Write a Case Study: Decision-Making Crisis

The Case
How could a sunny February afternoon take such a turn for the worse? The clock ticked in the MIT Sloan Student Life Office (SLO), where the three Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) club co-presidents and two conference directors were gathered. SWIM’s 3rd annual conference, aptly named “Dare to Fail: Taking Risks When it Matters Most,” which was 11 months in the making, had been scheduled to take place the next day. A winter storm was looming, with weather predictions varying widely from three to 50 inches of snow in the next 48 hours. It was almost 2:00 pm and a decision had to be made – setup was slated to begin in minutes, and speakers were boarding their flights for Boston. Should the conference be canceled, modified, or go forward as planned?
SLO Associate Director Marco Esquandolas looked at the five women seated in front of him and asked, “Ladies, what is your final call?”
At 1:30 pm on Thursday, February 7, SWIM’s three co-presidents and two conference directors, who had been in varying states of misalignment and frustration for so long, met with Marco in his office to sort through their options. Weather reports had been monitored from different networks. Now, there was every indication that a storm would hit Boston at some point, but most networks expected the storm to hit after 12:00 pm on Friday, while others said it could be as late as Friday night. It was simply too early to tell. The unprecedented decision before them was whether to cancel the conference for a potentially monstrous snowstorm when there was not a cloud in the sky or a snowflake on the ground.
Janet and Merrill collected a status update of where each speaker was, and when planes would begin taking off toward Boston. They confirmed that all 15 speakers were unfazed by weather reports and were ready to attend the conference the next day, regardless of the potential snowstorm. One had already changed her ticket to fly in earlier to avoid any airport closings, and a second could not be reached as she was already on a flight from London.
At precisely 2:00 pm, vendors would begin setting up the venue and SWIM would be liable for the costs. Further, if MIT closed, the rental fees would triple from a one-day rental to daily rentals through the weekend, when the rentals could be picked up. Lea did a back of the envelope calculation and quickly saw that if the conference was canceled after vendors arrived, the costs could increase significantly. The catering company had already warned her that it was too late to cancel the perishable food items that had been prepared for the conference – it was unclear what percentage of the $13,000 catering bill would be recoverable. Lea knew what her vote was, but she was curious to see which way her two co-presidents were leaning.
Rescheduling was not an option for the team. With only three months left before the conference leadership team graduated it would be impossible to find a date that worked for all, or even most, of the speakers. Additionally, because the venue had no availability in March, April, or May, the team would need to find a new location for a rescheduled conference. They would in effect be planning an entirely new conference in one-quarter of the time it took to plan the initial conference. For these reasons, they knew rescheduling would not work.
The MIT administration had not yet closed the Institute and would not comment on any possibilities. MIT rarely closed its doors, but if it did no events would be allowed on campus, including the conference.
What would happen if the conference was not canceled, and MIT closed later that night?
What if the conference was canceled, MIT did not close, and the storm only hit Friday night?
What would be the fallout with attendees and corporate sponsors?
Would SWIM’s reputation be impacted?
Would they be able to secure sponsorship funds in the future?
What if attendees did show up for the conference? Was there a risk of them being snowed in?
If the team opted to cancel the conference, would they be forced to give back ticket revenue?
If so, how would that affect the bottom line?
Could they really give up on the event for which they had sacrificed and devoted a significant amount of time?
The entire conference revolved around the theme of coming to the brink of failure and still finding a way to succeed. With graduation around the corner, there would be no second chances.
Given that most weather forecasts suggested that snowfall would only begin at 12:00 pm Friday, and would not escalate until early evening, Merrill began championing the idea of a half-day conference.
Could they run the events concurrently instead of sequentially, giving attendees the option to choose which speaker to hear?
Since the event space would be set up for one speaker at a time, would it even be feasible?
Would attendees show up for a conference that only lasted three hours?
If not, would low attendance be disrespectful to the high-profile speakers?
The conference directors and co-presidents narrowed it down to three choices:
Cancel the conference before 2:00 pm, thus saving operational costs that would otherwise be incurred.
Hold a half-day conference with concurrent speakers.
Having more accurate forecasts and updates on speaker travel plans, wait until Thursday night to decide.
In his facilitator role, Marco Esquandolas remained an impartial observer, telling them,
The way I look at clubs on campus is that it is your chance to practice management. You put this all together. You know best if you should cancel or go forward. In all my years here, this situation is unprecedented. If it is canceled, it will be devastating. If there is a storm, it will be devastating. If there is no storm, it will be devastating. I will support whatever decision you make.
The women discussed their options at a rapid pace, knowing the minutes were winding down.
How would speakers react if the conference had to be canceled after they had already flown in?
Would companies expect sponsorship money to be returned?
What was best for the safety of attendees?
How much of the setup cost would be sunk if they postponed the decision?
If first-year students never got to see a conference executed, what would a cancelation mean for the legacy of SWIM?
What alternate venues could accommodate the conference if MIT closed?
Would it even snow?
The only thing they were sure of was that whatever decision they made would have a long-lasting impact on the event and organization that they were so dedicated to.
Case Analysis The SWIM team has hired you as a consultant to monitor, analyze, and make recommendations that would steer the sustainability of the organization. You have been present during the decision-making process for their conference. They have asked you to present your assessment and recommendations. Your report is organized around the following framework.
Section A
Identify areas of strength. Include your reasoning for classifying the areas as strengths. Offer some suggestions on how they can expand these areas further. (300 words)
Offer an analysis of their conference process and provide recommendations that would help improve their process. Provide rationale(s) for your choice(s). (400 words)
Identify 3-5 consequences of the resolution(s) you recommend. (300 words)
Offer suggestions on processes SWIM can use to develop contingency plans in the future? (400 words)
Explain why you believe it is difficult to engage in decision-making in organizations. (300 words)
Notes for Students
Students who have produced high-quality essays in the past cover the following:
decision-making models,
the need for contingency planning, and
risk assessment, with details of what that might look like for this organization.
High-quality essays offer suggestions for contingency planning or risk assessment tools that can be used.They cover a variety of reasons for challenging group dynamics.

