Variance analysis is widely used in budgeting and managerial accounting, and is a required skill to be taught in any introductory budget course. The Kalamazoo Zoo is a short, amusing case for use in teaching variance analysis. The case is best taught after students have already learned the basics of variance analysis, using a standard text. [Recommended material is "Variance Analysis and Flexible Budgeting," Harvard Business School Publishing, Note 9-101-039, c 2000, and the on-line HBS tutorial on variance analysis]. The Kalamazoo case may be used as a short homework assignment or an in-class group exercise. In the case, students must determine why the Zoo is losing money. Using variance analysis, students can examine the impact of the Zoo's successful animal breeding program (which has produced a higher number of animals) and the quantity of food the animals are consuming. From this simple premise, the case can be used to discuss the revenue and expenditure implications for the Zoo, and to discuss how further variance analysis is necessary to fully understand the drivers of financial performance. The case also allows for a discussion of simple budget options that would enhance revenues and/or decrease expenditures.
In 2010, Rob Dyrdek launched a new skateboarding league called Street League Skateboarding (SLS) with the goal of raising the profile of street skateboarding around the world. Dyrdek had excelled within the world of professional skateboarding for more than 20 years, during which time he amassed he amassed a large following of international fans. In 2006, Dyrdek gained further fame through his starring role in the MTV reality series Rob & Big, which reached more than 70 million viewers in its first season. On the show, Dyrdek often discussed his many entrepreneurial pursuits and creative passions. Among these pursuits, Dyrdek imagined recreating the world of professional skateboarding through the creation of a new, innovative skateboarding league.
In 2014, Dr. Michael Dulin, chief clinical officer for analytics and outcomes research and head of the Dickson Advanced Analytics (DA2) group at Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS), successfully unified all analytics talent and resources into one group over a three year period. Rapid increases in computing power and decreases in data storage costs had enabled DA2's data architects to build predictive models incorporating complex clinical, financial, demographic, and claims data that would have been impossible to create only a few years before. However, in 2014, both Apple and Google announced features in their new mobile operating systems that collected and displayed output from various health-wearables (like heart-rate monitors or step-counters), as well as electronic medical record (EMR) data. Their expertise in analytics, access to demographic and location data, as well as large consumer bases, led Dulin to consider which players consumers would trust to integrate their healthcare data in the future and what role DA2 could play.
At the time of its launch, Contently was a digital marketplace, where small businesses, agencies, and corporations could search for writers. But recent financial results showed that Contently earned substantially more profit from its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business than from its writers' commissions.
Li & Fung Limited (LF), a Hong Kong-based multinational, was a global leader in consumer goods design, development, sourcing, and distribution. LF managed the entire supply chain for retailers and brands around the world by working with a network of over 15,000 supplier companies in more than 40 economies in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The company faced rising expectations on safety compliance, environment, social, and working standards. It decided to create an integrated and holistic strategy to address these issues in a manner that would create solutions and build value for LF customers in sustainable supply chain management.
The founder and chief executive officer of Human Touch Connect Pte. Ltd. was hard at work in his office in Singapore. He had been working on the detailed valuation of his latest venture, EatOnline.Asia, to be presented to the partner of Top Line Ventures, a venture capital firm. He was hoping to be able to convince the firm to invest the required amount of SGD1.5 million. The founder wondered what method(s) of valuation he could use to reflect the fair value of the project. The second issue that was troubling him was, in the event that he was successful in convincing Top Line Ventures, how much stake he could offer for an investment of SGD1.5 million.
Two recently graduated MBA students are tasked with developing an ad-serving learning algorithm for a mobile ad-serving company. The case illustrates the way in which hypotheses can be tested in an A/B format or "horse race" in order to establish customer preferences and superior profitability. The case was written for a course elective covering hypothesis testing.
Two recently graduated MBA students are tasked with developing an ad-serving learning algorithm for a mobile ad-serving company. The case illustrates the way in which hypotheses can be tested in an A/B format or "horse race" in order to establish customer preferences and superior profitability. The case was written for a course elective covering hypothesis testing.
The founder and chief executive officer of Human Touch Connect Pte. Ltd. was hard at work in his office in Singapore. He had been working on the detailed valuation of his latest venture, EatOnline.Asia, to be presented to the partner of Top Line Ventures, a venture capital firm. He was hoping to be able to convince the firm to invest the required amount of SGD1.5 million. The founder wondered what method(s) of valuation he could use to reflect the fair value of the project. The second issue that was troubling him was, in the event that he was successful in convincing Top Line Ventures, how much stake he could offer for an investment of SGD1.5 million.
