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“The kitchen purchase” is a simulation of bargaining over the price of a fitted kitchen. The case study consists of a briefing for the sellers (the Hase family) and a briefing for the buyers (the Stulle family). On the basis of these briefings the course participants negotiate individually or in teams of two. The case study has been kept simple so that the negotiations can be conducted with very little preparation time needed. At the same time the case study presents a few “stumbling blocks” and permits a profound discussion on the distributive and integrative conduct of negotiations, handling bargaining power, and the ethics of bargaining. The case study is therefore especially well-suited for course participants with intermediate to advanced negotiating experience.

The case study aims at developing course participants' negotiation skills. Specifically, participants learn how to systematically prepare negotiations, how to determine and exploit bargaining power, how to tap into integrative potentials in distributive negotiations, and, optionally, how to negotiate in teams.

“The kitchen purchase” is a simulation of bargaining over the price of a fitted kitchen. The case study consists of a briefing for the sellers (the Hase family) and a briefing for the buyers (the Stulle family). On the basis of these briefings the course participants negotiate individually or in teams of two. The case study has been kept simple so that the negotiations can be conducted with very little preparation time needed. At the same time the case study presents a few “stumbling blocks” and permits a profound discussion on the distributive and integrative conduct of negotiations, handling bargaining power, and the ethics of bargaining. The case study is therefore especially well-suited for course participants with intermediate to advanced negotiating experience.

The case study aims at developing course participants' negotiation skills. Specifically, participants learn how to systematically prepare negotiations, how to determine and exploit bargaining power, how to tap into integrative potentials in distributive negotiations, and, optionally, how to negotiate in teams.

This is an abridged version of the case Axel Springer and the quest for the boundaries of corporate responsibility. The case deals with the quest for boundaries of corporates’ social and environmental responsibility. It poses the question where the responsibility of a company might start or end in a given context and once the company has been able to assess the extent to which it holds itself responsible, what action it ought to take in this regard. In the case of Axel Springer the question is focused on the aspect how much responsibility the company might have for its supply chain: how far and how deep down the supply chain does or should responsibility of a corporation reach? On what facts does this responsibility depend? The publishing house Axel Springer AG serves as good example as it wonders about the scope of their responsibility: After making the strategic decision to move aggressively into the field of digital news and media, the company wonders about their responsibility for digital devices, in particular with respect to conflict minerals that are extracted for the production and use of such electronic devices under highly problematic conditions.

The case draws attention to a rather ambiguous, quite complex, and intertwined sustainability issue. It requires students to think laterally about anticipated and potential risks, about scopes and the extent of responsibility. The case can be well-introduced at a later and more advanced stage of the term as it deals with the concerns of an only indirectly involved media and publishing house that can either neglect or take up the challenge of dealing with conflict minerals. Students preferably know concepts of risk management and corporate responsibility or are acquainted with cases focusing on formulating, implementing, or articulating corporate responsibility before dealing with the question of at what stage and with what tier of the supply chain could or should corporate responsibility end.

The 12-minute video demonstrates a peer coaching conversation between John (a peer coachee) and Petra (a peer coach). John and Petra first met in the same Executive MBA program, the current coaching conversation takes place at an Alumni meeting several years after graduation. The conversation serves as a vivid demonstration of the practice of peer coaching and can be used as a supplement to the introduction of the principles of peer coaching for a managerial audience.

This video demonstration offers a vivid and concrete example of a peer coaching conversation and helps these participants to overcome the anxiety associated with the belief of not fully understanding the necessary concepts. Thus, the peer coaching demonstration aims at achieving the following learning objectives: The illustration of the method of peer coaching and concepts relating to it and the illustration of the GROW model. The video can be used as part of a preparation package or during a classroom session, primarily to prepare participants to exercise peer coaching themselves, either in the context of the same education intervention or thereafter.

