Case studies

The case was created via an interview of the protagonist in 2018 at the US Military Academy by the authors.

The case describes the dilemma First Lieutenant Williams faces when his platoon sergeant unexpectedly leaves. Organizational norms and accepted practices suggest Lieutenant Williams should choose the most senior squad leader, Staff Sergeant Boyer. The departing Platoon Sergeant even recommended Staff Sergeant Boyer. However, based on recent observations, Lieutenant Williams felt Staff Sergeant Boyer may not be the best fit. Instead, the lieutenant considered choosing the newest squad leader, Staff Sergeant Harrison, who seemed to be highly proficient, but had yet to prove himself. Before the lieutenant could fully weight his options, Staff Sergeant Boyer confronted him about a decision.

This case is designed for use in undergraduate courses on leadership and management. The case was not only designed primarily for teaching a lesson on organizational justice, but can also be used to integrate lessons on communication, power and influence, and decision making. Each of these elements is present in the case. The instructor can choose to incorporate them into the lesson for a more wholly encompassing lesson or choose to focus on only the organizational justice aspects at play in the case.

The fraud diamond theory, the COSO framework on internal control and theories of ethical leadership and ethical decision making are applied.

The details of this case were compiled using publicly available information, including court records and news reports. No modifications were made to the names of individuals or places mentioned in the case. All resources have been properly cited.

Employee embezzlement is a common issue in limited resource organizations when adequate controls are not in place to prevent or detect fraud. In such organizations, personal financial hardships can drive individuals to commit crimes that are out of character. This case is a story of a respectable small-town couple implicated in a near million dollar embezzlement scheme. Students are asked to consider what went wrong and propose solutions for the prevention of similar crimes. Lessons learned from this case emphasize the importance of ethical leadership, creating a strong ethical environment and how small unethical acts can escalate over time.

Instructors can utilize this case to teach the topics of ethical leadership and decision making, fraud prevention and detection and internal controls. The themes of this case fit well into any business ethics, accounting or auditing course at the undergraduate or graduate level. The case has been implemented in courses for full-time and part-time MBAs, and master’s programs in finance, human resources and accounting.

This case and its companion, “Myerson Industries” (UVA-QA-0299), constitute the materials for a negotiating exercise. The exercise is a distributive-bargaining situation surrounding the negotiation of the price for the construction of a building (some minor opportunities exist for creating mutual value).

In 2007 Conseco's CEO, C. James Prieur, faced a complicated set of problems with his company's long-term care (LTC) insurance subsidiary, Conseco Senior Health Insurance (CSHI). CSHI faced the threat of congressional hearings and an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, triggered by an unflattering New York Times article alleging that CSHI had an unusually large number of customer complaints and was denying legitimate claims. This threat came in addition to broader systemic problems, including the fact that the entire LTC industry was barely profitable. What little profitability existed was dependent on the goodwill of state insurance regulators, to whom the industry was highly beholden for approvals of rate increases to keep it afloat. Furthermore, CSHI had unique strategic challenges that could not be ignored: First, the expense of administering CSHI's uniquely heterogeneous set of policies put it at a disadvantage relative to the rest of the industry and made rate increases especially necessary. Second, state regulators were negatively predisposed toward Conseco because of its notorious reputation and thus were often unwilling to grant rate increases. Finally, CSHI was dependent on capital infusions totaling more than $1 billion from its parent company, Conseco, for which Conseco had received no dividends in return. Faced with pressure from Conseco shareholders and the looming congressional investigations, what should Prieur do? Students will discuss the available options in the context of a long-term relationship between Conseco and state insurance regulators. Prieur's solution to this problem proved to be innovative for the industry and to have far-reaching consequences for CSHI's corporate structure.

After reading and analyzing this case, students will be able to: evaluate the impact of a regulatory environment on business strategy; and assess the pros and cons of various market strategies as well as recommend important non-market strategies for a firm in crisis in a highly regulated industry.

