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The case takes place in Peru in the aftermath of the worst mercury spill in history, by a transportation contractor for Newmont Mining Corporation. BHP Billiton, which has no connection to Newmont but is affected by increased hostility toward mining companies, enters into an agreement with Oxfam to conduct training on sustainability and “the impacts of large-scale infrastructure projects on communities.” Executives from the company’s various international business units are selected to participate in the program, to be held each year in Orissa, India. One of the first managers selected to attend the program is the general manager for BHP Billiton’s Tintaya copper mine in Peru. The case discusses the process, objectives, and outcome of the resulting dialogue between BHP Billiton and local indigenous residents.

The case takes place in Peru in the aftermath of the worst mercury spill in history by a transportation contractor for Newmont Mining Corporation. Newmont's senior vice president and chief administrative officer is sent to Peru to assess the situation. The subsequent audit revealed that Newmont's mining operations in Peru met neither U.S. nor Peruvian mining standards. There were water issues, there were air issues, there were road issues, there were health issues - all arising out of the mining operation, the report concluded. The investigation also found that Newmont executives could be subject to criminal prosecution and imprisonment for the company's actions in Peru. More importantly, the company had violated its social license with local communities, putting in jeopardy its ability to conduct business in that country.

The newly appointed president and chief operating officer of Olympus Corporation of Japan was called to an emergency board meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss governance issues regarding corporate mergers and acquisitions. However, it would be no ordinary meeting. Since assuming the role of president in April 2011, the president had discovered evidence of corporate fraud on a large scale. He had commissioned an external auditor report that showed a significant loss of shareholder value. His call for changes to be made to the Japanese board of directors had been met by resistance. How should he plan for the meeting? What could he expect? What position should he take? How should he influence decisions regarding the company’s immediate problems and its longer-term corporate governance?

Ford Motor Company is considering whether to reverse the valuation allowance it has recorded over its deferred tax assets. Due to substantial losses from 2006 to 2008, Ford has $10.3 billion of tax loss carryforwards in addition to other deferred tax assets; however, due to uncertainty, Ford has not recorded the value of those deferred tax assets on its balance sheet. To improve business conditions over 2009 and 2010, Ford must now decide whether it is “more likely than not” to realize the value of its deferred tax assets and reverse the $15.7 billion valuation allowance it has recorded. If the valuation allowance is reversed, Ford must also decide how to present the change in valuation in its financial statements.

The collective buying industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, and Groupon stands out as a major player that has revolutionized this market. The case describes the beginnings of Groupon, as well as the firm’s rise to power, the rise of its numerous competitors, its decisions and expansion strategies, and the collective buying industry as a whole. Key demographic data about Groupon’s customers (consumers and small businesses) are also described, along with recent developments at Groupon and within the industry. While Groupon has undoubtedly discovered a unique model that takes advantage of a “white space” in sales and marketing to local businesses, it is unclear what the future holds for the company. Will it be able to sustain its incredible growth rate, or is its business going to peak quickly and then fade?

This case provides an opportunity to review Groupon Inc’s S1 filing made prior to an initial public offering. Groupon’s financial statements attracted a great deal of controversy due to revenue recognition policies that produced substantially higher revenues for the corporation, as well as non-GAAP earnings measures, especially ACSOI — an invention of the firm that served to exclude certain marketing expenses from the calculation of profit. Since marketing expenses were a very material expense for Groupon at a stage at which it was building its business, the effect of the use of ACSOI was as substantial as the effect of aggressive revenue recognition policies. Groupon backed down on both revenue recognition and the use of ACSOI following SEC inquiries into the corporation’s accounting policies.

This case considers Apple’s entry into the Indian tablet PC market. In spite of stiff competition, Apple’s iPad had invariably become the market leader in many countries across the world. However, Samsung and RIM had surpassed its market share in India. This case offers students a unique opportunity to understand the reality of entering a new market and losing the coveted market leader position.

GameStop has effectively utilized a business model based on retailing new and used electronic games. The case allows the instructor to illustrate the strategies that GameStop used to consolidate its game retail business in the United States. It also provides the instructor with the opportunity to explore the peculiar target market segments in the electronic gaming industry. Finally, the instructor can explore competition and future expansion into different markets with dissimilar environments. Management responses to the following questions regarding company growth are explored: 1) Can you continue your aggressive store growth? 2) What about digital downloading? 3) Will the used business continue to grow?

Noel Biderman was the president of Avid Life Media, a profitable Canadian growth company whose main businesses were various online social networks for groups seeking sexual partners and romance. Biderman was seeking to raise $60 million via a private placement offering to acquire a privately held online advertising sales company, merge the companies, and take the new and improved entity to the TSX Venture Exchange or the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Avid Life offering represented a legal and potentially lucrative investment. Nevertheless, only one investment bank (GMP Capital) was willing to help Biderman raise capital — because among the various social networks Avid Life owned the notorious Ashley Madison online community for married people seeking to commit adultery. GMP’s relationship was short-lived; after media coverage of the Avid Life offering started to focus on the bank’s willingness to service Biderman’s company, GMP withdrew its support. Possibly it was the bank’s desire to avoid being linked to someone known, rightly or wrongly, as the king of infidelity, that led to GMP’s withdrawn support, leaving Biderman unable to take a potentially lucrative investment opportunity to market.

