In February 2016, the owner of Moonka Automobile was struggling with the strategic decision he needed to make to increase revenue and improve profitability. Moonka Automobile had been in business as a full-service, two-wheeler dealership for eight years in India, had a strong customer base, a good reputation, and a positive relationship with the manufacturer, Honda. But, competition was increasing and business growth was slowing. The owner identified various alternatives for growth, but given the changes taking place in the two-wheeler market, the owner’s limited resources, and his excellent relationship with Honda, he needed to make some difficult decisions.
On July 24, 2013, the management of Ambuja Cements Limited announced the merger of Holcim (India) Private Limited with Ambuja Cements in a two-stage process. First, Ambuja Cements would buy a 24 per cent stake of Holcim (India) from Holderind Investments Ltd. of Mauritius for ?35 billion. Subsequently, Holcim (India) would be merged with Ambuja Cements. The management of Ambuja Cements projected huge synergy from the merger, whereas proxy firm advisors called it corporate misgovernance. The case gives students an opportunity to analyze this two-step transaction to determine whether it compromised the interests of minority shareholders. The case also presents an opportunity to estimate the marginal impact of the transfer of cash and the cancellation of shares on the stock price of the acquiring company.
On July 24, 2013, the management of Ambuja Cements Limited announced the merger of Holcim (India) Private Limited with Ambuja Cements in a two-stage process. First, Ambuja Cements would buy a 24 per cent stake of Holcim (India) from Holderind Investments Ltd. of Mauritius for ₹35 billion. Subsequently, Holcim (India) would be merged with Ambuja Cements. The management of Ambuja Cements projected huge synergy from the merger, whereas proxy firm advisors called it corporate misgovernance. The case gives students an opportunity to analyze this two-step transaction to determine whether it compromised the interests of minority shareholders. The case also presents an opportunity to estimate the marginal impact of the transfer of cash and the cancellation of shares on the stock price of the acquiring company.
OYO Rooms had been growing exponentially since its inception in 2013. By January 2016, it had registered 1 million check-ins and was set to become India's largest budget hotel chain. The venture's unique business model helped it to offer effective solutions for the difficulties that were faced by customers seeking budget hotel accommodation in India. OYO Rooms' potential for rapid growth made it a candidate for even greater expansion in the global arena. However, OYO Rooms needed to prove its ability to sustain growth in the Indian budget accommodations market. The company's success and the opening of a huge untapped market had led to a flurry of competition. Would the entrepreneurial founder be able to sustain his company's early momentum in the wake of increased competition? What would be the best strategy to achieve growth and monetize the company's operations? Should OYO Rooms diversify into allied services or apply a more focused strategy? The founder needed to answer these questions to retain the company's dominant position in the market.
In October 2015, a low-level staff accountant was suddenly ecstatic about his career prospects. The Chartered Professional Accountant recruitment process had been gruelling, but the end result made it all the more satisfying. After nearly two years of networking and getting to know firms while they closely evaluated him-and which concluded with seemingly endless interviews-the staff accountant had finally received job offers from his top choices. However, thrilled as he was with the result, he now faced a whole new challenge: what approach would he take to deliver the news to his current employer, where he planned to remain employed with for the next 11 months? Should he tell his employer immediately and risk termination and/or a tense work environment? Or should he keep it a secret as long as possible?
In February 2016, the owner of Moonka Automobile was struggling with the strategic decision he needed to make to increase revenue and improve profitability. Moonka Automobile had been in business as a full-service, two-wheeler dealership for eight years in India, had a strong customer base, a good reputation, and a positive relationship with the manufacturer, Honda. But, competition was increasing and business growth was slowing. The owner identified various alternatives for growth, but given the changes taking place in the two-wheeler market, the owner's limited resources, and his excellent relationship with Honda, he needed to make some difficult decisions.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a federally funded research institution within NASA, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has played a large role in many space and planetary explorations, particularly to the planet Mars. As a project-based organization, JPL has many opportunities to learn between successive missions, but there are many cultural, structural and incentive-based challenges to the development and exchange of experience-based knowledge. The main case decision point focuses on one such challenge in particular: how to instill in junior engineers the practice-based experience of their seniors. Jennifer Trosper, project manager for the Mars 2020 mission, is trying to decide whether or not to seek funding for a hands-on training program building miniature, educational versions of a Mars surface vehicle. However, the cases address a number of other managerial decisions, such as determining the balance between innovation and replication of prior solutions, given that Trosper has been charged with re-using engineering designs from prior projects, but for an expanded mission. The cases also explore generic knowledge-transfer issues faced by JPL's Chief Knowledge Officer, David Oberhettinger, such as the role of documentation, uses of formal "lessons learned," and how best to use the scarce time of the most valuable JPL engineers.
