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The case discusses the operational, strategic, and financial turnaround at Solo Cup, a manufacturer of disposable dining wares. Solo Cup’s troubles were compounded by the acquisition of a larger rival, Sweetheart Company, which had its own problems and presented issues of merger integration that management could not solve. David Garfield, a managing director at turnaround consulting firm Alix Partners, must first recognize Solo Cup’s core competencies in order to determine the appropriate change in strategic course, strip out the assets that no longer support the operations necessary for that strategy, and monetize them in order to rationalize its balance sheet. This case teaches that a three-pronged approach will invariably produce greater results than any one-dimensional turnaround.

Students will learn turnaround techniques necessary to restructure a company operationally, strategically, and financially, and will learn how Alix Partners' relentless focus on “letting data rule” allowed the firm to revive a faltering company.

Following the recent scandals that erupted at the end of the economic bubble, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act was passed as a regulatory “cure.” However, regulation is only part of the cure. The reason fraud happens in the first place often stems from performance deterioration. Corporate governance is still the best cure to fix the system. The board’s role is to use business judgment to identify issues that could cause problems and to insist on timely action to solve those problems. The board must understand upstream indicators such as people performance, operating performance, and financial performance. It must create a culture of open discussion and understand the drivers of performance.

In the age of “big data,” one of the most important capabilities that differentiates the winners from the losers in the intensely competitive grocery market is how successfully a firm can harness its vast amounts of shopper data to become more shopper-centric. Grocery retailers struggle with how to manage the tremendous amount of data available to them and best leverage their frequent shopper data to derive insights. These data also present an opportunity for academic research on decision-making and evaluation of strategic initiatives. This chapter discusses three case studies that illustrate the various capabilities of frequent shopper data in generating shopper insights. Specifically, using frequent shopper data for millions of shoppers, the three case studies demonstrate how frequent shopper data can be used as an important information asset for understanding differences and similarities among different shopper groups (Case Study 1), as a means to assess the effectiveness of store redesigns/environment changes (Case Study 2), and as a key tool for evaluating program success (Case Study 3). The chapter concludes with a discussion of how successful collaboration between practitioners and academics can be a boon to both business success and academic research.

Grocery store chain Winn-Dixie had rapidly expanded in an effort to become a national retailer, and by 1999 it had more than 1,000 stores. The company began manufacturing its own products, reasoning that by owning more of the supply chain, it could offer the customer less expensive options. With its new geographic focus and manufacturing facilities, Winn-Dixie attempted to secure a position as a low-cost provider with a national presence. Instead of improving the company's position in the market, however, this strategy crippled both the short- and long-term prospects for Winn-Dixie. The company paid a high premium to expand and increased its leverage without ever realizing the purposed synergies. In fact, there were dis-economies of scale because the distribution, marketing, and administrative costs had risen along with the increased revenue. The expansion and inefficient manufacturing added complexity to its distribution network, and with a greater debt load and less cash, the company was unable to reposition itself in the market when its low-cost provider strategy failed. Not only was the company unable to pursue other opportunities but it also did not have the cash to properly maintain many of its existing stores, which quickly became run down. Winn-Dixie was stuck as a general grocer with few options at a time when the industry was rapidly evolving. Following faulty strategies of expansion, supply chain changes, and increased debt, Winn-Dixie declared bankruptcy. Students will take the view that Paul “Flip” Huffard, lead consultant from Blackstone LP, had in determining the valuation and new capital structure of the company. These decisions would be critical, as they affected what each creditor class would receive and whether Winn-Dixie could emerge from bankruptcy.

Students will: 1. Assess the importance and negative financial impact of past strategic moves, and suggest possible future strategic directions and the expected benefits of such changes. 2. Learn quantitative valuation methods for a company in Chapter 11 and their effects on stakeholders. 3. Learn the elements of a plan of reorganization, including the capital structure, treatment of multiple creditor groups, and management compensation. 4. Discuss sources and uses of capital during a Chapter 11 turnaround.

This study examines the decision-making processes surrounding C-suite changes, to help understand the extent to which these processes may help or hinder progress towards greater diversity and equality at board and senior leadership levels.

Since acquisition of corporate entities by private equity (PE) investors is known to trigger more frequent changes in leadership than in other corporate situations and its influence on global corporate structures continues to expand, it was targeted as a critical context for exploring the issue. In-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 23 senior investors from 19 different PE firms, examining how incumbent leadership capability is assessed, how decisions regarding changes to incumbent leaders are made, and how existing approaches might influence leadership equality and diversity.

