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Mike Lawrie, the newly appointed CEO of Siebel Systems, considers a combination of growth and spending cuts to turn around the struggling software company. Focuses on the role of the chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, in corporate governance and compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley; in establishing a financial model for the firm; in operations and leadership; and in investor relations under Regulation FD. Goldman, who had presided over rapid growth at several other technology firms before joining Siebel three years earlier, must adapt to Siebel's new leadership and operating environment.

The proprietor of a day spa must decide whether to purchase a microdermabrasion machine. This differential analysis case will test students' abilities to identify those costs that are recurring cash flows and those costs that are investments; give practice calculating working capital investments; differentiate between relevant and non-relevant costs for a differential analysis and test students on their ability to conduct a sensitivity analysis.

The president and chief executive officer of Info-Tech Research Group must determine the pricing and promotional strategies for the company's newest product offering. This case allows students to use differential analysis as a tool to aid in their decision. Students are expected to perform a qualitative analysis based on the fit of Info-Tech's new product offering within the competitive marketplace and its potential customers; identify those items relevant to the decision and categorize them as either recurring cash flows or one-time cash flows; understand that the recurring cash flows consist of both variable costs and fixed costs and to recognize the difference; identify those items which are investments, including working capital accounts; apply exchange rates so that all figures in the analysis are in the same currency; calculate return on investment and payback ratios; recognize the need for and perform a sensitivity analysis on the projected sales levels; and make a decision based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Job Offer Negotiation is a role play between a job applicant and a recruiter. This role play is illustrates the importance of preparation and planning, integrative negotiation in the context of job offers and specific behaviors that contribute to effective negotiation.

Ganong Bros. Ltd. is a fifth-generation family chocolate company facing financial difficulties. The firm has spread its resources too thin and needs to develop a plan to return to profitability, but to grow the business while upholding its responsibility to the local community.

Job Offer Negotiation is a role play between a job applicant and a recruiter. It is intended to illustrate the importance of preparation and planning; integrative negotiation in the context of job offers, and specific behaviors that contribute to effective negotiation. To be used with Job Offer Negotiation - Applicant, product 905C12.

In 2001, a Nigerian holding company was deciding how much to pay for a major Nigerian oil marketing firm. Explores the challenges facing a fast-growing, leveraged buyout firm operating in a global economy but constrained by imperfect local financial and legal institutions.

In 2003, a Namibian entrepreneur was deciding how to finance and manage the risks of an ecotourism, nature reserve, venture project. Explores the challenges facing an entrepreneur operating in an emerging market with imperfect local financial and legal institutions.

What happens when strained relationships develop between two people you value in your organization and they come to you for advice? David Walker was a senior attorney in a bustling white shoe law practice. During an especially busy time, Walker became party to an in-office dispute between his trusted administrative assistant, Susan Emson, and a respected colleague, Ramya Kumar. He had spent numerous hours listening to both sides tell their stories and was left with an impending sense that he had no answers. How was he ever going to help two people he valued greatly work out a compromise between their extremely polar positions? How did the dispute get to such a point? The case provides opportunities to explore the sources of interpersonal conflict, causes of escalation, and ways of diffusing and resolving it.

On November 17, 2004, as Teach for America's (TFA) national board meeting adjourned, Chief Operating Officer Jerry Hauser considered the opportunity before the organization. The board had just given the go ahead to move forward with development of a new strategic plan for 2005 through 2010. The aspirations were ambitious, and if they succeeded in reaching the goals set out in the plan, TFA would take its place among the country's most enduring institutions. Hauser knew that the key to converting a plan into success was ensuring that the organization had the right strategy and the capacity to execute effectively. As he looked toward the future, he reflected on the opportunities and challenges that TFA had faced in its first 15 years to identify lessons that might be useful for its next phase of growth.

Aaron Kennedy has successfully grown Noodles & Co. from a single global noodle shop to a chain of 58 restaurants spanning six states in seven years. In the face of increasing competition, Kennedy has plans to roll out 240 new stores in the next four years. He must develop a growth strategy that will allow Noodles & Co. to achieve these aggressive objectives as well as maintain the company's unique culture. Kennedy must decide among several alternative growth strategies, with a particular emphasis on the decision of whether to franchise. Includes color exhibits.

