By the late 1990s, video gaming had become part of the commercial mainstream, with annual revenues that exceeded those of the motion picture industry. In the past three decades, video gaming companies expanded their reach by offering violent adult-oriented games for men, social and fitness games for women, educational games for young children, and most recently, mental acuity games for senior citizens. In 2006, the market for gaming software continued .....more

This note discusses the history and development of rap music and hip hop in the context of the music industry. Distribution trends are considered including the shift from bricks and mortar record shops to megastores and online retailers, and from vinyl albums and CDs to digital distribution and file sharing.

The CEO of Lenox-Martell, the leading independent soda distributor in eastern Massachusetts, must decide whether to sell the business, continue to grow its existing line, or diversify into fitness equipment. The company's customers, primarily independent bars and restaurants, have a high failure rate. As a result, the number of delinquent accounts has increased proportionate to the growth of the company. The company faced approximately two customer .....more

Teaching note for product 9B06M095.

NextCard was a credit card issuer seeking to exploit the growing e-commerce market in the United States. It was founded in 1996, saw a successful initial public offering in 1999, and became an affiliate of Amazon.com, the largest online retailer. The year 2000 was a year of growth for NextCard, with the number of accounts more than trebling, to nearly three quarters of a million. However, on October 31, 2001, NextCard was placed under "new regulatory .....more

This case is about African-American, Latin American and Asian undergraduate, international business majors from a Boston-area university who traveled to Spain, France and Germany for a year-long period of study and work. Presented are their experiences being minority students in Europe. The experiences range from annoying stares to aggressive propositions from men. This case can be used with the note The Changing Face of Europe: A Note on Immigration .....more

In this supplement to Compaq High Performance Computing (A), product 9B03M041, Compaq's High Performance Technical Computing Group attempts to shift its focus from one of gaining access to new markets to becoming a profit center through the manufacture and sale of standardized products. To accomplish this goal, the HPTC must learn to balance core development with manufacturing, sales, and service. Unlike large government accounts, volume customers .....more

After an ill-fated acquisition of a Linux development company, Pronix finds itself in a financial crisis that could lead to bankruptcy. The board has decided to recruit a new chief executive officer from outside the company who has experience turning around enterprise software companies and strategic business units. Despite its flagging performance, Pronix produced some of the most advanced enterprise software available and was one of the few suppliers .....more

This supplement to AOL Latin America (A), product 9B02M029 considers the company's financial position amid mounting losses and a severe decline in online advertising revenue. AOL Time Warner's management team was concerned - one expressed worry was that Internet services in Latin America were a fad and that high growth rates were not sustainable.

America Online (AOL) announced a joint venture to develop a Latin American version of its popular online service. The future seemed bright: AOL had enjoyed phenomenal success in the United States, Latin America was one of the fastest growing markets for online services and the president of AOL Brazil was the former country manager for Brazil's leading telecommunications provider. Despite these factors, the company endures many setbacks. The president .....more