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The authors used Sue’s (2010) microaggression process model and Freeman et al.’s (2010) stakeholder theory as a theoretical basis for this case.

Information for the case was gathered from publicly available sources. No formal data collection efforts were undertaken.

Guess Who’s Coming to Deliver is a case that examines an event that occurred at Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse in late July and early August of 2015. A customer who had purchased some products from Lowe’s requested that only White delivery people were dispatched to her home because she did not allow African–American people in her house. The case is factual and was written from information that was publicly available in the media. The case is designed to help instructors facilitate a meaningful classroom discussion about microaggressions from the different stakeholder perspectives.

The case is relevant for undergraduate and graduate organizational behavior and human resource management courses.

Located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, Eastern Truss Company produced trusses used in construction of both large warehouses and custom homes. This case presents the student with the opportunity to analyze the critical factors associated with the decision of whether Eastern should adopt a new production technology and whether cash flows from reduction of temporary workers will cover adoption coasts. The student must evaluate the decision to adopt the production technology through the lens of operations management tools. This case is appropriate for undergraduate business studies in the field of operations management.

Case study.

Undergraduate operations management.

This case details the rise of a hard-disk storage manufacturer in the mid-1980s and the company's demise after executives manipulated the financial information.

This case presents the “best practices” of a highly successful post-merger integrator that grew from $400 million in 1997, to $1.5 billion in 2000, to $4 billion in 2002. The case focus is on the $4.0 billion IT sector of Northrop Grumman, a company confronting immense change in the rapidly consolidating defense business. This integration is unique in that the product is a complete melding of various companies, systems, leaderships, and cultures of 11 legacy organizations. Not only is the result an organization with a new identity, but also one with new strategic capabilities unavailable to any of the stand-alone legacy companies. A teaching note is available to registered faculty, along with video clips that include footage of weapons systems (e.g., B-2 bomber) and information about the company's PMI process.

Route 11 Chips, a regional potato chip company, is struggling with whether to reduce the number of flavors it markets. Additional flavors add operational cost, but management believes that some of the flavors are important to Route 11's brand image and that trimming the line might damage the brand. Route 11 has also taken a price increase recently and management is interested in finding out if there is additional room to raise prices. To analyze these issues in the case, students have access to five years of data on sales by flavor and package size as well as actual price and margin information (in a supplemental Excel spreadsheet).

This case builds on elements of project management (PM) – specifically project initiation – including the development of a project charter and stakeholder analysis.

The case was developed from secondary sources as well as first-hand knowledge of the project by one of the authors. This author was on faculty at a private university in the southeastern USA, teaching numerous courses in the pharmacy curriculum while also serving as the Community Practice Residency Director for community pharmacies around the state. While connecting with these organizations, additional revenue requirements and complementary services were frequent topics of attention, leading to a grant to assist pharmacies in building out such services. Through this grant, the author engaged in consultations with community pharmacies around the state, including the pharmacy highlighted via this case. Pseudonyms have been used for the business, and all individuals associated with it, to maintain anonymity. Secondary sources used for additional research include industry reports and related websites.

Richard has owned and operated a community pharmacy, Our Family Farmacy (OFF), for years. A changing industry climate has forced Richard to diversify the products and services he provides. In addition to the distribution of medicine and front-end sales of consumer goods, Richard is seeking to expand into a larger spectrum of healthcare services. After researching several different types of services, and after dealing with related personal family circumstances, Richard decided that OFF should begin their expansion by offering depression screening services. He turned initiation of the project over to his pharmacy intern, Caitlin.

This compact case is geared toward undergraduate- and graduate-level students taking courses in general management and, more specifically, PM. This case might also be used by students with a career focus in the healthcare sector, and could of particular interest for students in a pharmacy program. Classroom application should encompass discussions on the project initiation process group, particularly with the processes regarding the project charter deliverable and the identification and assessment of project stakeholders.

Describes the history of the tobacco industry and its emergence as an extremely effective marketer and non-market strategist. After years of success, both publicly and politically, the leaders of the tobacco industry are faced with mounting political pressure and the financial threat of litigation from class-action lawsuits. The leaders face an industry-wide strategic decision of whether to acquiesce to government demands in exchange for immunity, focus on judicial success, or develop a new course of action.

To evaluate the formulation and implementation of non-market strategies in the context of regulatory, legislative, and legal institutions. To understand how various aspects of the non-market environment interact and how these environments not only change over time, but change market competition within an industry. Further, to formulate and decide between firm-specific and industry-wide strategies. Finally, to appreciate and reflect upon the potential conflict between non-market strategies and ethical concerns.

Fingerhut, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, is a direct-marketing company that sells a smorgasbord of consumer goods through an array of specially targeted catalogs. In November 1996, an article in the Star Tribune, a major Minneapolis newspaper, drew attention to a class-action lawsuit pending against Fingerhut that suggests the firm made its profits by exploiting the poor. Several civil rights groups rallied around the suit and submitted amicus curiae in favor of the litigation. The case illustrates issues in ethics and management communication. Discussions focus on the constituencies. Is Fingerhut exploiting its customers or providing them with an affordable method of obtaining valued consumer goods on credit? Do retailers have a duty to offer products at reasonable prices? Are the high interest rates reasonable given the risk? What are the options: pawn shops, rent-to-own? What is the profile of the typical Fingerhut customer? Discussions also focus on the issues communicating to the constituencies. How much damage will the lawsuit do to Fingerhut's image as an ethical, socially conscious company? What communication strategies can the firm employ? Should it react to the lawsuit? What should it tell its employees?