Supplement to case UV7520. The A case describes the views of the two leading candidates for US President, William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley, along with those of three other figures: J. P. Morgan, Mary Elizabeth Lease, and Eugene Debs. The task for the student is to assess the role of money and financial crises in the evolving political landscape-these five people reflect policy positions across the political spectrum. The main controversy in the case is whether only gold, or both gold and silver, should back the dollar, an issue that has been simmering for about a quarter-century and that is resolved in the election of 1896. The B case serves as an epilogue, describing the results of the election of 1896 and its effects on US financial policy, as well as the later history of the Populist Party and the main figures in the case.
In 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes must decide whether to sign the Bland-Allison Act and commit the United States to minting silver coins and thus return to a bimetal standard of currency. At issue is whether to grow the nation's money supply to sustain its galloping rate of economic development, or to constrain the money supply growth to enable the country to return to the international gold standard at the pre-Civil War parity to the British pound. National sentiment immediately after the war had been on the side of currency deflation, but the Panic of 1873 marked a turn in sentiment toward inflation. These cases focus on how and why that turn occurred, and its consequences.
Supplement to case UV7525. In 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes must decide whether to sign the Bland-Allison Act and commit the United States to minting silver coins and thus return to a bimetal standard of currency. At issue is whether to grow the nation's money supply to sustain its galloping rate of economic development, or to constrain the money supply growth to enable the country to return to the international gold standard at the pre-Civil War parity to the British pound. National sentiment immediately after the war had been on the side of currency deflation, but the Panic of 1873 marked a turn in sentiment toward inflation. These cases focus on how and why that turn occurred, and its consequences. The B case provides an epilogue.
Set in the spring of 2018, the US Congress contemplated changes to the Dodd-Frank Act in an effort to improve financial regulation in the United States. The case offers details on the slow recovery from the financial crisis of 2008, on protest and political movements that ensued, on the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, and on 14 proposals for new financial regulation. As of 2018, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jeb Hensarling offer differing regulatory agendas for the financial services industry in the United States.
Set in January 2009, this case summarizes the events surrounding the financial crisis of 2008 as well as leading theories of its origin. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson must brief the incoming Obama administration on what initiatives have been taken to fight the financial crisis and on what remains to be done. This is an exercise in self-evaluation: What should he say? The case highlights eight notable departures (or "pivots") in public policy.
Asahi Kasei Corporation (Asahi Kasei), a diversified company based in Japan, had partnerships with weavers in India for its cupro yarn, which was used to make traditional garments for Indian women. The company developed a unique, inclusive value chain in India and began focusing on enhancing the development impact of its operations there. With a growing market for cupro yarn in India, Asahi Kasei expanded the capacity of its production facility in Japan in 2014, even though the domestic market for the product was shrinking. However, in 2015, the product started to face intense price competition in India from viscose rayon, which was an inferior but cheaper product. In 2016, the company had to address the competitive pressures while considering its economic and social objectives.
In June 2016, Sumayyah Sayed, a resident of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, decided to donate food to those who needed it through a sharing fridge for the full month of Ramadan. When she noted the extent of the need for more help, she turned to social media. What followed demonstrated the power of social media campaigns and the collective management of supply chains and perhaps initiated a new entrepreneurial venture. Within one month, the Facebook Inc. group Sayed had created to support her Ramadan Sharing Fridges initiative had 22,000 members, 165 donating fridges had been set up, and the story was creating waves in international media. What kind of entrepreneurial style was this? Was it sustainable? Was it an alternative model that could be adopted by others who aspired to set up business ventures, or was it a fluke?
By early 2018, Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon), one of the world's most valuable companies and the largest online retailer in the world, had grown dramatically since its beginnings in 1994. The company that had started as an online bookseller now sold merchandise and digital content in more than 30 categories, including electronics, clothing, books, furniture, and streaming music and video. It sold its own products and listed products for sale by over two million third-party sellers. It provided on-demand cloud-computing services and offered fulfillment and shipping services to businesses, and it had recently entered grocery retailing through its purchase of Whole Foods Market. With 2017 shipping costs that exceeded $21 billion, the company was working to establish greater control over its supply chain network and capabilities. Amazon was selling a huge variety of products in many formats, and the chief executive officer needed to determine how to structure the company's supply chain in order to support its strategy and growth objectives. What supply chain capabilities would Amazon need as its business model continued to evolve?
