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In October 2018, Tesla, Inc. (Tesla), an American automotive and energy company, received an approval from Shanghai's mayor to acquire a plot of land to build a new electric-vehicle (EV) factory, which was expected to produce its first cars in three years, and to have initial capacity of about 250,000 vehicles a year. This move was in response to a significant rise in the Chinese EV market and the additional tariffs imposed by the Chinese government during its 2018 trade war with the United States. Since 2013, Tesla had partnered with Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic)-the consumer electronics company and a world leader in battery technology-to build Gigafactory 1 and Gigafactory 2 in the United States for manufacturing Tesla's batteries. The Chinese automotive market was a business environment much different from any that the Tesla-Panasonic partnership had previously experienced. Given the Chinese government's regulations, requirements, and incentives, what should be Tesla's growth strategy in the world's largest automotive market-China. Should Tesla continue its partnership with Panasonic in China or should it look to derive more potential benefits from other suppliers?

In the summer of 2018, after over 25 years of leading AREUFIT Health Services, Inc. (AREUFIT), the founder and president of assessed her company's position in the evolving health services market. She had grown AREUFIT from a sole proprietor start-up to its current position as the Philadelphia region's award-winning provider of preventive health and biometric screenings, corporate health and disease prevention programs, and wellness services, with annual revenues that exceeded US$1 million. The founder had spent the last three years working with an outside consultant in preparation for the next stage in the life cycle of her company. When a competitor approached her with an offer to buy AREUFIT she knew she had to make some tough decisions, while remaining true to her values and business practices. She wanted to preserve the company and culture she had built, protect her key employees, and ensure that the brand reputation of AREUFIT would endure.

In 2018, a new challenge confronted the executive director of the Inside-Out Center in Philadelphia, who was also the founder of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an international network of educators providing university courses in prisons for both incarcerated individuals and university students. Despite the program's many success stories, to gain new funders, the founder needed to communicate the program's impact through measurable effects. Assessing long-term impacts seemed nearly impossible because of difficulties in tracking the participants as they graduated from their university programs or completed their prison sentences and returned to the outside world. The measurement effort was also controversial because although the use of quantitative measures would help to raise funds, it could also challenge the value of the program's well-established practices and could change the relative roles and influence of various key stakeholders. Whose definitions of "impact" should be prioritized, and how could the program's impact be measured and communicated?

Marcy and Dan were high school sweethearts who married young and built a life together. Between Marcy's work as a waitress and Dan's as an electrician, they have raised their now-teenage children with a lot of hard work and sacrifice. While at lunch with a group of friends, Marcy hears about her friend Diane's mother, who, due to a lifetime of poor financial planning, has had to move in with Diane, putting a strain on Diane's finances and marriage. While saddened to hear about her friend's misfortunes, Marcy realizes she needs to consider her and Dan's future and their lack of retirement savings. She and Dan meet with a financial planner for help with retirement planning, and they learn about their options for saving and investing.

This case describes the experience of five MBA students beginning their two-year residential program. The students are members of a learning team, and each is experiencing challenges orienting to the new program and to her or his teammates.

NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018-19 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to the NBA. He also did not know what he would do when he ultimately retired, as playing basketball was all he had known for his entire adult life. His foundation in Dallas and in Germany provided grant money and strategic support to youth programs; he could become more directly involved in the foundation's work. The Dallas Mavericks had made it clear that they would be open to Nowitzki transitioning to a role as some type of executive or coach, helping the Mavericks make decisions and/or develop their young players. Nowitzki was also intrigued by the idea of becoming an independent mentor for young, amateur players; after all, his mentor, Holger Geschwindner, had been instrumental in his development, and he liked working with young people. Keeping his various options in mind, how should Nowitzki plan for the next phase of his life and career?

This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting that her shop managers that perform well during the first part of the year, purposely reduce their effort in the later part of the year. This pattern drives the CFO to reflect on the process by which she sets annual targets for shop managers and how those targets relate to various aspects of their compensation contract. Challenging targets, however, appear to be motivating for a sizeable amount of shop managers. In fact, many shop managers that repeatedly fail to meet the target appear not to be giving up and keep trying to achieve their challenging targets. Therefore, the CFO needs to strike the right balance between providing motivating targets and curbing the undesired behaviors that she just discovered. The case lends itself to a rich discussion of common performance management issues, such as target setting, performance metrics selection, and performance-based compensation design. In particular, the case exposes the students to the issue of target ratcheting. As the case includes a data base it provides ample opportunities for students to practice their analytical skills (producing and discussing descriptive statistics, regressions and interactions).

This case series simulates the decision of choosing and financing a car. Reggie Fuller is a fry cook on the verge of losing his job if he keeps arriving late to work due to inconsistent public buses. Fuller's dream car, the Lincoln MKS, is priced far beyond his budget ($50,000), but Fuller wonders if he can afford other new cars like the Nissan Altima (which costs $17,445) or the Toyota Camry (which costs $20,306). Unsure of how to proceed, Fuller seeks the advice of a family friend and mentor, who agrees to teach him what he knows about the car-financing process. Accompanying the case is a handout that teaches students how to calculate monthly auto loan payments.

In this case, fry cook Reggie Fuller, who wants to buy a car to ensure that he can consistently get to work on time, asks his mother if she and his sister would like to chip in with him so that he can afford a new Nissan Versa, a cheaper alternative to some of the other new cars he's been looking at. Fuller's mother responds by raising scheduling concerns along with car-related costs outside of monthly payments, such as gas, maintenance, and insurance. Staring down the realization that he just may not be able to afford a new car, Fuller wonders if he should reconsider the idea of getting a used car instead, and asks his friend, an auto mechanic, to educate him on pre-owned vehicles.

