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A media planner at a specialized media buying firm was in the process of planning the spring 2012 television campaign for a customer with a recognizable brand name. The campaign budget of $7 million was to be spent on seven weeks of advertising during the first 20 weeks of the year. Each week of advertising involved a carefully selected series of advertisements on network and local television, and each week of advertising cost $1 million. Which seven of the 20 weeks should the planner choose? Is the $7 million budget the correct amount?

The director of a rural metropolitan water supply facility faces a complex risk management challenge. The facility uses chlorine gas in its water treatment, largely because it has determined that chlorine is the most effective treatment available, in terms of safety, cost and environmental impact. However, a security report from the Department of Homeland Security suggests that chlorine, a hazardous chemical, can be used by terrorists, both during its transport to the treatment facility and at the facility itself. The director of the water supply facility wonders whether the Department of Homeland Security made its recommendation based on an isolated risk without considering the big picture. The case provides students with an opportunity to analyse a complex sustainability-related management issue.

The regional manager of Latin America for a Canadian defence contractor must decide whether or not to employ a South American agent to represent the company and negotiate an agreement to supply body armour to the procurement group of a Central American country's armed forces. The Canadian manager is concerned about whether or not the employment of this agent poses a reputational risk to his company, given the current Canadian legislation with respect to the corruption of foreign public officials, legislation that parallels that in the United States and in most other developed countries. He also wonders whether he will even be able to build business in that region if he opts against using agents with local knowledge and connections.

Rawhide Brewery (Rawhide), a small Canadian brewery, is considering an opportunity to share its excess production capacity with another brewery, Tabby Cat Beer (Tabby). Three proposals are under consideration, each requiring a different accounting treatment by Rawhide. The first option is an arrangement under which Tabby would outsource its production to Rawhide. The second is a more complex arrangement under which both parties would invest in the common shares of a newly formed entity into which Rawhide would transfer its existing brewery operations and related debt. Because Rawhide would guarantee the debt of the new entity, it would make all key decisions. Under the third alternative, Rawhide would own 60 per cent of the common shares and Tabby would own the remaining 40 per cent, and all key decisions would be made jointly by both parties. The CFO of Rawhide has been asked to assess the accounting implications, advantages and disadvantages of the various options, taking into account the impact on Rawhide’s debt-to-equity ratio.

In 2011, two avid golfers were having a debate over whether scores were lower on Sundays. One of the golfers believed that courses were made easier on Sunday for viewers who wanted to see low scores. The other golfer countered that all the pressure on the golfers on Sunday would surely raise their scores and, in fact, the television coverage would make things worse.<br><br>Using a dataset from the 2011 season, various questions about golfers and golf tournament can be addressed. These include: Are scores different from the first day to the last day? Are scores different across the four rounds? Are young people doing better than those who are older? Do long hitters have lower scores? How important is driving accuracy in determining one’s score? Do people putt for dough and drive for show?<br><br>The dataset is available from the case author.<br><br>The dataset contains over 1,000 responses across the four generations (Veterans, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y). It also contains enough responses to deal with the question of whether there were three sub-generations of Boomers.

The case presents a role play between a buyer and a seller who must negotiate a price for a perishable but rare commodity. The case covers the dilemma faced by buyers and sellers when they are in possession of limited information but must still attempt to negotiate a best-case scenario for themselves. This case involves the seller and is used with The Cinnamon Case: Sales Negotiation (Role Play) - (B) The Buyer.

The case presents a role play between a buyer and a seller who must negotiate a price for a perishable but rare commodity. The case covers the dilemma faced by buyers and sellers when they are in possession of limited information but must still attempt to negotiate a best-case scenario for themselves. This case involves the buyer and is used with The Cinnamon Case: Sales Negotiation (Role Play) - (A) The Seller.

As a birthday present, Mike has just been given a new smartphone by his girlfriend, Molly. However, it is not the phone he wants. Over the course of a few days, Mike struggles with the decision of whether to return the phone and get the one he wants, or keep the one he received as a gift. The case is written from the perspective of the consumer, and deals with consumer behaviour issues such as anticipatory regret. It would be useful in an introductory marketing or undergraduate consumer behaviour course.

The case presents a change initiative at a large health care facility that aims to maximize shareholder value by introducing lean health care. While change management performance can be measured in financial terms, what happens when a mishandled change initiative starts to endanger the lives of patients?

The head of research and development at MedicalTech, a new manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coils and software, had just met with MedicalTech's founder and chief executive officer (CEO). They had been discussing the technology development requirements decided so far in their attempts to build MedicalTech's first technology offering for diagnosing cancer. The head of research and development needed to advise the CEO regarding the best technology development approach (services-oriented technology co-creation and product-oriented technology creation); selecting the appropriate hospital partner to co-create the first public prototype; and determining the value propositions of all end-users for the features and functions chosen. The head of research and development gave some thought to seeking the advice and partnership of more developed competitors in the industry, as she was confident that this start-up company could be a success, but wondered whether the company could succeed on its own.

