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In October 2008, the president of Millbrook Estate Homes Ltd. is trying to determine if his firm should take on a new development called Whistle Hill Estates. Millbrook began as a builder of modest homes on a large scale, but the Whistle Hill opportunity would involve developing high-end custom homes.<br><br><br><br>The president’s decision will have a significant effect on Millbrook’s future strategy. Millbrook can stay within its comfort zone and continue building large numbers of entry-level or mid-level homes, purchasing supplies in bulk, and negotiating volume discounts with the trades, or the company can choose to move into the high-end custom home segment, in which it will have to manage more complex designs, source custom materials, and provide a greater level of customer service to clients. In the second option, Millbrook has the opportunity to earn higher profits per house built. If the president wants Millbrook to expand into the custom home segment, he needs to consider what changes will be necessary to position the Whistle Hill opportunity for success.

The executive director of British Columbia’s Neonatal Services Program was thinking about her last meeting with the officials at the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services (MHS). Following a report indicating that from 2007 to 2008 the province sent 98 expectant mothers and newborns to the United States for treatment, the province was considering adding more neonatal intensive care capacity. Political pressure was mounting after one of Canada’s national newspapers covered the problem in a front-page story. The MHS asked the executive director to suggest bed allocations and other improvements to address the situation.

Various mergers and acquisitions in the Indian information technology (IT) sector had resulted in the newly formed Mahindra Satyam (Mahindra) and the recently appointed chief compliance officer (CCO) was to develop a corporate governance structure that would address and repair previous mismanagement of the company. The CCO also functioned as the chief operating officer (COO) with profit centre responsibility for business verticals. His largest task as the CCO was to restore trust in the company and solidify its future among various stakeholders by bringing back integrity and transparency to the business. The CCO had to consider several criteria: What should his priorities be? What processes could be developed that would ensure corporate governance? What were the metrics with which the company could track the progress in corporate governance?

The owner/operator of an ice cream store has an opportunity to expand his product line to include soft-serve ice cream. He needs to analyze the costs and benefits of purchasing either a new or used single-head or triple-head soft-serve ice cream machine. He also wants to continue growing the business and he wonders about the best way of going about it. Students are asked to (1) perform a business size-up; (2) analyze the addition of soft-serve ice cream from a qualitative standpoint; (3) determine which of the cash flows associated with the opportunity are relevant and which are recurring costs versus one-time costs; (4) perform a differential analysis to determine the ROI and payback period for the purchase of both new machines; (5) determine the ROI and payback period changes if a used machine is purchased; and (6) decide whether to purchase a soft-serve ice cream machine and, if so, which one.

Furniture Bank was an organization that collected and distributed donated, gently used furniture to those in need. After several years of tight financial circumstances, the interim executive director was relieved that the past year had provided relief via generation of record amounts of excess cash. He was preparing a report to be presented to the board of directors concerning his thoughts on what direction he thought the Furniture Bank should take, concerning opportunities for growth and the community's needs. With several thousand dollars of unrestricted reserves to access, but competing ideas for use of those reserves, the executive director realized the organization faced some difficult strategic and tactical decisions. All the ideas seemed to be important for Furniture Bank but the executive director was unsure if the organization had the capability to implement them; and he was unsure how to evaluate their relative priority. Any recommendation he made had to consider Furniture Bank's long-term direction and build on its recent financial success.

The vice-president of manufacturing for W.C. Wood Company was reviewing a proposal to change the company's packaging for their line of refrigerators and freezers. The proposal recommended a move from cardboard packaging to a combination of polystyrene foam and clear plastic film. Switching to this method of packaging would save on material and labour costs, and result in a significant reduction in damage claims due to the increased package stability; however, a substantial capital investment would be required to launch the change. The equipment required to convert to the new design would require a six-month lead time and one week to install, preferably over the company's summer shut-down. The vice-president needed to evaluate his options of converting all lines at once or transitioning to the new packaging system in stages in order to make his decision.

Deborah McDonald of Upper Canada Insurance (Upper Canada) was reviewing several pieces of data she and her team had spent the last month collecting. McDonald and her team had been asked to address the inefficiencies in the life insurance application process, largely due to the high numbers of applicants withdrawing from the system (known as wastage) in the midst of the process. Upper Canada had determined that the most common reason for clients abandoning the application process was the long time required to get a response, followed by lack of communication and poor customer service. It was thought that by solving these problems, Upper Canada could meet or exceed industry wastage levels and improve the efficiency of the sales team. McDonald was assigned the task of analyzing the data and making recommendations to resolve the issues of the application process, but was not certain where to begin.

The founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Teksavvy Solutions Inc. has achieved sales of $18 million in just more than 10 years as an Internet service provider (ISP) across Canada but he must decide whether to distribute his service via cable carriers, telecom carriers or both, or even integrate forward into laying fiber-optic cable in homes and businesses himself. If he invests in last mile connections to homes, he will need a great deal more funds and he will need a healthy uptake by the new customers, most of whom would be located in smaller cities and towns. The added investment for this option would require him to look seriously at bringing in a venture capital company for major investment but he would have to sell it some equity and live under its covenants and guidance until some type of liquidity event would buy out the venture funder.

The president of a small water filtration company is considering expanding his operations to include membrane biological reactors (MBRs). The topic of future-oriented decision-making using the differential cash flow is introduced. Students are asked to (1) qualitatively evaluate the filtration industry and decide whether this is the right time for the company to expand to MBRs; (2) perform a business size-up of the company and its competitors and determine whether the company is well positioned to expand at this time; (3) analyze the expansion opportunity qualitatively; (4) list all cash flows associated with the expansion and classify them as relevant (future, cash and different), and either recurring or one-time costs; (5) perform a differential analysis, with sensitivity where necessary and (6) determine the return on investment and the payback period.

In June 2010, Naser Tavazo, one of the three owner/manager brothers of both Tavazo Iran Co. and Tavazo Canada Co., was considering the company's future expansion opportunities, including further international market entry. Candidate cities of interest were Los Angeles, Dubai and other cities with a high Iranian diaspora. Another question facing the owners was where to focus on the value chain. Should the family business use its limited resources to expand its retailer business into more international markets, or to expand their current retailer/wholesale activities within Canada and Iran?<br><br>The objectives of this case are: (A) to discuss the typical problems that small companies confront when growing internationally and the implication of being a family business in this transition; (B) to provide a vehicle for developing criteria for market selection; (C) to highlight the importance of focus in the value chain regarding horizontal vs. vertical integration.<br><br>This case can be used in international business, strategic management or family business (entrepreneurship) courses. In international business, it may be used as an internationalization case and positioned early in the course. In a strategic management course, it might be positioned in sections dealing with managerial preferences, or diversification.

From the perspectives of the senior executive of Mittal and the senior executive of Arcelor, this case looks at post-merger integration. As with many mergers, the ArcelorMittal merger was touted as a merger of equals. Unlike most, it was actually managed as such and it worked. The case series looks at three critical decision points (one for each case) and challenges that the two senior executives faced from the line organization during the execution of the integration. Also see supplemental cases ArcelorMittal (B), product #9B10M002 and ArcelorMittal (C), product #9B10M003.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - MENA Business Cases Award, European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>The Chabros International Group case examines how a Lebanese multinational wood company confronts a drastic drop in its largest subsidiary's sales after 2008's global economic crisis. Antoine Chami, Chabros's owner and president, was reviewing his company's 2009 end-of-year financial statements and, in particular, a 30 per cent drop in sales in Dubai. In 2007, a year before the global economic crisis, Chami had invested more than $11 million to acquire and expand a sawmill in Serbia to meet Chabros's growing lumber sales demand. With a much higher capacity to produce lumber and a much lower probability to sell it, Chami had to decide what to do to overcome this challenge. Should he close parts of his Serbian sawmill? Should he try to boost his company's sales to use all of his sawmill's available capacity? If so, should Chabros try to increase sales within the countries where it already operated (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt) or should it expand into a new country (Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, Tunisia)? Would Morocco, among other countries, be the best country to expand into? Was it the right time to embark on such an expansion?

This case illustrates the founding and growth of Veja, the first eco-sneaker company in the world, in the broader context of the evolution of the fashion industry and the emergence of the eco-fashion movement. By September 2010, the five-year old venture had become a reference in ethical fashion, and an inspiration for other eco-fashion start-ups. Its path, its successes and its aspirations made it a perfect acquisition target; like-minded companies like Timberland were already feeling out the two founders.<br><br>Sebastien Kopp and Francois-Ghislain Morillion were still fulfilling their dream. They had fun trying to craft ever more sustainable business approaches. They were still excited about the opportunity to develop solutions or workarounds for socially- and environmentally-problematic business practices. The case presents several solutions, focusing on the development of sustainable business practices in organic cotton, wild natural rubber and traditional veggie-tanned leather. The case also deals with the issue of how ventures integrate sustainable practices into a holistic and ever improving offering, which engages multiple supply chain participants (employees, consumers, suppliers, partners, even artists) in co-devising a value proposition that appeals not just to our sense of fashion, but also to our conscience. Essentially, the case is a story of fashioning identities by artfully bending consumers' appreciation towards the expression of unity with the earth and across cultures.

