E299
Bethany Coates, R. Ellis
2007
Terminating employees is one of the most unpleasant, yet necessary, responsibilities managers have to carry out. The Wall Street Journal has reported that firing someone is one of three situations that make company presidents most uneasy. Due to a…
E257
Patrick Arippol, George Foster, Martin Haemmig
2007
“WI Harper – Strategic Crossroads” presents the strategic dilemmas faced by a foreign venture firm with over one decade of making cross-border investments in Asia – with particular emphasis in China. The case is set in the 2006-07 time frame, as the…
E263
Mark Leslie, Patrick Arippol
2007
Set in mid-2002, this case illustrates “a day in the life” of a district sales manager of a Silicon Valley company, as the technology market faced a downturn. The case enables a polarized class discussion about the tradeoffs that a new district manager…
E267A
Mark Leslie, Katherine Bose
2007
After significant changes in management, strategic direction and product focus, XenSource, a virtualization software start-up that relies on open source code, faces key decisions regarding the pricing and packaging of its products, a challenge which is…
E304
Robert Chess, Peter Reiss, Sean Harrington, Matt Saucedo
2007
In the spring of 2007, four budding companies were in the very early phase of their development. These entrepreneurial ventures illustrate the variety and breadth of new business ideas that can be pursued, and the unique issues that need to be tackled in…
E254
Bethany Coates, Andrew Rachleff
2007
Will Harvey hopped onto his road bike and began pedaling up Old La Honda Road, the famously steep and windy street in Portola Valley, California. As the climb became more arduous, Harvey, the co-founder and CEO of IMVU, a company that developed 3D avatar…
E264
Patrick Arippol, Rick Aubry
2007
This case describes two social ventures’ experience of collaborating with each other—through a replication project funded by Lemelson and the Schwab Foundations. Each venture served different purposes: IDEAAS installed and operated alternative solar…
A196B
Ron Kasznik, Brian Tayan
2007
This case reviews the recognition of goodwill impairment taken by AOL Time Warner following the adoption of SFAS 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets. This case is the successor of A-196A, AOL Time Warner (A): Accounting for Goodwill.
A187
Maureen McNichols, Brian Tayan
2007
In July 2002, a legal watchdog group, Judicial Watch, announced that it was suing Halliburton Company for overstating revenues during the period 1998 to 2001. The group’s contention was that Halliburton used fraudulent accounting practices to boost…
GS56
David Hoyt, Hau Lee, Samir Singh
2007
In 2006, Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) faced a number of challenges. The iron ore business had traditionally been dominated by a few large suppliers, who sold to a relatively few large steel producers. The business environment was changing, however, with the…
GS48
Barchi Peleg, Hau Lee
2007
Esquel Group is one of the world’s leading producers of premium cotton shirts, and among the most dynamic and progressive global-scale textile and apparel manufacturers. The company was founded in 1978 in Hong Kong. Over the years Esquel, which was part…
IB81
John Roberts, Jennie Tung
2007
SK-II was Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) only high-end skincare brand in China and sales accounted for an estimated 7 percent of SK-II global revenue in 2005. China was also P&G’s fastest-growing market for skincare products and among the top markets in value…
GS57A
Charles Holloway, David Hoyt, Hau Lee, Michael Marks, Amanda Silverman
2007
This case discusses the astounding growth of Crocs, Inc., a manufacturer of plastic shoes, from 2003 through early 2007. Much of the company’s growth was made possible by a highly flexible supply chain which enabled Crocs to build additional product…
A195
Maureen McNichols, Brian Tayan
2007
As the chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Company, Tom Staggs was responsible not only for the financial management of the company, but also for the communication of the company’s financial and strategic objectives to its investor base. Because…
CG08
David Larcker, Brian Tayan
2007
In 2007, there were three prominent corporate governance ratings firms—The Corporate Library (TCL), Governance Metrics International (GMI), and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). These firms assessed the effectiveness and deficiency of the…
CG09
David Larcker, Brian Tayan
2007
By 2007, Gretchen Morgenson, assistant editor and columnist at The New York Times, had gained significant attention from business leaders, regulators, and academics for her coverage of a wide range of financial and governance issues. Morgenson wrote the…
CG07
David Larcker, Brian Tayan
2007
In 2007, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) was the largest proxy advisory company in the world, with over 1,700 institutional clients managing an estimated $25 trillion in equity securities. The ISS proxy advisory services were intended to give…
CG10
David Larcker, Brian Tayan
2007
In 2006, David Zucker, chief executive officer of Midway Games, came under fire for selling a significant amount of Midway stock just weeks before a precipitous decline in the company’s share price. One year later, Angelo Mozilo, chairman and chief…
A193
Maureen McNichols, Brian Tayan
2007
The case study asks students to evaluate the role that the quarterly conference call plays in a company’s overall communications strategy with investors. In particular, students are asked to assess what additional information they can learn from the…
A192
Ron Kasznik, Brian Tayan
2007
In 2001, accounting regulators, especially those in the U.S., began to reconsider the rules of consolidation with a move toward a requirement based on “control,” with much less consideration of the size of the equity stake. The fundamental accounting and…
CG06
David Larcker, Brian Tayan
2007
In 2005, Relational Investors, a registered investment advisor, launched a proxy contest to gain two seats on the board of directors of Sovereign Bancorp. Relational accused Sovereign of operational mismanagement and poor corporate governance…
GS55
David Hoyt, Seungjin Whang
2007
In 2007, the Marui Group was one of Japan’s leading department store companies. The company had 29 stores, most in Tokyo and vicinity. Marui was particularly popular with young women, who formed its largest customer segment.
The case focuses on…
HR29A
James Baron, Brian Tayan
2007
The case describes the economic and cultural models that have led to the success of Keller Williams Realty. By 2006 Keller Williams was one of the most profitable real estate companies in the United States (if not the most profitable); in addition it was…
IB72B
R. McKern
2007
Dougal Simpson, an experienced Australian manager who had 20 years of experience with Industrial Products AG (IPAG), a large Swiss-based company in the field of industrial chemicals and plastics, accepted the position of managing director, Southeast Asia…
