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In 2013, Under Armour had $2.3 billion in sales yet only $500 million came from its women’s apparel, and the company was ready to expand into the female market segment. The “I Will What I Want” global women’s marketing campaign was the largest Under Armour had ever run. Founder Keven Plank and his team launched the campaign on a multichannel platform, with social media at its core. The campaign’s success surpassed what Plank had imagined, and he is left wondering where to take Under Armour’s advertising and marketing next. This case has been used successfully in a marketing course and would be suited for any class with a focus on interactive media, technology, and multichannel marketing.

In the 1990s, Mike Flanagan foresaw video moving from analog to digital and developed an equipment rental business to meet the needs of the entertainment/media production industry. By 1996 he established a second company to offer training in the use of Avid, a digital video-editing program. Flanagan sold the rental business in 1998 and by 2002 expanded the training away from a business model to a full-fledged college business model. By 2014 what started as a successful training program developed into a negative interaction with the US Department of Education and Flanagan found himself being forced out of business.

This case was originally a client-based project conducted real time in an MBA-level marketing course at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

The case is well suited for a variety of business and law courses that integrate ethical decision making in their curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The case allows for a greater understanding of the implications of managerial behavior tied to ethical beliefs and the possible outcomes that may result. It also allows for a stronger grasp of the integral nature of management, staff, consumers and outside organizations on the pervasive impact of non-ethical behavior. Last, this case creates a framework for students to assess how ethics influence managerial behavior that will affect an organization’s success.

What ethical duties and obligations does a business owe to its customers and other stakeholders? Is ignorance an excuse for failing to meet those ethical obligations?

This case draws upon the literature on appropriate leadership behaviors that Yahoo’s Founders or CEOs could have adopted. It discusses the process of environmental analysis that would have an impact on Yahoo!’s strategy. It discusses and depicts the levels of environmental analyzes that Yahoo! as a firm ought to have undertaken in mapping its competitive environment. Further, this case discusses transformational leadership factors and those behavioral traits that exemplify each of these factors. Finally, the four elements of aspiration in discussing future firm direction are identified. These include an appropriate vision translated into a clarifying mission reflected in specific objectives grounded in explicit value statements.

This case is based on secondary data sources that include official company records, online reports and commentary, newspaper reports, public interviews and books. All such information has been appropriately referenced.

Yahoo!, in its 22 years of existence, has demonstrated remarkable tumult. It has witnessed a succession of six CEOs, exhibited a roller coaster trajectory in its stock price and, for the most part of its existence, played “catch-up” with its strategic competitors. It has also struggled to define its core purpose, its industry category and its very essence of being. In early 2016, CEO Marissa Mayer announced that Yahoo! would be willing to sell its core internet business and that its board would “engage on qualified strategic proposals.” However, the board also reiterated that turning around Yahoo! to prosperity continued to remain a top priority. What went wrong, so terribly wrong, with Yahoo! in an otherwise lucrative industry? Does Yahoo! suffer from a fundamental, essential malaise which, if addressed, could restore it to wealth and vibrancy? This case focuses on the period 1994, the inception of Yahoo!, to early 2016. The acquisition of Yahoo! by Verizon, completed in 2017, is not to be considered for purposes of this case study.

This case is particularly suited to be taught in a capstone strategic management course for MBA/Master’s level business students, after they have been exposed to core courses in Marketing, Business Law, Accounting, Supply Chain, Corporate Finance. It may also be taught in an advanced strategy course for undergraduate business students, typically in their final year of study. Finally, this case can be used to teach senior management in executive management programs.

United Learning is a family-owned leader in the K-12 supplementary teaching material market. In January 2001, United Learning realized that sales for one of its flagship products, a drug and prevention program, were rapidly deteriorating because the program was not mentioned on a recently released U.S. Department of Education list of recommended products. United Learning must decide on which action to take: regain sales or focus on its other educational products—which are also threatened by changes in the regulatory environment.

The case was developed from secondary sources. This descriptive case was classroom tested in undergraduate organizational behavior courses.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, which honored movies released in 2021, was held on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Prior to Chris Rock announcing the winner in the category of best documentary film, Rock was assaulted on stage by Will Smith. On April 8, 2022, the Academy’s board of governors met to discuss disciplinary actions for Smith’s behavior. The Academy’s board decided to ban Smith from all Academy events for the next 10 years. Theories of individual behaviors and social processes can provide explanations for behaviors of Chris Rock, Will Smith, the producers and the Academy.

This descriptive case is most appropriate for undergraduate-level organizational behavior courses. The primary topics in this case align well with individual behaviors relative to emotional intelligence (EI) and motivation. The secondary topics in this case align well with social processes relative to decision-making, conflict and culture.

Following discussion and analysis of the case, students should be able to explore how an individual’s background affects his/her perspective on entrepreneurial opportunities; analyse leadership behaviours that support an innovation process; and understand that constraints can enhance innovation.

This real-life case explores the main protagonist, Joni Brenner, an arts university professor at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, and how over the past 10 years she worked with a group of co-operative beaders in Zimbabwe who developed hand loomed necklaces that were sold locally and internationally, placed in the African section of museum stores.The case provides an opportunity to explore the evolution of the Marigold product, the characteristics of an entrepreneur and how innovation can come from a very focused and constrained approach. Brenner’s involvement with the co-operative involved the supply of materials, design innovation and product sales. Innovation had come through focusing on the evolution of the core product, through different designs and colour combinations, learning through mistakes and through other artistic collaborations. The case concludes with Brenner questioning whether the innovation approach should be adapted to meet the needs of a potential new customer.

This case is appropriate for undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate, MBA and executive education students focusing on entrepreneurship, small business development and/or innovation.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management Science.

Describes Myriad Genetics and its struggle to develop a genetic testing service while facing challenges from competitors and activist organizations. After Myriad's discovery of the BRCA gene, capable of genetic testing for breast cancer in women, Myriad needed to choose a strategy to provide this service to the public. With several major competitors offering similar services, intense media scrutiny, and a charged activist and political climate, a poor Myriad decision could have major repercussions.