個案總覽

Kiera, a young, enthusiastic sales rep, was recently promoted to manager of a sales team of five. In her first year on the job, she tackled a major revamp of the company's outdated training materials and organized a regional conference for her area, but neither her boss nor corporate seemed to appreciate the work she had been doing. Without support or guidance from her boss, Kiera was confused. What was she supposed to do? Parts A and B of the case present two different perspectives on coaching. Part A contains a narrative from the point of view of the "coachee," Kiera, who was learning how to work with her boss, ultimately with the assistance of an executive coach. This case focuses on coaching as a tool to enhance self-management and relationship management and to improve personal performance. Part B describes how Kiera started to learn the "coach approach" to managing her team with the continued guidance of her executive coach. She learned to apply the same skills that her coach used with her in Part A to diagnose her team, share feedback, and communicate expectations. She was learning how to listen and ask thoughtful questions, but she also needed to expand her awareness to "other-management" and build her own coaching skills to enhance her team's performance.

Kiera, a young, enthusiastic sales rep, was recently promoted to manager of a sales team of five. In her first year on the job, she tackled a major revamp of the company's outdated training materials and organized a regional conference for her area, but neither her boss nor corporate seemed to appreciate the work she had been doing. Without support or guidance from her boss, Kiera was confused. What was she supposed to do? Parts A and B of the case present two different perspectives on coaching. Part A contains a narrative from the point of view of the "coachee," Kiera, who was learning how to work with her boss, ultimately with the assistance of an executive coach. This case focuses on coaching as a tool to enhance self-management and relationship management and to improve personal performance. Part B describes how Kiera started to learn the "coach approach" to managing her team with the continued guidance of her executive coach. She learned to apply the same skills that her coach used with her in Part A to diagnose her team, share feedback, and communicate expectations. She was learning how to listen and ask thoughtful questions, but she also needed to expand her awareness to "other-management" and build her own coaching skills to enhance her team's performance.

This case features an entrepreneur striving to rapidly grow a successful chain of hair salons that serve women with afro hair. After doubling from 13 to 26 salons across Brazil in 2014, the founders' expansion plan called for 120 Beleza Natural salons and R$1 billion in sales by 2018. CEO and cofounder Leila Velez is considering various fundamental marketing strategies to catalyze growth: Should Beleza launch a new mass-media campaign, increase promotional discounts, expand its target market to serve men, broaden its service offerings, streamline processes to reduce wait times, expand distribution channels, or franchise? Students assume the role of Velez and are asked to recommend which growth strategy would be their top priority. In doing so, they are required to evaluate how these strategies pertain to the company's business model and value proposition. They are also challenged to consider what a brand is and what makes a strong service brand in order to verify if their strategies are consistent with Beleza's brand. The teaching note outlines a framework for developing or evaluating a business model as well as developing strategies for managing growth. The case is accompanied by a series of video interviews with Velez that support case preparation, in-class discussion, and key learning points.

Jane Philpott, a federal member of Parliament and minister in the Canadian government's cabinet, had told voters during her election campaign in 2015, "For me, a seat in the House of Commons is not a target; it's a tool. It's the tool that you and I will use to make this community better-to make this country better." Four years later, Philpott was forced to examine her position and her potential to use that tool when a scandal brought to question the principles upon which the governing party had campaigned. Resigning over principles carried a great cost; was it the right decision for Philpott?

In April 1520, Gaspar de Quesada and other Spanish Captains mutinied against their Portuguese admiral Ferdinand Magellan. After being retired by the Portuguese King, Magellan approached the Spanish King, Charles I, claiming to know a passage through the newly found continent to South-East-Asia. The king promised Magellan significant personal gain and full authority over an armada of five ships. When leaving Spain in 1519, Magellan did not reveal the details of his plans to the mostly Spanish captains of the other ships, but rather ordered them to just follow his boat. A minor signal of disobedience by Magellan's deputy was met with immediate force and the expedition continued until Magellan ordered to stay in a natural harbor during Winter season and drastically rationed supplies. The case study describes a meeting between the Spanish Captains under the command of Gaspar de Quesada during which they debate their options, namely a mutiny to get control of the largest ship, San Antonio. Using a historical case and setting, the case allows to discuss multiple issues of contemporary interest in the domains of leadership and (business) ethics, namely loyalty, authority, power, (dis-)obedience, psychological contracts (and their violations), organizational success, and triple bottom line thinking.

