Singapore Post Limited (SingPost), Singapore's sole Public Postal Licensee, had set its sights on becoming the regional leader in e-commerce logistics and trusted communications. This goal was achieved through multi-million-dollar acquisitions in warehouses, freight forwarders, and parcel pickup services. Among the acquisitions were the 'Famous Acquisitions' comprising Famous Holdings Pte Ltd, FS Mackenzie Limited, and Famous Pacific Shipping (NZ) Limited. Between December 2015 and May 2016, a chain of events related to the 'Famous Acquisitions' unfolded at SingPost: its public admission of lapses in corporate governance disclosure, a special audit, a corporate governance review, resignation of the lead independent director, and change of the board chairman. The case discusses these events and describes what SingPost subsequently did to improve its corporate governance practices.
Garrett Moran joined Year Up (a workforce development program) in late 2013. Tasked with systematizing and scaling operations, Moran spearheaded a number of changes that allowed Year Up to serve 3,000 youth in 2016 up from 1,800 youth annually when he started. While preparing for the future, he expected that Year Up would soon have the ability to serve 10,000 students annually by 2021. This goal would demand a pace of growth that YU had not yet experienced - increasing annual growth from an already accelerated 400 students per year over the past three years to an average of 1,000 students per year through 2021. The path forward was complicated and this case covers the challenges and opportunities of reaching scale by expanding their direct service program and exploring other ways to close the opportunity gap.
This case invites students to assess the financial performance of FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service, Inc., two firms that have long competed for dominance in the overnight delivery industry. The case is designed to introduce students to corporate value creation and its sources. It requires no numerical computations; instead, it asks the student to interpret the results and to reflect upon their implications.
The case - Miami-Dade County and Sea Level Rise - focuses on the politics and economics of local adaptation to the threat of climate change impacts. Specifically it focuses on whether a jurisdiction -Miami-Dade County - should amend a draft consent decree to fix and upgrade the county's sewerage system by including investments in adaptation to climate change. The County has three sewerage treatment plants, all of which are built on the coast and thus vulnerable to possible sea level rise, particularly in an era of more intense storms. The case provides a basis to assess three key issues: 1. How certain are the possible impacts of sea level rise over the next thirty years?; 2. What are the political and economic challenges of allocating present financial revenues for benefits in the future that could be significant, but are uncertain?; and 3. If such investments are approved, who should pay for them?
Set in November 2015, the case follows Sisters in Solidarity (SiS), a social enterprise established to emancipate marginalised women in Lucknow, India. SIS was an offshoot of Study Hall Education Foundation (SHEF), a non-profit organisation that promoted feminist pedagogy in the educational establishments under its wings. SHEF also provided high quality education to underprivileged girls from the slum areas through the Prerna Girls School (PGS). The mothers of PGS students, deprived of economic opportunities due to lack of skills and education, suffered in a vicious cycle of poverty, domestic abuse and oppression. Observing the positive outcomes that education and employability brought about in the lives of their daughters, these mothers approached SHEF for help. Shibani Sahni, daughter of SHEF's founder, spearheaded the establishment of SiS, which aimed to emancipate women by improving their employability through vocational training. The enterprise had three business units-DiDi's Foods, DiDi's Driving and DiDi's Creations. However, while the food unit of SIS had evolved into a self-sustaining and profitable unit and the driving unit was a cost neutral vertical integration that helped SiS achieve operational efficiency, the creations unit (crafts and fashions) was struggling and unprofitable. Sahni had to overhaul the business strategy of DiDi's Creations and turn the unit around. Resources were stretched; she would have to revisit all the business segments in the portfolio to sustain profitability and growth. In order to support more beneficiaries, SiS would have to scale up, but Sahni must assess the organisational readiness for this to take place. This case offers an opportunity to learn about revenue growth strategies, profitability evaluation and divestment decisions and various expansion strategies available for a social enterprise. The case would also be helpful in understanding the elements of sustainability and scalability essential for social enterprise.
