I teach using the case method. Typically, in a 13-week semester, we will actively work on 12 or 13 different cases. Each case places the student in a decision-making role, pushing them to determine the relevant information, identify the key problems, and decide what analysis is actually needed to make a decision. The subsequent classroom discussion focuses on debating the central issues in the case, considering the different financial analyses performed by the students, and delving into student decisions. Instead of mimicking solutions to reference problems, the case method obliges us to develop our own critical thinking skills. Most students find the case method quite challenging. Student evaluation data from these courses, in both Asia and the US, reveal that students find this an effective learning format. Student ratings (4.5 out of 5) typically place this course in the top tier of courses in the business school and demonstrate how these case-based modules are both demanding and rewarding.
Teaching Evaluations
Selected Student Comments
National University of Singapore (2020-2022)
"He explains each topic with a lot of interaction and keeps the entire class engaged even in theoretical topics Great professor. Managed to make accounting interesting!"
"He is a brilliant professor. After taking his class, I was sad I did not apply to MSc in Accounting"
"Engaging, and very interactive class atmosphere – Patient, throughout and comprehensive explanation of course content – humor, make knowledge fun and alive, where we could actually absorb all the hard parts."
"He's great. Although the accounting knowledge is very difficult, David uses many Asian case to ensure we can easily understand all the knowledge."
"Motivated and passionate teacher who seems to have fun in class and wants to motivate the students and bring the taught content to their hearts."
"Professor Reeb is fantastic and creates a very inclusive classroom through the hybrid model. He also makes digesting information easier with his examples so that students can really understand fundamental concepts easier."
"A very humorous and responsible professor. You can get hands on experience for real world business cases on Prof David's class. Although accounting principles could be boring sometimes, Prof David presents them in an interesting way and has inspired me a lot."
National University of Singapore (2012-2019)
“Brilliant way of delivering concepts in class. Encourage students to actually do the case and the discuss concepts actually helps to learn and cement the core concepts once case study is discussed. The suspense of which case study would be collected or not was evil genius. This ensured that students were prepared to participate in the case study”
“By far the best teacher I have had since the start of my MBA. His mastery of the subject matter is exquisite, yet he never speaks over students. He is able to teach complicated topics in a way that is easily digestible regardless of ones previous knowledge or background. He is humble and kind, and does a masterful job of getting the class involved. He has made me change my desired occupation after this MBA.”
“He is a master in structuring the flow of the concepts in a way that it is very easy to follow what he teaches, despite the subject being a hard-cord finance course. Further, he has extensive knowledge in the subject matter and is able to make the students think how concepts work practically.”
Temple University (2004-2011)
“I went from thinking this is a boring topic to really being interested in it”
“The instructor’s incredible ability to translate dry financial jargon in a way that students could understand”
“Makes difficult concepts easy. Temple is lucky to have him”
“Excellent presence in the classroom…Dr. Reeb wants you to learn.. Dr. Reeb best prof. I’ve had in Temple”
“Professor Reeb is a highly skilled professor who was always prepared for class. Very upbeat, funny and most importantly, very knowledgeable”
“Dr. Reeb was a great professor….Was able to keep everyone’s attention for the whole3 hours.
“Great guy, smart, can relate to students and makes you learn…best teach I have had TU.”
“Very Intelligent, conveyed information clearly, made it easy to understand.”
“Prof Reeb is amazing. I have been attending Temple for 2+ years and he is the first professor that has TAUGHT. He is extremely knowledgeable yet he doesn’t act like he’s smarter. The best teacher Temple as at the moment!”
National University of Singapore (2020-2022)
"He explains each topic with a lot of interaction and keeps the entire class engaged even in theoretical topics Great professor. Managed to make accounting interesting!"
"He is a brilliant professor. After taking his class, I was sad I did not apply to MSc in Accounting"
"Engaging, and very interactive class atmosphere – Patient, throughout and comprehensive explanation of course content – humor, make knowledge fun and alive, where we could actually absorb all the hard parts."
"He's great. Although the accounting knowledge is very difficult, David uses many Asian case to ensure we can easily understand all the knowledge."
"Motivated and passionate teacher who seems to have fun in class and wants to motivate the students and bring the taught content to their hearts."
"Professor Reeb is fantastic and creates a very inclusive classroom through the hybrid model. He also makes digesting information easier with his examples so that students can really understand fundamental concepts easier."
"A very humorous and responsible professor. You can get hands on experience for real world business cases on Prof David's class. Although accounting principles could be boring sometimes, Prof David presents them in an interesting way and has inspired me a lot."
National University of Singapore (2012-2019)
“Brilliant way of delivering concepts in class. Encourage students to actually do the case and the discuss concepts actually helps to learn and cement the core concepts once case study is discussed. The suspense of which case study would be collected or not was evil genius. This ensured that students were prepared to participate in the case study”
“By far the best teacher I have had since the start of my MBA. His mastery of the subject matter is exquisite, yet he never speaks over students. He is able to teach complicated topics in a way that is easily digestible regardless of ones previous knowledge or background. He is humble and kind, and does a masterful job of getting the class involved. He has made me change my desired occupation after this MBA.”
