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Aman Resorts describes the operating model and philosophy of this high-end set of global properties. Aman relies on employees taking considerable initiative to deliver the highest quality personalized service in the hospitality industry. The case also highlights Aman's strategy and operations which differ in many ways from industry standards. This product can be used with the free Job Design Optimization Tool (JDOT), available at: hbsp.harvard.edu/jdot

Aman Resorts (B) describes how employees are rewarded and compensated which is used to supplement Aman Resorts (A).

A direct-selling cosmetics company involved in emerging markets exhibits significant foreign exchange risk exposure and profitability swings in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Students must review the company's use of derivative instruments and other hedging techniques to establish whether it pursues the right FX risk mitigation strategy.

Exercise for recording derivative hedging transactions, accompanied by a technical note on IFRS derivative accounting.

Notes from Oriflame's 2009 annual report relevant to the assessment of the monetary impact of Oriflame's FX risk management actions.

Overview of Spans of Control and Accountability.

Students have to identify the acquirer in a business combination structured as a reverse merger.

Worksheet exercise to illustrate the accounting for the Merck/Schering-Plough reverse merger.

It is 2010 and Guillermo Araoz, the equity research director at Morgan Asset Management (MAM), is considering his research budget for the year. Due to recent declines in the equity markets and MAM's sale of its mutual funds business, MAM has seen a decline in its assets under management, and consequently, in its research budget. The case describes the investment process at MAM, including how stocks are selected and portfolios are constructed, and discusses the way in which the research budget supports this process. Araoz is faced with the challenge of how best to allocate this smaller research budget without negatively impacting the firm's investment process and investment performance.

The case presents the situation faced by the board of directors at Hydro One, a government-owned Canadian electric utility, as they discuss updating the current executive compensation packages because of the pending privatization of Hydro One. As a government owned enterprise, compensation was moderated by the job security and prospects of career advancement in the public sector, but the imminent privatization required the compensation system to be revisited. The case presents details of the current compensation system for Hydro One's key officers and the comparative data for their counterparts at similar firms. The case allows for discussion of the interplay between corporate governance processes, the corresponding responsibilities of directors and the decisions they make, in particular chief executive officer and executive compensation. The postscript to the case allows for a lively class room discussion of corporate governance, fiduciary responsibility and communication among major stakeholders.

Company pursues ways to reduce its debt to equity ratio by resorting to off balance sheet debt transactions.

A new management team at VW do Brazil develops and deploys a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard to accomplish a turnaround and cultural change after eight consecutive years of financial losses and market share declines. The team uses the strategy map to align financial and project resources to the strategy, and to motivate its more than 20,000 employees by communicating the strategy in multiple ways and installing reward and recognition programs. It also establishes new programs to align the extensive networks of suppliers and dealers to the strategy. But after a sharp decline in sales triggered by the global financial crisis of 2008, the executive team faces a dilemma: should cut back production levels and funding for strategic initiatives until sales recover, or should it continue to invest for the future?

On September 2003, Richard Grasso stepped down as chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, following weeks of intense public criticism over the size of his $190 million compensation package. As chairman of the committee that oversaw Grasso's payout, Ken Langone believed firmly that the payment was fair and reasonable. However, NYSE members, government regulators, and the media alike blamed the board for its oversight and viewed Langone as the mastermind behind Grasso's huge payout. Calls to oust Langone as director from all his board positions came within days of Grasso's resignation. This case follows immediate backlash against Langone over his role at the NYSE as well as the connection this scandal had on his eventual departure from General Electric's board of directors. Should Langone have resigned from GE's board?

It is October 2009 and Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte LLP, has just returned from the groundbreaking of Deloitte University. When completed, Deloitte University would be a world class learning and development center owned by, and for the exclusive use by the employees of, Deloitte. Deloitte spent a significant amount of time and money on the training and development of its employees. Historically, this training had taken place at hotels and conference centers, not affiliated with Deloitte. The idea for the construction of a special-purpose, Deloitte-owned learning facility had been championed by Salzberg. He believed Deloitte University would allow the firm to "instill our values in our people through learning and development" which he thought was critical to Deloitte's long-term success. Salzberg had won over the necessary majority of the partners, but not all of them supported the University concept. As he thought about the future of this new facility, how could he ensure it would be successful?

This case summarizes some of the challenges - managerial and technical - associated with transitioning to an activity-based costing (ABC) model. The primary objective of this case is to introduce the student to the rationale and mechanics behind the ABC accounting approach and to explore the untoward consequences of using traditional accounting methods.

Smart Union Group (Holdings) Limited was engaged in the manufacturing of recreational and educational toys and equipment for OEMs such as Mattel, Hasbro, and Megablocks. The company's manufacturing facilities were located in Guangdong Province, China, while the majority of the company's sales were made in the U.S. and Europe. The company went public in September 2006 with an IPO listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which netted HK$55 million. From 2003 to 2007, the company's sales revenues increased from HK$479 million to over HK$953 million. The company's rapid growth was financed by issuing equity and obtaining short-term bank loans. In 2007, Smart Union invested in a silver mine in Fujian Province to offset the impact of price increases in commodities used in production, and to expand its operational scope. At the end of 2007, the company's short-term bank debt of HK$240 million needed to be repaid or refinanced.

This case is based on a Canadian real estate trust's need to obtain financing for a large capital expenditure at a time when credit markets have effectively frozen. Students are asked to evaluate the trust's financial statements to determine the amount of financing required, and then to evaluate alternatives in order to meet the financing gap. Students are also asked to value the project by using basic present-value techniques.

In early 2009, Lennar Corporation, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., found itself in the midst of a deep global recession, a major credit crisis, a housing price collapse, and massive mortgage defaults triggered by double-digit unemployment in the U.S. At the same time, the company faced criticism from the Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI) that a large personal loan taken out by a Lennar executive from a related party, and that the company's extensive use of joint ventures to develop, construct, and market homes were fraudulent. FDI was co-founded by Barry Minkow, who was previously tried and convicted on 57 counts of securities fraud and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after the collapse of ZZZZ Best Company, Inc. At November 30, 2008, Lennar had 116 unconsolidated joint ventures. Anna Amphlett, a financial analyst with Southern Cross Investments LLC, was asked to prepare a report on Lennar's joint ventures and the methods used to account for these investments. According to FDI, the primary reason for the company's joint ventures was to finance its investments with "off-balance sheet" debt. The release of the FDI report resulted in a 20% drop in the company's stock price.

The case describes the challenges faced by Tata Steel, India's largest private-sector steel company, as it transitions from Indian GAAP to IFRS. It first describes those challenges in the context of the institutional voids that make IFRS adoption difficult in India. The case then focuses on how companies in emerging markets might represent their interests at the IASB, the standard-setting body for IFRS.

This technical note traces the development of integrated reporting through published materials, research, and the formation of various committees. Readers will gain an understanding of how the topics of nonfinancial information, sustainable development, corporate disclosure, and integrated reporting, among others, overlap.