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The executive director of an independent charitable foundation is thinking about whether to hedge his foundation's U.S. dollar exposure given the large swings in the Canadian dollar-U.S. dollar exchange rate. For the past four years, the weakening U.S. dollar has contributed to underperformance in the foundation's portfolio relative to its peers.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Air Canada was reviewing the company's risk management program with the intent to suggest changes to the policy. Risk management was a topic all corporate boards were dedicating time to since the financial collapse of 2008, and boards had come to realize that hard questions needed to be asked about the source of risk, how it was disclosed, how it was to be accounted for and how it was managed. The CEO knew that he needed to consider the impact of his view of the economy, interest rates, exchange rates and the commodity markets on how aggressive Air Canada should be with its appropriate hedges. He decided to start by identifying the most relevant sources of external risk that could materially affect Air Canada's short and long-term financial performance. He then wanted to understand how these risks were managed today and how they compared to West Jet, their main competitor. Finally, he wanted to determine what changes should be made to either eliminate the source of risk or better manage any significant risks that remained.

The head of Patient Escort Services for Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) had to determine the best approach to improve efficiency of the hospital's porter system. Porters represented a vital part of various hospital processes, facilitating timely flow of patients, equipment and materials throughout the hospital. Recently, VGH had experienced incidents in which the capacity of the porters was insufficient to meet the demands of the hospital and, despite best-efforts at scheduling, these problems remained. The head of Patient Escort Services spent several weeks collecting data to determine where the problems existed, and wondered if his data could provide answers to some critical questions: How well did the current porter schedule meet daily demand? What is the optimum number of porters? The head of Patient Escort Services had one week to submit his report to VGH's board of directors.

The founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Teksavvy Solutions Inc. has achieved sales of $18 million in just more than 10 years as an Internet service provider (ISP) across Canada but he must decide whether to distribute his service via cable carriers, telecom carriers or both, or even integrate forward into laying fiber-optic cable in homes and businesses himself. If he invests in last mile connections to homes, he will need a great deal more funds and he will need a healthy uptake by the new customers, most of whom would be located in smaller cities and towns. The added investment for this option would require him to look seriously at bringing in a venture capital company for major investment but he would have to sell it some equity and live under its covenants and guidance until some type of liquidity event would buy out the venture funder.

The president of a small water filtration company is considering expanding his operations to include membrane biological reactors (MBRs). The topic of future-oriented decision-making using the differential cash flow is introduced. Students are asked to (1) qualitatively evaluate the filtration industry and decide whether this is the right time for the company to expand to MBRs; (2) perform a business size-up of the company and its competitors and determine whether the company is well positioned to expand at this time; (3) analyze the expansion opportunity qualitatively; (4) list all cash flows associated with the expansion and classify them as relevant (future, cash and different), and either recurring or one-time costs; (5) perform a differential analysis, with sensitivity where necessary and (6) determine the return on investment and the payback period.

The owner/operator of an ice cream store has an opportunity to expand his product line to include soft-serve ice cream. He needs to analyze the costs and benefits of purchasing either a new or used single-head or triple-head soft-serve ice cream machine. He also wants to continue growing the business and he wonders about the best way of going about it. Students are asked to (1) perform a business size-up; (2) analyze the addition of soft-serve ice cream from a qualitative standpoint; (3) determine which of the cash flows associated with the opportunity are relevant and which are recurring costs versus one-time costs; (4) perform a differential analysis to determine the ROI and payback period for the purchase of both new machines; (5) determine the ROI and payback period changes if a used machine is purchased; and (6) decide whether to purchase a soft-serve ice cream machine and, if so, which one.

Furniture Bank was an organization that collected and distributed donated, gently used furniture to those in need. After several years of tight financial circumstances, the interim executive director was relieved that the past year had provided relief via generation of record amounts of excess cash. He was preparing a report to be presented to the board of directors concerning his thoughts on what direction he thought the Furniture Bank should take, concerning opportunities for growth and the community's needs. With several thousand dollars of unrestricted reserves to access, but competing ideas for use of those reserves, the executive director realized the organization faced some difficult strategic and tactical decisions. All the ideas seemed to be important for Furniture Bank but the executive director was unsure if the organization had the capability to implement them; and he was unsure how to evaluate their relative priority. Any recommendation he made had to consider Furniture Bank's long-term direction and build on its recent financial success.