This case is set in May 2016, and discusses the unfolding of a corporate governance saga at Singapore Post Limited ("SingPost"), Singapore's designated Public Postal Licensee. The narrative begins in December 2015, when SingPost announces that due to an 'administrative oversight', it had, in an SGX announcement on 18 July 2014, not disclosed lead independent director Keith Tay's interest in a 2014 acquisition. Tay was non-executive Chairman and held 34.5 percent stake in corporate finance adviser Stirling Coleman, which had acted for the sellers in the acquisition. The announcement added that Tay had, however, abstained from all voting by the board in relation to the buyout. In the face of a public outcry, SingPost decided to have a special audit conducted to examine the conflict of interest issues surrounding the acquisition. Regulators and shareholders alike expressed grave concern at the contents of the special audit report. What could SingPost do to win back its stakeholders' confidence, and ensure that its corporate governance standards and mechanisms were considered truly effective? And what would be the larger ramifications of SingPost's lapses on the corporate governance environment in Singapore, a country that prided itself on both the efficacy of its regulatory environment and the ease of doing business? This case facilitates discussion about corporate governance, and helps students understand the importance of corporate governance mechanisms in monitoring the firm's management and strategic decisions. This case study can be used to analyse the key internal governance of the role of the board of directors, and its role in controlling managerial decisions. In addition, the case can be used to explain how the external corporate governance mechanism, that is, the market for corporate control, also serves as an important factor in keeping a watch over top management's strategic decisions.
Edwin Lee, is a fourth generation member of the Lee family. He owns and runs Sun Hing Group, and is a board member of the Simon KY Lee Foundation. The Foundation was established in 1985 and managed by Edwin's grandfather until his passing in 2010. Largely inspired by the family's experience with other charitable organizations, it underwent a major reorganization to accommodate a business model where social innovation is central to the Foundation's charitable activities, and where the entire multi-generational family volunteers to participate in the decision-making process. As next in line to be the senior decision maker, Edwin's challenge is to reconcile his professional ambitions of making a large-scale social impact as a philanthropist with his family's wish for him to become the guardian of the family's business. The question is, to what extent Edwin should be involved simultaneously with the family business operations and The Simon KY Lee Foundation's charitable activities in achieving his personal and family's objectives and in ensuring the Foundation's future development?
In April 2015, Shannon Enberg, Managing Director of Real Assets at the United Kingdom Telecom and Technology Pension Scheme (UKTTPS), received a startling memo from the fund's board of directors. In a nutshell, the board sought to reduce the fund's multimillion-pound annual expenditure on management fees by asking all managing directors to drastically cut the number of private managers being used to manage UKTTPS assets. Enberg was told to cut the number of her external managers in half, but given the illiquidity of her private equity investments in commercial property, she would be allowed to make the decision to rehire each manager (or not) as each of her investments matured. UKTTPS had two investments in closed-end property funds that had just liquidated their final holdings at the end of 2014. Both managers had new funds being raised that could recycle the investment proceeds, but now that she was being forced to cut back, Enberg wondered whether either was really worth rehiring.
The set of four cases composing the Fur Industry Merger Exercise affords the opportunity for a merger negotiation among students. Three potential buyers (Adams, Jindo, and Lessard) compete for two potential sellers (Adams and Gallery of Furs). The cases give detailed financial forecasts for the target firms that are unique to each party. The forecasts form the basis for valuation of the target companies. The merger opportunities are prompted by major competitive changes in the worldwide fur-garment industry and by adverse changes in demand in U.S. fur retailing. The exercise affords insights into the challenges of cross-border acquisitions. Groupe Lessard is a Canadian producer of fur garments and is considering obtaining U.S. retail channels of distribution. The "Groupe Lessard" case may be used on a stand-alone basis to illustrate aspects of valuation in a merger setting.
