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For this assignment, you will conduct two case studies, based on the material presented in Units V and VI. You may combine them into a single document or submit two separate documents in Blackboard. Be sure to clearly identify each part.
Part I: In Chapter 10 of your textbook, read the case study, "Closing Case: To Sue or Not to Sue?"
After reading the case study, address the following questions:
What should Hoffman, the owner of School Zone Publishing, have done to protect his business idea in the planning stage before the company opened?
What risk management initiatives related to intellectual property theft should Hoffman have implemented?
What control systems would contribute to the protection of Hoffman's products?
Summarize how control systems align with risk management activities.
Next, evaluate the benefits of seeking expert advice by addressing the questions and prompts below.
Do you think Hoffmann's attorney was at fault in not discussing possible risks associated with this business with Hoffman?
If Hoffman's attorney had recommended that employees sign a confidential contract and a non-compete contract, summarize how these contracts would have protected Hoffman's business.
Your Part I case study analysis should be at least two pages in length, excluding the title and reference pages. References should include your eTextbook and a minimum of one additional credible source. Be sure to use subheadings in your assignment as opposed to a question-answer format.
Part II: In Chapter 11 of your textbook, read the case study, "Marketing Children's Party Services: Rugged Earth Adventures."
After reading the case study, address the questions and prompts below.
Identify two strategic initiatives that you believe will result in growth and increased profits based on this case scenario.
Create a condensed marketing plan for this children's party company that aligns with your two identified strategic initiatives.
Using informed estimates to fill in the missing data from the case, formulate a financial summary of the business in its current form. Include this financial summary as Appendix A of your paper. Hint: Conduct research if you are not sure how to complete a sales forecast. There are a lot of videos and articles on this topic. You can convert the financial information in the case to U.S. dollars by going to the OANDA Currency Converter website.
Forecast what the financial summary might look like in a year or two, assuming your two strategic initiatives were implemented. Include this information as Appendix B.
Conclude this case study by answering the following question:
Would you invest in a business like this? Why, or why not?
Support your analysis with content from the reading, lesson, and at least one outside, scholarly resource. Be sure to use subheadings in your assignment as opposed to a question-answer format.
The Part II case study analysis should be at least two pages in length, not counting the appendices, title, and reference pages. Adhere to APA Style when constructing this assignment, including in-text citations and references for all sources that are used. Please note that no abstract is needed.
Reading:
To Sue or Not to Sue?
Jonathan Hoffman got an unpleasant surprise on a routine shopping outing. An employee had seen books and flashcards in a local Target that looked suspiciously like those made by his company, School Zone Publishing. Unfortunately, his employee was correct. The composition, fonts, language, and concepts screamed copycat. He turned a book over and it all made sense—the competing publisher was Dogs in Hats.
Peter Alfini started Dogs in Hats just two months before, after resigning as School Zone’s vice president of national sales and marketing. As if to pour salt in Hoffman’s wounds, Alfini had taken two former School Zone designers with him to Dogs in Hats. Now the competing workbooks and flashcards were beside Hoffman’s on the shelves of School Zone’s largest customer. Target accounted for about 10 percent of School Zone’s sales.
Alfini claims that all of Dogs in Hats products came from his own ideas and resources. He had worked in educational publishing for more than a decade before joining School Zone. But Hoffman could not believe that Alfini had used what he learned at School Zone from product design and marketing to equipment and contacts to launch Dogs in Hats. Hoffman was infuriated.
Hoffman called an emergency meeting of his executive team—which includes his mother, Joan, the company’s president and cofounder, and his sister, Jennifer Dexter, the vice president of design and development—and his attorney. They analyzed Alfini’s products spread across the table. In one example, a School Zone alphabet flashcard featured a drawing of a blond girl in pigtails with green bows and a yellow shirt collar and with a blue capital G on the card’s flip side. A Dogs in Hats alphabet flash card was nearly identical, except for the girl’s hair color, which was brown. They all reached the same conclusion: School Zone’s intellectual property had been stolen. The executive team had little choice but to take Dogs in Hats to court.
Summer sales data confirmed Hoffman’s worst fears. School Zone revenue fell by 23 percent over one six-week period, when Dogs in Hats products were side by side with School Zone’s products at Target. Hoffman became a man obsessed with preparing the legal case against Alfini. When he suspected one of his salespeople of passing company information to Alfini, he didn’t know whom he could trust. In contrast to his normal management style, he limited access to the copy room and banned employees from the office on weekends and after hours. But he was doing what he had to do.
School Zone filed a complaint in federal district court in western Michigan listing 84 allegations against Dogs in Hats. Hoffman was seeking payment for damages and attorneys’ fees. Furthermore, he was demanding that Alfini destroy all materials that infringed on School Zone’s copyrighted and trademarked material. In Dogs in Hats’ response to the complaint, Alfini denied most of the allegations, conceding only that he had hired former employees of School Zone and had reentered School Zone’s property after resigning.
The extensive discovery process lasted for more than two years. School Zone had spent close to $200,000 on legal filings and attorneys’ fees. Joan Hoffman and Dexter were begging Hoffman to drop the case. But Jonathan was haunted by the thought of what his father would have done. Hoffman’s father Jim started School Zone in 1979 and had passed away a few months before the Alfini affair began. “Jim Hoffman would have fire in his eyes,” his son believed. The company’s attorneys had warned that if School Zone did not defend its marks now, it would be increasingly more difficult to do so in the future. So Hoffman wouldn’t drop the case.
A judge magistrate sent the parties into mediation. Neither side should have been surprised; western Michigan courts regularly seek alternative means of resolving disputes over litigation. But Hoffman now faced a dilemma: whether to compromise via mediation and put an end to the case or to hold out for a shot at total victory in court.
Sources: Lora Kolodny, “Jonathan Hoffman Was Sure a Former Staffer Had Stolen His Company’s Ideas,” Inc., September 2005, 55–56; Patrick Sauer, “Talk about Some Bad Hires,” Inc., March 2008, 74; Karyn Peterson, “A Smart Start,” Playthings, November 2007, 12; and Troy Dreier, “Educational Software,” PC Magazine, September 6, 2005, 149–184.