Every year MBA programs across the country advertise for prospective students. They promote the academic excellence of their programs, the uniqueness of their offerings, the quality of their faculty and a variety of other factors. In a competitive market, the goal is to attract the brightest and the best. Many schools claim that graduates of their programs will see large salaries on graduation. This is clearly a very important part of many students’ decision criteria. In fact, the Financial Times rating of MBA programs uses graduates’ salaries as a large component of their rating system. A student has access to the salary data from a prominent MBA school in North America. She sits down to analyze the data and see what factors are associated with higher salaries.

The chief executive officer of a financial institution must decide whether or not to grant a $3 million loan to an investor in mutual funds. The financial institution makes loans of $2 for every $1 invested in mutual funds to qualified investors. The issue here is to determine whether the risks associated with this loan application justify the investment. The case involves assessing the various risks associated with the loan, including the credit risk attached to the borrower, the market risk of the planned investment program, and the currency risk of a loan in Canadian dollars and investments in foreign securities.

A senior account manager at Boise Automation Canada Ltd. was disappointed with the news that he had just lost the $1.2 million order with Northern Paper Inc. (Northern), a paper mill. The opportunity was to design, supply, and install an automated control system for Northern’s wood-chip handling system. He had over 20 years’ experience selling automation systems in heavy industry, and had he won the order it would have easily put him over his target quota for 2011 and significantly boosted his incentive payout. Now, with less than three months before the end of the year, he was unlikely to meet his target for the year. The senior account manager wanted to understand what had gone wrong, and to learn from the experience in order to avoid repeating it. What should he have done differently? See supplement 9B15A029.

A general contracting company specializing in the construction of single-family homes was known for its exceptional craftsmanship and was, therefore, highly sought after during the busy construction season from late spring to early fall. As a result, clients secured a spot in the company's schedule by paying deposits. This left the company with excess cash during the off-season, which it invested each year in trading investments. The case centres on the transactions associated with these short-term trading investments.

The Good Night Motel is considering offering special pricing for a two-day church convention event involving 20 rooms. This requires the owner to perform contribution analysis, sensitivity analysis, and some qualitative analysis.

Everything Rattan has approached its bank for a loan. The bank needs to analyze the loan request and prepare a collateral analysis for the situation.

FIS Consulting Services was a business process outsourcing company specializing in consulting and financial advisory for global clients. This case deals with an offshore project team in the United States that was characterized by intra-group competitiveness, poor leadership and resource sharing, poor coordination, and limited cooperation. At the outset, the team developed a one-sided focus on achieving a high performance appraisal rating rather than completing the project as a team. The team underwent an inadequate group development process, which was manifested in the team’s immaturity. Poor leadership and lack of behavioural norms led the team to move forward with conflicting beliefs, structural inadequacy, lack of guidance, and low cohesiveness. These factors led to a decline in the team’s performance and stood as obstacles to the project’s progress. Furthermore, these events damaged the reputation of the firm. The human resources manager needed to take urgent measures to save the project team.

This B2B role-play case, with its six supplements, is a six part interaction between competing Original Equipment Manufacturers, Distributors and End Users, each with their own business priorities. It is an excellent case to explore organizational buying behaviour, the discipline of the selling process, and the management of sales resources (time) as an asset. It can be included in an introductory marketing course at the MBA or undergraduate level. It is equally effective for executive development. It also fits in a B2B marketing course to explore organizational buying behaviour, or in the introduction module of a sales management course.

This case depicts the start-up and business development challenges faced by a streetwise entrepreneur who has invented a unique fishing rod. The capabilities necessary to invent, prototype, and bring to market a limited quantity of product versus the challenges of larger-scale commercialization and management of a growing business are illustrated. The case primarily addresses why some entrepreneurial ventures succeed and grow while others stay insignificant, and why a majority of entrepreneurial initiatives eventually fail. Indigenous constructs such as entrepreneur- and organization-specific factors and exogenous constructs such as industry, location, and time-specific factors that may predetermine the outcome of an entrepreneurial venture are illustrated. A business plan, which has attracted angel investment, is presented for critical assessment. The case’s background story shows that all businesses face resource constraints and trade-offs and that managers must continuously adapt and upgrade their business models, competencies, and management styles to match evolving market standards.

The newly-promoted international operations director for ReedTrek Manufacturing, is trying to diagnose the issues at his company's under-performing China plant. While the operations director originally believed the loss-making operations suffered from technical issues, his visit to the plant suggests to him that there are leadership and management issues.