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Options on stock indexes, currencies, and futures all have something in common. In each of those cases, the holder of the option does not get the same things that the holder of the underlying asset gets. This affects the value of the option. In this note, we cover the valuation implications of this for options on stock indexes, currencies, and futures.

This technical note accompanies the case titled "Suntrust Acquisition of National Commerce" and describes the various capital ratios that are commonly used in the banking sector as well as gives an example of those ratios using a hypothetical bank. It also discusses briefly Basel I and Basel II which shaped capital regulations and ratios in the Banking sector.

This note provides an overview of interest rate parity and the hedged cost of international borrowings. The note describes the essential steps to hedge international borrowings with forward contracts and describes in detail the link between forward rates and interest rates and what drives that relationship.

Curled Metal Incorporated has declining sales, but has developed a new product (curled metal pile driver pads) that, in field tests, deliver customer benefits that are many times CMI's manufacturing costs. Joseph Fernandez and Rajiv Sanwal of CMI's Engineered Products Division are responsible for formulating a strategy for the new product. A key issue is the price to charge for the pads. The case raises issues of analyzing market potential, aligning price with business strategy, and the implications of a price on development and execution of integrated strategic options.

This case describes Molson's experiment with social media for creating brand awareness. It illustrates issues involved in social media marketing. Molson was faced with the challenge of how quickly the contents of social media could spread to various constituencies. There was a real danger of the situation getting out of hand if Molson did not respond quickly. The case encourages readers to ponder whether Molson's action was the only option available and to consider what its next steps might be.

In March 2006, the divisional vice-president of enterprise information technology for Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) noted that the Business Intelligence (BI) system had not yet been implemented. Slow but steady steps were taken by his team but the implementation was one year behind. It was becoming evident that BI was not just about technology; the right people and processes had to be in place. The divisional vice-president wondered what his priorities should be in order to implement the BI system as soon as possible.

In March 2008, the vice-president of governance, architecture, and corporate and diversified businesses for Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) felt confident that the Business Intelligence (BI) system that had been scheduled to be implemented in 2005 was now ready for implementation. The right people and processes were now in place. With the right people involved at different levels in the organization and several process-related initiatives, CTC's annual report announced that several technology projects would be implemented this year.

At the start of August 2008, Dell Inc. (Dell) seems to be at a critical juncture. Michael Dell's return a year and a half ago has brought significant change to the company, including a focus on growing market segments, a shift in the company's distribution strategy, and an emphasis on design in Dell's product lineup. Despite these changes, Dell's stock price has lost value since Michael's return. A portfolio manager is trying to assess if Michael Dell's return to the helm of Dell Inc. and the company's shift in distribution strategy will turn around the company's stock price. To support his analysis, the portfolio manager has asked his team to assemble comparative financial data on Dell and its key competitors. The portfolio manager wants to know if he should buy, hold or sell Dell's shares. There are three teaching objectives for this case: assess financial performance using financial statements and financial ratios; identify cash flow and profit drivers; and identify the determinants of value and stock price.

Digital advertising is growing nearly four times as fast as advertising overall; alternative channels cost less than traditional ones; and management increasingly insists on proof of ROI. These converging forces spell the end for television advertising.

Forward-looking companies are using virtual venues to mimic reality, helping employees and business partners collaborate and learn. Their increasingly user-friendly and graphically sophisticated platforms may become the next-generation means of communication.

Every year in the United States billions of philanthropic dollars go to more than 1.5 million nonprofits--some of which use the money inefficiently. But the tools exist to create prediction markets that could guide donors toward the highest social return on investment.

The president and CEO of Travelocity remembers how her father built his environmental-engineering start-up into a business with 300 employees, in part through a striking degree of care for and interest in them as individuals. Peluso has 5,000 employees - and a global organization - but she's learned to scale up her father's techniques.

China's recent transformation is characterized by gradual institutionalization, and Russia's by what looks like rapid deinstitutionalization. The Chinese tend to think concretely, whereas the Russians lean toward abstractions. Understanding differences like these can help Westerners gain entry into each country's networks.

