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A partner at a leading Canadian law firm discovers that one of the firm's employees has been stealing from the business. After a discussion with the employee, he must decide how to handle the crisis in a short time frame: How did this happen? What steps are needed to prevent this from happening again? And how should he deal with the employee? The supplement Harrison-Lockington (B), product 9B03C020 highlights how the partner addresses the issue with staff at the office.

This supplement to Harrison-Lockington (A), product 9B03C019 follows the partner of a law firm and how he responds to crisis in the office - he has found out that an employee has been stealing from the firm.

Document Reproductions is a leading provider of outsourced content management and customer communication solutions. A scanner operator with the company has found out about a dispute between two co-workers while at work. One of the co-workers involved is her husband and she is concerned that this may cause him to lose his job. She must decide whether to tell the manager of operations what happened or persuade another co-worker who witnessed the incident to come forward.

Grandview Excavators Ltd. is a privately owned company that prepares and excavates land for construction development. A recently promoted project estimator has prepared a quote for a project. He receives a phone call from the customer stating that the quote was too low and to resubmit a new quote for a suggested higher amount. He makes the adjustment and submits the second quote. A few days later the company is awarded the project and work begins immediately. After the project is completed, the project estimator receives payment and discovers the payment is less than the original quote amount. It is not clear why the payment has been reduced and he must decide whether to contact the client directly for an explanation or advise his boss.

A health-care organization is seeking financing for the construction of a new long-term care facility. The project manager of the health-care centre must assess the situation qualitatively, review the statement of cash flows, prepare a projected statement, and perform ratio and collateral analysis to determine the likelihood of the organization obtaining financing.

The Western Investment Club was one of the largest student clubs at the University of Western Ontario. The club's portfolio had incurred a substantial loss over the previous year. Because of this loss, an analyst and member of the club felt a more in-depth analysis regarding the overall strategy of the portfolio was necessary. There were two strategic issues the analyst wanted to address. First she felt it was difficult to interpret the performance of the portfolio as no previous benchmark of comparison had been used. Second, she examined the composition of the portfolio over the past six years and noticed a divergence in the allocation to asset classes on an annual basis. She must determine how the allocation of assets affects the performance on the portfolio and whether or not the lack of an asset allocation strategy impedes the educational experience of the Western Investment Club members.

An alliance can be broken or underperforming, yet too many companies fail to see that their partnerships are just drifting or not producing. Recognizing that an alliance is broken and taking steps to mend the various relationships are vital if a company is to realize its expected ROI. This author has sound advice for maximizing the return from the substantial investment in an alliance.

Managing your company's goals in an alliance of 10 or more partners presents particular challenges. Managed properly, the constellation represents a real opportunity to win. Becoming part of an alliance constellation, like the airline industry's Star Alliance, can help a company compete and win. And while a constellation is, in some ways similar to a bi-lateral alliance, it also presents particular challenges. This author discusses these challenges, and some tactics that managers can use to make a constellation - and their own company's strategy - succeed.

Making the transition to Vertical Solutions Marketing is an appealing option for growing revenues. Managers would do well to read this article before choosing this option. Vertical Solutions Marketing is an appealing option for growth, especially in an era in which organization have already been pared to the bone. But managing the evolving tension between the company's old and new business structures and sharing and transferring resources among the solutions units must be done carefully if the move to VSR is to succeed. These authors suggest 11 best practices.

Enterprise-wide risk management contributes to better governance, yet despite the pressures, many companies are in no hurry to implement ERM. Despite pressures to do so, many companies have yet to implement practices for better risk management. Such practices, whether implementing Enterprise-wide Risk Management or putting better information in the hands of directors, greatly improve corporate governance, these authors discovered. Moreover, they make the risk manager's job much more important.

Well-designed incentives, more than checks and balances, will help reduce the information asymmetry between senior management and the board of directors. Information asymmetry may never be more pronounced than in the imbalance between managers and board members. Simply put, management knows more than the board. To level the playing field, the board can implement performance-based incentive systems. But as these authors point out, to what extent should boards integrate financial and non-financial measures of performance in corporate incentive plans?

Fix the audit committee -- make it stronger and more independent -- and you'll fix what's wrong with corporate governance. Not so, says this highly expert governance consultant. Audit committees are a strange invention. They are supposed to provide the independence that their master-the full board-does not provide, but their accountability is often unclear. So, how did this peculiar state of affairs come to be? And what are the chances of real change?

Independent directors are showing up on more and more boards, and organizations must recognize and meet those directors' needs for information. It is now generally acknowledged that most boards need more directors who are truly independent. But the very fact that new directors are independent implies that they are, unwittingly and to a certain extent, uninformed about the company and its business. Which is why the quality of the information they get from the company must be very high.