The vice-president of manufacturing for W.C. Wood Company was reviewing a proposal to change the company's packaging for their line of refrigerators and freezers. The proposal recommended a move from cardboard packaging to a combination of polystyrene foam and clear plastic film. Switching to this method of packaging would save on material and labour costs, and result in a significant reduction in damage claims due to the increased package stability; however, a substantial capital investment would be required to launch the change. The equipment required to convert to the new design would require a six-month lead time and one week to install, preferably over the company's summer shut-down. The vice-president needed to evaluate his options of converting all lines at once or transitioning to the new packaging system in stages in order to make his decision.

The vice-president of manufacturing for W.C. Wood Company (Wood) was pleased with the implementation of the new packaging system for the refrigerators and freezers (known as clear pack). Despite some initial start-up issues, problems were resolved and customers had even begun complimenting Wood on the change. Therefore, it came as a surprise when Maytag refused to take delivery of the clear pack product and instead notified Wood of an impending warranty claim under their supply agreement for product damages. Wood had filed all the product testing forms and approvals with Maytag prior to implementing the clear pack product; however, the Maytag distribution warehouse had not been made aware of the proper handling requirements. Additionally, Maytag's largest customer had not been made aware of the handling changes and was similarly unprepared. As a result, damage claims had increased more than 300 per cent and were expected to rise if something was not done quickly.

Deborah McDonald of Upper Canada Insurance (Upper Canada) was reviewing several pieces of data she and her team had spent the last month collecting. McDonald and her team had been asked to address the inefficiencies in the life insurance application process, largely due to the high numbers of applicants withdrawing from the system (known as wastage) in the midst of the process. Upper Canada had determined that the most common reason for clients abandoning the application process was the long time required to get a response, followed by lack of communication and poor customer service. It was thought that by solving these problems, Upper Canada could meet or exceed industry wastage levels and improve the efficiency of the sales team. McDonald was assigned the task of analyzing the data and making recommendations to resolve the issues of the application process, but was not certain where to begin.

In June 2010, Naser Tavazo, one of the three owner/manager brothers of both Tavazo Iran Co. and Tavazo Canada Co., was considering the company's future expansion opportunities, including further international market entry. Candidate cities of interest were Los Angeles, Dubai and other cities with a high Iranian diaspora. Another question facing the owners was where to focus on the value chain. Should the family business use its limited resources to expand its retailer business into more international markets, or to expand their current retailer/wholesale activities within Canada and Iran?<br><br>The objectives of this case are: (A) to discuss the typical problems that small companies confront when growing internationally and the implication of being a family business in this transition; (B) to provide a vehicle for developing criteria for market selection; (C) to highlight the importance of focus in the value chain regarding horizontal vs. vertical integration.<br><br>This case can be used in international business, strategic management or family business (entrepreneurship) courses. In international business, it may be used as an internationalization case and positioned early in the course. In a strategic management course, it might be positioned in sections dealing with managerial preferences, or diversification.

This case addresses Bank of America Corporation's contemplated joint venture with China Construction Bank to enter the Chinese credit card market. The case builds on the questions of strategic alliances in foreign markets and the state of the banking and credit industries in China generally.

From the perspectives of the senior executive of Mittal and the senior executive of Arcelor, this case looks at post-merger integration. As with many mergers, the ArcelorMittal merger was touted as a merger of equals. Unlike most, it was actually managed as such and it worked. The case series looks at three critical decision points (one for each case) and challenges that the two senior executives faced from the line organization during the execution of the integration. Also see supplemental cases ArcelorMittal (B), product #9B10M002 and ArcelorMittal (C), product #9B10M003.

