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Excel spreadsheet with metadata for product 9B04E017.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Barclays Bank PLC have signed an agreement to combine their retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in the Caribbean to create FirstCaribbean International Bank. In principle, it appeared that both parties were agreeing to a combination of their assets to form a new entity, in which case a new holding company could be constituted to absorb the assets being merged. Alternately, as Barclays interest in the merger was substantially greater than that of CIBC, the transaction could be construed as an outright purchase of the CIBC interests by Barclays. The problem with this second approach, however, was that Barclays Caribbean presently had no separate legal form in the region. This case illustrates the procedures for accounting for mergers and acquisition, and lends itself to discussion on a myriad of issues and concepts. This case may be taught on a stand alone basis or in combination with any of the four additional cases which deal with various functional issues regarding the actual merger/integration which occurred. The four additional cases are Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean Bank, product 9B04C053; Information Systems at FirstCaribbean: Choosing a Standard Operating Environment, product 9B04E032; CIBC-Barclays: Should Their Caribbean Operations be Merged?, product 9B04M067; and Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.

The managing director of MD Foods of Denmark and the president of Arla of Sweden, both cooperatives, were contemplating whether their companies should merge to create Europe's largest dairy company. Arla and MD Foods wished to continue the success of their joint ventures in a much closer relationship, but wondered if their owners (the milk-producing farmers in each country) would approve the merger. In addition, the two companies were different in size, organizational structure, organizational culture, monetary currency used and language spoken. Finally, a cross-border merger of two cooperatives was unprecedented throughout the world. The supplement Arla and MD Food: The Merger Decision (B), product 9B05M013 describes the merger decision.

FirstCaribbean International Bank was the new banking entity created from the combination of the Caribbean operations of two foreign banks, Barclays Bank plc of the United Kingdom and headquarters in London, England and CIBC - formally the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce - of Canada and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. A marketing team was formed with the specific responsibility of developing the marketing function and the brand strategy, as well as guiding the branding process of the new entity. The head of the marketing team has a number of concerns: Would geography, history and commercial practices support or mitigate against a single, centralized marketing strategy for the entire region, what should the new brand be and how should it be articulated, should the new brand reflect one or both of the heritage banks or should the new brand break with the past and reflect a totally new identity, and how quickly could the new brand be rolled out? This case may be taught on a stand alone basis or in combination with any of the five additional Cross-Enterprise cases that deal with various functional issues associated with the eventual merger: Human Resources - Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean, product 9B04C053; Information Systems - Information Systems at FirstCaribbean: Choosing a Standard Operating Environment, product 9B04E032; General Management - CIBC-Barclays: Should Their Caribbean Operations Be Merged?, product 9B04M067; Accounting and Finance - CIBC-Barclays: Accounting For Their Merger, product 9B04B022; FirstCaribbean International Bank: The Marketing and Branding Challenges for a Start-up, product 9B05A012; and technical note - Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.

The chair of the computer studies department noticed a marked change in the behavior of one of Conseco College's long-term employees. Although no official problems had yet surfaced, the chair has clear personal evidence that the employee was behaving erratically and uncharacteristically. The chair must decide how to deal with the situation. Supplementary cases Conseco College (B) and (C), products 9B05C003 and 9B05C004 follow the progress of the situation.

In this supplement to Conseco College (A), product 9B05C002, the chair of computer studies department has noticed a change in the behavior of a long-term employee. Her first action results in learning that the employee suffers from bipolar disorder. She gathered information on the disorder and then had to decide what action to take next. The supplement Conseco College (C), product 9B05C004 describes the outcome and the chair's action plan.

The chair of computer studies at a community college has noticed a behavioral change in a long-term employee and must decide how to handle the situation. She has learned that the employee suffers from bipolar disorder and has now been hospitalized for his illness, leaving much of the work from the last semester incomplete, including the marking of exams. The chair needs a detailed action plan for going forward. This is a supplement to Conseco College (A) and (B), products 9B05C002 and 9B05C003.

The inventor and founder of DEKA research was deciding whether to commercialize his latest invention, the Segway Human Transporter, a self-balancing, battery-operated scooter. The transporter was envisioned as an alternative mode of personal transportation in traffic-clogged urban environments. It also had potential application in developing countries with limited transportation infrastructure. With the versatility to carry riders on sidewalks, rough ground, icy surfaces and inside buildings, the market potential seemed unlimited. Yet, the Segway Human Transporter represented an unconventional transportation choice for potential users. Would there be a market for it, or would it be seen as nothing more than a cool invention? Should the inventor proceed with commercialization, and if so, how?

This case presents some information on the NCAA college basketball tournament and suggests a method for estimating the outcomes of games. The probability of winning is modeled as a normal distribution where the mean is based on a team's ratings. Students will be introduced to the normal distribution, sums of normal random variables and event simulations.

