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In 2010, the commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League was generally satisfied with its operations but knew that certain markets were not reaching their potential. Management needed to use data to make some potentially difficult decisions, including possibly closing several teams down. The data included proximity of competition from other hockey leagues and other sports teams; how long a team had been in its city; how many points the team earned each season and how many of its players graduated to the National Hockey League; the make-up of the city in terms of its size, median income, median house price and its immigrant and visible minority populations; and, finally, the price of tickets. There were a few teams that were significant outliers at each end of the spectrum. What was the league going to do with the teams at the bottom that were dragging down average attendance figures? Student spreadsheet 7B13A028 with data is available.

Cyprus is a small island member of the European Union, constituting 0.2 per cent of the eurozone gross domestic product. During its growth phase, the Cypriot banking system developed vulnerabilities after suffering heavy losses during the Greek sovereign debt crisis. The European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union offered a bailout of US$16.9 billion if the Cypriot government could raise US$7.54 billion from within. The government had a few options on the table — a “one-off” stability levy on all bank deposits (a solution loathed by both native and foreign depositors), a bank restructuring plan, seeking help from Russia (which expected access to the island’s oil and gas reserves) and a complete banking system bailout (which would come with oversight and control from those offering the bailout). The economy was fast approaching a standstill and Cyprus had only two days to strike a deal to avoid the collapse of its banking system.

The director of the investment wing of a financial-services provider must decide whether his firm should continue to invest in the former frontrunner in the personal-computer industry or switch strategies and invest instead in an up-and-coming competitor. At a time of significant technological change and slowing global growth, the director and his team of analysts set out to create an in-depth assessment of the personal-computer industry in order to make an informed decision about their firm’s optimum investment choices.

The publisher Random House, a fully owned subsidiary of the German family company Bertelsmann SE & Co. KgaA, faces significant changes in its markets and internal structure. While printed books have been the company’s core competence from its earliest years, with the advent of the Internet, customers, especially in the West, are beginning to prefer electronic books. Will printed books be completely replaced by digital ones, or will e-books remain a niche market? How will this development affect production, distribution and marketing? Will Random House be able to compete for authors and sales with such online e-book giants as Amazon? The imminent merger with the U.K. publishing house Penguin also provides an opportunity and incentive to expand Random House’s operations into China as part of the internationalization strategy of the parent company. A post-merger integration plan must be established since the two publishers’ regional presences and product offerings are in part complementary. How can the new Penguin Random House strengthen its position as the world’s biggest and most successful publisher?

India’s real estate boom led to the built-in appliances industry’s biggest opportunity. In 2010 and 2011, a total of 533,954 residential units were launched in seven top cities: Mumbai, National Capital Region, Pune, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. As the market evolved and demand increased, investments and improvements in infrastructure, software, education, work force, installation, after-sales service, logistics were guaranteed to occur. This was expected to initiate a cycle of profitable growth. Whirlpool was already an established player in the home appliances segment. Given the improving industry described above, should Whirlpool tap this emerging market? If so, what might be its strategic objectives and positioning strategies for dealing with the competition and appealing to its prospective customers?

CP 7-Eleven is a prominent retail chain in Thailand. The analysis of the financial statements for the year 2011 revealed that while the earnings per share increased, the return on equity (ROE) declined. The company had negative working capital. It exerted strong bargaining power over its suppliers and customers and had efficient inventory management. It had been accumulating cash and other liquid assets over the last few years and it expanded in a well-planned manner, with almost 500 new stores every year. However, the company was viewed as having a lot of “fat” on its balance sheet. It was necessary to trim the fat and enhance ROE. The company needed to focus on strategies for future growth.

The Chief of the Australian Army faces a significant public scandal. In recent weeks, allegations have emerged that members of the country’s defence forces, including officers, shared explicit emails and photos that denigrated women. The scandal occurs as the Australian Defence Force is actively encouraging more women to join the ranks of the military. The Chief of the Australian Army needs to devise a strategy to communicate to the victims of the scandal, members of the army and the general public that the Australian Army is a national institution with strong values and moral standards and will not tolerate chauvinism of any kind.

The chief financial officer (CFO) of Inmet Mining Corporation is considering the pricing and structure of a $500 million bond offering in late 2012. The company required capital to fully fund construction at its biggest asset, the Cobre Panama copper mine, which had been estimated at $6.2 billion dollars. Now, it was preparing yet another bond offering that would ensure these capital cost requirements would be met. Complicating matters was the fact that a competitor, First Quantum Minerals, had made a $70 per share offer to purchase the company in November 2012. The CFO has to weigh options and structure the bond offering accordingly.

In May 2011, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), a leading real estate company in Vietnam, was going to issue US$90 million of 9.875 senior notes (a debt instrument) in Singapore, due 2016. The company estimated the net proceeds from this offering, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and other estimated expenses, to be approximately US$80.7 million. From the perspective of an analyst at a brokerage firm who was monitoring HAG, there were many questions of interest arising from the note issue. These included the cost of the debt and the reasons why HAG chose to raise the money in Singapore, and not in Vietnam. What was the cost at which HAG was borrowing through the Singapore note issue? Was HAG’s level of borrowing, after the note issue, exceeding the optimal level? What was the likelihood that HAG would be downgraded within a year from its B rating from Standard and Poor’s? How would the risk to HAG’s equity be affected as a result of the issue? Would HAG’s stock price decline? The brokerage firm analyst needed to decide whether her firm should offload its equity holding in the company.