In November 2005 Fidelity Homestead, a savings bank in Louisiana, began noticing suspicious charges from Mexico and southern California on its customers' credit cards. More than a year later, an audit revealed peculiarities in the credit card data in the computer systems of TJX Companies, the parent company of more than 2,600 discount fashion and home accessories retail stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

The U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Justice Department, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that hackers had penetrated TJX's systems in mid-2005, accessing information that dated as far back as 2003. TJX had violated industry security standards by failing to update its in-store wireless networks and by storing credit card numbers and expiration dates without adequate encryption. When TJX announced the intrusion in January 2007, it admitted that hackers had compromised nearly 46 million debit and credit card numbers, the largest-ever data breach in the United States.

After analyzing and discussing the case, students should be able to:

• Understand imbedded operational risks

• Analyze how operational risk decisions are made in a firm

• Understand the challenges in the electronic payment transmission process, which relies on each participant in the process to operate best-in-class safety systems to ensure the safety of the entire process

• Recognize the sophistication of IT security threats

Understand imbedded operational risks

Analyze how operational risk decisions are made in a firm

Understand the challenges in the electronic payment transmission process, which relies on each participant in the process to operate best-in-class safety systems to ensure the safety of the entire process

Recognize the sophistication of IT security threats

After it introduced the extremely successful Droid smartphone into the market in 2009, Motorola quickly moved to develop the next-generation Droid 2 before the next wave of smartphones (including the rumored iPhone 4) flooded the market. The development process was moving smoothly for the company when Verizon, its biggest partner, dropped a bombshell. It wasn't happy with the mechanical camera button on the Droid 2 (citing customer feedback) and wanted it to be changed to a software button like the iPhone's. This request immediately placed Motorola in the proverbial horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, it couldn't brush away the request of its biggest and most important partner. On the other hand, changing the camera button now would mean delaying the Droid 2's entry into the market. Should the Droid 2 team remove the camera's hardware button in favor of a software button per Verizon's request, or not?

John Smith, the product manager, leads the cross-functional Droid 2 team. The case setting is an emergency “war room” meeting to address this critical issue, just weeks prior to launch. John's objective is to obtain the salient facts and opinions of team members quickly so he can make an informed recommendation to his boss by the end of the day. He is concerned that this last-minute request for a design change will not only threaten to delay the launch, which would have significant financial implications, but could potentially create deep fissures in a hitherto effective team that had been running like a well-oiled machine.

The case puts students in a situation that simulates a real-world discussion and allows them to experience what it is like, as a product manager, to orchestrate a meeting with cross-functional teams that have conflicting priorities and agendas. It illustrates the challenges a product manager faces while striving to make important decisions with little or no direct authority over the various teams.

After reading and analyzing this case, students will be able to:

• Experience the dynamics of cross-functional teams in product management

• Practice running effective and productive meetings

• Practice bringing together various personalities and points of view

• Understand the importance of setting goals and clear expectations

• Internalize the importance of building relationships and influencing teams, even when you do not have direct authority

Experience the dynamics of cross-functional teams in product management

Practice running effective and productive meetings

Practice bringing together various personalities and points of view

Understand the importance of setting goals and clear expectations

Internalize the importance of building relationships and influencing teams, even when you do not have direct authority

Five carefully constructed problems illustrate the concepts of second-market discounting, price skimming, limit pricing, random discounting, premium pricing, and bundling.

Supplements the (A) case.

Steve Holder had already worked with Matsapha College for ten years as the organization matured its macadamia orchard to the point of yielding sufficient proceeds to assist in the support of the colleges educational endeavors in Swaziland. Now Matsapha College was entertaining the possibility of launching a separate entity, Kumnandzi Macadamia Importers, to be a stateside distributor of both Matsapha's macadamia nuts and that of other growers in the region, with the prospect of producing additional revenue to help sponsor education. The Board of Matsapha College is interested in the idea of having the College prosper from added macadamia sales, but members have mixed opinions about the direction and form this growth should take. Before any major decisions are made, Steve learns that the organization should do some self-reflection and decide what Kumnandzi Macadamia Importers is all about before proceeding. Specifically, the Matsapha College Board of Directors needs to articulate its vision for the proposed new entity, as well as craft the entity's mission statement and value proposition.

