Author Profile
Pfeifer, Phillip E.
Hightower Department Stores: Imported Stuffed Animals (SPANISH)
QA-0954 | Published July 13, 2022 | 13 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This is a Spanish translation of the April 15, 2013, version of UVA-QA-0268. Julia Brown, toy buyer for the Hightower Department Stores, has to decide which of three imported stuffed animals will be o... Read More
Palmetto Paper (RUSSIAN)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bodily, Samuel E. Smith, Raiford
QA-0893 | Published January 19, 2018 | 12 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This is the Russian translation of the August 2005 version of UVA-QA-0657. The manager of a paper plant must decide whether to buy a new electrode boiler to replace a natural gas boiler. The challenge... Read More
Edgcomb Metals: The Troy Plant (A) (SPANISH)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Ferguson, Glenn A.
OM-1596 | Published April 20, 2017 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This is a Spanish translation of the June, 4, 2014, version of UVA-OM-0549. The plant manager of the Edgcomb Metals facility at Troy, Virginia is confronted with complaints that the current driver wag... Read More
A GLUM Primer: The Risk-Adjusted Expected Value
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bodily, Samuel E. Baucells, Manel
QA-0849 | Published August 11, 2016 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
The purpose of this note is to improve on the expected value criterion by incorporating a rational decision-maker's willingness and capability to take on risk. First, this note will review the concept... Read More
The Pelayo Family Plays Roulette
Bodily, Samuel E. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Baucells, Manel
QA-0850 | Published August 11, 2016 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The Pelayo family has been studying roulette wheels and collecting data on tens of thousands of spins. Now the Pelayos have identified a wheel that they want to bet on, which has six numbers that have... Read More
The Pelayo Family Plays Roulette: The Prequel
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bodily, Samuel E. Baucells, Manel
QA-0847 | Published June 20, 2016 | 1 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case presents data from 70,340 spins of four roulette wheels: three of which are real ("imperfect") and one of which is simulated ("perfect"). The challenge posed is to identify which of the four ... Read More
Night-Lights and Nearsightedness (A)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Zadnik, Karla
QA-0842 | Published September 21, 2015 | 1 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania were interested in whether exposure to light early in life might affect eye growth and lead to an increased risk of myopia (nearsightedness). Eyes grew r... Read More
Night-Lights and Nearsightedness (B)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Zadnik, Karla
QA-0843 | Published September 21, 2015 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
As part of her ongoing research program, Karla Zadnik, dean of the Ohio State University College of Optometry, had access to data on the eyesight of well over 1,000 children from the multicenter Colla... Read More
The Sequel to Chance Encounters
QA-0831 | Published February 13, 2015 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Movie-industry analyst David Fitzhugh must estimate the value of the sequel rights associated with Chance Encounters, a soon-to-be-produced movie. The producers intend to use the cash from the sale of... Read More
Customer Profitability (RUSSIAN)
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bendle, Neil
M-0955 | Published December 28, 2013 | 15 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This is a Russian translation of the June 24, 2005 version of UVA-M-0718. This technical note defines, describes, and illustrates the most common metrics marketers used to monitor and manage customer... Read More
The Judgment of Princeton
QA-0813 | Published December 04, 2013 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case descirbes a wine-tasting competition held in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2012. The competition pitted the best wines from New Jersey (NJ) against the best wines from France in blind taste tests... Read More
Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (A) (RUSSIAN)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Clyman, Dana R. Kornish, Laura Smith, Jim
QA-0892 | Published November 29, 2013 | 18 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This is a Russian translation of the May 23, 2010 version of UVA-QA-0587. The Liquid Gold cases (see also the B case, UVA-QA-0588) are an adaptation of the earlier Calambra Olive Oil cases (UVA-QA-04... Read More
Saving Customers at Vigil Home Security
QA-0804 | Published May 13, 2013 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Mike Thomas, director of customer relationships at the second-leading provider of residential security systems in the United States, set out to examine data from 61,235 customer "saves" in order to de... Read More
