A budding entrepreneur wants to start a mobile software company by developing a golf scoring and playing app called Golfgamez. He has assembled some raw data related to market size, as well as start-up and development costs, but is unsure how to proceed. He must evaluate the revenue and cost estimates for this business idea and prioritize the issues he faces. He must also consider the costs and benefits of available funding options, such as debt, equity or accelerator funding; crowdfunding; government grants; or sweat equity funding. Should he quit his successful career in banking to pursue his dream, should he try to do this part time and risk failure or should he give up altogether? Golfgamex (B): Funding a Digital Startup, 9B13M011, is the supplement to this case.
""Cracking Oyster (B)" is the second part of a two-part case set, "Cracking Oyster (A) and (B)," intended for use in a two-class sequence. The (B) case may also be taught on its own, but students will need to read (or at least skim) the (A) case in order to understand (B). "Cracking Oyster (B)" is accompanied by a six-and-a-half minute video companion piece. The (B) case describes how Shashi Verma (MPP '97), Director of Fares and Ticketing for London's super agency, Transport for London, copes with a frustrating contract at the heart of the agency's ticketing operation-the Prestige Contract, which is, when he assumes his position in 2006, at the midpoint of a 17-year contract term. While the (A) case lays out the nature of Verma's frustrations with Prestige (a cumbersome process for negotiating variations, excessive costs, inadequate performance requirements, and poor incentives for the contractor to col-laborate with TfL on new innovations), the more provocative (B) case describes how Verma-using techniques of "game theory" and taking some political and legal risks-tries to negotiate much more favorable contract terms for TfL. The case ends with Verma, TfL, and the TfL board on the horns of a dilemma-whether to go forward or re-treat after a high court grants one of the contractors an injunction that will require TfL to defend its actions in a court trial (or, more likely, settle out of court) if it goes forward with its plans. A one-page sequel describes what happens: TfL does decide to go forward, does settle the legal matter out of court, and ultimately obtains a contract on much more favorable terms than the original Prestige. The video companion piece shows Verma in conversation with HKS Professor Richard Zeckhauser, as the two reflect on Verma's use of game theory, a subject taught by Zeckhauser. Case number 1985.0 "
A buy-side analyst for an investment company that has a company-specific, fundamentals-based investing philosophy is considering whether to include a small-cap Canadian company engaged in commodity streaming contracts in the mining sector as a significant investment. The analyst must first learn what commodity streaming involves to better understand whether the company has a viable business model. He also has to research the copper and natural gas industry outlooks. He must then develop a net asset value model to determine an appropriate valuation for the company.
A Mexican appliance manufacturer, MABE, has evolved quickly after selling nearly half its stake to a large multinational company in the early 1990s. The manufacturer was then able to dominate the Mexican appliances market and venture into other Latin American countries. Just before the 2008 financial crisis, the manufacturer formed a joint venture with a Spanish company and entered the Russian market, but it was not successful. The manufacturer faced a dilemma: Should it leave the Russian joint venture with its Spanish partner and refocus on other emerging markets? Should it acquire a local manufacturer? Should it remain as it was?
The director of logistics at Walmart Canada, was developing plans for a new distribution centre in Alberta. Senior management had presented her with a challenge: why not build the most sustainable distribution centre in the world? Yet, much remained unclear about how to translate this challenge into specific actions, while keeping in mind corporate goals for sustainability. Her team now was exploring three options that promised to be significantly greener: hydrogen fuel cells for forklift trucks, LED lighting and renewable energy generation from on-site wind turbines. Any investment in these sustainable technologies had to make business sense, and any decision could dramatically affect the distribution centre's operating performance.
"This field-based case gives supply-chain educators the ability to teach the newsvendor model with pricing under a capacity constraint using real-life decisions. This case won the prestigious INFORMS Case Competition during the 2013 annual conference. By 2005, Eastman Chemical Company, based in Tennessee, had created a new specialty plastic, Tritan, which demonstrated heat resistance and durability properties that might allow Eastman to compete in the lucrative polycarbonate plastics market. Development of this product was a major breakthrough for both Eastman and the broader chemical industry. The Eastman specialty plastics team had to contend with numerous challenges, however, before producing Tritan at full scale. First, Eastman had to commercialize a completely new material that only had been produced in the lab; second, the team had to develop a supply chain to manufacture a new component (monomer) and a new product (polymer) simultaneously; and finally, it had to analyze market entrance options given capacity constraints. Thus, the specialty plastics team faced several dilemmas: who should be the initial launch partners, given Eastman's limited manufacturing capacity, and how aggressively should Eastman price Tritan, given that price would drive demand in the launch markets and in new markets? "
A distiller increases whiskey production and income declines because of accounting methods in use. Questions are raised regarding the treatment of expenditures which can be classified as production, inventory, or period costs. The necessary aging process raises added questions about prior period restatements and needed financing. A rewritten version of an earlier case by R.F. Vancil and R.H. Deming.
