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Examines Gerber Products Co.'s evaluation of Alima S.A., one of Poland's largest food processing plants, as a potential overseas investment in 1991. Factors that influenced Gerber's decision are discussed in detail: property rights, taxation issues, and Poland's political economy.

In June 1989, a banker must decide whether and how his bank should participate in the LBO of this small Scottish newspaper publisher. This is the first of a two-case series and may be taught by itself or as part of a sequence over two class meetings with the B case (UVA-F-1013). See also the abridged version (UVA-F-1011). Student and instructor worksheet files are available for use with this case and teaching note.

In 1989, the Walt Disney Company financed its major European theme park and real estate development using a variety of financing tools and techniques that, when bundled together, amounted to a project financing. The case recounts the details of this financing and invites students to evaluate the financing from various standpoints, including those of the Walt Disney Company, the government of France, European equity investors, and European banks. The resulting opinion about the attractiveness of the project ultimately hinges on beliefs about European market demand for an American-style theme park. The case may be used to exercise students' skills in valuation analysis, to illustrate techniques for financing major real-property projects, and to explore the creation and transfer of wealth in such projects.

In June 1992, CFMF management finds that despite a number-two ranking nationwide among long-haul carriers, two smaller rivals are far more profitable for the year-ended 1991. Management confronts the issue of encroaching competition from the country's smaller regional and niche carriers. CFMF management is faced with a unionized labor force and a transcontinental network of consolidation centers in an industry moving toward non-union labor and regional networks connected by rail.

NutraSweet's worldwide patent-protected monopoly on aspartame, the low-calorie high-intensity sweetener, ended with the 1987 entry of the Holland Sweetener Co. (HSC) into the European market. Following the arrival of a challenger, NutraSweet acted to reduce sharply the price at which it offered aspartame to its European customers. NutraSweet's pricing move raised the question: were its actions in Europe a credible signal of how it would respond to entry in the U.S. market (where its patent was due to expire in late 1992)? This case explores some aspects of the game between a challenger (such as HSC) that is looking to enter a market and an established player in the market (such as NutraSweet) that may engage in signalling behavior.

Focuses on the efforts of a small company to raise funds in a variety of ways. In the course of its efforts to raise equity capital, the company commits a number of SEC violations. The case includes an example of both a poor, aggressive offering circular and a tightly drawn, conservative circular. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Two equal partners arrange a sealed bid auction to decide which one buys out the other's interest in a lighting fixture company started by their fathers. After 25 years together, they had developed irreconcilable differences over how to manage the company. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Focuses on two individuals' attempts to purchase Clarion Optical Co. Forces students to consider alternative proposals for financing the purchase; generate pro forma cash flows to assess the feasibility of these proposals; estimate the sources and magnitude of financial return to each of the involved parties; and assess the advantages and disadvantages of the proposals. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Two professional women are contemplating a business venture. They must assess the nature of the opportunity, what options it opens if they are to pursue the venture, and how they might finance the new business. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Describes a company marketing branded rice products to three different countries--Italy, Argentina, and Poland. Explores the differences and similarities between the countries in terms of consumers, competition, products, and margins.

In December 1990, a banker reassesses a borrower that, at the time of its leveraged buyout 18 months earlier, seemed to have such a promising future. Now the borrower is in severe financial distress. The tasks for the student are to evaluate competing proposals for restructuring the firm and to recommend a course of action for the bank. This is the "stand-alone" version of the second part of a two-case sequence. Students should not be exposed to this case until they have finished discussing the A case (UVA-F-1012).

Describes the organization and IT environment that Bruce Hasenyager found when he arrived at Chemical Bank. Goes on to explain his decision for implementing Lotus Notes as an "indispensable" management tool. Software is available: Order No. 9-196-701 (Windows version) or 9-196-702 (Macintosh version), $20.00 (educ. $10).

Describes the structure and recent trends of the metal container industry, Crown's successful strategy for competing in the industry, and John Connelly's leadership over more than 20 years. In 1989, William Avery succeeded Connelly as CEO and is forced to consider new strategic options in the face of industry change.

In this fictional case study, Vision Software was an interesting and exciting company--on the cutting edge of computer technology and a leader in its field. CEO John Clark was proud of its enlightened human resource policies, including efforts to hire and promote women. Yet something was wrong. In just two years, four top women had resigned after working at Vision for many years. Liz Ames, Director of Consumer Marketing, blamed sexism at Vision, and she had drafted a memo to Clark about it. She described a workplace where women felt undervalued. In the midst of this discouraging atmosphere, Vision's best women were just giving up. Liz turned to a trusted male friend at Vision for advice, and step by step as he read the memo, he had to agree with what she had said. But how should he counsel her? Would Clark be open to the criticism, or would he use it against her? Would she harm her relationships with other men in the company? If he advised against sending it, would he be condoning sexist behavior? A broad range of experts comment on Liz's memo and discuss issues women face in the workplace.

IBM has established a service delivery system to provide service and maintenance parts for its installed base of computers. The case outlines the competitive pressures IBM faces from alternative providers of maintenance services (e.g. other OEMs, third-party maintainers, and independent retailers) and describes the shifting service requirements of computer users. Describes a variety of programs that IBM has undertaken to improve its after-sales service operations, and proposes a variety of alternatives that IBM is considering implementing. Illustrates the value of communication and coordination between different functions within IBM (e.g., between maintenance, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing) to allow services to be provided in a competitive manner and to provide appropriate feedback from the field.

LaPeux Eau de Toilette focuses on inventory valuation of a merchandising company. It tests students' understanding of LIFO, FIFO, weighted-average cost, lower-of-cost-and-market rule, FOB destination, FOB shipping point, purchase discounts and duty and taxes on importing. The president and owner, Nicolette LaPeux, is the decision-maker faced with the task of assessing how the accounting methods used in the inventory valuation affect the overall financial position of the company.

The newly appointed president and CEO of Wellington Insurance, a company without hope according to a recent consultant's report, is faced with the challenge of effecting a complete revitalization at Wellington when prospects for the industry and company look bleak. The case series Wellington Insurance (B) and Wellington Insurance (B1) (Condensed B Case) provides the opportunity to experience the full breadth of strategic analysis, from analyzing the competitive options within an industry to assessing an organization's readiness and capability for revolutionary change.

The Wellington (B) case takes the position of the new chief operating officer of Wellington. He is looking back on the successful turnaround achieved by Murray Wallace (this is described in Wellington Insurance (A)), and wondering how he can build on it. In particular, he is concerned about (a) whether the high-stress environment of change that Wallace generated can be sustained, and (b) whether he is in the position to take decisive action, bearing in mind the temporary appointment of the chairman as CEO.

Mark Ain is the founder and manager of Kronos, which has grown to a $33 million dollar company in 13 years. The case focuses on Ain's role in the company. Presents data from a personality assessment of Ain and his senior management team as input to this decision.

After 10 years of running a small laboratory at Yale Medical School, Dr. R. Bernd Sterzel assumes leadership of a nephrology clinic in Nurnberg and Erlangen, Germany. In his ambitious efforts to transform the clinic into a leading academic research institution, he encounters numerous challenges associated with health care management in a socialized medicine context.