Muddy Waters Is Ruthless and Shameless

I personally have never seen anything more outrageous than what Muddy Waters has been doing. Yes, it may serve the market as the research company exposes some of those companies that violates the trusts of their investors, however, what Block and his company has been doing has nothing to do with integrity or "exposing the dark". They are doing it for the money.

If that does not lead you to think about whether your support for this company is truly an act of honor, then perhaps all the financial professionals can recall something called "independence" and that a research company can never ever file a research report for or against a company in which it holds stakes. That is right. Nobody questions what Muddy Waters has been doing? Really? It violates the very foundation of research reports - impartiality. How would you feel if your lawyer is betting against you on the black market as he represents you in court? If you are an investor with the companies that Muddy Waters claim to be fraudulent, what would you do to protect your own interests? You Would Sell Your Shares, No Matter What!! That is exactly what Muddy Waters and Block have been doing - because they know that fear takes control of the market once their research report hits the market, even though their research is a pile of crap. Only Devil operates on fear.

Our ignorance, is what causes these people to continue reap huge amount of benefit at no costs.

A more recent story of Muddy Waters against Olam, the Singapore based company - Muddy Waters founder Block said that he is short selling Olam's stocks and will buy it at a low price. Wait a minute, if you believe the company is really fraudulent and is to be compared to Enron which went to bankrupcy, why would you want to buy back the shares when it hits the low end, Mr Block? I guess that exposed what you really think about this company! You knew the company is never meant to go to a low point without you faking your reports defaming it. And you plan on profiting from it.

The company Olam has 5.8 billion debt outstanding. It has more than 10 billion in liquidity. Liquidity! Asset is even more than that! You think a company that has 10 billion liquidity (172% of debt) can't pay off 5.8 billion debt? Do you know how much money the banks are required to hold in their safe against withdrawal of cash? You will be damned if you can find a number as high as 50%!

Nice try, Block. But as far as I know, the Singaporeans are smart. They have a world-class legal system that is known to be strict. You probably picked the wrong dance partner, boy!

Profitability Case #2

Mexico City Airport Taxi Services

the authorities of the mexico city airport have decided to issue 2,500 new taxi permits for $1,000 each. these permits authorize a taxi to service arriving passengers. your client has a taxi fleet in the city but does not service the airport. he has excess capacity meaning he has cars and drivers available. he has asked you to determine if he should buy those new permits. if so, how many should he buy?

New Market Entry #1

China Outsourcing case

The client is a national manufacturer of plastic consumer products that are sold in a variety of retail formats, including supermarkets, discounters, club stores, and dollar stores. the company has three main product lines: 1) freezer bags, 2) plastic plates and utensils, and 3) specialty plates and utensils.

the CEO has been reading for some time about American companies outsourcing their production overseas to lower cost countries such as China. she wonders whether this makes sense for her company as well. it worries her that none of her main competitors have established foreign production capabilities. on the other hand, this could be a tremendous opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.

Competition #2

Discount Retailer Case

your client is the largest discount retailer in canada, with 500 sotres spread throughout the country. lets call it CanaCo. for several years running, Canaco has surpassed the second largest Canadian retailer with 300 stores in both relative market share and profitablity. However, the large discount retailer in the US, USco has just bought out CanaCo's competition and is planning to convert all 300 stores into USCo stores. the CEO of CanaCo is quite perturbed by this turn of events, and asks you the following question: should i be worried? how should i react? how would you advise the CEO?

case obtained from INSEAD

Market Analysis, Competition #1

Gas Retail Case

Case:
your client is the major operator, a monopolist, in one of the largest European gas market. his business includes two major activities:
1. gas sales to households and firms. gas bought from large producers in Russia, Norway, Algeria etc.
2. gas transportation from the national border, where it is delivered by the producer, to the end consumers. this implies the existence of a large ensemble of infrastructures: transportation network, distribution network, storage equipment, methane terminals...

Capacity Change Case #1

Portugal Cement Maker CIMPOR to Add Capacity

Case Type: add capacity, business expansion.
Consulting Firm: Accenture first round job interview.
Industry Coverage: Building Materials; Manufacturing.
Case Interview Questions #00033: Your consulting firm has been retain by the CEO of CIMPOR (Cimentos de Portugal, Euronext: CPR), the number one producer of cement in Portugal. The company is mainly involved in manufacturing and marketing cement, hydraulic lime, concrete and aggregates, precast concrete and dry mortars.
The client currently has 45% of the Portuguese market, and feels it could have more, but is already running at 100% capacity of their major plant, located near Lisbon, in Southern Portugal. The CEO of CIMPOR has asked you to help him decide if they should build another plant or expand the capacity of current plant. How would proceed to gather information? And what recommendation would you give him?

Reduce Costs Case #1

MDP to Re-design Supply Chain for Metal Processing Factory

Case Type: reduce costs; operations strategy.
Consulting Firm: AlixPartners second round job interview.
Industry Coverage: Freight Delivery, Shipping Services; Transportation.
Case Interview Question #00520: Our client Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) is a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts of privately held or publicly traded companies, or divisions of larger companies; recapitalizations of family owned or closely held companies; balance sheet restructurings; acquisition financings; and growth capital investments in mature companies. The firm was founded in 1992 and is based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Madison Dearborn Partners has recently bought a metal processing company in Chicago. You have been hired as a consultant by MDP and they want you to re-design the supply chain system for the finished goods produced by this Chicago metal processing company. How will you proceed?
Additional Information:
The client MDP has three specific objectives.
1. They are concerned only about the outbound finished goods
2. Minimize Cost
3. Reliable product delivery