Nils Baker
Ovchinnikov, Anton S. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Call, Nathan
QA-0793 | Published August 07, 2012 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This very short and seemingly straightforward case is an efficient vehicle for exploring the nuances of hypothesis testing via regression modeling and t-tests in the context of an MBA or advanced unde... Read More
Alumni Giving
QA-0792 | Published July 12, 2012 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Madison Kryswada, director of alumni relationships at State University, assembled a 123-school data set to explore, in her words, "the drivers of alumni giving rate." The alumni giving rate contribute... Read More
City Salary Freeze
QA-0794 | Published July 09, 2012 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Mayor Anthony Lee has asked his assistant to begin the analysis of a recent survey of city residents to help him decide between freezing the salaries of city employees and cutting back on city service... Read More
Thomas Jefferson Had Girls (B)
QA-0797 | Published July 09, 2012 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The A and B cases are intended for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBAExec audiences. They were used as an exam case for “Data Analysis and Optimization,” which is both a first- and secon... Read More
Chance Encounters II
QA-0783 | Published February 06, 2012 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Movie-industry analyst David Fitzhugh must estimate the value of the sequel rights associated with Chance Encounters (CE), a soon-to-be-produced movie. The producers of CE intend to use the cash from ... Read More
Circadian Advantage in Major League Baseball
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Winter, W. Christopher
QA-0780 | Published December 09, 2011 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Sleep researcher Chris Winter, MD, had just finished compiling "jet lag" and game outcome data for 22,855 Major League Baseball games over a nine-year span. His interest was to see whether jet lag aff... Read More
Spreadsheet Modeling Exercises
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Ovchinnikov, Anton S.
QA-0775 | Published September 15, 2011 | 14 pages Exercise
Collection: Darden School of Business
These exercises, designed for use in a spreadsheet modeling pre-matriculation course, provide a baseline education in spreadsheet modeling and Microsoft Excel to incoming MBA students who have not had... Read More
Salmones Puyuhuapi Part I
Echeverria, Rafael Pfeifer, Phillip E.
QA-0776 | Published September 14, 2011 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case series is appropriate for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBA Exec audiences but is specifically designed for decision analysis, a first-year MBA core course. In the Part I case... Read More
The Lady Tasting Tea
QA-0771 | Published August 31, 2011 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This short case describes a famous experiment conducted by Sir Ronald A. Fisher and colleagues to test Dr. B. Muriel Bristol’s claim that she could tell—only by tasting—whether milk or tea was poured ... Read More
The IQ Experiment
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Ovchinnikov, Anton S.
QA-0770 | Published August 31, 2011 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes an IQ experiment in which 66 students, under the direction of their professor, used Excel to generate simulated IQs. The instructions were such that the generated IQs should have c... Read More
Pricing Jonstan's
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Farris, Paul W.
M-0807 | Published August 09, 2011 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case is intended for MBA audiences and is used for the first-year and second-year elective, Data Analysis and Optimization. Swati Su's boss had been planning to raise prices for their brand, Jons... Read More
Motorcowboy: Getting a Foot in the Door (A)
Farris, Paul W. Maddux, Robert Harr, Timothy Gray, Martha Kanaparthi, Gautam Shrivastava, Prateek Weiss, Matthew Pfeifer, Phillip E.
M-0814 | Published August 09, 2011 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
As part of the Google Online Marketing Challenge, a team of Darden students devises an AdWords campaign for Motorcowboy, an online source of custom footwear that caters to segments as varied as motorc... Read More
Motorcowboy: Getting a Foot in the Door (B)
Farris, Paul W. Maddux, Robert Harr, Timothy Gray, Martha Kanaparthi, Gautam Shrivastava, Prateek Weiss, Matthew Pfeifer, Phillip E.
M-0815 | Published August 09, 2011 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This continuation of the case about a Google AdWords campaign for Motorcowboy, an online source of custom footwear, recounts the Darden team's revised approach. Read More
Motorcowboy: Getting a Foot in the Door (C)
Farris, Paul W. Maddux, Robert Harr, Timothy Gray, Martha Kanaparthi, Gautam Shrivastava, Prateek Weiss, Matthew Pfeifer, Phillip E.
