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At the end of the harvest season, the owner of a family-owned farm had to decide whether to purchase a new combine or perform significant repairs on the existing machine. He realized that the decision needed to be made before the next harvest season, but was unsure of which option would best fit the company. This case outlines a simple capital budgeting decision in the farming industry. It can be used to educate individuals on the farming industry with concepts required to make an investment decision.

A venture capitalist must prepare a memorandum for his investment committee outlining the opportunities and challenges presented by financing a leveraged management buyout of Grace Bioremediation Technologies, a company involved in developing manufacturing and marketing soil and water bioremediation technologies. He must decide the appropriate rate of return, assess risks and opportunities and design a term sheet containing the details of a deal structure that includes major clauses required for any loan and shareholders' agreements.

New Century Brewing: Moonshot Caffeinated Beer discusses the introduction of a completely new beverage to the U.S. market. New Century Brewing, which is owned by one of the founders of Boston Beer Company, is a small brewer that outsources production to third party brewers. It has two products, a light craft beer sold in upscale shops and restaurants, and a caffeinated beer, which is oriented towards younger drinkers mainly between 21 and 25 years of age. Moonshot, created by the legendary masterbrewer, known as the father of light beer, became the first caffeinated beer in the world. The company follows a differentiation strategy that attempts to appeal to a small niche of customers traditionally ignored by large brewers. Shortly after the introduction of each of its products, large competitors introduced similar products. Nevertheless, Moonshot has a first-to-market advantage that could potentially be leveraged.

Sight Savers International is a not-for-profit organization that provides services in prevention and cures for blindness in developing countries. The organization must determine how it can make long range commitments today with its current environment of unpredictable donor funding and expenditures. Students will be introduced to the difficulty of using budgetary controls in an environment of considerable uncertainty; and to provide discussions on the appropriateness of principles, and implications for control systems.

After the U.S. sales manager of a large multinational company emails his supervisor regarding the supply of a new product, the message is forwarded to two others. The final recipient, the president of the Franco-Japanese joint venture partner that is manufacturing the new product, is offended by what he perceives as unfair criticism. The supplemental case, Charles Foster Sends an Email (B), product number 9B05C020, includes the sales manager's response to the president, and the ensuing correspondence from the joint venture. Together, the (A) and (B) cases present a setting for discussing three issues; the relationship between a communication situation and the medium chosen to deliver it, the effects on business relationships when an inappropriate communications medium is chosen and the processes needed to communicate effectively in multicultural business relationships.

The president of the board of directors of the London Youth Symphony is contemplating how to ensure the survival of the orchestra. On the verge of bankruptcy in 2001, the symphony now has more than $40,000 in the bank, but must address the reality that the orchestra might not survive due to a lack of musicians. Students must develop projected financial statements subject to given minimum balance and breakeven constraints. There is much room for judgment in developing the strategic plan; while many of the numbers are alluded to, many assumptions must also be made. Additionally, students will be exposed to some of the issues that may arise with volunteer boards of directors and not-for-profit organizations.

The chief executive officer and the marketing director of Saku Olletehase AS of Estonia must decide on the company's product portfolio plan. Saku enjoyed market leadership in Estonia with its brand Saku Originaal; however, the strength in market share has weakened in recent years due to increasing competition and greater marketing acumen from other domestic producers. While domestic beer sales have fallen, the company has experienced increases in other product lines such as alcoholic long drinks, cider and non-alcoholic beverages, which compliment its existing agreement to sell Pepsi and 7Up. For the last three years, the company has had the exclusive right to resell three well-known international beer brands (Guinness, Kilkenny and Carlsberg) in Estonia. With so many options and finite marketing resources, the company needs to decide where to focus its effort.

Sante Fe Relocation Services was a premium provider of relocation services based in Hong Kong. Founded in 1980, the company had built a reputation as a reliable, high-quality packer and mover of household goods. By 2000, the company also offered a full range of relocation support services including visa and immigration applications, home searching and cultural and language training. Santa Fe relocated expatriates and their families between Asian countries and between Asia and other regions. The company had its own staff and assets in Asia and managed its international operations through a network of partners. In 2005, the chief operating officer faced three key challenges: differentiating and positioning the brand in a crowded and often price-driven market; incorporating an expanded service line under the original brand and gaining market recognition for those additional services; and managing the brand across the Asian region with an effective balance of standardization versus local adaptation.

The associate director of a university campus reviews two opportunities to improve the profitability of the largest food sales generator on the campus. Low profitability prompts an evaluation of the restaurant mix and a decision regarding operational improvements or more restaurant alternatives.

The human resources manager for logistics and supply chain management at BAX China must consider her company's high rate of staff turnover. In her monthly report to the managing director, the turnover had reached 12 per cent in the first eight months of the year. The human resources manager must evaluate the company's current methods of dealing with turnover and consider what additional action should be taken. Logistics was a complex and rapidly growing industry, particularly in mainland China. Many multinational and domestic service providers were entering the marketing and expanding their operations; however, these companies had to respond to complex operational challenges and escalating customer demands. The resulting demand for skilled workers led to high turnover rates across the industry and at all organizational levels, and created margin pressure and other management challenges. The case offers a uniquely Chinese perspective on workforce recruitment, management and retention. The industry and the broader economy were growing rapidly. Skilled workers were in short supply because logistics was a new and developing discipline in the former command economy. Also, in the human resources manager's opinion, cultural attitudes resulted in low loyalty among the workers.

