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VoiceStream was a strong brand within the digital wireless communications industry at the time CEO Robert Dodson led the company. It had a loyal following of customers and a strong reputation for value. Despite pushback from senior management, CEO Robert Dotson made the decision to undergo a rebranding strategy during a period of declining revenue and growth. As VoiceStream transitioned to T-Mobile, it had initial success, but faced the challenge of how to position the brand long term.

This case study was written with the historical background of a well-known company and traces key decisions made during the company’s rebranding transition. This case comes complete with insights from then current CEO, Robert Dotson.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing, management or strategy, where students are studying brand management. Additionally, this case will be valuable for courses that include advanced branding strategies such as rebranding. This case could also be used for discussion in positioning and advertising techniques. This case includes, via in-depth interviews, critical strategic insights from CEO Robert Dotson. The case illustrates some of the major opportunities and threats associated with the VoiceStream/T-Mobile rebranding strategy.

HRM; recruitment; managing cultural expectations in business; leadership.

Undergraduate management courses; MBA and MSc.

This case focuses on recruitment problems in Europe with an Asian dimension. A young Dutch and a young Chinese graduate are considering a career with postal, courier and logistics firm TNT – what are their concerns as graduating students in looking for a job? From the opposite perspective, the case considers how employers attract graduate recruits. The case encourages students of a wide range of cultural backgrounds to question if they are following their cultural norms, or their own personal needs, regardless of their culture. It introduces students to the concept of perceptions of employer value propositions (EVPs) and how employers can “market” themselves to employees. The case is appropriate for courses in leadership, human resource management, corporate social responsibility (CSR), managing culture, also job hunting and career workshops.

This case is aimed at projecting the importance of career choice criteria from both graduate and employer perspectives. The case examines issues of national culture and associated differences in employee and organizational expectations. The case also examines the role of CSR in attracting employees; and the particular concerns of Generation Y employees.

Teaching note.

The case compares two U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) programs from the 1970s and 1980s: (1) “stealth” combat aircraft, capable of evading detection or engagement by anti-aircraft systems, and (2) precision attack of hardened ground vehicles from “standoff” distances, i.e., far behind the battle lines. Conceived at roughly the same time, motivated by the same strategic challenge, and initially driven by the same DoD organization, stealth combat aircraft progressed from idea to deployment in less than eight years---an astounding pace for a complex military system---while a demonstrated system for standoff precision strike against mobile ground targets was not fully implemented. The case highlights the critical role of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the DoD, regarded as one of the most innovative entities in the U.S. federal government.

The case highlights factors that facilitate rapid, successful implementation of radically innovative or disruptive concepts. Students are introduced to the organizational realities facing such projects, including issues of strategic clarity, interdepartmental competition and cooperation, executive leadership, and timing. Comparing the differences in implementation of the two programs in the case reveals issues relevant to any large organization seeking to bring innovative concepts to fruition.

The case examines the development and launch of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on JUST Capital's socially responsible corporate ranking methodologies. The case provides a market overview of Environment, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) and socially responsible investing (SRI), what has driven growth in those areas worldwide, and several best-practice investment approaches. Following the overview, the case describes the founding and development of JUST Capital, explores JUST Capital's ranking methodologies, and presents the decision point faced by the CEO: requisite selection of one of three strategies in order for JUST Capital to generate “self-sustaining” revenue.

This case reviews the financial performance of the Fidelity Magellan Fund up to mid-1995. In essence, the Magellan Fund has managed to “beat the market” over time under three different fund managers despite its enormous size ($51 billion at the date of the case). The tasks for the student are to assess the adequacy of this performance, evaluate its likely sources, and opine on its sustainability. The case affords the opportunity to consider the appropriateness of various possible benchmarks in a risk-return framework and to assess the reasonableness of the efficient-markets hypothesis. The case can be used in an introductory finance course to present general information about equity markets and the behavior of large, sophisticated money managers.

Case (A) describes the situation at the Northlands Ledger, a newspaper on its way out of business due in large part to its publisher and editor's focus on what they do and want to keep doing rather than on what their customers (readers and advertisers) want. The value proposition to the reader is that “we deliver the paper reliably and give you the latest national and international news.” The value proposition to the advertisers is that “we print your ads accurately and runs them on time.” Both value propositions are outdated, and, even if they were what the customers wanted—which they are not—neither is executed well. The paper's key performance indicators—circulation, classified ads, and commercial advertising—are all in decline, despite the fact that the community it serves is growing. The senior management of the Paulus chain that owns this paper has forced the publisher, Allison, to retire and brought another publisher, Potter, in from one of its other papers, The Sun Belt City Star, where Potter was highly successful. However, he cannot simply transfer his success formula from the Star to the Ledger. Case (B) details his efforts and may be used as a classic example of good change management and leadership practices. Potter established a clear cut set of objectives, formulated a new strategy of responsiveness to readers and advertisers more in line with finding out why they hired the paper in the first place. To implement his new strategy he terminated senior managers and others who he did not feel could contribute to the new paper, and made significant changes in key dimensions of implementation: culture, structure, information and decision support systems, incentives and human resources. Throughout he used a mix of both authoritative and participative change management—a mix that may provoke an interesting class discussion.

