For many decades, the automobile industry had played a major role in Canada's economy. A large portion of Canadian jobs depended on the auto industry, both directly and indirectly. However, by 2005, Canada faced serious globalization threats. Analysts were stating that in the future the number of automobile-related jobs in Canada would depend upon the international competitiveness of Canadian plants. To continue to increase wages would raise Canadian production costs so far above the levels in Mexico, China and other emerging nations, that the assemblers would shift production to low-cost jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the Big Three were losing market share to their non-union competitors, especially Toyota and Honda.

The account manager at the Business Development Bank of Canada reviews a loan request from the owner and president of Miami Car Care Center Inc. Miami Car Care is a six-bay, self-serve, coin operated carwash. The owner, a previous client of the bank, has requested a $1 million long-term loan to finance the opening of a second location in the city.

Cash Technology Limited is a Xiamen-based manufacturer of self-service banking machines, touchscreens and related software. The company was set to issue its initial public offering on the Singapore Exchange. The proceeds from the IPO would help the mid-sized, entrepreneurial and private company secure its position in the burgeoning Chinese market for automated teller machines and related equipment. With six weeks left before the IPO, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer attempted to value their company by various methods and assess the reasonableness of the offering price proposed by the IPO manager. The case challenges students to examine the attractiveness and value of a business from the perspective of the issuer and potential investors, and can also provide the opportunity for students to develop a strategy for communicating with institutional investors.

In 1995, Hiroshi Okuda, president of Toyota Motor Corp., considers whether to push for a more aggressive launch of the Toyota Prius--an automobile that incorporates Toyota's new and technically advanced hybrid power train. This launch decision allows discussion of the importance of the Prius in Toyota's overall product strategy and explores issues ranging from market structure to competitive advantage and competitive dynamics.

At the end of the harvest season, the owner of a family-owned farm had to decide whether to purchase a new combine or perform significant repairs on the existing machine. He realized that the decision needed to be made before the next harvest season, but was unsure of which option would best fit the company. This case outlines a simple capital budgeting decision in the farming industry. It can be used to educate individuals on the farming industry with concepts required to make an investment decision.

Use of streaming media; audio and video content delivered over an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network, was not as ubiquitous as e-mail, but was rapidly increasing. Workplace usage of streaming media hit 22 million users in October and November of 2001, increasing 11.3 per cent over the same period in the previous year. The users of streaming media were diverse. Enterprises used audio and video to jazz up their public-facing websites to improve the quality of on-line customer service, and to cut the costs of running a parallel closed-circuit television network for corporate communications and distance learning. Media and entertainment companies were aggressively pursuing the Internet as a distribution channel for movie trailers, and as an advertising channel to spur CD and DVD sales, and as a new revenue stream with pay-per-view delivery of entire films directly to a user's computer. Despite the best efforts of technology and service providers, TN-quality streaming, and the business models that depended on it, streaming media still faced several hurdles. This technical note provides a high-level background on the challenges involved in delivering audio and video content over the Internet in 2001. It then gives an overview of various technical solutions that have been developed to address those challenges. It concludes with a discussion of the six critical areas that organizations must consider if they plan to include audio and video components in their business applications. This is a supplement to Mercedes-Benz USA: Investing in IT Infrastructure, product 9B06E003.

The national manager for technical training at Mercedes-Benz USA, is considering using streaming media and distance learning as a supplement to class-room based education, but is concerned that this innovative and risky IT investment could have a negative affect on the company's quality reputation. He needs to evaluate the viability of the e-learning option, including selecting between two vendors, Microsoft and Real Networks. This case provides students with an opportunity to develop a methodology based on capital budgeting analysis for evaluating and executing IT investments. The case is particularly valuable for helping students to consider the risks related to the execution of IT investments, even when an investment has a high ROI. Supplement material, Implications of Streaming Media: A Technical Note, product 9B06E002 is available.

The chief executive officer of Western Union had just begun implementing a new organization structure. Changing the structure set out a clear message of Gold's desire to change the company's mindset to a new more global culture. Already the CEO was finding that leaders in the United States were reluctant to give up control of product lines. At the regional level, she had keen leaders in place who wanted to push out the responsibility within their own regions and move towards a decentralized plan. While the CEO supported this notion in principle, she wanted to ensure that the right leaders could be placed in decentralized offices in order to execute on the six strategic pillars that she had laid out for the organization. One thing was certain - the CEO had made it clear that no revenue decreases would be forgiven amidst the change. Many considerations had arisen: What pace of change should she take? How would she deal with resistance to change? How could she ensure that the new structure would support Western Union's global expansion?

For many decades, the automobile industry had played a major role in Canada's economy. A large portion of Canadian jobs depended on the auto industry, both directly and indirectly. However, by 2005, Canada faced serious globalization threats. Analysts were stating that in the future the number of automobile-related jobs in Canada would depend upon the international competitiveness of Canadian plants. To continue to increase wages would raise Canadian production costs so far above the levels in Mexico, China and other emerging nations, that the assemblers would shift production to low-cost jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the Big Three were losing market share to their non-union competitors, especially Toyota and Honda.

