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B case to case UV7812 This case continues the story of Shane and Erin as they learn about credit cards. In the A case, Shane researched credit cards and explained the fine print from the disclosures to his wife Erin, a marketing manager in a baby-formula company. The B case begins with Erin interested in choosing the best credit card that offers airline miles in order to earn a free beach trip. Three cards are presented (case Exhibit 1) with different options, though the annual percentage rate (APR) is unknown until an application is made. To compare the three offers, Shane attempts to measure the costs and benefits of each card assuming the couple spends as much as $500 and pays 75% back ($350) per month. This case reveals the complexity of the credit card business and the risks and rewards to consumers. In particular, students should recognize that the risk of having a credit card is how it might influence their consumption behavior. Credit cards offer a variety of conveniences, but they are an expensive form of short-term debt that can become an onerous burden if used beyond the means of the card owner. Thus prudent use of credit cards is a key learning objective of both the A and B cases.

This case follows the recently married Shane and Erin as they explore the world of credit cards. Shane, a musician with an irregular salary and a spotty job history, was raised to avoid credit by his parents who had emigrated from a communist Eastern Europe. Erin, a marketing manager in a baby-formula company, has a steady salary but knows little about credit cards. Shane offers to do some research and report back in a week. This case reveals the complexity of the credit card business and the risks and rewards to a consumer that uses a financial product. In particular, users should recognize that the risk of having a credit card is how it might influence their consumption behavior. Credit cards offer a variety of conveniences, but they are an expensive form of short-term debt that can become an onerous burden if used beyond the means of the cardholder. Thus prudent use of credit cards is a key learning objective of both the A and B cases.

This case follows a woman named Maria Alvarez as she explores financing options to cover costs for her young daughter's surprise respiratory illness. Alvarez has not opened a bank account since moving to the United States from the Dominican Republic two years prior and has little savings from her job. She lives paycheck to paycheck without a credit card or credit history, to her knowledge. Should Alvarez get the money she needs through a payday loan, which wouldn't require her to have a bank account, or should she explore what it would be like to join a financial institution and get a personal loan through it?

A daughter teaches her mother how to handle her finances by creating a budget.

Matthew Andrews and Elizabeth (Liz) Graham had recently graduated college and planned to get married soon. They had both accepted jobs in Washington, DC, and would be moving to Gainesville, Virginia. Matthew would be working as a software engineer with both medical and life insurance, and Liz was taking a job as an advertising agent with no benefits. Until they started their jobs, neither Matthew nor Liz had health insurance. This was a source of real concern, especially since they recently had found out Liz was pregnant. They decided to sit down, go over the benefits offered by Matthew's employer, and make some decisions about which health insurance plan might be best for them, as well as consider life insurance and disability insurance options.

This case follows Nate Jamison as he determines which business entity to form for his growing City Moving Company (City Moving) in Washington, DC. From the start, Jamison operated City Moving as a sole proprietorship while he bootstrapped the business. Eventually he was able to get his own truck and hire two steady employees, and the three hope to formalize a business partnership to expand City Moving so that all three men can lead their own moving teams. To document the new ownership agreement, the partners know they need to properly register City Moving as a business entity. But which one would best fit City Moving's needs?

Readers are given specific steps to take when digging themselves out from under the frustrating experience of identity theft.

Cecilia and Luke were recently married and were beginning to build a life together. Although they were complete opposites, they had been able to work through their differences and have a good relationship. Luke was a musician who did not have a day job. Although his music was able to provide him with an income, it was not steady or reliable. Cecilia, on the other hand, had a steady job working as a marketing manager for a baby formula company. While Cecilia had never had a credit card, Luke had in the past, but had abused it through impulsive spending habits and irresponsibility in paying his bill on time. After paying exorbitant late and overdraft fees, he had finally paid off the balance in full and opted the cancel the credit card altogether. Now that Cecilia and Luke had decided it was time to build a life together financially, they began looking into different types of credit cards and bank accounts in order to decide which options would be best for them.

Supplement to case UV7749 The B case in this series picks up after the protagonist, Henry Franklin, has delivered his recommendation to use "first in, first out" (FIFO) accounting to the management of Sunshine O.J. (Sunshine). CEO Don Sanchez is impressed with Franklin's idea and asks him and his boss, Virginia Silverstein, to look into another problem at the company: inventory stockouts.

