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Frank Heberer, a human resources manager at Medignostics, has proposed a long-term HR strategy for the German midsize pharmaceutical company. All his research points to trouble on the horizon: In just 25 years, more than a quarter of the country's population will be over age 65. What will happen to the firm when workers start retiring in droves? How will it attract smart new hires from a much smaller talent pool? But the executive team is focused on cutting costs here and now. In fact, to save money, Medignostics recently withdrew from an early-retirement program sponsored by the German government. Meanwhile, age-related tensions at the company are growing. A 58-year-old account manager, angry about being forced to resume full-time hours and report to a jargon-happy tyke, has been taking lots of sick days and otherwise disengaging from his job. Heberer believes it is only a matter of time before other employees stage unofficial "strikes," too. Heberer is convinced that, for Medignostics to stay competitive, its leaders have to start thinking strategically about the demographic shift. He's trying to sound the alarm; he's even put together plans to create a child care center to help attract working parents--but his boss has summarily rejected the idea as a luxury Medignostics can't afford. How can Heberer persuade his boss and the other executives, all nearing retirement age themselves, to take the long view? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0510A and R0510Z are Norbert Herrmann, an HR consultant in Bad Endorf, Austria; Barbara D. Bovbjerg, the director of Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C.; Dietmar Martina, the director of Groupwide Performance Measurement at Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, Germany; and Eileen A. Kamerick, the CFO of Heidrick & Struggles International, headquartered in Chicago.

In 2000, Vietnam passed the Enterprise Law to spur private sector development and facilitate its transition from a centrally-planned to a market economy. The Enterprise Law changed the paradigm for private business in Vietnam by making business registration a legal right, rather than a privilege. Between 2000-2005, the number of private enterprises increased by more than 100%, adding over 2.5 million jobs to Vietnam's labor market. Despite this success, Vietnam's private sector remained undercapitalized, having only 12 companies with over $33 million in total capital. This case study follows Mr. Nam, a successful Vietnamese furniture manufacturer trying to identify sources of funding to expand his firm, which was established under the Enterprise Law. In the past, Mr. Nam managed to finance business expansion from retained earning and informal credit, however continued expansion required Mr. Nam to identify "arm's length" financing. In this search, Mr. Nam encountered two fundamental problems. First, the banking sector, still under state influence, did not have strong incentives to lend to the private sector. Second, private banks and other sources of capital require Mr. Nam to submit his business to an independent audit, which would certainly uncover many business practices which were technically illegal - and essential to competitiveness. This case study encourages students to consider the social cost of weak regulatory environments, poorly designed economic laws, and the relationship between these conditions and the production of (undesirable) commercial norms. Instructors of development finance, small and medium enterprise finance, and legal and regulatory courses should find this case study useful. HKS Case Number 1812.0

This case, designed to be used either together with The British Water Industry (B):Glas Cymru and the Debate over Nonprofits (1810.0) or separately, describes the controversies in the British water industry in 2002, 13 years after it was privatized. The (A) case (revised January 2006) focuses on the industry's experience with price-cap regulation, the system of controlling monopoly that the British applied to all the utilities they privatized in the 1980s and 1990s. The case is intended to support a discussion of the difficulties of regulating of monopolies and the advantages and disadvantages of the price-cap approach. The (B) case focuses on the controversy over the conversion of a major for-profit water company into a nonprofit water company and is designed to support a discussion of the merits of for-profit and nonprofit firms and the optimal capital structure of for-profit firms. The two cases are linked together in that some observers blame difficulties in utility regulation for generating interest in nonprofit utilities. HKS Case Number 1809.0

In order to improve income in rural communities, towards the end of 2001, Proyecto Paria Foundation (FPP) completed a plan to reactivate the cocoa economy. At the center of the plan was CARIOCA, a civil association set up to process and market cocoa, whose partners were five grower associations (50%), FPP (30%), and EMER, a commercial firm (20%). The design was successful from the start: during its first year, CARIOCA exported 100 tons of cocoa. Yet towards the end of 2003 circumstances emerged that not only threatened the operation of CARIOCA, but the very existence of the foundation: leaders of the five grower associations, instigated by local politicians, sought to take over control of CARIOCA. Opens just after these leaders had asked the FPP to leave both the board of directors and the administration of the cocoa processing plant. At that moment, the two protagonists (both leaders of the FPP) faced a dilemma: decide whether to leave CARIOCA or try to recover control of the organization. Additionally, they had to develop a long-term strategy to assure the foundation's operation in the Paria region.

