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The technology deployment specialist of the Adelaide District School Board needed to make immediate changes to the purchasing system to respond to service demands. The current system was not widely accessible or user-friendly and was creating heavy workloads and the need for overtime. Senior management recognized the advantages of implementing a system that would integrate the data processing of all functions, including human resources, inventory, finance, purchasing, etc., and gave her the mandate to find an integrated system and develop a proposal for its implementation. In addition to finding a system that would meet these criteria, she had to consider the conflicting interests of different users, a new system that had been implemented in the finance department, and the ongoing changes in the organization.

Oak Valley Inc. is a $2.1 billion Toronto-based company operating in various consumer markets. In early 1993, the company launched a management development program with the objective of promoting a culture that thrived on best practices. Five years later, the chief executive officer is attempting to evaluate the impact of the program on participants. Hoping to generate new insights that could be applied to similar events in the future, he has asked a team of five past participants to meet to discuss what they learned. This short case deals with the attitudes and behaviors most conducive to individual and group-based learning. The case provides an excellent vehicle for discussing how people learn, how teams can accelerate the learning process, and how companies can create positive learning environments.

An innovative financial services provider is struggling to arrive at a fixed interest (or SWAP) rate needed by its client. The client's new project would take five years to reach capacity, at which time debt repayments would begin. Hence the client needed to lock in interest rates for the first 10 years of the project. To arrive at a price, the financial services provider planned to start with the zero coupon rate bond yield curve, testing various points along the curve. (The teaching note for this case consists of a PowerPoint presentation. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is also available for use with this case, product 7A99N034.)

Consumer sales promotions are used to acquaint new users with a brand, to load existing users and to maintain interest in the brand on the part of the salesforce, the retailers and the consumers. Four promotions are presented in this exercise - two which were considered successful by the manufacturer and two which were not. These promotions provide the background information necessary for students to: consider the characteristics of each promotion and the surrounding circumstances; evaluate and determine which promotions were successful; and develop a rationale of which factors are important for successful promotions.

The CEO of Wilson Industries, a U.S. firm, is concerned about the performance of a joint venture between Wilson Industries and a Japanese firm, Morota Manufacturing. He wants the joint venture president to make some changes to improve financial performance. However, the president is unsure of what action to take because the Japanese partner, Morota, is satisfied with the performance and is considering expansion plans.

Founded in 1953, Stewart Shoes had grown to six outlets by 1990 with headquarters in Nova Scotia. Management is debating the value of money being spent on advertising and promotions. The controller feels that they should stop advertising and the marketing manager believes they should increase advertising by 50 per cent. The president suggests testing the effects of advertising, in-store promotion, and direct mail on sales.

The owner of a metal furniture manufacturing company is seeking funds to help finance his firm's expansion. He has arranged a mortgage with a life insurance firm to finance the addition to his plant. He is now trying to arrange a working capital loan with his bank manager. There were heavy pressures on manufacturers of metal furniture in recent years and the cost/price squeeze has forced out many weaker manufacturers. Talich Fabricating Inc. survived due to the managerial competence of the owner who anticipates a big sales increase, since the number of competitors has decreased considerably. He believes that this decreased pressure will enable him to increase prices to improve his profitability, which has suffered during the industry shake-out. The loan proposal must be evaluated by the bank manager in view of a head office memo suggesting the loans be limited to proposals offering the highest return with the least risk. As the bank manager, students should evaluate the loan proposal considering the character of the owner/manager, business conditions, capacity to repay, and available collateral. Talich Fabricating Inc. is a complex case, and should be used near the end of an introductory finance segment.

A machine tools distributor is planning to build an extension onto its warehouse. The owner is concerned how to source the $100,000 required to finance the expansion. Options include borrowing from a bank, borrowing from a private lender, or issuing shares. This case is intended to introduce students to financial analysis. The concepts of ratio analysis, projected statements and debt repayment are central to the case. The case requires students to draft a set of projected statements to determine the amount of required financing, assess the financial health of the company and its ability to take on more debt.

Dawson Lumber Company, experiencing rapid growth in the mid-1990s, has requested a $10.8 million working capital loan from the National Bank of Canada. This loan request is based on the assumption that Dawson's growth will continue at an increasing rate. The vice president of the bank must analyze Dawson's performance and give a reply. This case is a good vehicle to reinforce or introduce financial analysis. It synthesizes the relationship between ratio analysis and projected financial statement development. It also presents an interesting perspective in which the bank must balance risk with the effort it extended to acquire Dawson as a client.

In 1999, City Center Hospital designed a new computer system to reduce record-keeping time spent by nurses, to allow more time to be spent on patient care. The system had been well received by staff at the hospital, and hospital management wanted to market the new system to other hospitals. Students are required to design an experiment that will evaluate the new system. The City Center Hospital (B) case, 9A99E005, presents actual data collected.

IFC Manufacturing, an automobile parts producer, was attempting to raise capital to fund expansion in Mexico. In order to secure financing, the creditor banks required an assessment of the IFC's financial risk management apparatus. IFC had exposures to foreign exchange and interest rates. IFC had grown aggressively by acquiring firms on both sides of the Canadian-U.S. border, funding these purchases in U.S. dollars. The case allows for discussion of a number of issues, including: internal controls (the Group of Thirty recommendations for good derivatives practices), risk measurement and management. Data is provided which allows students to qualify translational and transactional risk exposures. Information is also provided allowing students to evaluate IFC's portfolio of hedging instruments which includes plain vanilla options, single barrier options, double barrier options and average rate options.

The manager of the West Coast Division plant of The Universal Pulp and Paper Co. Ltd. had just been informed that the head office had received several complaints from customers concerning product quality and late deliveries. He had two weeks to determine the cause of these problems and decide what to do.

An investment advisor for National Securities Inc. had just met with a high-net-worth client to discuss equity investment opportunities in various industries or sectors. Her task was to help the client understand the importance of industry analysis as part of the stock selection process. In particular, she wanted to demonstrate how various industries were related to overall economic performance, as well as various industry life cycle stages. This case allows students to assess a particular industry, the auto parts industry, in order to categorize both the type and life cycle stage. This case is the first in a series of three cases that focus on a variety of stock investment decisions. (See 9A99N007 and 9A99N009.)

In 1999, an investment advisor for National Securities Inc. had just met with a client who was looking for some interesting stocks to add to his portfolio of investments. He wanted to understand how to analyze a particular company's financial statements and project earnings, and a target share price. This case allows students to assess a particular company's financial statements in order to determine, based on the Dupont method, the drivers behind internal growth. The price-earnings valuation method is also presented. This case is the second in a series of three cases that focus on a variety of stock investment decisions. (See 9A99N006 and 9A99N009.)

An investment advisor for National Securities Inc. was preparing to meet with a client. Based on the advisor's recommendation, the client had previously added an auto parts company to his portfolio of stock investments. Now, as he became more sophisticated, the client wanted to understand the potential benefits and risks of trading call options and put options. This case is the third in a series of three cases that focus on a variety of stock investment decisions. (See 9A99N006 AND 9A99N007.)

Up-In-Smoke is an inventory valuation exercise using the periodic method. Completed in two steps, students are first required to value the total goods available for sale by considering items such as duty, taxes, returns, discount terms, FOB, and purchase prices. Once completed, various methods to value the inventory ending balance can be applied and compared, namely FIFO, LIFO and the weighted-average-cost method.