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Supplements the (A) case.

In early 2000, the trustees of the pension scheme at Boots considered a proposal to move 100% of the pension assets into a bond portfolio, which would be passively managed. The Boots Co. PLC was a leading retailer of cosmetics and toiletries in the United Kingdom, and the company pension scheme was one of the largest in the country, with 2.3 billion British pounds in assets. If implemented, Boots would depart significantly from its prior pension investment strategy, which had been similar to that of other large U.K. pension funds. In general, such funds used external managers for active and passive portfolios of roughly 75% equities, 17% bonds, 4% real estate, and 4% cash. This unprecedented investment policy change would more closely align pension assets and liabilities and, according to long-standing academic principles of corporate pension fund management, it might also have significant effects on Boots itself, its shareholders, and other stakeholders. In making their decision, the trustees would have to consider these effects as well as the practical feasibility of such a plan.

Three managing directors at Peabody Simpson had just returned from a firm-wide recruiting event at Columbia University, which they had covered together, as all were alumni. They were commiserating about having to submit revised forecasts to their division heads by the end of the week. Alec Hastings, head of Global Institutional Securities, wanted an update on year-to-date expense. They sat at their favorite watering hole and discussed the challenge of cutting $600 million out of the operating budget.

Provides an opportunity to analyze the Argentine financial crisis of 2001/2002, which culminated in the abandonment of the convertibility plan introduced by Domingo Cavallo in 1991. Focusses on the role of the financial system.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 203105.

Describes how Siemens Medical Solutions (MED) accomplished a remarkable turnaround from a money-losing operation to one of Siemens' most profitable divisions. By late 1996, a challenging market environment in the health care industry as well as inefficiencies in the company's manufacturing, logistics, and sales/service processes had a negative impact on MED's profitability. Reacting to these challenges, CEO Reinhardt defined and implemented a comprehensive turnaround program centered around people, processes, and products. The case highlights the most important aspects of the company's turnaround and later expansion and provides an outlook for the company's future challenges and opportunities.

Describes the evolution of the handheld operating system market. Describes the rise to dominance of Palm's operating system and the significant challenge to that dominance posed by Microsoft's Windows CE.

Helps students understand the multiple forms M&A deals can take, while framing the underlying dimensions that managers must consider when designing or assessing a given deal. Begins by introducing students to the ways in which M&A activity creates value, proceeds by identifying challenges and responsibilities managers assume when planning and implementing M&A deals, then concludes by presenting a conceptual framework to depict the managerial spectrum spanning pure acquisitions to pure alliances.

Students are introduced to the basic framework for corporate governance. Begins by describing the complex role of the modern corporation, then proceeds by discussing the fiduciary duties to which a board of trustees is bound (duty of care, duty of loyalty, etc.), and concludes by proposing seven factors officers and directors should consider when overseeing the sale or purchase of a company. Recounts the precedential case Smith vs. Van Gorkom.

Personalized medicine requires the identification of mutated genes. Schering-Plough's search for the one related to asthma requires finding families with the disease. Examines the industry that helps conduct such research, including contract research organizations.

The head of Cipla, a $325-million-dollar Indian pharmaceutical company and seller of low-cost AIDS drugs to South Africa, must decide what to do about Cipla's future. With India poised to enforce international patents in only two years, much of Cipla's product line could become unsaleable (given that it is based on product patents protected in industrialized countries). Describes Cipla's role in forcing global pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices for AIDS drugs.

The head of the Indian subsidiary of cosmetics firm Revlon faces a crucial turnaround situation for the company. After a high-profile product launch, sales were very disappointing and Revlon was trying to decide whether it should pull out of India. The Indian majority partners in the joint venture were determined to save the company by reexamining the price-value equation and the need for continuous product innovation tailored to the local consumer needs.

An abstract is not available for this product.

A financial statement, ratio analysis involving a high-growth retail company. An individual shareholder in the Costco Wholesale Corp. is trying to evaluate the operational performance of the business she has invested in over the last five years. She seeks to answer two questions: Has Costco become more or less efficient over this time period? And how has it financed its growth? She organizes her analysis into three parts: common-size financial statements, sustainable growth modeling, and benchmarking ratios particular to retail companies. Provides information on developments in mass merchandising in the United States, with an emphasis on discounter retailing over the last 40 years. Costco's performance set in historical context provides the relative background information necessary to make a comparative evaluation between Costco and other industry participants.

An investor is called on to make a forecast and valuation for Costco. Provides information about the history of Costco as an investment, industry growth drivers, and forecasting models.

This case explores the various aspects of information technology that can be outsourced. Cathay Pacific outsourced a significant part of its vital operations from Hong Kong to Sydney, Australia.

It was March 2003 and Chuck Perry was awaiting the arrival of his New York-based business partner, Jonathan Rose. He and Rose had begun Highlands' Garden Village, their latest mixed-use, mixed-income development project. In 1996, they had optioned the unused Elitch Gardens amusement park site and since then had transformed the site into a traditional neighborhood development that was now nearly complete. The amusement park rides had been dismantled and replaced with apartments, homes, and two acres of open space. The project's pro formas were positive and the residential units were fully sold.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 303-106.

The case discusses the key elements of corporate and business strategy employed by LVMH. It first develops the context of the luxury business, providing an in-depth look at the performance drivers, key players and their strategies. Set in the landscape, it then examines the specific strategies adopted by the biggest player-LVMH. The company wants to double its current sales ($10 billion in an $80 billion industry) and profits by 2005. In marching towards this goal, LVMH has entered into multiple business lines ranging from leather goods to wines, and spirits to art auctions. Many of these acquisitions have come at steep premiums and none have turned a profit yet. Investors and analysts feel that the company should divest some of its holdings and get back to its roots in leather goods and wines. Mr. Arnault, the CEO of the company, however, feels that there are significant synergies that emerge when operating a portfolio of global brands across the entire landscape of luxury businesses. This sets the stage for a good evaluation of its value chain and value-adding activities, the promised synergies and their potential impact on revenues and profits. It also raises questions on how LVMH can grow in this business, which geographic regions it should invest in, and which product-market it should retain.

Supplements the (A) case.