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Gucci Group's CEO had to decide if his decentralized management style was the most effective philosophy in an economic downturn. The sharing of customer information across units and its use in the creative process are key initiatives analyzed in the case. CEO Robert Polet joined the high-end fashion Gucci Group in 2004, after 26 years at one of the largest consumer goods companies. Since his arrival, the Group had grown both in revenues and profitability. Part of his secret was his decentralized and empowering management style. In 2008, in the midst of the economic downturn following the credit crunch crisis, Polet learned that after four years of growth the Gucci brand-the Group's largest business-would report a slowdown for the year's first semester. He knew that according to his management philosophy he should leave the primary decisions for the Gucci brand to Gucci's CEO. Yet, given the urgency of the situation, Polet wondered if it would be more effective to become directly involved in the brand's decision-making process. To anchor the discussion on Polet's management style, the case discusses how customer information is used in the creative process and whether it would be beneficial for the group to share customer information across stores, regions, and brands.

Virginia Mason Medical Center (VM) hired Owens & Minor (O&M) as its alpha vendor for medical/surgical supplies in 2004. By 2005, O&M was performing JIT and LUM services for VM, but they believed the pricing model in the industry was outdated. VM and O&M partnered to create the Total Supply Chain Cost (TSCC) pricing program, an activity-based model that assigned all the cost drivers of distribution and inventory handling to VM, but also assured O&M of a profit. The TSCC incented VM to streamline its distribution activities, since these would directly impact its fee. After beta testing the TSCC for one year, VM's Daniel Borunda and O&M's Michael Stefanic believed that TSCC was a better and more cost-effective pricing model, but could they convince their companies to continue to invest in TSCC?

Bob Beall is the Chief Executive Officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation ("CFF"). CFF is an extremely successful organization, but Beall has to determine how to manage the organization through the financial crisis of 2008/2009. In this situation, donations are likely to decline, investment surplus has declined and biotech partners are challenged to finance joint projects as well as their own operations. Beall is striving to find a cure for cystic fibrosis while also determining what priorities he must emphasize and what trade-off decisions he must make in managing through the current period. He is preparing for a meeting with his board of trustees where he plans to discuss the current situation and the key decisions the organization needs to make.

Richard Ferlauto, director of pensions and benefits policy at the AFSCME, the largest public sector workers union in the U.S., was responsible for protecting the pensions of its members. Because pensions were invested for decades, Ferlauto wanted the companies in which the union invested to be managed for the long-term interests of shareholders. He believed this required good corporate governance and effective oversight by the board of directors. The case explores the history of AFSCME's shareholder activism on this front and particularly its use of shareholder proposals voted on by shareholders at annual meetings. The case then looks at the issue of executive compensation and the idea that excessive compensation is a sign of poor governance. It also discusses the union's Say on Pay proposals that sought to allow shareholders an advisory vote on executive compensation. Finally, the case provides details on the rise of Countrywide Financial, its collapse, the role it played in the mortgage financial crisis, and the excessive compensation of its CEO.

The founder and president of Nuway Software (Nuway) must determine the pricing strategy for their new internally-developed mobile software product, Nulogic. Nuway develops custom mobile software applications that provide great competitive advantage to each of their customers; no two software modules it develops are similar. Nuway is now ready to market Nulogic as a stand-alone product and has identified three unique customer segments: Corporate in-house developers, competitors and independent software developers. The company has historically followed a cost-plus pricing model and has maintained positive profit margins. The software industry as a whole is moving towards value-based pricing, where cost is based on perceived value to the customer. The president does not favor value-based pricing and views it as price-gouging; however, he is aware that cost-plus pricing has limitations with regards to cost accuracy. By considering the entire software industry, Nuway's capabilities and his own preferences, the president must determine how to price the new software.

Symbian, maker of a leading mobile smartphone operating system, faces new competition from Google and Apple. Symbian evaluates changes to its software and its relationships with distributors in order to meet these competitors.

In 2005, Partners In Health (PIH) was invited by the Rwandan Ministry of Health to assume responsibility for the management of public health care in two rural districts in Eastern Rwanda and create an HIV treatment program at these sites. PIH successfully implemented a comprehensive program focusing on 4 principles: health systems improvement, HIV prevention and care, accompaniment, and social and economic support. By January 2007, the Rwinkwavu site had conducted 67,137 HIV tests and provided antiretroviral therapy to more than 2,000 patients, of which, fewer than 1% had been switched to second-line drug regimens, 3.8% had died and only one patient had been lost to follow up. A costing analysis done by the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative suggested that the model could feasibly be spread to other districts. Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Executive Director of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Commission and her colleagues in the Ministry of Health are contemplating how the program could be improved and whether it should be expanded nationally.

