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A group of Trojan Technologies Inc. employees grappled with the issue of how to structure the business to effectively interact with their customers and manage the company's dramatic growth. The London, Ontario manufacturer of ultraviolet water disinfecting systems believed that strong customer service was key to its recent and projected growth, and had come to the realization that changes would have to be made to continue to achieve both simultaneously. The group hoped to develop a structure to address these issues. The executive vice-president was to lead the development and implementation of the new structure. The transition to the new structure was to coincide with the new fiscal year.

Two managers attending a financial management course are attempting to compute the cost of capital for Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, a well-known local Hong Kong firm. The two managers are somewhat 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.

An assistant account manager is evaluating a loan request from a small trucking company that is planning to expand its fleet in order to bid for a large trucking contract. The decision is centered on the firm's past performance and growth record. Particular attention is paid to the firm's chances of winning the trucking contract and its ability to service the increased debt. New highway safety regulations for trucking companies also play a role in the case.

The vice president of an innovative community hospital is proposing a plan focusing upon family practitioners to deliver an integrated health delivery system. A key issue is how to alter the incentive/compensation plan from fee-for-service (i.e., piece rates) to a schedule based on capitation (i.e., guaranteed income based on serving all the health needs of a defined population). The teaching purpose is to examine change management issues in a very complex, political environment involving professionals and develop appropriate metrics of physician accountability.

The owner of Campbell Management Consulting, was putting the finishing touches on an industrial engineering study he had conducted at Lauzon Automotive in Southwestern Ontario over the past few months. The unionized employees had not been receptive to the study and had hampered his data collection. He was concerned about the union's likely negative reaction to his study and its recommendations.

The newly appointed division head must examine organizational or communication problems within a division of a billion dollar semiconductor manufacturer. The manager made a decision, which an employee emotionally responded to, creating the potential for conflict within the department. Cross-cultural issues come into play given that the manager, although originally from China, was educated and gathered extensive experience in the West and was thus considered an expatriate by his employees. The manager must also examine the effect of organizational culture on an employee's behavior.

The executive director of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the outreach coordinator for the Faculty of Science at the University of Western Ontario had to allocate conference spaces for about 300 students to a series of sessions highlighting and demonstrating various research actives. Space limitations meant that not all students could attend the same topics, so the task was to allocate students to the sessions in an attempt to satisfy the majority of requests. This mathematical programming exercise allows use of a relatively simple formulation to initially solve the problem, followed by attempts to include some elements of subjective fairness in the final assignment of conference slots. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A99E018.)

DayQuil Brand Sampling is part of a three-case series about the execution of a sampling project for the DayQuil brand of cold medication made by Procter & Gamble. The Brand Sampling case focuses primarily on brand management issues. The case serves to introduce students to the implementation aspects involved in a sampling program as well as to some tricky decisions regarding use of samples from a different country. In particular, the use of samples from the United States in the Canadian market requires over-stickering the expiry date and using one which is one year longer. While the use of the extended expiry date was perfectly legal and safe, the potential for consumer confusion was significant. (The other cases in this Procter & Gamble series are Managing DayQuil Sampling, case 9A98C015, and DayQuil Sampling Operations, case 9A98D020.)

Several large Canadian public companies announced their intent to merge and use the pooling of interests method rather than the traditional purchase method. Pooling had been rarely used to account for business combinations in Canada. The case focus is on an analyst who wanted to ensure that she understood the differential impact of both methods so that she could more fully represent her clients' interests. She decided to use an analysis of the recent merger of TransCanada Pipelines and NOVA Corporation to help her better understand and evaluate the two alternative accounting methods and their impact on the financial statements.