The set of four cases composing the Fur Industry Merger Exercise affords the opportunity for a merger negotiation among students. Three potential buyers (Adams, Jindo, and Lessard) compete for two potential sellers (Adams and Gallery of Furs). The cases give detailed financial forecasts for the target firms that are unique to each party. The forecasts form the basis for valuation of the target companies. The merger opportunities are prompted by major competitive changes in the worldwide fur-garment industry and by adverse changes in demand in U.S. fur retailing. The exercise affords insights into the challenges of cross-border acquisitions. Gallery of Furs is the second largest retailer of fur coats and garments in the United States. Its recent poor financial performance has made it the target of an uninvited raid. In response, the company desires to sell its Fur Retailing Division on the most advantageous terms. The "Gallery of Furs" case may be used on a stand-alone basis to illustrate aspects of valuation in a merger setting.
Next India Traveler (NIT) was a travel and tour operator based in Chandigarh, India. The young start-up had been in business since 2012. It offered both inbound and outbound tour and travel packages that covered all the major tourist destinations in India and the Asia-Pacific region. NIT's motto was to provide its clients with best-in-class services for all aspects of travel and tourism, all under one roof. An upcoming meeting with a venture capitalist firm was crucial to NIT's future plans for growth, and the investors would certainly want to have a clear idea of the company's value. Thus, before making his pitch to the venture capital firm, NIT's owner wanted to perform a valuation of his start-up. Unfortunately, the lack of long-term data and a proven methodology for valuing relatively new companies meant the owner faced a considerable challenge in terms of identifying the most appropriate model for the task.
As a global company based in Hong Kong, Techtronics Industries (TTI) is sitting on top of the world. Since its incorporation in 1985 as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), TTI grew into a leading producer and brand-owner of power equipment and floor-care products in North America, Europe and Australia. At an investors meeting in 2015, it boasted of an unbroken 4-year growth of sales revenues and double digit net profits. TTI attributes its success to its passion for product innovation, manufacturing excellence, and unwavering devotion to specific markets. To sustain its growth, TTI was convinced that the Asian region would be its next frontier. How should it go about deciding which countries to target? What are the challenges and risks in introducing TTI's premium products to emerging markets?
Known for manufacturing industrial equipment, GE has decided to invest in software and analytics capabilities to become a digital industrial company. They have also created a software platform that they hope will power the Industrial Internet. GE executives forecasted that the company will generate $15 billion in digital revenues by 2020. What steps does GE need to take to reach their goal?
Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving, marked the official start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States. It was a day that generally brought smiles to the executives of retailing giant Nordstrom, Inc. (Nordstrom). However, on November 28, 2014, Nordstrom had to deal with the tragic loss of a seasonal worker at a Nordstrom store in downtown Chicago. She had been killed in a workplace violence incident involving her former boyfriend. The event was a reminder of an earlier incident involving an Indianapolis-based employee who was terminated in November 2013. Even though Nordstrom had been a strong advocate for workplace safety, the retailer had endured public scrutiny after terminating the employee, who was victimized by her ex-boyfriend. These two workplace violence incidents made it necessary for Nordstrom's management to determine how best to protect all Nordstrom stakeholders in the future.
The case traces the birth of Shang Xia, a joint venture between the Hermès Group and Chinese designer Jiang Qiong Er. Launched in 2009 in Shanghai, the new brand's core mission is to revive and promote China's 5,000-year-old cultural heritage and leverage Chinese craftsmanship to design contemporary products. Describing the brand evolution over its first eight years of existence, the case allows for an exploration of the challenges associated with creating a luxury brand and reconciling several strategic imperatives: the need to build a strong, desirable, and prestigious brand identity and grow a profitable and sustainable business. The case also provides an opportunity to discuss the benefits and challenges associated with 1) building a luxury brand from scratch and 2) being a luxury brand "made in China" with global ambitions.