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Following its acquisition of a competitor, North American Financial finds itself in possession of two incompatible IS applications for the management of its mortgage portfolios. In addition, neither application is capable of handling the combined volume of transactions of the new firm. Faced with these constraints, NAF calls on the manager of its NAF-BP division to head the overhaul of its mortgage management systems. Realizing that he doesn't have the necessary in-house technical resources to carry out this project, the manager decides to outsource the development of a consolidated system to a third-party vendor that agrees to deliver a solution for a fixed price. Once underway, the project is plagued by a series of unexpected incidents that result in catastrophic cost and schedule overruns and lead the firm to review its approach to IT project management.

Greg Jamison, the head of global sourcing at USTech, has a complicated situation on his hands. The U.S. consumer electronics giant has long outsourced much of the design and production of its branded offerings to TaiSource, an original design manufacturer, or ODM, in Taiwan. TaiSource, in turn, has moved most of its manufacturing to Beijing, giving USTech many of the cost benefits--and none of the hassles--of sourcing in China. But commodity producers are squeezing USTech's margins, and higher end rivals are gaining market share, forcing the company to rethink its sales strategy in China and its relationship with TaiSource. Greg values the close bond his firm has forged with the ODM, but he knows the sole-source model has become an anomaly in the industry. And other USTech executives want to explore direct sourcing in China and learn about other Taiwanese ODMs, known for their high quality. When Greg hires a longtime TaiSource employee to get a feel for the fast-growing China market and scout out other suppliers in China and Taiwan, relations between the two companies start to fray. Moreover, there are signs that TaiSource plans to market its own branded goods in China. Will TaiSource and USTech end up as competitors? How can USTech protect its relationship with TaiSource while it explores sourcing and sales opportunities in Asia? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0603A and R0603Z are Bruce K. Riggs, the senior vice-president for operations and customer care at Gateway in Irvine, California; Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.; Wang Dongsheng, the chairman and CEO of BOE Technology Group in Beijing; and Paul Gaffney, the executive vice-president for supply chain at Staples in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Greg Jamison, the head of global sourcing at USTech, has a complicated situation on his hands. The U.S. consumer electronics giant has long outsourced much of the design and production of its branded offerings to TaiSource, an original design manufacturer, or ODM, in Taiwan. TaiSource, in turn, has moved most of its manufacturing to Beijing, giving USTech many of the cost benefits--and none of the hassles--of sourcing in China. But commodity producers are squeezing USTech's margins, and higher end rivals are gaining market share, forcing the company to rethink its sales strategy in China and its relationship with TaiSource. Greg values the close bond his firm has forged with the ODM, but he knows the sole-source model has become an anomaly in the industry. And other USTech executives want to explore direct sourcing in China and learn about other Taiwanese ODMs, known for their high quality. When Greg hires a longtime TaiSource employee to get a feel for the fast-growing China market and scout out other suppliers in China and Taiwan, relations between the two companies start to fray. Moreover, there are signs that TaiSource plans to market its own branded goods in China. Will TaiSource and USTech end up as competitors? How can USTech protect its relationship with TaiSource while it explores sourcing and sales opportunities in Asia? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0603A and R0603Z are Bruce K. Riggs, the senior vice-president for operations and customer care at Gateway in Irvine, California; Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.; Wang Dongsheng, the chairman and CEO of BOE Technology Group in Beijing; and Paul Gaffney, the executive vice-president for supply chain at Staples in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Greg Jamison, the head of global sourcing at USTech, has a complicated situation on his hands. The U.S. consumer electronics giant has long outsourced much of the design and production of its branded offerings to TaiSource, an original design manufacturer, or ODM, in Taiwan. TaiSource, in turn, has moved most of its manufacturing to Beijing, giving USTech many of the cost benefits--and none of the hassles--of sourcing in China. But commodity producers are squeezing USTech's margins, and higher end rivals are gaining market share, forcing the company to rethink its sales strategy in China and its relationship with TaiSource. Greg values the close bond his firm has forged with the ODM, but he knows the sole-source model has become an anomaly in the industry. And other USTech executives want to explore direct sourcing in China and learn about other Taiwanese ODMs, known for their high quality. When Greg hires a longtime TaiSource employee to get a feel for the fast-growing China market and scout out other suppliers in China and Taiwan, relations between the two companies start to fray. Moreover, there are signs that TaiSource plans to market its own branded goods in China. Will TaiSource and USTech end up as competitors? How can USTech protect its relationship with TaiSource while it explores sourcing and sales opportunities in Asia? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0603A and R0603Z are Bruce K. Riggs, the senior vice-president for operations and customer care at Gateway in Irvine, California; Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.; Wang Dongsheng, the chairman and CEO of BOE Technology Group in Beijing; and Paul Gaffney, the executive vice-president for supply chain at Staples in Framingham, Massachusetts.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a drug-coated stent for use in angioplasty procedures. The stent is expected to reduce the rate of repeat procedures due to restenosis and to postpone the need for more invasive surgery, such as coronary bypass. However, the drug-coated stent costs three times as much as an uncoated stent, which will increase the cost of the medical procedure. Public demand for the stent is overwhelming; however, because of the higher cost and huge demand, the cost of medical care could increase dramatically. Examines the trade-off between quality improvements and higher costs of medical treatment by looking at the impact on several stakeholders: patients, hospitals and insurers.

