| Axeon, N.V.
|
| Illustrates the effects of a management control system and the supporting management processes on one specific, major decision in a decentralized, multinational corporation. The situation, illustrates the real world application of many management accounting concepts, including incremental cost analysis, capital budgeting, sensitivity analysis, and transfer pricing. But perhaps more importantly, the case is about managing the cost/benefit tradeoffs that are inherent in a decentralized firm, especially the conflict between a parent and its foreign subsidiary. Dealing with these behaviors forces students to consider issues about organization design and control system administration. The case is a good vehicle for discussing the advantages and disadvantages of decentralization and the problems faced in administering a control system in a decentralized environment. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
8
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Beifang Chuang Ye Vehicle Group
|
| Describes a simple, but real, example of an uncontrollable factor affecting a company's results. The effects of the uncontrollable event—a change in laws—are huge. Thus the case makes it easy to motivate a discussion of whether managers and salesmen should be protected from the effects of this event, and if so, how. Also provides an opportunity for some useful secondary learning. Students can get an inkling about what managing in China is like. They will see, for example, that Beifang, like most Chinese companies, uses performance-dependent incentive compensation, even though Chinese is an avowedly communist country with a socialist market economy. |
|
| Lin , Thomas W. |
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
3
|
Yes
|
| Developing Country |
| For Profit |
|
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
Boston University Medical Center Hospital
|
| Describes a “bundled pricing” approach to managed care contracting. Bundled pricing is a contracting strategy whereby a hospital and its physicians share the risk of a fixed price contract. The case raises many questions regarding managed care pricing strategies and hospital-physician relationships. Students must analyze the financial implications of the hospital's contracting strategy and propose an implementation approach that provides appropriate incentives for the physicians while minimizing the hospital's risk. |
| |
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Catalytic Solutions, Inc.
|
| The Catalytic Solutions, Inc. (CSI) case was written to motivate a class discussion about some issues commonly related to the design of performance measurement and incentive systems in young, growing firms. The subject firm in this case is privately held, is still in a “pre-profit” situation, and is preparing itself for an IPO in, hopefully, the not-too-distant future. The case describes the company, its competitive advantages and strategy, and the elements of its employees' compensation package. For at least some employees, this package includes three elements: salaries, stock options, and an annual bonus. |
|
| Matejka, Michal |
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
8
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Centuria Health System
|
| Describes an institution that was successful in preparing for a managed care environment. Describes three distinct historical periods: the early period during which the institution was known as the “sleeping giant”, the transitional period typified by attention to staff and the development of a set of values, and the present period. Can be taught as part of a sequence on managing change, and works well with the McKinsey 7S model. |
|
| Barrett, Diana |
| Young, David W. |
|
14
|
Yes
| | |
INT
|
Add
|
| Concord Municipal Hospital Department of Surgery
|
| A case that concerns a new chief of surgery’s need to turn around a department of surgery that is faced with many problems. Not only must she prioritize but she must deal with some internal politics. |
| |
3
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Controls at the Bellagio Casino Resort
|
| This case was designed to (a) illustrate a control system that is dominated by action and personnel controls, rather than results controls, (b) lead to a discussion of what is meant by the term “tight control,” and (c) lead to a discussion of the meaning of what auditors refer to as “internal control,” which is a subset of the broader area of management control. The case describes an excellent system of controls over cash and cash-equivalent stocks and movements thereof. These controls, which fall in the category of internal controls, are necessary but not sufficient to guarantee good management control. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Porter, Leslie R. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
26
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Diagnostic Products Corporation
|
| This case illustrates the control system used in a field service engineer (FSE) setting. The case is particularly interesting because the company, Diagnostic Products Corporation (DPC), is in the midst of a significant change. Formerly, company managers controlled FSE inputs-they paid FSEs for hours worked. Now they are attempting to measure FSE outputs, or results, and to provide performance-dependent compensation.
DPC managers have determined that total customer satisfaction is the primary result of the FSEs' work. But it is not the only important result. They are facing a number of challenges in understanding all of the important result areas, how to measure each of them, and how to weight them in importance. Thus, the case illustrates most of the difficulties companies face in developing a combination-of-measures results control system, one complex form of which is a Balanced Scorecard. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Fletcher Allen Health Care
|
| A lengthy case describing a failed attempt to implement a new strategy and a new management control system. Students must assess where the control system could have been better designed as well as why the implementation effort failed. |
| |
22
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Global Investors, Inc.
|
| This case was written to illustrate a transfer pricing problem in a service setting, here an investment management company. The issues and solutions are not as obvious as in a manufacturing setting where one division produces parts that are transferred to another division for further processing.
