This case explores the accounting treatment of the essential items that appeared in the financial statements of Madison Holdings Group Limited (Madison Holdings or the Group, stock code: 8057.HK). A seller of alcoholic beverages for decades, the Group had no expertise and know-how in financial technology. Through acquisitions, Madison Holdings opened the new blockchain services segment without the need to build everything from scratch on its own. However, the lifespan of the segment was unexpectedly short. Management disposed of the whole segment due to unsatisfactory performance in less than two years. The company's stock price dropped by more than 90% from its peak, largely due to the huge impairment loss recognized in the cryptocurrency mining activities. The case seeks to highlight the accounting treatment of various financial statement items of a company that engages in cryptocurrency mining activities. Through the case, students will grapple with the practical questions of whether Madison Holdings appropriately recognized its cryptocurrency mining revenue and recorded the corresponding costs of cryptocurrency mining activities, including the depreciation expenses and impairment loss of plant and mining equipment.
In 1988, Eric Molson became chair of the board of The Molson Companies Ltd. (TMCL). Founded in 1786, the company had focused on brewing beer until the mid-1960s, when it decided to diversify to promote its growth. In 1988, TMCL had four main divisions: brewing, chemicals, retail merchandizing, and sports (the Montreal Canadiens hockey team). Despite nagging doubts about diversification, Eric initially embraced the conglomerate strategy mapped out by his predecessors for the past two decades. He later realized, however, that it was time for TMCL's reign as a conglomerate to end. He firmly believed that Molson's future lay in going "back to beer" and becoming a global brewer. The case explains how, between 1988 and 1999, Eric and his board hired and fired several CEOs - John Rogers, Mickey Cohen, Norman Seagram, and Jim Arnett - in an effort to return Molson to its core business. Finally, in 1998, Molson's regained full ownership of Molson Breweries and, in 1999, Molson's sole focus returned to brewing. However, much remained to be done to secure Molson's position as a global player in the brewing industry. The case lays the groundwork for a discussion of strategy and corporate governance in the context of a large family-controlled business.
Rahul Ratna recently gave up his position in a private corporation to head a new department at the United Nations (UN), Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), whose mandate was to fight fraud and corruption within the UN. As herode the elevator up to his office on the 35th floor of the UN Secretariat building in New York City, a sense of frustration came over him. He began to wonder whether he had made the right decision in taking on his current job. Ratna was aware that he needed sufficient and capable staff, as well as adequate funding for support, if OIOS was to achieve any degree of success in this endeavour. Nonetheless, he was cautious that increasing the budget and headcount was a battle in and of itself. Ratna had just left the Committee Room of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, which vetted all requests for additional staff and funding before such considerations were approved by the General Assembly. However, he was only met with frowns and furrowed brows during an exhaustive 90-minute session in the Committee Room., which remained unconvinced by his arguments and his chances of getting more staff or funding were close to nil. Ratna contemplated his next move. Was it possible to look outside the UN for funding from individual countries and civil society organisations that took a strong stance against corruption and fraud? What about getting outside help from educational institutions to provide training for UN staff? These and other questions swirled through his head as he sat down to ponder his next move.
In April 2017, Henry Lubis, an analyst at Megatrends, a global ratings firm, reviewed the analysis he had completed of Lippo Karawaci's EVA (Economic Value Added). He had come to hear that Johannes Seng, CEO of PT Lippo Karawaci Tbk (Lippo Karawaci), Indonesia's largest listed property company by revenue and total assets, had emerged from the annual Board of Directors meeting in March 2017 without obtaining an approval to incur capital expenditure of US$100 million (IDR1.34 trillion ) in 2017. The Board of Directors wanted to assess Lippo Karawaci's shareholder value creation track record, and evaluate whether it was more prudent for the company to focus on growth by expanding its business rapidly through massive capital expenditure, or take measures to achieve a sustainable EVA for its operations. The Board's concern was that Indonesia's improving economic growth was not translating into the expected fillip in the property sector, especially in the residential segment. The case provides an overview of the Indonesian property market as of end-2016, Lippo Karawaci's business profile and consolidated financials, and the market data necessary to compute its EVA and use this metric to assess value creation in its business lines. The recommendation of the company's strategy, i.e., growth versus consolidation, needs to be based on the appropriate cost of capital that incorporates the cost of debt and equity (as opposed to accounting profit that factors in just the cost of debt). Another consideration is the company's EVA track record based on reported debt and core equity (i.e. the sum of equity and retained earnings).
