Cases in this issue
| Case title and target audience | Authors | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company: cutting the target down to size Audience: undergraduate students in upper-level marketing classes, management courses, such as strategic management | Al Lovvorn and John Timmerman | Paula Hendricks, Director of Marketing for Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company tasked with developing a plan to exploit the current trend in lawn mower purchasing patterns must craft a strategic proposal for the executive planning committee. Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company, a manufacturer of reel mowers, experienced an increase in sales due to a confluence of factors: high gasoline prices, increased concern with the environment, the trend toward smaller yards and a focus on health and exercise. Paula needed to develop a plan for the company to sustain the bonanza and determine whether this trend offered new opportunities for marketing |
| Decision time for ACEES Group LLC: to buy or to lease? Audience: undergraduate students in entrepreneurship, real estate investments of financial management | Raminder Luther, Sanjay Kudrimoti, and Sanjay Jain | As the move from the business incubator loomed, Abdul Khan had to decide where his business should relocate. ACEES Group LLC, a small consulting firm had grown from three friends working out of Abdul Khan’s house to a 20-person firm generating more than a million dollars in revenue within five years. This growth had necessitated the need for a larger and more prominent place. Although Abdul knew he did not want to renew the lease at the incubator, and he did not want to move his business too far from its current location, but the decision he had to make was whether ACEES Group should lease a commercial place or buy its own property. He was particularly torn because the real estate prices had fallen considerably, and were now on the mend and interest rates were still low |
| Pebble Technology Corporation: from dorm room dream to high tech pioneer Audience: graduate and undergraduate strategic management courses | William Schneper and Colin Martin | Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) was an early entrant into the smartwatch industry. Pebble’s founder, Eric Migicovsky, began thinking about creating a smartwatch in 2008 while still an undergraduate engineering student. After selling about 1,500 prototype watches, he was accepted into Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator business start-up program. Finding it difficult to attract investors, Migicovsky launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $10.27m on Kickstarter. The case concludes shortly after Apple’s unveiling of its soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate Pebble’s various strategic options at the time of Apple’s announcement |
| The job search dilemma: good vs right Audience: graduate and undergraduate courses in organizational behavior (decision making), human resources management (employee recruitment), and business ethics (ethical decision making) | Noel Palmer, Kyle Luthans and Jeffrey Olson | Desai, a college student, faced a job search dilemma. Desai applied for two internships – one with a company known for a good culture, strategic carrier logistics (SCL), the other with Thijs Marketing, a company in an industry more familiar and desirable to Desai. After a number of recruitment interactions with both companies, Desai received an offer from SCL and was given two days to decide. Unsure whether Thijs Marketing would make an offer, Desai considered accepting the offer from SCL, but reneging if Thijs eventually offered a job |
| Killing ‘em softly: terminating projets in a video game studio Audience: graduate and undergraduate courses in human resource management, project management and creativity management | Louis-Etienne Dubois | As a case study on human resource management (HRM) and project management in a creative setting, this disguised case is based on a real situation that was documented through individual and group interviews at a major video game studio. Several HRM and project management concepts can be discussed through this case including employee retention, planning and staffing, and intra-company communication. It seeks to help students develop a multi-level, interdisciplinary and critical analysis of a common HRM situation in project-based creative sectors and invites them to devise action and communication plans to handle the termination of a project |
| Turnaround at Carpets International Audience: undergraduate strategic management/ business policy courses | Marilyn Helms and Ralph Boe | This case presents turnaround alternatives for a UK-based company, Carpets International (CI), a manufacturer focused on woven carpets and suffering from the ageing equipment and resulting product quality issues during the late 1990s. The case profiles Carpets International’s position in the UK marketplace as well as highlights the growing international competition from Europe and Mexico. Comparisons between customer’s preferences for carpeting in the USA vs the UK are included. Additionally, the case introduces first-mover advantages in the application of innovational ideas applied to a mature industry in another country |
| Case title and target audience | Authors | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company: cutting the target down to size | Al Lovvorn and John Timmerman | Paula Hendricks, Director of Marketing for Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company tasked with developing a plan to exploit the current trend in lawn mower purchasing patterns must craft a strategic proposal for the executive planning committee. Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company, a manufacturer of reel mowers, experienced an increase in sales due to a confluence of factors: high gasoline prices, increased concern with the environment, the trend toward smaller yards and a focus on health and exercise. Paula needed to develop a plan for the company to sustain the bonanza and determine whether this trend offered new opportunities for marketing |
| Decision time for ACEES Group LLC: to buy or to lease? | Raminder Luther, Sanjay Kudrimoti, and Sanjay Jain | As the move from the business incubator loomed, Abdul Khan had to decide where his business should relocate. ACEES Group LLC, a small consulting firm had grown from three friends working out of Abdul Khan’s house to a 20-person firm generating more than a million dollars in revenue within five years. This growth had necessitated the need for a larger and more prominent place. Although Abdul knew he did not want to renew the lease at the incubator, and he did not want to move his business too far from its current location, but the decision he had to make was whether ACEES Group should lease a commercial place or buy its own property. He was particularly torn because the real estate prices had fallen considerably, and were now on the mend and interest rates were still low |
| Pebble Technology Corporation: from dorm room dream to high tech pioneer | William Schneper and Colin Martin | Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) was an early entrant into the smartwatch industry. Pebble’s founder, Eric Migicovsky, began thinking about creating a smartwatch in 2008 while still an undergraduate engineering student. After selling about 1,500 prototype watches, he was accepted into Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator business start-up program. Finding it difficult to attract investors, Migicovsky launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $10.27m on Kickstarter. The case concludes shortly after Apple’s unveiling of its soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate Pebble’s various strategic options at the time of Apple’s announcement |
| The job search dilemma: good vs right | Noel Palmer, Kyle Luthans and Jeffrey Olson | Desai, a college student, faced a job search dilemma. Desai applied for two internships – one with a company known for a good culture, strategic carrier logistics (SCL), the other with Thijs Marketing, a company in an industry more familiar and desirable to Desai. After a number of recruitment interactions with both companies, Desai received an offer from SCL and was given two days to decide. Unsure whether Thijs Marketing would make an offer, Desai considered accepting the offer from SCL, but reneging if Thijs eventually offered a job |
| Killing ‘em softly: terminating projets in a video game studio | Louis-Etienne Dubois | As a case study on human resource management (HRM) and project management in a creative setting, this disguised case is based on a real situation that was documented through individual and group interviews at a major video game studio. Several HRM and project management concepts can be discussed through this case including employee retention, planning and staffing, and intra-company communication. It seeks to help students develop a multi-level, interdisciplinary and critical analysis of a common HRM situation in project-based creative sectors and invites them to devise action and communication plans to handle the termination of a project |
| Turnaround at Carpets International | Marilyn Helms and Ralph Boe | This case presents turnaround alternatives for a UK-based company, Carpets International (CI), a manufacturer focused on woven carpets and suffering from the ageing equipment and resulting product quality issues during the late 1990s. The case profiles Carpets International’s position in the UK marketplace as well as highlights the growing international competition from Europe and Mexico. Comparisons between customer’s preferences for carpeting in the USA vs the UK are included. Additionally, the case introduces first-mover advantages in the application of innovational ideas applied to a mature industry in another country |
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