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This first case in a two-part series offers a look at diversity recruitment in a Fortune 500 company. With a white male champion at the helm, the A case shows how competent leaders do something interesting with diversity in a hiring system that has a strong pipeline of diverse talent for future consideration. Other Fortune 500 firms ask it to share recruiting best practices. But the head of recruiting wonders if his work efforts will change JPMC when he sees mostly male faces of on the cover of a recent (2008) Fortune magazine.

Suitable for undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs, this version of the K2 story provides the full version of the story based on sequential dates. Written as a replacement for the much-used Greenland Case (UVA-OB-0581) this undisguised case can be taught in a similar manner. Chris Warner led a team of experienced mountain climbers on an expedition to reach the summit of K2-the second highest in the world. After failing to succeed on their first two attempts, Warner and his team brought together other teams representing eight different countries hoping to work together for success. Their story is an account full of examples where a leadership point of view was taken or not taken. The successes and failures of the expedition's approach is bursting with real world examples and offers an exciting framework to house theoretical concepts about team building and leadership.

Suitable for graduate level and executive education programs, this undisguised case describes the life of Dennis Paustenbach, president and CEO of ChemRisk, and what, to his mind, is the typical life of a senior executive: many demands on one's time, multiple projects, and serious consequences for inattention, both personally and professionally. This case can be used to teach students about individual behavior, Type A behavior, time and priority management, balancing work and family life, managing performance, managing energy in professional life styles, organizational behavior, and leadership.

This three-part case-study illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in organizations in the context of turning around Deutsche Telekom, one of the world's largest telecommunication companies. The case portrays some of the efforts undertaken by Deutsche Telekom under the leadership of René Obermann after his ascent to the CEO position in that organization. The case illustrates the challenges associated with resistance to adaptive change, management of expectations of organizational members from their leaders, and the psychological challenges of leading necessary, but unpopular, change efforts under the conditions of pressure from organizational stakeholders, who consciously or unconsciously attempt to divert the change-oriented leader from pushing the organization forward. The A case briefly describes Deutsche Telekom's background of a former state-owned monopolist and its struggles in a current competitive environment, provides information about René Obermann and his ascent to the CEO position, and outlines some of the change initiatives undertaken by the organization. It culminates in a letter sent to René Obermann and Board members of Deutsche Telekom by a company's technician in Berlin. In the letter, which later became associated with the feelings of many of Deutsche Telekom's employees, the author accuses the Board of the company in having no interest in the development of the company, well-being of employees, and service to the customers. The B case shows the reaction to the letter (which quickly leaked to the media) within Deutsche Telekom and in German society, and provides an account of an emotional response from René Obermann, who chose to respond publicly to the letter. The C case provides an overview of the change actions undertaken at Deutsche Telekom under the leadership of René Obermann and describes the outcomes known at the time of preparing this case study.

This is the first of a three-part case that describes the reaction and attitudes demonstrated by B. Joseph White upon hearing that he was not chosen to be president of the University of Michigan in May of 2002. Joe White responded to this news resiliently by helping the University make a smooth transition to a new president. The case elaborates on Joe White's beliefs about resilience and why he believes resilience is a desirable quality among individuals. Part A sets the stage with the case background.

Weijian Shan, Managing Partner of Newbridge Capital, faces a tough decision in regard to his firm's investment in Shenzhen Development Bank, China's fifteenth largest commercial bank. After signing a binding agreement to sell an effective controlling stake in SDB to Newbridge, the government-owned sellers and SDB reneged on the deal and dissolved the transitional management committee appointed by Newbridge. Weijian Shan and his deal team must work out an action plan to revive and renegotiate the transaction or decide to give up pursuing the deal altogether.

This case centers around a dispute between the owners and the players regarding the profitability of professional baseball teams in connection with the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The case describes the financial statements of the baseball club Kansas City Zephyrs, and discusses several items whose accounting treatment is under dispute between owners and players. Students are asked to resolve these disagreements and determine the team's "true" profitability. The discussion reveals the tensions in performance measurement, and illustrates the fundamental issues in accrual accounting. The case is best used as an introductory case in a course on financial reporting or performance measurement.

Virgin Group (Virgin) has been eyeing the Canadian banking industry for several years as a new potential investment opportunity. Not unlike the Canadian mobile phone industry (which they entered in 2005), the banking industry is seen as a prime target. Customers have become trapped by high fees, poor customer service, and limited product choice and Virgin can shake things up. The decision being contemplated is whether Virgin Money should enter the Canadian banking industry.

Genzyme, a global biotechnology company, launches a program to develop therapies for neglected diseases, (e.g. malaria, TB), giving away the intellectual property. This case focuses on the decision of which diseases, which partnerships, and which markets should management decide to fund. But the bigger issue is how this program developed under the umbrella role Genzyme's corporate social responsibility fits into its global competitive strategy.