The general manager, sales, of Marico Industries Ltd. India, is thinking about the future of the company's central sales organization (CSO). The central sales organization has been around for five years and has met all its original objectives. However, with a rapidly changing industry, the very success of the CSO is making it seem less relevant for the future. He must decide if this is true, or if the CSO could transform itself to cater to the changing needs of the Indian fast-moving consumer goods market.

For a variety of reasons, economic performance varies both across economies around the world in any given year and over time for any given economy. The level of economic development, political and economic institutions, government policies, political stability, and other social and perhaps cultural factors may all contribute to these variations. These differences in economic performance and their underlying causes are often reflected in published economic statistics and can be highlighted through the use of rates and ratios. This case sets up an exercise for students to examine economic statistics by (1) analyzing some key rates and ratios and (2) matching the data to country profiles published in the CIA World Factbook. The countries included in this case are the United States, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry. Focuses on the development of the Bumble brand, its strategic importance in the market for premium hair-care products, and its cultural significance within the company. Also, takes up the acquisition of Bumble and bumble by the Estee Lauder Companies and the implications of this ownership structure for organizational priorities and performance.

Located in the highlands of Peru, the Tintaya copper mine has long been a source of intense conflict between local community members and mine operators. The mine, which was owned and managed first by the Peruvian state and later by BHP Billiton, stands on 2,300 hectares of land expropriated from local subsistence farmers. In 2000, to contest this loss of land, mining-related environmental degradation, and allegations of human rights abuses, a coalition of five indigenous communities forged an alliance with a group of domestic and international NGOs to build their case against the BHP Billiton and pursue it directly with the company's Australian headquarters. The outcome of these efforts was the inception of a unique corporate-community negotiation process known as the Tintaya Dialogue Table. In December 2004, after three years of negotiation, BHP Billiton and the five communities signed an agreement compensating families for lost land and livelihoods and establishing a local environmental monitoring team and community development fund. However, just as the company resolves one conflict, another group of local stakeholders emerges with new demands--ones that the company may not be able to meet. The conflict with this new group culminates in a violent takeover of the mine in May 2005, whereupon BHP Billiton staff are forced to shut down operations, abandon the mine site, and devise a new strategy for winning back local support.

Abbott Labs has reached an impasse with the Brazilian government in negotiations over the pricing of a new anti-AIDS drug, Kaletra. The Brazilian government threatens compulsory licensing unless Abbott drastically reduces the price of Kaletra.

DaVita, one of the largest operators of kidney dialysis centers in the United States, underwent a remarkable turnaround between 2000 and 2005, a transformation based on building a strong values-driven culture, with an emphasis on fact-based decision making and the theme of "one for all, all for one" and an emphasis on company as community. Now the company's top management faces a number of challenges, including the integration of one of its largest competitors just acquired in a merger, ensuring management succession and not being too CEO-centric, and dealing with the operational issues confronting a company heavily dependent on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that do not fully cover the cost of treatment while competing for employees in the health care industry.

