In July 2010, Sujit Patil, head of corporate communications for Mumbai-based Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) has to develop a company branding strategy after a series of acquisitions. TCL has acquired several of the top producers in the soda ash business, making it a commanding player in the global industrial and commercial markets for this product. The acquisitions include the large British producer, Bruner Mond; the US leader, General Chemicals Industrial Products; and Kenya based Magadi Soda - all of which have well-known brands and established customers. The senior management at TCL wants to see these new companies unified under a single global brand. But that task has proved difficult to execute given the long-standing brands and centuries-old companies. Kenyan Magadi Soda even has a town named after it! Patil must consider his next steps - whether to sustain the long-standing and well-selling brands, or scrap them all for a new global brand representing what is now the second largest soda ash producer in the world.
Katka Suvarinova, a financial analyst at Southern Cross LLC, and a recent MBA graduate, has been asked to prepare an analysis of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation's recent financial performance, as well as an analysis of its accounting methods. Big 5 was a West Coast chain of sports equipment and apparel outlets, with 398 stores at the end of 2010. After Deutsche Bank's investment report maintained a hold rating and established a new target price of $13 per share for Big 5, Southern Cross decided to look at the company as a possible addition to its shorts portfolio. The shorts fund included companies that Southern Cross believed were headed for substantial stock price declines based on fundamental analysis. Southern Cross's portfolio manager had asked Suvarinova to pay close attention to the company's accounting methods, and particularly indicators that the company had significant off-balance sheet debt, which was not uncommon in the retailing industry. Retail companies often leased many of their stores, rather than buying the outlets with borrowed funds. From her MBA program, Suvarinova recalled that under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), some leases were not reported as debt on a company's balance sheet.
This case is designed to give students an opportunity to look at the decision points in creating a physician/hospital organization (PHO). Many of the issues are similar to those in creating an accountable care organization (ACO). There are many factors to consider: (1) how the hospital is positioned in the market, (2) why the physicians want to work with the hospital, (3)what the competition is doing with its physician/hospital integration strategy, and (4) how to analyze the external environment in the industry. The focus of the case is on how the hospital and the physicians must work together to strategically position themselves in the market.
This case illustrates the application of activity-based costing concepts to a healthcare institution. The class discussion can examine the rationale for and impact of MEEI's split-cost accounting system, and thus can demonstrate the power of an ABC approach.
This is a case about three cardiology groups that are proposing to merge. One issue is antitrust, and the benefits and motives for the proposed merger can be debated. A second issue is one of ethics. While the consultant may personally feel that the merger is not a good idea, she must satisfy her client. In addition, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is explained and suggested as a tool to be used to define market concentrations and identify potential anticompetitive situations.
This case provides a vehicle for discussing the presentation of a nonprofit's financial statements. The presentation in the orchestra's annual report is unusual. It focuses on contribution to fixed costs from operating activities, highlighting the operating deficit and how this deficit was, or was not, made up from endowment revenue and annual fund raising. The case also includes an eight-year projection in the published financial statements, which is highly unusual.
This is a "ratio detective" case. Students must match nonprofit organizations with their corresponding financial information (contained in an exhibit). The text provides a basic description of each organization and contains sufficient hints, both direct and indirect, to allow them to make the identifications.
This case raises issues about management control in (1) a matrix organization, (2) a project-oriented organization, (3) a professional organization, and (4) a research/development organization. The focus is on a specific project, but the experience with that project can be used to generalize about management control in all the circumstances listed above.
The chief executive officer of Royal Bhutan Airlines (Drukair) is concerned about growth and the seasonality of demand for Bhutan’s national airline. The Kingdom of Bhutan, with a population of approximately 700,000, is located east of Nepal between India and China (Tibet). It has recently embarked on a program of modernization, including a move to democracy and promotion of tourism.<br><br> <br><br>The tourism initiative is described as “high value, low volume,” meaning that tourists must contract with a local tourist operator and pay minimum daily tariffs. Drukair has witnessed a steady growth in passengers, which is correlated closely with tourist visits, mostly from the West and Japan. Tourist tickets are booked by in-country tour operators; there are no Internet bookings at the time of the case.<br><br>The CEO is wondering what can be done to improve overall business. He is considering interlining, the practice of joining with other airlines, in order to give passengers the opportunity to book tickets from their home countries. Marketing for growth is also a concern, and as Drukair is the only carrier in Bhutan, the CEO wonders if he should be promoting tourism in the country as part of his marketing plan.
Developed as a companion to the Red Brand Canners (RBC) case, the starting point in this case is the improvement in performance resulting from the optimization approach in the original case. However, RBC’s vice president of operations is concerned about the quality and quantity mix of the most recent tomato crop received from Greenfield Farms (GF). RBC’s preferred quality and quantity mixes differ significantly from the current harvest. To RBC, the issue is how to motivate the supplier to produce a crop more in line with RBC’s needs. Initially, both firms in the B2B section of the supply chain try to find a combination that would be mutually beneficial — an attempt that fails because of conflicts of interest. RBC’s objective might be accomplished by taking a supply chain approach and modifying the delivery contract by an appropriate pricing scheme. The task is to identify and calibrate a pricing scheme that will realize the supply chain’s maximum performance and lead to a stable win-win solution. The derivation of the supply chain optimal prices is carried out by developing and solving a linear optimization model.