The vice-president of a resort hotel in San Felipe, Mexico must deal with low winter sales levels. Students will gain experience in assessing the current marketing strategy, analyzing the fit of a new opportunity, making pricing decisions, designing a promotional campaign and calculating market share; and receive practice in using breakeven analysis and in analyzing an opportunity from both a qualitative and quantitative standpoint.

The Aspect Group is a small entrepreneurial marketing company that focuses on brand management. Having worked in the industry for a number of years both as permanent employee and freelancer, Marie Bohm founded the Aspect Group with a goal of developing a humane work environment with work-life flexibility. To grow the business, she is faced with two choices: she could partner with a small local firm or link with a high-profile firm in Toronto. The latter would provide greater visibility and credibility but she is concerned that the demands could alter the work-life flexibility qualities she valued. A video is available, product # 7B05C017.

The vice-president and general manager of Totalline Transport wants to eliminate late appointment fees in delivering to one of Canada's premier electronic shops - Electronics International. Totalline Transport is hired by suppliers of electronics goods to deliver to retailers. The vice-president sees an opportunity to solve the problem of congestion in the parking lot of Electronics International's warehouse and eliminating unnecessary soft costs such as missed appointment fees and detention charges. The bottleneck in the process is the waiting time for all of the trucks to unload. If the carrier arrives late, the retailer will charge the carrier $1,000. If the carrier is waiting in line due to a backlog at the warehouse, the carrier will levy a charge of $50 to $60 per hour. Beyond these costs, the vice-president realizes that suppliers and retailers are spending one day per week investigating problems with shipments. He is eager to make his customers (suppliers) successful. He sees three central options in cutting down traffic: to request two dedicated doors at the warehouse; cut down on time for Electronics International by applying stickers at Totalline's consolidation point on all the deliveries so that Electronics International could immediately accept shipments into inventory without handling; or deliver direct to Electronics International stores.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTAG) is considering offering a price guarantee to entice consumers to use their web site. Students will be introduced to break-even analysis and general spreadsheet modeling. This is an abridged version of Online Low Price Guarantees - Dollar.com, product # 9B04E016.

Harlequin Enterprises is a well-known publisher of series romantic fiction. The company is facing threats to its leading position as the world's largest romance publisher. While Harlequin was the dominant and very profitable producer of series of romance novels, research indicated that many customers were reading as many single-title romance and women's fiction as series romances. Facing a steady loss of share, Harlequin convened a task force to study the possibility of re-launching a single title women's fiction program. Students must analyze the organization's capabilities and resources as it considers the launch of this new business line.

The supervisor at a popular bar and eatery is close to finishing off the shift and is reflecting on the events that took place in the past couple of hours. He had just finished escorting the service manager of the restaurant out after watching him snort a line of white powder. The supervisor knew he could not just ignore what had happened but was concerned about what to do next.

Two managers discuss issues related to radio frequency identification (RFID) trends and adoption, including how the technology works and how it might be used. The purpose of the note is to engage a class in a discussion regarding the way in which managers look at new technologies, RFID being one example.

KTM is a successful European off-road motorcycle manufacturer with sales in 72 countries. KTM has been experiencing impressive growth in both its top and bottom lines over the past several years, but it is facing significant growth pressure from its venture capitalist investor. The chief financial officer must determine how the company could achieve its growth objectives. Options include geographic expansion (increase U.S. emphasis, or expansion to new European Union countries) or product expansion. Implementation options include a merger, acquisition or internal growth. Several opportunities for geographic expansion and product diversification exist, and implementation options include make, buy or ally decisions.

The Newfoundland Centre for the Arts (NCA) was a theatre, dance and visual arts organization with a long history of promoting indigenous Newfoundland and Labrador arts. The centre was a democratic, member-driven organization, and stakeholders disagreed over aspects of the centre's mandate and operations. NCA had also experienced financial difficulties, including a crisis in 2002 that almost resulted in closure. Funding came through, and the general manager undertook a strategic review of the organization. She must now present her recommendations to ensure the long term viability and success of NCA to the board of directors.

Village Automotive is a rags to riches story that describes leadership from the perspective of an entrepreneur who has built a highly successful automobile retail business. As the owner reaches retirement age, he is faced with decisions about growth, succession and strategy. At the same time, the case considers the changes taking place in the automobile industry and the different business approaches taken by the owner and his son-in-law.

A junior executive is given the task of calculating a benchmark common in the ship building industry - cost per compensated gross ton. Although raw data is available for its components, the executive must formulate relationships between the data to determine the benchmark. The case is designed to provide: 1) an introduction to the construction and use of benchmarks in quality management; 2) practice in conceptualizing a problem and designing a basic spreadsheet model to solve the problem. The modeling procedure uses an influence diagram as the basis for constructing the spreadsheet model, this spreadsheet model is available, product 7B05D011.