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The product planning manager for BMW Group Canada (BMW) wondered how to revive the once-promising BMW Individual program. Despite a strong start when the BMW Individual Collection (IC) was launched in 2002, and significant growth in total BMW sales over the past three years, IC sales had declined substantially. At the corporate level, no specific measures had been taken to ensure a constant focus on the Individual program. At the customer level, BMW retailers were putting forth little effort, likely because they had no additional incentive to push a program that appealed only to a very small portion of their customer base. The product planning manager wondered how he could revive the BMW Individual program in Canada and give it the attention it deserved.

In 2007, the marketing director for Cineplex Entertainment is trying to decide whether or not to proceed with a loyalty program that would provide incentives for customers to see more movies and events, and spend more on concessions. An important by-product would be the collection of detailed customer buying data. She has crafted four possible combinations of rewards and received proposals from three suppliers with experience in managing customer data banks. She must decide the structure and richness of the program, the supplier, the likely response rate to determine financial feasibility, and whether to launch regionally or nationally.

Shortly after the acquisition of Corus in 2007, Tata Steel Limited entered the international markets with a convertible bond offering (CARS) that had distinct features. The offering of US$875 million was the first of its kind from India. The successful issuance reflected investor confidence in the country and the company. This case covers a full analysis of the CARS with a scope that spans valuation, structuring of the financing instrument to suit the issuer's strategic imperatives and investment analysis.

Individuals enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, known as dual eligibles, are among the highest-cost beneficiaries in the US. Commonwealth Care Alliance, a small nonprofit insurer and care delivery system in Massachusetts, operated under a public demonstration program designed to provide comprehensive coverage and care for the elderly dual eligible population. Led by Dr. Robert Master, Commonwealth Care Alliance worked with its contracted providers to implement and support a care delivery model that could allow as many members as possible to live independently outside of nursing homes. The case examines Commonwealth Care Alliance's insurance and care delivery approaches amidst a changing policy environment and various resource constraints. This case can be used to teach: Approaches to value-based insurance and care delivery; Insurance and care delivery considerations for underserved, high-cost populations; Evolution and structure of US Medicare and state Medicaid programs and demonstrations; and payer and provider reimbursement models.

A newly appointed operations manager was expected to provide his expertise in the planning, launch and ongoing operations for three corporately-owned Part King stores, the first of which was scheduled to open in December 2005. The operations manager wondered if moving to a corporate model made sense at all or whether it was better to retain the franchise structure that was already in place. He was particularly concerned about how best to motivate the managers of a corporate-owned store given that they did not share in its ownership. Were there some components of the control system that was currently in place in the franchise store model that would also be appropriate for the corporate-owned store model that was in the works? Were there some components of the existing control system that needed improvements as well?

After opening 60 schools in 8 years through opportunistic growth, the national office of the KIPP schools network has designed a strategy dubbed "smart growth." Each KIPP school is a separately incorporated entity led by a principal who was selected and trained by the national office. The national office proposes to play a screening role whereby a national growth committee will "green-light" the plans of local schools to create multi-site regions in selected areas of the United States. The case describes the criteria and rationale for the new strategy, and focuses on a disguised application from a KIPP school that plans to grow from one to five locations in five years. Readers are challenged to green-light the application, or not.

Members of IBM's fifth Integration and Values Team (IVT5) were close to finishing their deliberations. Convened by Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO, and sponsored by Jon Iwata, Senior VP of Corporate Communications and Marketing, and John E. Kelly III, Senior VP and Director of Research, the IVT5's focus was on "the global IBMer"-define and develop global leaders; make the "globally integrated enterprise" relevant to all employees through corporate citizenship initiatives reflective of the company's values; and help IBM compete globally by ensuring market access. The scope was all 170 countries in which IBM operated. As leaders who had risen to their positions as systems thinkers committed to innovation, the team knew it was necessary to stand back and look at the big picture-to see how IBM worked now and operate at its best in order to understand the gaps, dilemmas, and opportunities.