Launched in early 2005, Zopa is a peer-to-peer online brokerage that couples British residents who want to lend with those who want to borrow. The company represents a new business model in the retail financial services industry, and since Zopa is not technically a bank and does not lend money itself, the capital requirements to run the business are relatively small. Compared to a traditional full service bank Zopa concentrates on only a few steps of the value chain. This case study provides an overview of how Zopa, a value innovator, has developed a unique position in the market through an innovative business model. This case enables students to develop a good understanding of the elements of a value innovation and how technologies have the potential to shake up an established industry structure and its key players. Students also get to discuss the sustainability of competitive advantage in a business in which network effects play an important role. Finally, the case can be used to address the topic of how incumbent firms should respond to innovative new business models.

The case helps students to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts of positioning, value innovation, sustainable competitive advantage, and responding to new market entrants. It is intended for MBA courses in strategic management, innovation, and marketing and can also be used in executive education programs as part of a competitive strategy program to discuss issues related to positioning, value innovation, and sustainable competitive advantage. The case is especially suitable for financial services managers in traditional retail or online banking facing the threat of market entry by low-cost or more focused firms.

The teaching objectives for this four-part case series lie at two distinct levels. Ostensibly the main teaching objectives relate to understanding Danica Purg's own entrepreneurial leadership style and its appropriateness for her own as well as other small and large organizations. But never far from the surface are underlying questions and related teaching objectives about the type of managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs that the world (and particularly her part of the European world) will need in the future, and how the needed capacities can best be developed- a subject on which she has strong and provocative opinions.

The teaching objectives for this four-part case series lie at two distinct levels. Ostensibly the main teaching objectives relate to understanding Danica Purg's own entrepreneurial leadership style and its appropriateness for her own as well as other small and large organizations. But never far from the surface are underlying questions and related teaching objectives about the type of managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs that the world (and particularly her part of the European world) will need in the future, and how the needed capacities can best be developed- a subject on which she has strong and provocative opinions.

The teaching objectives for this four-part case series lie at two distinct levels. Ostensibly the main teaching objectives relate to understanding Danica Purg's own entrepreneurial leadership style and its appropriateness for her own as well as other small and large organizations. But never far from the surface are underlying questions and related teaching objectives about the type of managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs that the world (and particularly her part of the European world) will need in the future, and how the needed capacities can best be developed- a subject on which she has strong and provocative opinions.

The teaching objectives for this four-part case series lie at two distinct levels. Ostensibly the main teaching objectives relate to understanding Danica Purg's own entrepreneurial leadership style and its appropriateness for her own as well as other small and large organizations. But never far from the surface are underlying questions and related teaching objectives about the type of managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs that the world (and particularly her part of the European world) will need in the future, and how the needed capacities can best be developed- a subject on which she has strong and provocative opinions.

The case deals with a dramatic series of suicides at France Télécom between 2008 and 2009. Over a period of 18 months preceding the date of the opening lines of the case, 23 France Télécom employees took their lives. Many of the deceased had left notes blaming work-related stress or management decisions as the reasons for their extreme actions. The French government found it necessary to intervene and demand France Télécom’s management to indicate to the workforce and society that they were taking the situation seriously. The case briefly describes the history of France Télécom, the change initiatives following the deregulation of the European telecommunications industry, and the development of the attention of the French nation and international public toward the company in the aftermath of the suicides and suicide attempts. The case closes citing the response of the government, the company, the unions, psychologists, and stock analysts after a crisis meeting between French Labor Minister Xavier Darcos and France Télécom’s PDG (Chairman of the Board and CEO) Didier Lombard in September 2009.

The case serves as a fertile basis for discussion on responsible leadership, corporate culture, human resources management practices, adaptive change management, corporate social responsibility, or business ethics. It puts the students in a deep thinking mode on questions about the responsibility of organizational leaders for creating healthy working cultures, the impact leadership decisions have on people’s lives, and their own choices as managers or employees in difficult organizational situations. The case can also be used as introductory stimulus material for in-company management training programs on workplace health or suicide prevention.