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The Joyoung brand was launched in 1994 when a group of recent college graduates invented the world's first automatic hot soymilk-maker home appliance. After some ups and downs, the Joyoung manufacturer founded the Shandong Joyoung Electric Appliances Co., Ltd. in 2002. It was further reorganized to the current Joyoung Company Limited in September 2007. Joyoung's sales grew rapidly from RMB 6 million in 1994 to 120 million in 1999, and this trend has continued into the new century. By the first quarter in 2006, the signature product of Joyoung-the soymilk makers-alone have already surpassed the sales by Philips Home Appliances in the Chinese market. Contrary to its current success, however, Joyoung Soymilk Maker's launch did not go smoothly. When the first model of the automatic soymilk maker was introducted in 1994, people had no idea what this new creature was supposed to do. The first 2,000 units of Joyoung products remaintroducedined stacked in storage for months. Joyoung then decided to conduct some marketing research. Joyoung's repositioning strategies and new product developments based on their marketing research have been evidently successful, and they have defined a new product category in China and in the world.

Having started Enjoy Life Foods with a classmate at the Kellogg School in the business plan writing class, Scott Mandell had grown from a business plan , Mandell was ready for the next step, a move onto the national stage with Whole Foods. He estimated product promotion would cost several thousand dollars more than revenues in the first year. If sales fell short of his plan, his losses would soar. If sales forecasts were met, the company would achieve profitability in the time period Mandell promised to investors. In the meeting with Whole Foods representative, Mandell spoke about the uniqueness of the hypoallergenic snacks and presented the company's ability to grow sales. When he finished his sales pitch, the Whole Foods representative told him he liked the product, but had no room for it on the shelves. Mandell was put on the spot and needed to think quickly. He might not get another chance to convince the Whole Foods representative to make room for Enjoy Life Foods. He had just seconds to think of a response before the representative walked out the door for another meeting. What could Mandell say to make the representative see the value in taking a chance on Enjoy Life Foods? What creative solutions to the "shelf space" dilemma could he offer?

The case focuses on the diamond retailing industry toward the end of 2008, with the United States in an economic downturn. All diamond retailers are hit by the downturn and are facing a critical look at their strategies. Given the basic performance information on Blue Nile, Zales, and Tiffany, students are asked to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each business model with the goal of understanding business models that are better suited to handling a downturn.

Andreas Stihl AG is the world's leading manufacturer of chain saws and other outdoor handheld power equipment. Based on marketing challenges in its high-volume retail channel-mass merchants such as The Home Depot and Lowe's-Stihl's U.S. unit has narrowed its distribution system to a single channel: independent retail dealers specializing in yard maintenance equipment. This risky and highly publicized decision has proved extremely successful, raising profits, attracting more dealers into exclusive relationships with Stihl, and strengthening the brand's top-quality positioning. But Stihl management are concerned that this channel system may not fit tomorrow's demographics, dominated by homeowners from the so-called Generation X and Generation Y. The case outlines Stihl's business and channel systems and customer needs, then poses a series of questions that management believes must be answered to determine whether to maintain or move away from reliance on its specialty retailers and how to adapt its system.

The case considers the steadily deteriorating relationship between BA's top management and its cabin crew union - and highlights the self-fulfilling and self-reinforcing nature of the dysfunctional dynamic that develops between the three key parties. We concentrate on the cognitive, motivational and behavioral mechanisms that drive the parties toward an avoidable stalemate. The airline ultimately got its way, but at the expense of a three-day strike estimated to have cost £125 million. In the process, it also inflicted huge damage on employee morale and corporate reputation. The strike proved to be a turning point in BA's fortunes, sending the once soaring share price into a long decline - as measured against its direct competitors. Although Ayling's radical cost-cutting strategy was in many ways farsighted, it was implemented in a way that alienated staff and angered the unions - moves that ultimately sent the company crashing out of the FTSE100. Learning objectives: We have written this case in response to demand from instructors to provide material for teaching the set-up-to-fail syndrome in different courses and in different contexts than the typical dyadic boss-subordinate relationship. This case shows how the process plays out in an intra-organizational situation between a company and its union - though a similar dynamic could easily develop with other stakeholders such as suppliers, alliance partners, shareholders, analysts or NGOs. It is a case about individual "opponents" who demonize each other - thus triggering a gigantic self-fulfilling and self-reinforcing process. The key lesson is that leaders and their teams have to be careful about labeling processes toward other parties. When they start caricaturing another stakeholder, they risk triggering vicious spirals.

