Henry Franklin works at Sunshine O.J. (Sunshine), a three-year-old, fast-growing organic orange juice manufacturer near Charleston, South Carolina. Before his employment at Sunshine, Franklin worked for about two decades in his family's business, Franklin's Hardware. Franklin learned a great deal during his time in the hardware business and hopes to use some of his insights to help Sunshine, which
The B case in this series picks up after the protagonist, Henry Franklin, has delivered his recommendation to use "first in, first out" (FIFO) accounting to the management of Sunshine O.J. (Sunshine). CEO Don Sanchez is impressed with Franklin's idea and asks him and his boss, Virginia Silverstein, to look into another problem at the company: inventory stockouts.
This case covers the initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens subsidiary Healthineers. The March 2018 offering of the health care technology firm was heavily anticipated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and was Germany's largest IPO in more than 20 years.
Healthineers was one of Siemens' most successful businesses, and its management board had a keen interest in its long-term success and in th
Tessa Lyons was a rising star at Facebook. She had been the project manager in charge of news feed integrity for a little over a year, stationed at the front lines in the battle against misinformation and "fake news." However, in early 2019, she faced an ethical dilemma that could define her tenure at the company and perhaps her career: whether to ban Alex Jones and the content from his platform,
An MBA graduate prepares for a possible interview with Caterpillar Inc. by reading about the company's longtime presence in China manufacturing heavy equipment and its continued optimism about the heavy equipment market in that country. He also learns that the company financed part of its operations and growth in China by issuing bonds in Hong Kong and wonders whether the company would return to t
Preparing for a potential interview, an MBA graduate reads extensively about Daimler AG. She learns about company's longtime presence in China manufacturing luxury automobiles and its continued investment in manufacturing and R&D capacity in that country. She also learns that the company financed part of its operations and growth in China by issuing bonds in both China and Hong Kong and wonders wh
This case uses the streamlining of pharmaceutical distribution to explore supply-chain coordination. For years, supply-chain inventory information had been opaque. Then in the early 2000s, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors were forced to shift from investment buying to inventory service agreements. Information sharing among channel partners regarding customer demand and inventories was
Eric Walsh, newly promoted director of aviation for Pacific National Industries, Inc. (PNI), is one week away from having to make his very first presentation to the company's COO and CFO. PNI is one of the country's largest chemical companies, and maintained four aircraft and a team of flight and maintenance crewmembers to facilitate executive travel to and from the company's many plants and opera
This field-based case uses the experiences of an equity analyst at his first job post-MBA to explore challenges of persuading a boss to support an action that the analyst determined would benefit the firm. In the A case, Fred Hill had been at his job for two years and believed he had come across a fresh idea?a long stock position in J. C. Penney (JCP). The company was misunderstood by the market,
This field-based case uses the experiences of an equity analyst at his first job post-MBA to explore challenges of persuading a boss to support an action that the analyst determined would benefit the firm. In the A case, Fred Hill had been at his job for two years and believed he had come across a fresh idea?a long stock position in J. C. Penney (JCP). The company was misunderstood by the market,
Service systems are inherently subject to variability, whether through customers, service providers, suppliers, or unexpected events. Yet customers demand excellence and consistency regardless of this variability. In general, there are two ways to handle this variability—through people or through processes. We use the concept of robustness to describe these two approaches. This case uses an invent
A young, female investment banker has just been unexpectedly promoted to managing director of her group—but she'll be taking her mentor's job while he is pushed out over a 10-month stint as a "senior adviser" in their group. This case offers students two decision points and opportunities to practice difficult conversations: first, what should she do, and how, when she first learns of her promotion
