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The Real Property Negotiation Game simulates the experience negotiating the sale, purchase, or financing of a property. The class competes as either a lender, buyer, or one of two groups of sellers, Raleigh, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada. The buyer case for the Real Property Negotiation Game. Celia Hernandez must decide which of two properties to purchase.

The Real Property Negotiation Game simulates the experience negotiating the sale, purchase, or financing of a property. The class competes as either a lender, buyer, or one of two groups of sellers, Raleigh, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada. The seller case, Las Vegas, for the Real Property Negotiation Game. David Stephens must decide whether and at what price to sell his property.

The Real Property Negotiation Game simulates the experience negotiating the sale, purchase, or financing of a property. The class competes as either a lender, buyer, or one of two groups of sellers, Raleigh, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada. The seller case, Raleigh Commons, for the Real Property Negotiation Game. Steve Stroud must decide whether and at what price to sell his property.

In 2008, the US consumer payments landscape was characterized by the ongoing prevalence of credit and debit card networks, the decline of checks, the rise of stored value cards, and the growth of new payment methods such as PayPal, Bill Me Later and decoupled debit. This case presents the structure of these payment methods, focusing on incentives for both consumers and merchants, including direct costs, efficiency benefits, rebates, and treatment in case of loss or fraud.

In June 2008, the online professional networking service LinkedIn became a $1 billion company. But CEO Dan Nye understood that LinkedIn faced several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 2002, LinkedIn by 2008 had become the world's leading professional networking service (PNS), with more than 23 million members. Aiming to "dominate the business of business networking," in Nye's words, LinkedIn allowed individual members to post a profile on the LinkedIn site and then to use the site's tools to search for job opportunities; to recruit job candidates; to find suppliers, partners, and customers; and to seek out expert advice. The company was also expanding into corporate services that would enable companies to build and manage their own online networks. With revenue sources that included advertising, premium subscriptions, job posting services, and business solutions, LinkedIn was on track to bring in revenues in 2008 of up to $100 million. A new funding round in mid-2008 yielded a $1 billion valuation for the company. Three key dilemmas confronted LinkedIn, however. First, at a time when the "walled garden" model of online community building was under siege, it had to decide how far it should open its platform to users. Second, in light of competition from highly popular social network services such as Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn had to decide whether to incorporate social networking into its value proposition. Third, in an increasingly global business environment, it had to weigh the option of merging with its leading international competitor, XING.com.

Created in 1991, the ARCOR Foundation had built a reputation for its social investment programs devoted to childhood-related issues as well as for its operations' professionalism and magnitude in Argentina. Virtually since its inception, the Foundation focused on education to help mitigate childhood issues. Seventy percent of its budget was devoted to funding and supporting educational opportunities for very young children. To that end, the Foundation not only focused on program model creation but also on engaging other actors, knowledge building and advocacy for public policies targeted to young children. Its strategic approach also hinged on community work, engaging organizations and, primarily, institutional networks to enhance resources, mobilize actors, and coordinate efforts around public and private actors. Although ARCOR's affiliate in Brazil had, from early on, embarked on several educational, social and environmental actions, it was only in the late 1990s that the Group decided to have the Foundation -based in Argentina- support corporate community initiatives to accompany its Brazilian affiliate's growth. Among other initiatives, the case describes an initiative of cooperation with the World Childhood Foundation Institute and with Fundación Vitae, as well as the replication of ARCOR Foundation's programs in Argentina. There is also an account of a survey to assess corporate social practices so far, which detected a somewhat dispersed and philanthropic approach.

In 2007 the House of Representatives passed legislation that would treat carried interest as ordinary income instead of a long-term gain. The move threatened to increase the tax rate from 15 percent to 35 percent on the income of partners in private equity firms, venture capital firms, and some real estate and oil and gas partnerships. This case follows the arguments and actions made by both proponents and opponents of the potential tax increase, setting up an evaluation of the strategy used by the private equity industry to combat the threatened increase.

In 2006 Merck received FDA approval for Gardasil, the first vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV) which had been identified as the cause of cervical cancer. Merck priced the vaccine at $360 for the three injections and was working on programs for the use of Gardasil in developing countries at much lower prices. Projected sales of Gardasil were $1 billion a year and billions more if states mandated vaccination. Prior to FDA approval, Merck began to develop a market for Gardasil and launched an intensive campaign to get states to make HPV vaccination of girls entering middle school mandatory. As the public and organized private groups became aware of Merck's efforts, however, the campaign generated a backlash against mandatory vaccination. Merck subsequently suspended its campaign and reflected on the experience in deciding its next moves.

This case study concerns Choi & Leng Paper Ltd ("C&L") , a Hong Kong-based company that falls into the category of small- and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs"). The company consists of a paper recycling business in Hong Kong and a paper mill in Huizhou, China. The case explores the challenges faced by SMEs conducting cross-border business. The aim is to show the importance of strong internal control procedures and how top management should endeavor to make sure their businesses are run ethically.

Du Pont's realization in 1921 that its "U-form" corporate structure was ill-suited its new diversification strategy led to a pioneering new kind of organization - the "M" or multidivisional form - that has been called the most important innovation of capitalism in the 20th century. This case examines how and why this pivotal transformation took place, and what its implications may be for corporations that are trying to align their structure with their strategy as they undergo rapid growth and change.