Well aware of your experience and keen intuition, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of XYZ Airlines, James Sanchez, is asking for your help. The airline is loss-making, has a record of poor customer service, and is the result of an undigested merger several years ago. Sanchez took over as chief executive of XYZ Airlines a month ago. Well-known for his almost single-minded focus on customer service, he wants to create a service culture in the airline while continuing to cut costs. He is asking for your help to decide what he should do to create this culture change and to estimate how long it will take to succeed. Learning objectives: Participants are challenged to think about the critical success factors for changing the culture of an organization.

Two years after joining the LEGO Group as their Logistics Manager for Europe and Asia, Egil Møller Nielsen finds himself fighting several battles at different fronts; the most difficult one on his home turf against his own management team. He is half-way implementing a bold plan: close down all existing local and regional logistics operations and consolidate all logistics and distribution activities from a central location in the Czech Republic, managed by an external partner - DHL. Outsourcing logistics services on a scale like this - in East-Europe - had never been done before by any other European company. The stakes are high as LEGO, struggling for survival, is also trying to re-invent itself. Should Nielsen push through his plan - in which he firmly believes - or give in to the mounting pressure from home and relax his efforts? Learning objectives: We observe two new partners, both active on new, unexplored territory in the early stages of their partnership. The relationship is strained; both companies are under tremendous pressure from their corporate headquarters to show results while there is a general distrust in each others capacity and motivation. In this first case we learn that building a relationship that is based only on a contractual agreement can be a painful experience. Cost accounting in general and cost drivers in specific are mentioned to illustrate their importance in key decision making.

The case presents a description of the JV between GE Money and Hyundai Card/Hyundai Capital from its inception through 2006 when the venture's success in Korea led to thoughts of international expansion, raising the question of how the entity should be branded. Initially, GE had agreed to forgo the use of its name in the branding of the card given as brand recognition in Korea was low, while Hyundai enjoyed strong awarenesss and positive associations among Korean consumers. Data from market research bearing on the situation in 2006 are provided to facilitate the decision making.

Prudential Financial was a financial-services company whose stock value has declined due to the financial crisis that took hold of the markets in 2008 and to investor concerns regarding the financial leverage of financial-services companies during this time. Prudential's balance sheet, income statement, and statement of stockholders' equity are shown in exhibits accompanying the case. Each statement was presented by the company in its 2007 annual report to shareholders. Students are asked to answers a series of questions using these exhibits.

Until recently, SimpleTel had been a star performer in the telecom industry, and the CEO had been a darling of the analyst community. Several years back, SimpleTel's found itself in a situation where customers were migrating to smaller, local telecom providers to avoid the congestion on SimpleTel's network. At that point, SimpleTel's leadership had decided to invest heavily in expanding network capacity. But now the company was left with a huge amount of unutilized capacity. That, along with debt obligations related to the massive investments in capacity, and lack of demand was threatening to push SimpleTel to the verge of bankruptcy. The previously celebrated CEO had fallen out of favor and shareholders were baying for his blood. He was forced to make an unceremonious departure, and the search for a savior had begun. Today, the compensation committee was due to deliberate on the compensation package for SimpleTel's new chief executive.

Five years after its launch, the Latino Community Credit Union had made remarkable progress, garnering 40,000 members and $22 million in assets. More extraordinary was the LCCU's customer base: Hispanic immigrants, many of them undocumented. The credit union's next bold step was to consider introducing credit cards for their customers. The question was how to make it work.

This case can be used to discuss multiperiod financial forecasts and the relative desirability of various financing sources. As 2007 drew to a close, Panera Bread Company faced a new challenge. To date, it had relied on retained earnings and minor equity infusions to finance operations. But a decline in margins would limit future financing from internally generated funds. Complicating matters was the fact that its stock price was at historic lows and management was contemplating a large equity repurchase.

In the early months of the 2007-08 financial crisis, a loan manager faces a real estate financing decision. Should he approve a bullet structure three-year loan to a longstanding client, a legendary Texan developer? The developer, who near retirement downsized his business, is seeking financing for his only project: residential or commercial development on an attractive piece of land in suburban Houston. The loan manager considers the decision in light of the mortgage market turmoil, seeing commercial projects as safer, but also factoring that the residential market could bring higher returns if the market stabilizes soon. The manager collects the data and asks an analyst to assess the risks; that ultimately requires assessing the economics of both projects from both the bank's and the developer's perspectives. The bank could still change the interest rate on the loan to receive adequate compensation for the risk it carries, but the loan manager knows that doing so will change their long-term client willingness to take on the loan.