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union are two sporting organizations that have innovated through their business models to grow their sports, create world-class sport facilities and improve their ability to win European competitions. Yet they reside in one of the smallest countries in Europe — Ireland. While the Gaelic Athletic Association is a volunteer organization whose amateur status (in which players and coaches are unpaid) imposes significant limitations on its revenue-generating abilities, the professional Irish Rugby Football Union has earned substantial income through the success of provincial and national Irish rugby teams. Both organizations compete for scarce financial, physical and human resources and are now faced with a rapidly changing environment following the deepest recession in the history of the Irish Republic and emigration of talent abroad. This case challenges students to analyze the business models of the Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union and explore how the models can be innovated to ensure survival of these cultural assets for the next generation.

The public editor of The Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading national newspaper, faces a significant ethical situation. An advocate of media standards has released a blog post outlining allegations of plagiarism against a prominent newspaper columnist. Following the release of the blog post, numerous members of the public and the journalism community began commenting on the situation. The public editor is responsible for upholding journalistic ethics and for investigating and responding to public concerns. She needs to respond to the allegations of plagiarism and ensure the public that the national newspaper upholds strong ethical standards.

Two people with opposing skills – business management and marketing on the one hand and technological know-how on the other – are joint chief executive officers of a market-leading smartphone manufacturer. Their leadership styles, decision-making and relationship with each other are paramount from the company’s inception, through its rise, its response to mounting competition and the period of declining performance that followed. Conflicting points of view provide the basis for debate about what led to the company’s decline and to what extent top management leadership (versus insurmountable market forces) was responsible for its loss of market share and brand loyalty.

The beer industry comprises elements of sub-national, national and global competition. To expand, the industry players use various strategic approaches as illustrated by five major beer companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev (9B11M124), Groupo Modelo (9B11M125), Tsingtao Brewery (9B11M126), San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev. Observations about the beer industry — a fairly easy product and industry to understand — can be extrapolated to other industries. Lessons can be drawn regarding the influence of industry pressures on the four key components of an international expansion strategy: product choice for expansion, market choice for geographic expansion, timing of entry and mode of entry.

On September 26, 2013, the chief executive officer of the world-leading pasta manufacturer, the Barilla Group, was challenged with a precarious situation. A day earlier, during an interview on an Italian radio show, the company chairman made a series of anti-gay remarks when asked why the company did not feature advertisements with gay families. Social media exploded with negative comments and numerous equality themed pictures creatively featuring pasta. U.S. late night television shows mocked the company, and various equality rights organizations around the world called for a boycott of its products. Competitors also issued statements and ads extolling their respect for diversity. Everyone — customers, news media, competitors and organizations supporting diversity — were looking for an explanation. The company desperately needed to devise a strategy to publicly respond and avoid the negative long-term consequences of a damaged brand name, decreased market share and ultimately lost revenues.

The president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A is a devout Christian who publicly operates his restaurants according to Biblical principles. A recent controversy has surrounded his public opposition to gay marriage. As a result, the company is being accused of discrimination and prejudice. Are the company’s deeply rooted Christian values hindering the business?

In 2008, a scandal in China involving milk products tainted with melamine (a chemical used in plastic production) brought regional and global attention to the country. More than 290,000 infants were affected and several died. At a time when international trade was important for China’s economic development, the tainted milk scandal raised concerns about the safety of products and food made in China. The case illustrates how the pressure of rapid economic development resulted in measures to cut costs at the expense of consumer safety and health, bringing into question the ethics underlying business practices in the country. The lack of quality control and corporate governance processes on the part of the company and government facilitated the ease with which the milk was tampered. The case also documents remedial efforts that followed the scandal, including recall of the tainted milk products, putting new government policies and regulations in place, arrest of top executives and the companies’ public apology in the unique form of a New Year text message.

Each year, Orlando International Airport serviced more than 35 million passengers. Many were attracted to Orlando, Florida, for tourism, vacations and fun, as the area was home to some of the most popular theme parks in the United States. Others travelled to Orlando on business, as the area had attracted international companies, and domestic companies had a growing presence in other countries. The airport needed to continue to attract new airlines and to expand its services to new regions and countries. Local business people collected information on the growth of travel between Orlando and other regions, underserved markets, and time and cost savings. The challenge includes how to use the data to decide on which countries and industries to focus on to attract new business.

PepsiCo faces criticism after releasing a series of online advertisements for Mountain Dew that featured an angry Mountain Dew–drinking goat, a battered white woman on crutches and the goat in a police lineup of all black men. Critics are offended by the advertisement’s portrayal of violence toward women and racial stereotypes. As the public outcry spreads, Mountain Dew’s senior brand manager needs to devise a course of action or risk damage to one of its billion-dollar brands.<p>You might also like: Abercrombie & #Fitchthehomeless, Abercrombie and Fitch, Domino’s Pizza

Coca-Cola has announced the opening of its first bottling plant in Burma in almost 60 years. Since 1962, Burma has been a closed and isolated country and under military rule. As a result of the military’s steady relinquishing of control over the government, Burma has begun opening its doors to international trade and investment. However, political instability is still very high and economic development is far from secure. Furthermore, although a framework agreement between the U.S. and Burmese governments has been signed, a bilateral investment treaty to provide protection for Coca-Cola’s direct investment is not yet in place. How should Coca-Cola pursue its strategy in Burma?

An analyst is assessing Demand Media’s accounting policies in the face of media scrutiny around its capitalization of media costs as well as some of its non-GAAP disclosures. She has to decide whether it is appropriate to capitalize these costs. In order to do so, she must evaluate whether the costs meet the definition of an asset. After analyzing the company, its business model and its strategy, she can compare its content costs to various other companies that create content (intellectual property); competing accounting policies are also examined. The analyst can then determine the appropriate accounting treatment and whether any adjustments are warranted. With respect to non-GAAP earnings, she can decide whether the metrics proposed by the company are appropriate in order to measure performance.