The case was based upon extensive interviews with the President of the organization being described.

This case is targeted to both undergraduate and graduate students in Strategic Management, but may include Marketing Principles, Marketing Management, Strategic Marketing, and Entrepreneurship, especially if the course includes the task of building a business plan or marketing plan that incorporates vision and mission statements as well as a customer value proposition.

This case provides information about the start-up of a successful landscaping/snow plowing business by a high school student. A description of some of the characteristics of the entrepreneur, his method of gaining start-up funds, and suggestions about the way he focused himself on his goals offer food for thought to students about the start-up process and selection of an appropriate form of business ownership.

Primary research.

This case is designed for use by undergraduates in introduction to entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, or introduction to business classes. It can be introduced early in the term to encourage discussion of launching a business.

Marketing.

Undergraduate and postgraduate management students.

Small scale business in India employ almost 30 million people contributing 50 per cent to industrial and 45 per cent to the total exports of the country. The rapid growth of internet has made it possible for the small scale start ups to reach its existing and potential customers without investing much. The case highlights this fact describing the journey of “Chumbak” a small scale business from an unknown brand to the foremost favourable funky product of India. Through this case the authors have tried to relinquish a synoptic view of how Chumbak has used varied social media platforms, to engage and connect with its customers. A survey of 147 customers of Chumbak customers shows that engagement through Facebook fan page of Chumbak positively impacts its purchase intention, brand image and leads to positive word of mouth.

The case highlights numerous dynamics of social media marketing and shows the recent social media promoting methods being used by the little scale businesses to ascertain on-going dialogues with their customers. The Case would facilitate the scholars in learning how these platforms may be used alone as a promotional tool not solely to reach the purchasers but additionally to type a higher complete awareness of the products with reference to Chumbak. The case explains that communication happening at varied social media platforms got to be tailored considering the sort of users.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Crisis management, Strategic management.

This case study can be used for teaching MBA and pre-experience Masters students as part of a strategic management course.

This case study tells the story of Kirov non-ferrous metals processing plant located in Kirov (USSR, presently the Russian Federation). Founded in 1956, this company had long been one of the USSR's leading manufacturers in the industry of non-ferrous metals processing. The situation changed dramatically in the first half of 1990s. During those years, instead of state-planned economy, Russia saw the formation of market economy. It was the first time when the company (as a result of privatization, it became a joint-stock company with a small number of pure portfolio investment owners) was faced with the need to look for marketing outlets for its products on its own. At the same time, after having been privatized, the company could not receive government investments anymore. Due to all these conditions, in 1995, capacity utilization in this company fell to 16 per cent, and it appeared to be on the verge of bankruptcy.

The main learning objectives of the case study are: to develop students' skills to analyze complex managerial situations; to help students in understanding the logic of company's strategic choice, depending on the stage of the market life cycle (especially, in case of mature markets); and to provide the training for the students' ability to justify management decisions using the example of companies in B2B markets.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Marketing.

MBA students.

Titan Industries Limited is the world's fifth-largest wristwatch manufacturer and India's leading producer of watches under the Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Nebula, Raga, Regalia, Octane and Xylys brand names. When a joint venture with Timex came to an end, Titan found themselves without a range of watches for the youth, a growing segment with significant disposable incomes. To serve that segment, they launched a range of “cool” casual watches under the Fastrack from Titan sub-brand in 1998. Sunglasses were also launched but under the Accessories division of the company. In 2003, a decision was taken to combine the watches and sunglasses and spin it off under a new group called “Fastrack and New Brands”. Post this spin-off, Fastrack was launched as a standalone brand with the vision of becoming the most iconic and exciting fashion brand for youth. The overarching strategy was to bring affordable fashion to the youth and bridging the gap between the unorganized market and international brands. The product strategy was to extend the brand rapidly into other accessories such as belts, wallets, bags and wristbands. The brand personality was to be irreverent and comfortable with impropriety. Their communications reflected the brand attitude with edgy advertising. The distribution model adopted was to have their own branded stores. The brand grew from a mere INR30 crores in 2003 to INR770 crores in 2013. As the brand grew largely from moving into adjacent product categories, Fastrack managers were always looking for the next product category to enter and dominate. In 2013-2014, the product category seriously being looked at was two-wheeler helmets – a category dominated largely by the unorganized sector with low quality. The challenge was to take a product category that existed mainly due to safety regulations and turn it into a personal, fashion accessory. Was it a large enough market to penetrate and dominate? Would they be able to change consumer perception of helmets being a necessary evil to being a fashion accessory proudly displayed? Can they change consumer purchase behavior to go shopping for helmets instead ofjust buying the cheapest, comfortable helmet? Would the brand extension into helmets strengthen or dilute brand equity? These were the questions that faced Ronnie Talati, the Chief Marketing Officer.

