Ned Larsen, the CEO of Ferris Valley Foods Company (FVF), located in westernMichigan, was focusing on the issue of hiring ex-felons. He planned to ask his management team to consider if (and how) FVF could use information obtained from the Michigan Department of Corrections (and the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative) and West Michigan Therapy, Inc. to benefit people like Lori Mitten, a middle-aged ex-offender who recently earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and was seeking employment. In a deeper sense, Ferris Valley Foods Company also needed to consider the meaning of corporate social responsibility, with respect to the human, financial, and time-related resources that would be required in order to reach out to ex-offenders. One option might be to adopt a hands-off approach and either do nothing at all or simply make a financial donation to a non-profit organization that provides support for ex-offenders; another could be to become actively involved in partnering with the aforementioned entities. Finally, it could begin to hire ex-offenders. Additional (ethical) complications arise because the CEO's nephew is one of the ex-offenders portrayed in the case.
Tania Kay, Marketing Manager at Consumer & Food Products Corporation of Canada (ConFood), had just returned from a marketing department team-building retreat that had been a miserable experience. The retreat had involved a surprise scavenger hunt through the woods of cottage country in central Ontario, complete with tree climbing, rock climbing, canoeing, and a five-kilometer (three mile) hike. Given her physical limitations she had been unable to participate in most of the retreat's activities. The facilitator-led debriefing session had also been humiliating and demoralizing since her exclusion either went unnoticed by her peers and session leaders or, worse, was blamed on her. Tania debated whether or not to bring up her experience at the marketing retreat with her boss, Marianne Renfrew. Tania worried that making an issue of it would expose a previously hidden disability and therefore result in people stereotyping her, thereby perceiving her as incapable, negative, incompetent, or a whiner.
Event producer Dan Nelson is faced with a crisis involving a punctured sprinkler water line and a 1.5-ton forklift stuck in the resulting mud during set up for an event for 350 attendees taking place that evening. The event is to be held outdoors on the driving range of a Las Vegas resort's golf course on the famous Las Vegas Strip. Dealing with the resort's catering staff and various contractors, Nelson must now create alternatives on-the-fly for dealing with the crisis during the implementation phase of this event, make a quick decision, and implement an alternative under time pressure. The case provides opportunities for: (1) assessing potential risk and crisis management issues pertaining to a particular event and compiling suggestions for closing gaps; (2) using various decision tools (GANTT chart, project management software, EMBOK model) to aid in crisis management, and ultimately, decision making; (3) identifying event stakeholders and managing the relationship between the stakeholders and the event producer; and (4) reflecting on the crisis that happened and learning from it so as to avoid or prepare for it in the future.
Crossing the Thin Blue Line examines a pressing decision faced by the City Council of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, regarding the future of policing services in the municipality and challenges the reader to consider diverse perspectives and recognize that - in the political realm - not all choices are as straightforward as they may seem. The narrative examines the history behind this decision, and considers variables (e.g. cost, stakeholder salience, local government issues, etc.) relevant to the decision. The case opens as Moncton City Councilor Brian Hicks weighs this imminent decision faced by the Council.
An entrepreneur and co-founder of a private, non-deposit-taking, non-bank financial firm in Africa took his company public following a decade of phenomenal growth and strong performance. Established in an era when the traditional financial institutions would not grant credit to small and medium enterprises, the company successfully pioneered a wide variety of unique services in the non-bank financial services industry. Capitalizing on the failure of formal institutions to meet the needs of the informal sector, the entrepreneur had achieved organic growth by providing short-term loans and complementary services to customers in the neglected segment of the financial services market. The image of a high-performing company, coupled with the successful initial public offering surpassing all expectations, put tremendous pressure on the company to continue to grow the enterprise and deliver superior performance. To obtain substantial funds from the investing public, the onus is on the entrepreneur to select and pursue an appropriate strategy to keep the enterprise on a growth trajectory.
Students are asked to consider several issues in the case. First, students are asked to explain how Liberator Medical makes money, to evaluate its business strategy for accomplishing this objective, and to evaluate how successful execution of this strategy is likely to be observable from the company's financial performance. Second, students are asked to analyze the company's cash flow situation, and recent financial performance, including its profitability, asset management, and leverage. Third, students are asked to consider the quantitative impact on the company's financial statements of capitalizing and amortizing direct response advertising outlays. Students are also asked to evaluate whether Liberator Medical used accounting methods that were consistent with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Finally, students are asked to consider the communication and disclosure issues the company faced in responding to analyst criticism of its method of accounting for direct response advertising.
Addons Retail Private Limited was incorporated in 2006 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The objective behind the venture was to sell lifestyle products and fashion accessories to cater to the impulsive buying urges of urban Indian men and women. The retail chain store sold a range of fashion accessories and products; competitors included both small mom-and-pop stores and kiosks as well as multinational chains. By summer 2014, the founder and director had painstakingly created 80 retail touch points in shopping malls and high streets in a range of cities across the country; his goal was to grow to 500 retail outlets by 2019. The company was on a rapid growth model, but it needed customer footfall and loyalty to support its aspirations. How could it achieve the fine balance between novelty and loyalty for a whimsical, impulse fashion product?
