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The owner of an ice cream company must evaluate the performance of three regional businesses. To do the analysis, students must flex the budget by seasonal temperature; calculate revenue, volume, price, and efficiency variances; analyze the effects of transfer prices; and calculate return-on-investment. In addition, the owner considers how to set strategic boundaries and how to compensate his managers.

The Asian economy, particularly China's, is experiencing explosive growth. China needs capital to fund the growth, and this presents a tremendous opportunity for an investment bank that can penetrate the market. Morgan Stanley establishes a joint venture with the China Construction Bank and three other partners to form China's first investment bank. The case discusses problems associated with establishing joint ventures and penetrating into developing markets.

The European organization of Alden Products, Inc. is contemplating a doubling of unit sales over the next ten years. Their largest plant, located in Holland, was set up 25 years earlier to supply all demands of the EEC countries on the continent. It has since expanded six times. Should it expand again? Should it build a new plant in Southern Europe? Or should it increase subcontracting?

S1 is a fast growing subsidiary of the Samsung Group in South Korea that sells business security products. S1 has implemented a number of marketing initiatives that the company president would like to have evaluated.

Rubbermaid, a consumer-products company widely praised for its innovation, has instituted a company-wide experiment to stimulate innovation even further. The experiment consists of creating small cross-functional business teams within each division, with each team being responsible for the creation, management, and profitability of a particular product line. The staffing, reporting structure, and management of the business teams vary across divisions; and clear differences emerge in the performance of four highlighted teams. Specific topics include: options for staffing, structuring, and managing cross-functional business teams; the difficulty of implementing cross-functional teams in a company with a strong functional structure; the difficulty of balancing accountability and empowerment in "entrepreneurial" teams within established firms; and the impact of different management approaches on the functioning of business teams.

Hospital Equipment Corp. is a very successful maker of hospital beds. Due to outstanding performance in new product development, it grew to dominate its primary market and is searching for other opportunities to grow through new product development. It discovers that its internal system for identifying new, high-growth markets actually screens out some exciting growth possibilities.

The general manager of Gillette Singapore faces issues of managing change during the company's global integration with Parker Pen.

A bank loan officer must determine whether to waive convenants and extend terms on a line of credit granted to SureCut Shears. At issue is whether the inability of SureCut to pay down its line of credit is due to a temporary cyclical downturn or other long-term financial problems.

Managers introduce a new performance evaluation system based on sales growth and return-on-investment (ROI). A branch manager wonders whether his new warehouse should be leased to mitigate the impact on ROI. Formulas and performance calculations are provided. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

This case describes the process that entrepreneur Paul Farrow went through to establish his kayak company between 1992 and 1996. After being laid off from a more traditional corporate position, Farrow came across an idea that suited his business skills, experience, and values. The case chronicles the steps he took to be the first in the industry to design and produce an inexpensive, high-performance recreational kayak from recycled plastic materials. Key to Walden Paddlers' $1-million sales in 1995 was the company's ability to forge close alliances with key suppliers and customers while keeping fixed costs down by managing a virtual corporation.

Prior planning prevents poor performance is the moral of this case about predicting bid prices on new personal computer display models based only on past vendors' bids. Students gain respect for a set of 71 data points that might be used to explore the relationships between bid price per unit and the specifications and quantities of previous displays. The case illustrates the importance of understanding the available data and circumstances surrounding its collection before using regression analysis to summarize relationships.

Susan Carter, a partner at a prestigious strategy consulting firm, is caught in a dilemma she never expected: her firm's most important client has made an unwanted sexual advance toward her. As a friend of Susan's observes afterward, "The easy part was saying no. The hard part will be picking up the pieces." Susan is a savvy, successful professional who has spent the 12 years since business school climbing the corporate ladder. But this event throws her off balance, forcing her to confront some of the most subtle issues of power and inclusion at the highest levels of her organization. Her story takes us beyond the legal issue of sexual harassment to explore how gender can influence who is--and isn't--welcome at the top. In 97208 and 97208Z, commentators Gillian Derbyshire, Anthony P. D'Andrea, J. William Codinha, and Freada Klein offer advice on this fictional case study.

Susan Carter, a partner at a prestigious strategy consulting firm, is caught in a dilemma she never expected: her firm's most important client has made an unwanted sexual advance toward her. As a friend of Susan's observes afterward, "The easy part was saying no. The hard part will be picking up the pieces." Susan is a savvy, successful professional who has spent the 12 years since business school climbing the corporate ladder. But this event throws her off balance, forcing her to confront some of the most subtle issues of power and inclusion at the highest levels of her organization. Her story takes us beyond the legal issue of sexual harassment to explore how gender can influence who is--and isn't--welcome at the top. In 97208 and 97208Z, commentators Gillian Derbyshire, Anthony P. D'Andrea, J. William Codinha, and Freada Klein offer advice on this fictional case study.

Susan Carter, a partner at a prestigious strategy consulting firm, is caught in a dilemma she never expected: her firm's most important client has made an unwanted sexual advance toward her. As a friend of Susan's observes afterward, "The easy part was saying no. The hard part will be picking up the pieces." Susan is a savvy, successful professional who has spent the 12 years since business school climbing the corporate ladder. But this event throws her off balance, forcing her to confront some of the most subtle issues of power and inclusion at the highest levels of her organization. Her story takes us beyond the legal issue of sexual harassment to explore how gender can influence who is--and isn't--welcome at the top. In 97208 and 97208Z, commentators Gillian Derbyshire, Anthony P. D'Andrea, J. WilliaM Codinha, and Freada Klein offer advice on this fictional case study.

This case investigates an innovative bond issue by Enron. The coupon on the bond is indexed to the company's credit rating, making it a credit derivative structure.

Describes the evolution of the Mexican economy from 1945 to 1982. Describes the import-substituting industrialization strategy pursued in the aftermath of World War II. Discusses briefly why this failed in the late 1960s and then analyzes the change of strategy toward a state-led development financed by bank-borrowing from abroad that culminated in the debt crisis. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

In 1984, Mortimer Zuckerman and Ed Linde, through their firm, Boston Properties (BP), acquired land in Concord, MA to build a 147,000-square-foot, first-class suburban office building. BP proceeded to go through the permitting and approval process with the town and was ready to commence construction when in August 1988, the state, after considerable lobbying from historic and environmental groups, delayed the project by requiring an environmental impact statement. Environmental groups from around the country continued to organize against BP's development along with a nearby affordable housing development. While the project was delayed, the real estate market collapsed. But by the spring of 1993, the market was beginning to recover and BP had received all necessary permits. Zuckerman and Linde had to decide whether to proceed with the development or sell to the environmental group opposing them, and if they were to sell, at what price.

The market values Arch differently from analysts' values.

Provides information on economic reform programs in Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1990. Students are asked to compare and contrast the economic situations in the two countries, as well as the political constraints on reform.

In early 1993, Stone Container was heavily burdened by debt following a series of highly leveraged acquisitions. A prolonged depression in paper prices necessitated the development of a comprehensive financial plan to relieve the financial pressures on Stone. Among the alternatives to be considered are straight debt, convertible debt, and equity.