個案總覽

Excel model to complement a three-party negotiation exercise.

Fortis Inc., a company with interests in various North American electric utilities, is proposing to build the Chalillo dam on the Macal River in Belize, Central America. The dam would contribute to the economic development of the country by meeting the increasing demand from industry and consumers for electricity. The company believes that the dam is the most feasible, reliable and cheapest supply of electricity. Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) oppose the project because of the destruction of wild animal and plant life and the adverse downstream impact, and allege that there are more viable and more cost effective sources. The case reviews the company's presence in Belize, the environmental impact studies and the activities of the ENGOs during 2001. At the beginning of 2002, management is faced with a decision of whether or not to go ahead with the project.

An unrelated acquisition decision by Satyam Corporation created discontent among shareholders and lead to a series of investigations. The investigations revealed a fraud of about INR 50 billion. This led to resignations by several board members and the CEO. The entire episode became a mockery of corporate governance practices, raising questions about the efficacy of well accepted governance norms.<br><br>This case covers the events that led to the failure of Satyam in detail. The roles of not only the promoter but also other parties, such as the managers, board of directors, auditors and bankers, are discussed in detail. The case draws attention to various corporate governance and ethical issues and also provides an opportunity to discuss the measures that should be taken by regulators, auditors and other bodies to prevent such frauds.<br><br>This case can be used in an undergraduate, MBA and executive development program to highlight following issues: 1) Ethics and corporate governance: This case can be used to discuss the effectiveness of current corporate governance regulations and how can they be made more effective. 2) Organizational culture and values: Corporate governance mechanisms, such as ownership structure, board composition and stakeholder influence, determine the organizational culture and values. Smaller firms inherit the corporate values from their founders. In larger companies, managers and board members play a pivotal role in shaping the corporate values. This case can be used to discuss the factors affecting development of corporate values.

Throughout its first two decades, City Year, a non-profit organization, was dedicated to recruiting young adults to give a year of public service. It had passed through several growth phases but by 2010 a new challenge, and opportunity, had arisen when City Year and its partners in a school turnaround collaboration - Diplomas Now - won a prestigious Department of Education Investing in Innovation grant. This accelerated City Year's role in turning around low performing schools, but added pressure on the organization. New systems and practices had been developed, but more needed to be done to ensure that City Year became efficient in deploying its limited resources, in maintaining its funding sources, and employing the right interventions in schools. In November 2011, Jim Balfanz, City Year President, and Michael Brown, CEO and co-founder, wondered what else the changes would mean for City Year.

In 2003, the Norwegian Parliament amended the Public Limited Companies Act in order to achieve greater representation of women on corporate boards. According to the amendment, all state-owned companies and public limited companies were required to have at least 40% women on their boards. This case uses first-hand accounts from Norwegian directors to document the Norwegian business community's reaction to the quota, how Norwegian boards sought women directors, and the transferability of the quota law to other nations.

In the spring of 2009, cases of a previously unidentified strain of influenza began appearing in Mexico and the southwestern U.S. Within just a few months, outbreaks of 2009 Novel H1N1 (commonly referred to as Swine Flu) were so widespread that the World Health Organization declared its first influenza pandemic in over forty years. This case focuses on how state health officials in Texas, which experienced some of the first cases of H1N1, organized a response to the disease in the face of considerable uncertainty regarding its contagiousness, lethality, and geographic spread.

A renowned manufacturer and designer of niche vehicles for major automobile companies has traditionally competed on flexibility using a highly skilled design and manufacturing workforce and low levels of automation. However, the European auto market is threatened with a shakeout. The director of operations must decide whether to accept an offer from Mitsubishi to become the exclusive European manufacturer of a sport utility vehicle. The order would more than double the company's manufacturing volume and relieve pressure to replace models currently in production. However, the fit of the order with existing manufacturing strategy is poor, and major changes in facilities and equipment as well as people and systems would be required. The case is suitable for use in an operations class to introduce or apply basic concepts in operations strategy or to discuss operations capability and strategy with executives.

Founded in 1994 when the Internet was still a "toy for techies," the case is set in 1998 when Internet IPOs were red-hot. Internet Securities provides hard-to-find financial, business, economic, and political information on emerging markets. Information from over 600 information suppliers in more than 25 emerging markets (e.g., China, Russia, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Turkey) is provided to over 650 institutional clients, including J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, KPMG, and ING Barings. After ruling out seeking another round of VC financing, the cash-strapped founder of this Internet information service provider must decide whether to IPO or accept an offer to be acquired by Euromoney, a global publishing and information content provider that is eager to launch an Internet information service. The case contains a term sheet that can be reviewed to support analysis and decision making.