The hacker attack on Toronto's Avid Life Media — in which confidential information on 32 million Ashley Madison users was released — offers lessons for all companies, not just controversial ones. After all, the hackers in question did not act simply because the company runs the infamous Ashley Madison infidelity service. They were also moved to act by its aggressive marketing and customer service claims, not to mention its short-term thinking when developing tactics to make the firm more attractive as an investment. In this article, Ivey Business Journal Editor Tom Watson takes readers back to his 2010 investigative journalism on Ashley Madison during the time of its attempted initial public offering, when one of his questions to a boardroom of potential Avid Life backers was enough to make the bankers second-guess their decision. In addition to examining the stakeholder versus shareholder perspectives, he explores the threat that hackers and hacktivists pose to firms and cautions that leaders, such as the former CEO of Avid Life, can in fact have too much bravery.
In 2012, Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company, was considering forming a joint venture with the American soft drinks giant Coca-Cola to develop and commercialize a new line of beauty drinks, “Beautific,” which would provide health and beauty benefits to consumers. Rumours about the partnership in the press had been met with anger from Sanofi’s employees and skepticism from market analysts. It was unclear whether the initiative made sense from a strategic point of view for Sanofi. How different was the initiative from similar past projects that had been met with reluctance by consumers? What were the implications of internal dissent within Sanofi? Venturing into the beauty drinks business might signal a shift by Sanofi away from research and development-driven drugs. Would association with Coca-Cola, a company often decried for contributing to poor health, help or damage the reputation of a pharmaceutical company like Sanofi?
M-Changa was one of the fastest-growing fundraising platforms in Kenya, allowing Kenyans to use text messages on their mobile phones to send, receive, and track donated funds as well as solicit donations from family and friends. The young cofounders, Kyai Mullei and David Mark, had grown the company quickly by leveraging partnerships with large banks, mobile money operators, and NGOs. By April 2015, M-Changa had a team of five people serving 25,000 users. Now, it stood at a crossroads. M-Changa's board members had expressed concern that its multitude of partnerships may have spread the company too thin. The board urged Mullei and Mark to focus on the partnerships that would reap the most value for the company in the long run. Should M-Changa pursue partnerships with mobile money operators and banks that made it possible for users to transfer money conveniently and at a low cost, or instead focus on partners that allowed M-Changa to test new customer segments and increase sales? In addition, there was an estimated US$7 billion fundraising market across East Africa, so Mullei was tempted to test neighboring markets. Students will step into the shoes of Kyai Mullei as he and his team refine their partnership strategy at a crucial point in time for the venture.
At the half-anniversary of the pro-democracy civil disobedience movement "Occupy Central with Love and Peace" on March 28, 2015, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was contemplating the future direction of Hong Kong. Did Hong Kong need universal suffrage, or were its greater challenges economic? After 40 years of remarkable growth, Hong Kong's long-held laissez faire philosophy seemed increasingly inconsistent with its young electorate, which was finding its voice in public debate. With inequality rising in Hong Kong, and the finance and real estate industries playing the dominant role in the economy, many in the territory wondered whether its unique economic model was threatened, or should be changed.
To make sound business decisions, managers must be comfortable with the concepts of correlation and causation. This background note provides an overview of correlation and causation using examples and explains why the former does not imply the latter. It also describes several methods for gaining insights into causal relations, including randomized experiments, panel data, matching, and regression discontinuity. The note is intended for a general audience and does not require advanced statistics knowledge.
In 2012, Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company, was considering forming a joint venture with the American soft drinks giant Coca-Cola to develop and commercialize a new line of beauty drinks, "Beautific," which would provide health and beauty benefits to consumers. Rumours about the partnership in the press had been met with anger from Sanofi's employees and skepticism from market analysts. It was unclear whether the initiative made sense from a strategic point of view for Sanofi. How different was the initiative from similar past projects that had been met with reluctance by consumers? What were the implications of internal dissent within Sanofi? Venturing into the beauty drinks business might signal a shift by Sanofi away from research and development-driven drugs. Would association with Coca-Cola, a company often decried for contributing to poor health, help or damage the reputation of a pharmaceutical company like Sanofi?
After a 26 year partnership in the Indian two-wheeler industry, Hero and Honda parted ways. Honda had now become one of Hero's main competitors. The case covers the reasons for the split, the challenges faced by Hero and the strategic initiatives it had to use to overcome these challenges. After the split, rebranding and re-positioning itself as a stand-alone brand was of primary importance to Hero MotoCorp. To ensure that Hero MotoCorp continued its association with the Indian consumers, it underwent a series of transition phases. With ever rising competition, Hero was putting all of its efforts into ensuring that it overcame each roadblock and maintained its number one position in the Indian two-wheeler market, but were the strategies producing results?
After a 26 year partnership in the Indian two-wheeler industry, Hero and Honda parted ways. Honda had now become one of Hero’s main competitors. The case covers the reasons for the split, the challenges faced by Hero and the strategic initiatives it had to use to overcome these challenges. After the split, rebranding and re-positioning itself as a stand-alone brand was of primary importance to Hero MotoCorp. To ensure that Hero MotoCorp continued its association with the Indian consumers, it underwent a series of transition phases. With ever rising competition, Hero was putting all of its efforts into ensuring that it overcame each roadblock and maintained its number one position in the Indian two-wheeler market, but were the strategies producing results?
The race to lightweighting is well underway with the introduction of the aluminum body Ford F150. Raj Reddy, vice president of strategy for global rolled products at Alcoa, one of the biggest aluminum manufacturers in the world, knows, however, that the competition in the aluminum market will get stiffer with the introduction of more stringent CAFE standards. The company could look to newer bonding technologies and customization of services for its prized clients like Ford to diversify or invest in R&D to increase the ductility and strength of its core products. Students are asked to find strategies to define and boost Alcoa's value proposition.