In September 2017, a senior portfolio manager at Portland Capital Management had all her attention focused on the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of Roku, Inc. The company had just updated its initial filing to indicate an offer price between $12 and $14, and Portland Capital Management had an opportunity to take a substantial position in that offering. She saw the upside potential in Roku's shift from hardware-related revenue streams (player sales) to platform-related revenue streams (advertising and content purchases made on the platform). But she was also well aware of the riskiness of this strategy and the uncertain state of IPO markets at that time.

Student spreadsheet for case UV7911.

This case follows dance instructor Jackie McKenzie as she struggles to properly budget her expenses needed to support life with her youngest daughter, Millie. At the checkout aisle of her local grocery store, McKenzie becomes embarrassed when she discovers she cannot afford the $150 bill. Luxury purchases such as a red dress and McKenzie's bimonthly pedicures have maxed her credit card and strained her checking and savings accounts. Unfortunately, this is not the first time McKenzie has overspent her means. When McKenzie calls her oldest daughter, Kerry, to ask yet again for her financial help, Kerry challenges her mother to put together a budget.

David Simmons is a waiter at a struggling Italian restaurant located down the block from where he lives. Money is tight for him right now, as his limited income means he lives paycheck to paycheck. However, David knows things will look up for him soon because he was recently offered a job as a bank teller across town-his first desk job. This case helps students learn about building credit. The case addresses what a FICO score is, who computes it, how it is determined, and what it is used for.

Supplements to (A) case, 119-007/

The Austrian Republic School, an elementary public school in Chile, faced a severe crisis. Despite its management team and faculty's effort, the school's absenteeism and dropout rates kept rising. The solutions tried had failed to engage students and to secure their families' support. The absenteeism issue proved particularly acute for the vulnerable population served by this school and had called the attention of Chile's Education Ministry. This scenario was compounded by a financial distress: the school lacked the necessary resources to provide the additional support required by this population, such as psychological and social counseling or family engagement activities.Against such a complex backdrop, Luis Lacourt, the school's principal, caught a glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel: a means to mitigate this problem. Chile's SEP Act offered grants to schools working with "priority" students coming from underprivileged social and financial backgrounds. Yet, access to these subsidies depended on good attendance rates. It was a catch-22-like problem: the SEP Act would enable the school to access the resources required to work on its problems, but the school would not qualify for this funding if it didn't show improvements in its key metrics. How should the school go about it? What could it do to engage families in order to lower dropout and absenteeism rate.

By early 2019, the United States had contributed $132 billion to the Afghan reconstruction. John Sopko, in his role as the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was in charge of providing accountability for U.S. aid funding. Sopko's oversight faced severe limitations such as a growing on-budget assistance, pervasive corruption, and lack of transportation, infrastructure, and security for his staff. To fight those odds, SIGAR has implemented multiple strategies with relative success. For example, cultivating a network of sources and informants had allowed SIGAR to save the U.S. over $200 million from a fuel contract bid-rigging scheme. The SIGAR Fraud Hotline had received and reviewed over 3,200 reports. However, with the Afghan presidential elections and peace talks looming on the horizon, Sopko was wondering how SIGAR would have to adapt to a new reality that could potentially be much worse.

This case follows a woman named Maria Alvarez as she explores financing options to cover costs for her young daughter's surprise respiratory illness. Alvarez has not opened a bank account since moving to the United States from the Dominican Republic two years prior and has little savings from her job. She lives paycheck to paycheck without a credit card or credit history, to her knowledge. Should Alvarez get the money she needs through a payday loan, which wouldn't require her to have a bank account, or should she explore what it would be like to join a financial institution and get a personal loan through it?

This case follows the recently married Shane and Erin as they explore the world of credit cards. Shane, a musician with an irregular salary and a spotty job history, was raised to avoid credit by his parents who had emigrated from a communist Eastern Europe. Erin, a marketing manager in a baby-formula company, has a steady salary but knows little about credit cards. Shane offers to do some research and report back in a week. This case reveals the complexity of the credit card business and the risks and rewards to a consumer that uses a financial product. In particular, users should recognize that the risk of having a credit card is how it might influence their consumption behavior. Credit cards offer a variety of conveniences, but they are an expensive form of short-term debt that can become an onerous burden if used beyond the means of the cardholder. Thus prudent use of credit cards is a key learning objective of both the A and B cases.

B case to case UV7812 This case continues the story of Shane and Erin as they learn about credit cards. In the A case, Shane researched credit cards and explained the fine print from the disclosures to his wife Erin, a marketing manager in a baby-formula company. The B case begins with Erin interested in choosing the best credit card that offers airline miles in order to earn a free beach trip. Three cards are presented (case Exhibit 1) with different options, though the annual percentage rate (APR) is unknown until an application is made. To compare the three offers, Shane attempts to measure the costs and benefits of each card assuming the couple spends as much as $500 and pays 75% back ($350) per month. This case reveals the complexity of the credit card business and the risks and rewards to consumers. In particular, students should recognize that the risk of having a credit card is how it might influence their consumption behavior. Credit cards offer a variety of conveniences, but they are an expensive form of short-term debt that can become an onerous burden if used beyond the means of the card owner. Thus prudent use of credit cards is a key learning objective of both the A and B cases.