“He is a master in structuring the flow of the concepts in a way that it is very easy to follow what he teaches, despite the subject being a hard-cord finance course. Further, he has extensive knowledge in the subject matter and is able to make the students think how concepts work practically.”
Temple University (2004-2011)
“I went from thinking this is a boring topic to really being interested in it”
“The instructor’s incredible ability to translate dry financial jargon in a way that students could understand”
“Makes difficult concepts easy. Temple is lucky to have him”
“Excellent presence in the classroom…Dr. Reeb wants you to learn.. Dr. Reeb best prof. I’ve had in Temple”
“Professor Reeb is a highly skilled professor who was always prepared for class. Very upbeat, funny and most importantly, very knowledgeable”
“Dr. Reeb was a great professor….Was able to keep everyone’s attention for the whole3 hours.
“Great guy, smart, can relate to students and makes you learn…best teach I have had TU.”
“Very Intelligent, conveyed information clearly, made it easy to understand.”
“Prof Reeb is amazing. I have been attending Temple for 2+ years and he is the first professor that has TAUGHT. He is extremely knowledgeable yet he doesn’t act like he’s smarter. The best teacher Temple as at the moment!”
Teaching Scholarship: Developing and Publishing New Case Studies.
Singapore Airlines' Dividends, 2018
Ivey School of Business (Hrnjic and Reeb)
Dividend-paying firms typically maintain stable, transparent and simple dividend policies to avoid severe market reactions to dividend changes. Remarkably, Singapore Airlines’ maintains an irregular, opaque, and complex pattern of dividends. Furthermore, Singapore Airlines did not provide any information about its dividend policy to the public. How should investors, or potential investors, evaluate Singapore Airlines’ dividends?
A Note on Dividend Policy, 2018
Ivey School of Business (Hrnjic and Reeb)
Profit-making corporations returned cash to investors through dividends or share repurchases. Market participants referred to the fraction of the profits paid to shareholders in the form of dividends as the "payout ratio." However, a large number of firms have never paid a dividend. For instance, over the past decade, more than half of the listed firms in the United States neither paid a dividend nor repurchased shares. For example, only 20 per cent of firms on the Singapore Stock Exchange consistently paid dividends over the past decade, with similar proportions observed in both US and European stock markets. The percentage of dividend-paying firms plummeted to a record low of 17 per cent in 2000. In fact, most of the "new economy" firms such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google, reinvested their entire savings. This note describes rational dividend theories, behavioural dividend theories, and outlines the four categories of dividend strategies followed by firms.
Shanda Games: A Buyout of a Chinese Family Firm, 2015
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic and Reeb)
A controlling shareholder of the NYSE-listed Chinese online gaming company Shanda Games has offered a buyout at USD6.90 per American Depository Share (ADS); each ADS consists of two ordinary shares. The offer provides a premium of 22 per cent to the stock’s Friday close. Throughout the previous year, Shanda Games’ ADS had typically traded in the range of USD2.74 to 6.45. As Shanda Games’ independent directors attempt to evaluate the offer, they wonder: Should the shareholders accept it as it is? Should they ask for a higher price? Or should they look for the alternatives?
Suit Wars: Men’s Wearhouse vs Jos A. Bank, 2015
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic, Reeb, and Yeo)
On October 9, 2013, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., a large U.S. retailer of men's tailored and casual clothing, footwear and accessories, made a hostile offer to buy its larger rival Men’s Wearhouse. The latter made a counter-offer on January 6, 2014 in what is known as a Pac-man defence — the prey turned predator. Jos. A. Bank responded by adopting a poison pill, announcing the planned acquisition of Eddie Bauer, an outdoor apparel retailer. What started out as a simple offer had turned into a contest with multiple counter-offers and the deployment of several takeover defences. How should Eminence Capital, a New York-based hedge fund and the largest shareholder in both firms, react? How should each firm respond to the latest offer on their respective tables?
Financing Alibaba’s Buyout: Syndicated Loan in Asia, 2014
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic and Reeb)
Alibaba is the world’s largest online trading platform, with higher revenues than Amazon and eBay combined. Its 2012 syndicated loan was the first sizable loan for a Chinese technology company with few tangible assets. Creative loan covenants stated that the subsidiaries would repatriate 100 per cent of the distributable profits for debt service. The loan was partially used for the buyback of Yahoo!’s stake in Alibaba. In the agreement, Yahoo! would sell half of its stake back to Alibaba immediately and an additional 10 per cent during Alibaba’s IPO in the next few years, and divest the remainder sometime after that. Now, Alibaba thinks it is time to tap the debt market in order to pay off the $4 billion in loans it received in 2012 and to finish the payments owed to Yahoo! for the stock repurchase.