The backwaters of Vembanad, in Kerala, India, were a renowned tourist attraction, known for their beautiful waters, schools of fish, and the people who lived along the shores. However, the exploitation of resources had taken a toll on the lake and its ecosystem. Pollution and the decline of the rich fish population had left the community impoverished. In 2008, the non-profit social enterprise Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) had launched an innovative educational and self-regulatory program that had begun to improve the ecosystem. However, by 2018, the resurgence of the fish population had also attracted a fisheries-based food company that wanted to begin processing and exporting fish caught in Vembanad. The immediate employment benefits were attractive to the impoverished local fishers, but the long-term consequences for the region and its community were severe. How should ATREE respond to this pending crisis? Should ATREE use incoming money for immediate relief for Vembanad's stakeholders or should it use the money for long-term benefit by focusing on further conservation efforts?

This technical note outlines the general judicial requirements an acquisition must meet to qualify as a tax-deferred reorganization. The variation in the specific requirements that must be met to qualify for different types of tax-deferred ("A," Forward Triangular "A," Reverse Triangular "A," "B," and "C") reorganizations are addressed. Finally, the specific tax consequences to the target's shareholders and acquirer are outlined, and a numerical example illustrates the calculation of the after-tax proceeds to the target's shareholders and the after-tax cost to the acquirer.

Student spreadsheet to case UV7773

BootsUnlimited.com (BU) is a website offering custom-made footwear. Customers can choose from a wide variety of styles and can also create new styles based on their exact specifications. The company instructs customers on how to provide 20 different foot and calf measurements, and from those measurements, the footwear is made in a Thai production facility. BU products cater to the custom boot market and to very different segments, and the brothers who co-own the family business have designed a Google AdWords campaign for their company to target each segment. Because they were starting with a limited budget, and because BU catered to such niche markets, the Rosens decided to start with very specific keywords that would require lower bids. They believed that starting this way would keep them from running out of money too soon.

Supplement to case UV7778 Robert Rosen and his brother, Ryan, took a look at the slow pace at which the budget for their family-owned company, BootsUnlimited.com (BU), was being spent. Many of the keywords they had chosen for their Google AdWords campaign in the hopes of boosting online sales at BU, were not being clicked on. What changes did they need to make?

Supplement to case UV7778 Ryan and Robert Rosen, brothers and co-owners of BootsUnlimited.com (BU) are approaching the end of their three-week experiment in testing keywords for their Google AdWords campaign, eliminating poor-performing keywords and occasionally adding new ones. Will their campaign be a success, or will they have to find some other way to market BU's boots?

This technical notes discusses three basic deal structures used to acquire another corporation. Asset acquisitions, stock acquisitions, and mergers under state law are the three common legal forms discussed.

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a holding company that invests in many diverse businesses. The most significant of those are property and casualty insurance businesses, although the company owns businesses in the railroad, utilities, energy, and finance industries as well. The case focuses on accounting for investments at Berkshire Hathaway. The company adopted the new US guidance (ASU 2016-01) on accounting for investments in its 2018 10-K, and key excerpts from that report comprise much of the case. Students are asked to review Berkshire Hathaway's financial statements and the footnotes related to its investments, consider the method of accounting for those investments, and decipher their impact on the financial statements.

Since China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, economic relations between China and the US have deepened. Along with closer ties, however, has also come greater political conflict. In this case, students will analyse the current Sino-US diplomatic relationship through two distinct lenses: 1) bilateral diplomatic relations; 2) economic theory. By understanding the complex political and economic factors underpinning the relationship, students will be called on to propose potential solutions to avoid further escalation.

