Kingfisher Airlines, a leading airline company in India, had incurred substantial losses and its net worth had been eroded. This news was widely covered by Indian and international press. Analysts and media were of the opinion that Kingfisher needed equity infusion to steer it through the distress. Because of its financial difficulties, the company’s stock was trading at near historic lows and its equity value was, in fact, negative. Yet company management was emphatic that Kingfisher was on the road to recovery although it was negotiating a second debt restructuring with banks. Would this restructuring prove more successful than the last? Could anything save Kingfisher from this dire financial situation?
A homeowner and his family finally have an offer on their residence. The terms negotiated with the buyers require the homeowner to build a detached garage on the property before the closing date on August 30, 2013, which is in 16 weeks. The homeowner’s family has also made a conditional offer on another home, and the condition must be removed in two days if they would like to finalize that purchase. Although proficient at construction, the homeowner has encountered a major addition to his timeline on May 1. The city is requiring that he obtain a variance approval before the building department issues the building permit, thereby delaying the start of construction by between nine and ten weeks. The homeowner must decide whether to go ahead or cancel the sale of the residence and the purchase of a new home.
In August 2013, the research director of Superb Trucks LP, a large Ontario-based trucking transportation company, is expected to prepare a recommendation to top management on how to improve the efficiency of the company's trucks. He had made a decision that an innovative fuel additive might serve this purpose and subsequently conducted two studies to assess its effectiveness. What considerations should be made when designing such a field experiment? How can these considerations affect interpretation of study findings and inform business decisions?
Kingfisher Airlines, a leading airline company in India, had incurred substantial losses and its net worth had been eroded. This news was widely covered by Indian and international press. Analysts and media were of the opinion that Kingfisher needed equity infusion to steer it through the distress. Because of its financial difficulties, the company's stock was trading at near-historic lows and its equity value was, in fact, negative. Yet company management was emphatic that Kingfisher was on the road to recovery although it was negotiating a second debt restructuring with banks. Would this restructuring prove more successful than the last? Could anything save Kingfisher from this dire financial situation?
A homeowner and his family finally have an offer on their residence. The terms negotiated with the buyers require the homeowner to build a detached garage on the property before the closing date on August 30, 2013, which is in 16 weeks. The homeowner's family has also made a conditional offer on another home, and the condition must be removed in two days if they would like to finalize that purchase. Although proficient at construction, the homeowner has encountered a major addition to his timeline on May 1. The city is requiring that he obtain a variance approval before the building department issues the building permit, thereby delaying the start of construction by between nine and ten weeks. The homeowner must decide whether to go ahead or cancel the sale of the residence and the purchase of a new home.
This document is one of three available case-based simulations used as the basis for a multisession course on design thinking. The course emphasizes deep user understanding, iteration, and a focus on the possibilities as a way to enhance value creation for stakeholders. Please refer to the course teaching guide to view the additional essential pedagogical tools available to the course instructor-including several hours of video content and a set of posters that summarize ethnographic interview findings for each simulation scenario. In this case, the CEO of Great Lakes (GL), a Fortune 200 company and one of the world's largest dairy cooperatives, reflects on the challenges and opportunities the company faces as it considers how to tap into a bigger slice of the lucrative market for snack foods for Millennials, an area GL's research had identified as a promising first target. Students play the role of members of a handpicked innovation team chartered to explore and develop profitable revenue growth opportunities.
In May 2013, Jack Russo, a Chicago-based tech entrepreneur, had to choose one of four possible product concepts to use as the starting point for his new K-8 educational learning company, TabletTeach LLC. At the time, the K-12 education market in the United States was experiencing major disruption due to print-to-digital transformation, new Common Core State Standards (CCSS), new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core (rolling out in most states in the 2014-2015 school year), and increasing pressure from parents for schools to incorporate technology in their children's learning. Based on his first-hand experience and research, Russo knew there was a significant opportunity for a company that brought to market a tablet-enabled learning solution focusing on grades K-8, which made learning Common Core math and/or language arts fun for every student and engagingly simple for all teachers. This case provides an interesting example of something typically hard to teach: transitioning from the fuzzy front end of a market opportunity analysis to a specific product opportunity. The case bounds the problem by outlining four potential product concepts, which students will then evaluate and rank using their own sets of criteria.
In an effort to save his business, Paul Marciano, the owner of Italian family restaurant Maria's Ristorante, runs a number of experiments focused on improving the customer experience around his target customer segment. These experiments lead to a better understanding about his business and cause him to make specific changes to his business model that ultimately improve things across the board. The experiments are based on research from the academic literature on the use of behavioral variables to manage customer perceptions.
