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Describes the business development process in biotechnology companies. Topics covered include: participants in the licensing process and their interests, the major steps in the licensing process, the terms that are part of most agreements, and the most contentious issues that arise in the implementation of licensing agreements.

Wumart Stores (Wumart) is a privately owned, indigenous Chinese retail chain operation founded by a private entrepreneur in 1994. The decade after its inception saw the company grow from a small, suburban supermarket to the seventh largest chain retailer (over 500 stores) in China. By using regional market positioning focusing on one of China's wealthiest regions--Beijing; implementing low-cost expansion strategies; taking the opportunity to restructure state-owned assets; employing multi-format store development in both the most mature and fastest growing segment; and making the earliest commitment to information technology among its domestic peers, Wumart establishes strong competitive advantages that set it apart from its domestic competition. On the company's 10th anniversary, China fully opened its retail sector to foreign participation. Vying for a share in China's vast consumer market, but having been hindered by many regulatory obstacles, foreign retailing giants can now compete on a level platform backed by their ample financial resources, deep industry and management expertise, and long-term commitment to China. The market is becoming ever more competitive and is expected to experience massive consolidation. In the end, only the best performers with significant scale will survive. The test is for Wumart's management to develop strategies to sustain its competitive advantages in the face of challenges from both domestic peers and foreign giants, to carry on the success story, and to eventually realize its ambition of becoming an everlasting national brand.

The case explores some of the conflicts generated by the liberalization of labour and services markets in the European Union (EU) following the post-Communist enlargement in 2004, focusing in particular on the role played by the European Court of Justice as the frequent arbitrator of conflicts over market liberalization in the EU.

Illustrates the adaptation and implementation of a private sector management tool, the Balanced Scorecard, to a public school district. As part of a continuous improvement initiative, the Director of Planning and Policy facilitates the development of a strategy map and scorecard for the district. She then helps cascade the scoreboard down to individual school scorecards, and up to the school board, where it is used to monitor and guide the district's accomplishments. The implementation, however, hits some problems when the superintendent resigns, followed by high turnover among his replacements. Enables a discussion of the role of centralization versus decentralization in setting school objectives and accountability, issues that arise when introducing performance management into public school districts, and the role for leadership and governance in driving improvements in school achievement.

Digital China is the largest Chinese independent systems integrator (IBM and HP are larger). Describes their history and their current strategy and invites the student to advise them as to how they should continue to grow in the future. This is the closest China currently has to Infosys and their 7,700-person company is a very interesting, and today, a largely unknown organization outside of China.

Wal-Mart is at a crossroads. Its positioning as the world's largest, low-price retail leader is being undermined by higher operating costs and slower sales growth. The solution, according to President and CEO Lee Scott, is to get middle-class consumers who shop the store selectively for grocery and personal care items "to cross the aisle" for higher-margin fashion goods. But Wal-Mart's attempts at entering Cheap Chic-the fashion category dominated by competitors such as Target and H&M-have been undermined by strategic decision focused on operational efficiencies and a lack of understanding of branding nuances.

Schwab management is evaluating the success of the recently launched "Talk to Chuck" advertising campaign. This campaign aims to differentiate Schwab in the cluttered financial services marketplace. Test market results facilitate discussion of advertising objectives, message strategy, media selection, and performance measures.

Describes several internal and external negotiations in the 1980s that led to a significant and growing partnership between Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Wal-Mart. From the perspective of Lou Pritchett, P&G's Vice President of Sales and Customer Development, the unfolding negotiations are described, starting with a canoe trip Pritchett took with Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Provides insight into various negotiating situations as well as key lessons learned from early efforts to help P&G and Wal-Mart forge a more integrated supplier-retailer partnership.

The owners of Black Fly Beverage Company consider the viability of expanding their product-line after less than a year in operation. Since its start-up earlier the same year, sales of the company's original cranberry-blueberry vodka cooler had climbed steadily. Impressed with their early success, the owners wonder whether they should take advantage of their new brand's momentum and invest in the production of a second product.

