Set in mid-1978, this case covers all aspects of the U.S. retail coffee market both cross-sectionally and historically. The market is recovering from dramatic price rises and volume drops. The overall issue is the forecast of future market evolution and the implications for the marketing strategy of each major producer. Students have to make explicit 5- and 10-year sales and market share forecasts and draw up BCG-type portfolio matrices. Case is part of a two-day series, beginning with an aggregate view of the entire market and its evolution and narrowing to a view of market strategy for a single brand.
Describes the corporate portfolio of General Foods, Procter & Gamble, and Nestle, thereby placing in context their coffee activities in the United States. The objective of this case is to allow students to evaluate each competitor's commitment to the U.S. retail coffee market and the strategic implications of those commitments.
A subordinate who Dan Stewart has recently placed on warning for unsatisfactory performance is suddenly appointed Dan's boss. Involves such issues as the management of disappointment, understanding organizational irrationality, lateral transfer within the same company, and dealing with organizational politics.
Dan is given an assignment as general manager of a small division with some difficulties but exciting possibilities. How should he manage the situation?
Details the moral conflict experienced by Don Taylor, a new high-level executive in an oil drilling firm, when he discovered that the firm was deceiving its investors. What should he do and how should he go about it? Presents the emergence of Taylor's suspicions about the deceptive practices.
Examines the intellectual, political and economic underpinnings of the landmark tax legislation begun by John F. Kennedy and carried through Congress by his successor Lyndon B. Johnson.
A corporation can and should have a conscience. Organizational agents such as corporations should be no more and no less morally responsible (rational, self-interested, altruistic) than ordinary persons. The analogy that holds between the individual and the corporation makes it possible to project to corporations the concept of moral responsibility as it applies to persons.
A survey of 345 Fortune "1000" industrial companies in 1979 shows that portfolio planning is becoming a popular method for managing the diversity of businesses within large organizations. Despite the described limitations of portfolio planning, most of the companies find portfolio planning worth pursuing because it helps them focus on the unique contribution each subsidiary makes to the business of the corporation.
The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is a theoretical representation of the way financial markets behave. It can be used to estimate a company's cost of equity capital in investment management decisions. Managers can also use CAPM to calculate divisional hurdle rates and risks of acquisitions. CAPM is based on specialized assumptions including frictionless markets without imperfections, such as transaction costs, taxes and restrictions on borrowing and short selling. It requires limiting assumptions concerning the statistical nature of securities' returns and investors' preferences, and it assumes investors' agreements on likely performance and risk of securities.
On August 20, 1982, Leo Marsden, plant manager for Noram Foods of Toronto, Ontario, was considering the impact of changing Noram's policy on package weight. Noram Foods in Canada has an enviable record of sound financial performance, although the 1981-82 period had seen declining profits as the Canadian economy as a whole was suffering under conditions of high unemployment, high interest rates, and high inflation. Leo Marsden believed the weight control issue represented a major opportunity for reevaluation and increased performance.
Mr. Stuart Foreman, assistant manager of the London, Ontario branch of the Central Canadian Bank, was reviewing information he had received from Maple Leaf Hardware Limited. Mr. Robert Patrick, president and manager of Maple Leaf Hardware Limited had requested an increase in his line of credit with the bank to cover seasonal working capital needs. Mr. Foreman, who had just received a transfer and promotion to the London branch, realized he would have to evaluate the request carefully.
This case is a nice prelude to the individual cases (HKS Case Number 365 and 366), which chronicle the lives and critical decisions that Martin Luther King and Malcolm X made towards improving African American rights in the United States. The text describes the last year of Martin Luther King's life and the actions of which he partook. It also chronicles Malcolm X's last month of life, noting the decisions he made. HKS Case Number 426.0.
This note examines several of the financial analysis techniques used in marketing decision-making. The goals of marketing management are usually financial in nature. Accordingly, financial considerations are important both when selecting among alternative marketing activities and when evaluating the outcome of a marketing course of action.
Martin Trailers Limited, which has grown rapidly, produces a line of camping trailers, which have a pronounced seasonal sales pattern. Details for the previous year's planning process, staffing levels, production outputs and costs are reviewed by the owner, with the objective of improving the management of materials in the year ahead. Sufficient information is available to perform a quantitative analysis of the aggregate planning decision and its relationship to material requirements planning.
The plant manager for Noram Foods was considering the impact of changing Noram's policy on package weight. Noram Foods in Canada had an enviable record of sound financial performance, although there had been a period of declining profits when the Canadian economy suffered under conditions of high unemployment, high interest rates, and high inflation. Leo Marsden believed the weight control issue represented a major opportunity for re-evaluation and increased performance.