Understand how to go about creating a brand strategy when re-launching it as a standalone brand without the support of the corporate umbrella brand; analyze different product markets to enter and how to arrive at a go/no-go decision; comprehend the challenges of extending the brand into different and sometimes unrelated product categories.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email: support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Marketing Strategy, International Marketing.

MBA Course Core course of Marketing Management. Specialization courses in Services marketing, Marketing Management, Retail Management. Executive training workshops on strategy formulations. Faculty development workshops on teaching pedagogy through cases. Capstone courses.

The case talks about the declining share of Nokia globally, which affected Midcom's business. Despite this downfall, Midcom had maintained a majority share in the market. For now, the Middle East and Africa region was least effected by the global market share drop of Nokia, but Nokia's dropping market share was one of the threats Midcom might face in Africa. The segment where Android and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) had hit Nokia was a minority stake holder in Nokia's share in Africa. The market itself was growing, but there was stiff competition from brands such as Samsung, Tecno, HTC, Apple and other Chinese brands. The case revolves around the strategies adopted by Midcom to maintain its leadership in the market to avoid the threats from its competitors.

The case seeks an intensive reading, research and a stimulating in-class discussion on implementing marketing strategy mixed with creating experience in the service industry with special focus on the telecom industry. The case is also open to other angles as per the other intents and context of the course and course instructor. Some of the learning outcomes from the case will be in the area of: customer satisfaction, distribution management, market leadership, retailing, competitive strategies in marketing and international marketing.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 8: Marketing

This is a field-researched case about a nonprofit organization, the Accelerated Cure Project (ACP), dedicated to accelerating advances toward a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS). Inspired by the successful open source software development platform, ACP brings the strengths of that platform into the medical research and development environment. At the opening of the case, Robert McBurney, an Australian scientist with extensive experience in the biotech world, has been named CEO. McBurney and his team want to use ACP's bio-sample and data Repository to drive innovation in the search for the cure for MS by fostering collaborative research and development across research institutions, pharmaceutical and bio-tech companies. To encourage such collaboration ACP waives its rights to potentially lucrative Intellectual Property. This decision to foster collaboration at the expense of revenue sources appears problematic, since ACP does not have the staff or resources to undertake fundraising at the scale needed to fund current projects. ACP chooses to serve instead as an open access research accelerator making an impact on the field by functioning as an innovation driver rather than a profit maker. Is this an innovative recipe for success in finding a cure for MS or a recipe for financial disaster for ACP?

Interviews provided the primary source of data for this case. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with the CEO of ACP, the Vice President of Scientific Operations, and a member of the organization's Board of Trustees, a collaborating university researcher, and the President of a bio-tech company working with ACP. Interview data was supplemented with additional information from ACP's web site, news reports, McBurney's comments at Suffolk University's Global Leadership in Innovation and Collaboration Award event, and follow-up conversations.

This case is intended for use in an undergraduate course examining strategic management issues midway through the term. The case discussion can center on issues relating to: first, the development of the business model; second, revenue resources and fundraising. Students are expected to spend two to three hours of outside preparation reviewing concepts of change leadership and the collaborative enterprise business model. They should read the case materials and brainstorm options for improved change leadership. The case can be taught in one two-hour class period.