The findings reveal a common reliance on informal approaches for informing decisions regarding C-suite changes, on subjective and/or anecdotal opinions of leaders' suitability, and an over-reliance on past experience rather than capability or potential when identifying suitable replacements. Evidence of heuristics and biases emerged, including a bias for maintaining incumbent leaders, even in light of concerns regarding their capability or suitability, thereby inhibiting efforts to improve diversity and perpetuating inequality.

This paper explores the decision-making processes undertaken within organisations to determine C-suite changes, a relatively unexplored area, which plays a key role in the upward mobility of a diverse workforce. The study engages directly with decision-makers to examine real-life decision-making situations and explores the findings with reference to theory from occupational psychology and behavioural economics, providing a rich exploration of potential limitations and consequences of current practices for equality and diversity.

The past year has seen a flurry of activity from the major international regulators around issues with a common theme: conflicts of interest. The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK regulator, is no exception. On the sell side, the FSA has consulted twice in 2003 directly on conflicts of interest in the context of investment research and the issuance of securities, as well as making new rules in this area. On the buy side, the FSA shocked the fund management industry with its proposals to limit goods and services that can be bought with commissions and to limit the costs to customers’ funds of acquiring bundled and “softed” services, as well as less explicitly attempting to address conflicts in this area. The issues thrown up by these proposals are considered in this article.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an experiential entrepreneurship work-integrated learning (EE WIL) model recognising that the development of an entrepreneurial mindset enables graduates to manage their careers in uncertain labour markets. The model shows how students develop relationships with their professional community, and not only a few employers.

The pedagogical underpinning of the conceptual model, attributes associated with the entrepreneurial mindset and relationships between the student, professional community and university are explained, and illustrated through a case study at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

The EE WIL model enables students to develop agency through structured engagement with a professional community, facilitating the development of bridging social capital. Bonding social capital can be developed through intense, sustained interaction between students and their professional community.

WIL curricula should be scaffolded and directed towards developing sustained interaction and information sharing, underpinned by professional community norms. This approach enables students to develop an aligned professional identity and emotional attachment to the professional community. The experiential development of an entrepreneurial mindset enables students to solve career challenges, by viewing these as opportunities. Professional communities and universities both share the responsibilities of preparing the future graduate workforce.

The conceptual model draws on effectual entrepreneurship pedagogy and contributes to the WIL literature, showing that an entrepreneurial mindset can be cultivated experientially through an intensive, emotional and authentic learning experience.

Grocery store chain Winn-Dixie had rapidly expanded in an effort to become a national retailer, and by 1999 it had more than 1,000 stores. The company began manufacturing its own products, reasoning that by owning more of the supply chain, it could offer the customer less expensive options. With its new geographic focus and manufacturing facilities, Winn-Dixie attempted to secure a position as a low-cost provider with a national presence. Instead of improving the company's position in the market, however, this strategy crippled both the short- and long-term prospects for Winn-Dixie. The company paid a high premium to expand and increased its leverage without ever realizing the purposed synergies. In fact, there were dis-economies of scale because the distribution, marketing, and administrative costs had risen along with the increased revenue. The expansion and inefficient manufacturing added complexity to its distribution network, and with a greater debt load and less cash, the company was unable to reposition itself in the market when its low-cost provider strategy failed. Not only was the company unable to pursue other opportunities but it also did not have the cash to properly maintain many of its existing stores, which quickly became run down. Winn-Dixie was stuck as a general grocer with few options at a time when the industry was rapidly evolving. Following faulty strategies of expansion, supply chain changes, and increased debt, Winn-Dixie declared bankruptcy. Students will take the view that Paul “Flip” Huffard, lead consultant from Blackstone LP, had in determining the valuation and new capital structure of the company. These decisions would be critical, as they affected what each creditor class would receive and whether Winn-Dixie could emerge from bankruptcy.

Students will: 1. Assess the importance and negative financial impact of past strategic moves, and suggest possible future strategic directions and the expected benefits of such changes. 2. Learn quantitative valuation methods for a company in Chapter 11 and their effects on stakeholders. 3. Learn the elements of a plan of reorganization, including the capital structure, treatment of multiple creditor groups, and management compensation. 4. Discuss sources and uses of capital during a Chapter 11 turnaround.