Backchannelmedia (BCM), a three year old start-up, intended to completely disrupt the world of advertising by transforming the way Americans watched television. BCM had developed a technology to make television "clickable," enabling viewers to interact with the content on their television screens. By April 2009, BCM had conducted consumer studies and field tests and the results were very promising. However, the industry was dominated by large players who could impede the introductions of new technologies. BCM's founders would have to make critical decisions about how quickly to roll-out their technology, and to whom. Which industry players were allies? How would BCM monetize the value they would create? Would investors see as much potential in BCM as its founders? And how would the company's cash constraints impact the strategy in the current economic environment?

In 1929, Chicago, IL mob boss Al Capone was at the height of his power. As head of the extensive crime organization known as "The Outfit" during most of U.S.'s Prohibition Era (1920-1933), Capone oversaw hundreds of brothels, speakeasies, and roadhouses which served as venues for gang-administered gambling, prostitution, and illegal alcohol sales. At their peak, yearly revenues from all of his enterprises combined totaled over $100 million. Capone's ability to operate these establishments with impunity stemmed from a combination of his political ties and a profound fear of reprisal. Capone's ascension had come at the tremendous loss of human life. Turf wars between Chicago gangs had caused roughly 700 gang-related deaths from 1920 to 1930. By some estimates, Capone had been directly or indirectly responsible for over 200 murders, the most notorious of which was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929, a shootout that had killed seven men from a rival gang. The brutality, efficiency, and wealth of Capone's organization demonstrated the destructive forms of American entrepreneurship in the early 20th century.

Two entrepreneurs have just been told by their venture capital backer to prepare a list of possible cuts to help them weather the 2008-2009 economic downturn. The impact on each firm is very different: one is a later-stage company with revenues in excess of $100 million; the other a pre-revenue company trying to raise its first institutional round. The entrepreneurs must consider their options and the impact on their companies' growth and, perhaps, survival.

Sermo operates the leading online professional network for physicians in the United States. Doctors use Sermo free of charge to post surveys regarding diagnostic and treatment concerns and to discuss these concerns, as well as challenges with managing their practices. Sermo earns revenue by charging clients who would value early information regarding the effectiveness of new drugs and medical devices-investment managers, pharmaceutical companies, and regulatory authorities. Clients cannot participate in doctors' online discussions, but they can view survey results and post their own surveys to Sermo's physician members. The case discusses challenges confronting Sermo in mobilizing this two-sided platform and in balancing the sometimes conflicting needs of the platform's two sides.

Jim Golden wants to radically change how catastrophic trucking accident lawsuit claims are handled by his trucking company. He wants to "do the right thing" for both the claimant and his company. Golden is a former litigator with 16 years of experience defending corporations in wrongful death lawsuits. After becoming disenchanted with the traditional "deny, delay, defend" method of litigation, which is aggressive, adversarial, costly, and drags the process out for as long as possible, Golden decides to re-think how he practices law. Golden wants to introduce a "negotiation counsel" approach to claims where his company is at fault. Initially, he is unsure of specific tactics, but envisions non-adversarial, communicative, and problem-solving interaction. He believes that if all parties involved in a claim engaged in a joint problem solving manner (rather than as a win/lose contest), practical, just, and emotionally satisfying agreements can be reached much more quickly.

A U.S.-based security software company considers its options to expand. Different labor-market and labor-law situations are analyzed for the U.S., U.K., Germany, China, and India.

From 1995 to 1999, the U.S. experienced a period of tremendous growth in its information technology (IT) sector. The IT industry, although it accounted for less than 10% of the U.S. economy's total output, contributed disproportionately to economic growth. One market that was particularly contentious was online pet supply retailing. Pet supply retailing had an estimated worth of $31 billion in 1997, and in the late 1990s, several startups and brick-and-mortar-based companies launched online retail stores, hoping to become the premiere (and perhaps the only) online pet supplies retailer. Two companies emerged as pure play frontrunners: Oakland-based Petstore.com and San Francisco-based Pets.com. In the years that followed, online pet supply retailers were widely regarded by the media as epitomizing the excesses and the follies of dot-com speculative mania in the late 1990s that culminated in the 2000 stock market crash. In 2008, CNet pronounced Pets.com as one of the greatest dot-com disasters in history. But what led to the failure, and subsequent crucifixion, of these one-time media darlings? Were Petstore.com and Pets.com the victim of poor strategic decisions, a prohibitive and crowded market, investor attitudes that destroyed their chances of success, or perhaps just bad luck or bad timing?