Henry Franklin works at Sunshine O.J. (Sunshine), a three-year-old, fast-growing organic orange juice manufacturer near Charleston, South Carolina. Before his employment at Sunshine, Franklin worked for about two decades in his family's business, Franklin's Hardware. Franklin learned a great deal during his time in the hardware business and hopes to use some of his insights to help Sunshine, which has been struggling to become profitable. This A case introduces inventory generally and highlights differences between "last in, first out" (LIFO) and "first in, first out" (FIFO) accounting. Franklin's manager asks him to prepare a LIFO/FIFO analysis for Sunshine based on real data so that he can present it in a management meeting.

With a $7,500 loan from a family member, Calvin Gorelick has started an online business selling specialty yoga blocks. His primary concern is whether or not the cycles of "purchase blocks, sell blocks, receive money, make loan and other necessary repayments" will allow his company to remain financially solvent. Coupled with the cash flow issue, Gorelick has noticed disturbing sales data in his first month of doing business: with each passing week, his sales drop. Although he has just a small data set, Gorelick is worried. Is this the beginning of a trend, a one-time drop in sales that will level off, or only garden-variety variability that will average out to an acceptable level of sales?

Vincent Chin's first "temporary" job after high school was with the lawn crew of Holiday Lawn Service. Ten years later, Chin has become a trusted employee and the company's second-in-command. His boss, Sam Holiday, has decided to retire and has worked out a deal with Chin to take over the business. In preparing Chin for his new role, Holiday explains that there are important choices ahead related to capital expenditures (like lawn mowers) and their depreciation. Although Chin is determined to build on the company's success, accounting sometimes confused him, and the mention of terms like taxes and cash flow always intimidated him. Can Holiday help his successor better understand the links among accelerated depreciation, maintenance expense, salvage value, and tax liabilities to ensure that he's ready for his new business responsibilities?

Friends Parker and Miles are brainstorming the possibilities of a local start-up-a landscaping venture that leverages their love of the outdoors and their self-taught green thumb skills in planting, mowing, edging, trimming, landscape design, and the like. Without any formal professional or business training, however, they strategize and slowly work through their "next steps," taking into account the cost of their initial investment, potential competitors, target customers, and the type of budget-friendly advertising that will gain them a share of the local market. As they conceptually differentiate themselves in a way that creates business and customer value, are they ready to launch?

Supplement to case UV7664

When Ben Smith's call-center job is outsourced, he and his wife, Jane, decide to open a catering company to build on Jane's cottage business selling baked goods. They have an opportunity to cater a holiday party hosted by Ben's former employer; however, the Smiths are new to the business and are unsure of the price they should put on their labor. An out-of-state friend in the catering business recommends using his rule-of-thumb, which is doubling or tripling the cost of food and alcohol. As they prepare to launch their new venture, the Smiths assess the various costs they will incur and consider the different forms of value and risk that go into determining a pricing schedule that is both fair to their clients and profitable for Crystal Catering.

Olaf Tryggvason, owner of a fleet of fishing ships in a small northern Norwegian town, has been offered and has accepted a reality television deal about the fleet to create a show along the lines of "The Deadliest Catch" and "Big Shrimpin'." He now has to recommend which ships and kapteiner (skippers or captains) in his fleet should be the stars of the show. He also has to consider the various dangers and complexities inherent in making a show like this, and what responsibility he has to his employees and other stakeholders. In thinking through the decisions in the case, students will have to wrestle with how values shape their quantitative analysis and views of their moral responsibilities to employees, and how their own experiences and biases shape how they view moral issues.

This case is used in Darden's first-year strategy course and is appropriate for MBA, Executive MBA, GEMBA, and executive education programs. The head of strategy for a well-known fashion retailer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and her general management colleagues face critical decisions required to address evolving buying patterns as online retailing becomes an important part of consumer behavior. How should a successful firm organize itself when market shifts require existing and emerging processes to coexist in one organizational structure?

In June 2011, American Express announced the formation of a new group, Enterprise Growth (EG). EG was designed to challenge existing credit and charge business models and extend American Express's leadership into the world of digital and mobile forms of payment through the use of software platforms and mobile apps. Alpesh Chokshi, president of EG, and Wesley Wright, product development leader, were well aware of the magnitude of the potential market that was currently underserved by traditional banking services. They saw an opportunity to do something bigger-to move American Express into debit and checking spending. EG called the initiative Bank 2.0, indicating the application of technology to usher in a "next iteration" of banking.

Spreadsheet Supplement for UV3985

Spreadsheet Supplement for UV6636