In this case, two friends, a managing director with an investment banking group and a partner at Cavalier Capital LLC have submitted a bit for a leveraged buyout (LBO) of retail giant Staples Inc. Staples seemed like an ideal LBO candidate: it was a large, stable company; it was a market leader with highly predictable cash flows; and, most important, its shareholders were unhappy. Markets also loo
This technical note provides hands-on instructions for searching, classifying, and obtaining documents from the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) official document repository, EDGAR. It helps students become familiar with the different types and classifications of SEC filings available for public companies registered with the SEC.
In this edited volume, James and Smith bring together the experience and advice of scholars and practitioners of business crises. The contributing authors argue that effective leadership during a crisis must be much more than damage control. They describe how business leaders can change the way they think about and handle organizational threats by understanding the nature of various crises, how th
The C case is a memo from the head of Titan Products to Franz Schuler managment stating it is imperative that the R&D portion of Franz Schuler be kept separate from Titan and remain under the leadership of Hermann Schuler.
Coolness is a quality that is widely desired but not widely understood. While many brands seek to establish themselves as "cool," few have a clear idea of how to get there. In this technical note, we present a general framework for coolness that can be used by consumers and managers alike to better understand how to create an air of cool around themselves, their brand, or their products.
Our fram
Yi Hua, the leader of an impact-investing initiative at Goldman Sachs, was examining a new financial arrangement in a proposed public-private partnership called the Rikers Island Social Impact Bond (SIB). The proposed SIB was the result of a partnership between Goldman Sachs, the New York City (NYC) Department of Correction, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and three nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)?
Developing new products and services is an iterative process that involves (1) identifying a problem or opportunity that needs to be addressed, (2) generating concepts or solutions that address the problem, and (3) conducting experiments and tests to learn about the success or failure of those concepts. This note describes the first of these activities.
The case follows the analysis of a proposal to insource production of certain parts for the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) division of JBT AeroTech in 2015. The primary motivations for the proposal were rising costs due to vendor price increases and long lead times. The GSE division believed production could be done internally at much lower cost and that, with increased control of production, the
This case calls students to evaluate an investment in impact-oriented private-debt fund TriLinc Global. The fund is led by Wall Street veteran Gloria Nelund and provides debt financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets. The case discusses the well-known shortages in SME finance globally and the role SMEs play in emerging economies. In her desire to make the impact investin
Pied Piper's first driverless car had been in an accident and had killed a 26-year-old jogger. Pied Piper felt a deep sadness for the victim's family, and was disappointed and alarmed because the company had optimistically thought driverless cars would eventually lead to total elimination of driving fatalities. The company needed to decide if the car's algorithm was responsible for this death and,
A fellow named J. T. Funk has reviewed the financial statements of two retail companies and now adds a third company's financial statements to review for strength or portended weakness, and if so, to find what are the indicators of either.
A fellow named J. T. Funk is fascinated with the fact that there were often clear winners and clear losers in the competitive retail arena, and it did not seem to matter whether a retailer was big or small, old or new because any retailer could fail. Funk wonders if there would be any clues in the retailer financial statements he has in his possession that pointed to strength or portended weakness
This is a collection of four caselets that aim to provide a rich discussion around why experimentation in business is important and how it can be properly designed to improve short-term tactical and long-term strategic decisions. Specifically, this document presents four different business problems that could be resolved with proper experimentation techniques. The decisions range from the initial
Faced with declining market share and sales, Natura, Brazil's second largest brand in the cosmetics, fragrances, and toiletries market, expanded its customer reach by moving from a direct-sales company to a multichannel company. In 2014, Natura added online catalogs, physical stores, and drugstores to its well-established direct-selling model, but the results were disappointing. Between 2014 and
The producers of the newest James Bond film, Spectre, had a difficult sponsorship decision to make before filming of the movie began in one month. Up for consideration was a highly lucrative product promotion with Heineken, which offered both a sizable contribution to the film as well as a high-budget advertising campaign. The studio was looking for any way it could to reduce the cost of the film
This technical note outlines the process of proper experimentation in the world of business. This reading begins by describing why organizational experimentation is important and then defines a true experiment, highlighting the differences between testing and management by intuition. It then goes on to explain when it is appropriate to use experiments, outlines several different types of experimen
This is a Spanish translation of the Feb. 1, 2017 version of UVA-F-1769. This case was designed as an introduction to a finance course or a module on capital markets. Alternatively, it could be used as a basic introduction to methods of valuing a firm. A detailed teaching note provides instructors with a teaching plan for either scenario. Set in August 2015, students are asked to evaluate Warren B
For years Danish toymaker LEGO had turned down multiple attempts from directors and producers to make a LEGO movie. Now the CEO of the Danish toymaker has gotten a movie pitch from Warner Brothers. The entire LEGO brand is at risk if the movie is poorly executed or received. The CEO wonders if attempting to compete with Disney and Pixar in developing a successful children's movie was another case
The material in this case presents Progressive Insurance as it faced important decisions regarding how to proceed with its usage-based insurance initiatives (UBI), including the Snapshot device and related patents. Progressive had a head start on its competitors employing UBI pricing, but several competing insurance companies had been testing the waters with their own UBI products. In the case, Pr
This series of videos introduces the concept of a random walk and gives the model and specific estimation procedures for three random walks and their application. These videos may be used as an online class session in a course, on decision modeling, financial simulation, risk analysis, decision analysis, or forecasting. This would be useful for someone intending to model and simulate time streams
This note introduces students to the basics of bonds and the time value of money through the simplest of financial contracts?the zero-coupon risk-free bond contract. The note covers the concepts of present value, yield to maturity, and bond pricing conventions.
