Having bought Shaklee Corporation from Yamanouchi, Roger Barnett, its owner and CEO, wrestled with the question of how to grow the company and its reputation for environmental sustainability. In addition to preserving the "network marketing" nature of its sales channel (because it creates jobs and entrepreneurs), Barnett wished to take the business model to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
This note examines the background of the credit crisis of 2007-2008, discusses potential causes of it, and considers its ramifications. The exhibits contain a variety of pertinent data regarding the rise of securitization, debt levels, and typical aspects of financial crises. A new matrix is introduced for thinking about a country's potential economic performance at any point in time.
In 2002, two homeowners in Massachusetts are deciding whether to refinance their home less than two years after taking out an initial mortgage and a subsequent home equity line of credit.
Dr. C.V. Chen received news that one of Lee and Li's senior assistants had found a loophole in a power of attorney from one of the firm's clients, SanDisk Corporation (SanDisk), that had allowed him to illegally sell the client's shares in a Taiwanese company and to sneak out of Taiwan with over NT$3 billion. Unfortunately, Lee and Li had no insurance to cover this embezzlement. Chen knew that the three senior partners needed to develop a plan of action to save the law firm, take care of the lawyers and other employees, maintain the reputation of the firm within Taiwan and abroad intact, do what was best for SanDisk and Lee and Li, and keep the more than 12,000 clients from deserting the firm.
Dr. C.V. Chen learned that one of Lee and Li's senior legal assistants had illegally sold a client's shares in a Taiwanese company and sneaked out of Taiwan with over NT$3 billion. Lee and Li took several actions to minimize the impact of the situation on the firm, its clients and its employees. Now Chen began to review the events and the actions taken. Although he knew that the worst was behind, he also knew that a great deal of work needed to be done in order to ensure the reputation of the firm would remain intact in the future.
Dr. C.V. Chen learned that one of Lee and Li's senior legal assistants had illegally sold a client's shares in a Taiwanese company and sneaked out of Taiwan with over NT$3 billion. Lee and Li took several actions to minimize the impact of the situation on the firm, its clients and its employees. Now Chen began to review the events and the actions taken. Although he knew that the worst was behind, he also knew that a great deal of work needed to be done in order to ensure the reputation of the firm would remain intact in the future.
Critical Mass was a highly successful Internet marketing services firm with a blue chip client list. The rapidly changing Internet environment demanded continuous innovation and an exceptional level of creativity from the Technology Group. The company invested substantial resources in a creative-friendly physical environment and organized an array of activities intended to "keep creativity bubbling." The company was ready to embark on a significant expansion in its customer base and management had decided to review and reassess these activities to determine if they were having the desired effect and if corrective changes were required.
Examines how successful companies can "jump to the next S-curve" through an analogy to the life's work of Miles Davis, especially his paradigm-shattering Kind of Blue album in 1959. Students consider how and why Davis, who had already proven he was tops in his field, created a new disruptive innovation in the field of jazz, in the process creating the most commercially successful jazz album of all time. The case also delves deeply into the creative process, and Davis's creative leadership and ability to cultivate talent (such as that of saxophonist John Coltrane)-many of the great jazz musicians of the 20th century came out of the informal "Miles Davis University."
Following dozens of failed expeditions to "discover" the NW passage, a Norwegian adventurer employs a new approach that emphasizes rigorous preparation, a lighter, quicker style, and a willingness to adapt to the inhospitable Arctic environment and its people. The case summarizes the bleak history of the exploration of the Northwest passage over several centuries, examining expeditions that employed a broad spectrum of strategies, leadership styles and objectives. The case then focuses on Roald Amundsen who attempted to complete the passage in the early 20th century using a number of novel techniques, an encyclopedic knowledge of Arctic exploration and an appreciation of and willingness to adapt to local Inuit customs.
Third in a series of PepsiCo's bid for Quaker Oats. Describes the auction for Quaker Oats including terms of the bids. After winning the auction, Coke's stock price fell dramatically. Coke's Board then refused to approve the deal and withdrew. Quaker then approached Pepsi, the losing bidder, and asked them to submit another bid. The case can be used to teach the mechanics of collared consideration, announcement effects, the prerogatives of a board of directors, and negotiating strategy.
Describes the final deal struck between PepsiCo and Quaker Oats, including the terms of collared consideration. Summarizes stock price announcement effects.
Second in a series on PepsiCo's bid for Quaker Oats. Describes the negotiations between PepsiCo and Quaker including due diligence process, first bid and counteroffer. Quaker's counteroffer included a collar on equity consideration, and thus the case offers an opportunity to discuss and value these contractual devices.
This note introduces fundamental financial tools and techniques employed by financial managers and analysts to evaluate and enhance the financial position of a business. Forms of ownership, statement of cash flows, financial ratio analysis, projected financial statements, sensitivity analysis, credit, sources and types of financing, and bankruptcy are discussed in this note.
Financial statements provide company employees, investors, lenders, competitors and shareholders with an understanding of a company's operating results and financial condition. The topics discussed in this note include the statement of earnings, the balance sheet, the statement of retained earnings and the auditor's reports and footnotes.
This note explores four fundamental aspects of all organizations in order to help students develop an effective operating point of view and decision-making skills related to operations. The basic components of operating systems are outlined as well as key tasks for operations managers, types of operations systems and tools to help diagnose and solve common operations problems.
This case examines the challenges Citibank is facing in implementing e-business strategies. The focus is on how Citibank has developed an e-business strategy that fits with its corporate business strategy. Citibank not only needs to use information technology to improve internal operations and provide more efficient customer services at lower costs, but it also needs to ensure that its single, global online platform can serve the highly segmented market. At one end of the spectrum of the market are multinationals and top-level domestic corporations that operate sophisticated treasuries, and at the other end are companies and small- and medium-sized businesses that are not yet ready to upgrade or transform their systems.
This note introduces fundamental financial tools and techniques employed by financial managers and analysts to evaluate and enhance the financial position of a business. Forms of ownership, statement of cash flows, financial ratio analysis, projected financial statements, sensitivity analysis, credit, sources and types of financing, and bankruptcy are discussed in this note.
Financial statements provide company employees, investors, lenders, competitors and shareholders with an understanding of a company's operating results and financial condition. The topics discussed in this note include the statement of earnings, the balance sheet, the statement of retained earnings and the auditor's reports and footnotes.
Post-Apartheid South Africa has been characterized by high levels of crime, but also by sustained increases in the income levels of the previously disadvantaged black community. Cash is the preferred method of payment for new entrants into an economy, but it is also an attractive target for criminals. Deposita has seized the business opportunity presented by this tension, and developed an automated banking machine, basically an ATM in reverse. As soon as businesses feed their cash into the machine on their premises, information about the deposit is relayed via a cellphone network to the Deposita database. With the realization that Deposita offers a cash management system that not only eliminates the time, cost and inaccuracies of manual cash counting, but also gives businesses remote visibility into the movement of cash, interest in Deposita grew rapidly, both within South Africa and internationally. The case highlights the systemic nature of innovation, technology-enabled innovation at the base of the pyramid, hyper-mediation, and the tension between product and geographic expansion as the owners of Deposita redirect their strategic focus to the entire cash value chain in South Africa or to international markets or both.