M-0816 | Published August 09, 2011 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This third and final part of the case about a Google AdWords campaign for Motorcowboy, an online source of custom footwear, delineated the Darden team's recommendations for future efforts. Read More
Media Planning at Pfeifer's Fine Olive Oil
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E.
M-0812 | Published July 12, 2011 | 17 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Pfeifer's Fine Olive Oil was formulated and positioned to serve as a heart-healthy, but slightly more expensive substitute for butter and margarine in cooking. With a narrow target market and growing ... Read More
A Bayesian Examines the Lady Tasting Tea (Abridged)
QA-0768 | Published June 13, 2011 | 4 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note accompanies the case/class on "The Lady Tasting Tea" (LTT). It describes how a Bayesian would update his or her prior probability for the probability the LTT can correctly distingu... Read More
A Bayesian Examines the Lady Tasting Tea
QA-0769 | Published June 13, 2011 | 6 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note accompanies the case/class on "The Lady Tasting Tea" (LTT). It describes how a Bayesian would update his or her prior probability for the probability the LTT can correctly distingu... Read More
Customer Profit
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Farris, Paul W. Bendle, Neil
M-0799 | Published April 20, 2011 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note introduces important metrics firms use to monitor customer relationships. The note begins by discussing how to count the firms' customers and keep track of their activity using the... Read More
Customer Lifetime Value
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Farris, Paul W. Bendle, Neil
M-0800 | Published April 20, 2011 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note introduces important metrics firms use to monitor customer relationships. An important summary of customer activity is the profit the firm receives from each customer. Customer pro... Read More
Salmones Puyuhuapi: Production Planning
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Echeverria, Rafael
QA-0753 | Published February 21, 2011 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case is appropriate for undergraduate, MBA, and MBAE audiences, but is specifically designed for Decision Analysis and Decision Analysis and Optimization, first-year MBA electives. It is related ... Read More
Media Modeling and Budgeting at DMI
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E.
M-0791 | Published November 18, 2010 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
A marketing director applies a scientific/quantitative approach to understanding and optimizing his company's marketing spending decisions. His hypotheses include the concepts of diminishing returns o... Read More
Acquisition Cost Allocation at Progressive Insurance
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Potter, Benjamin
M-0785 | Published October 25, 2010 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Omar Parvaiz, Progressive Insurance field product manager in charge of Tennessee and South Carolina, must analyze the results of a yearlong test of a new pricing algorithm he developed. The new algori... Read More
Thomas Jefferson Had Girls (A)
QA-0752 | Published October 20, 2010 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The A and B cases are intended for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBAExec audiences. They were used as an exam case for "Data Analysis and Optimization," which is both a first- and secon... Read More
Salmones Puyuhuapi (B)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Echeverria, Rafael
QA-0750 | Published October 20, 2010 | 1 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case series is appropriate for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBAExec audiences but is specifically designed for decision analysis, a first-year MBA core course. In the A case, Osva... Read More
Salmones Puyuhuapi (C)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Echeverria, Rafael
QA-0751 | Published October 20, 2010 | 1 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case series is appropriate for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBAExec audiences but is specifically designed for decision analysis, a first-year MBA core course. In the A case, Osva... Read More
Salmones Puyuhuapi (A)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Echeverria, Rafael
QA-0749 | Published October 18, 2010 | 13 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case series is appropriate for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBAExec audiences but is specifically designed for decision analysis, a first-year MBA core course. In the A case, Osva... Read More
Lesser Antilles Lines: The Island of San Huberto (A)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Gelly, James V.
QA-0355 | Published April 05, 2010 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In this case, the situation is a classic duopoly. Two shipping firms are in a price war over the market for containerized shipping to and from a small Caribbean island. The case presents a table of co... Read More
Netflix, Inc., 2007
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Conroy, Robert M.