The Acer Group is one of the world's largest PC and computer component manufacturers. The vice-president of Global Operations is pondering whether the timing and environment is conducive for Acer, based in Taiwan, to commence full-scale manufacturing operations in the Chinese mainland. Students are asked to examine the criteria on which Acer should base their decision to manufacture overseas, and in so doing, create the framework for a corporation's global manufacturing strategy. The teaching objectives also include having students consider the political, economic and social environments of a global manufacturing strategy. A related case entitled Acer Group's R & D Strategy - The China Decision (9A99M007) is also available.

In the late 1990s, a pharmaceutical house is considering introducing a throat lozenge on the market and is undecided about whether to conduct a test market and whether to order manufacturing equipment now or later. Probability assessments are given, permitting the use of a decision tree. Also possible are considerations of the value of information. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A99E016.)

The manager of business development for Carvel Asia Limited is trying to determine how best to increase ice cream cake sales in Beijing. In doing so, he needs to develop a complete marketing program which includes decisions about product offerings, pricing, placement (distribution) and promotion - the 4 Ps. Carvel Asia was a 50-50 joint venture between Carvel (USA) and China's Ministry of Agriculture.

Looking for a creative option to promote 3M products to medical professionals, a 3M Chile sales manager developed the idea of a first-aid kit or botiquin that could be used as a promotional gift. Managers at the company's world headquarters had not previously focused on branded first-aid kits. It was the same all over the world, a plain white box with the red cross in front. You just can't brand a first-aid kit! they replied. At the same time, the Chilean managers lacked the resources necessary for adequate market research. Should they go ahead with the botiquin concept anyway? If they did, questions such as channels, packaging, promotion, and pricing, would still have to be addressed. (A sequel to this case is available, titled 3M Chile - Health Care Products (B), case 9A99A005.)

A management scientist was asked by the president of a gas production company to develop a model for allocating the gas supplied to the Petro Pipe Lines Corporation gas plant among the various suppliers, according to the terms of the gas supply contracts. The intent of the model was to minimize the penalties imposed at the end of each month on the gas suppliers as a result of daily differences between production (supply) and nomination (demand) for each contract. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E038.)

The manager of port facilities for Superior Grain Elevator, Inc. in Thunder Bay, Ontario, must decide whether to construct a third wharf at a cost of $1.5 million. Superior Grain Elevator, Inc. has just negotiated a grain sale to Poland that will increase the number of shipments from the Thunder Bay facility. (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E040.)

In the late 1990s, the chief executive officer of Brent-Harbridge Developments had just received confirmation of several upcoming property auctions. Brent-Harbridge Developments was currently asset short after some successful recent disposals, which made the CEO keenly interested in three of the properties being auctioned. She needed to prepare a bidding strategy in order to try to acquire at least one or perhaps more of the development properties being auctioned. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E042.)

Management at PCB Manufacturing, Inc. was concerned that a significant number of faulty printed circuit boards were reaching their customers. Should the testing system be changed so that the number of bad boards being shipped decreases? (A Microsoft Excel model is available for use with this case, product 7A98E043.)

The CEO of Northern Napa Valley Winery must forecast aggregate sales of red table wine for the product year, as well as month-by-month sales for the same period. This case provides the student with the opportunity to try to forecast a time series characterized by distinct trend and seasonality with almost nine years of monthly data available. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A98E046.)

Canada-based Oxford Learning Centres (OLC) entered into a licensing agreement with U.S.-based Childtime Learning Centers (Childtime) where Childtime would operate OLC supplemental education programs in their facilities. In less than six months, Childtime decided to make an offer to purchase OLC. OLC's CEO must decide how to approach the impending negotiations. The case describes the North American supplement education industry, valuation considerations and private firm purchase negotiations. Detailed comparables are provided for such firms as Sylvan Learning Systems and Corporate Family Solutions. The case provides an opportunity to apply a number of valuation techniques including discounted cash flow, and multiples based on comparable firms and transactions.

The comptroller at Four Star Fitness Club must set aside a financial reserve to cover possible refunds of initiation fees to new members. The comptroller has some historical data on refund payments to assist in estimating the size of the appropriate reserve.