The establishment and growth of AMD's Dresden, Germany manufacturing site illustrates how processes develop in an organization, and how those processes get institutionalized into a unique culture. Located in the Free State of Saxony in the eastern part of Germany (the former GDR), AMD's investment in the region leverages a historic and rather unique skill base in engineering and the sciences, and catalyzes the rebirth and growth of one of the largest semiconductor clusters in Europe. Contrary to conventional wisdom in the semiconductor industry, the Dresden team only copied from its home corporate locations in the United States those processes and practices that it felt would work in Germany rather than follow a copy exactly strategy. Dresden becomes AMD's sole worldwide manufacturing location for microprocessors, but now the company is faced with the question of whether it can successfully transplant the highly successful culture to other global locations because of favorable investment incentives.

For Sean Parker, a managing partner at Founders Fund (FF), a San Francisco-based venture capital (VC) firm, November 2007 was a critical moment in the process of raising the firm's second fund. As he prepared to describe FF's nontraditional strategy to a potential limited partner (LP) in San Francisco's Financial District, he decided to focus on what distinguished Founders Fund from the sea of VC firms in Silicon Valley, how it was innovating within a mature industry, and why it would be the most successful fund in history. Since its inception in 2005, Founders Fund had attracted substantial publicity. Though most had been positive, Parker nevertheless wanted to address a few of the critiques that had surfaced within the industry press. He hoped to be persuasive-FF wanted to close the $150-million round before the end of the month.

What should a manager with a multinational corporation do when his employee confides that he may have accidentally killed someone? The plant where they work is located in Vietnam; the employee, a native, is hesitant to face the charges given his concerns about the fairness of the local legal system. He is seeking both advice and help. The B case (UV1170) updates the situation and provides additional fodder for discussion.

This case describes the introduction of the Apple iPhone, including subsequent price reductions and market share goals. The case includes publicly available data on iPhone production costs, channel margins, and marketing costs. It concludes with the July 2008 introduction of the second generation 3G iPhone.

A pilot/manager in a large corporate aviation department must formulate a fueling plan for an upcoming four-leg trip. Considerations for the fueling plan include different fuel prices at each airport (fuel is much cheaper if bought at home) and ramp fees levied at destination airports if fuel purchases fail to meet specified minimums. Other considerations include aircraft weight limits for takeoffs and landings (with fuel being a large component of aircraft weight), fuel tank capacity, and a company policy specifying a minimum amount of fuel required at each landing.

This material presents students with an opportunity to have another shot at cementing their understanding of the general format of the three basic financial statements, some of the content of those statements, and a few of the basic principles undergirding those statements. The tasks presented in the material are relatively direct and manageable as homework within an hour's time.

At the W'Up Bottlery in Uttar Pradesh, India, Rajat Mehra, director of supply-chain management, mused over the W'Up plant's supply-chain performance over the peak summer period that had just ended. The W'Up Bottlery, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCCBPL), made Coca-Cola and other soft drinks for several regions within the Uttar Pradesh market. While inventories had gone down and fill rates had improved relative to the previous peak-sales season, Mehra was looking for ways to improve performance dramatically. Mehra had heard about the concept of vendor-managed inventory (VMI) that was gaining popularity in the West. Implementing VMI would involve moving away from the current situation in which independent distributors placed orders for replenishment to the W'Up plant, to one in which distributors would instead report their inventory levels directly to the W'Up supply-chain management group. Managers in this group would then decide how much stock to send out to each distributor. Mehra and his team wondered how this idea might be applied to HCCBPL's highly fragmented supply chain, covering regions where IT infrastructure was sparse or non-existent. See also the B case (UVA-OM-1352

Why do managers become corrupt? Does corruption ever pay? When do friendly relations cross into bribery? How can CEOs manage and prevent outbreaks of corruption? These and other questions are raised by three short case studies of corruption in Germany: at the global engineering firm Siemens, the automaker VW, and the chemical giant BASF. While German law not only permitted overseas bribery but even made it tax deductible until 1999, it was not welcomed in some nations where Siemens did business such as the United States-or in Germany after 2000-but old practices continued. Cooperative management-labor relations, often seen as key to the post-World War II German industrial powerhouse, went sour at VW, as a top manager secured key concessions by paying for union leaders' lavish foreign travel and visits to prostitutes. After vitamin prices sagged in the late 1980s, BASF and the Swiss chemical firm Hoffmann-La Roche plotted a global cartel that lasted a decade and raised the prices of many vitamins 50 percent or more. In the end, even after record criminal fines and jail time for some executives, some observers argued, such practices were likely to recur.

Ferran Adrià, chef at elBulli, the highest-ranked restaurant in the world for two consecutive years, faces two related decisions. First, Adrià and his team must continue to develop new and different dishes for the ground-breaking cuisine at elBulli to guarantee a continuous stream of innovation, the cornerstone of the restaurant's success. In addition, they are also faced with the challenge of growing the business, exploring whether the core concepts from elBulli - this "taste of innovation" - can be applied to domains ranging from consulting to fast food. The case walks readers through an evening at elBulli, by using the rave reviews of former patrons to capture the full experience, from the long trip required to get to the restaurant, to the tour, to descriptions of the meal itself.