F-1592 | Published December 21, 2009 | 15 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The protagonist in this case is an analyst attempting to value Netflix, Inc., and check whether her recent buy recommendation at a price of $20.00 per share was still valid. Recent bad news had caused... Read More
Valuation of Netflix, Inc.
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Conroy, Robert M.
F-1610 | Published December 21, 2009 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Intended for MBAs, this case concerns the valuation of Netflix, Inc., which was the largest U.S. online movie rental subscription service in early 2009. After reviewing Netflix's historical financial ... Read More
Darden's Luckiest Student 2008
QA-0717 | Published August 04, 2008 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case describes a three-factor, full-factorial experiment run in conjunction with the Darden's Luckiest Student event of 2008. Prior to identifying Darden's Luckiest, all 300 first-year students ma... Read More
Wunderdog Sports Picks
QA-0719 | Published August 04, 2008 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case is little more than an e-mail that a college statistics professor received from the owner of a sports-picking service. The e-mail reports that the owner's picking system correctly picked 87 ... Read More
JCG Global Air Services
QA-0724 | Published July 31, 2008 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
A pilot/manager in a large corporate aviation department must formulate a fueling plan for an upcoming four-leg trip. Considerations for the fueling plan include different fuel prices at each airport ... Read More
Progressive Insurance: Multivariable Testing
M-0762 | Published July 17, 2008 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes a 21-factor, 56-recipe multivariable test (MVT) conducted by Progressive Insurance with the help of QualPro, a leading MVT consulting firm. The object of the test was to improve Pr... Read More
Berclays Capital: Corn and Ethanol Prices
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Dreyer, Todd
QA-0716 | Published May 02, 2008 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
A summer intern must explain to his boss the negative correlation between the prices of corn and ethanol for 2006 and the first half of 2007. The negative correlation called into question the use of t... Read More
Changing Channels: Progressive Insurance Drive Insurance
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Zimmerman, Alan
M-0756 | Published April 14, 2008 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Sequel to Progressive Insurance: Not Your Standard Insurance Story. The company launches a new sub-brand, Drive Insurance, which will be only sold through independent agents, not through the Web or 1-... Read More
Progressive Insurance: Not Your Standard Insurance Story
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Zimmerman, Alan
M-0758 | Published April 14, 2008 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Progressive Insurance, a leader in the automotive insurance market, has succeeded through innovation. This case describes the company's strategies for differentiating its service through programs such... Read More
The Roulette Wheel
QA-0718 | Published March 20, 2008 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case provides data gathered from 18 hours of play at a single roulette wheel in a Nevada casino. Data include the frequencies of each of the 38 sectors over 904 spins and frequencies of the 22,527... Read More
Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bang, Heejung
QA-0704 | Published July 11, 2007 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case asks students to develop a method for identifying individuals at risk of having chronic kidney disease. A 6,000-subject training set containing 34 potential predictor variables is provided al... Read More
Sarah Gets a Diamond
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Mills, Greg
QA-0702 | Published July 09, 2007 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Greg Mills describes his search for the perfect engagement ring which includes an analysis of the prices of 6,000 diamonds. An engineer, Greg hopes to impress Sarah Staggers by using regression to fin... Read More
Options Granting
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Jenkins, Robert
QA-0697 | Published January 31, 2007 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case provides stock returns, risk-free rates, and market returns associated with stock option grants issued from 1993 to 2004. The returns are 20-trading-day returns subsequent to the grant date. ... Read More
Regression: Forecasting Using Explanatory Factors
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bodily, Samuel E. Carraway, Robert L. Frey, Sherwood C. Jr.
