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Maya Fonseca, the marketing analyst for video streaming service FilmCast, and her colleague Rupert Cruz had to interpret the results of a conjoint analysis conducted by their company. FilmCast was a large company, competing against Videosource and Webflickstream. The marketing analysts were debating whether it made sense to lower the price of their services and if the conjoint analysis results supported this idea.

This annually updated exercise assesses one’s exposure to the rest of the world’s peoples. A series of worksheets require respondents to check off the number and names of countries they have visited and the corresponding percentage of world population that each country represents. The summary of a group’s collective exposure to the world’s people will inevitably be the recognition that together they have seen much, even if individually some have seen little. The teaching note provides discussion questions that consider why there is such a high variability in individual profiles, the implications of each profile for one’s business career, and what it would take for respondents to change their profile.

On July 1, 2020, the co-head of the logistics and planning department at Marico Ltd., based in India, was reviewing reports on various issues related to stock inventory and warehousing. After studying the reports, he found that both lost opportunity and warehousing costs for the company were high. Compounding the problem was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which had added pressure to the company’s impending cost pressures. Initially, Marico Ltd. had thirty-three warehouses. However, after the Government of India introduced the Goods and Service Tax in 2017, various state taxes across the country were eliminated. The new law revolutionized the logistics industry and allowed Marico Ltd. to reduce the number of its warehouses to twenty-five. Could the company further reduce the number of warehouses without adversely impacting service levels?

On July 1, 2020, the co-head of the logistics and planning department at Marico Ltd., based in India, was reviewing reports on various issues related to stock inventory and warehousing. After studying the reports, he found that both lost opportunity and warehousing costs for the company were high. Compounding the problem was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which had added pressure to the company's impending cost pressures. Initially, Marico Ltd. had thirty-three warehouses. However, after the Government of India introduced the Goods and Service Tax in 2017, various state taxes across the country were eliminated. The new law revolutionized the logistics industry and allowed Marico Ltd. to reduce the number of its warehouses to twenty-five. Could the company further reduce the number of warehouses without adversely impacting service levels?

Dr. Jay Jayson, an orthodontist, had recently completed renovating the waiting area of his office and now needed to decide whether he should also renovate the treatment areas. He considered the advantages and disadvantages of his current clinic setup: he thought that the reception environment was comfortable, and that the patients felt confident in the treatment and process, but he was concerned about the impact on patients of any delays in care. He also realized that he had one new patient consultation room that could be pulled into service as a treatment chair. Would hiring more registered dental assistants help him treat more patients? Was there another way to see more patients without renovating the office?

Dr. Jay Jayson, an orthodontist, had recently completed renovating the waiting area of his office and now needed to decide whether he should also renovate the treatment areas. He considered the advantages and disadvantages of his current clinic setup: he thought that the reception environment was comfortable, and that the patients felt confident in the treatment and process, but he was concerned about the impact on patients of any delays in care. He also realized that he had one new patient consultation room that could be pulled into service as a treatment chair. Would hiring more registered dental assistants help him treat more patients? Was there another way to see more patients without renovating the office?

The owner of a tennis ball manufacturer was reviewing the company's financial performance for its third fiscal year. The bookkeeper had already recorded the fiscal 2020 cash transactions, but may have done so incorrectly. The owner recorded the opening balances, cash receipts, and cash disbursements to calculate the unadjusted trial balances for fiscal 2020. She started with the bookkeeper’s unadjusted trial balances and planned to use the balance sheet and the list of cash receipts and disbursements, if necessary. She would have to figure out where the bookkeeper posted each entry, determine whether it required an adjustment, and adjust accordingly.

The owner of a tennis ball manufacturer was reviewing the company's financial performance for its third fiscal year. The bookkeeper had already recorded the fiscal 2020 cash transactions, but may have done so incorrectly. The owner recorded the opening balances, cash receipts, and cash disbursements to calculate the unadjusted trial balances for fiscal 2020. She started with the bookkeeper's unadjusted trial balances and planned to use the balance sheet and the list of cash receipts and disbursements, if necessary. She would have to figure out where the bookkeeper posted each entry, determine whether it required an adjustment, and adjust accordingly.

In January 2021, the co-founder of Mystery Books Co. (Mystery Books) was evaluating the company's 2020 performance under the leadership of his daughter as the new chief executive officer. His daughter had ambitions of securing Walmart Inc. as a key client, so the co-founder had promised her an additional performance bonus of 5 per cent of his 30 per cent ownership of common stock if she grew the company's net income by 20 per cent over the previous year. Throughout his thirty years of managing the company as chief executive officer, the co-founder had maintained very conservative accounting policies, some of which had been modified under his daughter's management. After reviewing the 2020 financial information, the co-founder harboured several concerns: Should he have specified more conditions for his daughter's performance incentive? Would the accounting policy changes pass the scrutiny of the company's external auditors? And how should he proceed with regard to the suspicious sales activity he noticed? With these questions at the front of his mind, the co-founder of Mystery Books thought that perhaps he should have somehow left more reporting guidance for the company prior to leaving.

