MSPL Limited was an iron ore mining and processing company in India. Owned by the Baldota Group, it also had interests in shipping, pelleting, and wind energy. In January 2012, MSPL's businesses and operations were headed by Narendrakumar A. Baldota and his two sons. MSPL's main source of revenue, the Vyasankere Iron Ore Mine (VIOM), was one of the largest iron ore mines in the private sector in India. MSPL had been progressive and proactive in its approach to sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Many of its initiatives predated government legislation related to environmental, employee, and community issues. MSPL's policies towards environmental issues and local communities had been driven by the beliefs and vision of its founder and chairman, Baldota's father. Baldota expanded MSPL's initiatives related to the environment, employees, and communities. The case deals with the choices and decisions that Baldota had made regarding the numerous CSR and sustainability initiatives undertaken by the organization. Were there other initiatives that MSPL should have undertaken? Was it even necessary for the company to carry out CSR activities in the local communities?
The Walsham hotel is an upscale hotel, located in a large southern city. Its clientele have high expectations and, given the Walsham's urban location, likely includes many senior executives. The case focuses on the hotel's Director of Rooms and, in particular, the hotel's profitable mini-bar department. A major face-lift for the property's rooms provides an opportunity to replace the refrigeration units in the mini-bar, units that have been in place for over 10 years. The Director is considering either a more energy-efficient version of the current unit or a much more expensive unit, the KN346. The latter has some interesting electronic features including sensing technology and peer-to-peer networking that, together, would permit remote real-time access to the mini-bar inventory. This unit could drive down labor costs, reduce disagreements at check-out, improve customer service, and allow personalized mini-bar stocking. The case is arranged in four parts. Only Part A should be distributed in advance. Part B should be distributed only after Part A is discussed. Parts C and D could be similarly distributed only after discussion of their preceding parts.
MSPL Limited was an iron ore mining and processing company in India. Owned by the Baldota Group, it also had interests in shipping, pelleting, and wind energy. In January 2012, MSPL’s businesses and operations were headed by Narendrakumar A. Baldota and his two sons. MSPL’s main source of revenue, the Vyasankere Iron Ore Mine (VIOM), was one of the largest iron ore mines in the private sector in India. MSPL had been progressive and proactive in its approach to sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Many of its initiatives predated government legislation related to environmental, employee, and community issues. MSPL’s policies towards environmental issues and local communities had been driven by the beliefs and vision of its founder and chairman, Baldota’s father. Baldota expanded MSPL’s initiatives related to the environment, employees, and communities. The case deals with the choices and decisions that Baldota had made regarding the numerous CSR and sustainability initiatives undertaken by the organization. Were there other initiatives that MSPL should have undertaken? Was it even necessary for the company to carry out CSR activities in the local communities?
A young business student at a university in Ontario must decide whether to launch her entrepreneurial venture — selling women’s foldable flats — and how, in the Toronto market. Damn Heels (A) highlights the research done by the entrepreneur leading up to this decision, including the marketing (product, price, promotion, and placement) decisions she faces, consideration of the competitive retail shoe industry, and some of the first steps for a new business evaluation — unit contribution and financial profitability projections.
Microsoft Office was facing an uphill task in engaging the undergraduate student community. Attracting this audience-the most tech-savvy generation ever-was critical to the future of the Microsoft Office franchise. Microsoft's past advertising efforts to reach this audience had proven lackluster, while its key competitors were gradually entrenching themselves among this demographic. Microsoft's challenge was to determine the best tactics that could successfully connect with this audience. The (A) case describes Microsoft's dilemma and briefly addresses what college students mostly care about: managing homework, creating great-looking schoolwork, preparing for the workplace, and collaborating with friends and classmates. It also provides competitive information, chiefly Google's increasing presence in universities and its focus on the higher education market and the growing influence of Facebook among students and its evolution into a productivity tool. The (B) case describes the qualitative research tools that Microsoft used to get a better understanding of college students: day diaries using Twitter, technology diaries using the Internet and smartphones, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews with students. The case helps students understand the value of ethnographic and qualitative research techniques, draw inferences from the data, and subsequently make recommendations. It illustrates how ethnographic and observational studies enrich research by generating deeper consumer insight than traditional methods.
Crystal Anderson was evaluating her investment portfolio. She was searching for new equities to purchase before the end of the current RRSP season and wanted to diversify her current holdings by investing in the home improvement retail industry, specifically in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Lowe’s, headquartered in the United States, was a major home improvement retailer and was currently undergoing an expansion into the Canadian market. She had just received the company’s annual reports with its last three years’ financial results. She wanted to assess the retailer’s past financial performance, including the risks and opportunities associated with the industry and the retailer’s corporate strategy. She would decide whether to invest in Lowe’s, based on her analysis.
A sophisticated technology company located in Mississauga, Ontario, began operations on February 1, 2011. Initially, the company raised funds through the issuance of common stock. In mid-2011, new software development was put on hold due to increased concerns over patent protections. In June 2011, the company sought appropriate investment vehicles for its excess cash, which would provide investment income over a set period of time.
