Informal coaching opportunities occur in the course of daily life. In this workshop, students are provided with ways to improve their responsiveness to these opportunities. The format is a series of sessions in which students form teams and take turns playing the role of the director of operations for a software products business. Two staff members come to see the director, on their initiative, to ask for ideas, help, guidance, or a decision on an issue. The director knows key details about each staff member’s background and development needs, but does not know in advance what the specific issues or concerns are. It is necessary to explore these issues or concerns before any decision can be made. The students’ performances are videotaped and critiqued in terms of identifying each staff member’s problem(s); the effectiveness of responses to the immediate problems; and contribution to that staff member’s longer-term growth or awareness through coaching. The accompanying seven role-plays (products #9B00C007, #9B00C008, #9B00C009, #9B00C010, #9B00C011, #9B00C012, #9B00C013) provide background information on each of the staff members.
The Richard Ivey School of Business had recently introduced a wireless network and required all students to purchase laptops and network cards. After a year of use, the faculty decided to restrict laptop usage in class by disallowing the use of network cards. They felt the students were using the network cards for unrelated activities in class and that this was compromising the learning process. Reaction from the students was mixed, with some students quite vocal about the (un)fairness of this new policy. The section head for one of the MBA sections knew that finding a long-term solution would be a difficult process. There were valid points in the arguments to both restrict and not restrict the use of the cards. She had to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages in order to make a recommendation to the faculty at a section meeting the following day.
The financial uncertainty in Hong Kong and Asia from mid-1997 to mid-1998 was caused in part by the Asian flu and the return of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. A large North American-based insurance company was faced with the decision of managing its Asian assets in light of this uncertainty, especially the possible breaking of the peg between the Hong Kong dollar and the U.S. dollar. As the vice-president of capital markets at Manulife Financial contemplated what strategy he would recommend to the senior executive group, he considered the concepts of fixed/pegged exchange rates and the use of different strategies to manage the risks, as well as the potential profit opportunities that may arise when a fixed/pegged exchange rate is under attack and may break.
Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) is a $74 million nonprofit social enterprise that combats poverty by helping community development organizations build affordable housing and create economic development opportunities through public-private partnerships. Poses a dilemma for the CEO: whether to grow geographically or programmatically. Presents the history of the organization and the many challenges facing urban and rural community groups, such as how to improve educational opportunities for their citizens. Also describes how LISC funds its operations, including the syndication of low-income housing tax credits, foundations, and private partnerships.
A major U.K.-based multinational is reevaluating its leverage policy as it restructures its business. The treasury team models the tradeoffs between the benefits and costs of debt financing, using Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the savings from the interest tax shields and expected financial distress costs under several sets of leverage policies. The group treasurer (CFO) must decide whether and how the simulation results should be incorporated into a recommendation to the board of directors and, more generally, what recommendation to make regarding the firm's leverage policy.
SalesDriver.com (SalesDriver) was a Boston-based e-commerce application service provider that provided a turnkey solution for sales managers to manage their sales contests online. It had just achieved its 1,000th user mark and had the opportunity to snag software giant Lorimer Development Corp. (Lorimer) as a new client. The solution Lorimer had requested would alter SalesDriver's current product by including functionality that other users might not need. The general manager had to evaluate the economies of scale by keeping one product for all users and the economies of scope by tailoring the product for individual customers. Developing the added function as a one-off would take significantly less development time than adding the function to the site and making it available to all customers. He had to decide which approach was best in the long run.
The case series focuses on Merck's drug donation program and then raises new issues facing management about what to do about HIV/AIDS in Africa given the company's development of a new therapy. Describes collaboration among many parties including the Gates Foundation, other pharmaceutical companies, and the government of Botswana.
The case series focuses on Merck's drug donation program and then raises new issues facing management about what to do about HIV/AIDS in Africa given the company's development of a new therapy. Describes collaboration among many parties including the Gates Foundation, other pharmaceutical companies, and the government of Botswana.
In 1995, Lucent Technologies' supply chain in Asia had many problems: long lead times, high cost, poor reliability, high inventories, and poor technical support of customers and local Asian operations. This was, in many ways, a result of the historical supply of Asia from the United States. Local Asian facilities had been established as market-entry vehicles and provided some high-level assembly and test, but the supply chain was organized around U.S. production and support. A substantial--and very successful--supply chain redesign was completed in 1996, providing more Asian content. However, continuing changes in the marketplace, suppliers, and the manufacturing environment suggested that the supply chain was no longer optimal.
This note will familiarize users of financial statements with how Earnings Per Share (EPS) is calculated, what accounting rules apply, and how the new CICA Handbook Section 3500 will make Canadian, U.S. and international EPS figures more comparable. It also includes a simple exercise to test the students' understanding of the mechanics. The accompanying teaching note provides the solution.