Examine revenues, expenses, and adjusting entries with the profession’s commitment to ethics)

Assignment Details
Here is an opportunity to connect your current learning about revenues, expenses and adjusting entries with the profession’s commitment to ethics.
EC3: Russell Company is a pesticide manufacturer. Its sales declined greatly this year due to the passage of legislation outlawing the sale of several of Russell’s chemical pesticides. In the coming year, Russell will have environmentally safe and competitive chemicals to replace these discontinued products. Sales in the next year are expected to greatly exceed those from any prior years. The decline in sales and profits appears to be a one-year aberration. But even so, the company president fears a large dip in the current year’s profits. He believes that such a dip could cause a significant drop in the market price of Russell’s stock and make the company a takeover target.
To avoid this possibility, the company president calls in Zoe Baas, controller, to discuss this period’s year-end adjusting entries. He urges her to accrue every possible revenue and to defer as many expenses as possible. He says to Zoe, “We need the revenues this year, and next year can easily absorb expenses deferred from this year. We can’t let our stock price be hammered down!” Zoe didn’t get around to recording the adjusting entries until January 17, but she dated the entries December 31 as if they were recorded then. Zoe also made every effort to comply with the president’s request.
Weygandt, J.J., Kimmel, P.D., & Kieso, D.E (2021). Accounting Principles (14th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Assignment Respond thoroughly to the following questions in your PowerPoint presentation:
Who are the stakeholders in this situation?
What are the ethical considerations of (a) the president’s request and (b) Zoe dating the adjusting entries December 31?
Can Zoe accrue revenues, defer expenses, and still be ethical?
Can Zoe’s accrued revenues and deferred expenses be illegal?
Who do you think can discover Zoe’s accrued revenues and deferred expenses?
Prepare a Microsoft® PowerPoint® Presentation answering the questions presented in this Assignment and record the presentation with your voice.

As a decidedly Christian institution, how has Tabor helped you to think about your faith throughout the MBA program?