The YasunÃ-ITT (Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini) Trust Fund was established to receive contributions from donors supporting Ecuador's historical decision to permanently relinquish the extraction of crude from the ITT oil block, a field located at the Ecuadorean Amazonia's Yasunà National Park (YNP) that was estimated to hold a reserve of 846 million barrels of oil. Contributions would be used to fund renewable energy projects and sustainable development investments, such as deforestation reduction and ecosystem preservation in Ecuador's Amazon region. Thus, appealing to a global spirit of shared responsibility, President Rafael Correa's government requested that the international community compensated Ecuador with US$ 3.6 billion (paid over a 13-year period) to cover half of the revenues the country would fail to receive as a result of its decision to relinquish oil extraction at ITT. International contributions would be viewed as a compensation for Ecuadoreans' sacrifice, which would bring significant public benefits for the entire planet, including a less contaminated atmosphere. This case consists of three parts and has been designed for a two-session discussion. Sections A and B may be discussed during a first 90-minute class and require no previous preparation from students. These sections focus on encouraging class participants to make a critical analysis of the type and amount of information necessary to make a decision. Section C will be discussed in a second 90-minute session and requires students to prepare this case beforehand, making the necessary financial calculations for this analysis. Part A explores the period before November 24, 2009, when President Correa and UNDP announce the terms for the draft agreement for YasunÃ-ITT's Trust Fund.
Supplement to case AN0017. The YasunÃ-ITT (Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini) Trust Fund was established to receive contributions from donors supporting Ecuador's historical decision to permanently relinquish the extraction of crude from the ITT oil block, a field located at the Ecuadorean Amazonia's Yasunà National Park (YNP) that was estimated to hold a reserve of 846 million barrels of oil. Contributions would be used to fund renewable energy projects and sustainable development investments, such as deforestation reduction and ecosystem preservation in Ecuador's Amazon region. Thus, appealing to a global spirit of shared responsibility, President Rafael Correa's government requested that the international community compensated Ecuador with US$ 3.6 billion (paid over a 13-year period) to cover half of the revenues the country would fail to receive as a result of its decision to relinquish oil extraction at ITT. International contributions would be viewed as a compensation for Ecuadoreans' sacrifice, which would bring significant public benefits for the entire planet, including a less contaminated atmosphere. This case consists of three parts and has been designed for a two-session discussion. Sections A and B may be discussed during a first 90-minute class and require no previous preparation from students. These sections focus on encouraging class participants to make a critical analysis of the type and amount of information necessary to make a decision. Section C will be discussed in a second 90-minute session and requires students to prepare this case beforehand, making the necessary financial calculations for this analysis. Part B focus on the analysis of processes used to request relevant information about a project.
Supplement to case AN0017. The YasunÃ-ITT (Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini) Trust Fund was established to receive contributions from donors supporting Ecuador's historical decision to permanently relinquish the extraction of crude from the ITT oil block, a field located at the Ecuadorean Amazonia's Yasunà National Park (YNP) that was estimated to hold a reserve of 846 million barrels of oil. Contributions would be used to fund renewable energy projects and sustainable development investments, such as deforestation reduction and ecosystem preservation in Ecuador's Amazon region. Thus, appealing to a global spirit of shared responsibility, President Rafael Correa's government requested that the international community compensated Ecuador with US$ 3.6 billion (paid over a 13-year period) to cover half of the revenues the country would fail to receive as a result of its decision to relinquish oil extraction at ITT. International contributions would be viewed as a compensation for Ecuadoreans' sacrifice, which would bring significant public benefits for the entire planet, including a less contaminated atmosphere. This case consists of three parts and has been designed for a two-session discussion. Sections A and B may be discussed during a first 90-minute class and require no previous preparation from students. These sections focus on encouraging class participants to make a critical analysis of the type and amount of information necessary to make a decision. Section C will be discussed in a second 90-minute session and requires students to prepare this case beforehand, making the necessary financial calculations for this analysis. Part C delves into the following areas: 1. Financial valuation of oil exploitation projects; 2. Examining agreements and their compatibility with signing agents, and 3. Analyzing the social and political threats that may jeopardize a project.
For Eva Kor, one of the Mengele Twins used in horrific Nazi experiments after being torn away from her family as a 10-year-old, forgiveness is not just key to peace on Earth — it also clears the minds of decision makers. After the Holocaust survivor thanked a former Nazi doctor who agreed to go on record about working at Auschwitz, the “Book-keeper of Auschwitz” gave Kor a kiss that was tweeted around the world, creating a mixture of hope and outrage. But as far as the 81-year-old Kor is concerned, forgiveness is for victims, who have the right to be free. Although forgiving is rarely easy, Kor sees it as key to achieving internal peace, which improves quality of life, not to mention management skills and productivity in both our professional and personal lives.
