VA-TX Investment Corporation: Credit Card Division

The subject matter in the VA-TX case is credit cards. Since almost everyone is familiar with credit cards, the instructor can focus on discussing the included management problems rather than being sidetracked by the intricacies of, say, widget production. The VA-TX case is used to jumpstart basic quantitative business analysis skills. The case uses simple calculations of profits, revenues, and costs. These calculations require an understanding of only simple probabilities and some notion of averages. It also touches on the ideas of a basic definition of risk, tradeoffs, and defining optimality. This case is written for business students and is flexible enough to fit into an introductory quantitative modeling course, including operations management. The case has been used at both the senior undergraduate level and at the MBA level. The case is particularly useful as a group presentation device and the Teaching Note is addressed for instructor interaction with group presentations. Students report the case as challenging and “eye opening” to the concepts of “what if” analysis and the importance of modeling assumptions. A power point slide presentation of this case is provided here. In addition, an Excel model with a sample “Starter” explanation in written form for that model, a writing guide for executive summary style writing, and a sample executive summary for the case are included.