IBM's transformation into a globally integrated enterprise (GIE) began with a conviction about what should never change. Since its founding in 1911, the company operated under a set of principles articulated by founder Thomas Watson and became known for a strong culture and a commitment to fairness and social responsibility. As IBM entered its second century, it was appropriate to take a fresh look at its values while remaining unwavering in ethics, integrity, and-to use the twenty-first century word-the highest standards of corporate citizenship. All of this could be done with strategic use of IBM technology and innovation. Yet IBMers in a variety of businesses and geographies also wanted the company to do even more. Members of the fifth Integration and Values Team (IVT5) pondered this and other global citizenship possibilities, reviewing how people were developed and worked as the transition to the GIE was underway.

On a winter day in December 2007 at the American Family Mutual Insurance Company (AMFAM) headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, Dave Anderson and Jack Salzwedel remained in the conference room after the senior management meeting had concluded. Anderson, CEO of AMFAM since January 2007 and Salzwedel, named President in August 2006, reflected together on how far the company had come over the past two years. Both recalled meetings in which top executives simply read out activity reports to help prepare a previous CEO for a largely ceremonial board meeting. These days, they sensed energy and movement at different levels--whether in a strategic planning meeting, or in Salzwedel's recent visit to a regional office to explain in person the content of and motivation for the company's new strategic plan. Anderson and Salzwedel were pleased that the just-ended meeting exhibited the kind of engaged discussion, "pushback," and argumentation they had been encouraging.

Since the mid-1980s, Sona Steering Systems (later renamed as Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd) has been a competitive player in the Indian auto component industry. The firm has made remarkable progress in competitiveness through numerous initiatives over the past two decades. Starting as a single-source supplier of simple mechanical steering systems, the firm has systematically improved competitiveness, evolving into a capable Deming Prize-winning firm with capabilities across the industry value system. By November 2005, the firm had many customers and, for some of them, had designed entire systems to their specifications. This case provides a context for identifying Sona Koyo's sources of competitiveness through two important concepts. The versatile yet simple assets-processes-performance (APP) framework is used to identify relevant factors of competitiveness, while the concept of the "competitiveness journey" is introduced to examine different contexts, scenarios, strategies and initiatives as well as company performance. The case builds on analysis of data and insights culled from professionals at different levels of the company, up to the chairman.

The case tells the story of a company where innovation is tremendously important, but not working well. In 2003, the LEGO Group had a number of positive attributes: it had a well-respected brand with some very good toy lines. It had a passionate customer base that in many areas was more sophisticated than its internal designers. And it had been able to extend the brand into many areas such as toys, games, clothing, theme parks, movies, and many others types of play, earning significant revenues (but not profits). But, in 2003, the company had gotten itself into deep trouble. Over the previous 5-10 years, the toy industry had been changing dramatically in ways that did not favor the LEGO Group. These changes, coupled with some poorly planned investments and a downturn in the sales of some important toy lines, combined to almost put the LEGO Group out of business. The company lost nearly DKK 1 billion in 2003 and its cash dwindled dangerously low. This was the largest loss in the history of the company, and many analysts believed that bankruptcy and perhaps even the breakup and sale of the company were likely. The company quickly sold off assets, reduced headcount, and outsourced production to cut costs and generate cash. But it knew, to turn around the company, it had to improve its overall innovation system. It had to improve the time to market, success rate, and profitability in its innovation system. The case presents a number of representative challenges that LEGO was facing during 2004 and beyond. Learning objectives: 1) How to restructure an innovation system. 2) How to encourage all types of innovation (innovation in pricing, business model, channel to market, branding, customer experience, etc.) and coordinate these innovations across the company. 3) How to involve external parties such as customers, complementary product producers, and external inventors in your innovation system.

