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Teleflex Canada, a division of Teleflex Inc., manufactures a range of products, including marine hydraulic steering systems, trim components for marine propulsion, heating equipment for the truck and bus industries, a range of proprietary fluid controls, and field cookstoves for the U.S. Army. Within Teleflex Canada, there was a consensus that continual innovation in product design, manufacturing, and marketing was critical to the success of the organization. In 2005, Teleflex Canada executives were faced with various questions: Would size inhibit the ability to innovate? Would increased corporate centralization at Teleflex Inc. impact Teleflex Canada's ability to respond to new market opportunities? At the Teleflex Inc. corporate level, different questions were being asked: Could the culture of innovation in Teleflex Canada be transferred to other parts of the company? What was the appropriate level of corporate support and control necessary to foster innovation and high performance at Teleflex Canada and at other Teleflex business units?

This case provides an opportunity for students to (1) understand the calculation of a number of basic financial ratios, (2) analyze a set of common-size balance sheets and several financial ratio metrics, (3) hypothesize how some basic understanding of an industry should be reflected in certain financial indicators, and (4) present to their classmates a rationale for their pairings and to respond to questions from their classmates. If instructors are so inclined, use of this case also provides an opportunity to (1) discuss an organizing framework for the focal ratios, (2) present the concepts of financial leverage and the DuPont ratio model, and (3) introduce students to some of the published sources for industry metrics.

How do you facilitate changing a long-held mission into a new vision during an organizational restructuring? Ernesto Gomez, organizational development director for Lotz of Food, a leading grocery retailer headquartered in California, was asked to help the perishable team transition from a hierarchical and function-based business unit to one that would be more dynamic, versatile, and proactive. Expectations were high and came right from the top of the organization. The A case reveals the steps Gomez takes to understand the problems. Among the issues about team development, Gomez is conflicted over the lack of diversity among the organization's leadership and indeed on the entire team. More troubling is the organization's seeming lack of recognition of this fact--so much that Gomez wonders whether his own background has made this a bigger issue than it really is. In the B case, Gomez becomes more concerned about what extent he thinks his own biases and past experiences are shaping the way he sees this situation.

With FY2005 sales of $27.3 billion, Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy Co., Inc. was the leading retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, and related services in North America. Its operations included the distinct store formats Best Buy, Future Shop in Canada, and Magnolia Audio Video as well as service provider Geek Squad. For the eight years leading up to 2004, Best Buy had reported double-digit revenue growth every year and rarely missed earnings. But on December 13, 2005, Best Buy missed its third-quarter earnings per share (coming in at $0.28, not $0.30). The company's stock price fell nearly 12% that day, a loss of $2 billion in market cap. The poor results were attributed to the aggressive rollout of 144 new "centricity" stores--revamped retail formats featuring a customer-centric operating model designed to offer targeted "value propositions" to one or two distinct customer segments. The new format was a departure from Best Buy's winning formula and required adjustments in interactions between various parts of the Best Buy organization, including a new set of segment leaders.

Set in the year 2001, as President John Kufuor contemplates a national economic strategy following his election in the first democratic transfer of power in Ghana's history. Focuses on Ghana's long history of poor economic performance and intractable poverty, highlighting the challenges of economic development in Africa and in other low-income countries. Provides a brief political and economic history of Ghana, focusing on the Nkrumah era of 1957-1966, the World Bank and IMF-led structural reforms of the 1980s, and the continuation of reforms after the first democratic elections in 1992. Details Ghana's economic and political context and cluster performance in 2001 and summarizes initiatives taken by the Kufuor administration to promote development. Detailed historical economic and social data allow an evaluation of policy results.

In 2006, the Philippines faces a difficult choice. Japan has offered the country a trade agreement that includes access to the Japanese labor market for Philippine nurses and other professionals. The same trade agreement, however, means opening the country's manufacturing enterprises to Japanese exports, which is bitterly opposed by some of the nation's largest foreign investors. President Gloria Arroyo--embattled by coup attempts and political scandals--must decide whether to advance the nation's three-decade-old strategy of encouraging the export of its labor resources or whether to attenuate that strategy to meet the demands of large foreign investors.

Cheri Mack, an African-American woman, has just arrived at Harvard Business School after working for three years at a major consulting firm where she learned to adopt the demeanor of her male colleagues in order to fit in. Some of her male classmates are critical of her masculine, aggressive style in the classroom. As she begins to plan for a new career in health care, their criticisms cause her to wonder whether having shed much of her femininity will compromise her effectiveness as a leader.

Tom Jenkins, manager of the filling line for Amore Frozen Foods' beef-noodle-casserole product, must determine the proper fill rate and production rate for three filling machines. An on-line simulation requires the student to perform a number of tests using statistical design of experiments to determine the proper allocation of product to machine and the optimal settings for each machine.

In November 2005, Microsoft prepared for a global launch of its next-generation game console, the Xbox 360. Microsoft's original Xbox had been introduced a year after Sony's Playstation, but would beat Sony's next-generation system to market by a substantial amount. It would also play an important part in Microsoft's future strategy, where the home entertainment system was seen as a major growth opportunity. Describes the evolution of the video game console business and the evolution of the Xbox, both from a design and manufacturing perspective. Microsoft's decisions for the original Xbox supply chain are described, together with the changes in the supply chain that were made for the Xbox 360. Asks questions about the motivation for changes to the supply chain, the risks and benefits of global rather than regional launch, and the use of contract manufacturers. Prepares students for discussion of how supply chains must evolve to support changing business strategy.