QA-0693 | Published November 08, 2006 | 51 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This comprehensive technical note explains linear regression. It is intended for students with no prior knowledge of the topic. It is divided into nine sections, which may be assigned separately: 1. T... Read More
Time Series
QA-0695 | Published October 04, 2006 | 17 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note describes the basics of time-series analysis and forecasting. It discusses the kinds of patterns found in time services (cycle, trend, and seasonality) and the most common time-series models... Read More
Chi-Square Contingency Table Analysis
QA-0694 | Published September 24, 2006 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note describes the chi-square statistic as applied to independence tests using contingency table data. The independence test checks to see if two (or more) categorical variables are ind... Read More
Chi-square Goodness-of-Fit Test
QA-0692 | Published August 17, 2006 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note describese the chi-square statistic as applied to goodness-of-fit tests. Goodness-of-fit tests check to see how closely a sample matches a particular probability distribution (e.g., normal, ... Read More
Pricing Metrics and Concepts
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bendle, Neil
M-0723 | Published August 09, 2005 | 24 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note describes the more common methods of calculating Price Premiums (also known as Relative Prices). Students will explore Reservations Prices and % Good Value, the concepts that form the founda... Read More
Palmetto Paper
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bodily, Samuel E. Smith, Raiford
QA-0657 | Published July 14, 2005 | 12 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The manager of a paper plant must decide whether to buy a new electrode boiler to replace a natural gas boiler. The challenge is to cut through complexities, such as uncertainty in boiler efficiency, ... Read More
Customer Profitability
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bendle, Neil
M-0718 | Published June 24, 2005 | 15 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note defines, describes, and illustrates the most common metrics marketers used to monitor and manage customer relationships. Among the metrics covered are customer counts, recency, ret... Read More
The Collections Subsidiary
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Scherer, William Fuller, Doug
OM-1220 | Published February 09, 2005 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Mike Williams must analyze the results of 25,075 outbound phone calls placed by 145 phone representatives during a four-week period. Although many of the phone reps are being rewarded for outstanding ... Read More
Using StatTools
QA-0649 | Published January 31, 2005 | 6 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This short technical note shows students how to use StatTools to complete a simple regression analysis. Read More
TiVo
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Wiese, Craig
M-0694 | Published May 18, 2004 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
TiVo's valuation is questioned by stock analyst and the case challenges students to use concepts and applications of customer lifetime value to determine whether TiVo's current share prices are approp... Read More
Supplement to Alfonso's Department Store
QA-0624 | Published February 10, 2004 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
"Alfonso's Department Store" (Ivey, 9A99E002) presents 26 weeks of data on Alfonso's dollar sales and dollar advertising, together with the sales and advertising of competing stores. In the supplement... Read More
Progressive Insurance War Game
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Hild, Matthias
QA-0680 | Published February 09, 2004 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case invites teams to prepare for a business war game to explore aspects of the competitive dynamics in the auto insurance market. In particular, the case offers opportunities to discuss segmenta... Read More
Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (A)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Clyman, Dana R. Kornish, Laura Smith, Jim
QA-0587 | Published January 31, 2002 | 18 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The Liquid Gold cases (see also the B case, UVA-QA-0588) are an adaptation of the earlier Calambra Olive Oil cases (UVA-QA-0440 and UVA-QA-0442). This version supports a modified classroom experience.... Read More
Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Clyman, Dana R. Kornish, Laura Smith, Jim
QA-0588 | Published January 31, 2002 | 6 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The Liquid Gold cases are an adaptation of the original Calambra Olive Oil cases (UVA-QA-0440 and UVA-QA-0442). This version has been written to support a modified classroom experience. The cases desc... Read More
Select Collections, Inc.
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Scherer, William Pomroy, Thomas A.
QA-0584 | Published January 28, 2002 | 6 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Select Collections sounds like the name of a fancy dress shop. Actually, in this case, it's a collection agency whose credit manager has asked a summer intern to apply her knowledge of regression anal... Read More
General Motors OnStar
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Johnson, Richard R. McCormack, William
M-0659 | Published January 09, 2002 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In the drive to create the wired automobile, General Motors developed the OnStar system, a subscription-based wireless dashboard communication service that provided numerous safety and convenience fea... Read More
Identifying the VIPs at eTOTS
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Farris, Paul W. Shiraki, Ichiro Vic
M-0650 | Published August 09, 2001 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case contains the instructions for a hands-on data-mining exercise. The purpose of the exercise is to identify high value customers of an online retailer in order to give them VIP treatment. The ... Read More
Customer Care at eTOTS.com
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Shiraki, Ichiro Vic
M-0649 | Published August 09, 2001 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case provides the background for a hands-on data-mining exercise. The purpose of the analysis is to identify high value customers of an online retailer in order to give them VIP treatment. The exe... Read More
The Value of Networks
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Johnson, Richard R.
