The Peerless Potato Chip Company (Peerless) is a private-label, family-owned-and-operated, national potato chip manufacturer specializing in organic chips. The CEO, Kate Kelly, had been with the company from the beginning-since her uncle had first started making chips more than 25 years earlier on his farm in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. In fact, she'd been the primary architect of its growth and expansion. For the first time since its founding, the company's profit margin had been declining steadily-to almost one-third of what it had been just seven years earlier. Kelly admitted that much of the downturn stemmed from her lax, even absentee management. As she came to grips with the situation, Kelly identified an array of missing or incomplete metrics, unquantified performance indicators, and uncontrolled variable costs that were severely impacting the company's bottom line. The case, designed for an MBA or non-MBA audience, is about management, especially of performance-indicating metrics and operating data. Students are asked to consider a number of options Kelly is looking at: determining key manufacturing data, making cuts to the product line, ""going green,"" and other potential cost-cutting and profit-generating possibilities to reverse the downtrend in profits and regain control of the company's finances.

David Simmons is a waiter at a struggling Italian restaurant located down the block from where he lives. Money is tight for him right now, as his limited income means he lives paycheck to paycheck. However, David knows things will look up for him soon because he was recently offered a job as a bank teller across town-his first desk job. This case helps students learn about building credit. The case addresses what a FICO score is, who computes it, how it is determined, and what it is used for.

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.

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.