While organizations have been collecting data for years, not all businesses have the talent, culture, and systems in place in order to take advantage of their data. This case uses Walker Advertising, a company that partnered with law firms to advertise their services, to discuss broader themes around the role of data science in a traditional business. Predictive modeling is a crucial function of b
In this B case, the actual events of the 1933 World Economic Conference are summarized, along with the actions and intentions of newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and reactions by the domestic press and the international community. It also includes the text of his remarks to the conference.
In May 1932, US president Herbert Hoover and British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald called for leaders from 65 nations to attend the World Economic Conference, scheduled to occur in the winter of 1933 after the American presidential election. Hoover turned his attention to the instructions he would have to give to the American delegation about the forthcoming conference. Arguments by pundits, cri
Cutting-Edge Marketing Analytics: Cases and Technical Notes Bundle is a collection of the original cases and technical notes that inspired the successful first-edition book. Covering an array of practical marketing problems, Cutting Edge Marketing Analytics provides proven methodology matched with several business cases, many of which include actual data.
In April 1930, US Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon reviewed recent stock market events as he prepared to enter a meeting of the Federal Reserve Board, which he chaired. In September and October 1929, the US stock market had fallen about a third, and then recovered somewhat. In response to the turmoil, the Federal Reserve (Fed) had lowered the discount rate in five steps from 6% to 3.71%, and marke
The two-day seminar will be conducted on-site at the UVA Darden Sands Family Grounds, located in the Rosslyn district of Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. The course has two parts. The first day and a half will focus on structured learning sessions with both full-group and breakout portions. Participants will have many opportunities to discuss and explore. The latter half of the
TJ, a manager at an investment company, is alarmed when, during an evening out with Leslie, his female colleague, and five male prospective clients, the men behave in an overly familiar way with her. Although Leslie assures TJ that she can handle this type of attention, TJ nonetheless is very uncomfortable with the situation. What should he do?
Go (or Wei-ch'i, as it is known in China) is a centuries-old board game popular across Asia. Many have drawn parallels between military successes and the game's complex methods, in which a player encircles, isolates, and captures enemy pieces and geography, but Go also offers lessons for business.
This technical note offers a basic description of Go, followed by a collection of business-strategy
This case allows instructors to lay out the challenges of providing universal access to safe drinking water in some developing and emerging countries—one of the current UN development goals. The challenge across developing countries is to find long-lasting and sustainable solutions, and to realize that present answers to the challenge may be a far cry from these criteria. The discussion aims to ad
This note describes the most common financial ratios and how they provide insight into firm performance. The emphasis is on how ratios summarize operating behaviors and results in ways that facilitate interpretation and highlight decisions. There are three broad categories of ratios covered in the note: profitability, operating efficiency, and leverage (the use of debt financing). The note defines
This note reviews the basics of projecting cash flows for a typical operating decision. To find the economic consequences of any decision, one needs to project the cash flow effects of that decision and discount those at the appropriate hurdle rate. The focus on cash flows arises because any evaluation of economic impact must recognize opportunity costs—the other uses to which one might allocate r
This case uses an array of carefully selected and excerpted revenue recognition related information contained in Salesforce.com's January 31, 2019, 10-K. Maria, the fictional protagonist, is seeking to understand those disclosures as part of her preparation for an upcoming job interview with the company. As such, she is relying on those disclosures to provide insights as to the company's main prod
This case teaches students the importance of maintaining a strong FICO score by illustrating the consequences of paying bills late or not at all. The protagonist is David Molina, a waiter at a struggling Italian restaurant located down the block from where he lives. Money is tight for Molina right now—his limited income means he lives paycheck to paycheck. However, Molina knows things will be look
The consulting field, with its variety of different experiences and scenarios, often presents numerous challenges and conflicts for those involved. These vignettes, some based on actual situations, present a number of dilemmas in which the protagonists must determine the right course of action, often when that is not easily identifiable. These vignettes identify situations in which one's values, e
This case follows a man named Jaime as he considers options for obtaining furniture for the new apartment he and his brother, Angelo, have leased. Jaime would like a new couch, a coffee table, and a TV to improve their living room, but his $2,000-a-month income at an auto shop and lack of savings means he will have to make some difficult choices. Angelo suggests that Jaime construct a budget and o
At the start of 2018, Brad Katsuyama and his leadership team at the Investors Exchange (IEX) had much to be proud of - and much to worry about - as they contemplated the rollout of their latest innovation in equity trading. In a trading landscape increasingly defined by issues related to speed, IEX was building a reputation as a thoughtful innovator trying to level the playing field for its client
