The president of Piele S.A., a manufacturer of natural leather products, is reviewing the results of the first half of the year. A team of consultants has been working with the firm to restructure the company's budgeting and reporting systems. The new systems have been in place for six months and the president must analyse the results before meeting with the management team to discuss what actions should be taken for the future.

Intelpyramida Ltd., a small manufacturer of synthetic diamond and cutting tools, has an opportunity to bid on a major job that would require substantial increases to the capacity and output of the company. It will take additional capital for this expansion; however the managing director and founder is concerned that given the poor performance of the firm and the debt it currently has, it may not be possible. He must analyse the company's financial .....more

Song Nam Industries is a manufacturing company that is considering the purchase of a specialized machine to produce a new product. Management must analyse the different types of financing approaches for purchasing the equipment: purchase, lease or issue bonds to raise capital.

For over 50 years, SG Industries has manufactured and sold aircraft jet engines to customers around the world. The marketing manager of the company's spare parts division has learned that a new competitor from a different industry has begun to manufacture a machine part that is similar to one produced and sold by SG. There is, however, one major difference: the wear and durability of the competitor's product has proven to be four times better .....more

Chai-Na-Ta is the world's largest producer, processor and distributor of ginseng. The company is in the process of considering a major expansion strategy. Chai-Na-Ta provides a pension fund manager with information about the business and about the future plans in hopes of attracting investment from the pension plan to the company. The case examines revenue recognition, inventory valuation, deferred expenses, and the relationship between accounting .....more

Kim Tomar has to evaluate bids from potential suppliers for aircraft parts for de Havilland's Dash 8 aircraft. As a financial analyst, Tomar has to make a recommendation to de Havilland's Source Selection Board on the selection of a new supplier. Tomar's recommendation must be based on the prices quoted by the bidders, and her assessment of the firms' ability to be a long-term supplier to de Havilland. This requires a financial analysis .....more

The director of total quality at Eli Lilly Canada Inc. expressed his concern regarding the future of the quality effort within the firm. Despite intensive training of almost everyone and metrics indicating comprehension of the materials by the participants, there are still a few visible sustaining bridges between the quality training efforts and the everyday real work. He was uncertain of what he should do next to move ahead.

Sue Smith and Joel Dean are meeting together to interpret the causes of variance that has been reported for their two products over the past two months. ED TEL has recently introduced a new product reporting system for product managers. This is one of the first times that the managers have been required to use the information given in the report.

The president and owner of a food service business, is concerned about the manner in which his industry prices goods and services. His firm has failed to meet his desired profit margin, and he wonders if there are different pricing options. This is an introductory case in the use of an activity based costing system in the marketing and distribution part of the business.

John Moser is assigned the task of instilling "quality thinking" throughout the firm. He begins by trying to identify what poor quality is currently costing. Hopefully, he can develop a strategy to improve quality in the firm.