Susan Barney, chief financial officer of Parcel Expeditors (Parcel), a thriving same-day package delivery company headquartered in the United States, had to make some decisions. The management of Parcel was planning to take the company public in the coming year but they had yet to determine the accounting for certain pension plan costs. The most important goal for management was to provide investors with useful information for their decision making; however, Barney was unsure as to how different choices allowed within the pension accounting standard might impact earnings. In order to assess the impact of each standard, Barney decided to evaluate the pension accounting of a few competitors in the package delivery industry.
On August 22, 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)-a dramatic reform of the American system of economic assistance for the poor that, as its title suggested, attempted to encourage labor force participation rather than reliance on federal support. Clinton's decision to support a proposal that substantially cut spending on economic assistance was controversial among members of the Democratic Party, especially so close to the 1996 election. Republicans, in contrast, hailed the signing of PRWORA. Was the 1996 welfare reform a triumph of centrist policymaking that would establish a more sustainable version of economic assistance for poor Americans, or was it a dangerous first step toward the gradual disappearance of that assistance? Whose vision of American society did it represent? Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom.
Digital was on Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Programs Bridget Coughlin's mind these days. DMNS had been dabbling in digital for the past few years, but had never fully committed to it. The time had come to establish a strategic vision, and to decide whether to designate serious human and financial resources. It was time to make some decisions about the DMNS' digital future. The digital discussion was taking place within a larger strategic conversation about the primacy of the onsite experience of the Museum and the need to get outside of its walls to reach new constituents. How should she balance onsite programming, offsite programming, and online programming to maximize attendance and deliver against the Museum's mission? Was digital the magic pill that would allow the Museum to reach new audiences or was DMNS better off delivering a face-to-face museum experience within its own four walls or out on the streets of the Denver community?
An investor has purchased a share of Cisco stock and wants to protect himself from some downside risk using the stop-loss trading strategy. However, he doesn't want to sell the stock prematurely based on short-term price fluctuations. What is the best threshold for the stop-loss strategy? How does it compare to the holding strategy?
Shooting & Outdoor Distributor (SOD) was a Puerto Rican family-owned wholesale business selling sporting goods for hunting and fishing. After a year of working for the company, the operations manager was confronted with the arrival of a U.S. retail chain, Sports Authority (SA), to the Puerto Rican market. SA carried many sporting goods sold by SOD, as well as a number of brands under exclusive distribution agreements between SOD and its U.S. manufacturers. Even though SA was a retailer, due to its size, it had the power to negotiate better prices with manufacturers than SOD and pass those deals on to the final customer. SOD's operations manager was considering three options for combating this competition: 1) Develop private branding for a new rifle product; 2) Open SOD retail stores not operating close to SA or to its retail clients; and/or 3) Expand SOD to other Latin American and Caribbean markets where no competition was present.
The Children's Place was a New Jersey-based specialty retailer of apparel and accessories for children up to age 12. Starting in fiscal 2013, the company was moving from a clearance-centre model, where it sold a variety of national brands, to a made-for-outlet model that emphasized its own brands. This was necessitated by intense price competition in its market. The new strategy involved developing, coordinating and controlling its own global apparel value chain. When the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing and injuring a large number of workers, products destined for The Children's Place were found in the debris. The adverse publicity that ensued meant that the company's top management had to re-evaluate its strategy. What should be their response?
In June 2007, the chief executive officer of Telesat Canada, headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, was considering his strategy following a decision by Industry Canada to reject four out of six of its applications for satellite slots. His largest concern was the decision to award the two most important licences for the Extended Ku-band network - which the company's largest clients, Bell Canada Inc. and Shaw Communications, were both seeking - to a subsidiary of a non-Canadian company, Ciel Satellite Limited Partnership, which was owned by SES S.A., a global corporation based in Luxembourg. The regulator's decision had the potential to severely limit Telesat's future revenues as well as destabilize its valuation in the midst of a sale process. The company needed a plan of action to propose a reconsideration of the allocation of licenses while also maintaining its working relationship with Industry Canada.
In 1992, for the first time in India, Titan Industries Ltd., headquartered in Bangalore, India, introduced a watch brand exclusively for women - the Titan Raga. Launched to appeal to sophisticated women, it was embellished with striking symbolism from Indian culture. Its first targeted customers were progressive homemakers and those who were trying to balance work and family life but who wanted to embellish their traditional or Western attire with a beautiful, sensual timepiece. The watches were often given as gifts during festivals or occasions such as birthdays. However, the customer profile changed to the young career professional with disposable income, who often considered the watches to be too much like jewellery and affected by design flaws such as a difficult to read face and finicky clasp. By 2010, the marketing team realized that it had to revisit its branding strategy to meet this challenge and its global competitors. Should they relaunch Titan Raga as a stand-alone brand with a new brand ambassador who will appeal to this new demographic?
A review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. There is a B case that provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and running after the initial failures of implementation.
A review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. This case provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and running after the initial failures of implementation.
Accor, the world's leading hotel operator with a portfolio of fourteen hospitality brands (including Sofitel and Novotel) in 92 countries, prided itself on living up to its motto, "To open new frontiers in hospitality." Accor was indeed contemplating how to do just that-but not by tackling a new frontier of the geographic variety. Rather, the firm was further exploring the digital frontier via a new distribution channel that would allow it to better compete in the online marketing space for travel reservations.
It took BJ Lee many years to learn how to navigate the patent minefield that was the global LED industry. When his company was first spun off from the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan, he thought the essence of a good IP strategy was to develop a technology portfolio that was different from everybody else. But in the ensuing two decades of competition and litigation, he came to appreciate some of the nuances that enabled his company to have freedom to practice. This case exposes that journey and some of the learnings.
The purpose of this note is to illustrate the use of Microsoft Excel's Goal Seek feature. The technical note includes practice exercises and their solutions, and a supporting Excel workbook for students.
Perhaps among the most popular newspapers in the world, the Times of India (TOI) was faced with developing a national strategy in a very diverse country. The paper's strategy included lowering the price of print newspapers, developing readership among India's youth, embracing active story coverage, and continuing to deliver door-to-door in metro areas. But by 2014, the cost structure required to keep newspapers on doorsteps every morning had Rahul Kansal, executive president at Bennet, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (TOI's publisher), reexamining the paper's direction. The firm's growth model had included nonmetro and digital expansion. Should TOI continue to tap into the increasingly literate and underserved Indian population to grow its print readership in metro and nonmetro areas? What effect would that decision have on TOI's digital penetration?
This brief case discusses the graduation hooding ceremony at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Its purpose is to provide practice in calculating process operating parameters such as takt time, throughput rate, throughput time, and capacity. It also provides an example of the use of Little's Law and Operator Loading Charts.
The director of CPVet in Gurgaon, India, was worried. The cost of running the veterinary clinics was mounting. Was customer behaviour in India with respect to pets changing? Unlike in many developed countries, Indian pet owners were not as willing to think of their pets as their own children and care for them accordingly. However, the industry seemed to be changing and trends showed that spending on pet care was steadily increasing. Were pet owners in India ready to invest more in their pets? Should CPVet expand beyond Gurgaon? Despite the fast growth rate of the industry and the company’s first-mover advantage, CPVet faced several challenges with respect to its goal of expanding to a national level.