The note is appropriate as a companion for the Bond Trader simulation. A demo for this simulation is available at https://forio.com/simu
"OptiGuard. Inc.: Series A-Round Term Sheet" focuses on an entrepreneur in the cybersecurity industry who is attempting raise a first round of venture financing in November 2015. To date, the firm has been unsuccessful in attracting funding from venture capitalists (VCs) and has instead relied on a small seed round from local investors. With funds running short, the entrepreneur is again attemptin
In October 2012, Australian media giant Nine Entertainment Company (NEC) was in the midst of a major debt renegotiation that would determine whether the company received a renewed chance to survive and thrive or faced a long and potentially costly insolvency proceeding. Six years earlier, private equity firm CVC Partners (CVC) had taken a controlling position in NEC, culminating by 2008 in one of
Although it can be used as a standalone, this simulation is designed for use in conjunction with the case of the same name (UVA-QA-0355). Student teams select prices over several periods with the objective of maximizing contribution. The simulation is usually conducted prior to a discussion of the case. The simulation is web-based and simple for instructors to administer. Complete results are auto
In October 2016, Timothy Sloan, the newly appointed CEO of American banking giant Wells Fargo, faced a massive public-relations crisis. A few weeks earlier, a United States government agency had announced the results of its regulatory review of the bank and exposed a shocking practice common in the retail division, in which aggressive community bankers had created more than a million fraudulent ac
Dooly County Doughnuts (DCD), a south Georgia based doughnut shop, faces capacity issues as its sales continue to grow. As its doughnuts continue to increase in popularity, DCD must gain a better understanding of its current operational capacity. The DCD case captures three key concepts: capacity analysis, batches/setup times, and Little's Law. In particular, the case works well as a first time in
This case can be taught alone or as an epilogue to "Impact Makers (A): The Newman's Own of Management Consulting" (UVA-F-1797). The case is based on Impact Makers, an IT consulting company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The company focus on creating value for a community led to an innovative corporate structure where original founders of the firm hold all voting rights, while the cash flow r
Design thinking challenges the myth that innovation and the creative process can only result when people with a special gift lead the way. This playlist comprises 22 videos that were created from the Design Thinking course at the Darden School. Developed by Jeanne Liedtka, they can be used either as a stand-alone instructional activity or with case studies that focus on a specific design challenge
The owner of Hamilton's has provided his CPA with all the company's invoices, bank statements, and a lot of other miscellaneous business-related information for the company's second year. He has asked the CPA to reconstruct, in summary form, all the company's second-year transactions and to create an income statement for its second year of operations and a balance sheet at the end of that year.
This note provides an introduction to operational systems thinking using the language of stocks and flows and guided by a scientific method-based mapping process. Operational mental models link explicit cause-and-effect relationships to the dynamics (behaviors over time) that unfold within the system. Such mental models improve students' ability to mentally simulate how different interventions in
This case requires students to evaluate alternative dual-share-class corporate structures that allow companies and entrepreneurs to pursue profit with purpose. The case explores Impact Makers, an IT consulting company based in Richmond, Virginia. While original founders of the firm hold all voting rights, the cash flow rights belong to two nonprofits setting the stage for a Newman's Own model of m
This note describes the application of queuing theory to planning work-force requirements in service operations. A step-by-step method is outlined and applied to several examples using tables and charts--not queuing-theory formulas. Eleven assignment problems are included in the note. This note and related materials can be used as part of the Workforce Planning Module.
Set in late 2016, this case recounts the remarkable performance record of Blue Chip Growth Fund (BCGF), a mutual fund managed by Larry Puglia at T. Rowe Price, Inc. The case describes the investment style of Puglia, whose record with BCGF had on average outperformed the S&P 500 since the inception of the fund in 1993. The tasks for the student are to assess the performance of the fund, consider th
Ella Zhang, a talented fashion designer, established an online presence through Taobao and WeChat in 2013. Over the following four years, she tested online advertising tools and honed her marketing to young urban women in China's first-tier cities, primarily by shifting to the Weibo platform. Through the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, her sales continued to grow but her marketing expenses wer
"Marketing Analytics Resource Allocation" is an introduction to and overview of how marketing analytics can be used to measure the impact of marketing. In this series on optimizing marketing resources, Raj Venkatesan uses predictive analytics to address topics including customer retention, customer acquisition, brand recognition, and customer lifetime value.
Videos in this playlist: Why Marketing