Should Hewlett-Packard cooperate with other firms in the electronics industry to develop a common code of conduct for suppliers? HP, a leading provider of personal computing, imaging, and printing products, had developed a comprehensive set of labor, environmental, and human rights standards for its suppliers. However, the company remained concerned about its reputational vulnerability and lack of supplier compliance. Ken Larson, HP's Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility, considered whether the company could best advance its interests through industry collaboration on a common code of conduct.

Farmacias Similares, serving Mexico's low-income sector, grew to $600 million sales and 3,400 drugstores while deep reforms to help the poor swept the public health system. Adjacent to each store, for $2 per visit, medical clinics provided access to doctors for 2.3 million people a month. Narrates the growth of the chain, examines the reasons for its success, and projects a pro forma of the company's financial returns. Places Farmacias Similares in the context of Mexico's public health system and the pharmaceutical industry.

Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in its financial statements.

The founding partners of ABC, LLC, one of the leading private equity firms in the world, are trying to understand why some of the other top firms in the business, such as KKR and Apollo, have been tapping the public equity markets for their own funds, and whether they should do the same. They are also pondering how to monetize their own stake in the firm, and whether taking the firm itself public may be a viable option.

The chairman of Gome Ltd, a well known appliance retail chain, congratulated his management team for their excellent performance over the past year. For three consecutive years, Gome had been ranked the largest electrical appliance retail chain in China, and the second largest overall retail chain. Claiming to be the only true national player, Gome achieved total sales of RMB23.9 billion in 2004, and in 2005 doubled its number of stores to 426. The company's four-year plan is to capture 10-15% of the market share nationally. Gome would need to double the number of stores in the coming three years, and more importantly, work out a strategy to fend off its local and global competitors.

Describes the retailer-supplier negotiations of Tom Muccio, one of the earlier Procter & Gamble (P&G) employees to be based in Bentonville, Arkansas, in negotiating the early operational components of the supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart in the late 1980s. Provides background on the supplier-retailer relationship and negotiation barriers encountered when executing operational components of the partnership.

In January 2000, Jose Antonio Justino, accepted an offer to become the Managing Director of the Consumer Division of Johnson & Johnson Brazil (in Portuguese-Johnson & Johnson Comercio e Distribuicao Ltda.). Johnson & Johnson Brazil (J&J Brazil) had been the early leader in Brazil in a variety of products, including disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, bandages, cotton swabs, sunscreen, and baby care products. Unfortunately, performance had deteriorated in recent years, with both sales and profitability dropping significantly. Market share in many categories was falling because of increased competition from local firms and multinationals. The company group chairman of J&J's global consumer business told Justino in February that he would have to present a business plan at a J&J meeting in Mexico in May 2000. The business plan would have to identify the specific steps that would allow J&J Brazil to restore profitability by the end of 2000 and position the company for future growth

Small business owner Tim Bono must decide whether to accept business from a customer that involves transferring film with homosexual content, and if doing so violates his company's "Christian and ethical values."

A recent MBA graduate was about to return to the family business, Biomed Co., Ltd., as its general manager. Biomed's parent company, Thai Drugs Co., Ltd., has just revised Biomed's market strategy, a change that created the need to realign the sales compensation system to fit with the new strategy. The new general manager was charged with this responsibility. Follows the path from strategy to a powerful sales compensation plan that will support the strategy and encourage salespeople to execute their role within this strategy.

The new chief executive officer (CEO) of ING Insurance Asia/Pacific wants to improve the regional operation of the company. ING Group was a global financial services company of Dutch origin with more than 150 years of experience. As part of ING International, ING Insurance Asia/Pacific was responsible for life insurance and asset/wealth management activities throughout the region. The company was doing well, but the new CEO believed that there were still important strategic and operational improvements possible.

On February 19, 2005, British Airways flight 268, a 747, took off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) headed for London's Heathrow Airport. It would be an 11-hour, 5,000-plus-mile flight. Shortly after takeoff, only 296 feet in the air, one of the jet's four engines exploded. The pilots had to determine what course of action to take: return immediately to LAX or continue the flight. This case outlines the various options and the potential consequences of each. See also the B case (UV0774).