M-0645 | Published July 16, 2001 | 3 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
The economics of the Internet are often tied to determining the value of a communications network. However, there are several different kinds of communications networks, each with their own method of ... Read More
An Introduction to Business-to-Business Exchange
Farris, Paul W. Pfeifer, Phillip E. Johnson, Richard R.
M-0638 | Published March 12, 2001 | 14 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
While business-to-consumer e-commerce (B2C) has garnered the most public attention of any online business sector, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is proving to account for a much larger slice of... Read More
Calambra Olive Oil (C)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Clyman, Dana R.
QA-0551 | Published August 24, 1999 | 9 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
A revision of the B case (QA-0442), the C case uses data tables rather than columns to compare different order quantities. For an early class on Monte Carlo simulation, the B case is recommended; late... Read More
Vesta Corporation
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Balok, Michael J.
QA-0516 | Published June 17, 1997 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case examines Vesta Corporation's bidding procedures for contracts to produce expanded polystyrene packaging materials. One of the important uncertainties in the bidding process is the amount of ... Read More
NCM Personal Computer Displays
QA-0515 | Published March 03, 1997 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
"Prior planning prevents poor performance" is the moral of this case about predicting bid prices on new personal computer display models based only on past vendors' bids. Students gain respect for a s... Read More
Sampling
QA-0513 | Published February 24, 1997 | 20 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note explains the basics of sampling. It defines and discusses the concepts of random sampling, the law of averages, and the central limit theorem. It covers the sampling of both continuous uncer... Read More
A Brief Primer on Probability Distributions
QA-0517 | Published February 24, 1997 Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This four-page technical note provides information about five probability distributions. The note describes the parametrics of each distribution, the moments of each distribution, and the important pr... Read More
Capital One Financial Corporation: Response Modeling
M-0507 | Published October 02, 1996 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes the use of response modeling at Capital One. Response modeling refers to the building of models to forecast the likelihood a prospect will respond to a direct solicitation. The use... Read More
Capital One Financial Corporation: Product Design
M-0506 | Published October 02, 1996 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The case describes the beginnings of the "product design" process at Capital One Financial Corporation. The question at hand is which of 12 product should be offered through direct mail to which custo... Read More
Introduction to Least-Squares Modeling
QA-0500 | Published August 20, 1996 | 12 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note, the first in a series on regression analysis, introduces the simple linear model (one X-variable), together with least squares, as a procedure for estimating the coefficients in the model. ... Read More
National Resources Defense Fund (B)
QA-0514 | Published February 11, 1996 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
An initial test of NRDF's proposed 1994 campaign has been disappointing. Should the agency test the campaign one more time or abandon it? If a test is proposed, what site sample should be taken? The c... Read More
Bidding For Timber
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Brannman, Lance
QA-0417 | Published January 31, 1996 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
A forestry analyst must review the recent bidding history of 103 timber trees in order to prepare bids for future timber auctions. A regression analysis to predict highest competing bid and a decision... Read More
Intuit: QuickBooks Upgrade
M-0496 | Published January 03, 1996 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes an innovative response-modeling project at INTUIT. The case can help students understand the basics of (and the issues surrounding) response modeling, an important tactic in data-b... Read More
National Resources Defense Fund (A)
QA-0473 | Published January 25, 1995 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case provides a meaningful managerial context in which to explore sampling. The National Resources Defense Fund, an environmental advocacy agency, has sent an appeal for donations to a small samp... Read More
Nashua Photo
M-0438 | Published September 12, 1994 | 24 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case concerns the promotional activities of Nashua Photo, the nation's largest mail-order photofinishing firm. Discount-price mailers (inserted in local newspapers, for example) were used to gene... Read More
The Crutchfield Corporation
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Perticucci, Roy L.