"Dr. Benjamin Hooks and Children's Health Forum" charts the many different career paths of Hooks, a civil right activist and pioneer. Hooks' positions ranged from lawyer, judge, preacher, entrepreneur to the first African American commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and to the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to the co-founder of the non-profit Children's Health Forum (CHF). CHF's mission was to eradicate lead poisoning in children in the United States. The case provides an overview of lead poisoning in the U.S., including how it is measured, its causes, and legislation enacted to prevent it. The case asks students to reflect on Hooks' leadership choices and his decision to launch CHF. How would they assess Hooks as a leader? What made him a strong leader? Given Hooks' past experiences, do they think that Hooks made the right decision to focus on lead poisoning after leaving the NAACP? Is this an area where he could have the most impact?

Biovail Corporation, a major Canadian pharmaceutical company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, announces that it will miss its quarterly earnings target by $25 to $45 million, blaming $10 to $15 million of the shortfall on a truck accident involving a shipment that left its facility on the last day of the quarter. The case was ultimately prosecuted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The case is centered on the question of revenue recognition and how the company should have accounted for the sales (FOB company or FOB destination). However, it also provides a rich setting permitting exploration of peripheral topics around the ethics of earnings management. For example, the case discusses stock analysts' reactions to the announcement; questions how much product was actually in the truck; questions how aggressively the company responds against the analysts who downgrade the stock; and highlights the role of the SEC in enforcement.

The global economy was expected to suffer from negative growth for the full year in 2009, a phenomenon not seen since World War II. While the U.S. subprime mortgage disaster was blamed as the original instigator, it was noted that the "global imbalances" of the U.S. current account deficit funded for many years by other nations such as China was also a chief culprit of the crisis as well. Policymakers around the world recognized that the scope and scale of the financial crisis required a coordinated global response. Yet there were conflicting views on what kind of action was needed to address the first global financial crisis of the 21st century.

Ted Morgan, the founder of Skyhook Wireless just received a call from Steve Jobs of Apple asking for a meeting. Ted must decide how to prepare for a meeting that could finally give Skyhook an anchor customer. Ted and his team have worked for three years to build a new approach to location based services that uses WiFi rather than the well-established satellite based GPS technology. Skyhook's approach is more accurate than GPS in urban areas and, unlike GPS, it works indoors. Yet, large device manufacturers are reluctant to be the first ones to use it. Skyhook has no customers. The board and investors are getting restless. Should Ted offer Steve Jobs a free license, or pay him for Apple's user base - or should he insist on a substantial license fee? The case examines the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in creating a technology-based company and in getting market traction against an established standard.

This case describes how carbon credits are created via planting Mallee Eucalypt trees by CO2 Australia. The case provides useful background to go along with the technical note "Carbon Credit Markets" (UV2543), which discusses in greater detail the regulatory frameworks as well as the various mechanisms that exist to allow carbon credit creation and trading.

Padraic Kelly became Managing Director (MD) of the engineering services firm Buro Happold in 1996. One of his first initiatives was "Aim for Growth," which was intended to help the firm grow beyond its current size where it was constrained by a structure of having each of the firm's founding partners responsible for a group of 25-30 engineers. This initiative was very successful, but the firm then found itself with a lack of leadership skills at all levels of the organization to manage a company of a much larger size, growing by a factor of 10 over 10 years. In response, Buro Happold developed its first formal internal training programs under the name of "Archimedes Academy." The first two programs were (1) the Job Leader Program, targeted for senior engineers and designed to help them be more effective in working with clients, and (2) the Project Leader Program, targeted for project leaders and designed to help them develop the "softer" management skills to complement their technical ones. A distinctive aspect of Archimedes Academy is that these first programs were developed and delivered by the cohors who first attended them. Rather than partner with a university to develop an accredited program, the firm decided it would be better off developing the program itself, with the help of an outside consultant who had done something similar at his previous employer, in order to make sure the programs were specific enough to Buro Happold's needs and relevant to the firm's culture. The first two programs were a big success and the firm expanded the training offerings under the Archimedes Banner. The case ends with a client, a Middle Eastern city authority, asking Buro Happold Consulting, a new unit created by Padraic Kelly after stepping down as MD in 2006, to develop a training program for them. This request raises the question of whether this internal training capability should become the basis of an external service offering.