By March 2008, the U.S. Government and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board had taken various policy measures over the last few months to tackle the subprime mortgage crisis that threatened to drag the economy into a recession. The Bush administration approved a fiscal stimulus package exceeding $150 billion. Interest rates had been repeatedly cut at the fastest pace in decades, to 2.25% as of March 2008. The Fed, in an unprecedented move, helped JPMorgan Chase to take over Bear Stearns, which was on the brink of collapse. Yet as the global economy faced slower growth stemming from the U.S. mortgage crisis, policy makers were caught in an intense debate over what the 'right' solution would be, and the implication of these policies on global imbalances.

Cambrian House builds internet-based products and services by relying entirely on its user community for all aspects of its innovation and new product development process. Users suggest ideas for new products and services and also participate in a monthly voting process to select the best ideas. The company is now considering the deployment of a prediction market to deepen user involvement and commitment in its innovation; however, it is not sure if it is an appropriate strategy for its community.

The protagonist is Lars Dalgaard, a young manager with solid experience but none in leading a technology company. Through a combination of circumstances, Dalgaard becomes the CEO of a drowning software company focused on the HR space at the peak of "Nuclear Winter" in Silicon Valley. The case explores how he and his small team attempt to restart SuccessFactors and transform it into something sustainable in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

After negotiations with a key supplier for lower prices and quicker turnaround go nowhere, two employees of Acme Medical Imaging realize there's no more low-hanging fruit to pick to keep their project on time and on budget -- no more concessions from external parties, no more superficial, short-term fixes. They have to convince their chief executive officer and the project team to take a hard look at "internal processes." From the perspective of Operations, this case examines the challenges that can arise - and some steps that can be taken - when the greatest obstacles to a project are the people and procedures responsible for its success.

Mapleleaf Corporation is a mid-size player in the paper products industry. The firm has recently become aware that growing demand will soon outstrip its present production capacity. The primary objective of this case is to introduce students to the world of capacity planning and optimization.

This case chronicles the role that Harvard Business School alumni play in the healthcare industry. Overall data on alumni is given, and the industry is broken into seven areas in which the careers of twenty-five alumni are highlighted.

Ashdown's "growth" plan called for Mustafa Khalaf to leave his job as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Ashdown Contracting, and to focus his attention on the growth of a separate business entity, Ashdown Pipeline, where Ashdown believed the greatest potential for the future existed. It seemed odd to Mustafa that finding a financial partner capable of providing tens even hundreds, of millions of dollars to reshape an industry was proving to be remarkably easy, while finding a single individual capable of replacing him in his old job was proving to be remarkably hard. As he flagged down a cab, Mustafa's mind wandered back to the challenge that he had been grappling with for many months: how to find his replacement as COO at Ashdown Contracting.

Tamotsu Adachi, Managing Director of Carlyle Japan, wants to formulate a strategy to improve his firm's ability to source high-quality deals at competitive valuations, or prices. Buyout funds like Carlyle typically have two deal phases: sourcing and monitoring. These correspond to (i) "selling" the benefits to a business owner of going with Carlyle as a buyout partner, and then (ii) increasing the value of that business following the buyout. Since the profitability of a buyout depends on finding high-quality deals, the firm has focused to date on leveraging its contacts in the banking business, which has been a powerful institution in Japan for many years. These contacts have brought to Carlyle a number of good quality companies, but the volume of buyouts done by Carlyle in Japan has not been what they hoped it would be. Students are asked how the firm can improve on this deal sourcing approach.

Following a successful IPO in June 2006, Banyan Tree Holdings Limited planned to use parts of the proceeds to finance an ambitious expansion plan. At the core of this business development plan was an ambitious proposal to open 28 new resorts over four years which would span non-Asian territories from Greece to Mexico. The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, the SARS crisis of 2003 and the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 had taken their toll on the travel and tourism industry in the region where Banyan Tree's resorts and spas were concentrated. Although recovery was on the horizon, those events left haunting memories and CEO Ho Kwon Ping understood the need to diversify risks across geographic regions. This case considers how a company with an experiential brand should manage its global expansion without losing the core values associated with its brand.