This case is suitable for graduate-level quantitative analysis, business and government, environment and sustainability, and global economics courses. Students must consider the tradeoffs between continuing to run an old coal-burning plant and purchasing emissions allowances (EAs) versus upgrading to emissions-reducing wet or dry scrubbers. Reducing emissions creates the possibility of selling the plant's surplus EAs (which are likely to increase in price). Choosing a wet or dry scrubber requires considering installation cost and construction time, variable cost, and SO2 removal efficiency. Ideally, the investment should pay back over time, but management believes some net investment could also be justified. For that, however, complete analyses from both economic and environmental perspectives are required. A supplemental spreadsheet is available to accompany the case (UVA-S-QA-0726).

In April 2007, the New York City Metropolitan Opera's general manager Peter Gelb looks back on the first season of a daring experiment to broadcast performances live in high-definition to movie theaters across North America. While the "Live in HD" program has received mostly positive reviews, there are lingering concerns. Do the benefits of the simulcasts continue to outweigh the possible drawbacks and the significant operational and financial resources?

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), India's largest IT services provider, reached a major milestone when manpower strength crossed the 100,000-employee mark in October 2007. Based on a business model heavily reliant on low-wage software engineering talent, TCS tapped with great success, India's large pool of engineering graduates, mainly from top universities, for its human capital needs. These software project consultants formed the backbone of the company's service delivery system and the lynchpin of TCS' growth as a global IT company. TCS used a systems approach to design a training and development framework that had enabled the firm to scale up the human capital requirements to meet rapid business growth. By the end of March 2008, TCS' global employee strength was more than 111,000. Ninety percent of its IT consultants were Indian nationals, as were majority of the TCS consultants in the USA. However, as TCS followed its multinational clients and set up operations in China, the Chinese government expected TCS to tap on local engineering talent as much as possible. The challenge for TCS was whether the training framework it had used to build its India-based human resource pool would also be effective in the Chinese context where TCS hoped to grow its second global delivery hub after India.

This case traces UPS's first corporate sustainability report (CSR), "Operating in Unison," from its origins up to its publication in 2006. It is based on interviews with managers who championed and shaped the report internally. UPS took its CSR quite seriously, basing its reporting and goals on the more stringent Global Reporting Indices (GRIs) as opposed to merely complying with U.S. regulations. Soon after going public, UPS was significantly expanding its European operations; it followed that its CSR ultimately took the form of many European CSRs, addressing the relationships among financial performance, environmental sustainability, and engaging stakeholders such as employees and the community. By 2008, some form of CSR would become routine in the United States. Yet not all CSRs are created equal; the case includes copious examples from UPS's first report, with key performance indicators in all categories. Given UPS's employee-centered culture, the company debated how much internal information to report. UPS also has an engineering culture whose innovative thinking helped align its business model with efficiency and reduce its carbon footprint. UPS managers and employees are invariably motivated by "doing the right thing"-a phenomenon increasingly found in strong brands. UPS's reporting grew out of its culture. Yet a major topic for our times is how to manage reputational risk, especially when these risks are inherent to the business. As corporate social responsibility gains public attention, will first-movers such as UPS be rewarded for taking CSR seriously?

In July 2007, Wachovia Corporation's CEO is pleased with a report that shows the firm's record-setting second quarter results. In the past three months, Wachovia has doubled its earnings and posted record revenues, mostly attributable to the large consumer real-estate loans related to the Golden West Financial acquisition that has contributed to the bank's growth. The transition of Golden West into Wachovia's platform had been quick and smooth, despite their cultural, geographic, and product-offering differences. The CEO was excited that the acquisition provided new opportunities for lending in what were perceived as less risky markets, particularly single-family home mortgages with adjustable rates. But he wondered if there were any adjustments necessary to extract ultimate value from Golden West.

Whole Foods and Wild Oats were both natural- and organic-food stores that competed for similar customers on values such as high-quality and healthy products, excellent customer service, knowledge of products, and an enjoyable shopping experience. In February 2007, Whole Foods announced that it would purchase a smaller, yet formidable competitor, Wild Oats. There was tremendous geographic complementarity involved: The merger would give Whole Foods the largest footprint within the natural- and organic-grocery industry in North America.

RSSWorks Inc. represents a very early stage funding opportunity - the business model has not been decided. The case provides an introduction to the thinking behind seeking first external funding for an early stage founder-funded company. Students will gain an overview of how a very early stage company gets going and begins to operate by exploring the funding options open to a company at this early stage, considering the needs and wants of the founders and the potential funders, and assessing a company at this early stage. The case also introduces the notion of an ecosystem for technology companies and its role in the success or failure of early stage companies, and the idea of launching "on the cheap."