Michael Finney, CEO of US-domiciled Deltrix Lumberjack, pitched his company's logging equipment to an Indonesian logging firm. Indonesian regulation required all quotations to be denominated in Indonesian Rupiah (IDR). Amidst intense competition, Michael improved his quotation from IDR equivalent to US$4.85 million, to that equivalent to US$4.70 million. This would result in a razor-thin margin for the company as a mere 10% depreciation of the IDR could wipe out Deltrix's US$ profits for this transaction. Michael tasked his treasurer, Dan Martin, to study the recent trend of the US$-IDR exchange rate and to recommend whether Deltrix should hedge the IDR receivables, due six months later, if Deltrix's tender was successful. And if Dan's recommendation was to hedge, whether hedging using the onshore or offshore IDR forward market would be more effective. Offshore hedging would be executed via the IDR Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) market. A NDF, unlike the traditional forward transaction, would not involve exchange of principals in the two currencies. NDFs were settled via the payment of a Settlement Amount (similar to profit of forwards), which together with the spot transaction to be effected at maturity, would result in a (non-perfect) hedge of the amount of US$ to be converted.

Rafi, a retiring oncologist, wanted to invest in safe, high dividend paying stocks. Upon his stockbroker's recommendation, he bought three tranches of S$500,000 worth of Sabana REIT ("Sabana") even as price fell during the period in between. His stockbroker had advised him to adopt dollar cost averaging, as even if price fell, Rafi could lower his breakeven price and gain in the longer term as stock prices tend to mean-revert. Further, Sabana's high dividend yield would help offset the price fall. Six months later, Sabana's price fell further. Rafi sought the advice of Michael, an investment-savvy friend, who advised him to look at capital gain yield besides dividend yield, and to check out Sabana's website and various investment forums for important company's actions and other crucial information. Rafi found that disgruntled investors, unhappy with Sabana's falling dividend and price, had formed two groups, one of whom had proposed various drastic actions at an Extraordinary General Meeting which may involve booting the REIT manager, and/or delisting the REIT and liquidating its portfolio. The manager formed a Strategic Review Committee and requested for more time. Rafi had to decide: vote for or against the manager or just cut loss immediately.

Eatigo is a restaurant reservation application (app) founded in 2013 which offered an alternative way of connecting diners to restaurants. The aim was to improve restaurants' profitability by filling up empty restaurant seats during off-peak hours, by offering time-based discounts ranging from 10 to 50 percent. The market for restaurant reservation apps showed potential but there were already entrenched players. With dogged determination to develop a unique value proposition and careful crafting of its business model, the founders managed to shape diners' behaviour and disrupt the modus operandi of the industry to become a leading restaurant reservation app with presence in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and the Philippines. As business gained traction, the founders needed funding to sustain growth. They explored funding options available to small-medium enterprises in Singapore and Bangkok - loan from credit card and banks, government grants, and investment from venture capital companies. There were pros and cons. The size and cost of funding were important considerations. Whilst meeting investors' demands was necessary to secure funding, it may lead to excessive dilution of owner's control. There was also the question on the correct valuation of Eatigo. Which type of funding should the founders choose?