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The case describes the history and transformation of DKSH, a privately-held global trading company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, that has been doing business in the Far East for some 150 years. The case focuses on the efforts of CEO Joerg Wolle since 1999 to bring together several independent family-owned Swiss-based trading houses under one corporate roof and to transform successful but steady old-fashioned trading houses into a new type of company specializing in "Market Expansion Services." This novel Market Expansion Services company works with global "clients" (e.g. major pharmaceutical companies) to help them get access to and accelerate growth in different Asian markets and with "customers" (e.g., Asian distributors and retailers) to provide them with access to the goods and services from the global clients. To effectively achieve this corporate transformation, Wolle worked with several other senior executives to create integrated IT, logistics, and market intelligence capabilities. The case focuses on the growth strategy and associated challenges, mostly people-and leadership related-to bring DKSH to the next level of profitable growth.

The case is a very simple, short case based on the author's general experience, to introduce financial analysis and to discuss the pressure introduced by growth in a risky business (high R&D).

Quick reference guide of various terms related to the United States Bankruptcy Code. Outline of some of the important technical terms related to the bankruptcy process in the United States. Covers both Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 with a brief definition of both and a summary of the legal process. Bankruptcy terms related to the US Bankruptcy Code.

The president of Image Pipeline Services, a pipeline flushing and inspection firm, is taking a step back from the past few weeks, where he has spent virtually all his waking time working on his new business in Edmonton's oil sands industry. A few months after starting his business, he controls virtually the entire market, but competitors will be encroaching soon. One competitor has offered to purchase his business and the president wants to weigh his options before agreeing to sell or continuing to compete.

Groupon provides an opportunity to review Groupon Inc's S1 filing made prior to an IPO. Groupon's financial statements attracted a great deal of controversy due to revenue recognition policies that produced very substantially higher revenues for the corporation, as well as non GAAP earnings measures, especially ACSOI, an invention of the firm that served to exclude certain marketing expenses from the calculation of profit. Since marketing expenses were a very material expense for Groupon at a stage at which it was building its business the effect of the use of ACSOI was as substantial as the effect of aggressive revenue recognition policies. Groupon backed down on both revenue recognition and the use of ACSOI following SEC queries as to the corporation's accounting policies.

The owner of a small Ontario-based textiles manufacturer must decide whether to bid on two government tenders and, if so, at what prices. The owner must analyze each bid by calculating its direct, absorption and full costs, consider the impact of adding each bid's volume to the company's current capacity level, and determine the differences between a one-time and multi-year tender contract. The owner also wants to look at the overall "fit" of the contracts with the company's current operations and direction.

The Tiny Prints case describes the founding of the online stationery company in 2004, through its growth and evolution to 2007. The three cofounders bootstrapped the company from the beginning, primarily so that they could retain control over the decision-making and strategic direction of the company. While that decision allowed the cofounders flexibility and independence, it also led to capital constraints and a "good enough" culture that had a variety of positive and negative implications for the company. Ultimately, Tiny Prints was able to grow because of its very specific focus on the birth announcement, and later holiday, market, an emphasis on customer service and innovations in design and distribution. As of 2007, the founders faced questions regarding their future growth strategy, particularly given increasing competition in the market, and were at an inflection point where they needed to consider the important decision of bringing in outside capital.

A commercial landlord analyzes options for funding and accomplishing energy efficiency retrofit. The situation is complicated by lease terms and uncertain effectiveness of the intervention. Students must grapple with obstacles including changing energy prices, variations in energy needed in different climate scenarios, issues in net and gross lease responsibilities, and issues in finding adequate cash flow and security to satisfy a range of possible third party funders. The business opportunity for third party funders is also discussed.

Saks Fifth Avenue, a luxury department store chain, has been hard hit by the 2008 financial crisis and stock market crash. Speculation about impending bankruptcy is rampant in the press. The CEO, Stephen Sadove, must decide how to respond.

This case illustrates a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was determined to transform a corporate culture of "good enough" into one singularly focused on winning in a competitive marketplace. Historically, Henkel was a comfortable, stable place to work. Many employees never received negative performance feedback. Seeking to overturn a pervasive attitude of complacency, Rorsted implemented a multi-step change initiative aimed at building a "winning culture." First, in November 2008, he announced a set of ambitious financial targets for 2012. As financial turmoil roiled the global economy, he reaffirmed his commitment to these targets, sending a clear signal to Henkel employees and external stakeholders that excuses were no longer acceptable. Rorsted next introduced a new set of five company values-replacing the previous list of 10 values, which few employees could recite by memory-the first of which emphasized a focus on customers. He also instituted a new, simplified performance management system, which rated managers' performance and advancement potential on a four-point scale. The system also included a forced ranking requirement, mandating that a defined percentage of employees (in each business unit and company-wide) be ranked as top, strong, moderate, or low performers. These ratings significantly impacted managers' bonus compensation. In late 2011-the time in which the case takes place-Henkel is well on its way to achieving its 2012 targets. Having shed nearly half its top management team, along with numerous product sites and brands, Henkel appears to be a leaner, more competitive, "winning" organization.