The Envision Healthcare (EVHC) case examines the operations of one of EVHC's divisions, EmCare, a national physician services outsourcing company. The case describes EmCare's controversial use of out-of-network billing for a significant share of its revenues. As the company faced increasingly negative scrutiny for these practices, the case highlights the different perspectives and vantage points- both good and bad- of this strategic decision, and delves into the question of ethical practices as it relates to out-of-network billing. Students will explore the legal, societal, and economic implications of EmCare's business model, grappling with questions of business ethics and responsibility to customers. As EVHC contemplates reducing the out-of-network billing practices of its divisions including EmCare, the company faces important questions around financial viability, which serve as an opportunity for students to develop recommendations and novel approaches to EVHC's strategic quandary. Ethical challenges are common to healthcare organizations as they develop and implement strategy. Organizations must deal with questions of profitability and performance against the backdrop of making self-guided decisions around social responsibility and ethical practices. The case provides relevant context regarding emergency medicine, out-of-network billing, and payer-provider-hospital relationships. With this background, students are encouraged to consider the gamut of considerations, some of which are not so obvious, when weighing strategic decisions that bear in mind social and ethical implications.
Arbusta was a social enterprise in the ICT sector, recognized for both the quality of its services and for employing disadvantaged youth. It had more than 300 employees at its headquarters in Buenos Aires and in its offices in Rosario, Montevideo and MedellÃn. By 2020, after six years of building Arbusta, each of its three founders was focusing on an important issue for the organization: i.e., close attention to customer relations, develop the talent of each person at Arbusta, and find better ways to structure Arbusta as a space where social and economic aspects coexisted. Through their testimonies and others from collaborators and clients, the case describes the evolution of this social enterprise. The dilemma faced by the three founders of Arbusta was about how to grow: should Arbusta specialize in a basic service such as testing or should it expand its range of services to include the development of the company's human talent?
In 2020, the chief executive officer of Tella Oy, a small Finnish hat-making firm, wanted to achieve €2 million in turnover. She had been pursuing a regional growth strategy with some success since 2016, when she had founded the business after acquiring the long-established family firm. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm had abandoned its internationalization plans and began fabricating personal protective clothing. When the chief executive officer met with consultants, several expansion options were raised: remaining regionally focused, entering into exclusive supply arrangements, pursuing opportunities in Asia, licensing her designs, or becoming a fully online retailer. As a small firm with no permanent employees, which of these various options could Tella Oy realistically pursue? More importantly, was this chief executive officer ready to give up her role as chief designer to take on the role of managing director?
Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. produced and sold recreational cannabis in Canada-a market that after legalization was characterized by volatility in supply, demand, and regulations. Nonetheless, Delta 9 grew rapidly, and March 31, 2020, marked Delta 9's best-ever fiscal quarter. However, Delta 9's share prices had deflated over the previous year and the economy had recently been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, there was considerable uncertainty regarding the outlook of Delta 9's three main business segments, each facing unique challenges and opportunities. The chief executive officer must decide how to allocate existing capital to keep Delta 9 on the path to growth.
In October 2020, Revlon faced a crossroads. While it had been struggling with high levels of debt before COVID-19, the pandemic had caused it to go further into debt. Unlike other financial crises, many consumers had stopped buying skincare or cosmetics, and sales of Revlon products had fallen. Now, a series of bonds maturing in February 2021 loomed, and Revlon faced a series of options on how to renegotiate its debts with its creditors.
In 2019, the People's Republic of China (PRC) turned seventy-years-old and became the longest active authoritarian regime in recent history. By then, China was the world's second largest economy by GDP (after the United States), and a high-technology industrial powerhouse, with ambitions to bring connectivity infrastructure to developing nations. By the time China's fifth generation leader Xi Jinping took office in 2012, the Chinese Communist Party had presided over decades of unprecedented economic growth while maintaining a monopoly on political power. By 2021, Xi showed no signs of choosing a successor or stepping down after the customary two five-year terms. Despite promising more and deeper market reforms, the PRC at 70 appeared to oversee an increasingly complex economy and society with a party-state expanding its presence into nearly every aspect of civilian life. The world sought to make sense of China's changes and especially the apparent resurgence of the party-state. What would China's conservative turn mean for its future and its role in the world?
Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. produced and sold recreational cannabis in Canada—a market that after legalization was characterized by volatility in supply, demand, and regulations. Nonetheless, Delta 9 grew rapidly, and March 31, 2020, marked Delta 9’s best-ever fiscal quarter. However, Delta 9’s share prices had deflated over the previous year and the economy had recently been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, there was considerable uncertainty regarding the outlook of Delta 9’s three main business segments, each facing unique challenges and opportunities. The chief executive officer must decide how to allocate existing capital to keep Delta 9 on the path to growth.
In 2020, the chief executive officer of Tella Oy, a small Finnish hat-making firm, wanted to achieve €2 million in turnover. She had been pursuing a regional growth strategy with some success since 2016, when she had founded the business after acquiring the long-established family firm. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm had abandoned its internationalization plans and began fabricating personal protective clothing. When the chief executive officer met with consultants, several expansion options were raised: remaining regionally focused, entering into exclusive supply arrangements, pursuing opportunities in Asia, licensing her designs, or becoming a fully online retailer. As a small firm with no permanent employees, which of these various options could Tella Oy realistically pursue? More importantly, was this chief executive officer ready to give up her role as chief designer to take on the role of managing director?