Emirates Airline: A Billion-Dollar Sukuk-Bonds Issue, 2014
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic, Kapetanovic, and Reeb)
Emirates Airline (EA) needs to fund the purchase of 30 new A380 aircraft. On March 11, 2013, EA announced plans to issue US$1 billion of Islamic bonds (sukuk) and $750 million of regular bonds. These bonds arguably share similar risks and seniority even though the sukuk bonds sold with a lower implied yield. This difference in pricing for securities with similar default risks seems at odds with conventional finance thinking. Against this backdrop, the EA treasury department must decide on the appropriate funding for this next batch of A380 airplanes.
Singapore Airlines' Dividends, 2018
Ivey School of Business (Hrnjic and Reeb)
Dividend-paying firms typically maintain stable, transparent and simple dividend policies to avoid severe market reactions to dividend changes. Remarkably, Singapore Airlines’ maintains an irregular, opaque, and complex pattern of dividends. Furthermore, Singapore Airlines did not provide any information about its dividend policy to the public. How should investors, or potential investors, evaluate Singapore Airlines’ dividends?
A Note on Dividend Policy, 2018
Ivey School of Business (Hrnjic and Reeb)
Profit-making corporations returned cash to investors through dividends or share repurchases. Market participants referred to the fraction of the profits paid to shareholders in the form of dividends as the "payout ratio." However, a large number of firms have never paid a dividend. For instance, over the past decade, more than half of the listed firms in the United States neither paid a dividend nor repurchased shares. For example, only 20 per cent of firms on the Singapore Stock Exchange consistently paid dividends over the past decade, with similar proportions observed in both US and European stock markets. The percentage of dividend-paying firms plummeted to a record low of 17 per cent in 2000. In fact, most of the "new economy" firms such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google, reinvested their entire savings. This note describes rational dividend theories, behavioural dividend theories, and outlines the four categories of dividend strategies followed by firms.
Shanda Games: A Buyout of a Chinese Family Firm, 2015
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic and Reeb)
A controlling shareholder of the NYSE-listed Chinese online gaming company Shanda Games has offered a buyout at USD6.90 per American Depository Share (ADS); each ADS consists of two ordinary shares. The offer provides a premium of 22 per cent to the stock’s Friday close. Throughout the previous year, Shanda Games’ ADS had typically traded in the range of USD2.74 to 6.45. As Shanda Games’ independent directors attempt to evaluate the offer, they wonder: Should the shareholders accept it as it is? Should they ask for a higher price? Or should they look for the alternatives?
Suit Wars: Men’s Wearhouse vs Jos A. Bank, 2015
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic, Reeb, and Yeo)
On October 9, 2013, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., a large U.S. retailer of men's tailored and casual clothing, footwear and accessories, made a hostile offer to buy its larger rival Men’s Wearhouse. The latter made a counter-offer on January 6, 2014 in what is known as a Pac-man defence — the prey turned predator. Jos. A. Bank responded by adopting a poison pill, announcing the planned acquisition of Eddie Bauer, an outdoor apparel retailer. What started out as a simple offer had turned into a contest with multiple counter-offers and the deployment of several takeover defences. How should Eminence Capital, a New York-based hedge fund and the largest shareholder in both firms, react? How should each firm respond to the latest offer on their respective tables?
Financing Alibaba’s Buyout: Syndicated Loan in Asia, 2014
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic and Reeb)
Alibaba is the world’s largest online trading platform, with higher revenues than Amazon and eBay combined. Its 2012 syndicated loan was the first sizable loan for a Chinese technology company with few tangible assets. Creative loan covenants stated that the subsidiaries would repatriate 100 per cent of the distributable profits for debt service. The loan was partially used for the buyback of Yahoo!’s stake in Alibaba. In the agreement, Yahoo! would sell half of its stake back to Alibaba immediately and an additional 10 per cent during Alibaba’s IPO in the next few years, and divest the remainder sometime after that. Now, Alibaba thinks it is time to tap the debt market in order to pay off the $4 billion in loans it received in 2012 and to finish the payments owed to Yahoo! for the stock repurchase.
Emirates Airline: A Billion-Dollar Sukuk-Bonds Issue, 2014
Ivey School of Business, (Hrnjic, Kapetanovic, and Reeb)
Emirates Airline (EA) needs to fund the purchase of 30 new A380 aircraft. On March 11, 2013, EA announced plans to issue US$1 billion of Islamic bonds (sukuk) and $750 million of regular bonds. These bonds arguably share similar risks and seniority even though the sukuk bonds sold with a lower implied yield. This difference in pricing for securities with similar default risks seems at odds with conventional finance thinking. Against this backdrop, the EA treasury department must decide on the appropriate funding for this next batch of A380 airplanes.
