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This case is intended to introduce undergraduate entrepreneurship students to business models via an entrepreneur who has two businesses: a used-car dealership, which he owns with his father, and a used-sport-bike dealership, which he solely owns. Although these businesses seem similar, there are subtle differences in business model that make the sport-bike business much more attractive. Case analysis involves a step-by-step comparison of the two firms' revenue models, cost structures, and investment needs and leaves students with two decision: first, how to best grow the sport-bike business, and second, whether to continue operating the used-car business once his father retires.

Primary interviews, company document review, secondary market research.

Undergraduate introduction to entrepreneurship.

In December 2001, after a six-month process of vying for AT&T's Broadband, the president of cable operator Comcast Corporation, had just received word that Comcast's $72-billion offer had won the auction. Comcast, the cable industry's third-largest operator, would merge with industry leader AT&T Broadband to form a company with more than $20 billion in revenue and an unparalleled distribution (a presence in 22 of the nation's top 25 markets). Now the presidents of both companies began to consider their post-merger integration strategies. What was important and how should they prioritize their activities? How could they get all stakeholders to understand the rationale for the deal and its business goals and excited about the new AT&T Comcast?

The case examines the liquidity issues that J. C. Penney (JCP) experienced in 2012 and 2013 following a decline in sales and profits over several years. Despite once being a highly profitable and growing company, the increasing pressures of competition led to changes in strategy and in management that were insufficient to return the company to the consistent financial results it had previously enjoyed. While sales and profits waned, the cash balance also suffered, and Wall Street analysts began expressing liquidity concerns as the company wrestled with having enough cash on hand to cover daily operating needs.

Students are asked to calculate a time series of quarterly liquidity and leverage ratios to illustrate the declining financial condition of the company. They are further challenged to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of raising equity versus debt as a solution for the company's lack of liquidity. To assess the amount of external capital required, students are asked to use a sources and uses analysis that provides intuition for the cash flow challenges facing the company. Set against the background of an iconic retailer, the case provides an engaging context in which to discuss the need for a major capital structure decision due to operational challenges.

This case invites students to evaluate, based on given materials, the causes, consequences, and potential resolutions of the financial crisis of 2007–2009. The premise of a business professor preparing a slide presentation dramatizes an analysis of the financial crisis. Reviewing his data, much of it in graph form, the professor ponders the central role of banks and the impact of risk management, leverage, and incentives. His main thesis is that the fundamental issue surrounding this crisis was the misjudgment of the risks taken, with the result that risk management failed to do its job of curtailing and managing risk as expected.