個案總覽

The proprietor of a day spa must decide whether to purchase a microdermabrasion machine. This differential analysis case will test students' abilities to identify those costs that are recurring cash flows and those costs that are investments; give practice calculating working capital investments; differentiate between relevant and non-relevant costs for a differential analysis and test students on their ability to conduct a sensitivity analysis.

The president and chief executive officer of Info-Tech Research Group must determine the pricing and promotional strategies for the company's newest product offering. This case allows students to use differential analysis as a tool to aid in their decision. Students are expected to perform a qualitative analysis based on the fit of Info-Tech's new product offering within the competitive marketplace and its potential customers; identify those items relevant to the decision and categorize them as either recurring cash flows or one-time cash flows; understand that the recurring cash flows consist of both variable costs and fixed costs and to recognize the difference; identify those items which are investments, including working capital accounts; apply exchange rates so that all figures in the analysis are in the same currency; calculate return on investment and payback ratios; recognize the need for and perform a sensitivity analysis on the projected sales levels; and make a decision based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

The president of Jackson Limited's sawmill division was reviewing proposals to upgrade and modernize the sawmill at the New Denmark site in New Bruswick. He was faced with different alternatives ranging from a capital requirement of $6 million to as high as $14 million. The president must make a capital budget decision that will take into account several uncertainties.

Ganong Bros. Limited is a fifth generation family chocolate company in New Brunswick that is facing financial difficulties. The firm has been spreading its resources too thinly and needs to develop a plan to not only return to profitability but also to grow the business while upholding its responsibility to the local community. This case helps students to develop an understanding of cutting costs in a turnaround situation and seeking out alternative lines of business for strategic growth.

The managing director of MD Foods of Denmark and the president of Arla of Sweden, both cooperatives, were contemplating whether their companies should merge to create Europe's largest dairy company. Arla and MD Foods wished to continue the success of their joint ventures in a much closer relationship, but wondered if their owners (the milk-producing farmers in each country) would approve the merger. In addition, the two companies were different in size, organizational structure, organizational culture, monetary currency used and language spoken. Finally, a cross-border merger of two cooperatives was unprecedented throughout the world. The supplement Arla and MD Food: The Merger Decision (B), product 9B05M013 describes the merger decision.

FirstCaribbean International Bank was the new banking entity created from the combination of the Caribbean operations of two foreign banks, Barclays Bank plc of the United Kingdom and headquarters in London, England and CIBC - formally the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce - of Canada and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. A marketing team was formed with the specific responsibility of developing the marketing function and the brand strategy, as well as guiding the branding process of the new entity. The head of the marketing team has a number of concerns: Would geography, history and commercial practices support or mitigate against a single, centralized marketing strategy for the entire region, what should the new brand be and how should it be articulated, should the new brand reflect one or both of the heritage banks or should the new brand break with the past and reflect a totally new identity, and how quickly could the new brand be rolled out? This case may be taught on a stand alone basis or in combination with any of the five additional Cross-Enterprise cases that deal with various functional issues associated with the eventual merger: Human Resources - Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean, product 9B04C053; Information Systems - Information Systems at FirstCaribbean: Choosing a Standard Operating Environment, product 9B04E032; General Management - CIBC-Barclays: Should Their Caribbean Operations Be Merged?, product 9B04M067; Accounting and Finance - CIBC-Barclays: Accounting For Their Merger, product 9B04B022; FirstCaribbean International Bank: The Marketing and Branding Challenges for a Start-up, product 9B05A012; and technical note - Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.

The chair of the computer studies department noticed a marked change in the behavior of one of Conseco College's long-term employees. Although no official problems had yet surfaced, the chair has clear personal evidence that the employee was behaving erratically and uncharacteristically. The chair must decide how to deal with the situation. Supplementary cases Conseco College (B) and (C), products 9B05C003 and 9B05C004 follow the progress of the situation.

The vice-president of a resort hotel in San Felipe, Mexico must deal with low winter sales levels. Students will gain experience in assessing the current marketing strategy, analyzing the fit of a new opportunity, making pricing decisions, designing a promotional campaign and calculating market share; and receive practice in using breakeven analysis and in analyzing an opportunity from both a qualitative and quantitative standpoint.

The Aspect Group is a small entrepreneurial marketing company that focuses on brand management. Having worked in the industry for a number of years both as permanent employee and freelancer, Marie Bohm founded the Aspect Group with a goal of developing a humane work environment with work-life flexibility. To grow the business, she is faced with two choices: she could partner with a small local firm or link with a high-profile firm in Toronto. The latter would provide greater visibility and credibility but she is concerned that the demands could alter the work-life flexibility qualities she valued. A video is available, product # 7B05C017.