Dr. Felton Wayne, the chief medical officer for North Carolina operations at Valley Health (VH), had been working incredibly hard for the past nine months trying to motivate and empower his medical staff, who had become disillusioned by VH's management practices. But he had little to show for his efforts. He felt unappreciated and ineffective in his role. After a tense meeting with his director, during which Wayne was called a "cowboy," he wondered whether he should just go back to doing what he was good at-taking care of patients. This A case is accompanied by a B case.
In response to his meeting with his corporate director, Dr. Felton Wayne considered resigning. He had been chief medical officer at a hospital owned by Valley Health (VH) for 12 months, and it had been a tough year. But after he implemented a few important changes, Wayne started to see results. This case is a continuation of the A case.
Trionym Systems, a designer and manufacturer of 3-D printers, was enjoying soaring sales. Trionym's chief executive officer (CEO) presented a plan for acquiring a new production facility to address the expected demand for the firm's latest 3-D printer, the RB-5000, which was presently under beta testing. He expressed reservations with respect to considerable uncertainty both in terms of market size and production costs. Accordingly, he wished to use the latest prescriptive analytics techniques to ensure that the decision to expand was the right one. The chief analytics officer was tasked with assessing the proposed project and had to report his findings at the next board meeting.
This case describes the financial and non financial performance of Starbucks, a large organisation provided as on 2007. Howard Schultz, the promoter and chairman of the corporation is disturbed by the decline in the performance of Starbucks, especially the dilution of customer experience. He is required to analyse what happened and adopt a course of action to strengthen Starbucks' performance vis a vis competitive attacks. The participants are required to analyse the situation, generate options for Starbucks and make recommendations for the future, including whether Jim Donald, the current incubent, needs to retained as the CEO of Starbucks.
Trionym Systems, a designer and manufacturer of 3-D printers, was enjoying soaring sales. Trionym’s chief executive officer (CEO) presented a plan for acquiring a new production facility to address the expected demand for the firm’s latest 3-D printer, the RB-5000, which was presently under beta testing. He expressed reservations with respect to considerable uncertainty both in terms of market size and production costs. Accordingly, he wished to use the latest prescriptive analytics techniques to ensure that the decision to expand was the right one. The chief analytics officer was tasked with assessing the proposed project and had to report his findings at the next board meeting.
A university instructor mulls over the idea of partnering with six of his students to start a new business that would provide all-in-one starter kits for first-year university or college students moving into residences across Canada. To help with his decision-making process, the instructor wants to evaluate the product and the group’s marketing strategy; he also wants to project the new venture’s financial performance for the first three years of operations.
In the summer of 2011, Jim Frates, CFO of Alkermes faced choices about how to finance the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT) - a deal that was expected to close in the fall. The case describes the history of Alkermes, provides information about the planned merger, and details the funding options. The case gives students the opportunity to analyze the role CFOs play in biopharmaceutical firms, to evaluate the attractiveness of the merger, and to select a funding option.
At the end of 2014, Apple Inc. recorded the most profitable quarter of any firm in history, and its market capitalization soon topped $700 billion. 'Apple Inc in 2015' explores the history of Apple, its successes under Jobs, its continued growth under Tim Cook, and the challenges facing the company in 2015. With iPod sales continuing their freefall, tablet sales in decline, and the Macintosh's market share remaining small, Apple was increasingly dependent on the iPhone to drive its growth. Could Cook continue Apple's dominance in the smartphone market in the face of growing competition? Could he revitalize the iPad business, become a leader in payments, with Apple Pay, and replicate Apple's success in other device categories, such as the Apple Watch, the first new product the company had released since 2010?
For French watchmaker Pequignet, its return to the annual luxury watch and jewelry show, Baselworld, signaled a new page in the company's 40-year history. As the only "haute horlogerie" manufacturer in France since the quartz crisis in the 1970s, Pequignet had caught the attention of both the media and the watch collector community, despite going through receivership and a change of ownership. In addition to showcasing its Calibre Royal collection, Pequignet presented a new line of entry-level watches. Should the company invest further in its manufacturing processes to make high-end mechanical watches, as it had in the past? Or should it focus on producing more affordable, accessible products, as with its most recent collection? As an independent atelier, Pequignet had to address these questions in order to succeed in the highly competitive global watch market.