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Through this case, participants will be able to:

▪ understand the different approaches to preparing operating budgets;

▪ classify the costs based on traceability to its cost centres;

▪ understand the difference in budget preparation and its analysis under different cost centres;

▪ put together the required information, identify the format and prepare major operating budgets; and

▪ evaluate operating budgets and give suggestions to the company based on budget analysis.

This case is about a manufacturing company that is going to introduce a budgeting system. It highlights the process of information collecting from key employees for budget preparation. This case also deals with various decisions to be made during the implementation of the new system such as the context of budgets, cost units and sequence of budgets.This case will help students to enhance their understanding of the operating budgets. The students will able to visualize the difficulty faced by companies to implement a new system.

This case is applicable in the courses such as Master of Business Administration, Master of Commerce or other postgraduate studies. This can also be discussed in professional courses such as Chartered Accountants, Certified Management Accountants, Company Secretaries, Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and Chartered Financial Analysts.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, a major European steel company, operates a so-called push-pickling line (PPL) in Bochum, Germany. The PPL produces a particular type of steel strips that are sold to B2B customers, mainly in the automotive industry. In spring 2014, a senior vice president of thyssenkrupp Steel's production operations and one of his production managers notice that over the span of ten years the production facility regularly did not meet its planned production volumes. They set out to determine the drivers for the deviations from planned production figures with the ultimate goal to improve the production planning process at the Bochum PPL. Students will step into the shoes of Markus Schulze a production manager at thyssenkrupp Steel as he searches for performance drivers at the Bochum PPL and analyzes recent production data to build a forecasting model for production planning.

In early 2016, after the success of its first two smartphones, the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2, China-based startup smartphone maker OnePlus was deciding how to build on its early success and grow into a global contender in the highly competitive smartphone market. Technology enthusiasts and geeks had flocked to purchase the first two generations of its smartphones and expectations were high for the company's next product. The company's founders, Pete Lau and Carl Pei, faced the challenge of broadening the appeal of OnePlus to address the mainstream market without alienating its core customer base.

“Crossing the chasm” from the early adopters to the mainstream market involved addressing three interrelated questions: First, what segments should OnePlus target as it sought to grow beyond its loyal fan base? Second, what value proposition and positioning strategy should it adopt to appeal to these target customers? Finally, what distribution and marketing communications strategy should it employ to make best use of its limited financial resources? A key consideration in formulating its strategy was to stay true to the company's culture and mission of “Never Settle” by charting its own course and not emulating the strategies of much larger competitors like Apple, Samsung, LG, and HTC.

This is a case of a crisis project management which showcases the unpredictable nature of the project and the role of management in handling the crisis. It is the case of a very severe cyclonic storm hitting the city of Visakhapatnam plant during October, 2014. The whole city was devastated and so was the situation in the Steel plant as it was under zero power conditions for around 10 days. This case gives need for managing an integrated steel plant in case of very severe cyclonic storm and documents the sequence of events and managing unforeseen uncertainty using NTCP concepts.

This case deals with several types of uncertainties faced by project team in an oil company north east in India. These challenges and uncertainties are in the areas drawing approval, supply chain, critical equipment availability, soll type, control room, soil type, employee availability, environmental clearances, safety and wildlife clearances. This project demonstrates the ownership issues, why it is difficult to complete a project on time in the Northeast of India or why public sector project gets delayed.