Search results

This case addresses stakeholder theory by asking students to consider the various entities that have a vested interest in Delta’s response to the passage of the Senate Bill (SB) 202. Stakeholder theory holds that businesses are responsible to broader constituents in society and not only to stockholders/shareholders or owners. This perspective suggests that businesses do not exist to maximize profit alone but also to enhance society in their day-to-day decisions. To this end, stakeholders are defined as entities that affect or are affected by an organization’s decisions. Stakeholder theory is based on three arguments: descriptive, instrumental and normative arguments.

The information presented in the case was sourced from secondary sources, including both company and media publications. Several media sources from a breadth of political orientations were used to capture the complexity of the issue and the decision at hand. The case development and premise started at the Eastern Academy of Management 2021 Annual Conference Case Hackathon. The case was piloted by eight students (seven undergraduates, one graduate student) in two different courses at two institutions. The student feedback helped to highlight where clarifications were needed within the case and resulted in modifications to the exhibits, appendices and discussion questions.

On March 26, 2021, the media was buzzing about the passage of the Georgia SB 202, which included voting regulations perceived to negatively target black voters. As the head of the state’s largest employer, Delta Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer Edward Bastian found himself at the center of a heated political issue. While Delta had initially shown support for the bill, the rise in opposing voices and pressure to boycott Delta presented increasing pressure to think about its various stakeholders and potentially reevaluate the company’s handling of the situation. Should Bastiasn stay consistent with Delta’s initial support of SB 202, speak out to oppose it or remain silent?

Undergraduate students within business ethics or business in society courses are the best audiences for the case. The case may also be used in courses that have a portion of their content on business ethics or business in society; these related courses with subsections, modules or themes in this area may include corporate strategy, social responsibility and political activism.

This case was researched using publicly available sources, including Mercury Systems financial filings and press releases, news stories about the seasoned equity offering, financial information from Bloomberg and industry information from IBISWorld Industry Reports and articles related to seasoned/secondary equity offerings, intangible asset valuation and the use of revolving lines of credit. Quotes are taken from Mercury financial reports and press releases and express the (optimistic) opinions of company executives.

Mercury Systems, a technology company in the aerospace and defense industry, announced a six million share seasoned stock offering in June 2019. This resulted in a 6% stock price decrease. A stock price decrease is a typical event when a firm announces the issuance of new common shares, but with Mercury Systems, there were concerns about how much money the firm needed to fund its strategy of growth through acquisitions. If internally generated funds were not sufficient, should the firm issue debt or have another seasoned equity issue? Students will look at the objectives and success of the most recent seasoned equity issue, determine future funds needs and how the firm should finance these needs.

This case is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate students in corporate finance electives. Typically, topics such as seasoned equity offerings are not covered in introductory courses, so this is recommended for finance electives. Even in advanced finance courses, sometimes there is insufficient time to cover seasoned equity offerings.

The case is a continuation of the series of articles, written in the form of a case, that focus upon various issues relating to case research, writing and teaching with cases. In this article Professor Moore and the other fictitious characters, confront the difficulties that he had experienced grading student case analyses. In discussing the situation with his department chair Gloria Gorham he learns much about the origins of grading and the various methods of evaluating student work. At a later date other colleagues, Chris Anderson and Dave Berger, are brought into the discussion expressing their views and providing rubrics for use in grading student case analyses.

After completion of the case, students will be able to understand the following: how to understand financial statements, income statements and cash-flow statements with the help of ratios; understand the concept of shareholding pattern along with different entities, namely, non-promoters, foreign institutional investor, domestic institutional investor and others; financial ratio analysis with traditional DuPont and extended DuPont analysis; understand the differences between comparable firms; how to analysis return, risk, covariance, correlation, market risk and capital assets pricing model (CAPM) and how to suggest an appropriate investment strategy.

The case presents company background and financial statements of four companies listed under departmental stores in India, namely, Vmart retail, V2 retail, Avenue Supermarts (known as DMart) and future retail. Students are asked to determine, which company is performing better to make a recommendation for investment. Students learn the tools of financial ratio i.e. profitability, efficiency, liquidity and market-based ratio along with the traditional DuPont decomposition and the extended DuPont analysis. Students also learn how to measure stock return, standard deviation, covariance, correlation, market risk and CAPM.

