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In the spring of 2005, CEO Jeff Leerink has called a meeting of the executive committee to formulate Leerink Swann's growth strategy over the next five years so that it accomplishes three goals: expand into a new business, reinforce the firm's legacy businesses, and maximize the synergies between different parts of the firm. Covers the history of the boutique investment bank, including the nature and source of its personnel and culture, the development of its competitive strategy, the leadership style of its founder, and the development of each department, product, and function.

Corning, with large investments in fiber optic technology, was hit particularly hard by the collapse of the telecommunications industry in 2001. With over $4 billion in debt, the firm's survival appears to rest on raising additional equity capital. The protagonist is considering whether to invest in Corning or in a new mandatory convertible preferred stock that is being offered to the public.

A local real estate developer has to decide how much to bid for a Boston office building in 2005.

It's the busiest time of year for North Pole Workshops. Production is in high gear, and the elves are on overtime in the sprint toward Christmas. But an unexpected spike in demand for one toy may leave children around the world disappointed on Christmas morning, whether they've been naughty or nice. At the same time, another toy's popularity threatens to plummet, leaving Santa and his elves faced with the prospect of millions of unloved playthings left in the warehouse. This is the third time in three years that Santa's elves have been caught off guard by a toy's sudden surge in popularity. Earlier in the season, even just a month ago, it would have been possible to find capacity, but now every line is running full tilt. "Oh, it used to be so simple," Santa ruminates. "Wooden blocks, a train set, a doll...Now we have more than a million SKUs....Trends jump across the oceans in an instant. I've asked the elves in the field to go beyond reporting on kids' behavior and start trend spotting. I've invested in software. But still I can't help thinking that one of these days we're not going to be able to do it." Santa and his staff are determined not to disappoint the children, but North Pole Workshops must find a way to improve its response to shifts in demand. Should Santa invest in better forecasting? Or does the answer lie in a more flexible supply chain? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0512A and R0512Z are M. Eric Johnson, the director of the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business; Horst Brandstatter, the owner of Playmobil; Warren H. Hausman, a professor of operations management at Stanford University; and Anne Omrod, the CEO of the consulting firm John Galt Solutions.

It's the busiest time of year for North Pole Workshops. Production is in high gear, and the elves are on overtime in the sprint toward Christmas. But an unexpected spike in demand for one toy may leave children around the world disappointed on Christmas morning, whether they've been naughty or nice. At the same time, another toy's popularity threatens to plummet, leaving Santa and his elves faced with the prospect of millions of unloved playthings left in the warehouse. This is the third time in three years that Santa's elves have been caught off guard by a toy's sudden surge in popularity. Earlier in the season, even just a month ago, it would have been possible to find capacity, but now every line is running full tilt. "Oh, it used to be so simple," Santa ruminates. "Wooden blocks, a train set, a doll...Now we have more than a million SKUs....Trends jump across the oceans in an instant. I've asked the elves in the field to go beyond reporting on kids' behavior and start trend spotting. I've invested in software. But still I can't help thinking that one of these days we're not going to be able to do it." Santa and his staff are determined not to disappoint the children, but North Pole Workshops must find a way to improve its response to shifts in demand. Should Santa invest in better forecasting? Or does the answer lie in a more flexible supply chain? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0512A and R0512Z are M. Eric Johnson, the director of the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business; Horst Brandstatter, the owner of Playmobil; Warren H. Hausman, a professor of operations management at Stanford University; and Anne Omrod, the CEO of the consulting firm John Galt Solutions.

It's the busiest time of year for North Pole Workshops. Production is in high gear, and the elves are on overtime in the sprint toward Christmas. But an unexpected spike in demand for one toy may leave children around the world disappointed on Christmas morning, whether they've been naughty or nice. At the same time, another toy's popularity threatens to plummet, leaving Santa and his elves faced with the prospect of millions of unloved playthings left in the warehouse. This is the third time in three years that Santa's elves have been caught off guard by a toy's sudden surge in popularity. Earlier in the season, even just a month ago, it would have been possible to find capacity, but now every line is running full tilt. "Oh, it used to be so simple," Santa ruminates. "Wooden blocks, a train set, a doll...Now we have more than a million SKUs....Trends jump across the oceans in an instant. I've asked the elves in the field to go beyond reporting on kids' behavior and start trend spotting. I've invested in software. But still I can't help thinking that one of these days we're not going to be able to do it." Santa and his staff are determined not to disappoint the children, but North Pole Workshops must find a way to improve its response to shifts in demand. Should Santa invest in better forecasting? Or does the answer lie in a more flexible supply chain? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0512A and R0512Z are M. Eric Johnson, the director of the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business; Horst Brandstatter, the owner of Playmobil; Warren H. Hausman, a professor of operations management at Stanford University; and Anne Omrod, the CEO of the consulting firm John Galt Solutions.

The case documents the evolving characteristics of the contact lens market, driven by rapid technological innovation. The introduction of disposable contact lenses has transformed this business from a low-volume high-margin market space to a high-volume low-margin one. This transformation necessitated a drastically new supply chain solution, which would significantly reduce manufacturing and distribution costs while preserving the close relationships CIBA Vision enjoyed with the health care professionals in the local markets.

