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 p
This note provides background on Title 47 US Code § 230, the section of federal law that protects internet companies from liability for the content shared by users, and for the moderation and even removal of that content if considered objectionable. So central is this law to the debate over online speech and content policy that it is commonly referred to simply as "Section 230," even though nearly
During a 30-day window between late May and late June of 2020, President Donald Trump earned international attention not only for the content he posted to social media sites such as Twitter, but also for the ways in which social media companies responded to his posts. For the first time in history, social media posts from a sitting president were receiving warning labels, and in some instances wer
Fixed income portfolios
This is the Spanish translation of the April 1, 1994 version of UVA-QA-0426. This case complements the A case by providing the decision-maker's view on the key sources of risk and his probability assessment of the uncertainties that give rise to them. The case can be used as an introduction to simulation modeling.
The Washington Post (The Post) is one of the world’s most respected news-media organizations. After joining The Post as CEO and publisher in 2014, Fred Ryan worked with owner Jeff Bezos and The Post's executive team to bring about an extraordinary digital transformation at the global news organization. Despite all its success, The Post faced several significant business challenges in 2021, includi
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
The game of baseball offers a team’s manager relatively few tactical decisions to affect their team’s chances of winning on any given day. The manager chooses the batting lineup and where the fielders are positioned; the pitchers who start the game and appear in relief, and to some extent what pitches are thrown; and if or when to attempt a stolen base or sacrifice bunt. Those decisions comprise a
Julie Busby, operational excellence lead for Fidelity Investments (Fidelity), needed to help a customer call center manage its diverse set of clients. Despite efforts to categorize tasks based on call volume drivers, digital service efforts to improve operations at the call center were beginning to face diminishing returns. Busby wondered if segmenting clients would help. Was there a way for Fidel
Senior consultant Cecilia Marks must outline an initial sourcing strategy for the chassis systems division of Teek Automotive, Ltd. (Teek). In recent years, Teek has been refocusing its manufacturing and organizational strategies, and now it must increase value across its entire supply chain. It is especially interested in opportunities to extract value through changing its relationships with supp
Cases for FIN 4410
This case presents students with the issue of whether Black college football coaches are fired fairly. Students are asked to use the provided data set to think through the various prompts about building the model they would test, including considering the dependent and independent variables and their initial hypothesis.
This case set focuses on a health system undergoing transformation and change. In 2015, Mary Washington Healthcare (Mary Washington) is the latest health care organization to plan to upgrade its electronic health record system. The new CEO, Mike McDermott, MD, is considering which vendor to choose: Cerner Corporation or Epic Systems Corporation.
In this B case, students discover which vendor Mary
This case set focuses on a health system undergoing transformation and change. In 2015, Mary Washington Healthcare is the latest health care organization to plan to upgrade its electronic health record (EHR) system. The new CEO, Mike McDermott, MD, is considering which vendor to choose: Cerner Corporation or Epic Systems Corporation.
This A case includes a brief history of EHR systems, including
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 ta
This is a Russian translation of the March 8, 2005 version of UVA OM-1208. For five weeks, Michael "Mac" Ling had been at the Lexington, Virginia, plant of Darden Motor Works (DMW) interviewing production supervisors, quality experts, maintenance supervisors, and repair personnel. He was investigating a puzzling problem: how dirt was infiltrating the paint on trucks assembled at the facility, and
This is a Russian translation of the April 12, 2013 version of UVA-F-0243. This case examines the capital budgeting framework used in a large specialty chemical company. It presents the reader with issues related to using multiple discount rates to examine projects and how compensation policies can impact on managerial actions. A second use of the case is to introduce project-related real options.
This is a Russian translation of the August 13, 2015 version of UVA-F-1710. This technical note provides a student primer of firm cost of capital from a conceptual and application perspective. The note provides student intuition on the traditional theory of cost of debt, cost of equity, and weighted-average cost of capital. Moreover, it provides detail on the common approaches to estimating the co
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 sa
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 t
In August 2021, George Kastendike, CEO of Three Notch’d Brewery (Three Notch’d) in Charlottesville, Virginia, laid down the phone as he finished a conference call with two of his early investors. In the eight years since Three Notch’d was founded, the company had performed well and opened multiple facilities both in and outside of Charlottesville. The brewery had also emerged as a well-known regio
This field-based case examines the business strategy of prison communications company Aventiv Technologies (Aventiv), which was at the center of a broad national debate about social justice, criminal justice, race, and mass incarceration in 2021. The US incarceration rate had grown over the 25 years leading up to 2021, resulting in significant growth in incarcerated individuals, prisons, correctio
This online MBA course provides students with an understanding of the key principles of marketing and brand strategy.
Cases for FIN 305: Problems of Business Finance
Course pack for STS 4810
This field-based case uses the political campaign of Andrew Yang, who was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination, to explore building brand awareness using digital channels and the application of marketing tools and strategies in a nonbusiness context. The case follows Yang's initial launch as an unknown into the political arena and how that status changed after Yang got
This case follows Sarah Johnson, who has just accepted the position as an intern in the offensive analytics division for the Dallas Cowboys. After gathering all the data she could find for the NFL between 2000 and 2016, she works to analyze the best option for the team when it comes to deciding what to do on a fourth down.