After half a year researching technologies and examining the current and future environment for renewable energy in Ontario, Canada, two MBA graduates must decide which renewable energy field to enter — solar photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biogas, or ocean. Each choice represents great opportunities, and the entrepreneurs must ensure that they select the most suitable technology based on their experience and management skills, and on the market potential and risk.

In 2005, the vice-president of Lundbeck, a Danish based pharmaceutical firm, needed to decide what to do with one of his most promising subsidiaries, Lundbeck Korea. Over its short lifetime, under the leadership of the country manager and the Asia regional manager, the subsidiary had grown well beyond the original goals set for it. The vice-president wanted to create a reporting structure and management mix that would balance the local demands that Lundbeck Korea required for growth with Lundbeck's overall strategy of specialization, speed, integration and results. The case also traces Lundbeck's internationalization efforts in Asia over the past 20 years. The company had grown from pure licensing arrangements to establishing its own country level subsidiaries. This case introduces the dynamic tensions between taking advantage of local management expertise and executing a corporate strategy developed for an entire global group. In addition, it illustrates the importance, but difficulties, of being sensitive to local management goals, while promoting a global corporate culture.

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.

In 2007, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) was facing a saturated market for women's tennis and identified the emerging middle-class in Asia as a growth area. The chief operating officer (COO) of the WTA was faced with a dilemma: He had to decide the new location of the Asian regional office of the WTA and present his recommendation at both the next board meeting and the WTA Global Advisory Council. The COO's presentation had to include the rationale for the chosen location and a strategy to increase the sport's popularity in the Asian market. With several cities to choose from, the COO had to weigh the pros and cons of each to present the most logical choice.

The case discusses the story of the IOI Group, one of the largest palm oil players in Malaysia, which has seen rapid growth in the past two decades. Family-controlled since 1982, the IOI Group's main businesses initially were property and palm plantations. As a relative latecomer in the palm oil industry, it grew both organically and through acquisitions, and, in 2010, had sales of about US$4.3 billion and employed 30,000 people. Over the years, the IOI Group moved away from producing crude palm oil (CPO), a key commodity, and pursued a strategy of vertical integration by moving into downstream activities such as food ingredients manufacturing and oleochemicals. This transformed IOI from a Malaysian plantation company to a global ingredients manufacturer, making IOI a good example of a so-called emerging market multinational.<br><br>The case takes the point of view of the second generation family leader who is currently in charge of the downstream businesses, and discusses three challenges he faces in IOI's transformation process: 1) the issue of optimizing and integrating the global value chain; 2) the most suitable way to coordinate a multinational company with substantial global sales and operations; and 3) adaptation to changing needs of global customers. All this is supported by extensive information on the changing dynamics in the palm oil industry, where emerging market players are moving up the value chain, snapping up manufacturing assets from global fast-moving consumer goods companies, such as Unilever, while the latter increasingly focus on branded goods and seek to exit the lower margin and capital intensive manufacturing of ingredients. Students are asked to analyze the changing industry dynamics and provide recommendations given the goal to make IOI a leading palm oil player.

This case considers attempts by a Turkish manufacturer of cosmetics packaging to trade off quality for cost, in order to compete with the influx of low-cost products from China. It describes the challenges faced by SomPack management in their effort to survive in the face of low-cost Chinese competition as well as the credit crisis. The company had grown because of its focus on quality and customer relations, but had to slash costs first in response to foreign competition and then again due to the global credit crisis. The case discusses many facets of the company's strategy: company efforts at automation to reduce labour costs in conjunction with their efforts to reduce product quality for parts that were to have automated assembly; use of cheaper raw material that required specialized equipment; use of cheaper costs in conjunction with their efforts to reduce product quality for parts that were to have automated assembly; use of cheaper raw material that required specialized equipment; use of cheaper machines that were not acceptable to customers who required high-quality manufacturing; implementation issues with a lower-cost ERP system; and attempts at outsourcing certain components. Decisions to reduce the quality of either processes or products must be made with great care: even though they are meant to be short-term survival measures, they can create significant short-term disruptions apart from potential long-term problems, such as making the company less attractive as a supplier to customers who may still prefer quality and service over cost.

Canada is becoming increasingly multi-ethnic and many members of these groups start small retail businesses. This case is an example of one such situation. Princessa sold beauty products to the English speaking black community in Montreal. In 2005 and 2006, sales were flat and, in 2007, sales fell by about 16 per cent. The owner was concerned and wondered what action, if any, he should take. While the issues were clearly marketing oriented, recommendations and their implementation were constrained by limited human and financial resources.<br><br> Demographic information and maps for Montreal are provided. The case is designed to familiarize students with issues related to marketing to ethnic groups, dealing with secondary data, defining a retail market and developing a strategic plan for a small business operating under severe resource constrictions.