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This technical note is a descriptive list of factors that are present in large, successful, long-term and/or multi-generation family businesses.

Test marketing is an important aspect of market research. This technical note deals with why test marketing is undertaken and how to do it. Topics include test market design, selection of test markets, length of test and interpretation of results.

This note provides an example of the equity residual valuation method to a company. The note can be used to accompany cases on private equity acquisitions or other levered transactions. It provides a simple fact set to focus on the essentials of the method.

This note is an introduction to the cost of capital as used in discounted cash flow valuation analyses. The note covers basic financial economic principles and practical problems encountered in calculating the cost of capital, especially WACC. It concludes with cautionary advice about computing and applying WACC. The note is suitable for undergraduates, MBAs and executives studying basic cases on business valuation and capital budgeting.

This note explains the need and importance of quality function deployment (QFD), a customer-driven quality-planning tool that translates customers' needs into appropriate technical requirements of the product or service. The note addresses methodology and implementation as applied to a certain product or service, the product in this situation being credit cards.

Test marketing is an important aspect of market research. This technical note deals with why test marketing is undertaken and how to do it. Topics include test market design, selection of test markets, length of test and interpretation of results.

In recent years, many countries with publicly funded healthcare have started using cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) along with review of clinical data as a tool to assess the overall benefit of a new drug to the society and set priorities with regards to health care budget. Cost effectiveness was formally incorporated into the Ontario drug review system in 1993 and the Canadian drug-review system in 2003. The issue of using cost effectiveness has become increasingly contentious in recent years: some newly approved cancer drugs cost $3,000 to $6,000 or more for one treatment cycle, but their high prices means that they were often classified as being not cost effective. This note reviews many of the competing interests in debates over drug funding and dilemmas about healthcare financing decisions in the presence of limited budgets.

One of the most basic revenue management problems is how to allocate a fixed capacity to various types of classes of customers so that the total profit is maximized. Using the example of a flight traveling from Toronto to Vancouver, the revenue management problem is to decide, in each period, how much of the realized demand to accept and how much to reserve for the latter classes in order maximize the revenue. The crux of the problem revolves around the trade-off between spoilage and dilution. The author uses various mathematical formulae (including the static model, Littlewood's Two-Class model and n-Class model of expected marginal seat revenue) to model optimal seat-allocation outcomes.

This note presents an overview of ways in which statistical arguments are used in court cases. Topics covered include linear regression, significance, independence, bias, conditional probability, Baye's Theorem and inversion of conditional probabilities. In addition to these topics, the note contains a number of true examples where statistical reasoning has been used or misused as part of a legal argument.

This note gives step-by-step instructions on how to build a Monte Carlo simulation model in Microsoft Excel without using spreadsheet add-ins. The note explains the difference between random and uniformly distributed. The note also explains: how the Excel function RAND() works, how to use Excel functions like NORMINV() to simulate random numbers from distributions other than the uniform; how to use VLOOKUP() with tabulated data to simulate numbers from any arbitrary distribution, and how to use Data Tables to produce multiple iterations of a simulation model. The note concludes with an example that illustrates the use of all of these concepts.

Many countries have become increasingly concerned with the subject of corruption, and managers today must deal with changes in ethical norms and laws. New laws and international agreements seek to create a worldwide shift towards the reduction of corruption, and so management responsibilities are continually evolving. Both Transparency International and the World Bank provide estimates of the relative pervasiveness of corruption in different countries. Yet this subject is ambiguous and complex, creating significant challenges for managers. Both Volkswagen and Siemens have recently experienced public criticism and legal prosecution over corruption issues, some relating to internal and inter-corporate relations. Some cultures appear to accept corrupt practices as part of normal business-government relations. In China, guanxi is widely seen as a requirement for business success with the establishment of personal relationships that include an ongoing exchange of gifts and personal favours. Some managers may argue that the giving of gifts is acceptable, that bribes to expedite decisions may be necessary, and that only certain types of bribes should be seen as inappropriate corruption. However, this perspective involves the difficulty of drawing a line to guide decisions of corporate employees, and for many managers it is now necessary to implement clear corporate guidelines in regard to what they consider to be corruption. In this context, some managers may decide to avoid investing in certain countries until the culture of corruption has changed.

