Eastern Condiments is a three-part case focused on the challenge of distributing spices in Southern India from 2008-2012. Case (A) describes the strategy and tactics that enabled Eastern Condiments to swiftly dominate the local market in Kerala by 2008, yet had poor results in the adjoining state of Karnataka in 2009-2012. Case (B) describes the new strategy to revive business in Karnataka and its consequences. When the market in Kerala starts to stagnate, it also has to revise strategy in its home market.
Eastern Condiments is a three-part case focused on the challenge of distributing spices in Southern India from 2008-2012. Case (A) describes the strategy and tactics that enabled Eastern Condiments to swiftly dominate the local market in Kerala by 2008, yet had poor results in the adjoining state of Karnataka in 2009-2012. Case (B) describes the new strategy to revive business in Karnataka and its consequences. When the market in Kerala starts to stagnate, it also has to revise strategy in its home market.
This case is about a gold mining company that seeks to practice "responsible mining" by addressing environmental and stakeholder concerns, but which nevertheless attracts protests. Barrick Gold Corporation has invested $4.8 billion developing the Pascua Lama gold mine in a glacial region of South America, but opposition has blocked the project.
China represents a significant share of global foreign direct investment but its currency comprises a mere 1.5% of all global foreign exchange transactions. This case describes the measures introduced by the Chinese government to promote the use of the renminbi (RMB) in cross-border trade, financing and other internationalization initiatives, as well as the associated challenges.
This is a condensed version of the Handpresso case series #5841. It describes the development from concept to production of the world's first and smallest hand-held espresso machine. It explains the design process and how the product is brought to market. The CEO of Nielsen Innovation, Henrik Nielsen, decides not to license it as he has with other designs but to create a spin-off company for the Handpresso machine. The final chapter finds the team in a quandary, Henrik Nielsen's untimely death leaves his wife at the helm. With two new machines ready for launch within a couple of months, it describes how the product is brought to market through partnerships and alliances. Having made a conscious decision to take this route, an agreement is signed with leading coffee roaster Lavazza, who in turn negotiates an exclusive agreement with the auto giant Fiat.
Within four weeks of becoming the new CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella lays out the major challenges that await him in the two letters he sends to everyone at Microsoft. He defines Microsoft's battlefield as the "mobile-first and cloud-first world". That is where Microsoft needs to get its products and technology right, to build platforms and ecosystems and to integrate Nokia devices, services and the new mobile capabilities. In order to do so, Microsoft needs to zero in on "a mobile and cloud-first world and do new things." In his view "...industry does not respect tradition - it only respects innovation". And in order to innovate, he needs his 125,000 strong staff around the world to lead and help drive cultural change, to find Microsoft's swing so that the team is "...in such perfect unison that no single action by any one is out of synch with those of all the others". Many challenges await Microsoft in its transformation journey. On platforms, it is not clear what the future will hold for Windows. On devices, Microsoft needs to find ways to woo application developers to build its mobile ecosystem. On integration, the Company has to find ways to transfer and to grow the mobile capability acquired from Nokia. And most importantly, Nadella must figure out how he can achieve cultural changes to focus everyone on innovation via collaboration.
At the end of 2012, an "instant chicken" scandal was revealed in China after a leading national broadcaster reported that chickens reared for KFC in the country were illegally fattened with excessive antibiotics. The local food safety authorities investigated the situation and found that KFC China had been aware of the situation since 2010 but had chosen to remain silent. Local consumers and netizens were in an uproar over the scandal, which eventually in 2013 broke the group's 11-year streak of double-digit growth. A series of marketing campaigns were conducted to rescue the reputation of the fast food giant. The incident reflects the challenges faced by KFC China's supply chain management in ensuring the safety and quality of products from its first-tier suppliers and their suppliers in a subsequent tier. Would the "Finger Lickin' Good" chain be able to rebound fast from the scandal? What could KFC China do about its supply chain and consumers' trust?
Supplement to case 914049. This case is about a compensation change at an automotive service company in the Middle East. The case allows investigation and analysis of many issues related to compensation design and human resource management, and even change management. The focus of the case is all the ways in which bad incentive design leads to dysfunctional behavior. In particular, a crucial issue is whether individual incentives are best or whether team incentives are best, and why. In the B and C cases, the case rolls out in sequence as more and more information is revealed to students so the unfolding of events keeps students interested and engaged in how to solve the various problems that arise, including a near mutiny.
Supplement to case 914049. This case is about a compensation change at an automotive service company in the Middle East. The case allows investigation and analysis of many issues related to compensation design and human resource management, and even change management. The focus of the case is all the ways in which bad incentive design leads to dysfunctional behavior. In particular, a crucial issue is whether individual incentives are best or whether team incentives are best, and why. In the B and C cases, the case rolls out in sequence as more and more information is revealed to students so the unfolding of events keeps students interested and engaged in how to solve the various problems that arise, including a near mutiny.
