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In November 2005 Fidelity Homestead, a savings bank in Louisiana, began noticing suspicious charges from Mexico and southern California on its customers' credit cards. More than a year later, an audit revealed peculiarities in the credit card data in the computer systems of TJX Companies, the parent company of more than 2,600 discount fashion and home accessories retail stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

The U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Justice Department, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that hackers had penetrated TJX's systems in mid-2005, accessing information that dated as far back as 2003. TJX had violated industry security standards by failing to update its in-store wireless networks and by storing credit card numbers and expiration dates without adequate encryption. When TJX announced the intrusion in January 2007, it admitted that hackers had compromised nearly 46 million debit and credit card numbers, the largest-ever data breach in the United States.

After analyzing and discussing the case, students should be able to:

• Understand imbedded operational risks

• Analyze how operational risk decisions are made in a firm

• Understand the challenges in the electronic payment transmission process, which relies on each participant in the process to operate best-in-class safety systems to ensure the safety of the entire process

• Recognize the sophistication of IT security threats

Understand imbedded operational risks

Analyze how operational risk decisions are made in a firm

Understand the challenges in the electronic payment transmission process, which relies on each participant in the process to operate best-in-class safety systems to ensure the safety of the entire process

Recognize the sophistication of IT security threats

The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once an example of strong corporate culture with a commitment to public service and independent integrity, Andersen saw its culture and standards weaken as it grew explosively and changed its mode of governance. The (A) case describes a crisis precipitated by the admission of Waste Management, a major Andersen client, that it overstated its pretax earnings by $1.43 billion from 1992 to 1996. The resulting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation ended with Andersen paying a $7 million fine, the largest ever levied against an accounting firm, and agreeing to an injunction that effectively placed the accounting giant on probation. Students analyze the causes of Andersen's problems and advise Andersen leadership. The (B) case covers Arthur Andersen's relationship with Enron, one of the great success stories of the “new economy” boom. When Enron's aggressive use of off-balance sheet partnerships became impossible to hide in autumn 2001, news reports stated that Andersen auditors had engaged in extensive shredding of draft documents and associated communications with Enron. Students are asked to act as crisis management consultants to Andersen CEO Joe Berardino. The (C) case details Andersen's collapse following its indictment and conviction on criminal charges of obstructing justice in the Enron case. Its conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on narrow technical grounds, but by then Andersen had ceased to exist, eighty-nine years after Arthur E. Andersen had taken over a small accounting firm in Chicago. Students can focus on the impact of media on a reputational crisis.

Students will: Identify the teachable moment in a crisis that leaders can leverage as an opportunity to improve a firm's reputation or core identity, to reinforce values, and to drive change, Understand the impact on crisis management of the media landscape and regulatory decision-making, Realize the fragility of corporate cultures and the need to actively maintain them, especially during difficult times,

Islamic Accounting, Auditing, Strategic Management and Accounting Theory.

The case is suitable for graduate and postgraduate business students, particularly those on courses such as Islamic Accounting, Auditing, Strategic Management and Accounting Theory. The case is based on secondary data collection and all the facts are real.

In the early 2000s, the Tabung Haji (TH) faced financial difficulty, particularly regarding its returns from investments and, with the intention of helping to improve this situation, the General Manager (GM) of Finance and the GM of Investment decided to accept an investment proposal presented by an investment company. The proposal involved initial and subsequent investment portfolios of RM50 million and RM150 million, respectively. The proposal was presented in a board meeting and was approved by the board. Indeed, the two GMs were delighted to receive a return of RM12.5 million from their RM50 million initial investment – i.e. 25 per cent return. In the process of approving the subsequent investment of RM150 million, the two GMs were informed that their investments were partly for the FOREX market (Foreign Exchange Market/Currency Market). At that time, there was no conclusive decision on the status of investment in the FOREX market regarding whether it complied with Sharia principles. The two GMs contemplated whether they should accept this second investment proposal. The issue was whether they should reveal in the board meeting that this investment was partly in FOREX. What if the board failed to accept the idea of investing in FOREX and rejected the proposal? Indeed, they were dropping an opportunity for lucrative returns. Should the GMs seek technical advice on the status of FOREX investment in Islam and present it to the board?

The case should help students to: understand the concept of Sharia and Sharia financial principles; understand the process involved in TH investment decisions; analyze the issues involved in decision-making and apply the relevant theories to describe the actions; and recommend various alternative course of actions in a given situation.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request Teaching Notes.

Disinvestment of government shareholding in Public Sector Undertakings, through Public Offers, is a common occurrence in many economies. This case describes such a process of disinvestment of the government of India's stake in a large power utility, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in India. In addition to process details, the case contains information and data that make it possible to rigorously analyze the response of market participants and the resulting changes in the prices of shares of NTPC before, during and after the public offer.

In the 1990s, Mike Flanagan foresaw video moving from analog to digital and developed an equipment rental business to meet the needs of the entertainment/media production industry. By 1996 he established a second company to offer training in the use of Avid, a digital video-editing program. Flanagan sold the rental business in 1998 and by 2002 expanded the training away from a business model to a full-fledged college business model. By 2014 what started as a successful training program developed into a negative interaction with the US Department of Education and Flanagan found himself being forced out of business.

This case was originally a client-based project conducted real time in an MBA-level marketing course at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

The case is well suited for a variety of business and law courses that integrate ethical decision making in their curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The case allows for a greater understanding of the implications of managerial behavior tied to ethical beliefs and the possible outcomes that may result. It also allows for a stronger grasp of the integral nature of management, staff, consumers and outside organizations on the pervasive impact of non-ethical behavior. Last, this case creates a framework for students to assess how ethics influence managerial behavior that will affect an organization’s success.

What ethical duties and obligations does a business owe to its customers and other stakeholders? Is ignorance an excuse for failing to meet those ethical obligations?