Final take home assignment
2014 Final Take-home Assignment
Please read the following hypothetical scenario and the follow the instructions below.
Scenario
TideeKleen Waste Management Inc. has been regarded as a leader in corporate citizenship within the Canadian commercial waste recycling and disposal sector, with a strong reputation for social and environmental responsibility. The company’s workers are unionized, well-paid, and enjoy a generous health benefits package and defined-benefit pension plan. Unfortunately, TideeKleen has been in a financial and reputational slump of late, and its stock price has been sagging.
TideeKleen operates several facilities for sorting and processing solid waste (some of which, such as fluorescent tubes and electronic devices, containing potential hazardous components). Its newer facilities are state-of-the-art: high-tech, largely automated, and very safe for both workers and the environment. These new facilities employ a small, mostly young and highly skilled work force. They are very profitable.
The older facilities are approaching the end of their functional lifespans, and the company will need to replace their capacity. Many of the workers at the older facilities are themselves older and are approaching retirement. One of the older facilities, though complying with the relevant industry and regulatory standards of the day, has turned out to have contaminated its site with certain toxic substances. The Ministry of the Environment has issued a clean-up order for the site and technical consultants have informed management that the required remediation will take several years and will be costly. Further, several former and current workers at the facility have been diagnosed with a form of cancer that is associated with exposure to the toxic substances that had been released there, and are demanding compensation. News stories about the contamination have tarnished TideeKleen’s green image.
TideeKleen’s stock is currently trading at $30 per share (down
Please read the following hypothetical scenario and the follow the instructions below.
Scenario
TideeKleen Waste Management Inc. has been regarded as a leader in corporate citizenship within the Canadian commercial waste recycling and disposal sector, with a strong reputation for social and environmental responsibility. The company’s workers are unionized, well-paid, and enjoy a generous health benefits package and defined-benefit pension plan. Unfortunately, TideeKleen has been in a financial and reputational slump of late, and its stock price has been sagging.
TideeKleen operates several facilities for sorting and processing solid waste (some of which, such as fluorescent tubes and electronic devices, containing potential hazardous components). Its newer facilities are state-of-the-art: high-tech, largely automated, and very safe for both workers and the environment. These new facilities employ a small, mostly young and highly skilled work force. They are very profitable.
The older facilities are approaching the end of their functional lifespans, and the company will need to replace their capacity. Many of the workers at the older facilities are themselves older and are approaching retirement. One of the older facilities, though complying with the relevant industry and regulatory standards of the day, has turned out to have contaminated its site with certain toxic substances. The Ministry of the Environment has issued a clean-up order for the site and technical consultants have informed management that the required remediation will take several years and will be costly. Further, several former and current workers at the facility have been diagnosed with a form of cancer that is associated with exposure to the toxic substances that had been released there, and are demanding compensation. News stories about the contamination have tarnished TideeKleen’s green image.
TideeKleen’s stock is currently trading at $30 per share (down