The transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2011 and new pension rules coming into effect in 2013 bring increased transparency for Canadian companies with large defined-benefit pension plans. This means that the financial health and related risks will be more openly reflected in sponsoring companies’ financial statements. However, until uniform policies arrive in 2013, financial-statement users will need to be aware of the choices companies made upon adopting IFRS and how such choices impact their financial reporting. This article describes these choices and their impact on firms.
Yoshito Hori, dean of the Graduate School of Management, GLOBIS University, was planning to launch a full-time English MBA program in September 2012. GLOBIS University was already offering successful part-time MBA programs in English and Japanese. The full-time English program was a necessary step to fulfill Hori's ambition to make GLOBIS the No. 1 business school in Asia, however it remained to be seen whether the school could attract international students who needed to relocate to Japan and compete with other world-class international business schools.
Stan Shih, founder-CEO of Acer, Inc., had proactively chosen and transitioned the "perfect" successor as CEO, but was now faced with major problems. Over the last two years, his heir apparent, Leonard Liu, had made the changes he had been hired to make, including revamping the organization structure and instilling a new corporate culture that emphasized accountability. However, such changes had caused numerous clashes between him and other cofounders of the company, in particular, Shih's wife, Carolyn. Liu had now suggested that "Carolyn should retire into her kitchen." Faced with office infighting and increasing clashes between the markedly different Western and Chinese styles of management, Shih needed Liu to manage the increasing complexity of global competition. However, Shih was now wondering if he had made the right decision to appoint Liu as his successor.
This case presents financial statements and selected ratios for 14 unidentified healthcare organizations and asks that each set of financial information be matched with one of the following healthcare companies: a biotechnology firm, a community nursing company, a distributor (medical), a DME licensee and seller, a DME developer and seller, a home care provider, a hospital (diversified), an insurer, a lab/diagnostic firm, a medical device manufacturer, a nursing home operator, a pharmaceuticals company (branded), a pharmaceuticals company (generics), and a private practice.
Nature plays an important role in maintaining the flow and purity of water. Human activities often degrade the quality and/or quantity of water flowing to downstream users, but the maintenance of natural ecosystems and the sound conservation management by those living upstream in watersheds can help provide a clean, reliable supply of water for downstream water users. Water funds are a way for downstream water users to preserve their water supply, by paying to restore and conserve natural ecosystems. They also enable upstream and downstream communities to work together for mutual benefit, preserving or restoring nature's ability to improve water quality and reliable flow while providing economic opportunities for upstream communities. This case introduces the concept of ecosystem services (the role that natural ecosystems play in sustaining and fulfilling human life) and payment for ecosystem services (PES), in which stakeholders pay in order to preserve or restore the ability of nature to provide these services. It describes water funds and other PES arrangements, as well as some of the challenges that water funds face. Several examples are provided of water funds and other PES programs.
A partner and owner of the Sunset Grill at Blue Mountain in the village at Blue Mountain, Ontario had very mixed emotions. The restaurant had just finished its first year of operation and had broken even, and had been named Business of the Year in the counties of Simcoe and Grey. On the other hand, the owner knew that operations were still far from perfect. This case was written for courses on operations, particularly in the section on managing capacity and demand. It could also be used in a service management or service operation course.
A marketing company has collected a large dataset on brand equity for the fast-food and travel sectors. They have come up with their way of measuring "brand equity." Various statistical techniques are used to assess the concept of brand equity. These include descriptive statistics, crosstabs, ANOVA, and MANOVA.
The Chinese fireworks industry thrived after China adopted the open door policy in the late 1970s, and grew to make up 90 per cent of the world's fireworks export sales. However, starting from the mid-1990s, safety concerns led governments both in China and abroad to set up stricter regulations. At the same time, there was rapid growth in the number of small family-run fireworks workshops, whose relentless price-cutting drove down profit margins. Students are asked to undertake an industry analysis, estimate the industry attractiveness, and propose possible ways to improve the industry attractiveness from an individual investor's point of view. Jerry Yu is an American-born Chinese in New York who has been invited to buy a fireworks factory in Liuyang, Hunan.