M-0427 | Published August 26, 1994 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Crutchfield, a large U.S. mail-order firm specializing in consumer electronics and personal computers, must evaluate the results of a recent "prospecting" mailing to a rented list of names. A determin... Read More
The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors
M-0451 | Published July 19, 1994 | 9 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The director of marketing and operations for a financial newsletter must deal with a host of issues that surround the practice of renting mailing lists and soliciting new subscribers by direct mail. T... Read More
The Commerce Tavern
Frey, Sherwood C. Jr. Pfeifer, Phillip E.
QA-0459 | Published July 14, 1994 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The owner of the Commerce Tavern is considering the possibility of changing his long-standing policy of not accepting credit-card charges from his clients. His decision is complicated by the presence ... Read More
Problems in Pricing
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Farris, Paul W.
M-0456 | Published January 27, 1994 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Five carefully constructed problems illustrate the concepts of second-market discounting, price skimming, limit pricing, random discounting, premium pricing, and bundling. Read More
Calambra Olive Oil (A)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Clyman, Dana R.
QA-0440 | Published September 21, 1993 | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Frank Lockfeld, president and founder of Calambra Olive Oil, must decide how many gallons of oil to buy for the 1994 vintage year even though the first-year marketing experiment for his fledgling busi... Read More
Calambra Olive Oil (B)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Clyman, Dana R.
QA-0442 | Published September 21, 1993 | 6 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The B case describes Frank Lockfeld building a spreadsheet model that captures the essence of the discussion in the A case. Since this is a difficult model to build, we recommend using the B case when... Read More
Problems in Regression
QA-0416 | Published August 04, 1991 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
These problems provide a general introduction to the basic concepts of single and multiple regressions. Topics covered include heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, dummy variables, R2 versus standard ... Read More
Predicting Corporate Bankruptcy
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Haskins, Mark E.
QA-0371 | Published April 05, 1991 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note describes a study of the important predictors of corporate bankruptcy. Twenty-four financial ratios for a paired sample of fifty healthy and bankrupt firms are provided. Students are asked t... Read More
The Sophomore Jinx
QA-0385 | Published April 08, 1989 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case discusses the so-called sophomore jinx: professional athletes who perform superbly as rookies never seem to do as well in their second--sophomore--season. The case gives performance data for... Read More
Wachovia Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (B): Supplement
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Bodily, Samuel E. Weatherford, Larry
QA-0342 | Published April 05, 1989 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This material is an explanation of a LOTUS worksheet built to implement exponential smoothing for the data in "Wachovia Bank and Trust Company N.A. (B)" (OM-0664). Read More
Data Analysis with Two Groups
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Zorc, Saša
QA-0386 | Published April 08, 1986 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note illustrates several data-analysis techniques that can be used to compare two groups of interval data. Read More
George's T-Shirts
Frey, Sherwood C. Jr. Pfeifer, Phillip E.
QA-0346 | Published April 05, 1986 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
George Lasiter sells special-events T-shirts and must decide how many to order for an upcoming concert. He has high, medium, and low estimates of both concert attendance and the percentage of attendee... Read More
Lorex Pharmaceuticals
QA-0347 | Published April 05, 1986 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In this case, the managers of quality assurance for a pharmaceutical company must specify a fill target for individual bottles of a new blood-pressure medicine. Higher targets lead to higher material ... Read More
Edgcomb Metals: The Troy Plant (A)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Ferguson, Glenn A.
OM-0549 | Published April 10, 1985 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The plant manager of the Edgcomb Metals facility at Troy, Virginia is confronted with complaints that the current driver wage system—a guaranteed eight-hour day with time and a half for overtime—rewar... Read More
Edgcomb Metals: The Troy Plant (B)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Stewart, William T. Ferguson, Glenn A.
OM-0562 | Published April 10, 1985 | 6 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes the system of standards implemented at Edgcomb Metals (see OM-0549) and the subsequent driver performance. (The C case is OM-0571.) Read More
Edgcomb Metals: The Troy Plant (C)
Pfeifer, Phillip E. Stewart, William T.