The founder of Surgery Futures Research, a London, Ontario-based startup, developed a new technique to assist with minimally invasive surgery. His innovation eliminated the need for incisions and retractors to manipulate the bowel, and relied instead upon magnets and an ingestible fluid. He put his surgical residency on hold and spent several years developing the technology as a sideline to his medical career. He invested his time, personal savings and much of his income into this enterprise. Even under the most optimistic scenario, commercialization was still years away and would require significant expenditures for research, development, manufacturing and marketing. At age 35, and with his wedding approaching, he felt the time had come to reevaluate the venture, considering what actions needed to be taken to commercialize the technology and what role he should play in the process.
This note will familiarize users of financial statements with how Earnings Per Share (EPS) is calculated, what accounting rules apply, and how the new CICA Handbook Section 3500 will make Canadian, U.S. and international EPS figures more comparable. It also includes a simple exercise to test the students' understanding of the mechanics. The accompanying teaching note provides the solution.
The founder and only employee of Montreal-based Drawn and Quarterly, a company that published comic books and graphic novels, wondered whether there were changes he should make in how he ran his company. He loved his job; he was working with excellent cartoonists, and he enjoyed being his own boss. He wanted to invest in new projects, but his ability to do so depended on getting enough revenue from sales. He recently made a substantial investment in the publication of an anthology of international comics and knew this investment could put the company at risk. There were many factors for him to consider in planning the growth of this small company: management preferences in strategic growth, marketing in entrepreneurial firms, the comic book industry and the management of small companies in cultural industries.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) had implemented word recognition software, Assentor, in its U.S. brokerage arm to ensure its employees were not acting inappropriately in their dealings with customers and to protect company systems from viruses. This software scanned e-mails for flagged business words and archived the e-mails in a central database. The manager of compliance at CIBC's head office in Toronto, found that the decision to implement the Assentor software was much easier than deciding what to do in the event the software found something improper. Issues related to company ethics and employee privacy were raised. Acknowledging that occasional personal e-mails would be sent and received, he wondered what the legal ramifications would be if a manager found out about a private situation because Assentor had found a flagged word in a personal e-mail. He felt that clear communication with and upfront understanding from employees would help prevent negative impressions of this process so he had to determine the best way to inform employees about the e-mail scanning while enforcing CIBC's e-mail policy.
OP4.com, an Internet portal for teenagers, had just celebrated six months of existence. The co-founders of OP4.com knew that the internal culture had to reflect the identity of its Web site, so they wanted to cultivate a savvy, hip staff. They used unique methods to evaluate a prospect's fit into the company and some unorthodox training and feedback systems. With profitability being the next key step, they had to determine how to maintain this culture through the next stage of growth; one which would result in the creation of business units and formal reporting structures for staff.
Silent Witness Enterprises Ltd. was one of Canada's fastest growing technology-based firms. The 14-year-old publicly traded company created a new market niche in the security surveillance industry by introducing novel applications of VCR-based technology. The company's founder forecasted growth that would take the company from annual revenues of $34 million in 1999 to $250 million by 2005. In achieving these goals, he must decide how to balance the need to sustain innovation and new product development, while at the same time, develop the capabilities needed to manage the firm's increasingly complex operations.
Procter & Gamble reorganized its operations and created Global Business Units with Market Development Organizations (MDO) to augment the brand strategy work. This reorganization supported changes in culture that included reasonable risk taking. The marketing director of Procter & Gamble Canada was evaluating the potential success of launching a new product, Febreze, by using volume analysis resources available to her. The results indicated that Febreze would be a relatively small business opportunity, but the model could not take into account the various new MDO marketing tools that were not yet available. To justify the cost of launching the product, revenues would have to be significantly more than the volume model predicted. While trying to adjust to the new culture, she had to evaluate the risks associated with launching the product not knowing if the new tools would generate the additional volumes needed, and the risk of losing the competitive edge if she postponed the launch. A 30-minute video, product 7B00M005, is also available. The second case in this series, Procter & Gamble Canada (B): The Canadian MDO (product 9B00M006) discusses the strategy behind the changes and the implications to the Canadian group.
Organization 2005, the latest initiative by Procter & Gamble (P&G) worldwide, was put in place to help double revenue growth between 2000 and 2005. The reorganization aligned the company so that planning and managing the lines of business were done on a global basis. The company's culture, its structure and how work would be done were three key items that would be impacted by the changes. The newly appointed president of P&G Canada reflected on the strategy behind the changes, the implications of the organizational change, and the message he wanted to deliver as he prepared to address the Canadian employees. A 30-minute video is also available. The first case in this series, Procter & Gamble Canada (A): The Febreze Decision (product 9B00M005) discusses the challenges faced by the marketing director of P&G Canada while launching a new product during these changes.