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xxiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

with overly aggressive group members and also timid, noncontributing group members.
This experience is valuable as strategic-management students near graduation and soon
enter the working world a full time.
Students can improve their oral and written communication skills as well as their ana-
lytical and interpersonal skills by proposing and defending particular courses of action for
the case companies. Analyzing cases allows students to view a company, its competitors,
and its industry concurrently, thus simulating the complex business world. Through case
analysis, students learn how to apply concepts, evaluate situations, formulate strategies, and
resolve implementation problems. Instructors typically ask students to prepare a three-year
strategic plan for the firm. Analyzing a strategic-management case entails students applying
concepts learned across their entire business curriculum. Students gain experience dealing
with a wide range of organizational problems that impact all the business functions.
The following people wrote cases that were selected for inclusion in this thirteenth
edition. These persons helped develop the most current compilation of cases ever assem-
bled in a strategic-management text:

Dr. Alen Badal, The Union Institute
Dr. Mernoush Banton, Florida International University
Dr. Rochelle R. Brunson, Baylor University
Dr. John J. Burbridge, Elon University
Dr. Charles M. Byles, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Donald Crooks, Wagner College
Forest R. David, MBA, Francis Marion University
Dr. James Harbin, Texas A&M University–Texarkana
Dr. Randall D. Harris, California State University–Stanislaus
Dr. Linda Herkenhoff, Saint Mary’s College
Dr. Patricia Humphrey, Texas A&M University–Texarkana
Dr. Hamid H. Kazeroony, William Penn University
Dr. Joe W. Leonard, Miami University
Dr. Joanne Mack, Alverno College
Dr. Ellen Mansfield, La Salle University
Dr. Vijaya Narapareddy, University of Denver
Dr. Carol V. Pope, Alverno College
Dr. Lori Radulovich, Baldwin-Wallace College
Dr. John Ross III, Southwest Texas State University–San Marcos
Sherry Ross, Southwest Texas State University–San Marcos
Dr. Amit J. Shah, Frostburg State University
Dr. Greg Stone, Regent University
Dr. Sharynn M. Tomlin, Angelo State University
Mary Vradelis, Consultant in Berkeley, California
Dr. Anne M. Walsh, La Salle University
Scores of Prentice Hall employees and salespersons have worked diligently behind the
scenes to make this text a leader in strategic management. I appreciate the continued hard
work of all those professionals, such as Sally Yagan, Kim Norbuta, Claudia Fernandes,
Ann Pulido, and Ana Jankowski.
I also want to thank you, the reader, for investing the time and effort to read and study
this text. It will help you formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies for any organiza-
tion with which you become associated. I hope you come to share my enthusiasm for the
rich subject area of strategic management and for the systematic learning approach taken
in this text.