The vice-president and general manager of Totalline Transport wants to eliminate late appointment fees in delivering to one of Canada's premier electronic shops - Electronics International. Totalline Transport is hired by suppliers of electronics goods to deliver to retailers. The vice-president sees an opportunity to solve the problem of congestion in the parking lot of Electronics International's warehouse and eliminating unnecessary soft costs such as missed appointment fees and detention charges. The bottleneck in the process is the waiting time for all of the trucks to unload. If the carrier arrives late, the retailer will charge the carrier $1,000. If the carrier is waiting in line due to a backlog at the warehouse, the carrier will levy a charge of $50 to $60 per hour. Beyond these costs, the vice-president realizes that suppliers and retailers are spending one day per week investigating problems with shipments. He is eager to make his customers (suppliers) successful. He sees three central options in cutting down traffic: to request two dedicated doors at the warehouse; cut down on time for Electronics International by applying stickers at Totalline's consolidation point on all the deliveries so that Electronics International could immediately accept shipments into inventory without handling; or deliver direct to Electronics International stores.

Harlequin Enterprises is a well-known publisher of series romantic fiction. The company is facing threats to its leading position as the world's largest romance publisher. While Harlequin was the dominant and very profitable producer of series of romance novels, research indicated that many customers were reading as many single-title romance and women's fiction as series romances. Facing a steady loss of share, Harlequin convened a task force to study the possibility of re-launching a single title women's fiction program. Students must analyze the organization's capabilities and resources as it considers the launch of this new business line.

The supervisor at a popular bar and eatery is close to finishing off the shift and is reflecting on the events that took place in the past couple of hours. He had just finished escorting the service manager of the restaurant out after watching him snort a line of white powder. The supervisor knew he could not just ignore what had happened but was concerned about what to do next.

KTM is a successful European off-road motorcycle manufacturer with sales in 72 countries. KTM has been experiencing impressive growth in both its top and bottom lines over the past several years, but it is facing significant growth pressure from its venture capitalist investor. The chief financial officer must determine how the company could achieve its growth objectives. Options include geographic expansion (increase U.S. emphasis, or expansion to new European Union countries) or product expansion. Implementation options include a merger, acquisition or internal growth. Several opportunities for geographic expansion and product diversification exist, and implementation options include make, buy or ally decisions.

The Newfoundland Centre for the Arts (NCA) was a theatre, dance and visual arts organization with a long history of promoting indigenous Newfoundland and Labrador arts. The centre was a democratic, member-driven organization, and stakeholders disagreed over aspects of the centre's mandate and operations. NCA had also experienced financial difficulties, including a crisis in 2002 that almost resulted in closure. Funding came through, and the general manager undertook a strategic review of the organization. She must now present her recommendations to ensure the long term viability and success of NCA to the board of directors.

Village Automotive is a rags to riches story that describes leadership from the perspective of an entrepreneur who has built a highly successful automobile retail business. As the owner reaches retirement age, he is faced with decisions about growth, succession and strategy. At the same time, the case considers the changes taking place in the automobile industry and the different business approaches taken by the owner and his son-in-law.

A junior executive is given the task of calculating a benchmark common in the ship building industry - cost per compensated gross ton. Although raw data is available for its components, the executive must formulate relationships between the data to determine the benchmark. The case is designed to provide: 1) an introduction to the construction and use of benchmarks in quality management; 2) practice in conceptualizing a problem and designing a basic spreadsheet model to solve the problem. The modeling procedure uses an influence diagram as the basis for constructing the spreadsheet model, this spreadsheet model is available, product 7B05D011.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Barclays Bank PLC were in advanced negotiations regarding the potential merger of their respective retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in the Caribbean. Currently there are four systems in operation in the region. All are carry-overs from the pre-merger operation of the bank. Each of the systems has different pros and cons consisting of degree of fit with the organization strategy, likely impact on organizational culture, and functionality. As part of the effort to standardize practices across the organization, a choice for one standard operating system must be made. 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 regarding the actual merger and integration. The four additional cases deal are: CIBC-Barclays: Should Their Caribbean Operations be Merged?, product 9B04M067; Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean Bank, product 9B04C053; CIBC-Barclays: Accounting for Their Merger, product 9B04B022 and Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club, a non-profit gaming organization and social club founded in 1884, was unusual, for through its payment of taxes and donations to the community, it had over the years funded a sizeable portion of Hong Kong government expenses and charitable work. The newly hired director of the information technology department is concerned about inefficient operation. The IT division had been an established part of the club for many years, and throughout time, had been organized and reorganized to meet the changing needs of the club. A task force is put together and an external consultant is brought in to review the division's organization. Upon completion of the review, the director of the division learns that the person heading the review plans to resign and must decide what to do.

Kathryn Everest, the knowledge management consultant for IBM Canada Ltd.’s business consulting service, was preparing for a meeting with the province of Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Education. The purpose of the meeting was to secure top-level support for an early-stage knowledge management program at the ministry. For the past few weeks she had conducted an initial study of ministry needs and believed that the organization could benefit from one or more knowledge management solutions, including document management, communities of practice, and an expert directory. Everest wondered how she should approach the meeting, given that there seemed to be internal ministry concerns about knowledge-sharing. As she reviewed her notes, she wanted to know which solution(s) she should recommend and what implementation challenges she could expect to face.

An entrepreneur from California sold his last start up company over a year ago and was looking at investing in an underperforming company in which he could play an active role and turn around. His investment advisor approached him with a potential deal in which to invest. Alpha Legal Systems was a small software company with $5 million in sales the previous year but had no profitability. The entrepreneur must consider the economic slowdown and an underperforming technology market and the challenges of taking over and managing a young, rapidly growing company.