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The administrative assistant at the Edmonton, Alberta branch of Vandelay Securities was faced with a dilemma. Her superior had requested a purchase of shares in a firm whose securities were restricted to residents of Alberta for one of her clients who resided in British Columbia. On the purchase request form, the client's province of residence was listed as Alberta, and a post office box address was given. This transaction was the latest in a series that made her feel uncomfortable.

The manager of customer service and operations at a branch of financial services institution is considering his options following the third cash shortage, totalling almost $5,000, within a two-month period. His career and anticipated promotion depended on effectively handling this situation.

Although British Airways had been lagging behind other carriers in the region, in the opinion of the new general manager for Latin America, the company had the potential to be the leading European airline in Latin America. He believed the market had all the characteristics in which British Airways had traditionally been most strong. However, after six months of visiting all the offices in the region, he began to feel that some key country managers were not supporting the changes necessary to move the company ahead. Head Office in London was also skeptical. Latin American is breaking even, so there is no real need to solve the problem, was one typical response. This case deals with efforts to implement major organizational change in a short period of time.

Seeing an opportunity, the general manager for Latin America promised London an unprecedented one-year revenue increase of 44 per cent, provided that sufficient resources were allocated to the region. The early results of his efforts to transform the company's Latin American operations are discussed. This case is a supplement to the British Airways: Latin America (A) case, 9A99C015.

The president must determine how to increase business development at the feedmill. The challenge facing him is to have the feedmill's managers adopt attitudes and behaviours that are consistent with a market driven enterprise. This is no easy task considering that the feedmill is a former state-owned enterprise which did not strive to achieve independent profitability.

Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), one of the world's leading semiconductor foundries, has grown dramatically in 16 years. UMC pursued a strategy of vertical disintegration as part of the chairman's vision of turning UMC into a pure-play foundry. This case discusses the major technological and competitive forces affecting the industry and looks at UMC's restructuring through the eyes of the chairman. The case provides enough detail to engage the class in a discussion of the merits of UMC's vertical disintegration strategy and the possible pitfalls of this approach going forward.

In 1998, Ohio Polymer is about to negotiate a contract with ProBut Hydrocarbon, Inc. for the purchase of ethylene gas. The contract will require Ohio to purchase a fixed daily quantity of the gas at a set price per ton. Ohio Polymer's senior management is looking for advice on how much gas they should try to obtain and what price they should be willing to pay. A companion case is ProBut Hydrocarbon, Inc., case 9A98E037, which presents the negotiation from ProBut's perspective.

Amway of Canada is faced with decisions surrounding the replacement of photocopiers at its Canadian headquarters. As the lease has expired on its current copiers, Amway is beginning the process of evaluating new copier brands, vendors and related technologies. However, what initially appeared to be a rather straightforward rebuy purchasing situation is becoming a more complex organizational decision. Specifically, the number of potential vendors is increasing as different technologies are considered, because the purchasing team realizes that the new photocopier decision inherently impacts other areas of Amway's operations. The purpose of this case is to examine how seemingly simple organizational purchases - particularly those related to new and emerging technologies - can become extremely complex and involve the consideration of related functional areas and operational characteristics within the firm. As such, the case is ideally suited for a discussion around prioritizing key issues in a complex organizational purchase and achieving rapid closure on a procurement initiative, which has apparently spiralled out of control.

In 1999, the issue before the directors meeting of LanCo Catalogue Sales was the high level of product returns that the company was experiencing. These product returns were eroding profitability at a remarkable rate, however the directors were split into two camps over what to do about the problem. One camp believed that speeding up shipments would reduce the returned merchandise, while the other camp believed that this would merely increase shipping costs and reduce profits even further. LanCo management was determined that the returns problem must first be understood, then actions must be taken to reduce returns, in order to improve the profitability of the company. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A99E007.)