The Web 2.0 era is nourished by the emergence of collaboration-conducive web applications, such as blogs, social networks, and wikis. Among these, Wiki has particularly revolutionized the way information is created and shared within a wide variety of organizations, such as educational institutions, research centers, and business enterprises. The technically undemanding nature of Wiki alleviates the burden of mastering cumbersome or complicated technologies, thereby encouraging personnel to share and archive valuable tacit knowledge with other members of the organization. As a result, Wiki helps mitigate the reluctance of members to share knowledge, resolving one of the most pronounced challenges in managerial efforts to capture, transfer, and store knowledge for the firm. This case study presents the inception of a wiki by the NBC Universal Software Engineering and Delivery Team and the expansion of the wiki to other departments in the firm, in particular to Peacock Productions, which specializes in programming of documentary TV programs. The Peacock Productions case demonstrates that Wiki can be a powerful tool for managing knowledge in business corporations, which must adapt quickly to changing market demands.

Thoroughbred horse racing was in decline at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century. Nearly all metrics, from number of horses and races, to attendance, and amount wagered, was falling. Studies indicated this was likely to continue. Horse race tracks made their money from wagering-where once racing had a monopoly on gambling in the U.S., now there were a wide range of options for gamblers. Del Mar racetrack in California was suffering the same fate as other tracks. In 2001, it embarked on a radical new marketing strategy, appealing to a young, hip demographic, families, and couples, rather than older, male gamblers. The case describes the situation facing the racing industry and track management, the rebranding strategy, and results. It challenges students to determine whether the strategy used by Del Mar is applicable to other tracks, or if it is limited due to unique circumstances at Del Mar. This case focuses on horse racing from the perspective of tracks. A companion case, SPM-50: Stonestreet Farms: Making a Business in the "Sport of Kings," focuses on the industry from the perspective of race horse owners and breeders.

This note describes the market for healthcare, primarily in the U.S., but also in other parts of the world to the extent that features of the system in particular countries are instructive. It also contains exhibits that display comparative performance of the system in terms of cost and quality. It raises the question of how health care can be delivered with higher quality at lower cost.

Some of China's most successful entrepreneurs and founders of private enterprises naturally came together to share the insights and tactics that helped them and their businesses survive and thrive in China's rapidly changing business environment. Soon, the group's mandate expanded to include improving the environment for private business in China and conducting outreach to help spread the word about the important role entrepreneurs played in a modern market economy. How has the China Entrepreneurs Forum been an innovative business and social organization in modern China? What lies in the future for them?

As the commercial real estate market began to crash in early 1990, heavily exposed banks like Citibank and Chase Manhattan were left largely undercapitalized. John Reed, Citibank Chairman and CEO, was caught off guard by the sudden market plunge. While Reed struggled to maintain the capital reserve of us his bank further weaknesses within Citi began to emerge. In addition, to missing the coming of the real estate crisis Citi had had poorly managed internal operations, overvalued acquisitions and grown heavy from organizational excess. The poor management left Citi in the care of Federal Regulators, worried about the banks solvency. The case examines the roots of these problems and the steps taken by Reed to return the bank to a well-managed and stable institution.

Facebook's director of policy communications was faced with a situation caused by a YouTube video posted by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Greenpeace. This video publicly critiqued the environmental sustainability of Facebook's decision to build a new data center, its main objection being the fact that the new facility would be connected to a local utility provider that supplied electricity mainly from the burning of coal, one of the largest sources of global warming. This video was only the latest of a series of actions, commenced by Greenpeace eight months earlier, immediately following Facebook's decision to build the new facility. Greenpeace had dubbed these actions the "Unfriend Coal Campaign," which now had 500,000 followers and had generated numerous media stories. Greenpeace's goal was to pressure Facebook into adopting cleaner energy policies by leveraging Facebook's own social media against the company. As Facebook had no plans to stop building the facility, the director needed to figure out the best course of action for Facebook to take in response to the mounting pressure from Greenpeace in order to alleviate the increasingly negative attention from media and consumers.

Canada Goose is a Canadian maker of high-end winter outdoor clothing. Currently available in 40 countries, the company's chief executive officer (CEO) is considering entering the South Korean market. Were Canada Goose to enter South Korea, the CEO knew that there were several issues that had to be resolved. There were complicated distributor issues, and the CEO was also uncertain about which style of jacket to sell to the new customer groups. Finally, deciding how to position Canada Goose in order to reach the two target groups for Canada Goose in South Korea was something that had bothered him ever since he had first received the market research. Those issues aside, the CEO also had to consider how the current state of the company, both in North America and Western Europe, would impact the success of a full-scale foray into South Korea. The CEO was excited for the opportunity for Canada Goose in South Korea, but yet he was stymied on how to maximize growth while positioning the brand as strongly as possible.

Movie-industry analyst David Fitzhugh must estimate the value of the sequel rights associated with Chance Encounters (CE), a soon-to-be-produced movie. The producers of CE intend to use the cash from the sale of the sequel rights to help fund production of the original movie. With the purchase of the sequel rights to CE, the client intends to produce a sequel to CE--should the original movie prove successful.

Spreadsheet supplement to case UV6342.