Accenture has long been seen as a leader in knowledge management, having received awards for many years. Over the years though, islands of knowledge have developed throughout the organization and the delivery infrastructure has become progressively more expensive. In 2004, the global knowledge management lead has been given the mandate to lead a revitalization of knowledge management. This case outlines governance challenges in the global firm, the transition to a new IT infrastructure and the strategic challenges and opportunities facing knowledge management within Accenture.

The president of a small Canadian tour operator of packaged vacations faces foreign exchange risk resulting from a future transaction in which the firm is committing to pay in U.S. dollars where the company's revenues are in Canadian dollars. The thin profit margins require the company to consider different hedging alternatives. The case provides significant information that will allow students to discuss international parity conditions and various hedging strategies within a relatively simple context.

Two young entrepreneurs have started a tour company at Whistler Resort in British Columbia. Two years into the operation, they face some critical decisions about their service offering. The major issue centres on expansion. They could grow by forging a partnership with a European destination service, by focusing on their current target market, or by expanding beyond premium winter vacations at Whistler. Students will learn lessons about what it takes to offer and maintain a premium level of service.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is one of the largest state owned enterprises in China and needs to separate the exploration, refining and marketing resources from the oil field services and supply resources as well as the company's resources devoted to social services. The case describes the issues surrounding the initial public offering of PetroChina, a subsidiary of CNPC, including the international, national and competitive context in which CNPC found itself prior to the IPO, and the strategy needed to ensure that the subsidiary will be viable in an increasingly competitive international oil industry.

In September 2004, four months after Hungary joined the European Union, the strategy group of Matav - Hungary's largest communications company - is working on its mid-term strategic plan. Since being privatized from state ownership in 1993, the company has seen several changes in its strategy, structure and culture. Nearly 15 years later, the company is a fully integrated telecommunications company involved in a broad range of services including fixed line telephony, mobile communications, Internet services, data transmission and outsourcing. The company's latest acquisition of a formerly state run telecommunications company is considered a success, and management believes that international expansion is necessary to realize dynamic growth as its domestic fixed line business is declining. As well, Hungary's mobile market is highly competitive and saturated with 80 per cent of the country having a mobile phone. The management team feels that Matav is at a crossroads with three main options: expansion in Hungary, regional expansion or focusing on organic growth in existing product lines. The team has to consider all of the lines of business in forming a strategy and whether Matav's resources and organization are suitable for a healthy future.

The merger of the Caribbean holdings of Barclays Bank Plc. and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) is going ahead, and the reality of integration of very diverse systems and procedures has to be faced. The case deals with understanding the current situation in terms of existing policies and designing policies that would be acceptable to employees from both banks in the organization - FirstCaribbean International Bank - which would be created by the merger. A critical aspect of the merger is the harmonization of compensation and benefits that must be resolved as a matter of priority. This case may be taught on a stand alone basis, or in combination with any of four additional cases that deal with various functional issues: 1) General Management - CIBC and Barclays: Should Their Operations be Merged, product 9B04M067. 2) Information Systems - Information Systems at FirstCaribbean: Choosing a Standard Operating Environment, product 9B04E032. 3) Accounting and Finance: CIBC Barclays: Accounting for Their Merger, product 9B04B022 4) Technical note: Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.

The publisher of an 18-month old, controlled-circulation weekly newspaper, The Londoner, is contemplating the addition of a web-based searchable data base of classified ads for used cars. It would seem to add value to the readership but it does appeal to readers well beyond the original trading area for the weekly, and it also offers some new timing issues for a weekly paper to create a feature with large weekend readership. The issue is whether or not the publisher should add this auto classified feature section and if so, how to market it to the greatest advantage. This case may be used with The Londoner (A), product 9B05A007).

The newly hired head of Strategic Resources Planning and Management at Royal Bank of Canada Investments (RBCI) must develop a dashboard mechanism for strategically assessing and managing RBCI's non-interest expenses, excluding brokerage fees associated with providing value-added service to clients. After a week of analysis, two things became apparent; first, the four major business units within RBCI were operating independently, neither collaborating on projects nor sharing information. Second, most of the non-interest expenses spent was related to information technology projects. Consider that RBCI was spending nearly $700,000 per day on service delivery, the senior management team was extremely eager to see what the head of Strategic Resources Planning and Management would propose. This case presents information technology portfolio management challenges facing large organizations, and challenges students to develop performance metrics that will be useful at the most senior levels of the organization.

In the spring of 2004, an engineering inspection revealed that a 100-year-old historic bridge had serious maintenance problems. Several options were considered including repair, removal and replacement. The director of public works for the region must present a summary of the options and his recommendations to the public works committee, which would then submit his recommendation to the council for approval.

The chairman of Tallink - a ferry and cargo service running between Estonia, Finland and Sweden - is considering purchasing a new ferry and redeploying older ferries among different routes. One of the proposed new routes is from Tallinn, Estonia through Helsinki, Finland to St. Petersburg in Russia. The chairman needs to decide whether or not he should buy the new ferry and the optimal use of his fleet.