The general manager for U.S.-based Sealed Air Corp.'s Taiwan subsidiary must decide how to improve productivity and achieve profitability. In addition to considering a new approach to compensation, he is wondering how to bridge the gap between Sealed Air's corporate culture and local business practices in Taiwan. A particular problematic practice is the local use of "tea money."

Sealed Air Corp.'s CEO and COO are considering what approach they should take to building a seamless corporate culture worldwide. Anticipating continuing growth and expansion, especially outside the United States, they are concerned with preserving and promoting the culture that has been one of the company's key assets. However, their experience in integrating acquired companies, especially outside the United States, has heightened their awareness of differences among the regional cultures of the world and the challenges they face in maintaining a unified corporate culture.

On March 4, 2003, AirTran Airways announced new non-stop service from Atlanta to Los Angeles. The routes were a major commitment for AirTran, and came at a time when the airline industry was in turmoil. The major airlines had lost a record $12 billion the previous year, and two were in bankruptcy. AirTran and two other low-cost carriers were the only sizeable airlines that were profitable, and all three were expanding rapidly. The stakes for the West Coast service increased when Jet Blue, one of the other low-cost carriers, announced it would start new service from Atlanta to Los Angeles and Delta, the incumbent on the route, announced that it would increase its non-stops from 5 to 13 per day. HKS Case Number 1789.0

Customer Strategy Solutions, a California-based developer of order fulfillment systems, is facing a shakedown. Six months after the firm's CEO, Pavlo Zhuk, set up a software development center in Kiev, local bureaucrats say the company hasn't filed all the tax schedules it should have. Moreover, Ukrainian tax officials claim that the company owes the government tax arrears. Zhuk is shocked; he and his colleagues have done everything by the book. This isn't the first time Zhuk has encountered trouble in Ukraine. In the process of getting the development center up and running, a state-owned telecommunications utility had made it difficult for Zhuk to get the phone lines his company needed. Senior telecom manager Vasyl Feodorovych Mylofienko had told Zhuk it would take three years to install the lines in his office--but for a certain price, Mylofienko had added, the lines could be functioning the following week. Even as the picture of rampant bribery and corruption in Ukraine becomes clear, Zhuk still doesn't want to pull out. Of Ukrainian descent, he has dreams of helping to modernize the country. By paying his programmers more than they could make at any local company, he hopes to raise their standard of living. And yet, he isn't sure he can keep compromising his principles for the sake of the greater good. Should Customer Strategy Solutions pay off the Ukrainian tax officials? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0503A and R0503Z are Alan L. Boeckmann, the chairman and CEO of Fluor Corp.; Rafael Di Tella, a professor at Harvard Business School; Thomas W. Dunfee, the Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility and a professor of legal studies at Wharton; and Bozidar Djelic, the former finance and economy minister of Serbia.

Customer Strategy Solutions, a California-based developer of order fulfillment systems, is facing a shakedown. Six months after the firm's CEO, Pavlo Zhuk, set up a software development center in Kiev, local bureaucrats say the company hasn't filed all the tax schedules it should have. Moreover, Ukrainian tax officials claim that the company owes the government tax arrears. Zhuk is shocked; he and his colleagues have done everything by the book. This isn't the first time Zhuk has encountered trouble in Ukraine. In the process of getting the development center up and running, a state-owned telecommunications utility had made it difficult for Zhuk to get the phone lines his company needed. Senior telecom manager Vasyl Feodorovych Mylofienko had told Zhuk it would take three years to install the lines in his office--but for a certain price, Mylofienko had added, the lines could be functioning the following week. Even as the picture of rampant bribery and corruption in Ukraine becomes clear, Zhuk still doesn't want to pull out. Of Ukrainian descent, he has dreams of helping to modernize the country. By paying his programmers more than they could make at any local company, he hopes to raise their standard of living. And yet, he isn't sure he can keep compromising his principles for the sake of the greater good. Should Customer Strategy Solutions pay off the Ukrainian tax officials? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0503A and R0503Z are Alan L. Boeckmann, the chairman and CEO of Fluor Corp.; Rafael Di Tella, a professor at Harvard Business School; Thomas W. Dunfee, the Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility and a professor of legal studies at Wharton; and Bozidar Djelic, the former finance and economy minister of Serbia.

