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Excel spreadsheet for students.

This case describes how Cold Stone Creamery created a business model for a premium customized ice cream experience. It describes the company’s value proposition, growth strategy, and competitors, and poses the question of whether the company could continue to attract new franchisees.

On the night of April 20, 2010, a series of explosions rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Gas in the Macondo well had surged upward unexpectedly, causing a mix of drilling mud and seawater to spew uncontrollably into the air, much like a volcanic eruption. Eleven crew members died during the explosion. The nation mourned their loss, and people watched as BP struggled to contain the environmental damage. Millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in the weeks that followed. The federal government relied on BP to manage the accident’s aftermath, in part because government officials lacked the expertise required to stop the spill. Meanwhile, BP downplayed its responsibility for the failure. As the firm failed repeatedly to stop the spill, the public became angry. This industrial disaster became the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.<br><br>The case provides a detailed description of the events leading up to this catastrophe. Readers examine the key decisions that BP and its partners made as they drilled this well. They discover the alternative choices that could have been made and learn about the disagreements that took place (as well as those that failed to surface). Moreover, the case provides an opportunity to examine how BP’s history and organizational culture shaped the way those decisions were made. The case describes how Tony Hayward and his predecessor, John Browne, led the firm and shaped the culture during the past two decades. In addition, the case explains how the regulatory environment and political forces shaped decision-making in the oil industry. The case concludes by examining the aftermath of the accident, particularly BP’s public relations miscues as it tried to manage the crisis.

The founder of Sushilicious, a new sushi restaurant in California, is wondering how to make his second year in the business even more successful. His objective is to grow the current base for his restaurant with a limited marketing budget. The founder has had success building his first restaurant using a combination of social media tools and now wonders how he can build upon his current marketing strategy. Furthermore, should he franchise the Sushilicious concept, open a second restaurant, or focus entirely on the first location?

Since 1988, Nouveau Event Planning has been operating the largest wedding expo in Windsor, Canada, an event called the Wedding Extravaganza. In 2001, the Wedding Odyssey became the second wedding expo in Windsor, and started to pose a significant threat to the Wedding Extravaganza. Now in 2011, the owner of Nouveau Event Planning must make strategic decisions involving pricing, customer retention, and selection of an appropriate target market. She must also determine the best course of action for the exhibition through analysis of the competitive landscape and future potential of the wedding industry.

This note discusses the appropriate accounting treatment for stock-based compensation under International Financial Reporting Standards and briefly examines the differences relative to Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises. Stock options and restricted stock are discussed specifically, with an example of each provided. The impact of vesting conditions is detailed, including service conditions, market performance conditions, and non-market performance conditions. Further, the note addresses the accounting significance of cash-settled versus share-settled stock-based compensation. A brief discussion of disclosure requirements and income tax considerations is also provided. Finally, the note gives background on the recent developments of stock option backdating and say-on-pay requirements.

This note is an introduction to simulation in Excel and VBA. The note uses examples to demonstrate different methods of doing simulation in Excel and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Concepts explained in this note include random number generation, probability distributions, data tables, loops and arrays, histograms, and descriptive statistics.

On July 6, 2011, the communication director for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) in Toronto, Ontario, was faced with a challenging situation. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had just released an online article that focused on the 2011 CCS budget and how the CCS allocated millions of dollars each year. The article provided details on how the proportion of donation money that the CCS spent on cancer research each year had decreased from 40 per cent in 2000 to under 22 per cent in 2011. With the CBC report circulating in both television and online media, public speculation into the CCS’s financial management of public donations was starting to grow. It was clear that the CCS communication team would need to respond. A communication strategy would need to be developed for the CCS to follow, along with a press release to be posted the next day on the CCS website.

Palm Inc. was the “founder” of an entire industry. In the mid-1990s, the firm developed the first successful hand-held on the market. It became the uncontested leader within the young and extremely dynamic industry within a short time, both with regard to hardware as well as software. By 2010, however, Palm was not in good shape. The new product, a top-notch smart phone, was not very successful and there were signs of Palm’s bankruptcy on the horizon. Palm had been the leader in the market of hand-held computers with high market share and profitability, and a brand name recognition level of which many other firms could only dream. What had happened to Palm?

Kinross Gold is considering changing the stock-based compensation plans that it uses for medium- to long-term executive incentives. A human resources consultant has been retained to make recommendations. The consultant must determine whether the current split between stock options and restricted share units should be altered. In addition, she must consider whether to recommend that Kinross Gold adopt restricted performance-vesting share units. If so, appropriate performance benchmarks must be established. Finally, the consultant must quantify the impact of her recommendations on stock-based compensation expense.

First Class Trading Corporation, a Montreal-based company, had two partners: Jeff Morahan, the founder of the company, and David Sciacca. After evaluating the school supplies industry, Morahan had identified an opportunity to market a fully stocked school bag to schools and parents. The bag was filled with various items that a child needed as determined by a given teacher’s requirements. The strategy of the company was to target elementary and secondary private schools in the greater Montreal area, with elementary schools as the initial target. To date, the partners had generated a disappointing level of sales through cold calls and sales visits to schools. They had drawn up a strategic plan with objectives, positioning, and a marketing mix and were now wondering if they were on the right track. Had they missed something? Should they seek additional advice? Should they move ahead? The situation was complicated because of the stakeholders (school directors, teachers, parents, and students) involved in the marketing process.