The purpose of this case is to introduce students to the strategic management and funding challenges faced by an organization that is using a non-traditional business model in an increasingly complex environment. As a result of discussing this case, students should be able to: first, examine strategic organizational strengths, analyze opportunities created by business, market and environmental factors, and strategize to minimize weaknesses and to address threats identify an organization's strategic focus; recognize and recommend options at crucial decision making junctures in a business situation; second, assess an organization's revenue model; analyze how this model can be improved; third, analyze the functionality and sustainability of an organization's business model.

This case illustrates the implications of the business challenges faced by an on‐campus student‐run convenience store when an internationally known coffee company opened a competing store. The case exercises focus on the application of managerial accounting concepts relevant for future strategic decision making. Students have the task of extracting relevant data from descriptive information. Using the story of an actual student‐run coffee shop that confronted an emerging competitor and thus necessitating these analyses can provide an attractive alternative to teaching managerial accounting concepts that are often considered by students as “dry.”

Case information was obtained from actual student organization and university data slightly modified to facilitate calculation and application of managerial accounting topics. Identities of the institution, the student run store and the international competitor have been disguised at their request. Certain events and dates have been altered to protect identities.

Relevant courses include but are not limited to: Introductory Managerial Accounting and Cost Accounting at the undergraduate business or accounting and the graduate MBA level.

Teaching opportunities include the application of managerial accounting concepts relevant for future strategic decision making. Topics include cost‐volume‐profit, sales‐mix, and break‐even analyses, conversion of traditional income statements to contribution margin income statements, and internal control issues.

The case describes the evolution of Bangladesh's garment industry, the second largest garment exporter in the world, and its operational problems. The focus is on the fire that occurred on November 24, 2012 at Tazreen Fashions, a unit that is a part of a global supply chain for US and European retailers. The case explores the role of the government, western retailers, industry association and NGOs subsequent to the fire, and shows how increasing CSR expectations of corporations are making them take on responsibility for what should be that of the government or the garment unit.

Secondary sources; published materials.

International Business, Business and Society, Supply Chain Management, Doing Business in Emerging Markets.

Corporate social responsibility stakeholder theory market entry.

Groupon, an online coupon company, was one of many companies that considered an initial public offering (IPO) during what might be a second technology/internet/social media IPO boom in 2011. Some companies chose to postpone their IPOs, while others took advantage of the media attention focussed on technology companies, and in particular, social media firms. Should investors hop on the tech IPO bandwagon, or hold off to better evaluate the long-term prospects of tech companies, and in particular social media companies? Would the valuation of Groupon justify an investment in IPO shares?

The case was researched from secondary sources, using Groupon's IPO filing information, news articles about the IPO and industry research sources, such as IBIS World.

This case is appropriate for an advanced undergraduate or MBA corporate finance or investment elective. Most introductory finance classes do not have the time to cover later chapters in a finance textbook, where information about IPOs is generally found. It could also be used at the end of a core finance course, where the instructor wanted to introduce this topic through a case study of a hard-to-value internet-based company to illustrate the difficulties in setting IPO prices. The case could also be used in an equity analysis class, an entrepreneurial finance class or an investment class, to spur discussion about valuing an internet company and choosing appropriate investments for pension fund investing. This case could also be used in a strategy class, focussing on the five forces question, and eliminating the valuation question.

There is a great deal of literature about IPOs and their long-term performance. An excellent source is Jay R. Ritter's research, http://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/ritter, which has a longer time period and more data than could be contained in this case. IPO puzzles include persistent undervaluing of IPOs; in other words, the offer price is lower than, and sometimes substantially lower than, the first day close price. A second issue is the generally poorer long-run performance of companies after their IPO when compared to similar firms that did not do an IPO.

This case is intended to introduce undergraduate entrepreneurship students to business models via an entrepreneur who has two businesses: a used-car dealership, which he owns with his father, and a used-sport-bike dealership, which he solely owns. Although these businesses seem similar, there are subtle differences in business model that make the sport-bike business much more attractive. Case analysis involves a step-by-step comparison of the two firms' revenue models, cost structures, and investment needs and leaves students with two decision: first, how to best grow the sport-bike business, and second, whether to continue operating the used-car business once his father retires.

Primary interviews, company document review, secondary market research.

Undergraduate introduction to entrepreneurship.