Customer Strategy Solutions, a California-based developer of order fulfillment systems, is facing a shakedown. Six months after the firm's CEO, Pavlo Zhuk, set up a software development center in Kiev, local bureaucrats say the company hasn't filed all the tax schedules it should have. Moreover, Ukrainian tax officials claim that the company owes the government tax arrears. Zhuk is shocked; he and his colleagues have done everything by the book. This isn't the first time Zhuk has encountered trouble in Ukraine. In the process of getting the development center up and running, a state-owned telecommunications utility had made it difficult for Zhuk to get the phone lines his company needed. Senior telecom manager Vasyl Feodorovych Mylofienko had told Zhuk it would take three years to install the lines in his office--but for a certain price, Mylofienko had added, the lines could be functioning the following week. Even as the picture of rampant bribery and corruption in Ukraine becomes clear, Zhuk still doesn't want to pull out. Of Ukrainian descent, he has dreams of helping to modernize the country. By paying his programmers more than they could make at any local company, he hopes to raise their standard of living. And yet, he isn't sure he can keep compromising his principles for the sake of the greater good. Should Customer Strategy Solutions pay off the Ukrainian tax officials? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0503A and R0503Z are Alan L. Boeckmann, the chairman and CEO of Fluor Corp.; Rafael Di Tella, a professor at Harvard Business School; Thomas W. Dunfee, the Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility and a professor of legal studies at Wharton; and Bozidar Djelic, the former finance and economy minister of Serbia.

For the last five years, America Online (AOL), Yahoo!, and Microsoft have been battling to grab market share for their instant messaging (IM) service. Each company has its own software and network to deliver the service, which allows users to write online, real-time text messages to other users on the same network. Although IM began as a small venture in 1996 by four Israeli engineers, it has ballooned into one of the largest means of online communication. The number of IM users has grown 30% faster in its first five years than that of e-mail when it was first launched. Today, almost half of all North American online households use some version of IM. Despite the large number of IM users, the three major providers--AOL, Yahoo!, and Microsoft--have not earned any significant profit from offering their services. Each firm offers its IM service for free and many questions remain as to how any company will one day capitalize on its millions of users. Some looked to the possibility of developing IM as a corporate technology tool, allowing co-workers to send messages securely to one another, and efforts were already underway to make this a reality. Firms have also made significant efforts to establish a common protocol for IM that would enable users to communicate across different networks. But competition has hampered progress, forcing analysts to wonder whether consumers will continue to tolerate using multiple IM programs to reach friends on different networks.

In February 2003, President and CEO Nick Lazaris faces critical decisions on Keurig's launch of a new consumer coffee brewing system. Keurig has successfully sold single-cup brewing systems through commercial distribution channels and is now expanding to the lucrative consumer segment. However, a meeting with key strategic partners six months prior to launch raised questions about the product design. This prompted the Keurig management team to revisit its decisions on product design, pricing, and the marketing plan. With six months to launch, what should the company do?

Focuses on whether world-renowned product design firm IDEO's new customer service fits with the firm's strategic position and organization capabilities. Over the course of IDEO's 13-year history, an increasing share of revenues are a result of "Phase 0" projects--preliminary strategic explorations of future product possibilities for various client firms. Describes a specific Phase 0 project in order to explore the challenge of managing these strategic, intangible services in the context of IDEO's successful history of generating award-winning tangible product designs. A team at IDEO's Boston office worked with mattress manufacturer Simmons to discover unmet customer needs and identify new product line opportunities. Describes the challenges and questions facing the Simmons project team as well as critical and operational questions facing IDEO. Examines these issues through the eyes of the head of the Boston office, who wonders how to evaluate Phase 0 projects.