The case is a disguised version of a real conflict in which emotions were running high. The case exposes students to a broad range of issues that can be raised when negotiating transfer pricing. These include cost allocation methods, managers' interests and perceptions, organizational roles and conflicts, taxes, ownership structure and manager compensation, and ethics. The case also illustrates that there are often no obvious, clean solutions to transfer pricing problems. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Sandino, Tatiana |
|
11
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Golden Parachutes?
|
| This case was written to illustrate the functioning of a compensation committee of a corporation's board of directors. The specific issue being discussed is the possible approval of a lucrative severance agreement for five members of top management. As with many such issues, the issue presented in the case does not have a clear answer. Judgment is required. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
4
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Accounting |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Haas School of Business
|
| An ethics case in which students must debate the wisdom of a dean’s decision to supplement university-capped faculty salaries with some executive education programs. Boils down to means versus ends. |
|
| Anthony, Robert N. |
| Young, David W. |
|
7
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Hamilton Hospital
|
| The saga of a chief of surgery attempting to implement a group practice in a teaching hospital in order to abide by university salary caps. The implementation process is complicated by a new billing system that provides inaccurate information. |
| |
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Hillside Hospital
|
| The saga of a chief of medicine attempting to implement a group practice in a teaching hospital in order to abide by university salary caps. The implementation process is complicated by a new billing system that provides inaccurate information. Identical to Hamilton Hospital, but set in a department of medicine instead of surgery. |
| |
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Industrial Electronics, Inc.
|
| This case, which is really a short vignette, was written primarily for exam purposes in situations where the examination time is short. But the case can also be used as the basis for a class discussion. It raises a number of issues, including performance measurement, performance standards, functions linking performance with incentive awards, and the behavioral responses by managers and employees to incentives. |
| |
2
|
Yes
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Jefferson Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (A)
|
| Chronicles a change effort initiated by a new department chair in a teaching hospital. He must develop a strategy, and work with faculty to make the needed changes. The B and C cases can be distributed during the discussion. |
| |
4
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Jefferson Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (B)
|
| Chronicles a change effort initiated by a new department chair in a teaching hospital. He must develop a strategy, and work with faculty to make the needed changes. The B and C cases can be distributed during the discussion. |
| |
4
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Jefferson Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (C)
|
| Chronicles a change effort initiated by a new department chair in a teaching hospital. He must develop a strategy, and work with faculty to make the needed changes. The B and C cases can be distributed during the discussion. |
| |
2
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Kooistra Autogroep
|
| Describes a company that has expanded significantly from a small owner-run automobile retailer to a top-20 player in the Dutch car dealership market. To handle the growth, management is making an important transition from a primarily centralized organization to a decentralized one. This transition allows the case to be used to motivate discussions of a number of substantive issues, including the effects of an organization's growth and competitive environment on its organization structure and management control system design, advantages and disadvantages of decentralization, and design of control systems in decentralized organizations. Can be used in conjunction with the Puente Hills Toyota case study to discuss whether incentives are effective in driving performance. |
|
| Jansen, Pieter |
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
8
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Kranworth Chair Corporation
|
| Describes a company that is making an important transition-from a functional organization structure a divisionalized one. The case to be used to motivate discussion of a number of substantive issues, including the effects of an organization's strategy, growth, and competitive environment on its management control system design; advantages and disadvantages of decentralization; design of control systems in a divisionalized company, and design and implementation of performance evaluation and incentive systems associated with changes in organizational design and the allocation of organizational decision rights, in particular.
The case also provides some details about KCC's early experiences with the new organizational structure and management control system design, thereby providing opportunities for students to suggest possible improvements.
|
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Kyle Evans (A)
|
| A conflict management case in which the issues are being discussed by E-mail and the matter is becoming increasingly inflamed.
|
| |
8
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Kyle Evans (B)
|
| A follow-on to the (A) case in which students are asked to reflect on how the situation could have been handled better, and what should be done now.
|
| |
1
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Landale PLC
|
| This case was written to illustrate some “personnel” controls used in the finance and accounting organization of a consumer products company. It focuses on a thoughtful job rotation program designed to build the career skills of younger employees and the issues the company faced in setting up and administering such a program. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
11
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Las Ferreterías de México, S.A. de C.V.
|
| Illustrates some of the basic problems with the return on investment (ROI) measure of performance. The problems arise in both the numerator (profit) and denominator (investment) of the ROI measures. The case provides sufficient detail to allow students to discuss both how to measure the basic elements of profits and investments and the behavioral implications of the use of these measures. Students should also consider alternatives to the use of ROI measures.