At the conclusion of the (A) case, Jennifer Trosper needed to decide whether or not to throw her support behind the training and outreach represented by the ROV-E program to build small rovers like the ones used on the surface of Mars by NASA JPL. The (B) case describes her decision and provides further information on her subsequent efforts made after the initial decision.
In September 2008, Hank Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Tim Geithner, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, found themselves in the eye of the mightiest financial storm since the Great Depression. After months of battling the crisis, they were confronted with the largest problem they had encountered yet-Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank, was teetering on the edge of failure. This case asks students to consider what the appropriate response from the policymakers and central bankers should have been.
In September 2008, Hank Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Tim Geithner, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, found themselves in the eye of the mightiest financial storm since the Great Depression. After months of battling the crisis, they were confronted with the largest problem they had encountered yet-Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank, was teetering on the edge of failure. This case asks students to consider what the appropriate response from the policymakers and central bankers should have been.
In 2015, Toshiba, a conglomerate best known throughout the world for its electronics products, announced to the world that it has overstated profits by 151.8 billion yen (US$1.2 billion) over a seven-year period. The conduct of Toshiba's management and employees left a deep stain on Japan that threw corporate culture and corporate governance practices into turmoil. This case presents a comprehensive overview of the Toshiba accounting scandal. It examines how the accounting irregularities in evidence at Toshiba spread from a relatively minor case of accounting misrepresentation to corporate-wide deception ingrained in the cultural fabric of the organization. The research highlights how issues of corporate culture can undermine even the most robust corporate governance strategies, and examines some of the challenges Toshiba faces in its attempts to recover from the biggest accounting scandal in contemporary Japanese history.
Spin Master, a children’s toy and entertainment company, was getting ready for an initial public offering (IPO). Its founders were weighing their options with regard to some core issues: What was the right positioning for Spin Master with potential investors? What was the right approach to valuing the business? How did that approach translate into enterprise value, equity value, and share price for the IPO?
In June 2013, the senior vice-president of talent management of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), recognized an organizational need at the bank. He realized that, to build a strong workforce, CIBC needed to move from simply filling diversity targets through recruitment to a focus on the development and advancement of a leadership talent pool. Towards that goal, he appointed the vice-president of executive talent management to lead a new diversity and inclusion department. CIBC had an even representation of women at an aggregate level, but the company wanted to improve the level of representation at the executive level. The vice-president of executive talent management conducted an internal and external analysis of gender diversity and inclusion in the financial sector. She then wondered how to continue the momentum by leveraging CIBC’s strong track record as a company committed to diversity, hoping to evolve the strategic focus on gender. She also wanted to determine which key leaders to engage and how best to secure their sponsorship.
Itamar Frankenthal was evaluating bank loan proposals to finance his acquisition of Rose Electronics Distributing Company ("Rose"). He contacted 40 small and large banks that lent in the region and that outreach and follow-up calls resulted in nine term sheets received from different lenders. With the proposals in-hand, he needed to decide which one was the most favorable.
Spin Master, a children's toy and entertainment company, was getting ready for an initial public offering (IPO). Its founders were weighing their options with regard to some core issues: What was the right positioning for Spin Master with potential investors? What was the right approach to valuing the business? How did that approach translate into enterprise value, equity value, and share price for the IPO?
In June 2013, the senior vice-president of talent management of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), recognized an organizational need at the bank. He realized that, to build a strong workforce, CIBC needed to move from simply filling diversity targets through recruitment to a focus on the development and advancement of a leadership talent pool. Towards that goal, he appointed the vice-president of executive talent management to lead a new diversity and inclusion department. CIBC had an even representation of women at an aggregate level, but the company wanted to improve the level of representation at the executive level. The vice-president of executive talent management conducted an internal and external analysis of gender diversity and inclusion in the financial sector. She then wondered how to continue the momentum by leveraging CIBC's strong track record as a company committed to diversity, hoping to evolve the strategic focus on gender. She also wanted to determine which key leaders to engage and how best to secure their sponsorship.
David Hamilton has opened Hamilton's Electronics Services, Inc. During the first year, he was too busy to keep much in the way of accounting records. Early in January of the following year, he hired a local CPA to reconstruct, in summary form, all the transactions that had occurred in his business during the previous year.
Several private startups, including Planetary Resources, SpaceX, and Deep Space Industries, had initiated plans to mine minerals in space. The ventures looked promising: an asteroid one kilometre in diameter contained, potentially, $20 trillion worth of industrial and precious metals. Governments had become involved in space exploration as well, with interests that ranged from projecting military power in space to claiming resources. The current legal framework surrounding space exploration was vague, but the United Nations Treaties and Principles on Outer Space recognized extraterrestrial resources as the "common heritage of humankind." What should a privately funded venture company consider when developing a strategy for space exploration and mining? What would be the concerns of a senior government official or a representative from a global organization such as the United Nations? Are the concerns different for different countries?