This case discusses the issues faced by AgFeed Industries Inc, a China-based company seeking growth through the US capital market, both from the perspective of the Chinese company, as well as US investors. It chronicles the evolution of a small, local animal feed farm into a troubled international pork producer. While some may posit that AgFeed's journey is typical of many China-based companies, the lessons from this case are relevant to fast-growing companies worldwide. The case surfaces discussions on corporate governance and ethics, issues concerning capital market regulations, business strategies in fast-growing industries, the challenges of cross-cultural management, and management capability.
Sebastien Bazin was now in charge of Accor, the world's largest French hotelier, a CAC 40 company with 3,600 hotels in 92 countries and a market cap of €10 billion. Previously as the European head of Colony Capital, one of the largest private equity groups and the largest shareholder of Accor, Bazin had since 2005 relentlessly pushed an asset-lite strategy from his perch on the Accor Board in the face of vigorous opposition from employees, senior management, and some Board members. Accor's stock price underperformance and the continuous fight over the strategic direction of the company had created turmoil and turnover in the C-suite and on the Board. After multiple CEO exits, and a failure by the Board to identify the next CEO in 2013, Bazin's offer to resign from Colony and assume the CEO position at Accor was met with incredulity from friends, alarm from Accor employees, and applause from the stock market. But would Bazin be able to deliver on his promises to investors and employees to pursue an asset-right strategy? Was an asset-heavy hotelier viable in today's economic environment? Could the market understand and appropriately value such a firm and what could be its disclosure strategy to ensure a fair valuation of the stock? How long would it be before he could deliver on his promises and show fruit from the restructuring?
In July 2014, nine months after they had developed a collaborative workplace for independent video game developers in Phoenix, Arizona, the two founders of the Game CoLab were discussing how to move the business forward. Using the Lean Startup method, they had designed their business model and opened a coworking space where they could also hold meetings, competitions and games showcases. However, they now face two challenges - declining membership and the need to move to new premises - and an exciting opportunity to work with corporate and educational organizations who are looking to "gamify" their digital offerings. The founders have four choices: (1) continue to maintain the coworking space concept, which has generated limited revenues so far; (2) pivot their business model to focus more on building the local and virtual community with events and cheaper, more flexible memberships; (3) pursue corporate business for customized game development while either continuing or abandoning the coworking space business; and (4) pursue a more major pivot whereby the company would become a start-up incubator.
Olam International, a publicly listed firm, was a leading agri-business with an integrated supply chain. To sustain growth, the company took on large amounts of debt to fund acquisitions and other capital expenditures. A hedge fund issued a Sell recommendation, highlighting the problems facing the company, including several years of negative free cash flows. The heated exchange between Olam and the hedge fund led to a government investment fund, Temasek Holdings, first backing Olam, and then eventually offering to buy out the minority shareholders. This scenario presents an excellent opportunity to apply the discounted cash flow analysis and relative valuation techniques to evaluate Temasek's offer.
When General Motors Holden announces its plan to exit from car manufacturing in Australia, Toyota faces a decision dilemma amid losses and adverse business and economic conditions. Should it continue as the country's sole vehicle manufacturer and wait for business and economic scenarios to change favourably, or should it exit the market? Toyota's position is assessed by applying microeconomics concepts, including the optimal scale of operation, minimum efficient scale of operation, economies of scale, short-run and long-run cost analyses, concentration ratio and fragmented markets.
In December 2012, a young worker in Toronto wants to invest $50,000 savings. He needs to decide the equity portfolio that will result in the lowest risk at the best possible return on his investment. In particular, he is looking to invest in Wal-Mart, IBM, Apple, Chevron and Amazon, all large U.S. corporations that have weathered the recent economic crisis and show growth potential for the future. He remembers learning about using efficient frontiers to analyze stocks and decides to undertake an exhaustive analysis before deciding in which company to invest.
In May 2011, the Public Bike System Company, based in Montreal, Canada, was preparing to answer a request for proposal by New York City to create a financially self-sustaining public bike-sharing system. Three years earlier, the company, owned by the Montreal Transit Authority, had created Bixi, a service that made bikes available to members through docking stations, powered by solar energy, spread across the city. Although its financial structure was still unproven, it was a promising solution that aimed to revolutionize urban transportation. In partnership with other private bike-sharing organizations, the company had successfully expanded to Minneapolis-St. Paul and Washington D.C. but had experienced problems with its implementations in Melbourne, London and Boston. Furthermore, the system in Montreal could not provide evidence of profitability, forcing the city government to step in by guaranteeing loans and providing additional cash flow. It also did not have a clear business plan as to how, when and where its international expansion should take place. Now, news of its problems in Montreal had made headlines in New York, putting the future of its expansion ambitions in doubt.