In 1961, on his second day of classes in the University of Western Ontario's Graduate School of Business Administration, a young Robert Cunningham bought The Human Side of Enterprise, by Douglas McGregor. The book became a classic and changed forever how organizations view and treat employees. The Human Side of Enterprise also had a powerful impact on Mr. Cunningham, who would graduate from Western with an MBA and go on to a successful career of more than 50 years in labour relations and human resources management in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. In this article, written to mark the 50th anniversary off his graduation from Western, and in recognition of Douglas McGregor's great contribution, Mr. Cunningham describes the impact McGregor's book had on him and organizational behaviour.
The recent downgrading of the United States’ credit rating brought into focus the fact that sovereign credit rating is today a largely unregulated industry. While ratings are a prime driver of investment decisions and collateral eligibility standards, they are also a potential contributor to global financial instability. This article compares the three dominant American ratings agencies — Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch — to the Chinese agency Dagong, and discusses the flaws of the current sovereign credit rating industry, including the dominance and minimal regulation of the three major agencies, as well as their limited anticipatory function and potential triggering of misguided economic policies. The article concludes by discussing an alternative — a supra-national organization with a functional focus and political impartiality.
As a generation, the millennials are very different from the baby boomers. Managers accustomed to using certain practices to engage baby boomers must change their practices if they hope to engage and retain the millennials. This article outlines the key differences between the two generations, such as millennials’ technological prowess, preference to work in teams, and desire for work-life balance. It presents the lessons learned from the author’s research on millennial engagement and explains how to put these lessons into practice, including conducting annual engagement studies, ensuring transparent processes, and identifying key drivers of and threats to engagement.
For the past decade, Indian outsourcing firms have talked about “moving up the value chain” as a way of enhancing their service offerings, protecting their outsourcing dominance, and increasing their opportunities for profitability. These long-term moves have important implications for client firms, since they imply a shift in how client firms and business leaders engage with these outsourcers. While Indian outsourcers have prepared for this shift, it seems that many business leaders on the client side have not. This article explains the different meanings of “moving up the value chain” for Indian firms, as well as their sophisticated knowledge management and IT expertise. It reveals what can be learned from Indian outsourcers who have successfully equipped their businesses for high value-chain work, such as their use of social media.
The need for effective business leaders in India is as intense as it is elsewhere. But the path that Indian firms take to develop effective leaders is considerably different from the path followed by North American firms. Indian managers are fixated on profits, yet if top Indian firms are to depend on leadership development organizations, then these organizations must promote research and teaching in six key areas, including developing and retaining talent, developing strong fiscal management, and cross-enterprise strategy formulation.
Conscious capitalism is a philosophy of doing business that incorporates the principles of higher purpose (beyond profit maximization), stakeholder interdependence, conscious leadership, and conscious culture. Companies that adhere to its principles have been shown to outperform the market by a ratio of 9 to 1.<br><br>This article takes four variables inherent in this business philosophy – such as the consequences of fear versus trust in an organization, and understanding workplace prejudice – and applies modern brain science to show their basis. The importance of brain science for risk management and conscious business practices is demonstrated.
It is common for Canadian retailers to receive blame for in-store prices that are higher than in the United States. However, retailers have little control over higher prices. This article explains the causes of these higher prices, such as foreign-owned companies’ expectations of higher margins in Canada, as well as higher costs of doing business in Canada. It also provides recommendations for ways to keep shoppers in Canada.
India’s business prowess has been influenced by the ability of its entrepreneurs to innovate. But if the ability to recognize an opportunity to innovate is to become part of the national business culture, then changes in non-business domains must be made. This article details the history of innovation in India, the nature of innovation for low cost, and India’s gradual embracing of innovation, as well as obstacles to innovation such as company hierarchies and societal stratification.
Cross-business collaboration, a powerful tool for overcoming the challenges of mergers and acquisitions, has the greatest impact on three areas: expanded due diligence, merger intent, and integration. This article details these areas and posits that the success rate for mergers and acquisitions could increase considerably if managers from two merging companies jointly developed a picture of what the combined organization should look like one year later.