Explores the decision faced by AIG's board on whether to join shareholder and ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit, argued by super-lawyer David Boies (of Bush v. Gore and California gay marriage fame), claims that in September 2008 the U.S. arbitrarily set aside the rights of AIG's shareholders - violating the Fifth Amendment by taking private property without just compensation - while preserving shareholder rights in other troubled financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs whose ex-CEO was then Treasury Secretary. The U.S. government moves to dismiss the case arguing that it has wide discretion in times of crisis, but a federal judge allows the suit to proceed. The case raises two issues central to understanding capitalism: (1) the importance of and limits to property rights; and (2) the role of the state in choosing between varieties of capitalism, here between oligarchic and entrepreneurial capitalism.
""Cracking Oyster (A)" is the first part of a two part case set, "Cracking Oyster (A) and (B)," intended for a two-class sequence, but the (A) case may also be taught on its own. It is accompanied by a brief, two-part video companion piece with a total length of six-and-a-half minutes. The (A) case introduces Shashi Verma (MPP '97) in 2006, soon after he has received a plum appointment: Director of Fares and Ticketing for London's super agency, Transport for London. The centerpiece of the agency's ticketing operation was the "Oyster Card," developed and managed under the terms of a 1998-2015 PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contract called "Prestige." Thus, in pursuing his goals for TfL ticketing-a reduction of costs, expanded service, and adoption of convenient, lower cost technologies-he knows he will have to negotiate with the contractor, a consortium called TranSys, governed by its two leading partners, Cubic Transportation Systems, a San Diego based company specializing in automated fare collection equipment and service, and EDS, one of the world's largest information technology service providers. Though the Oyster system-reliable and popular-was widely regarded a smash success, Verma soon learns that within TfL, the Prestige Contract is the source of much frustration. The case details the perceived shortcomings of the contract: a cumbersome process for negotiating variations, excessive costs, inadequate performance requirements, and poor incentives for the contractor to collaborate with TfL on new innovations. While the contract does, technically, allow TfL the opportunity to opt out early, TfL appears to have little practical ability to do so, as intellectual property for the complex system resides with the contractors. "Cracking Oyster (A)" ends with Verma facing a broadly-framed dilemma: what to do about Prestige? Case Number 1984.0 "
Brown Robin Capital details the experiences of Stanford GSB graduates Ryan Robinson and Lucas Braun in pursuing a search fund acquisition. The case explains the search fund model and provides historical asset class performance statistics. Then, the protagonists detail the decision to engage in a search fund, raising the initial search capital, performing due diligence on a series of prospective acquisition targets, abandoning several potential deals, and ultimately buying and running a data services business called OnRamp. The case weighs the personal and professional factors inherent in operating a search fund.
Google's Project Oxygen started with a fundamental question raised by executives in the early 2000s: do managers matter? The topic generated a multi-year research project that ultimately led to a comprehensive program, built around eight key management attributes, designed to help Google employees become better managers. By November 2012, the program had been in place for several years, and the company could point to statistically significant improvements in managerial effectiveness and performance. Now executives were wondering: how could Google build on the success of this project, extending it to senior leaders, teams, and other constituencies while striving to create truly amazing managers?
Senior management at P&G has put a strong emphasis on using data to make "better, smarter, real-time business decisions." The Global Business Services (GBS) organization has developed tools, systems and processes to provide managers throughout P&G with direct access to up-to-date data and advanced analytics. In addition, GBS has embedded analysts within the business units to work alongside leaders and managers in driving real-time information-based decision making. Equipped with the tools provided by GBS, Alan Torres, vice-president of North America Fabric Care, must finalize the forecast for P&G's laundry detergent sales. Results for the two months since introducing concentrated powder laundry detergent in select retailers saw a surprising jump in sales of over 10%, but would the trend continue as the concentrated detergents were introduced across North America?
The chief financial officer (CFO) and major shareholder of a small charter sport fishing company must prepare the company books for the fiscal year according to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) rules. The CFO must deal with both finance and operating leases.
The owner of a popular batting cage reveals financial details about her company's long-lived assets for the purpose of completing the necessary fiscal-year accounting transactions.
The systematic analysis of an annual report of a large Canadian public company provides a framework and a set of skills and concepts to determine whether it is worth investing in the company. The detailed examination of the annual report includes an analysis of profitability - including return on capital employed, return on equity, return on sales, gross profit margin and asset turnover - and liquidity measures.
This public-sourced case was named the best finance case of 2013 in the 24th annual awards and competition sponsored by The Case Centre. It was designed for and works well in the latter portion of a GEMBA Financial Management and Policies course and in the early stage of a second-year MBA elective Financial Institutions and Markets course. The case is set in mid-2012 as the new co-CEOs of Deutsche Bank are about to speak in an analyst call. Students are the decision makers and have the opportunity to evaluate the various factors affecting a bank's situation in a changing global industry, such as leverage and credit quality, as well as to discuss the implications on Deutsche Bank and the banking sector more broadly of Basel III, the global regulatory reform. The students also have the opportunity to conduct a valuation of the bank. Investors were anxious to know whether the new co-CEOs would discuss the strategy of how Deutsche Bank planned to meet the new regulatory requirements, what effect Basel III would have on the company's profitability, and what lines of business it would focus on going forward in a new banking environment. They also wanted to know more about the benefits of the 2010 majority stake investment in Postbank, a German commercial bank. In class, this discussion also allows for a broader examination of the universal bank model and the role of banks within society.