Provide a realistic example of leading and managing change with successful transformation of a previously failing company while simultaneously illustrating key dimensions of implementation of strategy.

On March 1, 2001, Jessica Gallinelli, managing director of Bancroft Capital Management, heard surprising and somewhat disturbing news about the proposed bid by General Electric Company (GE) for Honeywell International Inc. Despite recent public assurances about the deal from GE's chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), John F. “Jack” Welch Jr., the antitrust regulatory authority of the European Commission (EC) announced it had initiated a review of the proposed merger. Gallinelli, whose fund owned a large stake in Honeywell, considered this major development and wondered whether Bancroft should alter its investment. Immediately, Gallinelli instructed her associate to provide background material on the merger, an assessment of the probability the merger would be approved by antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe, and valuation analyses to assist Gallinelli in assessing Bancroft's investment in Honeywell. She would need to decide quickly whether to hold or sell her fund's 10 million shares in Honeywell and short position of 10 million shares in GE. As a risk arbitrageur, she thought prices would respond rapidly to the EC's announcement. She remembered Jack Welch's confidence of five months earlier that this was the “cleanest deal you'll ever see,” and she wondered whether that was still the case.

This case provides a vehicle for discussing analytical approaches to understanding bidding strategies in a hostile tender offer setting. In 1997, Hilton Hotels Corporation offered to acquire ITT Corporation in an unsolicited tender offer. ITT resisted in several ways. At the date of the case (July 17, 1997), ITT announces a restructuring of the firm aimed at delivering about $70 a share to its shareholders. The task for the student is to understand why Hilton's takeover attempt has failed thus far, and what the possible responses might be at this stage. The case contains a completed valuation analysis of ITT (prepared by the casewriter), which suggests that ITT is worth, at most, $89 a share to Hilton. In preparing a possibly higher bid for the firm, the student must weigh the probability of another bidder's entering the fray and that competitor's bid price. The instructor can use this setting to compare the target shareholders' outlook with the classic “prisoner's dilemma” and to discuss the expected value of not tendering—both concepts are important in devising a bidding response.

In February 1994, the senior management team at Continental Cablevision received the final joint-venture agreement from Fintelco, a potential partner in Argentina. The tasks for the student are to review the terms of the agreement, the outlook for the Argentine economy, and the corporate cultures at both companies to decide whether Continental should sign the agreement.

This is a field-researched case about a nonprofit organization, the Accelerated Cure Project (ACP), dedicated to accelerating advances toward a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS). Inspired by the successful open source software development platform, ACP brings the strengths of that platform into the medical research and development environment. At the opening of the case, Robert McBurney, an Australian scientist with extensive experience in the biotech world, has been named CEO. McBurney and his team want to use ACP's bio-sample and data Repository to drive innovation in the search for the cure for MS by fostering collaborative research and development across research institutions, pharmaceutical and bio-tech companies. To encourage such collaboration ACP waives its rights to potentially lucrative Intellectual Property. This decision to foster collaboration at the expense of revenue sources appears problematic, since ACP does not have the staff or resources to undertake fundraising at the scale needed to fund current projects. ACP chooses to serve instead as an open access research accelerator making an impact on the field by functioning as an innovation driver rather than a profit maker. Is this an innovative recipe for success in finding a cure for MS or a recipe for financial disaster for ACP?

Interviews provided the primary source of data for this case. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with the CEO of ACP, the Vice President of Scientific Operations, and a member of the organization's Board of Trustees, a collaborating university researcher, and the President of a bio-tech company working with ACP. Interview data was supplemented with additional information from ACP's web site, news reports, McBurney's comments at Suffolk University's Global Leadership in Innovation and Collaboration Award event, and follow-up conversations.

This case is intended for use in an undergraduate course examining strategic management issues midway through the term. The case discussion can center on issues relating to: first, the development of the business model; second, revenue resources and fundraising. Students are expected to spend two to three hours of outside preparation reviewing concepts of change leadership and the collaborative enterprise business model. They should read the case materials and brainstorm options for improved change leadership. The case can be taught in one two-hour class period.

The purpose of this case is to introduce students to the strategic management and funding challenges faced by an organization that is using a non-traditional business model in an increasingly complex environment. As a result of discussing this case, students should be able to: first, examine strategic organizational strengths, analyze opportunities created by business, market and environmental factors, and strategize to minimize weaknesses and to address threats identify an organization's strategic focus; recognize and recommend options at crucial decision making junctures in a business situation; second, assess an organization's revenue model; analyze how this model can be improved; third, analyze the functionality and sustainability of an organization's business model.