Ivey Business School (Canada)
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United Airlines: Frequent Flyer Program
Won-Yong OhCase IVEY-9B16M037-EStrategyFrom 1980 to 2010, frequent flyer programs (FFPs) had evolved from simple customer reward programs to independent profit-generation business models. The airline industry had seen enormous success with FFPs, which had become businesses of their own. In June 2014, however, United Airlines announced that as of March 1, 2015, it would move from awarding miles based on distance flown to awarding miles for dollars spent per ticket, following in the foo...Starting at €8.20
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Nordstrom: Expansion into Canada
Won-Yong Oh; Duane MyerCase IVEY-9B16M185-EStrategyIn August 2016, it had been almost two years since American fashion retailer Nordstrom opened its first Canadian store in Calgary. Nordstrom believed Canada to be an ideal location for its global expansion. Executives identified the country as a potential US$1 billion opportunity with no language barrier and a population with a higher average income than in the United States. Despite this enticing potential market, Nordstrom executives entered Ca...Starting at €8.20
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Amazon.com: Evolving Into Offline Retail
Won-Yong OhCase IVEY-9B18M026-EStrategyIn late 2015, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) opened its first brick-and-mortar Amazon Books store in the United States. Amazon had invested heavily in expanding in the United States through new projects, from establishing Amazon Prime Now to setting up Amazon Books and Amazon Go locations. By 2017, a rumour suggested that Amazon might acquire Whole Foods Market Inc., a natural and organic foods supermarket. Could Amazon be as successful in offline ret...Starting at €8.20
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Porter Airlines: We Want to Fly You Further
Won-Yong Oh; Minsoo Seo; Michelle JinCase IVEY-9B16M194-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn 2013, the chief executive officer of Porter Airlines, a Toronto-based regional airline, announced an expansion project to expand the airline’s destinations. The project required that Porter Airlines expand its fleet of jets to accommodate longer distances, and that its transport hub, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, be renovated. The airport was governed by a tripartite agreement between the federal government, the City of Toronto, and P...Starting at €8.20
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Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry
Won-Yong Oh; Duane MyerCase IVEY-9B16M092-EStrategySprint Corporation, a major U.S. wireless carrier, had been losing customers and suffering financially since its merger with Nextel in 2005. Sprint was also ranked the lowest among major U.S. carriers in terms of network speed and data performance. But a new opportunity emerged when the SoftBank Group acquired Sprint in 2013. The new chief executive officer (CEO), appointed in August 2014, publicly gave himself three to five years to turn around ...Starting at €8.20
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Las Vegas Construction: Ethical Contracting
Won-Yong Oh; Youngkyun ChangCase IVEY-9B17M047-EStrategyIn December 2015, the head of supply chain management (SCM) at Las Vegas Construction Inc. was tasked with reducing operating costs by 25 per cent in order to deal with the fallout in Nevada’s construction industry from the global economic downturn. The SCM head had engaged the manager in charge of subcontracting to help with cost reductions. The subcontracting manager did find a way to reduce costs, but it turned out to be a questionable way. He...Starting at €8.20
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Apple: Corporate Governance and Stock Buyback
Won-Yong Oh; Seoyeon ParkCase IVEY-9B14M165-EStrategyAn activist shareholder who invested a significant amount in Apple’s stock proposed a share repurchase program. If this proposal were approved at the annual shareholder’s meeting, Apple would be in a position to buy back a significant number of its shares on the stock market, which would drive up the stock price. However, the executives and board of directors opposed the proposal and recommended that the shareholders vote against it. Apple’s subs...Starting at €8.20
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Netflix: International Expansion
Won-Yong Oh; Duane MyerCase IVEY-9B16M070-EStrategyNetflix adopted an aggressive growth strategy to establish itself as a global force in the video streaming industry. To solidify its position as an industry leader, Netflix invested heavily in the production of in-house content. In January 2016, to deal with slow growth in the domestic market, the company announced an aggressive expansion of its services into a total of 190 countries, thereby giving Netflix coverage over nearly the entire world. ...Starting at €8.20
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Las Vegas Sands Corp: Pricing Game In Vegas
Seok Woo Kwon; Won-Yong Oh; Brooke MiskimanCase IVEY-9B17A067-EMarketingIn 2016, MGM Resorts International announced it would break with the long-standing tradition of providing free parking on the Las Vegas Strip. Other Las Vegas resort companies, including Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts, soon followed suit. Las Vegas Sands Corp. owned the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, the Palazzo, and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and had no plans to charge for parking. By 2017, as more hotels and casinos chose to i...Starting at €8.20
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Gravity Payments: $70,000 Minimum Salary Company
Won-Yong Oh; Youngkyun ChangCase IVEY-9B16C001-EEntrepreneurship, Leadership and People ManagementIn April 2015, Dan Price, chief executive officer and founder of Gravity Payments, a private credit card processing and financial services company, announced that every employee would receive a minimum annual salary of US$70,000 over the next three years. Price said he was concerned about the increasing pay gap in the United States and news of his bold move went viral, causing debate over employee compensation plans and the wealth gap in society....Starting at €8.20