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Cummins, Epley, and Mayo, a U.S.-based construction firm, has been selected as the prime contractor for a road-reconstruction project in Saudi Arabia. Based on company cost estimates, the project provides a 15% return on costs, well below the required 18%. Because of a substantial advance payment and the specific timing of the payments, the project's IRR is 40%. This case can be used as an introduction to or a reinforcement of discounted-cash-flow techniques. It provides a dramatic portrayal of the time value of money, an opportunity for sensitivity analysis, and a possibility for using decision diagrams for structuring realistic contingencies.

Amore must set the fill-target for its eight-ounce macaroni and cheese pie. Unless five sample pies taken every 20 minutes average more than eight ounces, the entire 20-minute batch must be rejected. The case provides enough information to make an economic decision on the fill target. The case may be used to introduce the distribution of a sample average.

The manager of the Revenue Enhancement Department of an airline has to decide the optimal number of seats to reserve for discount customers on a particular flight. Historical data are given, as well as probability distributions of demand for both full and discount fares, in order to help make the decision. (The B case is QA-0340.)

In this B case, the initial results from a Monte Carlo simulation seem to conflict with the critical fractile result discussed earlier in the case. The manager must figure out why and then make a decision.

This case is a good introductory linear-programming case; it introduces the notion of constraint exploitation and provides practice in deciding between alternative forecasting techniques (including exponential smoothing). The case contains a decision-uncertainty structure. A production planner must determine whether or not to take a contract for future delivery of a specified product at a stated price. The decision will affect the production mix in future periods. Uncertainty surrounding the future market price of the product is crucial. In the B case (UVA-QA-0391) a second constraining resource is introduced to the decision environment.

The president of a natural-resource exploration company has to decide whether to invest in a new drilling opportunity. He already has a spreadsheet that projects the most likely scenario for the well and calculates the NPV and internal rate of return. However, six uncertainties are discussed by the president and another potential investor. He also has prepared a spreadsheet for a couple of downside scenarios--one where gas is not able to be produced after the well is drilled and a second where gas is produced but all other uncertainties are at their 1% worst possible values. A student worksheet file is available for use with this case.

This case describes the coal-procurement process of a small electric utility. The manager of the production fuel department must decide how much coal to purchase from each vendor and how to allocate the purchased coal among the utility's three coal-burning plants. The situation can be modeled and solved as a linear program. Sensitivity analysis can be used to help formulate a strategy for negotiating with the vendors and to address other special issues.

You are Pat Divso, a senior purchasing agent of Compressor Corporation, Inc. (CCI). You have been given a major purchasing assignment to find a solution to the deadlocked price negotiations with Scandia Steel AB, a major supplier of specialty high-carbon and stainless steels, and a strategically critical partner. You are now en route from your Paris office to Sweden where you will meet tomorrow, August 29, 1995, with Kaj Johansson (pronounced Ki), marketing director of Scandia Steel at Scandia's headquarters in Uppsala.

This case provides the background for one participant in a contract negotiation regarding price, duration, and exclusivity.

George Lasiter sells special-events T-shirts, and must decide how many to order for an upcoming concert. He has high, medium, and low estimates of both concert attendance and the percentage of attendees who will want a shirt. In addition, he has assessed the relative likelihoods of each estimate. The case can be used to introduce or reinforce the fundamental issues surrounding decision-making under uncertainty.

This self-assessment instrument helps students assess their current level of development and then examine their allocation of time to see whether the daily and weekly structure of time allocation is consistent with their personal definition of success. It can be used alone or with such cases as "The Life and Career of a Senior Executive Officer" (UVA-PACS-0023).

This technical note contains a scale measuring Type-A behavior patterns (Bortner, 1969), describes its impact on individuals and organizations, contains two short cases describing Type-A and Type-B individuals, and presents recommendations for modifying Type-A behavior patterns.

This note describes reflective, or active, listening. A list of types of responses, from directive to nondirective, is given in an appendix. The note itself summarizes major principles of reflective listening and how they can be applied. It may be used as a summary of, or introduction to, the topic.

This note explores the interaction between the use of debt and firm value and provides a brief perspective on the use of debt. It also introduces the notions of financial and operating leverage. In addition, it covers the impact of the use of debt in the presence of no taxes, corporate taxes only, and both personal and corporate taxes.

A division manager must decide whether to fight 11% across-the-board personnel cuts or, if he is to go along with the decision, how to implement the layoffs in his division. He receives conflicting advice from his vice presidents: one suggests he make up a new cost-cutting plan that will help the company while not hurting his division; the other wants him to support the downsizing decision wholeheartedly.

The CEO and chairman of Alantar, Inc. is confronted with the problem of how to create a more effective board of directors and also how to provide for his own successor.

How can manufacturing companies streamline processes to shrink the all-important time-to-market span? How can managers and team members learn useful lessons from past efforts? Getting R&D, manufacturing, and marketing to communicate is still the biggest hurdle. The Return Map answers these challenges by providing a graphic way to bring all functions together, first for estimating costs and time, then for tracking projects as they evolve.

Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. is a producer and marketer of specialty food products. The company president is contemplating future expansion. Two cities were of particular interest: Toronto and Tokyo. At issue was whether consumers in both markets should be pursued, and if so, how. The choices available for achieving further growth included mail order, distributors, and company controlled stores. The case helps students watch existing resources and capabilities with potential growth opportunities.

Kimberly-Clark's and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are fierce competitors in the diaper industry. The competitive struggle involves a broad range of issues including: rapid product development, international threats and opportunities, diversification options and public pressure over environmental concerns. In particular, Kimberly-Clark must decide on a response to P&G's most recent product introduction. This case provides an excellent in depth view at the dynamic of competition.

As they approached their strategic session, TransAlta's senior executives confronted a changing business environment. The company's goal had always been to provide reliable electric service to their customers at the lowest possible cost. Now a new variable was entering the picture: the environment and the question of sustainable development. The release of the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Harlem Brundtland, gave credibility to the concept of sustainable development and has elevated environmental issues on the international agenda. How would this impact the company's business strategy and competitive advantage?