This note reviews seven recurrent factors in financial crises (runnable debt, rising leverage, financial innovation, complexity, contagion, cognitive bias, incompetence, and ethical violations) and some 17 responses aimed at preventing or mitigating crises.
This note shapes a framework of competing policy priorities for governments in responding to a financial crisis: rescue, relief, recovery, and reform. The dominant considerations are where, when, how, and why governments should choose the order of these policy priorities. The second part of the note highlights six hurdles to policy making: ideologies, interests, incentives, institutions, innovations, and infrastructure.
By early 2018, Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon), one of the world’s most valuable companies and the largest online retailer in the world, had grown dramatically since its beginnings in 1994. The company that had started as an online bookseller now sold merchandise and digital content in more than 30 categories, including electronics, clothing, books, furniture, and streaming music and video. It sold its own products and listed products for sale by over two million third-party sellers. It provided on-demand cloud-computing services and offered fulfillment and shipping services to businesses, and it had recently entered grocery retailing through its purchase of Whole Foods Market. With 2017 shipping costs that exceeded $21 billion, the company was working to establish greater control over its supply chain network and capabilities. Amazon was selling a huge variety of products in many formats, and the chief executive officer needed to determine how to structure the company’s supply chain in order to support its strategy and growth objectives. What supply chain capabilities would Amazon need as its business model continued to evolve?
In the spring of 2018, Kinya Seto, president and CEO of LIXIL Group Corporation, a major housing and building products and services company, called a meeting at the company's head office in central Tokyo to discuss how to implement the new three-year strategic plan. LIXIL had been established in 2011 through a merger of five of Japan's major companies across a broad spectrum of building materials and other housing-related businesses. The company had subsequently acquired established international brands such as American Standard and GROHE and had become a global company of over 70,000 employees operating in more than 150 countries. Its business lines included manufacturing and marketing construction materials and products for both commercial buildings and private houses, with subsidiary home-building and renovation franchises. The predecessor companies that formed LIXIL had each had a long history of business success, some dating back a hundred years. To accelerate the implementation of LIXIL's global strategy, Seto and his senior management team had expressed ideas about creativity and innovation centered around differentiated products, services and business models. How could Seto position LIXIL for success? How much integration was needed at LIXIL? How could Seto build one LIXIL brand that would be recognized globally? Could design, new products, and a shift in business model from B2B to B2C be the drivers of growth? How should Seto execute LIXIL's three-year plan? What is or are LIXIL's source(s) of competitive advantage?
This case focuses on the genesis and development of the open innovation unit at BT, the strategic value of the unit, and its operating model. As business environment becomes increasingly dynamic and firms are pressured to achieve faster innovation rates, there may be accompanying shifts in the way they pursue innovation. This case illustrates the challenges that this poses to large corporations as well as the key activities the open innovation unit engages in to deal with them. In particular, it must manage relationships with various stakeholders to leverage the value of matching external ideas and technologies with internal resources and capabilities. The case poses the question: Should the open innovation unit fully incubate some ideas, instead of always seeking partnership with commitment from a customer-facing unit?
Hironobu Tsujiguchi, a Japanese chocolatier, had chosen an unusual path to success as a pastry chef. Instead of spending most of his time in his kitchen and focusing on one or two confectionery categories like most pastry chefs, he chose to work on diverse projects and leverage his reputation as a winning competitive chef to experiment with tastes and achieve business success. While Tsujiguchi enjoyed popularity and success in a broad array of projects, such as managing 10 brands and 26 shops across different categories, he also felt the need to reinvent his core confectionery business since not all stores of all his brands were thriving as he had wished. Equally central to the mission was the need to restructure the brand portfolio and operational model. Tsujiguchi asked himself: How can I orchestrate these efforts? Can I continue to rely on the diversification model that has led me to success so far, or should I be more focused? What should I continue, start, or stop doing to stay relevant?