The vice-president of acquisitions for Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (CREIT) was contemplating two investment opportunities facing his firm. CREIT had been very aggressive recently in an attempt to increase the size and diversity of its portfolio. One potential deal that he was contemplating involved the purchase of a 161-unit apartment building in a Montreal suburb, while the other potential deal involved the purchase of a retail complex in a Chicago suburb. Both deals were under a due diligence period, meaning that CREIT had a short period of time to review the properties and decide whether or not to proceed with either purchase. He had to make his recommendation to the senior board of CREIT, and he wondered what specifically about each property was attractive or unattractive, whether the respective markets justified the price levels, and if the respective properties were consistent with CREIT's acquisitions strategy. The case introduces real estate investment trusts and demonstrates some generic concepts relating to the valuation of real estate assets, including discounted cash flow and comparable sales analysis.

A summer intern must decide how he will manage the launch of a sampling despite product shortages, a too-tight time frame, and potentially explosive legal implications. In particular, the intern must determine who in the organization is best able to help him and how he needs to approach those potential sources of help.

Augat Electronics Inc. was finalizing its plan to launch a new line of connectors and tools for cable television service technicians. While the line was being developed, a major new U.S.-based competitor launched a new product line at a premium price and captured the leadership position in the Canadian market. Key decisions facing Augat were how to price its products and what the supporting marketing strategy should be. The new Augat connector appeared to offer customers significant economic benefits.

The management team at ING Bank of Canada was preparing to launch Canada's first discount bank. Initially, the bank planned to serve its customers using mail and telephone. Later, it planned to supplement the telephone banking service with an interactive voice response system and an Internet-based service. ING hoped to attract customers by offering significantly higher interest rates on its savings products than any of its competitors. There was some skepticism about the viability of the proposed business model. At the time of the case, the president and CEO of ING Bank was reviewing the proposed launch strategy.

Canada's largest privately owned department store, the T. Eaton Company Ltd., founded in 1869, had recently emerged from bankruptcy protection and was now planning to raise $175 million through an initial public offering (IPO). Investment bankers must determine the appropriate share price and consider the appropriateness of the timing for the issue. The case describes North American retail industry trends and the bankruptcy protection process and provides a detailed discussion of the IPO process and valuation considerations. Detailed comparables are provided for such firms as Federated, Nordstrom's and Dillard. The case provides an opportunity to apply a number of valuation techniques, including discounted cash flow, price-to-earnings multiples and enterprise value-to-EBITDA multiples.

The president and chief executive officer of Michigan Auto Products, together with the company's executive committee, must decide whether or not to build inventory to hedge against a possible strike at the end of the existing union contract. He also wants to determine an appropriate strategy for the new contract negotiations to take place with the union over the next six months. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E031.)

Jeff Smith, formulation analyst for New England Feed Supply Inc., was evaluating the following week's requirements for three animal feed mixes produced by the Burlington plant. A shortage of one ingredient, meat meal, meant that the company would find it difficult to meet the orders on hand. Smith needed to determine which, if any, of the mixture formulae should be altered, and in what way; alternately, he could elect to buy additional meat meal on the spot market, at a significantly higher price. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E034.)

The vice-president and general manager of Mitel's semiconductor division is faced with a rapidly growing market for the company's business communication chips, but has limited capacity at the semiconductor plant. There is little industry capacity to outsource production. He must determine how to pursue the growing market and how to secure additional capacity. Options include modifications to the current facility, construction of a new facility, or the acquisition of a plant from another company.

In 1999, City Center Hospital designed a new computer system to reduce record-keeping time spent by nurses, to allow more time to be spent on patient care. The system had been well received by staff at the hospital, and hospital management wanted to market the new system to other hospitals. Students are required to design an experiment that will evaluate the new system. The City Center Hospital (B) case, 9A99E005, presents actual data collected.

This exercise presents the actual data collected from the hospital's nursing staff (see further information contained in the City Center Hospital (A) case, 9A99E004). Students must use this data to show the value of the new system. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A99E005.)

Ford Motor Company was concerned that five tug operators, each costing $100,000 annually over three shifts, was too many. Colin Cruji was hired to look into the tug operators and see if Ford could eliminate one or more of the five positions per shift. A supplement to this case is available, titled Ford Motor Company and Cruji Management Consulting (B), case 9A99E014. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A99E013.)