Mikey Jones must decide what type of senior housing to develop, whether he should operate the facility himself, and what financing option he should pursue.

An entrepreneur is looking at opening a coffee shop franchise. She has investigated a number of options and has narrowed the selection down to two. She wants to have the coffee shop up and running in six months and must make a decision on which franchise is the best choice. This case deals with service management and looks at franchising as a growth option.

In January, 1997, the Rhode Island Department of Public Health inaugurated KIDSNET, an effort to harness the power of information technology to ensure that all children in the state received proper preventive care. The medical "informatics" system was designed to track essential public-health data-such as immunizations-and make it accessible to the health care providers and public health programs across the state. "Informatics," in other words, was to improve child health by making sure that any doctor or emergency room in the state could quickly and conveniently become aware of key aspects of any child's medical history. The system was to be fully operational by the year 2000. The marriage of computer records and public health did not go smoothly, however, and, in late 1999, a consultant found that the system was "grossly underutilized." KIDSNET was tracking immunizations for but 43 percent of infants and only 31 percent of the clinics and doctors' offices in Rhode Island were submitting immunization data. HKS Case Number 1800.0

Suh Kyung-Bae, the President and CEO of AmorePacific, a South Korean cosmetics company, was an ardent globalizer. In its home market, AmorePacific had held off major multinational players such as L'Oreal and Estee Lauder and had engaged them in markets around the world, from France to China. The case discusses the company's position and options in the Korean, French, U.S., and Chinese markets. To reach their aim to run one of the top 10 cosmetics companies in the world, with 4 billion in sales by 2015 (1.2 billion from outside Korea), company managers had to ensure that as a global company, AmorePacific amounted to more than the sum of its country parts--a challenge compounded by deep differences across countries. Related questions included: in which countries should AmorePacific focus invest resources and managerial emphasis and attention? How concerned should they be about the diversity of approaches being taken in the three major countries/regions? And what role did non-organic options--aquisitions or joint ventures--plan as a way of boosting international growth rates?

In the spring of 2005, the government of Mali was negotiating major changes in the concession of Energie du Mali (EDM), the private firm that operated Mali's electricity and water services. The negotiations were being watched anxiously by the World Bank and the French bilateral aid agency, who had been promoting private participation as a mechanism for improving performance and increasing investment in infrastructure. The policy had had mixed results around the world, with many successes but also a number of high profile failures. But it had experienced the most difficulty in sub-Saharan Africa, where interest from private investors had been weaker, a relatively high proportion of the private concessions, leases, or management contracts had been cancelled and a number of others, like EDM, were in crisis. This case is designed to illustrate the difficulties of reforming state-owned enterprises in small and poor countries like many of those in sub-Saharan Africa. It can also be used to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of private participation including concessions, leases, and management contracts. HKS Case Number 1811.0

Looks at the challenges and opportunities faced by Electronic Arts (EA) as it seeks to reinforce its leadership position in game making and digital entertainment. While a leader in PC and console games, EA is also interested in creating content derived from traditional media companies, such as film studios, as well as distributing its digital content through new channels, such as cell phones.

Relates the events leading up to the announcement in February 2005 that INVESTools, a Utah-based provider of investor education services, would be restating prior-year financial statements due to inappropriate revenue recognition.

In 2005, Martha Goldberg Aronson must decide whether to accept an overseas posting in a functional role with Medtronic Corp. The move would be a professional stretch, but would entail leaving a position with a plan half completed and moving her young family overseas. Profiles the youth, career, family life, aspirations, and motivations of the rising executive. Provides information about the practical, personal, and business challenges of an international assignment. Raises questions regarding work-life balance and the opportunities of the proposed stretch assignment in balance with the desire to see an existing process through to completion.

In the spring of 2005, an exhausted Philip McCrea, president and CEO of software development company VitesseLearning, reflects on the demands of his successful start-up and his desire to be closer to his growing family. Profiles the youth, career, family life, aspirations, and motivations of the founder and CEO. Provides information about the business' comparative advantages and strategic opportunities. Raises questions regarding work-life balance and the entrepreneurial satisfaction of running a successful service industry, IT-based start-up.