How long does this need to be? As long as it needs to be to fully answer the questions. However, I would say the typical papers have been between 12 and 16 pages.
2) How formal does this need to be? This is your cumulative paper which synthesizes your MBA experience and learning. Therefore, this should be a formal paper with front and back matter. It must follow APA style requirements. It should be typed in Times New Roman 12pt. font with 1” margins. It should be double-spaced with a running head and page numbers. This paper should include an introduction and conclusion in addition to the four parts.
3) What should be included in the paper? The life plan project is a comprehensive paper that encourages students to synthesize the cumulation of personal and academic learning that they have processed throughout the MBA Leadership Program.
The life plan will be divided into four sections:
1. Leadership: Students will summarize the learning gained from this MBA program, with a focus on leadership. Students may include other learning that they believe has helped them to grow as a business professional. This section is focused on a synthesized review of key insights from the texts that have been engaged throughout the program. The goal is to provide a well-defined understand of leadership, including the student’s personal definition of leadership as well as what they believe to be the top qualities or characteristics of good leaders. The students will explain how those will guide their future leadership. (I will be looking for citations from textbooks from previous classes. Do not just list learning textbook by textbook. Synthesize your understanding of leadership from the readings).
2. Faith: Students will summarize their views on the role of faith withing leadership, answering the question as to what role faith should play in leadership in secular organizations. The students will explain how their beliefs and values will guide their future leadership. As a decidedly Christian institution, how has Tabor helped you to think about your faith throughout the MBA program?
3. Whole Person Assessment: Students will summarize the learning they have gained from the personal assessments that they have completed throughout the program, such as the Strength Finder, Highlands Ability Battery, DISC Personality Profile, and Spiritual Gifts Assessments. Based on a holistic view of the assessments, students will develop a whole person profile of themselves evaluating their personal strengths and challenges. The students will explain how they will utilize their strengths and compensate for their challenges in their future leadership. (The goal is to put it all together. Here is an example from myself: Spiritual Gifts: Leadership, Teaching, Evangelism, Knowledge; Passion: Developing others through teaching and mentoring; Abilities: Consultative networker who likes to create; Skills: Writing and speaking to communicate complex truth in understandable ways; Personality: Driving influencer or campaigner; Experience: A lot of training and experience teaching adults. Therefore, I believe that based on my whole person, I am well-suited for finding creative methods for energizing and training adults to face adaptive challenges. Now, I would need to unpack that in the paper). 4. Personal Mission and Vision: Students will develop their own personal mission statement as well as a vision for their future leadership. Students will discuss how the program has prepared them for their future leadership and what changes they have made throughout to program in order to create a more preferable future for themselves. Students will describe where they see themselves in the future and how this MBA program has prepared them to achieve that vision, with a specific focus on their professional goals. Students will provide a detailed game plan for achieving their vision

Think about how you write on a daily basis and what kinds of written communication in which you participate: writing letters, cards, texts, instant messages (IMs), social media posts, emails?

How do you write?
Think about how you write on a daily basis and what kinds of written communication in which you participate: writing letters, cards, texts, instant messages (IMs), social media posts, emails? Do you read texts or messages, plan your reply, type it and then re-read it before sending? Or, are you the one that just reads and responds? Later you look at the message you sent and laugh when you see all of your typos and interesting autocorrections. For this discussion, evaluate your writing processes and how you use each by answering the following in your initial post.
If you are typing a text to a friend, what is your process? If you type a text to your boss what is your process? How are your processes alike or different? Does your audience make a difference?
Which social media platforms do you use? Do you use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Blogs? When you’re posting on Facebook, what do you do? How about when you’re posting on Snapchat or LinkedIn? Choose two social media platforms you use and describe your writing process with both. Compare and contrast your writing processes and explain why they are alike or different.

Write a case study about The fashion Channel by Wendy Stahl.

Write a case study about The fashion Channel by Wendy Stahl.

Content for the page:
•State the problem. Begin your paper with a statement of the main problem. Your problem statement should not be an
exhaustive list of everything that is wrong. Rather, it should be one or two central issues around which all else are
organized. You should be able to state a problem in three sentences, or less.
•Analyze the problem. This is where you identify relevant facts from the case and apply a conceptual model to diagnose
the problem. Analyze the problem you identified (and not some other problem). Organize the facts into a coherent
whole as if you were presenting evidence to persuade a skeptic. Clearly state any assumptions that you have made.
Provide evidence from the case to support your analysis: use quotes, numbers, and facts from the case or other sources.
Analyze the problem using a conceptual model from the readings or lectures. Apply the conceptual model fully and
explicitly; do not “cherry pick.”
•State potential solutions to the problem. State all the potential solutions that you have developed to potentially solve the
problem. You must state the potential solutions and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each of the potential
solutions that you have stated. You must provide multiple potential solutions, not just one. Do not simply restate potential
solutions contained in the case.
•Recommend a solution and explain your rationale for the recommended solution. Recommend one or more of the
potential solutions that you have previously stated and provide an explanation for the solution that you have
recommended. You should only recommend a solution that you previously discussed.