Endesa Chile, the largest electricity generation company in Chile, is building a major power plant on the Biobio River in Southern Chile. A historic conflict involving the indigenous people of the Biobio River, the Chilean government, and international conservation groups results. The conflict threatens the completion of the project and the longstanding culture and community of the Penhuenche, the indigenous people of the Upper Biobio.

In the autumn of 2002, JAFCO Asia, a subsidiary of JAFCO Co., Ltd., became the first foreign private equity firm to open an office in Beijing's Haidian Science Park. JAFCO was the only Japanese private equity firm operating in China. As such, Managing Director Vincent Chan observed, "JAFCO is the bridge between Japan and China." Yet, under that bridge the waters appeared increasingly choppy. While the economic relationship between Japan and China had grown increasingly close, their political relations had not and some Japanese firms had begun to reassess their commitment to China. Would capital-rich Japan and capital-poor China find a way to transcend their troubled history? Could JAFCO Asia be a catalyst for cooperation, or would its managers find their own operations affected by rivalry between Asia's two most important countries? The mix of formal rules and informal practices that governed foreign private equity firms in China was complex. Opening an office in Beijing signified a renewal of JAFCO Asia's efforts to master these challenges and coincided with an acceleration of the firm's investments. But JAFCO's first years of engagement with China had not been notably successful, and without some fundamental changes, there was little reason to believe that the addition of a physical presence there would yield better results now.

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest performing in the nation. A variety of public officials, politicians, and entrepreneurs are engaged in the rebuilding process. Also, explores the tensions that emerge as the community faces both the rebuilding task and conflicting visions of what the future should look like.

CircleLending, an innovative start-up, offered individuals the ability to set up and manage informal loans made between relatives and friends. The company must decide which market segment to focus on and then how much money to raise from investors. CircleLending is a pioneer in the informal lending market, a largely unstudied and little understood consumer finance segment. Asheesh Advani, the founder and CEO of CircleLending, must evaluate the relative attractiveness of various segments, including housing, small business, and other lending.

The president of Fuji Television must decide how to respond to a competing bid for the shares of Nippon Broadcasting Systems (NBS). Livedoor, the other bidder, is a highly valued Internet company that has been accused of financial wizardry to keep its stock price high.

Apple has reaped the benefits of its innovative music player, the iPod. However, its PC and server business continue to hold small market share relative to the worldwide computer over the past few years. Will the iPod lure new users to the Mac? Will Apple be able to produce another cutting-edge device quickly?

Considers whether BYD Co., Ltd., the largest Chinese maker of rechargeable batteries, should enter the Chinese automobile industry by acquiring Qinchuan Auto, a state-owned car manufacturer. Set just after BYD's initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2002, it describes the development of BYD's labor-intensive approach to battery manufacturing--an approach decidedly different from its more capital-intensive Japanese competitors and one that took advantage of the abundant supply of low-cost labor in China. Highlights the unique benefits and challenges created by BYD's operations strategy and asks students to determine whether the capabilities developed by the company in battery manufacturing can productively be applied to the automobile sector. Asks students to consider which, if any, aspects of BYD's operations constitute sources of sustainable competitive advantage for the company.

Learning Lab Denmark (LLD), a research and development institute, encountered many of the difficulties typically experienced by start-ups, especially obstacles that involve developing a set of routines for getting things done. In other respects, LLD faced several distinct challenges that are specific to its charter. Describes in detail the history behind the formation of Learning Lab Denmark: the goals and the organizing principles underlying LLD and its sub-components; and the various personnel roles and issues, including performance problems, criticism, and paradoxes that arose in the first couple of years.

The materials manager at the Wilkins plant in California is surprised to find out that an auditor's report recommends a second annual physical inventory count. He has concerns about the level of the inventory that was conducted, knows changes are needed, and must decide what alternatives to consider. Explores the difficulties of managing inventory as well as typical problems that occur in growing businesses.

Resina is a global manufacturer of resins and surfacing solutions headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with three production facilities and 12 sales offices in China. The head of Asia Pacific for Resina needs to decide what should be done about Beijing and Guangdong. Should Beijing remain in operation, be shut down, or moved to another area where demand for liquid bulk resins is stronger. Similar options exist in Guangdong. In aiming towards profitable operations, he needs to consider the buoyancy of local demand, Resina's partner in Beijing, local and foreign competitors, and appropriate managers in each operation.

The world's leading cosmetics companies are competing with--and buying--local cosmetics firms for a share of China's vanity cash. French cosmetics giant L'Oreal is grabbing a major share of the Chinese make-up market. The company recently announced its acquisition of Chinese cosmetic brand Yue-Sai. The surprising announcement came just 45 days after L'Oreal made a successful bid for Raystar Cosmetics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd's skin-care brand, Mininurse, at the beginning of the year. L'Oreal has been very successful in China's high-end and middle-segment cosmetic markets. The recent two acquisitions, however, indicate that L'Oreal is focusing more on the mass market and shows its determination to step up the pace of its growth in China. It also indicates how red-hot the cosmetics trade has become in China. What competition is situation L'Oreal facing? How can L'Oreal retain its leading position in China? Is it through more acquisitions or improving on its own products? What will be the impact of the future tariff reduction?