The superintendent of the St. Thomas Golf Course had to develop the 2010 operating budget for the maintenance of the golf course and recommend the extent of infrastructure expenditures for the upcoming year. The course was facing increased labour costs due to recent government mandated increases in the minimum wage. The recommendations had to be made in terms of a weak economy in the area and a recent decline in membership. The student must first .....more

A marketing company has collected a large dataset on brand equity for the fast food and travel sectors. They have come up with their way of measuring "brand equity." Various statistical techniques are used to assess the concept of brand equity. These include descriptive statistics, crosstabs, ANOVA and MANOVA.

Lamont, a private golf club, had survived another year, but things weren't like the good old days, when waiting lists to join were long, environmental issues were not front and centre, and outside tournaments as a source of revenue were plentiful. The general manager has to work through a changing environment and the current situation at Lamont to set a new direction for the club. How is the club to grow, given old and new clubs drawing existing .....more

Companies face many challenges as they struggle to move from the start up to growth phase. Management may need to develop new talents. Infrastructure will need to be built and new activities engaged. Blue Orb is such a company. In the summer of 2009, the management team at Blue Orb was transforming the company from a research driven organization, with a specialty product serving a small market, to a direct market retailer playing in the video game .....more

Polar Challenge was a company that offered an annual 320 nautical-mile race to the magnetic North Pole organized by Arctic experts. It had been successful in the United Kingdom, establishing marketing partnerships with the BBC, Sony, Fujitsu and others. Polar Challenge saw the United States market as untapped potential for both sponsors and racers. In 2008, with the centennial of polar exploration approaching in 2009, the company decided to offer .....more

In 2007, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was facing a saturated market for women’s tennis and identified the emerging middle-class in Asia as a growth area. The chief operating officer (COO) of the WTA was faced with a dilemma: He had to decide the new location of the Asian regional office of the WTA and present his recommendation at both the next board meeting and the WTA Global Advisory Council. The COO’s presentation had to include the .....more

In 2007, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was facing a saturated market for women’s tennis and identified Asia as a growth area. Subsequently, it committed to opening a regional office in Beijing but was unsure how to approach staffing the local office. The dilemma revolved around the intricacies of determining the appropriate mix of local employees and expatriates. The goal of the staffing plan was to achieve a quick, efficient and lasting .....more

The new chief executive officer (CEO) of Canada Basketball (CB) is looking back on a very successful 2009 - all four of the country's national teams qualified for their respective World Championships. CB is starting to enjoy serious on-court success, but the CEO is concerned about the program's long-term financial sustainability; he is faced with major cuts to his government funding and is seriously concerned about obtaining private sector .....more

The founder of Play On!, a national street hockey tournament, is in the process of reviewing his venture and determining what led to its failure in 2006. The case focuses on entrepreneurial decision-making, opportunity identification, and the ability to adapt to the environment given new information. This is a two-part case: the first case focuses on the founder's review of his venture in 2006. The supplemental case,"Play On! Weighing .....more

The founder of Play On!, a national street hockey tournament, is in the process of reviewing his venture and determining what led to its failure in 2006. The case focuses on entrepreneurial decision-making, opportunity identification, and the ability to adapt to the environment given new information. This is a two-part case: the first case, "Play On! Building the Entrepreneurial Opportunity," product #9B10M074, focuses on the founder's .....more