In November 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy's new customer approach was to shun the "devils" among its customers. The "customer centricity" initiative, which was led by Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, was based on an analysis of the purchase histories of several customer groups. The central idea was to revamp stores according to the most lucrative types of customers they served--the "angels" among the company's customers. Encourages an assessment of Best Buy's strategy and, more generally, of the challenges and opportunities in managing customers for profits.

The Aurora Cultural Centre's mission is to foster a more just community, globally and locally, by providing community education on diversity and cross-cultural awareness, global development issues, and immigration/refugee issues. The centre also provide housing and settlement services to new immigrants and refugees. The organization has been facing budget deficits, administrative overload, board member turnover and staff problems. A recently appointed member of the board is preparing to lead a board strategy retreat and must make recommendations on improvements to the agency's financial performance and must determine how she can convince the board members that the situation is serious and requires immediate action.

Describes the successful turnaround of the restaurant company Yum! Brands after its spin off from PepsiCo and covers how the company's leadership planned and executed on virtually every dimension of the employee experience. The main dilemma centers on what the company should do in terms of multibranding--housing two brands in one physical location.

E-Ductions, a small privately held start-up, developed a new voluntary employee benefit: a payroll-deduction-linked credit card. The CLEAR card provided workers, especially low-income and credit-challenged employees, access to a card with tight credit limits, zero APR, and automatic repayment. The firm's initial experience suggested that the CLEAR card might be attractive to employees, employers, and the card issuer, but E-Duction needed to increase employer acceptance of its new product.

In the late 1990s, IBM successfully moved up the value chain and became one of the largest business and information technology (IT) solution providers in the world. To achieve such a transformation, the company made a number of strategic moves to reduce its exposure in the commoditization of IT hardware manufacturing. A key success factor was the creation of IBM Global Services and its venture into the high-margin management consulting and technology services industries. Moreover, IBM orchestrated a series of strategic acquisitions, sold ailing business units, and outsourced low-value-added manufacturing to external contractors and joint venture partners. In 2002, with the success of its business model and the introduction of new computing architecture, IBM made a high-profile announcement about its new corporate strategy centered on the concept of "on demand business." Nonetheless, followed by disappointing financial results in the first quarter of 2005, IBM's stock price plummeted and hit the lowest point since Sam Palmisano took over as CEO in March 2002. The company announced a massive restructuring in its European operations to be carried out in late 2005. Although the second quarter results had improved, some began to doubt whether the "on demand" strategy would deliver the promised results. More specifically, many started to question why and how such a strategy was justified in the first place. What difficulties would the company encounter in implementing its new corporate strategy?

This social entrepreneurship case focuses on the start-up and first four years of Upwardly Global, a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded to help place immigrant professionals in jobs commensurate with their levels of skill and education. The case tells the story of "UpGlo" founder Jane Leu, describing how she reached the conclusion that both government-funded refugee aid programs, and private sector job placement firms, were failing immigrants with professional backgrounds. The case describes the business model developed by Leu and traces the organization's successful emergence as a free-standing entity, supported by a combination of philanthropic grants, and corporate and individual fees. (Leu was named a fellow in 2004 by Ashoka, the international organization that s and provides support for those it designates "changemakers," primarily those who have established successful new nonprofit service-provider organizations.) HKS Case Number 1803.0

In February 2004, the general manager of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank failed to show up for work several days in a row. His absence followed a meeting of the full staff of the bank with the chair of the board, Chetna Sinha, in which tensions between the male and female staff were aired. The general manager was not the only male staff member to show his dissatisfaction. In January, another long-time male employee had quit, warning that all the male staff were planning to quit as well. Chetna Sinha had to decide whether to call back the general manager, or simply let him go. If she let him go, who would replace him? Chetna Sinha and other women in the village received a cooperative banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February 1997, and six months later founded the Mann Deshi Bank. The bank grew steadily, though not without problems, especially in filling the general manager position. In 2002, Chetna was invited to be a fellow at Yale's Global Fellows program, where she spent a year. In her absence, the bank passed an RBI exam, and operated with few problems. But on her return Chetna found many tensions that soon became unbearable. In December 2003, she called the full staff meeting that precipitated the departure of the two male employees. HKS Case Number 1806.0