Bruce Ballantyne had recently joined C.R.P. Products (CRP), a furniture manufacturer in Stratford, Ontario, to help review the company’s operations and assess what changes were necessary to keep up with demand. Although it was early 2011 and the peak season was still four months away, Ballantyne knew that he would have to determine what equipment was needed over the next three weeks to ensure it was delivered and installed before the peak season. Jamie Bailey, the owner of CRP, had also concluded that CRP did not have the financing available for both the new equipment needed to make its unique design of outdoor furniture and the seasonal working capital required to support inventory and accounts receivable. He had turned to Ballantyne to develop a solution that would keep up with demand, keep inventory low, and work within the available financing.

It was August 2011 and Martin Cartier, senior board member of Drowling Mountain, was beginning to feel the pressure of Drowling Mountain Ski Resort’s 2010 general meeting that was coming up in two months. Drowling Mountain had historically been the ski resort of choice for the local residents of Syracuse, New York. However, the company had recorded losses for the past two years. At last year’s annual general meeting, Cartier explicitly stated that he would bring the company to sustainable operations. He felt personally responsible for the company’s struggles, since he was the longest-serving member on the board. Management had been keen on developing a new marketing plan focused on new pricing schemes and increasing sales, but Cartier thought an advance meeting to discuss the plan with select board members would be advantageous. He held significant influence in the forthcoming meeting in October, and any recommendations that he made were likely to determine the future success of the company.

Rogers Communications’ new president and chief executive officer (CEO) contemplated the future growth opportunities of the company. The CEO was taking control of Rogers at a high point — it was a powerful player in all areas of the telecommunications sector including wireless, television, Internet telephone, and landline telephone. However, competition in the industry was also at an all-time high and innovations were abounding. The CEO knew that to successfully develop Rogers’ strategic direction for the future, he would have to make tradeoffs that would require a strong understanding of the competitive landscape and the future of the industry. Could Rogers afford to be a leader in all four product areas: wireless, television, Internet, and landline telephone? Where should it be willing to lead and where should it be willing to lag behind competitors? Should it think about its future as four (or less) distinct businesses or as one company? Should it think about entering markets in which it did not currently have a strong presence? How much financial flexibility did Rogers have for enacting any future strategies? In making tradeoffs, Rogers would have to explore its resource strengths and weaknesses: this would allow it to gain an in-depth understanding of its competitive advantage. Understanding its competitive advantage would help it make decisions concerning future resource investments that would allow it to lead the industry. No matter which tradeoffs Rogers considered making, the results needed to help it continue to outperform its competitors by maintaining net margins of at least 20 per cent.

An entrepreneur is at a crossroads. He has successfully executed a pilot event in Las Vegas for THUNDERBALL!, his long-drive golf media property that includes live events, television production, and sports wagering. He has also secured a prime-time airing commitment with The Golf Channel for three episodes. However, he must cover the costs of hosting a live event and producing it as a television show. The business model would combine sponsorship from television, event tickets, commissions for players, merchandise, and a partnership with a licensed casino for wagering. This case exposes readers to the world of television/media production and financing and the challenges entrepreneurs can face in spite of a successful initial effort.

This supplement to Thunderball (A) deals with the entrepreneur’s mission to find a successful business model.

This a supplement to Thunderball (A).

The president and chief executive officer (CEO) of an established Toronto-based boutique consulting firm is in the process of expanding his company’s core competency from the largely mature tech sector to the new and rapidly growing field of clean technology. During this time, the CEO is introduced to an inventor and an entrepreneur who have developed a waveform technology that they claim will instantaneously reduce electricity consumption by 30 per cent or more, when applied to a fluorescent lighting ballast. The two of them present the CEO and his partners with a rough prototype, a handful of patents on the verge of expiring, and mere verbal confirmation that the technology can be proven and certified. The CEO is intrigued by the potential of this radical new technology and must decide whether he and his firm will back the partners.

This supplement to LumiSmart (A): Answering the Call for Negawatts explores how the development of the clean technology might be financed.

The managing director of Apollo Health Street (AHS), a health care business process outsourcing (BPO) company headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States, was pondering two dilemmas: achieving short-term growth for his company, and finding new ways to compete in a changing industry. AHS was itself a subsidiary of Apollo Health Enterprises Ltd., an integrated health care company located in Hyderabad, India. AHS had been growing at an 80 per cent compound annual growth rate since 2005 and aimed to reach $100 million in sales by March 2010. Its target was to increase annual sales to $500 million within three years in a highly competitive space, which if successful would move AHS into the top three BPO companies in the health care sector. How should it secure short-term growth? The second dilemma was how to plan for the future. Industry analysts had predicted that over the next five to ten years, health care BPO would become unrecognizable from its current form. The managing director believed that although scaling up would strengthen the company’s position for the short term, the company should also be looking for solutions to stay relevant to the customer. How should AHS influence the shape of health care BPO in the future? What new ways of competing could the company pursue?