After a massive earthquake destroyed many buildings in Haiti, reconstruction has become a source of opportunity and competition for non-governmental organizations, international business and local companies. The Haitian chairman and CEO of a very successful, multi-million dollar information technology company wants to provide affordable quality housing, especially for the disadvantaged poor, using steel frame technology from his start-up, KayTek. What he has not yet determined is how to get his product to market. He has three options: to keep sales and construction in-house, to outsource, or to franchise in order to create opportunities for young Haitian engineers to become entrepreneurs. Each option has costs, in terms not only of finances and time but also of control of brand quality and accessibility.
Chariot Comics, a comic-book production house, is refining its processes for the production of comics. Currently, launching a comic requires 52 to 54 days, which the company wants to reduce to 45 days. Working toward this objective requires analysis of the current process and a review of the various alternatives to achieving the desired time reduction.
The co-founder and president of an environmentally friendly moving supply company faces the challenge of expanding his company's brand. The company, which provides plastic, reusable moving bins and other moving supplies, has branded itself as providing a convenient, affordable and eco-friendly alternative to cardboard moving boxes. The company can expand by setting up additional corporate stores or by selling individual franchises. The co-founder and president also contemplates focusing his efforts on dominating and revolutionizing the Canadian moving industry. He also remains open to the possibility of eventually selling the company to a larger organization. In considering all options, he wants to sustain the integrity and success of the brand he has built and to ensure that any future expansion maintains his commitment to providing consumers with value, high quality and superior customer service.
In November 2011, Jacko Maree, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group, was reviewing the Group's major decisions in recent years, thinking about the future, and looking for opportunities as South Africa emerged from the global financial crisis of 2008-10. The Group had fared relatively well during the financial crisis, in the sense that no major losses had occurred, and there was almost no exposure at all to the U.S. real estate market or to derivatives based on mortgages there. Even so, the global slowdown had hurt South Africa, and Standard Bank's core businesses there had suffered as well. To keep shareholders happy, the Group needed to demonstrate a clear strategic direction and to demonstrate commitment to that strategy, possibly by pursuing acquisition(s) or other kinds of expansion.
This is a case on CVP with multiple products. Although relatively basic, it bridges into some alternative-choice decision making, requiring students to assess how they would manage costs, how they would make a choice under constraints, and whether they would eliminate a product line that is losing money on a full-cost basis.
This is a relatively good summary case that raises a variety of basic financial accounting issues. It has been used as an exam for the first module of a course.
This disguised case describes a Midwestern institution that had had remarkable successes in preparing to operate in a managed care environment. The case can be taught as part of a sequence on managing change and works well with the McKinsey 7S model.
This case contains a set of audited financial statements for a small community hospital, and requires the students to assess where there are accounting problems, and where there are financial management problems.
This case provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the limitations on the use of comparative data in assessing the performance of a nonprofit organization. Despite these limitations, data like these may be useful, and students must decide how.
This case allows an instructor to combine several important elements into an evaluation. Students are asked to first consider the organization's strategy, then to consider the question of incentives, and finally to assess the organization's management control system in the light of both.
This case introduces some real-world complexities into a transfer pricing decision. Market price works when there is an unambiguous market price, but in this instance, it is not clear that the two jobs are the same, which means that the prices might legitimately differ. The case also includes some important behavioral issues.
Robin Ash has just been promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Printzhof Press and Vice President of its parent company, Education and Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Her first objective is to create an action plan that will achieve two seemingly contradictory corporate objectives: transform Printzhof into an aggressively competitive 21st century educational publisher while maintaining its close-knit and collaborative culture. Because of new technologies changing how information is delivered and used in higher education, the need for the company to evolve along with the publishing industry is obvious to Ash and other company leaders. However, Printzhof's history of success has resulted in resistance to organizational change among many longtime employees and senior managers. Still, Ash must revitalize Printzhof without destroying employee morale and loyalty. How far and how fast should she move on the critical priorities she has identified?
In early 2013, the ongoing controversy involving cyclist Lance Armstrong's use of performance-enhancing drugs was taking its toll on the nonprofit LIVESTRONG Foundation, which Armstrong himself had founded years before after being diagnosed with cancer. Armstrong had already been stripped of his titles, including six Tour de France medals, and was about to appear on a television interview where he presumably would admit to doping. LIVESTRONG CEO Doug Ulman and his leadership team had to figure out how to meet the various challenges that now confronted the organization: a continued drain on the organization's time and energy, bad publicity, media scrutiny, and the erosion of financial support. The organization had helped hundreds of thousands of cancer survivors over the years and Ulman and the others wanted to make sure that LIVESTRONG remained strong and viable.
The CEO of Newmont Mining Corporation (Newmont) had learned that a subcontractor's truck en route to Lima from Yanacocha, a gold mine operated by Newmont, spilled mercury along the highway and in small villages. Local residents had picked up some mercury with their bare hands and taken it to their homes. The CEO was trying to determine the best way to handle the situation. This A case describes the mine developer's history, the operations at Newmont's most profitable gold mine, the significance of foreign investment to Peru's economy, the environmental impact of gold mining and the local and anti-mining movements' responses to mine operations. In the B case, Newmont Mining Corp. and a Mercury Spill in Peru (B) 9B13M003, the new CEO is trying to decide what else Newmont is morally required to implement before continuing to operate Yanacocha, and Newmont's other mines, successfully.
This B case is a supplement to Newmont Mining Corp. and a Mercury Spill in Peru (A) 9B13M002. Since the spill, Newmont spent more than US$100 million on compensation and improvements to the mine to reduce its environmental impact and prevent further spills. An internal audit concluded environmental standards at the mine were seriously lacking. In-house counsel warned other executives about the possibility of criminal liability. Despite improvements at the mine, a large local protest prevented Newmont from expanding its operations in the area. Lack of trust by the locals contributed to the protest. The new CEO is trying to decide what else Newmont is morally required to implement before continuing to operate Yanacocha, and Newmont's other mines, successfully.