The president of Noranda Minerals is evaluating the Environmental Management System in his resource-based company. The company undertakes an environmental audit, and the president must identify various stakeholders and prioritize their needs. He must decide if an environmental annual report should be made public. This case also underlines the increasing importance that qualitative considerations have in the financial decision-making process. Noranda Mines is a useful tool to discuss possible revisions to financial accounting and auditing standards in addressing environmental questions. (A sequel to this case is available, titled Noranda Minerals (B), case 9A91B009.)

A shareholder group of Sherritt Gordon Limited is not satisfied that management was running the company properly and is attempting, through a proxy contest, to have the present board of directors removed and replaced with a new board. The case is suitable for teaching as a role-playing exercise.

The president and owner of a food service business, is concerned about the manner in which his industry prices goods and services. His firm has failed to meet his desired profit margin, and he wonders if there are different pricing options. This is an introductory case in the use of an activity based costing system in the marketing and distribution part of the business.

John Moser is assigned the task of instilling quality thinking throughout the firm. He begins by trying to identify what poor quality is currently costing. Hopefully, he can develop a strategy to improve quality in the firm.

Michael Stevens was examining his blue chip stock portfolio and the market outlook for the next six months. He was wondering if he could use some options strategies - buying individual stock puts, writing individual stock calls, writing index calls, or buying index puts - to protect his paper profits and perhaps even improve his return.

The managing partner of the a new enterprise group faces a sensitive meeting with the Hong Kong native senior accountant who has indicated that he is likely to resign. A serious misunderstanding, partially involving cultural differences, has evolved over his temporary assignment to an audit, when he wants to specialize in tax. The views of a number of other partners and managers involved in the situation are included. Confusion arises over conflicting signals from the senior accountant about his willingness to take on the audit assignment. A companion case, Bob Chen, describes the situation from the senior accountant's point of view. The pair of cases are designed for use in a role play.

A senior accountant in a large accounting firm, is on the verge of resigning. He faces a sensitive meeting with the managing partner of the new venture practice. A native of Hong Kong, the senior accountant has been given a temporary assignment to audit when he wants to specialize in tax. A serious misunderstanding, partially involving cultural differences, has evolved over this assignment. A companion case, David Shorter, describes the situation from the managing partner's point of view. The pair of cases are designed for use in a role play.

A large, open pit, iron ore mine is plagued with crusher delays. The case describes the situation, provides relevant capacities and costs, and gives statistical data on the frequency and duration of crusher stoppages. The manager has to choose between holding trucks idle during crusher delays, reassigning the truck-shovel teams to waste removal, or to dump ore at an ore stockpile.

A student about to complete his MBA is considering purchasing a franchise in The Body Shop Canada chain of specialty stores. He has discussed the opportunities with company officials and drawn up pro forma financial statements. He now has to evaluate the opportunity and his fit with the organization. Despite the financial projections, would he be happy as a franchisee and would The Body Shop Canada be happy with him? Unlike many franchising cases, this case asks the student to take the role of the potential franchisee rather than that of the franchisor.

A hospital financial systems implementation project has run into some difficulties. The decision maker must analyze the complex situation and develop an attainable action plan for the remainder of the project. The case explores various facets of Information Systems project management, focusing on the human factors that are important in any project management situation.

Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. is a producer and marketer of specialty food products. The company president is contemplating future expansion. Two cities were of particular interest: Toronto and Tokyo. At issue was whether consumers in both markets should be pursued, and if so, how. The choices available for achieving further growth included mail order, distributors, and company controlled stores. The case helps students watch existing resources and capabilities with potential growth opportunities.

A process engineer for General Motors Truck Assembly Plant in Oshawa was considering the introduction of new technology onto the main assembly line. He believed that an overhead hoist could be used to eliminate one job in a four-person group. The case leads into a discussion on the criteria used in evaluating proposals for new technology as well as the impact of these changes on the employees.

Custom Car Care is an owner-operated company that does custom detailing and cleaning of cars on a part-time basis. The owner would like to quit his current part-time grocery store job and run his business full-time, but he is unsure if it will be profitable enough. He needs to prepare a break-even analysis and a complete marketing plan for the business.

This note provides a series of steps used in the preparation of pro-forma income statements and balance sheets, using the aging of accounts and a plug for cash requirements. A simple example is used for illustration.

Steelway Building Systems manufactures steel buildings. The owner and president, faces tougher American competition and realizes the need for better technology. He has three options for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of his flange and connector plate production process. He must decide which option is best and implement the solution soon so he does not lose ground to encroaching U.S. competition in these tough economic times.

Kimberly-Clark's and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are fierce competitors in the diaper industry. The competitive struggle involves a broad range of issues including: rapid product development, international threats and opportunities, diversification options and public pressure over environmental concerns. In particular, Kimberly-Clark must decide on a response to P&G's most recent product introduction. This case provides an excellent in depth view at the dynamic of competition.

As they approached their strategic session, TransAlta's senior executives confronted a changing business environment. The company's goal had always been to provide reliable electric service to their customers at the lowest possible cost. Now a new variable was entering the picture: the environment and the question of sustainable development. The release of the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Harlem Brundtland, gave credibility to the concept of sustainable development and has elevated environmental issues on the international agenda. How would this impact the company's business strategy and competitive advantage?

Today technology is creating greater customer choice, and choice is altering the marketplace. Six principles define the new marketing: marketing is a way of doing business that pervades the entire company; companies must dispel their limiting market-share mentality; programmable technology promises to open up almost limitless choice for customers; a feedback loop is making advertising's one-way communication obsolete; the line between services and products is eroding; and the marriage of marketing and technology is inevitable.

Transforming Bell Atlantic from a bureaucratic, monopolistic company into an efficient entrepreneurial competitor meant creating a new mind-set and sense of teamwork for each employee. Raymond Smith credits his company's successful change to behavior established through the Bell Atlantic Way -- an improvement program stressing teamwork and accountability.

Many companies have embraced the Just-In-Time manufacturing method because of the zeal with which its successes were reported. But JIT is a simple idea, and therefore often complicated to implement. In its pure form, JIT emphasizes low cost, high quality, and the consolidation of the product line--a smaller number of products and fewer options. It does not mean recklessly slashing inventories without having inventory buffers in place.