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Identifying an appropriate benchmark is an essential step in assessing a manager's performance. In the prospectus or fund advertising materials, a benchmark for the fund is typically identified, and the performance of the fund relative to that benchmark is given. The issue of concern is whether or not the benchmark provided has a similar risk profile to the fund.

A 2010 MBA graduate explored her options for full-time employment. She found the Ethical Business Company (EBC) and was instantly intrigued. Not only did the company consult on many of the ethical issues that were important to her, but it also had a flat organizational structure. Although it was a riskier choice than going with a larger and more established firm, she was excited about being able to use her skills in direct interaction with clients and senior executives, rather than having them hidden beneath multiple layers of hierarchy. But after three weeks at EBC, she wondered if a flat structure is right for all companies and all employees or if there are certain companies and people who fit better in the hierarchy more than others.

This technical note on ethics builds on and further develops the conversation about ethics. It provides background, language, and concepts to identify and analyze managerial problems from an ethics perspective. The focus of our use of these tools is to help managers understand the ethical dimensions of their decisions and to make defensible choices. Part 1 provides a brief summary of four traditions in ethics that are a key starting point for discussing what ethics is and how it works. Part 2 takes the broad summary from Part 1 and uses it to form four "decision rules" that are focused on application and used by managers to understand the moral dimensions of a given case. Part 3 highlights some of the key moral dimensions of thinking about ethics in a global context and provides a number of useful resources. Part 4 presents a series of tools for pushing decision-making in order to foster better choices and to limit the tendency to "rationalize" decisions.

Cate & Levi is a specialty gift manufacturer - primarily of children's toys and clothing - based in Toronto, Canada. The founder of Cate & Levi is pondering growth options for his firm, recognizing that the business model so successfully employed to earn the company its first $1 million in revenues is not likely to sustain the company's momentum. Just three years old, the company has grown dramatically in no small part due to its unique business model and design. Looking ahead, however, the founder is concerned that the business is not sustainable - the predominant raw materials used for the products are reclaimed wool sweaters, and each product is cut and sewn by hand both in-house and through contract labour across Canada. The case presents a series of growth alternatives for students to analyze and consider, contrasted against the constraints found in an adolescent business: constrained capital and human resources, limited brand recognition, and an underdeveloped supply chain.

A consultant had been asked by multiple clients for advice on how to manage generational differences in the workplace. According to experts in the area of generational differences, generations are defined by the watershed events and conditions that individuals are exposed to in their formative years. These experts believed that these common events and conditions shape individuals' attitudes, which in turn influence their core beliefs and work values. The consultant, like many others, felt that generational differences were overhyped in the literature. Nevertheless, her client wanted answers and she set out to find them by collecting a dataset on work values.The dataset contained over 1,000 responses across the four generations (Veterans, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y). It also contained enough responses to deal with the question of whether there were three sub-generations of Boomers.

Spreadsheet supplement for case W12142.

American Apparel, a popular clothing manufacturer, has socially progressive labour policies and uses significant environmental advances in its manufacturing process. In addition, it has a well-established philanthropic arm. Set against these socially responsible policies is the highly sexualized nature of the company's advertising. This element of the marketing mix seems, at least to some consumers, very much at odds with the other aims and policies of the company. The question facing students is whether this disconnect can be maintained or whether the brand's advertising should change.

Northern Drilling Inc., an exploration diamond-drilling contractor, has been asked to tender a bid for a lucrative, highly complex contract with Mond Nickel. Northern has no drills or crew currently available to work on the contract, which requires experienced drillers. Compounding the issue is a shortage of skilled labour in the industry. At the same time, Northern's biggest client, Noranda Nickel, is seeing poor geological results on a job in the same area. Northern's management needs to decide whether to incur additional costs and leave a capacity cushion in an effort to maintain its excellent relationship with its current client, or whether it should instead utilize the drills on the new job. The primary issue facing Northern's management is whether Northern can handle the new contract, both financially and technically, without compromising the current job.

Leaders of the Romanian telecommunications agency must decide about a proposed international merger and how to structure bandwidth auctions critical to the telecoms market. The case is designed to teach about regulatory choices from the perspective of a regulatory agency, but it also describes the competitive standing of domestic and international telecoms providers in Romania and the challenges of operating as a "foreign" multinational, even in the European Union where protection of national champions is supposedly obsolete. Policy tradeoffs are developed among approving, delaying, or denying the proposed merger of domestic Romtelecom with Greek-based Cosmote. Likewise, tradeoffs are described for bandwidth auctions, notably among public transparency, maximizing revenue, preventing collusion, promoting efficient use of spectrum, broadening coverage, and fostering innovation in products and services.

Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business was built on the sale of a complex manufactured product - color photographic film that was exceedingly difficult to manufacture - with correspondingly high barriers to entry. Over more than a century, it developed the complex chemistry and high speed coating technologies that enabled it to roll-coat tiny strips of plastic with as many as 24 layers of complex organic dyes and photosensitizers at thousands of square feet per minute. Its color film and paper products including Kodachrome and Kodacolor preserved many of the iconic images of the last century. Beginning in the 1990s, the company built a digital photography business, yet by 2012 the company was in reorganization and its prognosis was guarded. Kodak faced a particularly challenging analog to digital transition, like many companies that have faced the waves of creative destruction wrought by technological innovation. Why was an analog to digital transition in the core technology of a business particularly challenging? This note reviews some of the management research on how firms have fared with technology transitions, and then explains why the conversion of a technology from analog to digital is uniquely problematic. The challenge that faced Kodak is the same challenge facing companies like Panasonic and Sony, telecom equipment companies, and other industries now that the underlying technology through which products and services are built has changed.

The case goes over the evolution of politics and instituions in Egypt over the last 50 years. The case provides new insights on the reasons for violent political transitions and also explores the effects of political instability on productivity and competitiveness.

Scholtes Waterservices was a second-generation family firm in the Netherlands that specialized in installing and selling water pipes, primarily for the horticultural industry. In 2008, Rijk Scholtes Jr. and his brother, Ben, took over management of the firm from their father and gradually assumed ownership through a buyout plan. It soon became evident that their father, Rijk Sr., could not let go of the company. This especially affected Rijk Jr., as he worked in an office close to the place where Rijk Sr. lived. As a result, the relationship between father and son began to steadily deteriorate. Moreover, Rijk Jr. began to feel isolated as the relationship and collaboration between Rijk Sr. and Ben was not adversely affected. Instead, the once-strong relationship between the brothers began to deteriorate. Rijk Jr. was left wondering whether anything could be done to rectify the situation or whether it was time to leave the family firm.

The chief executive officer of Royal Bhutan Airlines (Drukair) is concerned about growth and the seasonality of demand for Bhutan's national airline. The Kingdom of Bhutan, with a population of approximately 700,000, is located east of Nepal between India and China (Tibet). It has recently embarked on a program of modernization, including a move to democracy and promotion of tourism. The tourism initiative is described as "high value, low volume," meaning that tourists must contract with a local tourist operator and pay minimum daily tariffs. Drukair has witnessed a steady growth in passengers, which is correlated closely with tourist visits, mostly from the West and Japan. Tourist tickets are booked by in-country tour operators; there are no Internet bookings at the time of the case.The CEO is wondering what can be done to improve overall business. He is considering interlining, the practice of joining with other airlines, in order to give passengers the opportunity to book tickets from their home countries. Marketing for growth is also a concern, and as Drukair is the only carrier in Bhutan, the CEO wonders if he should be promoting tourism in the country as part of his marketing plan.

Developed as a companion to the Red Brand Canners (RBC) case, the starting point in this case is the improvement in performance resulting from the optimization approach in the original case. However, RBC's vice-president of operations is concerned about the quality and quantity mix of the most recent tomato crop received from Greenfield Farms (GF). RBC's preferred quality and quantity mixes differ significantly from the current harvest. From RBC's perspective, the issue is how to motivate the supplier to produce a crop more in line with RBC's needs. Initially, both firms in the B-to-B section of the supply chain try to find a combination that would be mutually beneficial, an attempt that fails because of existing conflicts of interest. RBC's objective might be accomplished by taking a supply chain approach and modifying the delivery contract by an appropriate pricing scheme. The task is to identify and calibrate a pricing scheme that will realize the supply chain's maximum performance and lead to a stable win-win solution. The derivation of the supply chain optimal prices is carried out by developing and solving a linear optimization model.

