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Beyond Meat: Changing Customer Behaviour in Food Consumption
Chris Laszlo; Katherine Gullett; Peter Rezk; Nilesh RautCase IVEY-9B19A053-EEntrepreneurship, MarketingIn 2014, the founder and chief executive officer of Beyond Meat, Ethan Brown, reflected on the question that had led him to start the company: “How difficult can it be to change what you eat for dinner?” The small start up based in Los Angeles, California, had faced considerable challenges in changing customer perceptions and attitudes since it was founded in 2009. Its intention was to address both health and environmental problems related to mea...Starting at €8.20
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AT&T Wireless: Text Messaging
Vaughan S. Radcliffe; Mitchell Stein; Michael LickverCase IVEY-9B11B005-EAccounting and Control, Marketing, StrategyThis case examines AT&T’s wireless business with a focus on its text messaging services. The industry features a high proportion of fixed costs in relation to acquiring spectrum and building a network. Variable costs are relatively low, especially in the case of SMS text messages. Pricing and margins in text messaging have attracted regulatory scrutiny in the Unites States, Canada, and elsewhere. The case requires the use of key concepts in cost ...Starting at €8.20
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Groupon and the SEC
Vaughan S. Radcliffe; Mitchell Stein; Alexis GottschalkCase IVEY-9B12B002-EAccounting and Control, Finance, StrategyThis case provides an opportunity to review Groupon Inc’s S1 filing made prior to an initial public offering. Groupon’s financial statements attracted a great deal of controversy due to revenue recognition policies that produced substantially higher revenues for the corporation, as well as non-GAAP earnings measures, especially ACSOI — an invention of the firm that served to exclude certain marketing expenses from the calculation of profit. Since...Starting at €8.20
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Pyramyd Air: Looking through the Scope of Values
Chris Laszlo; Katherine GullettCase IVEY-9B13C038-ELeadership and People ManagementPyramyd Air, a small and growing online airgun retailer serving the shooting community, wants to broaden its sustainability practices from its current internal initiatives in order to communicate an even stronger value proposition: sustainability isn’t just about recycling and efficiency, it is about a thriving environment leading to more engaged employees and more loyal premium customers. Though the airgun industry is not by its nature built on ...Starting at €8.20
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Mystery Books Co.: Measuring Performance through Accounting Policy Choices
Vaughan S. Radcliffe; Mitchell Stein; Elaine WangExercise IVEY-W27858-EAccounting and Control, FinanceIn January 2021, the co-founder of Mystery Books Co. (Mystery Books) was evaluating the company’s 2020 performance under the leadership of his daughter as the new chief executive officer. His daughter had ambitions of securing Walmart Inc. as a key client, so the co-founder had promised her an additional performance bonus of 5 per cent of his 30 per cent ownership of common stock if she grew the company’s net income by 20 per cent over the previo...Starting at €8.20
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Storehouse Tea: Cultivating Options for Growth
Chris Laszlo; Katherine Gullett; Stephanie HagenCase IVEY-9B18M202-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn January 2017, the owner and founder of Storehouse Tea based in Cleveland, Ohio, was considering the company’s next move. Storehouse Tea focused on providing organic, fair trade certified teas, and the founder was committed to operating her business in a way that would have a positive impact in the world by providing work to local refugees. However, she wondered how she could scale this impact. Among her options, she could introduce product ext...Starting at €8.20
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Tesla's Non-GAAP Accounting Measurements: Revenue Recognition and Stock-Based Compensation
Martin Persson; Mitchell Stein; Spencer HiggsCase IVEY-9B17B019-EAccounting and ControlIn November 2014, questions were raised about American electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc.'s (Tesla's) accounting practices, which did not follow the generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP). Tesla’s third quarter 2014 financial statements showed a loss of almost US$75 million when using U.S. GAAP standards, compared to a profit of over $5 million when using its own non-GAAP standards. The accounting discrepancy between the two syst...Starting at €8.20
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Centric Consulting Cleveland: Staying True to Core Values
Katherine Gullett; Chris Laszlo; Honghui LiuCase IVEY-9B18C033-ELeadership and People ManagementCentric Cleveland was a business unit of Centric Consulting, a full-service management consulting and technology solutions firm. The firm had been founded with the intention of being different from other consulting firms with regard to building internal and external relationships, developing and supporting employees, adjusting for work-life balance, and being devoted to community service. But in 2015, Centric Cleveland was experiencing rapid grow...Starting at €8.20
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Under Armour Settles with the SEC
Mitchell Stein; Vaughan S. Radcliffe; David BoothCase IVEY-W27293-EAccounting and Control, FinanceIn May 2021, a recent graduate from the master of business administration program at Ivey Business School noticed a news article about one of his investments, the leading athletic apparel company Under Armour, Inc. The article stated that Under Armour, Inc. was fined US$9 Million by the US Security and Exchange Commission. The charges were a result of concerns over the company’s revenue reporting practices, but the company's share price dropped o...Starting at €8.20
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Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability
Chantal van Esch; Chris Laszlo; Katherine Gullett; Ben Cooper; Jingya ZouCase IVEY-9B17M017-EStrategyIn 2014, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Calvert Investments (Calvert) found herself at a crossroads. Under her stewardship, Calvert had become one of the world’s leading investment management firms, specialized in using sustainability as a platform to create value for investors. After having been recruited to the position from Wall Street, the CEO had enthusiastically embraced and encouraged Calvert’s unique positioning for 17 years. The id...Starting at €8.20