HIGHLY COMMENDED CASE - Family Business Runner-up, 2012 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition. Scholtes Waterservices was a second-generation family firm in the Netherlands that specialized in installing and selling water pipes, primarily for the horticultural industry. In 2008, Rijk Scholtes Jr. and his brother, Ben, took over management of the firm from their father and gradually assumed ownership through a buyout plan. It soon became evident that their father, Rijk Sr., could not let go of the company. This especially affected Rijk Jr., as he worked in an office close to the place where Rijk Sr. lived. As a result, the relationship between father and son began to steadily deteriorate. Moreover, Rijk Jr. began to feel isolated as the relationship and collaboration between Rijk Sr. and Ben was not adversely affected. Instead, the once-strong relationship between the brothers began to deteriorate. Rijk Jr. was left wondering whether anything could be done to rectify the situation or whether it was time to leave the family firm.
The case is about a non-profit organization located in Manchester, England. As a regional association helping smaller voluntary organizations and groups survive and grow, the organization itself depends on fundraising and donations and runs on project-based funding. The projects normally run for three to five years. Hiring and training new employees every two to three months is common. Due to project timelines, employees leave as soon as they find another job. Many complain about the lack of development opportunities within the organization. The chief executive officer has seven people working for him and needs to make a plan to retain his employees for the whole life of each project. For this purpose, he has decided to devise training and development programs for them. There are different options available for this purpose, each with pros and cons. Considering scarce funding, small project tenure, and his goal to provide fair opportunities for all, he must decide which option best fits his organization’s needs and resources.
As a birthday present, Mike has just been given a new smartphone by his girlfriend, Molly. However, it is not the phone he wants. Over the course of a few days, Mike struggles with the decision of whether to return the phone and get the one he wants, or keep the one he received as a gift. The case is written from the perspective of the consumer, and deals with consumer behaviour issues such as anticipatory regret. It would be useful in an introductory marketing or undergraduate consumer behaviour course.
Jess B. represents a strategic communications firm in the Washington, DC, area. He is currently considering his options for responding to a federal Request for Proposal (RFP) and negotiating with Change Analytics, a strategic partner with whom he would partner in responding to the proposal. The contract offering has been earmarked for an 8(a) certified small business.
Reliance Industries had evolved into a major player in the Asia Pacific region, and had begun to make its presence felt in the global petrochemicals and refining business segments. It had also made forays into exploration and production for oil and gas in multiple regions worldwide. This case study addresses the evolution of the company from a family-owned small-scale textile manufacturer to a global powerhouse within a few decades. It provides insights into how the company was able to trade on its competitive advantages at home in building a global strategy. Within the entrepreneurship and family business realm, the case allows for a rich thematic discussion around understanding the role of entrepreneurial leaders, the pros and cons of family control in large corporations, and impact on minority shareholders. From a global strategy perspective, the case provides a rich description of the nuances of building competitive advantage in emerging market contexts, the benefits of late movers in the race to globalize, and the unique modes of competition adopted by companies from newly industrializing countries. Since it is set in India, the case offers a comprehensive look at ground realities in that country, covering topics ranging from capital market conditions, governmental control and regulation as barriers to growth, and the role of external relationships management as a key competitive weapon in driving sustainable advantage
Andrew Ferris, a financial analyst at Southern Cross Capital LLC, was asked to evaluate salesforce.com's accounting methods and recent financial performance in preparation for the portfolio manager's decision as to whether the company's common stock should be acquired for its Growth Service fund. Salesforce.com was a computer software company focused on providing customer relationship management (CRM) applications accessible by users on the "cloud," rather than through software resident on a user's own server. Salesforce.com maintained a direct sales force, which sold services to customers through phone contacts, and through a network of geographically dispersed sales representatives who made personal contacts with potential customers. The direct sales force was compensated primarily through sales commissions, which were paid in cash after a customer signed a noncancellable subscription contract. The portfolio manager specifically asked Ferris to pay close attention to understanding how salesforce.com accounted for its commission outlays, since several companies in recent years had experienced substantial declines in their stock price after financial press articles revealed that the companies had inflated their earnings by deferring expenses.
An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science. Slaoui must balance the need to recoup shareholder value after paying a two-times premium for Sirtris with his desire to retain Christoph Westphal, Sirtris's co-founder and CEO, and other key individuals at the company. His desire to protect Sirtris from GSK's size and bureaucracy occurs in a period when GSK has launched major changes in its R&D organization, which focus on decentralizing and externalizing R&D, as well as revamping the resource allocation process to parallel more of a venture capital-based model. The case also explores the views of Christoph Westphal on the early challenges of the integration and the impact GSK was having on Sirtris. Can be used in conjunction with a separate case that focuses on Sirtris's business model.
Describes a set of key strategic decisions facing the scientific founder and CEO of a promising, early stage bio-pharmaceuticals company. Should the company establish a proposed alliance with a pharmaceutical firm? Should it create a nutraceuticals business in parallel to its effort to develop anti-aging therapeutics? And, should it in-license a second drug development candidate?