The case also allows for discussion of some other issues that managers face in the design and implementation of incentive systems. These include decisions about which employees to include in the plan, what target bonus to set for each type of employee included, whether to use a bonus pool feature, how to design the function linking performance measures and incentive awards, and how to set fair performance standards for all employees |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
4
|
Yes
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Lawrence University Medical Center
|
| A chief of medicine is faced with multiple demands on his time and is attempting to prioritize. Students must determine which problems require his involvement and which do not. |
| |
5
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
|
| |
4
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
|
| |
3
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
|
|
| Young, David W. |
| Leddy, Sheila |
|
10
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Marketing |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
2
|
No
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
|
| Anthony, Robert N. |
| Young, David W. |
|
8
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
|
| |
4
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Conflict Management
|
| Discusses the role of conflict in organizations, and the importance of managing it well if the organization is to learn as much about its environment as possible. |
| |
10
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Cultural Maintenance
|
| Defines and discusses the importance of organizational culture. Addresses how leaders can manage culture using a variety of levers available to them. |
| |
12
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
7
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
|
| |
8
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Leadership
|
| Discusses the 7 levers that leaders can use to guide their organizations toward high performance. Links leadership to Chester Barnard’s Functions of the Executive, and contrasts the 7 levers with the McKenzie Ss in the 7S-model.
|
| |
11
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Management Accounting in Context
|
| Discusses management control system design, and its link to activities such as strategy formulation, culture, customer management, conflict management, and motivation. Contains a managerial checklist and a practice case study. |
| |
15
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Motivation
|
| Discusses the many issues involved in motivating employees, including the role of contingent compensation. Links the motivation process to several other organizational processes, such as culture and management control. |
| |
10
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
17
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Operations Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Six Sigma
|
| Explains what Six Sigma is and how to undertake a quality improvement effort using its concepts.
|
| |
4
|
No
| |
| Operations Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Office of Community Development
|
| A case about where to place the budget branch: with the accountants or with the planners and programmers? It’s location will have a big impact on how budgeting takes place. |
|
| Young, David W. |
| Taylor, Graeme M. |
|
5
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Olympic Car Wash
|
| This is a case that links a flexible budget to a bonus system. The question is “how large should the bonus pool be based on what the manager can and cannot control?” The case is not as simple as it might first seem. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
2
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Park Nicollet
|
| A young physician has been assigned responsibility for working with a task force to develop a clinical guideline for urinary tract infections. She must answer several questions, including membership on the task force, time frame, and needed resources. |
| |
2
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Penn State-Geisinger Health System
|
| A variety of decisions faces the senior management team of the newly merged entity (which became unmerged several years later). Responsibility center design is complicated by a combination of programs and regions. Capital investment is also complicated, as is attaining the "right" balance between centralization and decentralization. |
| |
4
|
No
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Philip Anderson
|
| This case illustrates a common control system dysfunctional side-effect-incentives-caused conflicts of interest faced by brokers in the retail brokerage industry. Sometimes brokers are torn between serving their clients' and their firms' best interests. This case can be taught from the perspective of Philip Anderson, the branch manager, which makes it an ethics case. Does Philip have an ethical obligation to serve his clients' interests to the best of his ability, even at some cost to his firm and, presumably, himself? The ethics discussion can also be continued at both the firm and industry levels of analysis. What should financial service firms' stance be in situations like this? Do they want brokers to maximize long-term profits even if that does not serve their client base optimally? Are brokers more like professional advisors or salespeople? |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
2
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Platinum Pointe Land Deal, The
|
| This case illustrates an elaborate pre-action review, a proposal to buy a significant piece of land on which to build homes. Students can study and critique this “capital budgeting-like” analysis, and they will probably conclude that the process is, in general, quite well thought out. But the case also adds a twist that illustrates how soft these forecasts about the future can be. The division manager is contemplating adding “a little optimism” to improve the likelihood that this project will get funded. This twist can also be used to motivate an ethical discussion. |
| |
7
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Preferred Health Network, Inc.
|
| A managed care plan has instituted a reporting system that compares physicians’ practice patterns to some national standards in an effort to control utilization. Physicians’ reactions are mixed. Management now must decide the next steps to take. |
|
| Barrett, Diana |
| Young, David W. |
|
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| South Central Mental Health Association
|
| An almost failed attempt to implement a new management control/management information system in a mental health agency. Providers are mixed in their views, but some are openly opposing it. Students must diagnose the various reasons for the difficulties and propose some next steps. |
|
| Charns, Martin P. |
| Young, David W. |
|
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Southern California Edison
|
| The Southern California Edison (SCE) case motivates a discussion of whether companies should make adjustments for uncontrollable factors that affect the measures on which managers are being evaluated, and if so, how.