From the perspectives of the senior executive of Mittal and the senior executive of Arcelor, this case looks at post-merger integration. As with many mergers, the ArcelorMittal merger was touted as a merger of equals. Unlike most, it was actually managed as such and it worked. The case series looks at three critical decision points (one for each case) and challenges that the two senior executives faced from the line organization during the execution of the integration. Also see ArcelorMittal (A), product #9B10M001 and ArcelorMittal (C), product #9B10M003.

From the perspectives of the senior executive of Mittal and the senior executive of Arcelor, this case looks at post-merger integration. As with many mergers, the ArcelorMittal merger was touted as a merger of equals. Unlike most, it was actually managed as such and it worked. The case series looks at three critical decision points (one for each case) and challenges that the two senior executives faced from the line organization during the execution of the integration. See ArcelorMittal (A), product #9B10M001 and ArcelorMittal (B), product #9B10M002.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - MENA Business Cases Award, European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>The Chabros International Group case examines how a Lebanese multinational wood company confronts a drastic drop in its largest subsidiary's sales after 2008's global economic crisis. Antoine Chami, Chabros's owner and president, was reviewing his company's 2009 end-of-year financial statements and, in particular, a 30 per cent drop in sales in Dubai. In 2007, a year before the global economic crisis, Chami had invested more than $11 million to acquire and expand a sawmill in Serbia to meet Chabros's growing lumber sales demand. With a much higher capacity to produce lumber and a much lower probability to sell it, Chami had to decide what to do to overcome this challenge. Should he close parts of his Serbian sawmill? Should he try to boost his company's sales to use all of his sawmill's available capacity? If so, should Chabros try to increase sales within the countries where it already operated (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt) or should it expand into a new country (Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, Tunisia)? Would Morocco, among other countries, be the best country to expand into? Was it the right time to embark on such an expansion?

The case analyzes the response of the non-users of shampoo in an emerging environment, namely India. The non-users belong to the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum and they respond with their perceptions about the category of shampoo and well-known brands. The entrepreneur's challenge is to obtain the insights, analyze the attitude of the non-users towards the category and brands, and prepare a strategy to position a new brand of shampoo (Super brand) in the Indian mass market.

After half a year researching technologies and examining the current and future environment for renewable energy in Ontario, Canada, two MBA graduates must decide which renewable energy field to enter — solar photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biogas, or ocean. Each choice represents great opportunities, and the entrepreneurs must ensure that they select the most suitable technology based on their experience and management skills, and on the market potential and risk.

This case illustrates the founding and growth of Veja, the first eco-sneaker company in the world, in the broader context of the evolution of the fashion industry and the emergence of the eco-fashion movement. By September 2010, the five-year old venture had become a reference in ethical fashion, and an inspiration for other eco-fashion start-ups. Its path, its successes and its aspirations made it a perfect acquisition target; like-minded companies like Timberland were already feeling out the two founders.<br><br>Sebastien Kopp and Francois-Ghislain Morillion were still fulfilling their dream. They had fun trying to craft ever more sustainable business approaches. They were still excited about the opportunity to develop solutions or workarounds for socially- and environmentally-problematic business practices. The case presents several solutions, focusing on the development of sustainable business practices in organic cotton, wild natural rubber and traditional veggie-tanned leather. The case also deals with the issue of how ventures integrate sustainable practices into a holistic and ever improving offering, which engages multiple supply chain participants (employees, consumers, suppliers, partners, even artists) in co-devising a value proposition that appeals not just to our sense of fashion, but also to our conscience. Essentially, the case is a story of fashioning identities by artfully bending consumers' appreciation towards the expression of unity with the earth and across cultures.

A business school graduate has been assigned the responsibility of running a profit centre that deals in the production and sales of animal feed. The structure and operations of a mid-sized agri-input company are discussed, along with the interactions among several stakeholders in the supply chain and the sources of cooperation and conflict between them. The case details the interactional dynamics among agri-input sellers, the nature of competition between them, their sources of trade dominance and the distribution channel structure. Amid such a scenario, the graduate is trying to enhance the performance of his profit centre. On the other hand, a former classmate and recruit in an NGO is striving to achieve the developmental objectives of her organization. The case poses questions to evoke reflection on building mechanisms and institutions that deliver benefits for the many rather than profits for the few.