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Supplementary Excel spreadsheet available for case.

Format is a .mox file - Extend Simulation.

Microsoft Project solution file available with second teaching note, 5A95D15. This is a .mpp file.

Microsoft Project fille for case.

The CEO of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. needed to give sales and profits a serious boost; despite the company's excellent brand equity, it was losing market share and struggling to make a profit. The company's product was on store shelves in all U.S. states, but efforts to enter foreign markets had only been haphazard with non-U.S. sales accounting for just three per cent of total sales. The CEO needed to focus serious attention on entering the world's second largest ice cream market, Japan. An objective of Ben & Jerry's was to use the excess manufacturing capacity it had in the U.S., and it found that exporting ice cream from Vermont to Japan was feasible from a logistics and cost perspective. The company identified two leading partnering options. One was to give a Japanese convenience store chain exclusive rights to the product for a limited time. The other was to give long-term rights for all sales of the product in Japan to a Japanese-American who would build the brand. For the company to enter Japan in time for the upcoming summer season, it would have to be through one of these two partnering arrangements.

The chief financial officer and acting chief executive officer of PixStream Incorporated, a high-tech video networking solutions company, was contemplating how going public in the next couple of years might affect his decisions and choices relating to the company's accounting practices for research and development expenditures. He needed to determine if he should continue expensing all research and development costs or if he should capitalize and amortize some or all of the costs over the period of time the company is expected to benefit from the research and development efforts. There were many practical business reasons for keeping development costs off the balance sheet, but he wanted to ensure that PixStream would get its proper valuation when the time came for the company to go public. He wanted to approach his analysis from a proper accounting perspective and from a practical business perspective, to make sure that all angles were covered. Once he has decided on his course of action, he must determine the ramifications of his decision and the actions that he will have to take as a result.

A 23-year-old sales executive for a multinational office furniture and supply company was thinking of leaving the company over a dispute regarding her compensation. A friend had suggested setting up her own business: a recruiting agency. The sales executive had known some human resources managers and office managers throughout the years, however, she also realized that it was a very competitive business and she had no experience. She did some cost analysis and had to decide whether it was worth doing. This case could be used as an introduction to management accounting or entrepreneurial finance.

A 23-year-old sales executive for a multinational office furniture and supply company was thinking of leaving the company over a dispute regarding her compensation. After doing some cost analysis on the feasibility of starting a recruiting agency, the young entrepreneur decided it was worth trying. One year later, the company had experienced a successful and profitable first year. This follow-up to the (A) case, 9A99B033, provides the opportunity to compare estimates with actual financial performance.

Norwest Labs provides agricultural and environmental testing services. While the agricultural market is seasonal and highly sensitive to the weather, the environmental market is relatively stable, as it is primarily developed because of regulatory compliance testing required of its clients. The company's CEO and founder is confronted with serious challenges: a substantial financial loss, cash flow problems, growing competition and a potential regulatory change that would eliminate mandatory testing by its clients. The purpose of the case is to consider whether the conditions and timing are appropriate for introducing employee gain sharing as a means to implement organizational change. Norwest Labs (B) and (C) are also available, cases 9A99C012 and 9A99C013.

A gain sharing plan was introduced at Norwest Labs. However, because of a number of serious problems with its implementation, the plan is being redesigned. While working towards redesigning the plan, the company suffered a financial crisis after losing 20 per cent of its business from the elimination of mandatory environmental testing by its clients. The purpose of the case is to consider whether open book management, which involves the sharing of financial information and forecasts with everyone in the company, would be appropriate to affect behavioral change across the organization. This is a follow-up to Norwest Labs (A), case 9A99C011. A Norwest Labs (C) supplement is also available, case 9A99C013.

Employee and management perceptions of the impact of gain sharing and open book management on behavioral change are provided in this supplement to Norwest Labs (A) and (B), cases 9A99C011 and 9A99C012.

Operations must be seen to be understood, which is why tours of operations are extremely common. Some reasons of why plant tours are valuable are offered in this note, along with a how to guide to gathering, organizing and assessing relevant data. The emphasis is on forming an overall evaluation of the operation's effectiveness.

A senior human resources manager at the YUAN Group, a medium-sized, multi-industry company, is reflecting on her first year on the job. She had implemented many new human resource systems, involving salary surveys, performance evaluations, bonus sharing and benefits, but these changes were not always received enthusiastically by the top management team and other employees. This case illustrates the effects of trying to rapidly implement large numbers of human resource system changes in a traditional organization.

An American professor is delighted and proud to be asked to join a prestigious international group of academic researchers. A series of negative experiences - cultural, professional and personal - strain relationships within the group, and the professor's feelings turn to anger and self-doubt. She must decide whether to continue with the group.

Mustika Ratu is a leading Indonesian manufacturer of health and beauty products and traditional herbal supplements that began as a modest enterprise and had grown to become one of Indonesia's most successful consumer products companies. However, in May 1998, in response to the social, political and economic chaos Indonesia was experiencing (sparked by the Asian financial crisis of 1997), the capital erupted in a sea of violence. The rioting affected almost every business operating in Indonesia. Mustika Ratu's managing director must decide whether to design and implement a new strategic marketing plan in light of the external environment and a potential decline in revenue growth or to remain true to the strategies that had garnered success in the past. The case will help students appreciate the importance of remaining true to a successful strategy, yet flexible enough to respond to the realities of the external environment, especially during times of crisis, when managers will be most tempted to deviate from their strategy. It also will help students understand how opportunities can arise from crisis, including fast-tracking international expansion plans, better positioning current products or launching new product lines, making acquisitions, or investing in capital intensive projects in times when inputs can be procured at a lower cost.

This note is designed as detailed supplemental material for management communication courses. It contains information on creating effective business documents in the workplace. Categories covered are: report writing, e-mails and memos, and Internet writing.

American Airlines is a widely cited leader in the development and implementation of yield management practices. This case is based on a training exercise used at American Airlines to introduce managers to their yield management system. Participants are given the responsibility for a single flight from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas to Miami, Florida and are required to make a series of sequential booking decisions in real time. The objective of the exercise is to maximize total revenue for the flight, after taking into account no-shows and penalties. De-briefing following the exercise provides an opportunity to discuss both the strategic and tactical issues that arise when applying yield management systems in service firms. The case is designed for use in a service management elective course or in a service operations course and is intended to expose students to yield management by giving them hands-on experience managing bookings for a flight. The game takes approximately 50 minutes to play, leaving approximately 30 minutes for class discussion. Ideally, a supplemental reading dealing with yield management should be assigned with the case in order to provide background theory on yield management and to describe the complexities of a yield management system.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER -Regional Asia-Pacific Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>The newly hired director of human resources for a large golf and country club near Beijing, China has just presented her human resources plan to the company founder. At issue is whether this plan - in terms of recruiting, training and development, rewards and benefits - was directionally correct and implementable.

The vice-president of an American logistics services provider considers establishing this service in Mexico where the logistics market is controlled by the banks and is very underdeveloped. He must decide whether to establish a greenfield operation or enter a joint venture. Issues of target segments and positioning also needed resolution.

The marketing services manager at Babcock and Wilcox had determined that: Despite being quite sophisticated in our analysis, we are not quite getting the information we need for our shop-load planning and scheduling. Our sales projections also drive our accounting and business forecasts, so we need to improve the way we develop our basic forecasts. How can Babcock and Wilcox improve its forecasting? (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E023.)