Offers an overview of Veritas Software's history, beginning with the initial company, Tolerant Systems. Discusses the troubles Tolerant ran into and introduces the changes the company went through when it became a restart led by Mark Leslie. It touches on hiring and training a new sales force, striking new OEM partnerships, revisiting key partnerships and contracts, including a large one with AT&T, and accomplishing its goals on a shoestring budget.
The CEO of Northern Napa Valley Winery must forecast aggregate sales of red table wine for the product year, as well as month-by-month sales for the same period. This case provides the student with the opportunity to try to forecast a time series characterized by distinct trend and seasonality with almost nine years of monthly data available. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E046.)
Canada-based Oxford Learning Centres (OLC) entered into a licensing agreement with U.S.-based Childtime Learning Centers (Childtime) where Childtime would operate OLC supplemental education programs in their facilities. In less than six months, Childtime decided to make an offer to purchase OLC. OLC's CEO must decide how to approach the impending negotiations. The case describes the North American supplement education industry, valuation considerations and private firm purchase negotiations. Detailed comparables are provided for such firms as Sylvan Learning Systems and Corporate Family Solutions. The case provides an opportunity to apply a number of valuation techniques including discounted cash flow, and multiples based on comparable firms and transactions.
The comptroller at Four Star Fitness Club must set aside a financial reserve to cover possible refunds of initiation fees to new members. The comptroller has some historical data on refund payments to assist in estimating the size of the appropriate reserve.
Harry Lev was reviewing the recent sales reports for Bamberger's Department Store in an effort to assess whether or not the newly implemented Wednesday evening late openings had had a positive overall effect on sales. He was under some pressure to demonstrate that the sales during the extended hours were more than covering the added cost to the store of the late opening, since he had been instrumental in initiating this change despite strong employee resistance. If he could not clearly show a financial benefit, he could expect pressure to discontinue the experiment. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A99E006.)
A management scientist was asked by the president of a gas production company to develop a model for allocating the gas supplied to the Petro Pipe Lines Corporation gas plant among the various suppliers, according to the terms of the gas supply contracts. The intent of the model was to minimize the penalties imposed at the end of each month on the gas suppliers as a result of daily differences between production (supply) and nomination (demand) for each contract. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E038.)
The manager of port facilities for Superior Grain Elevator, Inc. in Thunder Bay, Ontario, must decide whether to construct a third wharf at a cost of $1.5 million. Superior Grain Elevator, Inc. has just negotiated a grain sale to Poland that will increase the number of shipments from the Thunder Bay facility. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E040.)
In the late 1990s, the chief executive officer of Brent-Harbridge Developments had just received confirmation of several upcoming property auctions. Brent-Harbridge Developments was currently asset short after some successful recent disposals, which made the CEO keenly interested in three of the properties being auctioned. She needed to prepare a bidding strategy in order to try to acquire at least one or perhaps more of the development properties being auctioned. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E042.)
Management at PCB Manufacturing, Inc. was concerned that a significant number of faulty printed circuit boards were reaching their customers. Should the testing system be changed so that the number of bad boards being shipped decreases? (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E043.)
The CEO of Northern Napa Valley Winery must forecast aggregate sales of red table wine for the product year, as well as month-by-month sales for the same period. This case provides the student with the opportunity to try to forecast a time series characterized by distinct trend and seasonality with almost nine years of monthly data available. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E046.)
In August 1998, the partners of Columbia Capital in Arlington, Va. made a decision about whether or not to raise an outside fund for venture capital investing. Columbia had begun in 1988 as a boutique investment bank focused on the telecommunications industry, but had over its history become progressively more involved in making direct private equity investments; from 1994-98, the firm made over $100 million in such investments. Unlike traditional venture capital firms, however, Columbia made these investments entirely with its partners' own personal money.
Describes an interesting plastics technology and an entrepreneur's attempts to build a business around it. Highlights issues around managing technical and market risk. Teaching purpose: Highlights difficult decisions around building a business off of an unproven platform technology.
Examines the relationship between management at Alpha Shanghai and San Yu Mopeds, a large Chinese moped producer, and a customer which Alpha Shanghai had hoped would become one of their largest. Specifically, the case focuses on the general manager's influence on the organization's communications strategy and the extent to which it was a departure from "typical" supplier relationships in China. The case poses the issue of to what extent the failure in the relationship was a function of the general manager's lack of exposure to doing business in China, and/or an insensitivity to local customs and business practices. By examining these issues, the students will learn to appreciate how culturally specific communication patterns are, as well as what societal and cultural assumptions affect the behavior, attitudes, and communication patterns within the organization, and between the organization and its local partners, suppliers, and strategic alliances.
R&B Falcon is the world's leading offshore drilling contractor. Amid surging exploration budgets and increasing deepwater drilling activity, the company makes huge investments in several new state-of-the art $300 million ultra-deep-water drilling rigs. As day rates and utilization fall for shallow-water rigs, the company must decide whether to idle capacity to defend pricing. It must also decide whether to scale back its commitment to deep-water rig construction projects. Finally, the firm wrestles with whether to pursue "turnkey" drilling contracts, in which it would provide a complete bundle of drilling services.
After booming in 1997 and early 1998, the offshore drilling industry slumps in late 1998 and early 1999. Lower oil prices lead oil companies to reduce drilling budgets, and rig utilization falls from essentially 100% to 70% in some markets. Day rates--the prices paid for a rig's services--fall by as much as 75%. The case illustrates how supply and demand work together to determine prices and utilization in the short run, as well as how long-run supply is determined in an industry where capacity additions take several years. Also describes the industry's move toward "turnkey" contracts, in which drilling contractors provide a complete bundle of drilling services, and how advances in deep-water drilling technology are changing industry structure.
After reaching all-time highs in excess of $2,500 per ton in 1988 and 1989, aluminum prices fall dramatically in the early 1990s as the former Soviet Union begins exporting far larger quantities of metal. By the beginning of 1994, the price has hit all-time lows (in real terms) and stands at $1,110. The case contains data on world consumption by sector; an accompanying spreadsheet contains detailed cost data for the world's 157 smelters. Together, these allow a thorough supply and demand analysis that illuminates price fluctuations in this industry. A rewritten version of an earlier note.
With prices at all-time lows at the beginning of 1994, South Africa's sole primary aluminum producer--Alusaf--is considering building the world's largest greenfield smelter. Using cost estimates in this case, students can evaluate the relative cost position of this plant in the context of the cost data on other smelters provided in the spreadsheet accompanying "The Aluminum Industry in 1994." By building on the supply and demand analysis supported by that case, students can evaluate the profitability of this massive capital investment.
GE is faced with Jack Welch's impending retirement and whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the company's business portfolio of the 1980s, the case chronicles Welch's revitalization initiatives through the late 1980s and 1990s. It focuses on six of Welch's major change programs: The "Software" Initiatives, Globalization, Redefining Leadership, Stretch Objectives, Service Business Development, and Six Sigma Quality.
Provides students with an opportunity to use simple real options analysis to value a startup. Penelope Phillips is deciding whether to start a company to make wireless phones. Students get experience using traditional discounted cash flow valuation and a real options approach.