Case Study Essay - 2170 Words

Enron Corporation began as a small natural gas distributor and, over the course of 15 years, grew to become the seventh largest company in the United States. Soon after the federal deregulation of natural gas pipelines in 1985, Enron was born by the merging of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, a Nebraska pipeline company. Initially, Enron was merely involved in the distribution of gas, but it later became a market maker in facilitating the buying and selling of futures of natural gas, electricity, broadband, and other products. However, Enron’s continuous growth eventually came to an end as a complicated financial statement, fraud, and multiple scandals sent Enron through a downward spiral to bankruptcy. During the 1980s, several†¦show more content†¦Its method of evaluating employee performance was nicknamed rank and yank by Enron employees. Every 6 months, employees were ranked on a scale of 1–5. Those ranked in the lowest category (1) were immediately yanked (fired) from their position and replaced by new recruits. Surprisingly, during each employee review, management required that at least 15% of all the employees ranked were given a 1 and therefore yanked from their position and income. The employees ranked with a 2 or 3 were also given notice that they were liable to be released in the near future. These ruthless performance reviews created fierce internal competition between fellow employees who faced a strict ultimatum; perform or be replaced. Furthermore, it created a work environment where employees were unable to express opinions or valid concerns for fear of a low ranking score by their superiors. With so much pressure to succeed and maintain its position as the global energy market leader, Enron began to jeopardize its integrity by committing fraud. The SPEs, which originally were used for good business purposes, were now used illegally to hide bad investments, poorly performing assets, and debt; to manipulate cash flows; and eventually, to report more than $1 billion of false income. The following are examples of how specific SPEs were used fraudulently. Chewco: In 1993, Enron and the California Public Employees Retirement SystemShow MoreRelatedCase Studies : A Case Study Approach Essay1157 Words   |  5 PagesA case study is a specific instance that is frequently designed to illustrate a more general principle (Nisbet and Watt, 1984). Hitchock and Hughes (1995) further suggest that the case study approach is particularly valuable when the researcher has little control over evens. Case studies strives to portray ‘what it like’ to be a particular situation, to catch up reality and ‘thick description’ (Geertz, 1973) of participants’ lives experiences of, thoughts about and feelings for a situation. TheyRead MoreCase Study887 Words   |  4 PagesCHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons choose the case 1.2 The Problems The problems of this case are: 1. How would you characterize Lincoln Electric’s strategy? In this context, what is the nature of Lincoln’s business and upon what bases does this company compete? 2. What are the most important elements of Lincoln’s overall approach to organization and control that help explain why this company is so successful? How well do Lincoln’s organization and control mechanismsRead MoreBusiness Case Study : Business Case Studies997 Words   |  4 PagesWriting Business Case Studies How to Write Business Case Studies The objective of this part of the course is to use your case study to help you solve real company problems and to make the learning more relevant to your experience. The Business Case Study you are being asked to start today will provide information for yourself and the class to permit constructive feedback. You will have to use all of your research, writing and analytical skills to write your Company Case Study. You must give enoughRead MoreCase Study148348 Words   |  594 Pages978-0-273-73552-6 (web) All rights reserved. Permission is hereby given for the material in this publication to be reproduced for OHP transparencies and student handouts, without express permission of the Publishers, for educational purposes only. In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the Publishers orRead MoreCase Studies13817 Words   |  56 PagesCASE STUDY #1 A Job Search Dilemma Eric, a second-semester senior, is looking for a job. Anxious about finding work in the worst economy in decades, he sends out scores of resumes for a wide variety of positions. The first call he gets is for a position that doesnt really interest him, but he figures he should be open to every opportunity. He schedules an interview, which he aces. In fact, the recruiter offers Eric the job on the spot. He would like Eric to start as soon as possible. Should EricRead MoreCase Study : The Angel 1089 Words   |  5 Pages Case Study #1 The Angel, 1997 Susan Meeks, an alias, woke to what she thought was the middle of the afternoon. A bright yellowish light was shining through the west window of her travel trailer. An other world being was in the room and was as tall as the ceiling of the trailer. She went to the bathroom where she washed her face with cold water and stayed in there long enough to smoke a cigarette. When she went back to the bedroom the being was still there. The being showed her futureRead MoreCase Study 8985 Words   |  4 PagesCase Study 8 Based on the January through June 2010 cash budget, what is the maximum monthly loss during the six-month planning period? What is the maximum cumulative borrowing balance? (For purposes of this question, disregard any interest payments on short-term bank loans or interest received from investing surplus funds.) Maximum monthly loss is in June: -$60,750. The maximum cumulative borrowing balance is $99,000 in February. What does the monthly cash budget reveal that indicatesRead MoreThe Case Study Of The Company1468 Words   |  6 PagesOverview of Case Study In the case study by Spector titled, Transferring Innovation Across National Boundaries, (Spector, 2012) company named Minnesota Biolabs (MB) provided laboratories with a quality test for contamination of injectable medications. This test required the use of live rabbits that led to the rabbit’s death after the test. The company was headquartered in Minneapolis, however they were organized with four, somewhat independent, national units in Europe and Japan, each run by aRead MoreLaw of Case Studies1514 Words   |  7 PagesZulfatah Arif SCM-019741 Work Psychology in Communication, Writing and Reporting COM 2153 Mr Haji Adenan Case Studies An Unmotivated Building Inspector Case Study By: Zulfatah Arif 1) Review the motivation theories discussed in this chapter. How would each one describe and explain the problems with Simon Lucas’s motivation? The theories that would be relevant to the problems with Simon Lucas’ motivation would be the McClelland’s Need Theory and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory.Read MoreCase Study Essay1116 Words   |  5 PagesCase Study Objective The Case will focus on issues related to the cultural aspect of international business; sustainable business practices including CSR issues; foreign investment; and the benefits of regional integration for the countries within, and companies doing business in, that region.   The case study analysis will be completed on an individual basis. Instructions THE CASE: Kaizer Consulting Kaizer Consulting is an international management consulting firm that specializes in business strategy