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An intern at SC Johnson requested a meeting to discuss a new initiative he wanted to pursue after analyzing coupons for SC Johnson's Glade brand. The intern had identified a large variance in coupon redemption rates and coupon return metrics, and wanted to discuss the possibility of developing a better way to plan coupon promotions.

The challenges and best strategies for the commercialization of university technologies are illustrated in this case which documents an MRI breakthrough that arose from the Charles Marcus laboratory at Harvard. Students discuss the interdependencies of intellectual property protection, strategy choices for science based breakthroughs, and business models for university technology.

Partners in Health is a Boston-based, not-for-profit that provides health care to people in some of the poorest regions of the world, including Haiti, Malawi, Rwanda, and Peru. In 1998, PIH established a program (PACT) in Boston to bring care to AIDS and TB patients who were not well served by existing care delivery systems. Describes PIH's programs in the developing world and the way in which lessons learned in these countries informed the design and management of PACT. Examines the balance between customized and standardized approaches to care and challenges students to examine their preconceived notions of the social role of a health care delivery organization. Dr. Heidi Behforouz, PACT's director, must decide whether a service design honed in developing countries can be rolled out more broadly in one the world's richest nations.

Anupam Majumdar, relationship manager, and Aditya Mehta, regional head of Hindustan Neon General Insurance Limited, India, were meeting an important client. Mehta asked Majumdar to serve them tea. This really embarrassed and infuriated Majumdar. It was not the first time that Mehta, Majumdar's boss, had treated him like a peon. Majumdar was about to take a three-week leave of absence to attend his brother's wedding in New York so he was not sure if this was the right time, if ever, to do anything about the situation.

Describes the efforts made by the Boston Red Sox to sign superstar Japanese pitcher Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka within the context of the team's attempts to keep pace with longtime rival, the New York Yankees. In late 2006, Dice-K is viewed as the prize of the free agent pitching market. However, negotiations between the Red Sox and Dice-K's camp have broken down with the signing deadline less than 24 hours away (if Dice-K is not signed by the deadline, he must return to Japan for a year). How high should the Red Sox be willing to go with their offer? What are the alternatives if they fail to sign Dice-K? What kind of performance should they expect from Dice-K in the 2007 season? And finally, how does the signing fit into the greater strategic context of competing with the much-better funded Yankees?

The Mormon Church focuses on self-reliance and being prepared for emergencies. Part of their program encourages each member of the Church to have a reserve food supply on hand at all times. Given U.S. and global food stock levels, is the Church program a good model for the country?

"We don't need more production capability. What we need is a higher design level and a bigger sales network", said the CEO of Haier, China's largest white goods manufacturer and one of the world's fastest growing white goods companies. Haier began its efforts to go global in 1999 by tapping into the US market with niche products. In 2006, Haier announced that it planned to launch a new global development strategy to bolster its global brand awareness. It hoped to sell bigger and technologically-rich white goods in the overseas markets and differentiate itself from other Chinese commodity players. This case study explores Haier's roadmap in transforming itself from a Chinese household name to a global brand, and examines the effectiveness of its product diversification and design strategy in its global expansion.

This award-winning case series examines how optimization-based decision-making leads to a new business design for a timeshare exchange: an exchange fair. Students model a complex managerial problem as a linear program, identify the types of data needed, and use models to provide decision support. The series covers linear and integer programming, multiple-criteria decision-making, network flow problems, local search heuristics, and Pareto-optimality. The series demonstrates the advantages and difficulties involved in applying management science techniques to a real-life business environment. It teaches standard techniques of extracting relevant data from a mass of more- and less-relevant information and forces students to confront issues consultants face: How do you motivate management to even consider a management science approach? How do you build a "business case" demonstrating the shortcomings of the methodology already in place? The case provides background on the timeshare industry, exchanges, and the exchange fair, in which owners submit their existing intervals to a centralized pool, together with requests for the intervals they want to exchange; the exchange determines who gets which interval. Various aspects of a functioning exchange fair are presented, and, starting from a heuristic, the series effectively guides students toward the "better" optimization-based way of executing the exchange. This case series is a winner of the 2005 INFORMS case competition and received an honorable mention at the 2005 DSI case competition. Suitable for both general MBA and executive education programs and as a basis for an exam or assignment, this series is also appropriate for specialized undergraduate and graduate programs in services management (e.g., tourism and hotel administration), logistics, and industrial and systems engineering.

Eu Yan Sang International was an Asia-based traditional chinese medicine (TCM) provider. The company was established in the late 1890s and had been in operations for over 100 years. By 2007, it was managed by a combination of fourth-generation descendents and professional managers. The first section of this case examines the dramatic rise and fall of the Eu family business empire over several generations, and illustrates the complex interplay of preserving family values, managing personal egos, and reviving a 100-year-old business using modern management techniques. The second section discusses Eu Yan Sang's growth in the 1990s as it transitioned from a purely family-run business to one which had to balance preserving traditional values and meeting the expectations of a modern day corporation. The last section discusses Richard Eu's, fourth generation CEO of the company, considerations in succession planning as the business prepared for a new generation of leadership.

Describes the hardball tactics facing Peter Welz, who seeks to negotiate a make-or-break contract with a vastly larger potential client. Welz's counterpart team is led by Preston Spitzer, a notoriously tough player who fully understands his side's massive advantages in the process. With the economic fate of Welz's newly public smaller firm in the balance, Welz and his team must figure out how to handle some very tough tactics by Spitzer and his minions aimed at extracting lopsided contract concessions. These tactics include demeaning remarks, repeated threats to opt for a competitor, misrepresentations, repudiation of previously agreed provisions, last-minute demands, divide-and-conquer moves, and a waiting game that exploits the smaller firm's evidently urgent need for a closure. The (A) case sets up the negotiations and poses an immediate tactical challenge in the context of the overall process. The (B) case describes the strategies, tactics, and results of these negotiations, along with Welz's broader insights into a more productive approach to the common challenge of dealing with very hard bargainers.

Describes a compensation dilemma with a father and his three children, who work in different businesses under the family holding companies. The father, James Kohl, must set compensation that meets the needs of the family and the business.

DermaCare has developed an innovative new product for the treatment of acne that they hope to sell to consumers via direct-response television. The unconventional nature of the product and its distribution has led the company to seek angel financing. The Silicon Valley Band of Angels has agreed to finance the company and has submitted a proposed term sheet. Recently, however, a venture capital (VC) group has submitted a competing term sheet. The company must decide whether to accept financing from the Angels or the VC group.

Presents data on opportunities to conserve energy in buildings, which account for about a third of all energy use. Encourages readers to think about the impediments to energy efficiency in the buildings sector and the ways in which entrepreneurs can profitably surmount the obstacles.

Sherry Lansing, head of a Hollywood studio, left to start a foundation. Describes the issues in her transition.

Describes the transition issues for General Kennedy after she left the army and tried to apply her leadership to social causes.

Describes how Gerry House made the transition from head of a large school district to leader of a small nonprofit.

Describes how a former public official became an advocate who started a nonprofit organization after losing her campaign for governor.

Describes the post-career leadership issues for former General and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Describes how New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg took his leadership skills from the business world to the challenges of government.

Well known actor Paul Newman started a business to give profits to charity. Summarizes his experience in making the transition from one kind of leadership to another.