This case forces students to examine the drivers of value, particularly growth and margins. It is also effective at drawing attention to the relationship between terminal value assumptions and value creation-assumptions that generate a large sensitivity of terminal value to growth rate are assumptions that imply that a great deal of value can still be created from investments after the planning horizon. The narrative features an analyst who is trying to make sense of a sharp one-day decline in the price of Crocs stock.

Monsanto is facing an uncertain near term financial outlook and the case challenges students to generate an operating forecast (income statement and balance sheet operating accounts). The case naturally lends itself to sensitivity analysis related to sales growth assumptions. The case is intended to cover the basics of forecasting without introducing the complexities associated with financing.

The case involves repositioning an old 6-story warehouse in Pittsburgh and many of the issues of rehabilitation and selecting and managing the development team especially in a world of capital market uncertainty. The case also demonstrates the alignment of interests of the players, the construction process and the various methods available to contract with the general contractor including lump sum, cost-plus and guaranteed maximum price.

This case is appropriate for teaching in the areas of entrepreneurship and managing the growth of smaller enterprises. It illustrates how an entrepreneur builds a premier service company by aligning culture, hiring practices, training, rewards, leadership, and its business model.

This case is about a major unmet social need: vision correction. Even though technologically this is a simple problem to solve - eyeglasses - it is not being solved. Over 500 million people with refractive error continue to do without vision correction and lead less productive lives than they could if they had eyeglasses.It would seem that private companies could profitably supply eyeglasses to the poor. Essilor, a French multinational company that is one of the world's leading manufacturers of plastic eyeglass lenses, has developed an innovative approach to selling eyeglasses to the poor in rural India. The case describes Essilor's strategy and provides enough data to do a simple economic analysis of the project. The case next describes VisionSpring, a NGO that supplies reading glasses to the poor in developing countries. The case question centers on whether the two approaches are working and challenges students to consider creative solutions.

Sowers Action was founded in September 1992 as a non-religious, non-political and not-for-profit charity. Its principal objective was to improve the level of education in remote areas of China by subsidizing poverty-stricken students, building safe school premises and enhancing the qualifications of teachers. The organization implemented a business model that led it to a quick success in its start-up phase. Rarely has a similar organization in Hong Kong grown at such a rapid pace and to such a scale. What differentiated Sowers Action from its peers and what were the major factors that drove its early success? This is a case about entrepreneurship and general management, aiming to introduce the concept of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial processes and dynamics, and how critical factors work together to lead to a successful start-up phase. It also sheds light on management and operation of social enterprises.

By 2009, just 30 years after they had been commercially introduced cellular phones were used by billions of people worldwide. This note reviews the development of the cellular telecommunications industry, with particular emphasis on the role of intellectual property and technical standards. Throughout the industry's history, companies owning intellectual property (IP) actively advocated for standards to be adopted that incorporated their IP. Once standards were adopted, companies with strong IP positions were positioned to reap substantial financial rewards. This has led to intense competition over the standards process. This note covers developments to 2009, including work on standards for fourth generation (4G) cellular systems. However, its primary focus is on the earlier struggles between TDMA and CDMA technologies, and the role of Qualcomm in influencing the standards-setting process.

Two inexperienced, but strongly committed, entrepreneurs face the hassles of a new venture: exporting dough from Puerto Rico to cities in the United States with large numbers of Puerto Rican immigrants who are longing nostalgically for their beloved pan sobao (bread made with vegetable shortening). With thousands of Puerto Ricans living in and/or moving to the United States and after several incidents of fraud by partners of the entrepreneurs, they are thinking about how to take advantage of what seems to be an opportunity for doing business outside their Caribbean home. These entrepreneurs are confronting several challenges: 1) Preparing to detect opportunities and to get personally involved in a demanding export business 2) Differentiating and positioning the brand in a crowded market. Is a nostalgic feeling enough of a motivator to engage customers with the brand? 3) Deciding whether institution is a substitute for market data and feasibility determination.

This case profiles PepsiCo's diversity journey under the leadership of former chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund who instituted diversity as one of the company's strategic imperatives. It demonstrates the ways in which Reinemund partnered with his leadership team and employees throughout the organization to make diversity a key factor in PepsiCo's culture and performance. It also reveals how, regardless of the success, PepsiCo employees were openly speculating what it would mean for the diversity strategy that Reinemund would be turning the helm of PepsiCo over to Indra Nooyi, a 50-year old Indian-born woman, who would need to find her own voice and approach to leading the company and its diversity efforts.

Peter Roberts, CEO of Jones, Lang, LaSalle (JLL) Americas division, has been charged with expanding the company's presence in its core geographic markets while simultaneously growing its corporate account business. Roberts and his task force have narrowed their options to two proposals. The first is an enhancement of the account management model put in place in 2001 where independent service units co-existed with an account management group. The second is a realignment of the firm's operations around geography and key accounts. By examining the tradeoffs required by each option, the case illustrates the tensions involved in structuring an organization around product, geography, and key customers. It also explores the importance of aligning strategic choices with organizational architecture.