The case affords students an opportunity to consider whether a technological shift will enable what seems traditionally to be a highly integrated product designs to shift to a modular architecture, and consider the implications for appropriability of returns.

As Zuo Zongshen drove the transformation of the Zongshen Industrial Group from an early imitator in the motorcycle business to a company that increasingly focused on innovation as a way to get out of the hyper-competitive commodity business, he continually faced new challenges. The company had become a leader in gasoline powered motorcycles and small gas engines, but increasing taxes and restrictions on the use of motorcycles in congested urban areas had spawned a new industry, electric motorbikes, which posed a threat to the company's core business. Sourcing the technology for these e-bikes, and hiring and retaining the management and creative talent the company needed, were continuing challenges. The case traces the development of capabilities in the Zongshen Industrial Group, how it used the early imitation phase to foster rapid technological learning and upgrading, and how it used a unique corporate structure and listing strategy to finance the acquisition of important technologies.

A middle manager at a large company is unable to get her engineering customers and corporate bosses to see eye to eye on a public relations decision, and now her corporate boss seems to have totally misinterpreted her intentions. Suitable for MBA or executive education classes, this field case is a composite of actual experiences and fabricated elements. The case addresses a scarcity of material on the unique dilemmas faced by middle managers.

Appropriate for general management courses emphasizing lean operations strategy implementation and large-scale change management across a network of global manufacturing facilities. In this case, site-level leadership, including senior, midlevel, and supervisory positions, must respond to a critical corporate directive to achieve a 25% cost reduction. Under the direction of an advisory firm, the development and implementation of an operational Transformation strategy is the responsibility of the new VP of operations. Three key elements of the Operational Excellence Transformation Program are described in detail and year-one progress in three first-wave sites is presented through interviews. Students must critique the progress and offer suggestions for the VP, who must evaluate the results at the three sites and plan for a continuation of the rollout across other sites. A teaching note (OM-1400TN) is available.

In 1997 three students joined a protest against the electoral victory of Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian Socialist Party. Upon the protest's ultimate defeat, and Milosevic's return to power, the students vowed to continue the struggle for civic activism in Serbia. Their efforts manifested in the creation of the Centre for Civil Society Development PROTECTA, an NGO committed to promoting civic engagement throughout Serbia. Twelve years following the protests PROTECTA has a budget of half-a-million Euro, twenty full-time employees, and working relationships with major public and private international donors. The story is more impressive considering that this organizational growth took place during extreme political, economic, and social upheaval. This case offers students an opportunity to recount the rise of the organization under increasingly trying personal, political and professional circumstances, namely war and a repressive state. These circumstances call into question some potential ethical concerns regarding management in a hostile political environment. It also offers an opportunity for students to make a decision and plot strategy for the organization's future in areas such as leadership transition, core competencies, financial sustainability, and staffing. HKS Case Number 1924.0

This case focuses on customer lifetime value analysis and how this analysis, when paired with previous experience with consumer promotions, can guide thinking in developing the best strategies and tactics for entering new markets. Specializing in local organic meat and produce, Retail Relay has developed a new business model for on-line grocery shopping and delivery. Having succeeded in the small market of Charlottesville, Virginia, it is considering expanding to other, larger markets.

Created by hedge fund and financial managers, the Robin Hood Foundation fights poverty through grants to nonprofit organizations. As the global financial crisis continues to impact the poor disproportionately, the Foundation needs to ensure that its funds are being spent on the most effective poverty-fighting programs. The organization's senior vice president, Michael Weinstein, has developed a benefit-cost (BC) approach to analyze the performance of program grants. How effective is the method? Is funding programs with the highest BC ratios a good way to fight poverty? In three or five years, how will Robin Hood know whether it is succeeding?

The case illustrates the opportunities, challenges, and trade-offs involved in the design, evolution, and institutionalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS) within the Tata Group - an India-based indigenous multinational enterprise (MNE) with a unique 140-year-old commitment to the community as the key stakeholder of business. Despite the 2008-2009 global recession, the Tata Group topped the economic value creation charts. In 2008-2009, the Group had grossed US$70.8 billion in revenues; 64.7% of the Group's revenues were now coming from outside India. Its 96 independent companies spanned seven sectors: information systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products, and chemicals. Economic turbulence had put a break on social and environmental investing for many other companies but renewed Tata Group's commitment: the Group had recently revised its charitable giving, adopted a group-wide climate change policy, and separated its mandatory and voluntary initiatives. The case deals with the intricate connections between the Group's profitability and competitiveness on the one hand and its long-standing tradition of social responsibility on the other. It explores value creation, leadership, ethics, and sustainable development on the backdrop of rapid internationalizations and shifting stakeholders' expectations for corporate social responsibility.

This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open government. The process used by Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, and his team to rapidly develop the website and to make available high-value data sets for reuse is highlighted. The case recounts Kundra's experience at the state and local government levels in developing open data initiatives and the application of that experience to the federal government. The case demonstrates the benefits of making government data available in terms of both engaged citizens and the potential for new innovations from the private sector. Potential drawbacks of open access including security and privacy issues are illustrated. Issues related to the role of government in releasing data and the balance between accountability and private-sector innovation are explored.