This case is suitable for management accounting, financial analysis and security analysis and portfolio management courses at the post-graduate or graduate levels. The case can be used in similar courses such as in financial statement analysis courses or security analysis and portfolio management courses.

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

CSS: 1 Accounting and finance.

It is recommended that students apply the arguments of resource-based theory to analyze the potential strategic partnership that the case focuses on. The resource-based view suggests that strategic partnerships between firms have the potential to create value when resources are pooled together. Scott Crump faces a decision-making situation wherein he analyses the value-creation potential of the original equipment manufacturer partnership with Hewlett-Packard (HP). In addition, contrasting the cultural environments within both organizations would bring in greater complexity and depth to the reflections, analyses and discussions. Often research experts explore these concepts in isolated streams of research. However, in real-world scenarios, these aspects must be integrated for a more comprehensive decision making to take place. It is also recommended for students to analyze how founder characteristics and resources imprint organizations with certain enduring “imprints” that determine strategic outcomes for the firm in unique ways.

For the development of this case, the authors interviewed the top management at Stratasys including Scott Crump, Founder and CEO. The authors also interviewed former and current employees of Stratasys, HP, other experts in the printing industry and existing customers in the 3D printing industry. The company made internal documents available to the authors including financial statements, internal meeting presentations, company forecasts and assessment tools. All interviews were recorded and analyzed to obtain and include multiple perspectives from various stakeholders. The authors also conducted extensive online research on the 3D printing industry and utilized data from news articles, interviews and other relevant press materials.

Scott Crump, Founder of Stratasys, a company that developed and sold 3D printers, had always envisioned a future when it would be commonplace for a 3D printer to be on the desk of every engineer. HP approached him with a proposal that had the potential to make that dream come true. Crump knew that Stratasys did not need to partner with HP for a financial reason, but he loved the idea of the technology becoming a standard method for creating parts universally. The case highlights a true-life account of a firm’s founder considering an important strategic alliance and analyzing the ramifications of taking on or refusing this partnership.

This case has applications in strategic management and small business management courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. It also contains critical areas of decision making relevant to an advanced strategic management course that focuses on manufacturing strategy or strategic alliance decision making. This case would be relevant to MBA, Executive MBA or Masters of Science in Accountancy level students as well. Specifically, it is intended for use in courses involving topics such as mergers and strategic partnerships, negotiation and leadership, risk analysis, financial statement analysis, financial modeling and market analysis.

Capital structure theory.

The case is meant for teaching and class discussion, and uses only secondary data based on published sources. The interpretation and perspectives presented are based solely on the secondary data.

This paper aims to help current and future managers understand capital structure theory and the various equity and debt finance options available for raising capital. It also examines the financial analysis and strategic management of black swan events. After the class discussion, students will understand how to financially and strategically manage a company during black swan events and also have a deep dive into capital structure analysis of a large company.

MBA/postgraduate/undergraduate courses on corporate finance or advanced corporate finance. Executive/management development programs and short duration Massive Open Online Courses on investment decision-making and advanced corporate finance. MBA/postgraduate/undergraduate courses on corporate strategy and economic environment and planning.

Academic research cases (ARC) provide interesting learning situations and challenging problems to study. However, it can be difficult to bring these research cases to classroom teaching because the “answers” are embedded within the case studies. Research cases can be redesigned as teaching cases (TCs) through a method of unwrapping the ARC and re—visioning it as a TC. One method is provided in this paper.

The authors have taken an unpublished research study and rewritten it as a TC. Elements from both manuscripts are provided in tabular form to guide the creation of TCs by academic researchers.

This paper will be helpful for any academic who wishes to transform a qualitative research case study into a useful classroom teaching tool.

The case study can be used in management for the course of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship. It is suitable for the students at post-graduate level. Discussion would be the most appropriate method for teaching this case study. There is no prerequisite required to participate in the discussion. Participants will be able to engage in discussion regarding expansion strategies for micro-enterprises; targeting the right segment of the market; exploring the market opportunities; innovation for entrepreneurial growth; and sustaining an enterprise. After this case study, students will be able to understand the following theory and model: SWOT analysis; resource base theory; McKinsey ESG proposition; Porter’s generic strategy; Schumpeter’s innovation theory; Ansoff’s growth model; and diversification strategies.

