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The chief executive of Trusthouse Forte, was preparing to meet with corporate shareholders to discuss both a proposed new corporate image and a new company name. Two key issues needed to be resolved. First, should the Forte brand name be extended across all of the company's businesses or more selectively reserved for particular operations? Second, the development of a strong communications plan would be critical to the success of the proposed changes.

Jim Wells has just developed moo shoes, specially designed shoes for cows that aid in the cure of foot problems. He wishes to market these shoes and is trying to decide price, channel, and promotion issues. Jim has access to a limited amount of investment capital and he must decide whether to proceed with his idea for moo shoes. The case contains sufficient data to calculate the potential market size, breakeven analysis, and profitability.

Eighteen months after selling 75% of his company to Aer Lingus, Klaus Woerner, general manager and 25% shareholder, is proposing expansion to California. The Board thinks the move is premature, and in the wrong part of the country. This is the second in a three case series titled, Aer Lingus - ATS (A), Aer Lingus - ATS (B1) and Aer Lingus - ATS (B2) addressing minority shareholders who are also key managers.

Klaus Woerner and Aer Lingus executives have now visited the company Klaus Woerner wants to purchase in California. Opinions are divided. Klaus is adamant the move be made. Denis Hanrahan is less sure. Trust is an issue. This is the third in a three case series titled, Aer Lingus - ATS (A), Aer Lingus - ATS (B1) and Aer Lingus - ATS (B2) addressing minority shareholders who are also key managers.

Saskatoon Country Supplies was a small farm hardware and household supply store located southeast of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Jim Tykoliz, the firm's general manager, was to prepare the August 1985 Bank Reconciliation Statement.

This exercise reviews depreciaton of fixed assets. It covers double-declining balance method, units-of-output, straight-line depreciation, trade-ins and depreciating pooled assets, and it emphasizes the principle of depreciating assets according to their use.

The manager incentive compensation, human resources division is wondering what effect, if any, non-payment of the management incentive program (MIP) award would have on employees. She is also wondering whether the MIP is achieving the desired results, and what changes are needed to increase employee acceptance of the program. A supplement to this case bearing the same name, case 9A92C004, addresses the employee's acceptance of the MIP.

Several months after a management incentive program (MIP) is introduced, various divisions are asked to provide feedback on staff reaction, award determination, communication and delivery. Building on (A) case, case 9A92C003, this case provides details on the results of the implementation. Changes made are presented, as well as detailed feedback from award recipients and non-recipients.

An expansion in the bottling plant of a brewery leads to a reassessment of the manual palletizing operation. It is possible to purchase expensive automatic equipment and a choice of makes is involved.

SunLife Assurance Co., a large life insurance firm, wishes to provide a greater degree of computer support for its sales agents. A program to encourage agents to acquire laptop computers for use in selling had been established for some time. However, only a few agents had taken advantage of the program. The company decided to develop a new system, termed Maestro, which would provide a suite of tools to help agents perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively. The tools would be made available to agents using laptops. Also, agents were charged a fee for the software by the company. The development of the new tools was handled by the individual marketing group, not by the MIS function. Initial rollout of the new system has been only partially successful, and the director of individual marketing is concerned about how to improve the acceptance and adoption of the system by agents in the future.

The director of the internal medicine department has to decide whether to recommend that St. Swithin's Hospital acquire equipment to aid in the diagnosis of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). St. Swithin's already has Doppler testing and Venography available to try to diagnose DVT, but these tests are not 100% accurate. New data on the performance of the equipment suggests that this may be a useful alternative. Treating patients on the basis of clinical evidence only, that is, without using any diagnostic test, is also an option but the treatment, and some of the tests, place patients at a risk.

A journalist with the Financial Post, had been given information that a collection of paintings recently donated to the nation had been valued well above market value. Disputing the appraisal would raise objections from many influential people, but the journalist felt a responsibility to attempt a systematic appraisal of the collection. Data on the art in the collection (all by the Canadian painter James W. Morrice) as well as comprehensive data on auction sales of Morrice's work were collected by Mathias. (A Microsoft Excel data file is available for use with this case, product 7A92E006. The case can be used with Morrice Collection (B), case 9A92E007.)

