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This case is helpful for illustrating the concept of cost drivers, and demonstrating how the use of cost drivers can help managers better understand the forces that govern the use of resources in their organizations. It also can be used to demonstrate that by changing a fundamental cost accounting decision (cost centers, in this instance), an organization can change the cost of its products or services.

The case provides a forum that allows an instructor to discuss some of the more counterintuitive aspects of financial accounting, which should help students to increase their grasp of the concepts. The case could stand alone if the goal were to give students just a little information about financial accounting. Ideally, it is taught in conjunction with the Brookstone Ob-Gyn Associates (B) case.

Supplement for TCG161

This is a pretty simple case in preparing a budget, with a couple of tricky spins to make it interesting. It is designed to be accompanied by Pacific Park School (B), in which the program ran a deficit, and students must calculate the relevant variances.

Supplement for TCG263

This is a relatively simple case on the subject of flexible budgeting, but it raises enough issues concerning the use of the reports that it can easily be used for an entire class session. It provides a nice lead-in to somewhat more complex variance analysis cases.

This case requires the computation of both a flexible budget and some variances, but there is insufficient information to compute all of the traditional variances. Thus, students need to adjust their thinking somewhat and be a little creative. They also need to understand variance analysis enough to play with the data a little bit.

The note looks at operational budgeting through several lenses. The discussion begins with the nature of the operating budget, and the broad context in which budgeting takes place, distinguishing between budgeting's behavioral and mechanical aspects. It then looks at the components of the operating budget, and the steps involved in formulating a budget. An appendix to the note discusses some budgeting misfits, or areas where the budgeting phase may be poorly aligned with other organizational activities.

The note begins with a review of the idea that different costs are used for different purposes, and discusses the differences. It then summarizes the criteria for a good responsibility accounting system. Next, it illustrates the contingent nature of responsibility accounting systems by positioning them as one of several activities that interrelate and that must be well coordinated if an organization is to be successful. This is followed by a brief discussion of each of these activities. The note concludes by emphasizing the importance of senior management's role in designing the activities.

The case series focuses on Melbourne Trains' viral advertising campaign to improve safe behaviors around trains among young people. This iconic, low budget campaign swept the Cannes Lions advertising awards in 2013 and became a social media sensation.

As of the date of this note, financing environments varied significantly across developing economies. Differences in legal structures, operating conditions, and available capital sources created a myriad of conditions for entrepreneurs to navigate when seeking funds to develop their ventures. One systemic trend, however, did exist: entrepreneurs consistently cited access to financing as one of the top three obstacles to achieving growth. This note does not seek to provide a "one size fits all" model to addressing this challenge. Rather, this note is intended to provide entrepreneurs with a starting point to better understand the types of financing available in developing economies, the sources of this capital, and the means to locate these investors. Entrepreneurs can use the examples in this note as a springboard to craft solutions for the challenges posed by their specific financing environments.

After conducting thorough research, two young entrepreneurs in Rwanda realize they have the opportunity to target the international budget tourists commonly referred to as "backpackers." Only one European-style backpacker hostel currently exists in the capital city of Kigali, and the low-budget tourism industry remains significantly underdeveloped throughout the country. The partners have seen how successful this type of tourism has become in neighbouring countries and desire to replicate it in their homeland. One of them has inherited a piece of land in a quiet nature area by a lake only five minutes' drive from a major international bus terminal. Although they have very few financial resources between them, they realize that a hospitality business providing tent accommodation and basic services will be cheap to operate and will attract budget-conscious travelers. Now, in order to start construction, they must not only raise $19,000 within the next six months before Rwanda's high tourist season begins but design a successful marketing plan to attract customers once the business opens.

The advent of the world wide web and the entry of private players in India's post-liberalization era resulted in India Post losing a substantial volume of its business to e-mails, faxes, short-message services and private-courier-service providers. Additionally, government policies regarding India Post had long remained unchanged. As a consequence, India Post was caught up in a vicious cycle of decreasing mail traffic, low levels of technology investment, poor financial performance and poor customer service. Critics also raised questions regarding India Post's lack of market orientation. Nevertheless, India Post responded by taking advantage of its huge distribution network, pursuing related diversification and modernizing its facilities. Despite these efforts, undertaken between 2005 and 2012, India Post was unable to report any profits, although the efforts generated revenue growth. Among all the services that the postal department provided, only postal insurance generated significant profits. It was from this perspective that India Post's management wondered whether it should follow the example of countries like Germany and the Netherlands, where the postal services had been privatized, or whether it should wait for the 2005-2012 initiatives to generate profits for India Post in the coming years.

This note provides information on the state of startup financing in Silicon Valley in 2013. It details different avenues startups have to raise funding, including venture capital, corporate venture capital, angel investors, incubators, and crowdfunding.

EFL provides credit-scoring services in developing countries using psychometric assessment, but the potential loss of a large customer makes them reconsider their scaling narrative.

In 2012, Marissa Mayer became the CEO of Yahoo!, a tech giant with a tumultuous past. When Mayer tries to reinvigorate the company, she hires Jacqueline Reses, who has a private equity background, to head both human resources and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). As part of Mayer's turnaround strategy, Reses looks to build a mobile technology product development team by executing an "acquisition-hire" (i.e., "acqui-hire") to acquire New York City-based start-up Stamped, a mobile application company launched by former Google employees, Robby Stein and Bart Stein. Without an M&A team that is fully staffed and before new acquisition processes have been formalized, Reses must decide whether acquiring Stamped is a wise strategy. The case also considers the perspective of Robby and Bart and explores if selling Stamped to Yahoo! and transitioning the Stamped team into Yahoo!'s mobile product development team is the right exit strategy for their start-up.

On September 11, 2013, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied St. Jude's request to rehear an appeal on the "double patenting" ruling for the '439 patent. Further, it removed the injunction threat that was hanging over the company. The future looked bright for AccessClosure as 2013 drew to a close. The company expected 2014 revenues of more than $100 million with a gross margin of greater than 70%. It was also anticipating FDA approval on a significant product improvement within the next several months.

In the first decade of the 21st century, national debt as a share of GDP rose dramatically in the United States and across the developed world. This case consists of excerpts from leading commentators explaining and commenting on this trend and the economic and moral problems it poses. Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom.