The certified management accountant (CMA) has been asked to evaluate two potential new products for the New Products Review Committee (NPRC) of High Mountain Technologies. The case focuses on the application of the net present value approach to capital budgeting, determining an appropriate cost of capital and capital rationing.
Credit Default Swaps (CDS) are derivative instruments that allow investors protection against credit events such as downgrades of or defaults by single-name or a basket of obligors. Estimated by the Band of International Settlements to be at $32.6 trillion in December 2009, these instruments represent one of the largest and fastest growing financial product markets globally. This note is intended to introduce students to CDS, the pricing basics as well as the role in the 2008 subprime crisis.
The executive director of British Columbia's Neonatal Services Program (BCNSP) is thinking about her last meeting with the officials at the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services (MHS). Following a report indicating that in 2007 to 2008 the province had sent 98 expectant mothers and newborns to the United States for treatment, the province was considering adding more neonatal intensive care (NICU) capacity. Political pressure was mounting after one of Canada's national newspapers covered the problem in a front page story. The MHS asked the executive director to suggest bed allocations and other improvements to address the situation.<br><br> This case is useful in a management science of service operations course. Students may be asked to describe a model to address the situation, and students with familiarity with a graphical simulation could be asked to build a model.
Max Anderson, HBS Class of 2009, founded the MBA Oath Initiative. The oath was a voluntary pledge "to create value responsibly and ethically." Anderson and a team of students and faculty worked to launch the first MBA Oath Ceremony conducted on campus during Harvard graduation week.
This note presents a simple way to estimate time equations using regression analysis in Excel. The note quickly outlines regression analysis, then presents a real-life case example from the natural gas industry that students can use to gain experience developing and interpreting the results of time equations.
Appropriate for courses in operations strategy and general management. Some 400 Fire & Security branches are given the opportunity for improvement. Executives call for the design and deployment of a global initiative aimed at the cost-overrun issues. But how much emphasis should be placed on grass-roots, branch-level continuous improvement of the bidding and installation processes, and how much direction and implementation should be driven by division staff? Students will explore the possible cost drivers for the cost-over-runs and discuss possible root causes. Corrective actions and mistake-proofing recommendations are developed for the executives. A teaching note (OM-1422TN) is available.
Appropriate for courses in operations management and process improvement. This technical note explains how to utilize process maps as tools to show workflow steps, clarify process expectations and responsibilities, and see possibilities for eliminating waste and redundancy. The note details when to use basic process mapping tools, why they work, and how to apply them. The note presents four types: Process Flowchart Map, Swim Lane Flowchart Map, Suppliers-Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers (SIPOC) Tool, and Value Stream Map.
This note presents a simple way to estimate time equations using regression analysis in Excel. The note quickly outlines regression analysis, then presents a real-life case example from the natural gas industry that students can use to gain experience developing and interpreting the results of time equations.
Hugo Moreno, CEO of Salud Digna, was considering his growth options for the next three years. Would becoming a for-profit with access to greater capital be the best strategy or would this cause the organization to lose its social mission? Salud Digna provided diagnostic medical tests to the poor, had experienced rapid growth and was financially self-sufficient. Moreno was determined that the organization be as well managed as any company in Mexico
The learning objective of this case is to help students to recognize the interplay between intellectual property (IP) rights and corporate strategy. We do this by examining what is a fairly atypical circumstance today in which a single firm is able to secure what it perceives to be a frontier IP "estate" that blocks competitors from "practicing" in a significant part of the field. Those who elect to sign a license agreement must pay a high license fee and therefore help to fund the company's R&D. The company, meanwhile, must balance the immediate benefit of non-dilutive financing obtainable from the license fees vs. enabling a potential future competitor. The case setting is a lawsuit over a seemingly arcane issue: whether one of the co-owners of a key patent application is properly prosecuting the application. Understanding the issue requires students to progressively build up an understanding of some key aspects of U.S. patent law. Then by piecing together the strategy of the company and how it is driven by its IP position, students can understand why the litigation represents such a high stakes gamble.
A student is trying to incorporate various analytical tools to assist in selecting National Hockey League (NHL) players to a fantasy hockey pool, using individual player data from the NHL seasons 2006 to 2009. The student must come up with a strategy in which 16 players are selected for the 2010 season.
Economist Andrew Zimbalist explores the disconnect between colleges in fiscal crisis and the ballooning salaries of those college's football coaches. Many argue that market forces dictate the steep salaries in college athletics, but Zimbalist's research finds that the high pay does not correlate to performance and in fact it makes no economic sense. Colleges should rethink how much they're willing to give these CEOs with headsets.
Many organizations have anger-management programs for their most egregious bullies, but the reality is that the vast majority of employees will experience anger triggered by anything from a family quarrel to a lost parking space-and their work will suffer for it. Here's some fresh research on how anger affects cognitive function.
Contrary to what most people think, gossip is actually good for organizations. It can spread valuable information to employees and helps networks establish norms and censure those who don't adhere to them. So why do managers dislike it? Because it threatens their control. Research shows that the more you gossip, the higher your peers rate your informal influence.
One surefire way to avoid failure is to narrowly define it. If you care about your company and your customers, entrepreneur Seth Godin argues, you'll take a much more inclusive view.
In today's complex environment, the most successful thinkers are able to quickly and effectively abstract the best qualities of radically different 'ways of seeing' and apply them to the situation at hand. The authors describe how the minds of these 'integrative thinkers' are dialectical - 'diaminds' for short - in that they can holds at least two contradictory ways of seeing in any critical situation, give each its full due, and instead of fleeing from the resulting tension, embrace it and come up with a third and better way. 'Stretching' the mind to achieve this, they argue, is a cornerstone of the diamind's way of being in the world; they describe how this is accomplished and how we can willfully augment our mind's faculties of real-time thinking to achieve creative solutions.