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  CASE STUDIES
The following case studies are available on loan. Please contact FBRC to find out how you can get a copy of these cases.
   
  1. INCOME REPLACEMENT INSURANCE FOR ELAINE AND TOM
(Foerster SR; Meinig S) Case Number: 992B009

Elaine and Tom reflected on recent changes in their lives: marriage, a new house, parenthood. Because their lifestyle depended on both their incomes, they were concerned about the potential loss of income due to death or disability of one of them. Consequently, they were investigating various options for disability and life insurance.
Issues: Insurance, Family-Work Interaction
Length: 9 pages
   
  2. BARRY WRIGHT (Frost AC) Case Number: 996C004
Barry Wright, a chartered accountant with a large Vancouver chartered accounting firm, faces a career dilemma. Recently separated, with joint custody of his two young children, Barry finds himself unable to log the number of hours traditionally required to achieve partner status within his accounting firm. Barry faces the choice of staying with his firm on the partnership track or accepting a job with another firm in the oil and gas industry that would not require the same number of hours.
Issues: Family-Work Interaction, Partnership
Length: 6 pages
   
  3. BHIWAR ENTERPRISES
(DiStefano JJ; Brannan G) Case Number: 986C051

A nephew in an Indian family business had prepared a consulting report advocating changes in organizational structure and practices. His North American MBA training has influenced both the content of his recommendations and the process of suggesting them. Both the content and the process violate norms of the Indian culture as well as those of the African culture in which the family business has flourished for 40 years. The problem is what to do given that his actions and report have stirred up deep feelings and conflicts within the family business.
Issues: Intercultural Relations, Family-Work Interaction, Consulting
Length:10 pages
   
  4. JAMES REED (A)
(Rothstein M) Case Number: 995C025

James Reed is a mid-career, extremely successful consultant. His job is demanding ever-increasing amounts of time and commitment. The pressures to produce from his boss and clients are becoming more difficult to manage. His family life is suffering and he realizes he must come to terms with balancing his career and family needs, but how?
Issues: Career Development, Family-Work Interaction, Consulting, Organizational Behavior Length: 8 pages
   
  5. JAMES REED (B)
(Rothstein M) Case Number: 998C018

A former consultant explains the reasons for his decision to leave a successful position in a prominent consulting company. As a result of stress on his family and personal life, and a growing dissatisfaction with certain aspects of his job (see James Reed, case number 995C025), he describes how he came to a decision to make a significant career transition. The role of self-assessment and the analysis of it with potential opportunities is described as it pertains to this decision.
Issues: Career Development, Family-Work Interaction, Career Planning, Consulting
Length: 4 pages
   
  6. TAI PO FRUIT TRADERS LTD. - SELL THE FAMILY BUSINESS?
(A) (DiStefano JJ; Gleave T) Case Number: 998F002

The general manager of Tai Po Fruit Traders faces a difficult decision whether to sell the family business to a publicly listed company with the needed resources and experience to bring the firm to the next level of success. Complicated by complex family relations, including the death of his uncle who ran an Indonesian subsidiary and his father's departure to attend to the large losses from this business, David Chan wonders what the best course of action is. Not the least of his concerns is the increased importance of Mainland China business to his Hong Kong company and the problematic nature of some of these activities. In addition, he has a personal ambition to practice law, after suspending these interests for several years to serve the family's needs. The case involves classic problems of transition in a family-owned business that needs to be resolved. (A supplement to this case under the same name, case 9A98F002, addresses a number of social and emotional complexities.)
Issues: Family-Work Interaction, Value Analysis, Decision Analysis, Growth
Length: 11 pages
   
  7. TAI PO FRUIT TRADERS LTD. - SELL THE FAMILY BUSINESS?
(B) (DiStefano JJ; Gleave T) Case Number: 998F003

Having decided it was time to sell the family business, David Chan developed a set of criteria for selecting a potential buyer and had applied them to eliminate all but Canton Holdings Ltd., a large, publicly traded firm active in many fields connected to food processing and sales. Now he was having second thoughts. Should he proceed with the deal, renegotiate the terms, or cancel the deal and keep the business in the family after all? Financial, personal and family issues combined to make it a hard choice. The purpose is to reveal the rational criteria for decision-making are important, but do not automatically resolve issues involving social and emotional complexities. The case provides a way to explore the psycho-dynamics of decision-making. (This case acts as a sequel to Tai Po Fruit Traders Ltd. - Sell the Family Business? (A), case 9A98F002.)
Issues: Family-Work Interaction, Value Analysis, Decision Analysis, Growth
Length: 5 pages
   
  8. WILKINSON TYPEWRITERS
(Knight RM; Houston C) Case Number: 987F003

Wilkinson Typewriters describes the dilemma of a family business owner/manager in deciding which of his sons should succeed him as president of the family firm. At the same time, the firm's traditional product, typewriters, is gradually being replaced by word processing units and micro-computers, which one son proposes getting into. Issues: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Planning, Family-Work Interaction, Program Analysis Length: 5 pages
   
  Please contact FBRC to find out how you can get a copy of these cases.
   
  Copyright Family Business Center, University of San Francisco.