In face of globalization, outsourcing, changing regulations, and rapid technological innovations, companies in the 2000s were increasingly challenged to devise and implement adaptable business models. This entailed putting in place enterprise applications that were open-source, simple to implement, and easy to integrate within and without the organizational bounds. Because traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems were generally complex, proprietary, and difficult to install, ERP systems providers had to reposition themselves strategically. SAP, the leading company in this space, faced this challenge by transforming itself from a closed-source software developer to an open-source software integrator. By opening up its proprietary software products as an open development and integration platform, SAP allowed its customers to modify their ERPs to suit their specific needs. This new strategy, however, would fundamentally affect the company's business architecture. In other words, SAP had to rethink how it would define its value proposition, identify and target its customers, deploy its resources, configure its business processes, manage its alliances, and develop and maintain its profit and growth engines. How could the company pull off this repositioning initiative? Would it be able to attract the global army of independent developers in supporting its new software platform strategy? How would the ongoing consolidation in the software industry affect the Company's new strategy? How would the main competitors such as Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and a host of companies emerging in India react?

Reviews the role of corporate venture capital and its history at Eli Lilly. Also presents a challenging venture investment opportunity.

Grove International Partners, one of the world's largest international real estate private equity funds, is actively seeking new investment opportunities in the seniors housing industry. The firm has identified two potential opportunities--one located in Japan and one in the United Kingdom--that would place it at the leading edge of one of the most lucrative and socially meaningful health care services markets in the world. Grove evaluates these two opportunities and decides which one, if either, to pursue.

This case examines the dilemma confronting the Brazilian electricity regulator in the period following power rationing. Brazil privatized about 65 percent of the distribution companies (DISCOs) in the 1990s, but the companies were hit hard financially, first by a dramatic fall in the currency exchange, and then by a supply crisis that forced the government to require consumers to reduce their consumption by 20 percent. The case explores the deliberations by the Brazilian regulatory agency, ANEEL, on whether to grant significant tariff increases to DISCOs during a period of economic turmoil. It also addresses several key regulatory issues: How to calculate the value of a regulated firm's asset base; Should a regulated firm be compensated for changes in exchange rates? Similar problems are confronted by regulators in other sectors and other countries so that the lessons in this case are transferable. HKS Case Number 1826.0

How does a public-private venture emerge in one of the world's poorest countries (Laos) and how does it obtain $280 million in financing for a 215 MW hydroelectric facility to supply power - not to the host country, but its neighbor? At the time of the project, Laos had no domestic capital market, and commercial lenders and equity investors believed the country too politically and economically risky. As a result, Laos had almost no foreign direct investment and had never entered into a public-private venture for energy infrastructure. HKS Case Number 1829.0

This case discusses the efforts by the state of Andhra Pradesh and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to provide water services to its poorest inhabitants - approximately 1.7 million people. Undermining this challenge is the reality that Hyderabad is located in a comparatively dry region of India, and the Water Board is only able to provide water for an average of two hours per day. To attract investment, the government decides to privatize the Water Board, but the World Bank conditions its support for this privatization on Andhra Pradesh's ability to develop a program that will provide water to the city's slums. HKS Case Number 1828.0

In 2005, Erez Meltzer, the president and CEO of Netafim (the world's leading manufacturer of drip irrigation equipment), was wondering whether Netafim's supply chain was strong enough to support the change in strategy he was planning for the company: migrating from selling products to selling solutions. When Meltzer stepped into office three years earlier, the company was struggling with flat sales, an out-of-date supply chain, and no global synergies. In just three years, Meltzer turned around the company, restructured its supply chain, and reinvigorated its growth. The question was whether the newly restructured supply chain would support the new strategy--one that would require new supply chain-related competencies from the organization.

In 1996, Kari Stefansson launched a new kind of biotechnology company and a whole new way of attacking diseases. Based in Iceland, his firm, deCODE Genetics, plans to identify the individual genetic markers that lead to society's most prevalent diseases. To do so, it plans to create an unrivaled database of genetic and medical information, drawing on Iceland's unique genealogical records and patient information from a countrywide medical database. But when patient advocate groups form to oppose the plan, deCODE is forced to change its strategy.

Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is beginning to disrupt plain old telephone service (POTS). Ron Close has been offered the job of heading Bell Canada's nascent VoIP business. Bell is Canada's largest telco and supplier of POTS. The case provides a platform for discussing a disruptive innovation (VoIP) and its implications for an incumbent player. Ron Close explains how Bell addressed the technology challenge, and its managerial and organizational consequences in an available video, product 7B06M009.