The case study provides an overview of the angel investment practices and describes government policies towards angel and venture capital investing in British Columbia, Canada. It focuses in particular on the Equity Capital Program (BCECP henceforth), which provides tax credits to private equity investors that meet several eligibility criteria. The case study is written from the point of view of a policy maker, with a perspective on the entire ecosystem. It provides an overview of the existing structure of the tax credit program, its history, and the lessons learned to date. It discusses the current challenges faced by policy makers wanting to further improve the program.

Ren Levy took over Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts when it was a group of warring constituents and has successfully brought a diverse group of arts organizations together.

In April 2009, Wendy Jefferson had just returned to her office following a whirlwind day of meetings with her newest client, Star Advisor. Jefferson, a financial services consultant, was eager to dig into the information provided to her and her team about the Star mutual funds and the income the funds earned from securities lending. Securities lending involved temporarily transferring securities from mutual funds managed by Star Advisor to short sellers and other investors. Income from these loans had been a small but secure component of Star mutual fund returns for decades.

It is an understatement to say that environmental challenges are attracting attention. Sustainability tops the list of challenges for the 21st century. There is no consensus about how to address these challenges in a politically feasible way. This note offers a conceptual framework that firms and consumers can use to start thinking about the economic challenges ahead and how economic policies are likely to affect the environment within which they operate.

In the (A) case, Jason Phillips, Chief Financial Officer of a soup manufacturing business, is given the task of maximizing the value of the firm twelve months after the case is set. Although he does not want to break any legal rules, Jason is interested to see whether accounting and real action choices can be used to enhance the company's financial position and increase its perceived value to investors. The case permits him to select from a menu of options, including decisions on product pricing, inventory levels, accounts receivables, leasing or purchasing a new machine and valuation or sale of securities. These choices are fed into an Excel spreadsheet which adjusts financial projections and accounting disclosures accordingly. In the (B) case, Ben Kerr, Chief Investment Officer at one of Dragon's main competitors, considers the financial statements produced by Dragon to unravel any earnings management behavior and establish a true value for the company. Although the case can be focused on the accounting consequences of real decisions, a richer discussion is obtained when considering the ethical angles of the decision process. In particular, how much 'earnings management' should be pursued and what types of behaviors are simply going to be unraveled by investors?

This case examines in detail the causes and role played by structured finance in the past four global financial crises, particularly the 2007-2010 crises. It also describes and analyzes how securitization and structured products work and the value they add to finance, and how structured products are constructed, their value and how they are used in finance. Finally, the case explores the impact of the proposed changes to banking regulations in Basel II and III to reduce the risk associated with securitization and its use.

The purpose of this note is to describe the manner in which publicly traded corporations and local governments in the United States account for their pension plans.

In June 2007, the offices of Russian hedge fund Hermitage Capital were raided by Moscow police; in the months that followed, Hermitage founder Bill Browder found himself banned from Russia and fending off efforts to expropriate the fund's Russian assets. This case describes the challenges faced by Hermitage in responding to these threats, and more broadly discusses the perils of doing business in a business environment with weak legal and political institutions

Supplements the (A) case.

Spreadsheet for case 210040.

Dabur India, Ltd. had come a long way since 1884. It began as an Indian traditional Ayurveda health products firm and, by 2010, had grown into one of the top four fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in India. The company had established leadership in hair care and personal care products across the Indian subcontinent and Middle East. Numerous multinational FMCG companies were aggressively increasing their market share in India through acquisitions. Sunil Duggal, Dabur's CEO, was conscious of Dabur's limitations in matching the deep pockets and global talent of these foreign firms. Duggal decided to look to international markets for inorganic growth which could hedge against the likely loss of market share in India. Dabur acquired an American company, Namaste Lab, which sold a natural hair-curl relaxant to American women of African descent. Dabur planned to reengineer this product formulation to make it affordable for Sub-Saharan Africans and leverage its existing supply chain in Africa to market these products. The case highlights the challenges for Dabur India as it tried to achieve this complex integration and the uncertainties the company faced as it expanded its global footprint.

The Reinsurance Negotiation case is a fictional three-party negotiation between a primary insurer and two reinsurers. The case is appropriate for use in a wide variety of courses, including Financial Institutions, Negotiations, and courses related to the Insurance and Reinsurance industry. This Teaching Note emphasizes the key learning points that are most relevant to a course on financial institutions, while also examining several key elements of negotiation strategy.