SCE faced a “tsunami-like” event-the California Energy Crisis of 2000 and 2001 caused, in part, by Enron managers' manipulation of the power markets. Interestingly, though, not all students will agree that the event was completely uncontrollable by management. Therefore, the case allows a discussion of which circumstances should be considered partially or completely uncontrollable by management, and commensurate with these judgments, which adjustments should be made to measured performance for which purposes.
|
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
10
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Southern Seattle University Health System (A)
|
| Similar to Southern State UHS, but in two parts. In the A case, students must consider the responsibility center structure in the department of medicine, and assess how the budget has been constructed. In the B case, they are given enough data to build a budget themselves on a spreadsheet, using cost drivers. |
| |
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Southern Seattle University Health System (B)
|
| Similar to Southern State UHS, but in two parts. In the A case, students must consider the responsibility center structure in the department of medicine, and assess how the budget has been constructed. In the B case, they are given enough data to build a budget themselves on a spreadsheet, using cost drivers. |
| |
4
|
Yes
|
| Healthcare Management |
| Nonprofit |
|
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Superconductor Technologies, Inc.
|
| This case describes the compensation and incentive plans used by a high-technology company for its top-30 managers. The company is unusual in that it has been in business for 17 years yet has never earned a profit. As such, it can still be viewed as a start-up company, but a mature one. The compensation packages consist of base salary, cash bonuses, and stock options. The case provides opportunities to discuss issues, such as measurements, style of evaluations, and payout leverage, related to, particularly, the bonus and stock option components of these packages, as well as the entire compensation system. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
9
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| The Expiring Software License
|
| This case was written to motivate a control-related ethical discussion of a relatively common type of circumstance, where a manager knowingly violates company policy for a noble purpose. In this situation, the manager evades a limit placed on his purchasing card. If he did not violate the policy, an important software package whose license had expired would be shut down, causing a significant disruption. Such situations, which occur in many different forms, are caused by poor, often obsolete, behavioral restrictions. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Porter, Leslie R. |
|
1
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Tsinghua Tongfang Co., Ltd.
|
| This case was written to illustrate the control systems used at upper management levels by a Chinese high-technology company. The case describes a number of bureaucratic controls that limit the autonomy of the company's managers. It also describes the company's performance evaluation and incentive systems and the company's desire to add a stock option plan when and if doing so becomes legal in China. U.S. students, in particular, might be surprised that a Chinese corporation has such lucrative incentive plans. Historically such plans were rare in China, but they are becoming more popular as China builds its “socialist market economy.”
Use of the case is best if students have either studied other control and performance evaluation and incentive systems so that they have a point of reference, or if they are at least somewhat familiar with the business situation in China. |
|
| Lin , Thomas W. |
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
|
7
|
Yes
|
| Developing Country |
| For Profit |
|
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Union Medical Center
|
| Set in the context of a hospital that is attempting to develop a management control system in response to the constraints imposed upon it by Medicare's diagnosis-related group (DRG) form of reimbursement. The control system contains a set of reports that meets many of the criteria for good reports: they are hierarchical, they distinguish between controllable and non-controllable costs, and they focus on personal responsibility. There nevertheless are some important unanswered questions about the way the control system works, and some improvements that could be made to the reports. In addition, physicians are resisting the system. |
|
| Kane, Nancy M. |
| Young, David W. |
|
6
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Usuluteca (B)
|
| A follow-on to the (A) case. The director of maternal and child health services is attempting to develop a policy for essential drugs. He has convened a meeting with many of the interest groups. Not surprisingly, they don’t agree. Students must identify the policy options and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. They also must do a stakeholder analysis. |
| |
5
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Zumwald, A.G.
|
| This case describes a transfer pricing issue that is common in decentralized, divisionalized firms. The case raises issues about internal pricing and, more generally, the operation of a decentralized management structure. |
|
| Merchant, Kenneth A. |
| Van der Stede, Wim A. |
|
3
|
Yes
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|