In February 2024, Château des Charmes, a winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, was planning the introduction of a new product offering. Beautiful Brunch would be a breakfast-themed wine and food pairing that would be offered earlier in the day. Director of hospitality, Martin Lindqvist, was aiming to generate CA$45,000 in sales from Beautiful Brunch in its first three months and needed to create a comprehensive marketing plan, including decisions on price, promotion, target market, and tie-in product offerings.
In December 2023, Ryan Mitchell, account manager at Prosperity Bank, was reviewing a request for an $80,000 long-term loan for the Château Lafayette (“The Laff”), the oldest tavern in Ottawa, Ontario. Jill Scott, president and CEO of The Laff, was seeking the funds to finance three investments that she believed would help the tavern increase its revenue from food sales during lunch hour: a kitchen update, a patio renovation, and point-of-sale (POS) software.<br><br>Mitchell knew The Laff had demonstrated strong financial performance and cash management historically, but she had reservations about this new strategic shift toward food sales and understood that the restaurant and bar industry was subject to significant risks.
In November 2017, Students for Fair Admissions Inc. filed a complaint alleging that Harvard College violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in institutions that received federal funding. The complaint alleged that Harvard College engaged in intentional discrimination against Asian American applicants in its admissions process. Harvard College acknowledged its use of race in the admissions process but maintained that it was only one of many factors the school considered. It also claimed that using race as a “plus factor” was supported by the law. Both sides used a large set of data to plead their cases and both hired econometrics experts to argue their positions, who reached opposite conclusions. The trial judge needed to assess the two experts’ findings and reach a decision about the story the data was telling.
In December 2022, after the independent film distributing company levelFILM Inc. experienced several box office failures, the company’s manager of sales strategy was wondering if the company needed to re-examine its portfolio strategy. Based in Toronto, Ontario, levelFILM Inc. operated in the highly uncertain film industry, in which it was almost impossible to predict how any one film would perform at the box office. The various distributors in the industry employed different strategies for managing risk, including building a large diversified portfolio of projects or pursuing a blockbuster strategy with heavy investment in fewer projects. The company’s manager was wondering which strategy would be most appropriate for levelFILM Inc. and how he might use extensive historical data that he had available to determine optimal risk management and investment returns options for the company.