This case covers the initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens AG subsidiary Healthineers. The case offers the opportunity to discuss IPOs and to value the company. In contrast to "Healthineers: A Strategic IPO" (UVA-F-1881), which provides some base case valuation analysis, this version of the case is designed to be used when a primary teaching objective is to have students perform more of the
This is a Japanese translation of the June 10, 2003, version of UVA-F-1368. In mid-June 2000, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor is considering an investment of $125 million of convertible preferred stock in his firm by a group of private investors including Citadel Investment Group LLC. The offer comes at a difficult time for the company, because only three months earlier, its stock had reached a r
Wendy Chan, a manager in strategy at Accenture, a global professional services company, was offered the opportunity to help build and formalize a partnership between Accenture and a nonprofit called Upwardly Global. The nonprofit provided job coaching services to work-authorized, college-educated immigrants, refugees, and asylees, helping them rebuild their careers in the United States and fully c
Despite the steady growth of tennis interest worldwide (in 2011, the Women's Tennis Association's top 10 players were all from different countries), the manufacture of acrylic surface materials for hard courts was not a growth industry. To achieve any reasonable growth, tennis-court-surface manufacturers had developed product lines that served related sports. During most of 2017, Surface Systems h
This is a Japanese translation of the August 22, 2003, version of UVA-QA-0618. A regional director of a consulting firm must decide how to compete for a major consulting contract. Appshop can take a level payment contract, a lower level payment with a prospective bonus given high performance, or bid on an RFP where a significant reward is given contingent on the client's savings. The case can be u
This is a Japanese translation of the November 17, 2005, version of UVA-F-1483. In May 2005, Warren Buffett, the chair and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., announced that MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, would acquire the electric utility PacifiCorp. MidAmerican would purchase PacifiCorp from its parent, Scottish Power and renewed public i
This is a Japanese translation of the June 16, 2003 version of UVA-BP-0472. This case presents the "best practices" of a highly successful post-merger integrator that grew from $400 million in 1997, to $1.5 billion in 2000, to $4 billion in 2002.The case focus is on the $4.0 billion IT sector of Northrop Grumman, a company confronting immense change in the rapidly consolidating defense business. T
Mark Seidman at the Federal Trade Commission is evaluating a proposed merger between two health care entities and competing market leaders in southwest Virginia. The rural region is characterized by poverty, unemployment, and poor population health indicators relative to the rest of the state. The merger would form a virtual monopoly, normally prohibited by federal consumer protection laws, but th
In this B case, the follow-up to S-0314, Marissa Levine, the Virginia Commissioner of Health, considers reports for and against the merger of two health care entities in rural Virginia, as she decides whether to issue a waiver to allow it.
This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal,
This optional C case follows S-0314 and S-0315, and describes the results of decisions on whether to allow a merger of two health care entities in rural Virginia.
This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth dis
This field-based case uses Leica Camera, the famed German manufacturer of high-end cameras, to unfold circumstances that allow for an analysis of the firm's competitive position. Having moved the well-loved German company from near bankruptcy during the digital revolution to a digital disrupter, Andreas Kaufmann, chairman and principal owner, had amassed an unblemished record in strategic decision
In 2017, Disney announced that in 2019 it would launch Disney Plus, a subscription-based streaming video service that promised to rival Netflix, the dominant player in the market. This was the latest advancement in the history of movie rentals, which had first exploded in the 1980s with the advent of videotape and had gone through several technological transformations before reaching the age of st
Founded in 2006, the B Lab, a nonprofit organization, created the certified B Corporations (B Corps). B Corps are businesses that satisfy a set of standards and benchmarks defined by social and environmental impact. B Corps and their supply chains are assessed on their policies and procedures around governance, workers, community, environment, and disclosures to the public. Certification means the
This field-based case offers the experiences of a historic winery in Tuscany, Italy, to set the stage for how the leader's philosophy affects all aspects of the company, as well as how those practices create the culture of an all-female-staffed organization. The situation provides an opportunity to explore and connect the relationship among the leader's values, the actions she takes, and the impac
CarMax, based in Richmond, Virginia, is the largest retailer of used cars in the United States. Over the past several years leading up to 2019, CarMax has undergone a major digital transformation, integrating agile, lean, and user experience (UX) design best practices to become a customer-centric, product-driven organization.
In this case, CarMax is facing new competitors (e.g., digital native pl
Netflix Top Picks, Amazon recommendations, the iTunes Genius button. They all have one thing in common: they are driven by clever algorithms that use a technique known as collaborative filtering. Often used in machine learning operations, collaborative filtering is the process by which a firm like Netflix generates predictions about a single user's preferences using data taken from a large number
This case simulates the decision of choosing a bank account through the eyes of a new couple on the verge of getting married. Bill Donlon has no prior experience in banking, choosing instead to accumulate his savings in cash. Donlon's fiancée, Melissa Ivy, had a bank account in college, but rarely used it other than to withdraw funds occasionally. After their marriage, the couple will move from No
A financially struggling administrative assistant needs information to help her decide whether she can return to school.
