Case studies

David Walker, a senior attorney in a busy white-shoe law practice is involved in an in-office dispute between his administrative assistant and a respected colleague. He had spent numerous hours listening to both sides tell their stories and has no answers. How was he ever going to help two people he valued greatly work out a compromise between their extremely polar positions? The case provides opportunities to explore the sources of interpersonal conflict, causes of escalation, and ways of diffusing and resolving it.

This case presents the challenges facing a new pastor at Whitney Avenue Congregational church. For many years the church has seen declining membership. Karl, the new pastor, is expected to help foster growth, but as he has learned, some organization members fear that he may want to change more than they would like to see changed. Karl must decide how to conduct himself at the next church council meeting. He also must decide on an approach to effect positive change in the organization.

This paper looks at logistics and supply chain strategy.

The paper is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate management students.

By November 2009, realising the competitive pressures created by the regional and global players, Mr Khalid Ahmed, SVP, Economic Zones World (EZW), decided to strategically re-position EZW in the global supply chain map. He knew it would be very challenging in view of changing landscape of international business and he was eager to start formulating his plans.

This case can be used to teach logistics and supply chain strategy as well as the understanding of the development of country level strategy. A better understanding of the demographics and geography of UAE is required.

A teaching note is available on request.

Human resource management; primarily employment law impacting on employment relations.

Second year (or 200 level) students up to post graduate programmes in Business Management, Human Resources Management and Law.

The world is still fascinated by South Africas transition to democracy; what with stories of massacre (Sharpeville, etc.) of those who dared challenge white supremacy and the battle for prominence between the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party. Since gaining independence, South Africa has attracted investors from far and wide. Now and again, one hears news stories that report about forms of disgruntlement from whites and blacks, respectively. In some quarters, you may hear stories suggesting the white community has not completely gotten over their resentment of black leadership. In some other quarters, you are likely to hear the blacks insist that the South African land space belongs to them and as a result they should be in charge of the distribution of wealth, one must understand that much of the wealth of the South African land still resides with the Whites. In what is considered as a fair attempt to integrate all the citizens of the republic, the new government of Nelson Mandela came up with a constitution that is hailed as perhaps the best in the world. Carved out of the United Nations Human Rights Charter, it proposes a free society that recognizes all its inhabitants regardless of colour. Within the world of work, the constitution identifies seven very important statutes that not only give effect to and sustain the republics membership of the International Labour Organisation, but also help to realize and regulate the fundamental rights of workers and employers.

Test students understanding of the legal statutes that pertain to employment relations and human resource management in South Africa.

Understand the legislation affecting management and staff. Understand and apply the principles of recruitment and selection of staff. Identify and apply the options open to managers in staff training and development. Identify and apply the appropriate performance management systems. Understand and apply the strategic human resource planning process.

Teaching note.

Islamic financial instruments, financial analysis, financial decision making.

Undergraduate Finance and Business.

This case highlights the financial decision making by the UAE Islamic Bank, regarding an investment with Towers company. It focuses on considering the appropriate Islamic mode of financing and computing the relevant financial ratios to make the right decision.

This case can be used to teach Islamic financial instruments, financial analysis and financial decision making.

A teaching note is available on request.

– It is related to managerial accounting including style of management, evaluation method, risk management, responsibility accounting and reporting.

– It is suitable for both Bachelor's degree and Master's degree students to apply their comprehensive knowledge of managerial accounting on the case with relevance for the courses including managerial accounting, cost accounting, cost analysis and managerial accounting seminars.

– Information given by the case informs about the decentralized management structure and style of a data communication company, Data Communication Company Limited. The delegation of authorization is used as the main control of the company to monitor the performance of each department. The case study describes the company's specific methods as well as the monitoring procedures and the reports. In addition, it also addresses the management's concerns regarding risks as it relates to the current market situation.

– To study managerial accounting courses by using this case, it certainly enhances effectiveness and efficiency of accounting curriculum. This case specifically provides a realistic perspective, comprehensive information and solution capability relevant to real world challenges, which can be applied to managerial accounting.

– Teaching note.

The recruitment and selection process, human resource planning, talent management and succession planning.

The case has been tried and tested in the classroom setting with management students pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM).

The case is set in the southern part of India in a manufacturing organization, Plomsom Ltd (a disguised organisation). Plomsom Ltd manufactures tractors and has a pan-India presence. The sale of tractors in India fluctuates over time. Sales are largely dependent on the seasonal harvests which in turn are heavily dependent on the monsoon rains. The case is designed for understanding the importance and necessity of finding the right man at the right time with the right skills in a manufacturing set up where production output is a factor of many interdependent variables.

The learning objectives of the case are: critical analysis of recruitment and selection; importance of job analysis in recruitment and selection; understanding the role of HR planning in running the operations; understanding problems in the manufacturing sector in an Indian context.

Teaching notes are available. Consult your librarian for access.

This case is an updated version of “Netflix Inc.: DVD Wars” (UVA-M-0763), and was written as a replacement for it.

A financial analyst is asked to appraise the value of Netflix’s stock at a time of unprecedented turmoil for the company. This case introduces customer lifetime value (CLV) as a useful metric for subscription-based businesses.

Pancho’s Burritos is a high-end fast-food restaurant located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Due to a recent surge in customers, the lines at the restaurant during peak hours are becoming very long and causing excessive customer waiting. To improve current customer wait times and plan for future growth requirements, Francisco “Pancho” Escoba, the proprietor, wants to get a better understanding of the current operational capacity. The key decision Escoba must make is how to redesign his burrito-making process to increase the capacity and reduce customer wait time.

Suitable for an undergraduate or MBA course, the case can be used in an introductory operations course to teach capacity analysis and queuing. The case provides a relatable and understandable setting for students without an operations background to gain a better grasp of basic course concepts and illustrates how interactions between capacity and queuing affect one another. As an exam or review case it works well because it contains standard process calculations that all students should know how to perform.

The Arbor City Community Foundation (ACCF) was a medium-sized endowment established in Illinois in the late 1970s through the hard work of several local families. The vision of the ACCF was to be a comprehensive center for philanthropy in the greater Arbor City region. ACCF had a fund balance (known collectively as “the fund”) of just under $240 million. The ACCF board of trustees had appointed a committee to oversee investment decisions relating to the foundation assets. The investment committee, under the guidance of the board, pursued an active risk-management policy for the fund. The committee members were primarily concerned with the volatility and distribution of portfolio returns. They relied on the value-at-risk (VaR) methodology as a measurement of the risk of both short- and mid-term investment losses. In its report for the investment committee, the ACCF risk analytics team recommended the daily VaR at 95% confidence as a measure for short-term risk and reported the corresponding numbers. It is now the task of the investment committee to interpret these figures. The case questions guide the executive students to a critical evaluation of both the reported VaR figures as well as of the VaR methodology.

Understanding the concept of value at risk (VaR); Interpreting the results of VaR calculations; Evaluating the appropriateness of VaR calculations; Critical discussion of the VaR methodology.