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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.

In early 2021, an investor had a substantial amount invested in three companies in the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Reliance Group: Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., and Reliance Capital Ltd. The market price of Reliance Group shares had fallen steeply during the past five years (2016–2020), eroding the wealth of shareholders; consequently, the investor had lost almost all of his investments in the three group companies. Further, in 2019, Reliance Communications Ltd. had filed for bankruptcy. In 2020, the chair of the Reliance Group mentioned that Reliance Capital Ltd. had stopped its lending business and initiated stake sales. The investor decided to sell his shares in Reliance Communication Ltd. and Reliance Capital Ltd. at a huge loss. However, good dividend payments, and positive signals from the Reliance Group chair regarding betterment in the top line, a promotors’ stake increase, and his intention to reduce the companies’ debt to zero in 2020 made the investor hold their Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. shares. Nevertheless, to understand the possibility of improved fundamentals, the investor had to analyze the financial statements of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., examining these for potential red flags that could identify significant threats to the future of the company and his investments.

In early 2021, an investor had a substantial amount invested in three companies in the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Reliance Group: Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., and Reliance Capital Ltd. The market price of Reliance Group shares had fallen steeply during the past five years (2016-2020), eroding the wealth of shareholders; consequently, the investor had lost almost all of his investments in the three group companies. Further, in 2019, Reliance Communications Ltd. had filed for bankruptcy. In 2020, the chair of the Reliance Group mentioned that Reliance Capital Ltd. had stopped its lending business and initiated stake sales. The investor decided to sell his shares in Reliance Communication Ltd. and Reliance Capital Ltd. at a huge loss. However, good dividend payments, and positive signals from the Reliance Group chair regarding betterment in the top line, a promotors' stake increase, and his intention to reduce the companies' debt to zero in 2020 made the investor hold their Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. shares. Nevertheless, to understand the possibility of improved fundamentals, the investor had to analyze the financial statements of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., examining these for potential red flags that could identify significant threats to the future of the company and his investments.

This exercise puts students into the role of an associate at a marketing and sales agency. They are asked to develop specific recommendations to present to some senior leaders about how the firm can and should become more truly inclusive and just. They also must be specific about the objectives and metrics they believe must be agreed to, and who should be accountable for them, in order to insure progress.

To prepare for each year's NFL draft, each team creates a "model" for player selection. This involves developing a holistic view of every player (especially those the team is most interested in), such that it can compare two different players. In this exercise, students are tasked with building and operationalizing (but not actually collecting the data or testing) a model for player selection in the NFL draft, including deciding on the dependent and independent variables.

In this exercise, students are put into the role of newly appointed general manager of an NFL team and must use the data provided to conduct draft research and make a tentative decision for their team's first four picks in the NFL draft. The data show the team's prospect analysis and include each prospect's grade on the 1-100 scale (and thus tier) and ranking among other prospects that play the same position. Their task is to consider all information summarized, review the information about the dozen or so best prospects likely to be available when they select in each of the first four rounds, and make their decisions about what to do in each round. The companion exercise (UVA-OB-1367) is from the head coach's perspective, and the two can be used in a negotiation scenario.

In this exercise, students are put into the role of head coach of an NFL team and must use the data provided to conduct draft research and make a tentative decision for their team's first four picks in the NFL draft. The data show the team's prospect analysis and include each prospect's grade on the 1-100 scale (and thus tier) and ranking among other prospects that play the same position. Their task is to consider all information summarized, review the information about the dozen or so best prospects likely to be available when they select in each of the first four rounds, and make their decisions about what to do in each round. The companion exercise (UVA-OB-1366) is from the newly appointed general manager's perspective, and the two can be used in a negotiation scenario.

This exercise is designed to give students an opportunity to develop a communications plan and press statement for The Coca-Cola Company (Coke) as it attempts to navigate the 2021 Georgia voting law controversy. Specifically, it asks students to assume the role of chief marketing and communications officer (CMCO) at Coke and recommend a communications plan, including a press statement, to fulfill their role as CMCO while living up to the brand's purpose and values statements. This exercise helps students understand: (1) the challenge associated with making corporate communications decisions in a way that aligns with brand purpose and helps drive growth, and (2) the difficulty of navigating hot-button issues. This exercise can be used as a stand-alone activity or as the second part in a two-part series. If used as the second part of the series on aligning brand activism, brand purpose, and growth, the case "Coca-Cola Puts Its Brand Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Aligning Activism with Brand Purpose" (UVA-M-1019)[1] enables students to take different stakeholder perspectives and consider potential decisions. This exercise then provides an opportunity for students to activate the strategic decision made in the case as they are asked to develop an action plan and press statement for Coke. This exercise is well suited for undergraduate, MBA, MBA for executives (EMBA), and Executive Education programs. For undergraduate students, it can be taught in a brand management, capstone marketing strategy, management communications, or a management strategy course to help students learn how challenging it is to align and implement activism and brand purpose. For MBA/EMBA students, it can be used in a first-year core marketing course or in a leadership communication, strategy, or brand management elective.

