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The chief financial officer of Ault Food Limited was compiling the data he would need to run a divisional Economic Value Added (EVA) analysis. He had been asked by the CEO of Ault Foods to present the analysis at the next meeting of the board of directors. The CEO must persuade the board that divesting at least one of the company's divisions will be in the best interest of Ault's shareholders. The case is intended to provide an introduction to the use of EVA in a multi-business setting. Having completed the case, students should have a basic understanding of the EVA concept and its usefulness as a performance indicator, be capable of making EVA adjustments and calculating actual EVA measures, and have a good conceptual grasp of the application of EVA as both an internal control device and an aid to strategic decision making.

The head of the Clinical Resource Management Committee at St. Catharines General Hospital which was responsible for monitoring and promoting optimal resource utilization by physicians and the other staff at the hospital. While the committee had made some gains, there was little effect on the hospital's operating costs and many physicians were uninterested or resistant to the concept of utilization. In addition, hospitals in the region were faced with restructuring proposals and budget cuts in the near future. The case highlights the changes taking place in the health care sector and the implications for managerial analysis and control. Issues covered include: cost analysis, design of a funding scheme to promote certain behavior, data collection and validity, incentives, and performance measurement.

Group Retirement Services (GRS) is a division of London Life Insurance Company in London, Ontario. The vice president of GRS implemented the balanced scorecard in his division in 1994. Since that time, the industry and London Life have experienced significant change. Although the scorecard was not yet complete (after three years), the real issue here is whether the scorecard has been useful to GRS and whether the scorecard could be improved to assist the department in the future.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 198009.

Bausch & Lomb is the subject of press attacks and experiences a sharp fall in stock price when management practices are exposed. Aggressive goal setting, supported by financial market expectations, is discussed as a precursor to a series of events that results in misstated financial results and angry customers. A defiant CEO stands his ground as shareholders demand his resignation. Industry and competitive data allow students to calibrate performance pressures.

Provides a vehicle for students to evaluate risk management in the fast-paced mutual funds industry. A new risk manager has been hired to install new management controls and procedures. A series of decisions will determine how much business and franchise risk the business will assume.

Classic Pen has diversified from its core blue and black pen business by introducing new specialized colors. But costs have risen and margins on blue and black pens are decreasing. The controller turns to activity-based costing (ABC) for an explanation.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 198117

Guidant is a successful IPO start-up selling pacemakers and defibrillators. The case describes how managers install systems to balance innovation and control. Three parts of a shareholder value strategy are described. Controls include incentive systems, beliefs systems, and risk management systems.

Lehigh Steel is a specialty steel manufacturer that plummeted from record profits to record losses in less than three years, driven by an inability to distinguish between profitable and unprofitable business. The scale and growth of service activities and overhead costs in an increasingly customized product line suggests that activity-based costing (ABC) could unlock the secrets of profitability. However, the high fixed-cost structure suggests that theory of constraints (TOC) could also be relevant. Lehigh must determine how to measure profitability to rationalize its products.

An entrepreneur is hoping to open Caribbean Internet Cafe in Kingston, Jamaica. He has gathered data on all the relevant costs: equipment, rent, labor, etc. He has also found a partner in the local telephone company, Jamaica Telecommunications Limited (JTL). JTL has provided equity and a long-term loan at favourable interest rates. He is now faced with the task of analyzing fixed, variable and start-up costs, contribution margin, and the concept of break-even to guide his decision.

The issue of how to price access to the Internet is addressed. To provide a basis for discussion of the effects of pricing that is not sensitive to volume, network externalities, and the strategic issues surrounding price wars in a short course on microeconomics

Supplements the (A) case.

Insteel implements an activity-based costing (ABC) system in 1996. It finds pallet nails to be its most profitable product and decides to expand the number of cells making pallet nails from two to four. A repeat of the ABC study in 1997 shows pallet nails have become the least profitable product.

For the Novartis leaders, the decision to "use stretch budgets again next year" highlights the tension between candor and empowerment and command-and-control, between the new and the old, between high performance and business as usual, between Ciba and Sandoz. Management must decide what kind of company and culture they want to build.

Alert: This case has been revised since its original publication; all amounts have been converted to euros and the dates have been updated to 2020. If you've taught with this case in the past, please note that changes may affect teaching plans and classroom use. Using an income statement, balance sheet, and projected demand and cost schedules, students are required to build a profit plan for a closely-held coffee manufacturer in Italy. Students must estimate cash flow and ROE and use this analysis to evaluate the attractiveness of a new strategy.

Group Retirement Services (GRS) is a division of London Life Insurance Co. of London, Ontario. The vice president of GRS implemented the balanced scorecard in his division in 1994. Since that time, the industry and London Life have experienced significant change. Although the scorecard was not yet complete (after three years), the real issues here are whether the scorecard has been useful to GRS and whether the scorecard could be improved to assist the department in the future.

Focuses on the dilemma of a young professor at a graduate school of business. He must decide what final grade to give a student who has worked extremely hard, but he is constrained by the school's "forced curve" grading policy. Designed to explore the multiple purposes of performance measurement (motivation, evaluation, early warning) and the assumptions that underlie performance management systems.

Supplements the (A) case.

Citibank has introduced a new, comprehensive performance-scorecard system. A regional president struggles with a tough decision: how to evaluate an outstanding branch manager who has scored poorly on an important customer satisfaction measure. This case provides a scoring sheet to be completed by the reader and an explanation of the ramifications of the decision for the business's strategy.