Unlike conventional supply chains, green supply chains are designed to ensure that value creation, rather than risk and waste, accumulates at each step, from design to disposal and recovery. As a primer, this note is suitable for undergraduate, MBA, or executive students exploring corporate response to environmental degradation, rising energy and materials prices, and the growing challenges of international global supply chains. Managing complex relationships and flows of materials across companies and cultures poses a key challenge for green supply chains. But "greening" a supply chain nets many benefits.

This technical note expands on the previous note, "Forwards and Futures" (UV1045), which introduced the basics of forward and futures contracts. It begins with examples where the hedging was one-for-one and the maturity of the futures contract exactly matched the timing of the transaction. Often times the hedging approach is not as clear as it is in those examples. This note covers hedging and more complex examples.

This note introduces the concept of risk or merger arbitrage. Risk arbitrage is an investing method that attempts to capitalize on announced transactions pertaining ti mergers, spin-off, takeovers, liquidations and corporate restructuring. The arbitrageur attempts to create riskless profit by simultaneous purchase and/or sales of assets that are part of the announced transaction. In the the note we outline the basics types of deals and methods to evaluate their profitability.

The "big three" performance variables--growth in real GDP, inflation rate, and unemployment rate--are important starting points for delving into the macroeconomies of any country. This note offers some brief background on the policy environment surrounding performance reporting in the United States and the Eurozone; exhibits show historical performance on each of the big three variables for both. Students are asked to relate important events in the world economy to the path of the three variables from 1999 through mid-2009. Differences in performance in each country/region over time and differences among the regions are also requested in the assignment questions.

This note provides an overview on accounting for property, plant and equipment under both Canadian GAAP and IFRS. It addresses recognition on property, plant and equipment, as well as impairment. Investment property is also addressed.

This note provides background on the development of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in Canada. It provides a brief history of the International Accounting Standards Board and Canada's decision to implement IFRS. It then discusses the conceptual framework and talks about the difference between IFRS and other global standards (Canada and the United States).

In 2002, U.S. lawmakers quickly passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the wake of several high profile bankruptcies and the revelation of accounting irregularities and corporate fraud at several American corporations, such as WorldCom, Adelphia Communications and Enron. Did the main benefits of SOX - gains in shareholder confidence that increased equity market participation and liquidity - justify these costs? Do the benefits of SOX for corporate governance - increased oversight from the board of directors, an increase in the reliability of internal controls, and increased power given to audit committees - help to justify the costs? This note discusses the legislation itself with its costs and benefits.

In September 2009, Brian Lee purchased a computer game developed by a major company and, like other customers, he was experiencing difficulty running it. The source of the problems was a highly restrictive system of digital rights management (DRM), which, while more or less universally disliked, was causing serious technical problems for a minority of users. Lee began to share his experience on the company's message board and was engaging in a debate about online piracy with a company representative. He was curious about piracy in the file-sharing age and wondered why it would be wrong to download a pirated version of the game with the DRM circumvented. The note deals with an issue which resonates with students. Although the context is simple, the problem is complex, thus giving instructors wide latitude on how to teach this note. It is suitable for modules or courses focused on ethics, service operations, intellectual property rights and information technology.

In the context of determining an optimal portfolio to recommend to two hypothetical investors, this strucutuerd analysis leads students through a series of steps examining return data for three stocks. The analysis first explores the effects of portfolio formation on returns and volatility. With the addition of a market index and a bond portfolio, students easily recognize how portfolios from from these to investment vehicles may be optimal. The analysis then explores stock betas as a measure of risk and the statistical properties of those betas. At the conclusion, students will have a practical understanding of the capital asset pricing model.