A renowned manufacturer and designer of niche vehicles for major automobile companies has traditionally competed on flexibility using a highly skilled design and manufacturing workforce and low levels of automation. However, the European auto market is threatened with a shakeout. The director of operations must decide whether to accept an offer from Mitsubishi to become the exclusive European manufacturer of a sport utility vehicle. The order would more than double the company's manufacturing volume and relieve pressure to replace models currently in production. However, the fit of the order with existing manufacturing strategy is poor, and major changes in facilities and equipment as well as people and systems would be required. The case is suitable for use in an operations class to introduce or apply basic concepts in operations strategy or to discuss operations capability and strategy with executives.
Ren Levy took over Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts when it was a group of warring constituents and has successfully brought a diverse group of arts organizations together.
In April 2009, Wendy Jefferson had just returned to her office following a whirlwind day of meetings with her newest client, Star Advisor. Jefferson, a financial services consultant, was eager to dig into the information provided to her and her team about the Star mutual funds and the income the funds earned from securities lending. Securities lending involved temporarily transferring securities from mutual funds managed by Star Advisor to short sellers and other investors. Income from these loans had been a small but secure component of Star mutual fund returns for decades.
In the (A) case, Jason Phillips, Chief Financial Officer of a soup manufacturing business, is given the task of maximizing the value of the firm twelve months after the case is set. Although he does not want to break any legal rules, Jason is interested to see whether accounting and real action choices can be used to enhance the company's financial position and increase its perceived value to investors. The case permits him to select from a menu of options, including decisions on product pricing, inventory levels, accounts receivables, leasing or purchasing a new machine and valuation or sale of securities. These choices are fed into an Excel spreadsheet which adjusts financial projections and accounting disclosures accordingly. In the (B) case, Ben Kerr, Chief Investment Officer at one of Dragon's main competitors, considers the financial statements produced by Dragon to unravel any earnings management behavior and establish a true value for the company. Although the case can be focused on the accounting consequences of real decisions, a richer discussion is obtained when considering the ethical angles of the decision process. In particular, how much 'earnings management' should be pursued and what types of behaviors are simply going to be unraveled by investors?
It is an understatement to say that environmental challenges are attracting attention. Sustainability tops the list of challenges for the 21st century. There is no consensus about how to address these challenges in a politically feasible way. This note offers a conceptual framework that firms and consumers can use to start thinking about the economic challenges ahead and how economic policies are likely to affect the environment within which they operate.
This case examines in detail the causes and role played by structured finance in the past four global financial crises, particularly the 2007-2010 crises. It also describes and analyzes how securitization and structured products work and the value they add to finance, and how structured products are constructed, their value and how they are used in finance. Finally, the case explores the impact of the proposed changes to banking regulations in Basel II and III to reduce the risk associated with securitization and its use.
The purpose of this note is to describe the manner in which publicly traded corporations and local governments in the United States account for their pension plans.
In June 2007, the offices of Russian hedge fund Hermitage Capital were raided by Moscow police; in the months that followed, Hermitage founder Bill Browder found himself banned from Russia and fending off efforts to expropriate the fund's Russian assets. This case describes the challenges faced by Hermitage in responding to these threats, and more broadly discusses the perils of doing business in a business environment with weak legal and political institutions
Dabur India, Ltd. had come a long way since 1884. It began as an Indian traditional Ayurveda health products firm and, by 2010, had grown into one of the top four fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in India. The company had established leadership in hair care and personal care products across the Indian subcontinent and Middle East. Numerous multinational FMCG companies were aggressively increasing their market share in India through acquisitions. Sunil Duggal, Dabur's CEO, was conscious of Dabur's limitations in matching the deep pockets and global talent of these foreign firms. Duggal decided to look to international markets for inorganic growth which could hedge against the likely loss of market share in India. Dabur acquired an American company, Namaste Lab, which sold a natural hair-curl relaxant to American women of African descent. Dabur planned to reengineer this product formulation to make it affordable for Sub-Saharan Africans and leverage its existing supply chain in Africa to market these products. The case highlights the challenges for Dabur India as it tried to achieve this complex integration and the uncertainties the company faced as it expanded its global footprint.
The Reinsurance Negotiation case is a fictional three-party negotiation between a primary insurer and two reinsurers. The case is appropriate for use in a wide variety of courses, including Financial Institutions, Negotiations, and courses related to the Insurance and Reinsurance industry. This Teaching Note emphasizes the key learning points that are most relevant to a course on financial institutions, while also examining several key elements of negotiation strategy.
The Reinsurance Negotiation case is a fictional three-party negotiation between a primary insurer and two reinsurers. The case is appropriate for use in a wide variety of courses, including Financial Institutions, Negotiations, and courses related to the Insurance and Reinsurance industry. This Teaching Note emphasizes the key learning points that are most relevant to a course on financial institutions, while also examining several key elements of negotiation strategy.
The Reinsurance Negotiation case is a fictional three-party negotiation between a primary insurer and two reinsurers. The case is appropriate for use in a wide variety of courses, including Financial Institutions, Negotiations, and courses related to the Insurance and Reinsurance industry. This Teaching Note emphasizes the key learning points that are most relevant to a course on financial institutions, while also examining several key elements of negotiation strategy.
The BlackRock Solutions case examines the different functions and economics of a global asset manager's value chain, with particular emphasis on the "money management" and the "investment systems platform" businesses. Students analyze why BlackRock decided to unbundle its Aladdin investment platform and if the firm should consider expanding the platform in the future. Students also explore the resulting "dual-mission" challenges of servicing both internal and external Aladdin clients during a period of rapid growth within BlackRock and significant change in the global financial landscape.
This case examines Grassroots Capital's decision of whether or not to continue investing in a Bolivian microfinance bank that is suffering financial distress.
This case examines Grassroots Capital's decision of whether or not to continue investing in a Bolivian microfinance bank that is suffering financial distress.
Kay Sunderland is an account director at Attain Learning Inc., a business training solutions company. In January 2011, one of Attain's most important clients, Juan Nunez of Gramen Equipment Company, contacts Sunderland with a request: Nunez would like Attain content development director Mike Morgan to stop contacting him directly. Sunderland is surprised that Morgan, an experienced and talented contributor, is potentially jeopardizing the account by ignoring Attain's communications policy of restricting client-facing communication to the account director. Now Sunderland must decide how to handle the situation with both the client and her colleague Morgan.
This technical note introduces important metrics firms use to monitor customer relationships. The note begins by discussing how to count the firms' customers and keep track of their activity using the concepts of recency and retention. An important summary of customer activity is the profit the firm receives from each customer. Just as some brands are more profitable than others, so too are some customer relationships more profitable than others. Customer profit is the metric that summarizes the past financial performance of a customer relationship. A companion note, "Customer Lifetime Value" (UVA-M-0800), addresses the forward-looking metric that attempts to put a dollar value on a customer relationship. This technical note is an excerpt of the more comprehensive treatment of customer metrics found in "Customer Profitability" (UVA-M-0718).
This technical note introduces important metrics firms use to monitor customer relationships. An important summary of customer activity is the profit the firm receives from each customer. Customer profit (CP) is the metric that summarizes the past financial performance of a customer relationship and is covered in a companion note, ""Customer Profit"" (UVA-M-0799). The central difference between CP and customer lifetime value (CLV) is that CP measures the past and CLV looks forward. This note addresses the forward-looking metric that attempts to put a dollar value on a customer relationship. This technical note is an excerpt of the more comprehensive treatment of customer metrics found in "Customer Profitability" (UVA-M-0718).