This annually updated exercise assesses one's exposure to the rest of the world's peoples. A series of worksheets require respondents to check off the number and names of countries they have visited and the corresponding percentage of world population that each country represents. The summary of a group's collective exposure to the world's people will inevitably be the recognition that together they have seen much, even if individually some have seen little. The teaching note provides discussion questions that consider why there is such a high variability in individual profiles, the implications of each profile for one's business career, and what it would take for respondents to change their profile.

At month’s end in May 2021, the owner of Lakeshore Tea Company Inc. (Lakeshore) located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, was reviewing her company’s merchandising operations for the preceding month. Lakeshore operated as an herbal tea processor and supplier, importing herbs and tea leaves from a variety of sources across the globe. Over its first two years of operations Lakeshore had experienced significant growth and had begun supplying a variety of restaurants, health food stores, and small grocery outlets in the Greater Toronto Area. The owner was now tasked with recording all accounting entries relating to Lakeshore’s merchandising operations for the past month.

At month's end in May 2021, the owner of Lakeshore Tea Company Inc. (Lakeshore) located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, was reviewing her company's merchandising operations for the preceding month. Lakeshore operated as an herbal tea processor and supplier, importing herbs and tea leaves from a variety of sources across the globe. Over its first two years of operations Lakeshore had experienced significant growth and had begun supplying a variety of restaurants, health food stores, and small grocery outlets in the Greater Toronto Area. The owner was now tasked with recording all accounting entries relating to Lakeshore's merchandising operations for the past month.

ShakeeBee Honey Inc. was a relatively small producer of pure honey and beeswax and provider of pollination services located in central Newfoundland, Canada. The company needed to consider further expansion beyond the facility modernization it undertook in 2018; this expansion would involve acquiring additional land and attracting key personnel. In March 2020, the owner reached out to his accountant for assistance with a variety of accounting-related matters. The company needed an analysis of its current operations, including profitability by product/service line offered. It also needed an assessment of its application for a government pollination grant and a declaration in support of this application, and assistance in evaluating tax implications of some upcoming decisions.

ShakeeBee Honey Inc. was a relatively small producer of pure honey and beeswax and provider of pollination services located in central Newfoundland, Canada. The company needed to consider further expansion beyond the facility modernization it undertook in 2018; this expansion would involve acquiring additional land and attracting key personnel. In March 2020, the owner reached out to his accountant for assistance with a variety of accounting-related matters. The company needed an analysis of its current operations, including profitability by product/service line offered. It also needed an assessment of its application for a government pollination grant and a declaration in support of this application, and assistance in evaluating tax implications of some upcoming decisions.

This role-playing exercise aims to tackle issues related to inter-organizational collaboration to scale up innovations. The role-playing experience helps learners discover, appreciate, and learn to govern inherent tensions in inter-organizational collaboration. The exercise is set in the Canadian auto parts industry, which could benefit tremendously from more sophisticated robotic technology to assist the manufacturing process. The role play asks learners to engage in an inter-organizational collaboration agreement. Each participant will represent a company whose in-house knowledge, resources or capabilities can contribute to developing a robot.

In this exercise, students read a brief medical history of fictional patient Mr. Jones, who has chronic low back pain (LBP). They are also given an overview of LBP and its treatment options in the United States. Their task is to develop a value-based payment system that defines outcome measures (patient success) over time and indicates how to compensate clinicians based on those outcome measures, then to create a short presentation to pitch their idea to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services management team. This exercise is taught at Darden in the ""Solutions and Innovations in Health Care"" course and would also suitable in a module covering reimbursement in the health system.

In May 2019, a senior analyst and blogger for a market research firm decided to analyze the performance and pay of various top-rated cricket players in the Indian Premier League. Teams usually spent millions of dollars acquiring players through auctions, and on coaches and other key personnel, as well as promotional campaigns. The analyst had started following the player auctions, where bids on some players had run into millions of US dollars. He wanted to take a more objective and data-driven approach toward analyzing player rankings and how far players' salaries reflected their performance, something that was often ignored by the pundits. The analyst wondered if these claims were at all valid and decided to use data visualization techniques to determine their validity.

In May 2019, a senior analyst and blogger for a market research firm decided to analyze the performance and pay of various top-rated cricket players in the Indian Premier League. Teams usually spent millions of dollars acquiring players through auctions, and on coaches and other key personnel, as well as promotional campaigns. The analyst had started following the player auctions, where bids on some players had run into millions of US dollars. He wanted to take a more objective and data-driven approach toward analyzing player rankings and how far players’ salaries reflected their performance, something that was often ignored by the pundits. The analyst wondered if these claims were at all valid and decided to use data visualization techniques to determine their validity.

On October 31, 2021, Thistle Links Inc. (Thistle), a sports management company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, had just finished its fiscal year 2021. During the year, the company had experienced a wide variety of occurrences related to its equity financing activities. Starting with the shareholders’ equity section of the previous year’s statement of financial position, Thistle’s accountant is tasked with recording all transactions that occurred over the course of the year.