This case deals with the problems facing MMC in three of its key business areas, which surfaced in quick succession in 2003 and 2004. Its focus is primarily on the reputation risks facing the firm, and how shareholder value can be destroyed when such risks materialize. In two of the three cases, the market capitalization losses dwarf the accounting losses attribuable to fines, penalties, restitution, restructuring, etc., associated with the events.

The anthrax attacks of 2001 exposed serious inadequacies in the response of the U.S. public health system to meet such grave threats. The public health infrastructure required rebuilding to respond to any type of large-scale health emergency. The Public Health Department at Penville County had been charged with implementing an emergency preparedness and response system for the county. Federal funds were provided to the county to develop an emergency preparedness infrastructure that met the requirements specified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. County public officials had to coordinate their efforts to ensure seamless communication, coordination, and information exchange between various divisions within the public health department, external entities, and the state public health agency. Focuses on the director of Public Health Department and the challenges he faced. Explores issues related to structure, organization, culture, and technology infrastructure.

The CEO of a French-based advertising agency network led a series of high-profile acquisitions that created the world's 4th largest global communications company, after a failed strategic alliance taught him lessons about leadership and business relationships.

InvestorSoft is preparing to launch its one and only product, a subscription-based software service that will make it convenient and economical for companies to manage the investor relations portion of their Web sites. The company's founder faces an uphill battle in establishing InvestorSoft as a credible supplier to buyers who prefer dealing with large, reputable firms. His immediate challenge is to settle on a set of target customers and determine whether InvestorSoft would be better off selling to them directly or through resellers who would bundle the software with other services. He must also develop pricing and promotional strategies that will secure a strong base of customers early on, to position the company for future growth.

The associate director of a university campus reviews two opportunities to improve the profitability of the largest food sales generator on the campus. Low profitability prompts an evaluation of the restaurant mix and a decision regarding operational improvements or more restaurant alternatives.

The head of clinical trials at Solnyx Pharmaceuticals had just been handed the results of a phase II trial of Atoxeril, a hypertension drug. Her task was to interpret these data in preparation for a meeting with her institutional review board and representatives of the Food and Drug Administration. This case introduces a number of concepts related to the analysis of clinical trials including dealing with missing data, ANOVA, regression and sample size calculations. Students will evaluate the design of the phase II clinical trial and interpret the trial results; they will also evaluate the implications of the angioedema incidence and how it might affect the design of a phase III trial.

CARE's Rural Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness Promotion project is a new, market-driven approach to development in Kenya. Although the project has been successful from a development standpoint, it is not commercially viable. The sector manager must determine how to improve the project and make it commercially sustainable.

Only three short months into her new position as CEO of publicly traded golf apparel manufacturer Cutter & Buck, Fran Conley discovers accounting irregularities that call into question the reliability of this company's financial statements. Working closely with her board of directors, Conley must figure out what is really going on. She must also deal with the possibility of SEC sanctions, class action lawsuits, threat of NASDAQ delisting, loss of D&O insurance, departure of senior managers, and problems with access to credit. She is also trying to turn the company around after two years of poor performance.

Provides students with an abridged version of the Offering Circular provided to investors for the proposed merger of the Caribbean operations of two international banks. Taking the perspective of an investment adviser, students are asked to evaluate the proposed merger and make a recommendation to the existing shareholders regarding how they should manage this investment going forward (i.e., sell or hold the shares in the new company). Presents an opportunity to discuss several issues involved in valuing international companies using somewhat limited data while assessing the value of the proposal to existing shareholders.

Stan Williams, leading nanotech researcher at Hewlett Packard Laboratories, must decide whether to renew the firm's sponsorship of California NanoSystems Institute, spend the funds on internal R&D, or fund foreign universities. Illustrates the challenge of managing firm-university collaborations and develops implications for national competitiveness.

Tad O'Malley, a second-year student at Harvard Business School, must choose among three offers from private equity firms. Each firm presents a unique combination of history, culture, and compensation. Traces Tad's strategy in obtaining these offers and lets students decide which he should accept.

George Scheppler, president and CEO of Pine Ridge Winery, LLC, (the "Company") sat in his office overlooking the steep hillside vineyards of the Pine Ridge Winery in Napa Valley. It was June 2005, and he was preparing for the upcoming board of managers meeting where he would discuss the Company's long-range plan with its owner, Leucadia National Corp. Leucadia, a well-respected diversified holding company, had 2004 revenues of $2.3 billion. The Company had 2004 revenues of $13.8 million from its two wineries: Pine Ridge Winery (Pine Ridge) in California and Archery Summit Winery (Archery Summit) in Oregon.

In 2005, John C. Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC), confronts the collapse of a delicate agreement among business, government, and public interests in rebuilding on the World Trade Center site. Provides information on the leadership development of the protagonist, tracing his youth and education, his military service, his leadership at Goldman Sachs and the State Department, his long involvement in philanthropy and nonprofit enterprises, and his chairmanship of the LMDC. Raises questions about leadership legacies and the application of different leadership tools across a range of tasks and environments.