A journalist with The Financial Post, has written an article suggesting that a collection of paintings recently donated to the nation had been valued well above market value. He felt a responsibility to attempt a systematic appraisal of the collection. Data on the art in the collection (all by the Canadian painter James W. Morrice) as well as comprehensive data on auction sales of Morrice's work were collected. The journalist has used simple means and moving averages to arrive at appraised values for the collection which are little more than half the original appraisal. Has he missed something or are his methods too simplistic? (This case is a sequel to Morrice Collection (A), case 9A92E006. A Microsoft Excel data file is available with these cases, product 7A92E006.)

The semi-annual meeting of the board of Toppan Moore, a joint venture between Toppan Printing of Japan and Moore Corporation of Canada, took place in Tokyo. With sales exceeding US$1 billion, Toppan Moore was a leader in the Japanese business forms industry and widely considered one of the most successful international joint ventures in Japan. While pleased with the venture's recent results, the issue for the board members was how to ensure continued prosperity.

The two major partners in Russki Adventures contemplated their next move. They had spent the last year and a half exploring the possibility of starting a helicopter skiing operation in Russia. Their plan was to bring clients from Europe, North America and Japan to the Caucasus Mountains to ski the vast areas of secluded mountain terrain made accessible by the use of helicopter and the recent business opportunities offered by 'glasnost'. Three options for proceeding were being considered. The first was to proceed with the venture on their own, in the Caucasus Mountains area that had been made available to them by a Soviet government agency. The second was to accept the offer of partnership with Extreme Dreams, a French tour operator that had recently begun operations in the Caucasus region. The final option was to wait, save their money and not proceed with the venture at this time. This is a good case to emphasize small-scale international ventures and the complexities of operating in a rapidly changing and politically unstable environment.

The Japanese-American Seating Inc. (JASI) case series involves a 65-35 joint venture in southwestern Ontario formed by Japanese and U.S. automotive parts companies which are leaders in their respective geographic markets. After the venture has been in operation for nearly two years, this case describes the perspective of the newly-appointed American general manager. The case addresses the strategic and operational issues which may arise in a cross-cultural venture, particularly (a) how the venture will be managed (traditional Japanese, North American or combination thereof), (b) what will be the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the president (from Japan), the general manager (from the U.S.), and the management team (mainly from Japan, with a few Canadian managers) and (c) how to overcome the cultural conflicts which are likely to occur as a result of these issues. A follow-up case Japanese-American Seating Inc. (B) is also available.

The president of Polysar's global rubber division must determine how to commercialize an award-winning new product, Tornac Rubber. This product represents a potentially critical addition to the company's core business activities. Although members of Tornac Rubber's product development team are highly committed to the product, recent market developments combined with the financial circumstances of Polysar's new parent company create uncertainty regarding whether the rubber division should commercialize Tornac Rubber independently, or whether they should instead establish an alliance with one of their major competitors globally, Bayer A.G. of Germany. (A 16-minute video can be purchased with this case, Polysar Ltd. and Tornac Rubber - Video.)

This note was written as an accompaniment to the Northern Telecom Japan Inc. case 9A92G003. It describes the background of the formation of keiretsus, the different types of keiretsus, and how they conduct business.

The president of Vista Foods Inc., was faced with the task of improving Vista's overall poor profitability and decreasing cashflow. Despite tremendous sales growth in the company's current five pasta product lines, the company had sustained losses in both of its first two years of operations. Recently, Vista's management team had suggested the options of expanding its product line into the unflavoured pasta market and/or adding an internal salesforce in Ontario. There were a number of factors the president wanted to consider before making any recommendations regarding the future direction of Vista.

Preparing a bank reconciliation given limited information. Difficult.