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In July 2000, two founders of this new Web-hosting company are contemplating raising $5 million to $15 million in a second-round financing from venture capitalists. The task for the student is to forecast the firm's cash receipts and disbursements in an effort to determine the firm's "burn rate," i.e., the rate of cash consumption and how long the financing will sustain the firm. The new economy setting of this case permits the instructor to extend well-known financial skills and concepts to an industry that attracts high student-interest. This case is ideally used in an introductory finance course as an early exercise in forecasting, modeling, sensitivity analysis, and interpretation. It can be a useful foundation for later classes in cash-flow estimation and valuation. This case presumes that the students have already been exposed to the structure and interpretation of the statement of cash flows (SOCF), and the relationship of the SOCF to the income statement and balance sheet. The case also may offer opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching with instructors in marketing and entrepreneurship.

This case recounts the announced terms of five prominent acquisitions of the late 1990s, and asks the student to suggest a preliminary strategy for integrating the target firm into the buyer. The five acquisitions are America Online/Time Warner, British Petroleum/Amoco, Daimler-Benz/Chrysler, Union Pacific/Southern Pacific, and Warner-Lambert/Agouron Pharmaceuticals. The objectives of the case are: 1) to highlight the linkage of the post-merger integration approach with the strategic motives for the acquisition; 2) to consider the range of possible challenges to successful post-merger integration; 3) to explore the varieties of integration strategy, especially surrounding decisions about autonomy of the target company within the buyer, importance of interdependence between the buyer and target, and need for speed of integration.

On August 11, 1998, United States' Amoco Corp. (NYSE: AR) and the British Petroleum Co. (BP) p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) announced the BPC merger with Amoco. This deal was the largest industrial merger to date, and created the world's third-largest oil company, BP (NYSE: BP). This case focuses on the issues surrounding the integration of the employee-defined contribution plans at Amoco and the U.S. subsidiary of BP. One of them was that the premerger plans had very different investment structures. Whereas Amoco had offered its employees only low--cost index funds, BP America had relied on actively managed mutual funds. The new plan, which would have more than 40,000 participants and $7 billion in assets, would have to either choose one of these approaches or integrate them into one single structure.

The president of a small consulting firm has just seen his second-quarter profit and loss statement, showing an increase in revenues but a substantial decline in profits. He asks his chief financial officer to explain the results. The CFO works hard to accumulate information to explain the impact of the quantity of billed hours, billing rates, consultant expenses, operating expenses, and the shifting mix of business between the two principal product lines.

Brazil's media conglomerate Editora Abril S.A. is Latin America's largest publishing and printing company; it publishes books, and comic books, videos, maps, travel guides, music, and textbooks. It also owns Brazil's largest database marketing company, its second-largest pay television service, and its first broadband Internet access service; an interactive music Website; and stakes in the coutry's largest Internet access provider and its MTV license. Roberto Civita, Abril's 64-year-old chairman, CEO, and sole owner needs to decide how to grow the enterprise that his father founded. He and his two sons have several options: continue to grow their core magazine business in Brazil, expand regionally, invest in new venues such as broadcasting, take the company public, and/or manage the succession. This case describes Abril's development to date and the challenges it faces in 2000.

Kathy Levinson, the president and COO of ETRADE and a lesbian mother of two children, must decide whether and how to participate in the "No on Knight" campaign. The campaign opposes California ballot proposition 22, which requires California to recognize only marriages between a man and a woman. This case provides background for Levinson's decision, in which she must balance her obligations as an executive with her personal values and commitments.

This case deals with Carrier Corporation's management's efforts to create a strategic supply partnership with one of its major suppliers. Some issues covered include purchasing, supply chain management, alliances and partnerships, and productivity improvement. This case has been used in an MBA course on supply chain management and in executive education general management courses.

The general manager of Avon Mexico, Fernando Lezama, must decide whether to promote a woman to the position of vice president of sales. If appointed, the candidate would be the first female in all of Latin America to hold an executive position and one of the first women in Mexico to attain this level of responsibility. Lezama's all-male executive team has doubts about the candidate's readiness, but Lezama is also cognizant of Avon's global vision which calls for the advancement of women at all levels of the organization. Earlier in the year, the Avon Mexico organization had completed an exercise called "appreciative inquiry" aimed at enhancing gender relations in the workforce.

Describes Richard Spellman's decision to leave his existing employer and join an Internet start-up as CEO. Focuses on the terms of a restricted stock agreement and employment agreement that must be negotiated. Includes first drafts of these two agreements.

Examines the high-profile Firestone/Ford product recall/investigation that took place in the summer of 2000. Focuses on the management of supplier relationships and incentives.

Entrepreneur Janice Schwartz is hoping to grow her start-up company by creating a technical advisory board and compensating members with discounted company stock. Schwartz is considering six candidates that can help her online education company in a variety of ways: as a potential customer, a media maven, venture capitalist, and technical advisor. The case suggests ways of compensating the advisory board and raises questions about whether there are new rules in the new economy about building professional networks, and when offers of equity constitute bribery and wrong doing.

One of the founders of a small business owners' purchasing cooperative organized four months earlier, was reflecting on its successful performance. The members of the co-op were willing to share responsibilities in the management of the co-op's primary activities of obtaining price quotes, invoicing members, and making delivery arrangements. The members were currently considering the possibility of extending the types of materials purchased collaboratively to services such as photocopying and printing of brochures and business cards. She wondered how best to promote the growth of the purchasing co-op and therefore, needed to create an action and implementation plan, considering: membership size, types of products and services purchased, qualitative and quantitative benefits of co-op involvement, vendor management and allocation of resources.

Dan Slavin, CEO of Framework Technologies, is contemplating a complete restart for his company to erase the impact of its shift in product and business strategy since inception. This case describes the issues he must consider, which include the impact of such a change on the employees and the founder, and whether the costs in terms of his time and the company's morale are worth the benefits of a clean slate for future venture rounds. Also presents the rationale of the venture capital firm for its involvement in a later-stage company that still faces early-stage problems.

Interbrew had developed into the world's 4th largest brewer by acquiring and managing a large portfolio of national and regional beer brands in markets around the world. Recently, senior management had decided to develop one of their premium beers, Stella Artois, as a global brand. The early stages of Interbrew's global branding strategy and tactics are examined.

Polycom is a rapidly growing maker of video conferencing and teleconferencing equipment. Management is attempting to use "natural work groups" as an organizing mechanism, and to build into the culture implicit rules that will cause desired behaviors to be self-policing.

NTT DoCoMo was established in 1992 and became publicly held in 1998. This case tracks how DoCoMo became the number one mobile phone company in Japan and how its i.mode service revolutionized the cellular phone market.

Describes two alternative tree cutting strategies. The first is to cut all trees that are at least 12 inches in diameter at breast height. The second is to thin the forest by cutting less desirable trees immediately and harvesting the crop trees later. The case presents information for students to estimate the cash flows for each alternative. After estimating the corresponding cash flows, students have the opportunity to use discounted cash flow techniques to decide when to cut trees under each strategy and to select which strategy maximizes the value of the forest.

In January 1999, Francisco de Narvaez sold Tia, his family's retail business in Argentina. De Narvaez reflects on the decision to sell and the selling process.

A new approach to philanthropy, led by venture capitalists and the "new wealth." has emerged in the last two years. They are applying the same accountability criteria from results as they would with their investment portfolio.