It was generally accepted that the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for a company reflected an appropriate hurdle rate (minimum return or benchmark) for that company's investments. But a WACC for Langtry Falls could not be calculated because the company did not have publicly traded stock, a critical source of one input to the calculation. However, the benchmark for publicly traded competing companies would be meaningful to Langtry-these companies were facing the same underlying risks and competing under the same economic conditions. An average of the industry WACCs would be a defensible and informative benchmark for Langtry.
In August 1971, President Richard Nixon had to decide how to respond to a growing "run" on the US dollar. Declining confidence in the dollar had led some national trading partners to redeem dollars for gold at the US Treasury's gold window. In the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar was the world's reserve currency. To supply sufficient money to accommodate growth in the global economy, the United States would inevitably run deficits in its balance of payments-which would ultimately force it to devalue its currency. The Bretton Woods system seemed engineered to fail. Nixon's two dominant policy alternatives were (a) do nothing; and (b) devalue the dollar by abandoning the commitment under the Bretton Woods Agreement to convert dollars into gold at $35/ounce. Students must assess the situation and recommend a course of action. The A case describes the Bretton Woods system, the run on the dollar, and Nixon's policy dilemma. The B case gives the text of Nixon's 1971 address outlining his New Economic Policy. The A and B abridged case shortens the total presentation by eliminating some of the quoted material; the student task in this case is to analyze Nixon's decision and decide on next steps. The C case presents a brief epilogue.
In August 1971, President Richard Nixon had to decide how to respond to a growing "run" on the US dollar. Declining confidence in the dollar had led some national trading partners to redeem dollars for gold at the US Treasury's gold window. In the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar was the world's reserve currency. To supply sufficient money to accommodate growth in the global economy, the United States would inevitably run deficits in its balance of payments-which would ultimately force it to devalue its currency. The Bretton Woods system seemed engineered to fail. Nixon's two dominant policy alternatives were (a) do nothing; and (b) devalue the dollar by abandoning the commitment under the Bretton Woods Agreement to convert dollars into gold at $35/ounce. Students must assess the situation and recommend a course of action. The A case describes the Bretton Woods system, the run on the dollar, and Nixon's policy dilemma. The B case gives the text of Nixon's 1971 address outlining his New Economic Policy. The A and B abridged case shortens the total presentation by eliminating some of the quoted material; the student task in this case is to analyze Nixon's decision and decide on next steps. The C case presents a brief epilogue.
In August 1971, President Richard Nixon had to decide how to respond to a growing "run" on the US dollar. Declining confidence in the dollar had led some national trading partners to redeem dollars for gold at the US Treasury's gold window. In the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar was the world's reserve currency. To supply sufficient money to accommodate growth in the global economy, the United States would inevitably run deficits in its balance of payments-which would ultimately force it to devalue its currency. The Bretton Woods system seemed engineered to fail. Nixon's two dominant policy alternatives were (a) do nothing; and (b) devalue the dollar by abandoning the commitment under the Bretton Woods Agreement to convert dollars into gold at $35/ounce. Students must assess the situation and recommend a course of action. The A case describes the Bretton Woods system, the run on the dollar, and Nixon's policy dilemma. The B case gives the text of Nixon's 1971 address outlining his New Economic Policy. The A and B abridged case shortens the total presentation by eliminating some of the quoted material; the student task in this case is to analyze Nixon's decision and decide on next steps. The C case presents a brief epilogue.
"In August 1971, President Richard Nixon had to decide how to respond to a growing "run" on the US dollar. Declining confidence in the dollar had led some national trading partners to redeem dollars for gold at the US Treasury's gold window. In the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar was the world's reserve currency. To supply sufficient money to accommodate growth in the global economy, the United States would inevitably run deficits in its balance of payments-which would ultimately force it to devalue its currency. The Bretton Woods system seemed engineered to fail. Nixon's two dominant policy alternatives were (a) do nothing; and (b) devalue the dollar by abandoning the commitment under the Bretton Woods Agreement to convert dollars into gold at $35/ounce. Students must assess the situation and recommend a course of action. The A case describes the Bretton Woods system, the run on the dollar, and Nixon's policy dilemma. The B case gives the text of Nixon's 1971 address outlining his New Economic Policy. The A and B abridged case shortens the total presentation by eliminating some of the quoted material; the student task in this case is to analyze Nixon's decision and decide on next steps. The C case presents a brief epilogue.