Environmentally preferable or "green" building uses optimal and innovative design to provide economic, health, environmental, and social benefits. In 1993 the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) was formed by a broad range of building industry stakeholders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. It is a committee-based, member-driven, and consensus-focused nonprofit coalition leading a national effort to promote high-performance buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work. In 2000, USGBC created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. That voluntary standard was intended to transform the building market by providing guidelines, certification, and education for green building. LEED is a comprehensive, transparent, and market-driven framework for assessing buildings' environmental performance. Compared to standard practice, "green" buildings can provide greater economic and social benefits over the life of the structures, reduce or eliminate adverse human health effects, and even contribute to improved air and water quality. Opportunities for reducing both costs and environmental impact include low-disturbance land use techniques, improved lighting design, high performance water fixtures, careful materials selection, energy efficient appliances and heating and cooling systems, and on-site water treatment and recycling. Less familiar innovations include natural ventilation and cooling without fans and air conditioners, vegetative roofing systems that provide wildlife habitat and reduce storm water runoff, and constructed wetlands that help preserve water quality while reducing water treatment costs.
All securities can be evaluated based on certain common characteristics: value, rate of return, risk, maturity, and so forth. This case examines how bonds are valued and how their rates of return are computed. It begins with basic definitions and features of fixed-income instruments and proceeds to basic bond mathematics. An overview of the U.S. Treasury market is provided, as well as some national markets for other important domestic government bonds.
This case explores two measures of price sensitivity: duration and convexity. These measures are normally used to gauge how sensitive a bond's price is to a change in interest-rate levels. However, as concepts, both duration and convexity have wider application: duration and convexity take into account any change for any risk factor affecting the price of any financial instrument.
In 1938, the Mexican government expropriated the assets of foreign oil companies. Explores the legal and moral arguments in favor of and against expropriation.
MK Taxi Tokyo has developed a system to allow customers to use their mobile phones to find and contact the cab closest to them, bypassing the dispatch center. The system, called the Private Chauffeur Service (PCS), makes use of NTT's i-mode service, which essentially turns mobile phones into small Internet terminals. MK worked with NTT to develop an application that physically locates each PCS caller, determines the closest cab, and automatically connects the customer with the cab's driver for a voice call. At the time of the case, Maasaki Aoki, the head of MK Tokyo, wonders how best to expand and enhance the PCS service.
In the late 1970s, Stanley O'Neal joined Merrill Lynch as an investment banker. Profiles O'Neal's ascent at Merrill to CEO. O'Neal put Merrill through a comprehensive restructuring program, cutting costs and significantly reducing the work force. As CEO, O'Neal faces the challenge of changing the company's signature "Mother Merrill" culture into a performance-driven and meritocratic one, while facing resistance and criticism from inside Merrill and Wall Street. Provides data on Merrill's financial performance and investment banking ratings. Teaching Purpose: To demonstrate leadership at the executive level, highlighting the career development of a person of color. Also, to focus on changing corporate culture and CEO succession.
Designed to aid in the transfer and application of knowledge gained from the executive program to the live situation that program participants face in their jobs. Teaching Purpose: To bring practical relevance to executive education programs, permitting focused consideration of a concrete, current business problem managers are facing at work.
In late 1997, Tom Casola, brand manager for Propecia, debates the best approach to market this breakthrough one-a-day pill for hair loss. This launch would be atypical for a prescription drug because of the key position of the consumer. As a result, the team's experience of past launches has little bearing on how its two available instruments, physician detailing and direct-to-consumer advertising, might play out in this case. Three issues present themselves as new: the form of advertising, the consumer message, and the balance between consumer and physician marketing efforts. The ensuing discussion allows participants to explore the goals of and interdependence between various marketing instruments.
eBay, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com entered the online auction market within four years of one another, along with a host of smaller Web sites. Five years later, eBay clearly outstripped its competitors, despite the fact that Yahoo! and Amazon both had a huge installed base of users. Why? Presents background on the entry and strategies of the top three players to discuss the economics of the online auction market, why the market tipped to eBay, and where the industry will go from here.
After MGM Mirage decides to announce publicly its bid for Mandalay Resort Group, both companies face vital decisions about how to communicate with their various stakeholders during the merger negotiations.
A recent MBA graduate describes the joys and frustrations of an expatriate life - both at personal and professional levels - as experienced by a young, single woman. She has been living in Bangkok for three years and is slowly adjusting to the local way of life when she receives a job offer that will relocate her back to her home in Hawaii. Reaching a decision, however, is not easy given career-related uncertainties in both countries as well as the array of conflicting emotions that confront her. She must decide how to sort through these issues. Should she remain in Bangkok or return home? Her decision is complicated by the fact that she had not entertained the idea of returning to the United States.
A recent MBA graduate describes the joys and frustrations of an expatriate life - both at personal and professional levels - as experienced by a young, single woman. She has been living in Bangkok for three years and is slowly adjusting to the local way of life when she receives a job offer that will relocate her back to her home in Hawaii. Reaching a decision, however, is not easy given career-related uncertainties in both countries as well as the array of conflicting emotions that confront her. She must decide how to sort through these issues. Should she remain in Bangkok or return home? Her decision is complicated by the fact that she had not entertained the idea of returning to the United States.
Summarizes the process of going public: the steps for SEC approval, the role of the SEC, and the roles of major players such as underwriters and printers.