The Global Financial Crisis (2007-2009) has provided fertile ground for careful consideration of how the financial services industry operates. For many years it had been asserted that markets can self-police so that regulation and careful oversight are not required. The events from the crisis have caused many of the strongest proponents of this view, such as Alan Greenspan (former chairman of the Federal Reserve), to publicly acknowledge the problems with this belief. This case considers the events leading up to and following the bailout of AIG to allow for a discussion of how different internal and external factors contributed to the crisis at AIG, and the importance of studying each of them more carefully to avoid such problems in the future.

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, Groupo Modelo (9B11M125), Tsingtao Brewery (9B11M126), San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). 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.

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, Tsingtao Brewery (9B11M126), San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). 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.

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, San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). 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.

This case is a supplement to Goats: The Green Alternative (A). The (B) case can be used independently of the (A) case if the professor wishes to focus exclusively on capital budgeting. See also Goats: The Green Alternative (C) 9B15D001.

The owner of a goat herd in Tennessee must decide whether to rent out his herd for a land-clearing project at a nearby resort. Goats are better suited to clearing the land than humans and machines, but the owner has never rented out his goats for such a purpose. The owner must identify costs associated with the project, then determine a price to charge for the service. Since the owner has no prior experience renting out livestock, he must come up with estimates of the incremental costs associated with the rental operation and prepare a bid with little knowledge of rates charged by competitors for goat rentals. This case provides a realistic example of the thought processes that business owners go through when evaluating whether to expand into complementary lines of business, as well as the considerations of entrepreneurs contemplating starting new businesses. See also Goats: The Green Alternative (B) 9B11B025 and Goats: The Green Alternative (C) 9B15D001.

In recent years, incidents of piracy have increased dramatically off the coast of the failed state of Somalia. In this case, a group of 14 pirates have hijacked a cargo ship full of machinery, but have yet to make any demands. They hold hostage a multinational crew of 20 (whose captain and two officers are American), the ship, and the cargo. The chief operating officer of an international shipping company must choose among alternative strategies to get the crew, cargo, and ship back safely with as little cost as possible.

Termination of WorldSpace India’s satellite radio operations in 2009 was part of the restructuring efforts of the Maryland, U.S.-based parent company that had filed for bankruptcy in October 2008. As of June 30, 2008, WorldSpace Inc. (later 1 WorldSpace) had listed debt of US$2.1 billion and assets of US$307.4 million and had sought bankruptcy protection to help repay its debts. The parent’s two regional satellites, AfriStar and AsiaStar, and related ground assets had been acquired by U.S.-based Liberty Media, which also owned 40 per cent of satellite radio service provider Sirius XM Radio. The termination of WorldSpace raised a series of questions regarding early-mover disadvantages, business ideas, and pricing strategy. Analysts further extended the arguments to draw parallels with the satellite telephone service provider Iridium to question strategic decisions relating to the service-hardware mix, service provision and pricing, power of complementary products, power of substitutes, and consumers’ willingness to pay for incremental choice.

In 2004, Kaneo Itoh, president of the consumer electronics firm Pioneer Corporation, was considering acquiring the plasma display operations of another Japanese firm, NEC. Pioneer had decided some years ago that plasma display panel (PDP) technology was a good strategic area in which to invest. Recently, Pioneer had been selling increasing numbers of plasma television sets using PDPs. While the company was building a new PDP production facility that would soon become operational if demand continued to increase, additional capacity would become necessary. Buying NEC’s plasma operations would give Pioneer this capacity, the potential for realizing scale economies, and some valuable intellectual property NEC had developed. Itoh had to make a decision: Should Pioneer buy NEC’s plasma business?

Ron Burkle is an activist investor and stockholder of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BN). In September 2010, through his company, The Yucaipa Companies (Yucaipa), Burkle filed a “Definitive Proxy” to challenge BN’s slate of board-of-director nominees at the upcoming stockholder meeting. The proxy was made in response to a ruling against Yucaipa by the Delaware Chancery Court concerning a lawsuit that challenged Barnes and Noble’s poison-pill provision, which prevented outsiders from becoming majority stockholders. Burkle disagreed with BN’s founder, chairman, and owner of the majority stake in the company, Leonard Riggio, concerning BN’s long-term strategy. While Burkle wanted the company to cede ground to Amazon in the digital reader marketplace and instead concentrate on BN’s physical stores, Riggio believed that the Nook eReader should be the centrepiece of the company’s strategy. Riggio had to respond to the Yucaipa proxy in the short term and come up with a plan of action to retain control of the company in the long term.

In early 2008, Campbell Soup Company, a global food and beverage enterprise, is experimenting with a new way of understanding the mindset of its consumers. This has been prompted by the stagnation in sales of its soup products in the United States, its home market, where the soups category has matured. For decades, the company’s focus in marketing research has been on tracking how the end users, having bought its soup products at stores, consume them at home. But now, it is keen on tracking the shoppers while they are searching the retail aisles. The company is planning to deploy the techniques of consumer neuroscience, a relatively new discipline, for this purpose.