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Excel spreadsheet with metadata for product 9B04E017.

Excel spreadsheet with sample data for product 9B04E017.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTAG) is considering offering a price guarantee to entice consumers to use their web site. Students will be introduced to break-even analysis and general spreadsheet modeling. This is an abridged version of Online Low Price Guarantees - Dollar.com, product # 9B04E016.

This case presents some information on the NCAA college basketball tournament and suggests a method for estimating the outcomes of games. The probability of winning is modeled as a normal distribution where the mean is based on a team's ratings. Students will be introduced to the normal distribution, sums of normal random variables and event simulations.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTAG) is considering offering a price guarantee to entice consumers to use their web site. Students will be introduced to break-even analysis and general spreadsheet modeling. This is an abridged version of Online Low Price Guarantees - Dollar.com, product # 9B04E016.

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.)

CNS is a small biotech company. The founder of the company is deciding if it's worth applying for phase I approval that will allow the company to continue its research. He must determine the value of the research. Using the traditional DCF valuation method, he is not sure if this captures all of the value of the research and must decide if either the Black-Scholes or binomial model would more accurately determine the value.

Osteria De Medici is a high-end restaurant located in the downtown core of a large Canadian city. The establishment has loyal customers with very little walk-in traffic, so the management of reservations becomes key. On peak days such as New Year's Eve, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, the restaurant would have vacant tables even though they were fully booked with advance reservations. Restaurant's management must determine if overbooking is an option, review the implications in overbooking and develop a model to determine a reservation schedule. An introduction to binomial distribution is provided.

Craggier National Park is a typical game reserve located in South Africa. The game reserve's management is trying to determine the optimal mix of animal species to stock a game reserve. Jointly they are trying to determine the mix of hunting packages to promote to potential clients.

An assistant manager of a university student residence is aware that there are capacity and service problems in the cafeteria. Long waits in line were common, and he hoped to propose some improvements to residence management, preferably ones with no major investments or disbursements involved.

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.)