Change is imperative for organizations to maintain competitiveness in a dynamic environment. Yet despite various tries, the success rates for major organizational change efforts have been rather dismal. This article identifies the reasons that organizational change usually fails, demonstrates that the errors made in the change process are rooted in organizational behaviour, and argues that leaders have not recognized the importance of emotions in creating successful change. While ideas for leading change exist, there are too few decision-makers who are capable of translating the ideas and following the guidelines that lead to a concerted, well guided effort to lead change. The author argues that all change is individual change. Leaders have to lead other individuals and convince them to change. The article chronicles the importance of appealing to the heart in leading change. Because change is fundamentally about feelings, companies that want their workers to contribute with their heads and hearts have to accept that emotions are essential to the new management style. The article also examines eight ways in which leaders can motivate the heart. Leaders have to ensure that individuals are convinced of the need for change; select a team of people to advocate the need for change, get individuals to trust the team and inspire confidence in the ability for change; create a vision that is clear, creative and viable; communicate in a way that is simple, heartfelt, aligned with people's feelings and speaks to their anxieties; let individuals express how they feel; celebrate interim successes; be persistent in change efforts and lastly, ensure that changes form an integral part of the corporate behavioural pattern.

Track Concealers Company Ltd. produced valances to cover the tracks above bifold doors. When the company received a large order from a U.S. building retailer, the owner needed to quickly secure capital to fund the production commitment. Although he was able to acquire the needed financial backing through his family, the owner was uncomfortable with this arrangement. He was determined to acquire independent short-term and long-term capital for his company within six months.

Frontier Adventure Racing is a relatively young company that is facing some significant financial issues. The company president, owner and organizer of Canada's most well-recognized series of adventure races (Raid the North), is passionate and knowledgeable about the sport of adventure racing. Also, as the captain of Canada's top adventure racing team, his profile has loaned credibility to his own company and has heightened media coverage of its races. The company has great products, a solid international reputation among adventure racers and good name recognition in the field. Even so, the company is up against some serious financial hurdles, having made little or no profit four years in a row. The Sports Network and The Outdoor Life Network have offered two hours of television coverage for the company's next race and half of the ad spots during the show if Frontier Adventure Racing is willing to pay the production costs. This kind of coverage would boost the company's visibility, but where could the company come up with the funding? Already faced with the problem of finding new sponsors, a bill for sponsorship, and a need for TV production costs over and above the normal cash requirements, the president knows the situation is difficult at best, and wonders what possible options are available to him.

Global Bubbles Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of chewing gum. The vice-president of manufacturing must evaluate various global capacity rationalization plans to determine the strategic direction the company should take. Her goal was to determine the optimal manufacturing strategy for the various markets supplied by Global Bubbles. She must analyse multi-currency net present value calculations, discount rates, exchange rates and the role of strategic options associated with multiple sourcing locations.

The president of Try Recycling & Aggregates, a company which recycled materials not acceptable at garbage landfill sites, has to decide whether the company should sell its products through a new fundraising initiative - the Grow Green Program. This program would involve approaching organizations taking part in fundraising activities to determine if they would be interested in selling the company's gardening products in order to raise funds for their organizations. He had determined which products would be sold, but must determine which fundraising organizations to target and how to promote his idea.

The costs of global warming are enormous. The increase in concentration of greenhouse gases, as a result of growth in industrial activities worldwide, is directly related to the increased frequency of natural disasters. United Nations has estimated that the effects of global warming (namely natural disasters, loss of land due to rising sea levels and damages to fishing stocks, agriculture and water supplies) could cost over US$300 billion annually. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement setting out legally-binding levels of greenhouse gas emissions for 160 participating nations. The signatory nations approved the principles of the treaty, leaving the operation and enforcement details to be determined. While the intent of the protocol, to reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions to the benefit of all countries, is honorable, the impacts of the Kyoto Protocol are difficult to predict and will affect its stakeholder groups (the insurance industry, developed and developing nations, signatory and non-signatory countries, existing and potential industries) differently. Implementation issues, alternate approaches, the challenges of global environmental problems and possible solutions are discussed. The response of governments and businesses to global environmental issues, in general, and to the Kyoto Protocol, in particular, will determine the strengths and weaknesses of this global initiative.

Two managers attending an executive education course attempt to develop a cost of capital estimate for a leading telecommunications company. The two managers are confused about the costs of various sources of capital, the calculation of the overall corporate cost of capital, and the appropriate use of the hurdle rate. They must investigate the concept of cost of capital, review historical data on risk premiums, develop a process for estimating the various components of the cost of capital, and determine the corporate cost of capital.