Lance Armstrong, a world-famous cyclist, was charged with using performance-enhancing drugs (i.e. "doping"). Armstrong had vehemently denied similar charges a few years earlier; however, this time there was substantial proof available and Armstrong accepted the charges. Subsequent to this news, most of the brands that had endorsed Armstrong terminated their contracts with him. As a cancer survivor, Armstrong had started Livestrong Foundation, an organization to support cancer patients, caregivers and survivors. This foundation depended heavily on sponsorships received by Armstrong. To protect his foundation from the negative impact of the doping controversy, Armstrong immediately resigned from both his post as chairman of Livestrong and from its board of directors. Despite his efforts, Livestrong was losing its sponsorships and a solution was needed to reduce the negative publicity, stop the loss of funding and identify new sources of funding.
To create the world's healthiest workforce, diversified health care giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) mandated participation in its "Culture of Health" program globally, customized by location, culture, and specific health needs to offer prevention-focused education, rewards for healthy behavior, and workplace environments that encouraged healthy employee behavior. By 2015, 90% of J&J's 128,000 employees would participate in Culture of Health programs; 80% would know their key health indicators (e.g., blood pressure, body-mass index, blood sugar, cholesterol); and 80% would have a "low risk" health profile. To hit these goals, J&J managers in 2014 sought to: 1) reduce national variation in program adoption and popularity, 2) do more to help employees ensure their overall-physical, mental, and spiritual-health, and 3) accurately measure the investments in and return on the program.
Lance Armstrong, a world-famous cyclist, was charged with using performance-enhancing drugs (i.e. “doping”). Armstrong had vehemently denied similar charges a few years earlier; however, this time there was substantial proof available and Armstrong accepted the charges. Subsequent to this news, most of the brands that had endorsed Armstrong terminated their contracts with him. As a cancer survivor, Armstrong had started Livestrong Foundation, an organization to support cancer patients, caregivers and survivors. This foundation depended heavily on sponsorships received by Armstrong. To protect his foundation from the negative impact of the doping controversy, Armstrong immediately resigned from both his post as chairman of Livestrong and from its board of directors. Despite his efforts, Livestrong was losing its sponsorships and a solution was needed to reduce the negative publicity, stop the loss of funding and identify new sources of funding.
The case is based on Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), the second-largest broadband service provider in the territory in 2012. The young and dynamic company is growing at a faster pace than its competitors, and attributes this success to its innovative approach to Talent management, which involves attracting, developing, retaining, and rewarding its 3,080-strong Talent base. HKBN's Talent enhancement programs are designed to drive strong individual, team, and organizational performance, inspiring a highly engaged workforce and a high-performance work culture across the organization. In mid-2012, when HKBN's parent company, City Telecom, sold HKBN and all related telecom businesses to a global private equity firm―CVC Capital Partners-it created a new challenge for NiQ Lai, head of Talent engagement and CFO. The new directive for NiQ was to lead HKBN to an initial public offering (IPO) in three to five years' time. To do so, the key question was, how should the management team leverage its Talent base to maximize the value of the company?
By the end of 2013, Apple had $137 billion dollars in cash and marketable securities. This case explores how companies can generate such large amounts of cash and how and if they should distribute it to shareholders, especially in the face of shareholder pressure. In the process, students are asked to undertake fundamental financial analyses, including ratio analysis, a financial forecast, and a cash distribution analysis.
Explores the relationships formed between consumers and the Peapod consumer-direct grocery delivery service, as revealed through an ethnographic study of Boston-area Peapod shoppers conducted between the Summer of 1997 and the Fall of 1999. Three representative case histories are brought to life using extensive quotes from these selected longitudinal interviews. Closes with short vignettes describing the experiences of four additional service users so that students can offer relationship predictions using process insights derived from the detailed case studies. Together, the data-driven exercises are designed to deepen students' understanding of the development processes characterizing consumer-firm/brand interactions over time, toward the goal of more informed relationship marketing strategies and sharper brand relationship executions.
This case is about a compensation change at an automotive service company in the Middle East. The case allows investigation and analysis of many issues related to compensation design and human resource management, and even change management. The focus of the case is all the ways in which bad incentive design leads to dysfunctional behavior. In particular, a crucial issue is whether individual incentives are best or whether team incentives are best, and why. In the B and C cases, the case rolls out in sequence as more and more information is revealed to students so the unfolding of events keeps students interested and engaged in how to solve the various problems that arise, including a near mutiny.
Liferay, an enterprise portal and content management system, uses an open-source development model. Its flagship portal (also named Liferay) is distributed under a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) licence. This licence allows users to access, modify and distribute Liferay's source code, and to re-license their derivative work. Open-source licencing has significant implications for Liferay's adoption process. Organizations simply download the Liferay portal for free, try it out for different business requirements and engage the vendor for dedicated service-level agreements for more advanced usage support. Several developers and users outside Liferay participate in the software development process and make significant contributions. However, unrestricted access and liberal distribution norms allow other software organizations to make free use of Liferay's efforts. These organizations slightly modify Liferay's source code (particularly Liferay's core system) and repackage the software. By 2010, this scenario has become particularly difficult. Liferay's recent adoption of a platform strategy is based on preserving the uniformity and stability of the core system. Due to unconstrained modifications to the source code, the core system could soon become fractured and non-standardized. The CEO has to select a suitable licencing framework that will align with the newly adopted platform strategy but at the same time retain Liferay's adherence to open source. Alternately, Liferay could abandon open source altogether.