In June 2017, executives from Amalsad Vibhag Vividh Karyakari Sahakari Khedut Mandali Ltd. (Amalsad Cooperative) met to consider possible changes to the cooperative's interventions in commodity marketing, particularly, whether further interventions would benefit member farmers. Linking a unique reward and penalty scheme to the grade supplied by the farmers and directly supplying produce to the terminal market in Delhi had resulted in a 15 per cent increase in the farmers' income. Streamlining the entire process-from receiving the commodity, grading and sorting the supply, to paying the farmers-had considerably reduced delays. The chairperson of the Amalsad Cooperative, which covered farmers from 17 villages near the town of Amalsad, in India, was pleased that reengineering the commodity marketing process had not only fetched a better price but had also eliminated the inefficiencies associated with marketing through the traditional channel-the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee trading yards, or mandies. However, he wondered whether further refining the grades would enhance the income of the members and asked his executives what other processes could be modified to benefit the members, especially in rendering services.

In 2018, Restaurant Kazu was operating at near full capacity with long waiting lines. Located in a mixed, high-density neighbourhood in the west end of downtown Montreal, Quebec, the full-service restaurant had been popular with patrons since its opening eight years earlier. However, the owner and chef wondered if he should address the issue of long waiting lines, which could discourage potential customers. If so, what measures could he take to improve the situation, and how cost effective would the measures be? With the start of the peak season only two weeks away, the owner had to make some quick decisions.

In August 2018, the managing director of Grace Castings Ltd. (GCL) was preparing for an upcoming board meeting. At the meeting, which was expected to take place at the company's head office in Ahmedabad, India, he planned to present the strategic plan for GCL's future expansion as well as chart the company's direction. GLC was a small mill that manufactured steel products, including structural bars, thermomechanically treated bars, angles, and channels. In fiscal year 2017-18, the fully family-owned business had a financial turnover of US$33.85 million. With the recent growth in India's steel industry, the managing director was considering various options for expansion. The first option was backward integration, which meant increasing the capacity of billet manufacturing by adding a 30-metric-ton induction furnace. The second option was to expand the business by adding a new power plant. The managing director had to decide whether to recommend one or both of these options or simply maintain the status quo and grow the company at a slow pace.

In 2014, the vice-president of Group Corporate Social Responsibility at Singtel, a Singapore-based provider of telecommunications products and services, was scrutinizing his proposal for the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) transformation. He wanted to reposition Singtel's CSR approach to create greater social impact while demonstrating greater benefit to the company beyond promoting its branding and reputation. In doing so, he was mindful that the proposal would require greater financial investment on the part of the company. The proposal would also need to leverage the company's capabilities and partnerships and address the possibility of dropping its current beneficiaries. His team needed to convince the board of directors and senior management that the potential benefits of the proposed changes would be worth the financial investment and the possibility of reduced brand exposure.

Set in 2018, the case highlights the latest developments in China's retail industry, with a specific focus on online retail. The growing penetration of smartphones, rising popularity of social media, prevalence of trusted digital payment systems, and government policy to integrate the internet into the country's future social and economic development have set China on the course to be the global leader in e-commerce. Mobile technologies, big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things (IoT) technology have transformed the process of value creation and supply chain management for brands and retailers in China. In July 2018, Pinduoduo (PDD), a social commerce platform backed by Tencent successfully raised USD1.63bn in an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, making it one of the biggest US listings by Chinese firms in the previous four years. Established for less than three years, PDD's phenomenal rise to the number-three position in China surprised many in the industry, including market leaders Alibaba and JD.com. It developed a new online group purchase model, teaming buyers via social media and focusing on consumer demands from rural regions. Its steep growth underscores PDD's success to investors. As the company enters its post-IPO era,what are the strategic options for PDD to sustain its growth?