OM-0571 | Published April 10, 1985 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case reexamines driver performance at Edgcomb Metals (see OM-0549 and OM-0562) after the most unsatisfactory driver has been reassigned to another position in the plant. Read More
Forecasting Using the Linear Regression Model
QA-0327 | Published April 05, 1985 | 5 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note explains how to use a linear regression model to construct a point-and-interval forecast of an uncertain dependent variable. Read More
Useful Data Transformations
QA-0329 | Published April 05, 1985 | 10 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note addresses what can be done in those situations where it is not reasonable to assume that the relationship between the dependent second-independent variables is linear. Read More
Using Dummy Variables to Represent Categorical Variables
QA-0330 | Published April 05, 1985 | 5 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
The note introduces and explains 0-1 dummy variables and how they may be used to represent categorical independent variables in a regression model. Read More
Testing Model Significance Using the F-Test
QA-0331 | Published April 05, 1985 | 12 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note introduces the F-statistic as a way to test the hypothesis that all (or some subset) of the coefficients in a linear model are equal to zero. An F-table is included. Read More
Piedmont Airlines: Discount Seat Allocation (A)
QA-0339 | Published April 05, 1985 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The manager of the revenue enhancement department of a small airline has to decide the optimal number of seats to reserve for discount customers on a particular flight. In order to help make the decis... Read More
Linear Model Building
QA-0293 | Published April 05, 1984 | 12 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note provides guidelines for the effective construction and application of linear models. We begin with a discussion and categorization of the various uses for a linear model. Whether a given mod... Read More
Supplement to the Oakland A's (A)
QA-0313 | Published April 05, 1984 | 7 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This supplement contains the results of several regression analyses of the Oakland A's 1980 home-attendance data that may be used with the A case, QA-0282, to facilitate analysis of the situation. A ... Read More
Amore Frozen Foods (A): Macaroni and Cheese Fill Targets
QA-0317 | Published April 05, 1984 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Amore must set the fill-target for its eight-ounce macaroni and cheese pie. Unless five sample pies taken every 20 minutes average more than eight ounces, the entire 20-minute batch must be rejected. ... Read More
Amore Frozen Foods (B): Macaroni and Cheese Check-Weigher
QA-0318 | Published April 05, 1984 | 1 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Subsequent to Tom Jenkins’ setting of the fill target for Amore’s 8-ounce frozen macaroni and cheese pie (see “Amore Frozen Foods (A)” UVA-QA-0317), the technology developed for an automatic check-wei... Read More
American Lawbook Corporation (A)
QA-0257 | Published April 05, 1983 | 15 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case concerns a lawbook publishing company's procedures for evaluating law school textbook proposals. Several evaluation approaches are possible. Historical cost data, assessments of unit sales, ... Read More
American Lawbook Corporation (B)
QA-0260 | Published April 05, 1983 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes two simple regression models built by an analyst at the American Lawbook Corporation in response to the issues of the A case (QA-0257). This B case is used to facilitate the studen... Read More
Hightower Department Stores: Imported Stuffed Animals
QA-0268 | Published April 05, 1983 | 13 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Julia Brown, toy buyer for the Hightower Department Stores, has to decide which of three imported stuffed animals will be offered for sale by the 16 Hightower stores during the approaching Christmas s... Read More
Assumptions Behind the Linear Regression Model
QA-0271 | Published April 05, 1983 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In a previous note, "Introduction to Least-Squares Modeling" (UVA-QA-0500), we have seen how least squares can be used to fit the simple linear model to historical data. The resulting model can then b... Read More
International Guidance And Controls
QA-0350 | Published April 05, 1983 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Thomas Stearns must decide whether to continue with planned software development and risk missing the completion deadline on a $20 million project or bite the bullet and make some costly hardware chan... Read More
The Oakland A's (B)
QA-0283 | Published April 05, 1982 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The general manager of the Oakland A's professional baseball team must evaluate two salary-and-bonus plans proposed by the A's star pitcher (see UVA-QA-0282). The plans call for the pitcher to receive... Read More