Rob Hantziano, president and founder of Duffinbear Inc., must review the various financing and investing transactions that have taken place over the fiscal year 2011.
The sole shareholder of a national supplier of evergreen trees is expanding its product line. This expansion requires a $6.5 million investment. The company decides to finance this expansion through the issuance of bonds and must record the accounting entries involved with this issuance, along with the related interest payments and amortization of the bonds.
The accountant of a cargo shipping company must update the financial position of the company. He has a list of the company’s cash receipts and disbursements, the statement of financial position, and the bookkeeper’s detailed notes pertaining to transactions for the current year.
A woman is evaluating her investment portfolio. She is searching for new equities to purchase before the end of current RRSP season and wants to diversify her current holdings by investing in the home improvement retail industry, specifically in Lowe's Companies, Inc. (Lowe's). Lowe's, headquartered in the United States, was a major home improvement retailer and was currently undergoing an expansion into the Canadian market. She had just received the company's annual reports with its last three years' financial results. She wants to assess the retailer's past financial performance, including the risks and opportunities associated with the industry and the retailer's corporate strategy. She will decide whether to invest in Lowe's, based on her analysis.
The accountant of a cargo shipping company must update the financial position of the company. He has a list of the company's cash receipts and disbursements, the statement of financial position, and the bookkeeper's detailed notes pertaining to transactions for the current year.
Siddharth Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of H-Soft Mumbai reflected on his meeting as he walked out of VC Ventures' offices in Mumbai. After a few months of intensely pitching his startup to several different investors, he finally had a term sheet in hand. Despite this huge milestone, Kapoor knew it was only the start of a long process of raising money. He only had three days to get back to Vikram Sharma and indicate whether he would like to initiate the diligence process. While he was familiar with some of the terms venture capital investors put into their contracts, many others were completely alien to him. Which terms were important? Which ones should he focus on negotiating? He also knew that money was only part of what the venture capital firm brought to the table. Was VC Ventures the right partner for his business? Kapoor knew he had a busy few days ahead of him as he thought through all of the questions before getting back to Sharma.
This case series describes a general manager's decision of whether to fire an employee at a performing arts company. The scope of the case includes the organization of the company, the decision to hire the employee, his performance, and the decision to end the employment relationship. The general manager's selection practices are described, and two role-playing exercises are included.
Jaime has been searching for several weeks to buy his first car. After narrowing his choices down to two, he couldn't decide which car to purchase. Option A is to buy the Honda CRV, which met many of Jaime's functional criteria (e.g., all-wheel drive, large trunk space, plenty of seats, etc.). Option A is quite appealing to Jaime because he could use the car for his work, go on road-trips with his siblings and weather the Wyoming climate. Option B is to buy the Ford Mustang, a car that he has been in love with ever since he was a teenager. Even though the Mustang did not necessarily meet any of his functional criteria, Jaime loved the idea of driving his dream car. Given these two options, Jaime is struggling to make a decision. Should he go with the car that meets his functional needs or should he go with the car that meets his affective needs? That is, should he go with his mind or his heart? Jaime wants to buy his car tomorrow. Help him.
In August 2011, the digital strategist at Online Advertisers, a small digital media company (web development, affiliate marketing, and social media management), was faced with finalizing a value proposition for a new social media marketing division, Online Advertisers Social. Online Advertisers was a creativity-driven company. Data and analytic capabilities were generally not the reason why clients worked with Online Advertisers. Online Advertisers attracted clients by being young, in touch with trends, energetic, and creative. However, clients (especially larger clients) wanted analytics — metrics that could be used to objectively quantify returns on social media investment. The digital strategist saw an opportunity to position Online Advertisers Social as a social media company that offered smaller businesses insights into their target markets that they would not otherwise have access to due to budget constraints. <br><br>The digital strategist needed to create a value proposition that balanced an analytics focus with Online Advertisers’ creative marketing and design. The company was too small to offer a large-scale competitive analytical package, and had relied too heavily on intuition in the past to create a competitive data-based social media package. The digital strategist went through the nuances of social media management, including campaign management and community management, and the issue of offering services related to the measurement of social media ROI in a rapidly growing and maturing industry.
Jaime has been looking for several weeks to buy his first car. After narrowing his choices down to two, he can’t decide which to purchase. Option A is to buy the Honda CRV, which meets many of Jaime’s functional criteria (e.g. all-wheel drive, large trunk space, plenty of seats). This Honda is quite appealing to Jaime because he could use the car for his work and road trips with his siblings, and could easily handle the Wyoming climate. Option B is to buy the Ford Mustang, a car that he has been in love with ever since he was a teenager. Even though the Mustang does not necessarily meet any of his functional criteria, Jaime loves the idea of driving his dream car. Given these two options, Jaime is struggling to make a decision. Should he go with the car that meets his functional needs or should he go with the car that meets his affective needs? That is, should he go with his mind or his heart? Jaime wants to buy his car tomorrow. Help him.
This case series describes a general manager’s decision of whether to fire an employee at a performing arts company. The scope of the case includes the organization of the company, the decision to hire the employee, his performance, and the decision to end the employment relationship. The general manager’s selection practices are described, and two role-playing exercises are included.