個案總覽

This case is appropriate for undergraduate, MBA, and MBA Exec audiences but is specifically designed for Decision Analysis and Decision Analysis and Optimization, first-year MBA electives. It is related to but separable from "Salmones Puyuhuapi (A)" (UVA-QA-0749). That A case was about whether to harvest salmon early due to the threat of a virus, and it used a simple approximation for relating the value of a harvested salmon to its live weight. This production planning case addresses in detail how harvested salmon are processed and sold. Here, the plan Elisa Perez develops will determine how much value Salmones Puyuhuapi achieves from a day's harvest of salmon from one of the company's sites in southern Chile.

This profile chronicles McDonald's rise over 40 years, its sudden descent in the early 1990s, and then its return in the early 2000s. Students are encouraged to think about what happened, why, and the lessons that can be learned. This profile was written for an undergraduate business course. This case is included in Module 2 of the course Business Thought & Action.

Spreadsheet for case UV6310

Barcelo Hotels and Resorts must decide whether to allow its many hotels to continue to undertake separate promotional campaigns or to run, for the first time, a broad corporate-level promotion. Complicating the decision is the fact that the many hotels in its portfolio vary greatly in their character, clientele, positioning, and locations.

GUIDESlines provides benchmark values of the key economic indicators identified in the GUIDES framework for both developed countries (the OECD) and fast-growing emerging markets (the BRINCS countries).

PCL is a leading European consumer electronics, lifestyle and healthcare company that has been operating in the Chinese market since 1995. While its consumer electronics business has grown quickly in China, it has discovered that the costs of returned goods in its TV division equal 5% of its sales. Even more worrying is that 37% of the products returned are of good quality and have been returned without good reason. PCL has set up taskforces to study and remedy the situation and has uncovered a more serious problem within the organisation: control measures designed to handle returns have simply not been executed by its staff and third-party after-sales service centres. What can PCL do to ensure enforcement of company policies in the future?

In 2009, the small heavy marine transport company Fairstar entered into bidding on one of the largest contracts in the history of the industry. Chronicles the company's year-long tendering process, leading up to a final make-or-break meeting.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) and (B) case.

Henry Silva, a soon-to-be Columbia MBA graduate and aspiring change agent, wrestled with the decision about whether to join New Power LLC, an innovative start-up energy company, as the director of special projects. In this new capacity, he would be responsible for the transformation of the company culture with the goal of creating a more dynamic and productive work environment. What steps would be necessary to win over employees and to implement a successful change agenda?

Singapore Airlines has won countless awards for its customer service. For 16 of the past 17 years, it was named the world's best airline in Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards, and unlike many of its competitors, it managed to remain profitable in the early 2000s. But now the airline's rivals have taken note of its customer service and have begun following its lead. Can Singapore Airlines maintain its high standards as it continues to grow? Is it possible to contain costs without sacrificing service? This case teaches students about the challenges of responding to customers and strategies for satisfying customer demands.

In January 2009, Pfizer announced its acquisition of Wyeth in a cash and stock deal valued at $68 billion. This deal represented the first mega-acquisition since the world economic crisis, which began in September 2008. Jeff Kindler knew that the last acquisition (Pharmacia in 2003) had not gone as planned. Was Pfizer prepared for the Wyeth acquisition? Would it solve some of Pfizer's pressing problems or create new ones?

The integration of Wyeth began soon after the acquisition was announced in April 2009. Linked to the integration were a series of organizational structural changes. Jeff Kindler wondered whether the acquisition and all the organizational changes linked to it would be enough to generate real long-term success.

The development coordinator for Just Us! Development Education Society (JUDES) was reviewing the preliminary agenda for the JUDES Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting would take place some time between May 1 and May 14, 2010, National Fair Trade Weeks. The coordinator was preparing her to-do list for the event. Just Us!, a Nova Scotia, Canada-based cooperative that offered fair trade products, had a very loyal regional following, and the coordinator wanted to communicate how the premium paid for fair trade products actually helped producer communities. She was planning several events for the AGM, but, most importantly, presentations and discussion of the Community-based Tourism (CBT) trip they had taken to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2009, and had planned to take again in 2010. For the AGM presentation, she wanted to organize the trip guidelines and the budget information into a triple bottom line format.<br><br>The case can be taught in conjunction with two previous cases: Marketing Planning at Just Us! Cafes, Ivey product # 9B09A014 and Just Us! Coffee Roasters, Ivey product #9B06A027.

A consumer goods analyst has been asked to understand the governance structure and various risks facing Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA (Richemont), a Swiss-based luxury goods conglomerate. Richemont has emerged as one of the premier luxury brand houses in the world and is controlled by a single person, Johann Rupert. The case describes the development of Richemont and provides information on various aspects of the firm, including its many luxury brand houses, management's preferences and competitor information with which to conduct a comparator analysis.

Barrick Gold, the largest gold producer in the world, has taken steps to eliminate its longstanding gold hedging program. In its early years, Barrick's hedging program was a key factor allowing the firm to grow amidst falling gold prices. But Barricks management team faced questions about its hedging program when gold prices started to rise in the 2000s. The case allows students to review Barrick's hedging program and consider the impact of its decision not to hedge going forward.

Cheezburger Network was a Web publisher of humorous, user-contributed content, using social media for dissemination, and selling advertising against the traffic of 1 billion page views per quarter. In January 2011, it raised $30 million in venture capital for the network of 50 websites that featured an entertaining array of user-generated content. Beginning with a site based on pictures of cats with whimsical captions, it had grown into a small but impressive digital empire, riding waves of viral content. CEO Ben Huh prided himself on his ability to go from idea to implementation in just a few days, but this just-in-time method made strategic planning difficult. Profitable from day one and with $5 million of revenue across 50 brand identities, Huh's challenge was to evaluate his growth to date, to look critically at the digital media landscape, and to figure out how to best to spend the $30 million.

Hardina Smythe, a recent MBA graduate, has just joined a top-tier venture capital firm in the difficult environment of late 2010. Her first assignment is to evaluate three different deals and make recommendations to the partners. Each potential investment has strengths and drawbacks for both the firm and Hardina.

Greg Mazur decided to purchase a small business after graduating from the Harvard Business School. The case explores his decision about whether or not he should finalize his deal to purchase Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods, Inc. ("GEPP"). It gives students the opportunity to consider his search process, his due diligence about the company, his post-purchase plans, his valuation analysis and the structure of the potential transaction.

Briggs Capital was a regional mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that helped owners to sell their small firms. The case presents a company that was for sale in the fall of 2010 - a troubled manufacturer of post and beam style homes and log homes. Using the actual information that was available to potential buyers, students evaluate the potential acquisition.