After firing the founder and CEO (George Zimmer), the board has now released the reason: the CEO wanted to sell to a group of private equity investors. Here the board didn’t want to take the company private “for the sake of the employees.” While the CEO was fired, the news has apparently fired up investors who may be interested in buying the company — now it may be in play regardless of what the board wanted.This seems like it might be helpful to drive home the different goals and objectives for different stakeholders, While the board accused Zimmer of being opportunistic, he made the case for his actions in an open letter. This should make for enough drama to dress up your class…This video may lighten the discussion. At the same time, It highlights the company’s biggest strategic challenge: appealing to a younger audience…

Contributed by Russ Coff