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VoiceStream was a strong brand within the digital wireless communications industry at the time CEO Robert Dodson led the company. It had a loyal following of customers and a strong reputation for value. Despite pushback from senior management, CEO Robert Dotson made the decision to undergo a rebranding strategy during a period of declining revenue and growth. As VoiceStream transitioned to T-Mobile, it had initial success, but faced the challenge of how to position the brand long term.

This case study was written with the historical background of a well-known company and traces key decisions made during the company’s rebranding transition. This case comes complete with insights from then current CEO, Robert Dotson.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing, management or strategy, where students are studying brand management. Additionally, this case will be valuable for courses that include advanced branding strategies such as rebranding. This case could also be used for discussion in positioning and advertising techniques. This case includes, via in-depth interviews, critical strategic insights from CEO Robert Dotson. The case illustrates some of the major opportunities and threats associated with the VoiceStream/T-Mobile rebranding strategy.

In April 1992, this multinational consumer foods and beverages company is the focus of takeover rumors, which have prompted an assessment of the firm's returns. The student must choose among the principal methods of estimating the weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) for GrandMet and its three main business segments, and must then produce WACC estimates in order to evaluate the firm's performance.

This case involves a real-life Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Sir Allen Stanford, a man who bribed Antiguan regulators and a certified public accountant firm to perpetuate his scam. The case includes the process of making victims whole, which involves a court-initiated clawback process: taking back payouts to investors or charities to redistribute the funds to other fraud victims who did not receive their fair payout. Students apply theory learned in an upper-level fraud or forensic accounting course. Finally, the case addresses the aftermath of a fraud scheme.

Ponzi schemes – one of the most common types of investment fraud – have caused investors to lose billions of dollars. Because of the prevalence of Ponzi schemes and the ramifications to investors, it is important for business students to understand the nature of these schemes and to learn how to recognize them. As future business professionals, students will be charged with recognizing a Ponzi scheme early and uncovering it before investors lose their investments.

This case is designed for upper-level undergraduate students or graduate students taking a fraud or forensic accounting course, which is best introduced after professors cover Ponzi schemes and also these concepts: fraud triangle, fraud diamond and fraud red flags.

During December 2012, Jorge Paulo Lemann, a co-founder and partner at 3G, proposed to Warren Buffett that 3G and Berkshire Hathaway acquire H. J. Heinz Company. Lemann and Buffett, who had known each other for years, jointly decided that the Heinz turnaround had been successful and that there was significant potential for continued global growth. 3G informed Heinz CEO William Johnson that it and Berkshire Hathaway were interested in jointly acquiring his company. Johnson then presented the investors' offer of $70.00 per share of outstanding common stock to the Heinz board.

After much discussion, the Heinz board and its advisors informed 3G that without better financial terms they would not continue to discuss the possibility of an acquisition. Two days later, 3G and Berkshire Hathaway returned with a revised proposal of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction value of $28 billion (including Heinz's outstanding debt).

Following a forty-day “go-shop” period, Heinz, 3G, and Berkshire Hathaway agreed to sign the deal. But was this, in fact, a fair deal? And what might be the future consequences for shareholders, management, employees, and citizens of Pittsburgh, the location of the company's headquarters? Last, what was the role of activist investors in bringing Heinz to this deal stage?

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

• Understand the influence of investment bankers on M&A transactions

• Consider synergies that drive M&A

• Consider the role of activist investors in corporate strategic decision-making

• Understand the impact of M&A on key corporate stakeholders

• Apply core valuation techniques to support M&A valuation

Understand the influence of investment bankers on M&A transactions

Consider synergies that drive M&A

Consider the role of activist investors in corporate strategic decision-making

Understand the impact of M&A on key corporate stakeholders

Apply core valuation techniques to support M&A valuation

This case study was built from secondary data such as news articles and videos. Several drafts of the case study with teaching note were tested in classroom settings and shared at a case writing conference. The case was revised based on feedback from students and roundtable discussions from the conference.

“What’s next: Ever Given after the Suez Canal incident (Evergreen Marine Corporation in, 2022)” explores the situation of the firm Evergreen Marine Corporation, a world-leading cargo shipping company headquartered in Taiwan, and its efforts to deal with challenges stemming from a pandemic and the global supply chain transition. The case provides background on the latest changes in global business environments, the Suez Canal Incident stemming from the grounding of Ever Given and firm-specific information, which would help students to understand the context affecting Evergreen Marine Corporation’s (EMC) strategic decisions. The case enables students to evaluate EMC’s overall position and to analyze the actions that they can take to deal with these challenges in a dynamic global environment.