Being a micro-enterprise with heavy financial constraints, it was never easy to sustain the business at the time of pandemic. Mrs Jyoti Pruthi (owner of Pruthi Spices) made extraordinary efforts that would help her in survival of her business. She could not recover the business as it was before the pandemic. During such times, the loss of her husband was a setback. That incident broke Mrs Pruthi emotionally as well as financially. By taking some crucial managerial decisions, Mrs Pruthi strategized for the sustainability of her business. Now it was January 2022, after two years of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the world. However, because of the market situation, her pressing dilemma was regarding business survival in such lean times.

The case is meant for undergraduate and post-graduate students pursuing management with specializations in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. The case is bet fit for women entrepreneurship development capacity-building programs, especially in the Asian region. The case is also suitable for any short-term training program where manifestations of entrepreneurship are being taught. It can also be used for Executive and Management development program aiming at women or disadvantaged entrepreneurship. The case can also be used for general courses like “Strategic Management” and specialized courses like “Entrepreneurship Management”.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The writing of this case study was triggered by the numerous media reports in 2020 that talked about the EU nations losing its solidarity. EU being a very appropriate example of economic, monetary and customs union while teaching theories of economic integration and international relations, the post-pandemic approach of EU leadership to rebuild the crisis-ridden member nations seemed an excellent material for developing a teaching case study.

The case study was written based on secondary data and published information available. Enough desk research was undertaken to build the characterisation of the protagonists and due diligence done to chronologically report all facts of the case as the story developed. It was decided to build the epilogue into the case study so that the case analysis had enough depth.

The case is set in 2020 when the global economy was reeling under the massive impact of a lockdown and the aftermath. The case study examines the model of economic union in international business and the various challenges that governance of an association of nations such as the 27 member EU can throw up. It examines the conflict of interest that can arise among member nations during critical circumstances such as the pandemic and its massive tolls.

EU had established itself as a critical international trade player and had already proven their might as a united entity to the world trade partners, given the fact that they were not only a customs union but also a monetary union. In this scenario when the pandemic threw them into the whirlwind of lockdown-induced crisis, the united front of the mighty EU all but crumbled. As the worst-hit economies of Italy and Spain struggled to pull themselves back to normalcy, EU experienced one of its worst solidarity crises.

EU’s president Angela Merkel and ally French President Emmanuel Macron with support from the EU Council’s President Charles Michel stepped forward to resurrect the badly hit economies. They viewed this as the best opportunity to bring about a united front by coming together at Brussels for a summit when lockdown eased up in July 2020. It was to be a show of unity to jointly bail out the severely affected member nations by grants rather than loans. The summit, however, snowballed into bitter arguments and open bickering between the wealthy and not-so-wealthy members, and they could not agree upon the issue of debt vs aid. The fact that the EU was an agglomeration of 27 nations, which were far from homogenous in socioeconomic status, not to speak of divided political ideologies, only added dimensions to the dispute. Negotiations repeatedly hit roadblocks. Can the EU leaders lead their bitterly divided house to a consensus?

The case is suitable for graduate and post-graduate levels. Management courses where international business studies, international trade blocs and global leadership are part of curriculum can use the case to teach concepts of “Regional economic integration”, “Economic and Political union” and theories of “International relations” and “Negotiation”. It can also be ideally used in an executive management programme on “Global Leadership” to highlight the complexities of “governance of international associations” and “consensus building amidst diversity”.

Set in 1999, this case allows students to put themselves in the positions of both Airbus and Boeing as Boeing considered how to respond to Airbus's decision to announce its plans to proceed or not with the $10 billion development of the world's first commercial superjumbo jet, the Airbus A3XX. Boeing was considering a development effort to “stretch” its 747 jumbo jet into a larger superjumbo version, the 747-X. At the time, the two companies’ widely available 20-year forecasts for jumbo- and superjumbo-jet demand were particularly divergent. In light of this very public “agreement to disagree,” Boeing could pursue several alternatives, all of which were related to Airbus's decision about whether or not to develop the A3XX. This case presents an opportunity for students to make a real downstream decision. It was prepared as a final exam for an introductory decision analysis course involving subjective probability assessment, decision tree modeling, simulation, real options, and game theory. In the analysis of this case, a student is expected to utilize ideas from all five of these areas.