The founder and CEO of BzzAgent, a word-of mouth media company, believes strongly in radical corporate transparency. In practice that can mean frank self-examination in his blogs, publicly posting his company's sales presentations, and rotating an executive office space among employees at every level.

"Trade dress" is the legal term for a nonfunctional design feature, such as the cowhide pattern on Gateway's computer boxes. Many companies don't know its value or assume that they could sue imitators. Here's a simple experiment to acquire the data needed for protection.

The Blue Ocean Strategy Implementation Scenario Case offers a set of interactive group scenarios which are designed to deepen the participants' understanding of blue ocean strategy implementation principles. Using the four scenarios participants work in teams as they learn to apply key concepts of tipping point leadership and fair process. The four settings (health insurance, manufacturing, government, and banking) show how blue ocean strategy implementation principles apply at different organizational levels to overcome the four key implementation hurdles (cognitive, resource, motivational and political).

The Blue Ocean Strategy Implementation Self-Diagnostic is comprised of a series of probing questions that offer executive participants a practical tool for assessing the level of organizational hurdles that exist in their organization and the effectiveness of past and future strategies to overcome them. The diagnostic is divided into sections addressing the four key organizational hurdles (cognitive, resource, motivational, political) and one section on fair process.

This case discusses the concepts of broadband and its adoption in developing and developed countries around the world, specifically in Indonesia. The telecom sector in Indonesia had under-developed infrastructure, and been dominated by two monopolies, PT Telkom and PT Indosat ("Indosat"), for many decades until September 2000, when the government opened up the sector to competition. The market has subsequently become highly competitive. This case highlights the strategies proposed by Indosat to succeed in this market, with broadband penetration being identified as one of the primary revenue-generating and growth areas for 2008. As is the case with most developing countries where the fixed-line infrastructure is minimal, the plan is for broadband technology to evolve through wireless platforms. This case can be used to understand Indosat's proposed strategy to promote broadband, particularly wireless broadband, in Indonesia. It can also be used to discuss the general issues that emerge in providing telecom services in a developing country, particularly where a formerly government-owned monopoly player faces an increasingly competitive market. The case provides students an opportunity to discuss the best way to implement the company's proposed strategy, given its competitive advantages and the constraints imposed by the external political, regulatory and economic environments.

The case opens with XGen Technologies, a software-led IT solutions provider, being placed in a situation of having to grapple with the issues of linear growth, similar to most of the contemporary ITES companies. XGen's traditional ''linear'' business model now had Partha Sen, the CEO, seeking out new profit opportunities. The company's headcount had touched a whopping 40,000 and managing such a large setup was becoming a severe challenge. Besides, in the emerging war for talent, sourcing and retaining quality talent was another problem. An export-driven software services company, XGen earned substantial revenues in dollars, and the appreciation of the rupee by close to 15% coupled with rising salaries had impacted its profit margins in the current fiscal. All these factors, and the fact that XGen was a listed company, put immense pressure on Partha to adopt an innovative business model to ward off pressure on bottom lines, ensure sustainability of the business in the long run. Most Indian ITES companies had been clocking impressive growth, yet there were concerns about the future, particularly with regard to the burden and difficulties that were expected in manpower intensive business models that inextricably had to struggle with ever-escalating costs as well as increasing complexity in managing its humongous operations. The focus of the case then shifts to the various strategies that software companies have been adopting in order to achieve greater non-linearity in their business. In particular, the case concentrates on Zyme Solutions, Inc., a fully outsourced hosted data service provider to the high-tech vertical market, which has built a non-linear business from the ground up, without the legacy of the linear business models to contend with. The second half of the case describes in detail how Zyme Solutions has gone about constructing an innovative non-linear business model for its business.

Despite a tradition of high household savings, Japan has supported a dynamic and technically sophisticated consumer lending sector. The high profitability of the sector has periodically attracted interest from domestic banks as well as international investors. Most recently, in 1998 and 2000 respectively, GE Capital and Citi Financial both acquired Japanese consumer lending companies. In 2006, when the Japanese Supreme Court rules that one of the big Japanese consumer lenders must repay a borrower for "excess interest payments," the US firms must decide how to respond.