Euronex.liffe, a derivatives trading exchange, launches matching, clearing, and confirmation services for the over-the-counter market. This combination of services creates a new platform for a market that potentially cannibalizes its current exchange-based services. Is this good idea? Does the design of this new combination of services make sense? Is it the best positioned among other exchanges and services to the derivatives trading market to launch this new platform?
On July 21, 2005 China revalued its decade-long quasi-fixed exchange rate of approximately 8.28 yuan per U.S. dollar by 2.1% to 8.11% and, at the same time, introduced a more market-based exchange rate system. Many analysts and economists were disappointed with what they considered too small a change and called for more flexibility in the U.S. dollar/yuan exchange rate. Modification to China's exchange rate regime had been eagerly anticipated and much debated in the preceding months as China's trade surplus against the United States reached record highs and as friction intensified with Europe and Japan. Also, analysts argued that the tightly managed exchange rate put a strain on China's own economy. Not only was the exchange rate expensive to sustain, but it contributed to--as well as limited China's flexibility in responding to--a potentially overheating economy. Although China's extensive controls on the movement of capital into the country helped to counteract some inflationary pressure, controls were becoming more porous as China increasingly integrated with the world economy. It remained to be seen what China would ultimately choose to do with its exchange rate regime.
As students watch the full length feature film Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis, they may find the character guide helpful in keeping track of who's who and what the characters' main connections are.
Crisis as a source of opportunity and change? How does that happen? This case describes the difficult situation the new dean of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana faced after Hurricane Katrina hit the city in the late summer of 2005. With a state of emergency declared statewide, in a city with only a shell of their former infrastructure intact, in a university that suffered water damage, and in a community of students and faculty scattered and separated throughout several different cities and states, how was Dean DeNisi supposed to lead-let alone implement his vision? The A case challenges students to think about how DeNisi should proceed in the immediate months to ensure both the return of current students and the survival of the business school. What would all this mean to attracting future Freeman students? The B case describes how DeNisi seized opportunity while in a time of great crisis. The material offers a rich discussion that should evolve into the recognition that leaders who are able to frame crises as potential opportunities will likely manage organizations in a way that will make them more resilient and sometimes better off after the crises.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a drug-coated stent for use in angioplasty procedures. The stent is expected to reduce the rate of repeat procedures due to restenosis and to postpone the need for more invasive surgery, such as coronary bypass. However, the drug-coated stent costs three times as much as an uncoated stent, which will increase the cost of the medical procedure. Public demand for the stent is overwhelming; however, because of the higher cost and huge demand, the cost of medical care could increase dramatically. Examines the trade-off between quality improvements and higher costs of medical treatment by looking at the impact on several stakeholders: patients, hospitals and insurers.
The general manager, sales, of Marico Industries Ltd. India, is thinking about the future of the company's central sales organization (CSO). The central sales organization has been around for five years and has met all its original objectives. However, with a rapidly changing industry, the very success of the CSO is making it seem less relevant for the future. He must decide if this is true, or if the CSO could transform itself to cater to the changing needs of the Indian fast-moving consumer goods market.
Are financial markets driven by efficiency or by irrational behavior? The "adaptive markets hypothesis" brings Darwinian principles into the mix, suggesting that neither is the case.
Geoffrey West, president of the Santa Fe Institute, a unique research community that innovates by mixing disciplines, talks about why free thinking matters.
Whom do you turn to for advice when the stakes are high? Do you value others' opinions when the stakes are low? New research looks at how people weigh--and misuse--counsel.
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions are gaining momentum in China. To be successful, acquiring companies must understand certain M&A idiosyncrasies that are specific to China.
The growing market in credits for greenhouse gas emission put into effect by the Kyoto Protocol will have an increasingly dramatic impact on firms' income statements as well as their balance sheets.