In January 2019, one of the founding members and current board members of Londvolota, a South African trust formed by General Electric South Africa (GESA) in 2015, faced a challenge. Londvolota needed to improve the establishment and growth of entrepreneurial South African businesses as part of GESA’s development of local suppliers, which aimed to enable the best of these businesses to supply the global GE network. The initiative represented a major contribution to supporting the South African economy; however, the board was considering updating its criteria for selecting the businesses for development. How should the organization adjust its criteria to avoid failures and increase the initiative’s success rate?
In early April 2020, COVID-19 began impacting trade, commerce, and industry globally. The founder and president of Innovative Automation Inc., a custom machine builder in the small and medium enterprise sector in Ontario, Canada, was facing two main dilemmas. First, how should he ensure that the internal channels of communication at the company remain open as its employees-like everyone in the rest of the province and indeed the rest of the world-dealt with a largely unknown virus? Second, how should the company enforce social distancing-made mandatory by the provincial government in its bid to contain the spread of the virus-at its manufacturing facility?
In August 2004, Interbolsa's risk management committee had to decide upon a request to double the authorized quota for repurchase agreements (repos) on Interbolsa's own stock. Two months earlier, Jorge Arabia had joined Interbolsa, the largest stock brokerage firm in Colombia, as CFO. In this role, he had a seat in the risk management committee. Arabia had noticed that these repos carried large and diverse risks, not only for the firm but also for other stakeholders, that would lead to an eventual solvency crisis if they were not contained. And the repo business as conducted at Interbolsa entailed conflicts of interest, violated fiduciary duty to the firm's clients, and relied upon lax reporting practices to make transacted volumes meet limits imposed by regulation. However, this business was an important source of revenue for Interbolsa's majority shareholders, including the firm's CEO. The field-based A case asks students what they could do if they were in Arabia's role and wanted to stop the repo time-bomb. Students must create an action plan, based on information available in the case, aimed at preventing further increases in the repo quota. In the B case, the two faculty case authors reflect upon the problem and discuss what they think Arabia could have done to try to prevent the increase in repo operations.
In August 2004, Interbolsa's risk management committee had to decide upon a request to double the authorized quota for repurchase agreements (repos) on Interbolsa's own stock. Two months earlier, Jorge Arabia had joined Interbolsa, the largest stock brokerage firm in Colombia, as CFO. In this role, he had a seat in the risk management committee. Arabia had noticed that these repos carried large and diverse risks, not only for the firm but also for other stakeholders, that would lead to an eventual solvency crisis if they were not contained. And the repo business as conducted at Interbolsa entailed conflicts of interest, violated fiduciary duty to the firm's clients, and relied upon lax reporting practices to make transacted volumes meet limits imposed by regulation. However, this business was an important source of revenue for Interbolsa's majority shareholders, including the firm's CEO. The field-based A case asks students what they could do if they were in Arabia's role and wanted to stop the repo time-bomb. Students must create an action plan, based on information available in the case, aimed at preventing further increases in the repo quota. In this B case, the two faculty case authors reflect upon the problem and discuss what they think Arabia could have done to try to prevent the increase in repo operations.
In January 2020, Founders Factory (FF) Executive Chairman Brent Hoberman and CEO Henry Lane Fox were considering FF's expansion strategy. FF operated as a venture capital (VC) fund built around an accelerator and incubator, and organized around sectors within technology innovation-media, education, beauty, travel, finance, home & hygiene, AI & big data, and retail. FF sought a quasi-exclusive corporate partner to fund investments in each sector. By 2020, FF had 11 partners across 9 sectors; it had raised more than £280 million and launched nearly 100 startups. FF had three offices in addition to its London headquarters-in Johannesburg, Paris, and New York City. Each was set up as an independent operating company with roughly the same ownership structure. Deploying a "franchising" model limited FF London's financial risk; it also enabled each satellite office to leverage FF's reputation and resources while operating with a fair degree of autonomy. Hoberman and Lane Fox were considering other approaches to adding their next international office. With those thoughts in mind, the pair were meeting with their leadership team to address a series of questions related to organizational design: should they maintain their current ownership and operating structure, and continue to establish each new office as its own operating company? Or should they pursue an expansion strategy with a centralized approach and scale by adopting a more traditional corporate structure?
The UK government's Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) needed to hire a new associate and were trying to increase the diversity of their job candidates. This decision was based on academic research showing that recruiters and managers often fell into common traps like "stereotype" and "affinity" bias, where they hired people who looked the part or who were similar in appearance or background as themselves. To overcome these biases, the team had spent hours using a permanent marker to redact the names and educational information from each candidate's CVs, one-by-one. This painstaking process inspired Kate Glazebrook to develop Applied-a technological solution to debias hiring. Applied was a recruitment and hiring platform that used technology to eliminate biased language in job ads and used task-based assessments to reduce favoritism, among other features. Years after founding the company, Glazebrook considered asking her clients to remove CVs altogether. Could Glazebrook convince her new and existing customers to use the platform, even after taking away CVs?