This is a Russian translation of the November 1996 version of UVA F-0915. A positive net present value (NPV) is a direct estimate of value creation for shareholders and is an operational way of carrying through on the strategy of trying to maximize shareholder wealth. To calculate NPV, however we need to estimate the cash costs and benefits of any decision at hand. In this note we discuss the eval
This is the Russian translation for the Sept. 16, 2011 version of UVA-OM-1387. Microsoft employs 90,000 people and its products affect millions of users around the world every day. Developing the next version of Windows or Office is easy for Microsoft, but the company has struggled when it comes to more radical innovation. Intense competition from Google, Apple, and others threatens a business mod
This is a Russian translation of the Feb. 1, 2017 version of UVA-F-1687. The chief executive of a small yarn-production company in India must resolve an unexpected cash shortage. The task for the student is to evaluate the causes of this shortage (using a completed “base-case” forecast given in the case) and assess the usefulness of various possible remedies suggested by managers.
The company is
This is a Russian translation of the Nov. 15, 2017 version of UVA F-1736. After a period of poor stock-market performance, conglomerate Chestnut Foods (Chestnut) faces the acquisition of its stock by an activist investor. The new investor demands the sale of Chestnut’s high-growth division, which contrasts with the CFO’s turnaround plan to expand this same division. To disentangle the way forward
Cost of Capital Cases
This case set challenges students to consider the upcoming free agency decision-making of an NBA team by conducting some basic statistical analyses of three possible targets, all of whom are upcoming unrestricted free agents—Danny Glover, David Bowie, and Mike Meyers. Each of these players could potentially fit the team’s need to find a shooter and versatile defender at the forward position. Stude
This case set challenges students to consider the upcoming free agency decision-making of an NBA team by conducting some basic statistical analyses of three possible targets, all of whom are upcoming unrestricted free agents—Danny Glover, David Bowie, and Mike Meyers. Each of these players could potentially fit the team’s need to find a shooter and versatile defender at the forward position. Stude
This case set challenges students to consider the upcoming free agency decision-making of an NBA team by conducting some basic statistical analyses of three possible targets, all of whom are upcoming unrestricted free agents—Danny Glover, David Bowie, and Mike Meyers. Each of these players could potentially fit the team’s need to find a shooter and versatile defender at the forward position. Stude
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Case Study Pack
Intermediate Corporate Finance
See syllabus
In the A case, Dr. Carol Evans is preparing for a December 2019 meeting with the leaders of Garfield Health Sciences (GHS) Center, about launching a full-fledged direct-to-consumer (DTC) telemedicine offering. This B case picks up a few months later, in March 2020. Now, in light of the looming COVID-19 pandemic, GHS leaders must make an urgent decision: Should they select a single EMR platform to
This case follows Shane Harris, who has just been hired as an assistant coach for the NBA’s new franchise, the Honolulu Hammerheads. In order to aid team management in using basketball analytics, Harris turns to Dean Oliver's Four Factor method.
Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) is a serious health condition affecting infants. Since 1981, when procedures were first developed to address HLHS, the mortality rate has been declining, and by 2015, the procedures were very successful. But once patients were sent home, there was still a devastating 20% mortality rate, and parents were tasked with medical responsibilities and decisions that
Econ 2021Q2
In March 2020, John Jenkins, the new chief medical officer of Garfield Health System (GHS) University Hospital, was at the cusp of a crisis. While he had been informed of COVID-19 previously by the hospital epidemiologist, Jenkins had not anticipated the scale or scope of the looming pandemic. Fortunately, under the leadership of the hospital epidemiology department, GHS had acquired a 90-day supp
In March 2020, John Jenkins, the new chief medical officer of Garfield Health System (GHS) University Hospital, was at the cusp of a crisis. While he had been informed of COVID-19 previously by the hospital epidemiologist, Jenkins had not anticipated the scale or scope of the looming pandemic. Fortunately, under the leadership of the hospital epidemiology department, GHS had acquired a 90-day supp
In this A case, it’s December 2019, and Dr. Carol Evans is preparing for a meeting with the leaders of Garfield Health Sciences (GHS) Center. She aims to persuade them to launch a full-fledged direct-to-consumer (DTC) telemedicine offering. Evans needs to articulate a value proposition that secures support and funding for the initiative and pushes GHS to take on a leadership role in telemedicine.
This case follows Maxine Waters, chairwoman for the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, as she faces the stock market phenomenon in early 2021 surrounding GameStop. The morning of February 17, 2021, Waters was leading a hearing on allegations of manipulation in the market for GameStop stock. A few weeks prior, the company’s stock surged from around $40 a share to nearly $4
This case introduces students to relational databases and the basics of collaborative filtering, a popular recommendation system technique. The case points to a dataset shared by GroupLens, a research group developing algorithms that supply movie recommendations through a website called MovieLens. SQL queries provided in the case propose a collaborative filtering strategy for generating simple rec