This case would be appropriate for a course in strategy or international business, especially with the topic of international supply chain management.

Acting as chief financial officer (CFO), students try to determine how Coleco can fend off creditors. Coleco is in default on its loans and is in a negative equity position.

In January 1996, an investment manager of a hedge fund is considering purchasing an equity interest in a start-up biotechnology firm, Rocky Mountain Advanced Genome (RMAG). The asking price is $46 million for a 90% equity interest. Although managers of the firm are optimistic about its future performance, the investment manager is more conservative in her expectations. She asks an analyst to fashion a counterproposal for RMAG's management. The tasks for the student are to apply the concept of terminal value, interpret completed analyses and data, and derive implications of different terminal value assumptions in an effort to recommend a counterproposal. Little computation is required of the student. The main objective of the case is to survey many conceptual and practical challenges associated with estimating a firm's terminal value. Issues addressed include the concept of terminal value; the materiality of the terminal-value assumption; the varieties of terminal-value estimators and their strengths and weaknesses; taxation of terminal values; when to assume liquidation versus going-concern terminal values; choosing a forecast horizon at which to estimate a terminal value; the constant growth valuation model, its derivation, limiting assumptions of constant growth to infinity, and WACC > g; use of the Fisher Formula as a foundation for estimating growth rate to infinity; and using a variety of estimates to “triangulate” in on a terminal value.

This case is an abridged version of UVA-F-1115. This version is intended for use with audiences requiring less source documentation than is available in the unabridged version. The teaching note, however, contains all the source documentation in an appendix.

Specific teaching and learning objectives include to identify factors influencing market expansion decisions and recommend appropriate entry modes, understand factors in the international business environment that contribute to success or failure of international businesses in developing countries, evaluate strategies enabling international businesses to sustain market presence in developing countries and overcome local competition, analyze the concept of local responsiveness in international business operations and suggest strategies for internationalizing domestic companies from developing countries.

The McDonald’s case examines the challenges associated with market expansion by global brands. The case occurs during the early-globalization era in the 1990s. Barbados, a developing country, is the site for potential expansion. Prospective investors, the Winters, are desirous of establishing a McDonald’s in Barbados. They need to thoroughly analyze the previous experience of McDonald’s against the host country’s current international business environment, e.g. political, economic, cultural and competitive environment. This case analysis provides a framework for understanding the multifaceted reasons behind McDonald’s exit from Barbados, considering the complex interplay of political, economic, sociocultural, technological and legal factors in the international business environment. The case equips the instructor and students to explore the risks of international expansion, particularly in developing country markets. The case study on McDonald’s failure in Barbados highlights the need to thoroughly examine one’s market entry strategy and available information on the host market and be more locally responsive regarding tastes and preferences. The case study also presents essential lessons for firms and planners from developing countries. Local firms innovated and enhanced their operations in response to the threat from the entry of the global fast-food giant. Yet, they did not seek to internationalize once McDonald’s exited the Barbadian market. The case study, therefore, considers strategies firms from developing countries could utilize to penetrate markets from developed countries.

At the undergraduate level, the McDonald’s Barbados case can be used in international business classes to highlight risks in the international business environment and the need for a carefully planned and executed market entry strategy.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS5: International Business.

This secondary source case is based mainly on legislative documents (that tracked the initiation and progress of the Parental Rights in Education bill that later became an Act), corporate documents (published by The Walt Disney Company) and news articles from publications such as The New York Times and Bloomberg. All sources are cited in the case narrative and as end notes.

In April 2022, The Walt Disney Company and its CEO, Robert Chapek, were at the center of a controversy over the company’s opposition to the State of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill. The bill, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics, prohibited instruction on sexual identity and gender orientation in the state’s elementary schools. The controversy stemmed from Disney’s initial non-reaction to the bill and its later strident opposition and call for its repeal. Chapek was pressured by negative media publicity and employee disgruntlement on the one hand and adverse economic consequences for opposing the bill by the state’s Governor, Ron DeSantis. Chapek and the Board had to respond to the political threats to Disney’s economic well-being while appeasing its employees and other stakeholders who wanted the company to be a corporate champion in diversity, equity and inclusion.

The case is best suited for advanced undergraduate or graduate leadership, strategic management and marketing courses. From a leadership and strategic management perspective, the case is well-suited for demonstrating the evolving expectations of leaders and corporate social responsibility, as well as the concepts of issue framing and nonmarket management. Instructors may also leverage the case in marketing courses (e.g. brand management), as CEO activism (i.e. messaging and practice) is one characteristic of brand activism (Animation Guild, 2022).