WRITTEN Case Assignment: Kendle International 1. How is Kendle doing compared to other CRO companies? In 1990s the consolidation among the CROs began. Together with the increase in the M&A activity industry players started to go public as a response to the growth through the financial “roll-up” strategy. A CRO industry publication listed 18 top players in North America with total contract research revenues of 1,7 billion.
Background and Problem Palliser Furniture Ltd. is Canada’s second largest furniture company. They currently have production facilities in Canada, Mexico, and Indonesia. Due to increasing competitive pressures from Asia, Palliser Furniture must decide whether to expand into the Chinese market, and if so through which entry strategy? External Analysis: (Industry) Porters 5 Forces/SWOT Analysis -Opportunity: China’s total furniture output value was $20 billion and accounted for 10 per cent of world’s total furniture output value. China’s furniture export was growing at an annual rate of over 30 per cent.
Whilst this makes shareholders happy and boosts stock price some external issues and changes in competitive dynamics is making the firm release statements about a change in dividend policy. This puts up a red flag for Ms. Kate Stark of First Equity Securities Corporation, and brings three possible firm actions the she could take into consideration. Industry Environment The deregulation
Executive Summary and Introduction In May 2001, portfolio manager Kimi Ford was considering whether Nike, Inc. would be a good investment option. With an emphasis on value investing, Ford estimated that Nike was undervalued at discount rates below 11.17%. Her assistant Joanna Cohen’s did further calculations and estimated that Nike’s cost of capital was 8.4%. Ford manages a well-diversified portfolio and she has the focus on value investing. Therefore, we assume she would be interested in quality stocks with are fairly priced.
In total, Overstock.com earned $1.05 billion in revenue for FY 2010 which was an increase of 23.4% from the previous year. In terms of liquidity, the company has $12.66 million in operating cash flow. The composition of net sales is approximately 18.4% for the Direct Segment and 80.8% of net sales for Fulfillment Partner Business. The direct segment refers to sales directly to individual consumers from certain offline channels and Overstock.com’s leased warehouses, where purchased surplus inventory is stored and re-sold at a premium on the website. The Fulfillment Partner Business segment refers a 3rd party liaison between customers in search of low prices and retailers & manufacturers that are looking to liquidate.
Summary: Case “Continued Growth for Zara and Inditex” talks about Inditex beased in La Coruna, northwestern Spain which left Gap Inc. behind in 2010 to become the most-selling fashion retailer in the world. Inditex have more than 4,600 in 76 countries. Inditex owns brand Zara, and seven other smaller store brands like Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Zara Home furnishing and few more. The Parent company is facing some problems since 2008 which are competition from GAP Inc, global economic downturn, giving competition to its famous brand Zara are Gucci, Burberry, Louis Vuittton, Italy’s Benetton Group, Forever 21, Japanese Fast Retailing Co., Patagonia Inc., and few others competition, increasing costs where costs are growing faster than sales, late entry into online market, large production at home which is putting supply chain efficiency under pressure, decline in its net profits in 2008, 2009 and global expansion are the problems the company is facing. The Chief Executive of parent company ‘Pablo Isla’ wants Zara to be the fastest globally expanding brand the fashion world have ever seen and be the leader in fashion industry with affordable prices.
Which method is best for calculating the cost of equity? What should Kimi Ford recommend regarding an investment in Nike? Discuss the cash flow presentated and highlight other areas of sensitivity. Problem Identification Discussion of Joanna’s WACC WACC Calculation Recommendation and its support by discussion and analysis. INTRODUCTION Kimi Ford, the portfolio manager of NorthPoint Group, mutual-fund management firm, was considering buying some shares from Nike, Inc. in 2001.
Joanna discussion essay Kimi Ford, a portfolio manager at NorthPoint Group, was considering buying shares of Nike Inc. for the fund she managed. She read through many analyst write-ups on Nike, including all the analyst reports that she could find about the recent meeting Nike had held to disclose its fiscal year 2001 results. The reports showed that while some analysts thought Nike's financial targets were too aggressive, others saw significant growth opportunities in apparel and in Nike's international businesses. Kimi therefore decided to develop her own forecast to come to a clearer conclusion. Her forecast showed that for a discount rate of 12%, Nike was overvalued at its current share price.
Industry Matrix From my research I found Wiggins Payroll’s key success factors to be client training, user friendly web portal, human resource support and fair prices. In reference to the industry matrix you can see Wiggin’s in comparison to two other payroll service companies. Client training is a big factor in the success for Wiggin’s. Many client reviews have justified just that, for example, “They cost less, they
Wal-Mart - Strategic Audit I. Current Situation A. Current Performance In the past year Wal-Mart’s performances in market share, profitability, and return on investment have had significant changes compared to past years performance. * Return on investment now compared to previous years: they are paying out $63.079 billion to their shareholders compared to last years $58.763 billion and an average of $3.09 earnings per share of the 4.068 billion shares out. * Market share today: Out of 2,000 big companies Wal-Mart is at 17 with 201.36 billion in market value and in its industry of retail, Wal-Mart is ranked #1 with Home Depot and Target behind.