The exercise directs students to watch specific scenes from the movie Hidden Figures, which is loosely based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly that tells the story of three African American women who were mathematicians working at the Langley Research Center in Virginia in the 1960s. The women encountered racism and sexism as they attempted to contribute to the Center’s work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its space race with the Soviet Union. The clips assigned to students for viewing portray moments of leadership in the story of the three Black women who were considered “human computers.” The students are expected to view the assigned clips and consider how the scenes portray leadership and what character dimensions the actors demonstrate in their roles.

The exercise directs students to watch specific scenes from the movie Hidden Figures, which is loosely based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly that tells the story of three African American women who were mathematicians working at the Langley Research Center in Virginia in the 1960s. The women encountered racism and sexism as they attempted to contribute to the Center's work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its space race with the Soviet Union. The clips assigned to students for viewing portray moments of leadership in the story of the three Black women who were considered "human computers." The students are expected to view the assigned clips and consider how the scenes portray leadership and what character dimensions the actors demonstrate in their roles.

A recent MBA graduate from a premier business school in India successfully secured a position with a major investment firm. Shortly after starting his new job, he was asked by his supervisor to evaluate the performance of three mutual funds that he had invested in during his MBA studies: Edelweiss, LIC MF, and BNP Paribas. All three investments were large cap funds. After completing his evaluation, the MBA graduate was hoping to understand the performance of the three mutual funds and determine which was the best investment choice.

At the very end of 2019, Jay Prakash Pal, divisional electrical engineer (Traction Distribution) for the Sealdah division of Eastern Railway in India, was asked to prepare a consolidated report for revising the contract demand with power distribution companies. Over the last six months, demand charge penalties had been imposed on multiple occasions for two power stations under his jurisdiction (Barasat traction sub-station and Sonarpur feeding post), as the monthly maximum demand had crossed the existing contract demand for these stations. He would have to provide a revised contract demand value to minimize the annual expenditure due to a demand charge penalty for the next year. While proposing the new contract demand, he would also have to ensure that the cost arising from the unutilized portion of the minimum guaranteed demand would be minimal.

At the very end of 2019, Jay Prakash Pal, divisional electrical engineer (Traction Distribution) for the Sealdah division of Eastern Railway in India, was asked to prepare a consolidated report for revising the contract demand with power distribution companies. Over the last six months, demand charge penalties had been imposed on multiple occasions for two power stations under his jurisdiction (Barasat traction sub-station and Sonarpur feeding post), as the monthly maximum demand had crossed the existing contract demand for these stations. He would have to provide a revised contract demand value to minimize the annual expenditure due to a demand charge penalty for the next year. While proposing the new contract demand, he would also have to ensure that the cost arising from the unutilized portion of the minimum guaranteed demand would be minimal.

Kombucha Canada Inc. sold kombucha beverages to restaurants and grocery stores in British Columbia, Canada. Restaurant and store closures, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, had affected the company’s sales. The business owner wanted to value her inventory at year-end using the first-in, first-out method of valuation and calculate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her inventory.

emmtrix Technologies GmbH (emmtrix) was a spinoff company from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a leading German university, and a result of an excellent-rated research project. At the end of January 2019, the emmtrix founders were preparing for a meeting with investment managers of a venture capital firm in Karlsruhe, Germany. After previous meetings with the investors in which the business concept and technology had been the focus, the main point of the upcoming meeting was to present the start-up’s fundraising goals. The founders were expected to express how much money they wanted to raise and at which valuation of the company. To that end, the start-up team wanted to prepare information on the company’s financial forecasts for the next five years, the fundraising amount to be raised in the initial financing round, and first ideas on the value of the company.

This exercise explores customer transaction data generated from a business owner's website and illustrates the added benefit of basic data analytics practices used to uncover business insights. Students discover the business's purchase trends when they answer the provided questions by writing SQL queries. The questions guide students to determine which product offerings the business should promote and which customer segments to target. Additionally, the case discusses the common relational database design that is often associated with transactional data and its metadata.

This set comprises six exercises: in each, a team of students must shop online for products to solve a particular problem. Problems range from outfitting a new apartment quickly to purchasing food for a festival to choosing car insurance. Students will experience a customer journey as they navigate shopping websites.

In this set of three exercises, students are cast in the roles of brand managers of one of three categories of consumer goods companies. They must choose a specific brand in their category and identify keywords to advertise that brand on Google search, in order to leverage or react to evolving consumer behavior. Students research trend tools and Google's keyword planner, explore and analyze consumer demand, identify customer segments, research product features, identify competitors, and finally choose paid search keywords.

This negotiating exercise is set at the time of the 2020 round of collective bargaining between the National Football League (NFL) owners and representatives from the NFL Players Association. The six parties at the bargaining table (three representatives on each side) have interests—both conflicting and compatible—regarding the preferred ultimate outcomes as well as a strained previous relationship, which serves to complicate the bargaining process.

This exercise provides the financial data of eight major companies operating in Pakistan in 2019 and listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. It also provides a list of eight of the country’s main industries. Identify which company operated within which industry to test your understanding of how a company’s financial data can be specific to a particular industry. Using only financial figures, can you identify within which industry each company operated?