This case pertains to the foundational underpinnings of the accounting process and the statement of cash flows. In Part I, students are presented with 23 business events that they must evaluate for recording in the financial records. Part II requires students to prepare a 2012 statement of cash flows using the information presented in the company's 2011 and 2012 year-end balance sheets along with its 2012 income statement. In Part III, students must rely on a 2011 balance sheet and a 2011 statement of cash flows to work backward to derive the 2010 year-end balance sheet. There are two versions of this case: Option 1 and Option 2. The Option 2 case is a bit more challenging than the Option 1 case. Instructors should use Option 2 if they feel students are well grounded in their understanding of financial statement relationships and the customary financial reporting of a typical set of business events. Both cases reinforce students' learning related to the accounting process and the connectivity between the financial statements. Please note that only one version of the case should be used due to the existence of some overlap between the two.

This case pertains to the foundational underpinnings of the accounting process and the statement of cash flows. In Part I, students are not given a list of business events to record, but rather, they must ascertain what they were from a 2011 balance sheet, a 2012 balance sheet, and a 2012 income statement. Part II requires students to prepare a 2012 statement of cash flows using the same three financial statements as given for Part I. In Part III, students must rely on a 2011 balance sheet and a 2011 statement of cash flows to work backward to derive the 2010 year-end balance sheet. There are two versions of this case: The Option 2 case is a bit more challenging than the Option 1 case. Instructors should use Option 2 if they feel students are well grounded in their understanding of financial statement relationships and the customary financial reporting of a typical set of business events. Both cases reinforce students' learning related to the accounting process and the connectivity between the financial statements. Please note that only one version of the case should be used due to the existence of some overlap between the two.

A large general-merchandise retailer misses its fiscal year earnings-per-share guidance, so its CFO is charged with improving the firm's forecasts. This case presents the use of probability distributions for forecasting discrete and continuous uncertainties such as GDP growth, inflation, and unemployment, including the benefit of ranges and distributions over point estimates. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters is introduced as a source of forecasts

December 2011, Varese, Italy. MV Agusta, the legendary Italian racing motorcycle brand, had just launched its latest attempt to regain the fame it had enjoyed in the 1970s. In August 2010 Claudio Castiglioni, the famous motorcycle aficionado and serial entrepreneur, had acquired MV Agusta for the third time in 20 years. Claudio was an icon in the motorcycle world, having revived illustrious brands such as Ducati, Cagiva, Husqvarna and Moto Morini. Together with his son Giovanni and Massimo Bordi, the famous engineer behind the Ducati success stories of the 1990s, Claudio hoped that third time would be a charm. Unfortunately, Claudio did not get to see the fruits of MV Agusta's revival: He passed away on 17 August 2011 at the age of 64, leaving some big shoes for his son Giovanni to fill. Giovanni had been working in the company since 2002, as head of marketing and sales first then stepping in as CEO in 2010. He shared his father's vision and now it was up to him to turn it into reality. The first results after the re-acquisition looked promising but the motorcycle market had been shrinking dramatically over the past 10 years. The economic and financial crisis had hit Italy particularly hard during the last three years. What would it take to complete the turnaround successfully and rapidly gain momentum in this competitive market? How could he reignite the flame under this beacon of motorcycle racing prowess? How should the MV Agusta brand be positioned now? Should it put more emphasis on the brand's lifestyle elements, extending its offering of accessories for both bikes and riders? How large could the company become without compromising the brand's elements of exclusivity? Learning objectives: Rebuilding an iconic brand, positioning a luxury product, technology innovation and development, financing growth, entrepreneurship, corporate venturing, succession management, family business governance.

The case focuses on two major challenges in deal making in emerging market economies-deal sourcing and negotiation-by focusing on a real (but disguised) Indian private equity deal. In 2010 Surya Tutoring was a fast-growing tutoring academy for high school students aspiring to gain admission to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Surya's CEO, R. K. Sharma, wanted to expand its reach beyond Kota (a city of 1 million people in the northern state of Rajasthan), which had become the center of the IIT prep school industry and home to tens of thousands of students studying for the rigorous IIT entrance exam. Sharma knew there was vast untapped potential in the teeming Indian metropolises of Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and Bangalore, as well as in foreign markets such as Dubai and Australia. Sharma had received term sheets from two private equity firms willing to finance Surya's expansion. By the end of the month he needed to decide which to accept: the offer from big bulge bracket fund Blackgem, or the one from ZenCap, a small Indian firm based in Mumbai with which he had become intimately familiar during the past year.

Spreadsheet for case KEL679