Heavenly Reception Limited is a local dealer for a national satellite television distributor. Recent growth has been very strong, but the company has to increase its financial leverage to deal with expansion. The high degree of financial risk is a concern to the company's controller as she prepares the budget for the coming fiscal year.

Cash Technology Limited is a Xiamen-based manufacturer of self-service banking machines, touchscreens and related software. The company was set to issue its initial public offering on the Singapore Exchange. The proceeds from the IPO would help the mid-sized, entrepreneurial and private company secure its position in the burgeoning Chinese market for automated teller machines and related equipment. With six weeks left before the IPO, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer attempted to value their company by various methods and assess the reasonableness of the offering price proposed by the IPO manager. The case challenges students to examine the attractiveness and value of a business from the perspective of the issuer and potential investors, and can also provide the opportunity for students to develop a strategy for communicating with institutional investors.

The chief financial officer of VF Outdoor Americas - a division of the world's largest apparel company, VF Corporation, must decide on the financial viability of purchasing the skateboard VANS lifestyle brand. In his decision, the chief financial officer needs to develop an offer of what VF should pay for VANS and prove to the parent company that the acquisition will be accretive to earnings per share.

The president of the University of Western Ontario was contemplating how to best handle a potentially explosive issue: the planned award of an honorary degree to Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a prominent abortion-rights activist and operator of six abortion clinics in Canada. The pressure from various interest groups opposing the award continued to grow and attracted considerable local and national media attention. The chair of the university's board of governors went on record stating his disagreement with award decision. With university's reputation at stake, the president knew that he had to plan for the worst, yet hope for the best. The supplement Weathering the Storm: The Fallout of the Decision to Award an Honorary Degree to Canada's Pioneer Abortion Doctor (B), product 9B05C034, looks at the events on the day of convocation.

The president of the University of Western Ontario was contemplating how best to handle a potentially explosive issue: the planned award of an honorary degree to Dr. Henry Morgentaler. In this supplement to Weathering a Storm: Awarding an Honorary Degree to Canada's Pioneer Abortion Doctor (A), product 9B05C033, the events of the day of convocation are highlighted.

The KL Worldwide Enterprises Inc. case provides a rich context within which to explore the information technology (IT) issues that confront a global enterprise engaged in the manufacture, sales, and distribution of durable goods. The primary purpose is to give students a real-world, hands-on simulation of an IT systems development process that spans the entire lifecycle of an IT project from initial project scoping and justification through acceptance testing and deployment. The KL case emphasizes the design and delivery of enterprise resource planning, supply-chain management, decision support system, and e-commerce solutions for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. The case leads the reader into a consideration of the many opportunities to improve KL's performance through the better design and integration of IT-enabled processes and services, including designing a new e-commerce or DSS capability and reengineering KL's supply-chain and product design practices.

Mote Aquaculture Park is raising sturgeon for the production of caviar. With eggs imported from Eastern Europe, the park is engaging in a unique venture, bringing Russian caviar harvesting to the United States. The project manager is faced with evaluating a number of issues such as political-legal forces, local and international economics, production technologies and socio-cultural forces. Further, industry factors also played a key role. As he considers Mote Aquacultural Park's current situation, he knows that a thorough review of these environmental factors are necessary. The case offers students the opportunity to determine what forces pose critical threats as well as potential opportunities for future growth. However, since sturgeon farming and caviar production in the United States is a new industry, the application of traditional models of evaluation may not universally apply.

The general manager of ABS Global-Canada, was given the task of turning around the Canadian division after several years of declining sales in its principal product, bovine semen used to artificially inseminate cows. On taking charge, he made organizational changes, and then introduced a marketing approach that was successful in the United States. In May 2003, a dairy cow in northern Alberta was discovered with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). In the next several months sales of beef and dairy bull semen dropped to 50 and 30 per cent respectively. He now had to decide whether he should maintain the priorities of his turnaround program.

TPV Technology Limited is a worldwide computer monitor manufacturer. In this case, the general manager is reviewing the annual performance result. During the past year, sales of original equipment manufacturer monitors and self-branded monitors dominated the market but the profit margin had decreased sharply, and flat-panel TVs were becoming more popular. The general manager must determine if TPV Technology should enter the flat-panel TV market.

A venture fund has approached an entrepreneur to sell one of its poorly performing holdings, or if there is no reasonable sale opportunity, turn the company around. He finds no acceptable offers for the company. He searches to find more information on how buyers purchase and use the product, which is a software system for police and courts to lay charges and manage them across the court process. The case illustrates the leverage available from understanding customer budgeting and buying processes, and fitting the service to meet the mind of the customer.

Examines the corporate strategy of German energy giant E.ON. The firm is vertically integrated, horizontally diversified across electricity and natural gas, and active in numerous countries in Europe as well as in the United States. Explores the costs and benefits of the company's choices about its vertical, horizontal, and geographical scope. Considers the risks of economic regulation, increasing concerns about environmental externalities from carbon emissions and nuclear power, and political and price risks in upstream markets for fossil fuels.