Chow Tai Fook (CTF) is China's largest jewelry retailer by market capitalization, with reported sales of USD7.4 billion in fiscal year 2013 and is less known to Westerners. Within mainland China, the Hong Kong-based brand was better known than other international jewelry brands such as Bulgari and Tiffany. CTF's aggressive expansion strategy in China aimed to have 2,000 point-of-sales outlets by the end of 2014. Faced with rapidly changing demographic, social, economic, and digital landscapes within Mainland China, Kent Wong, the Managing Director of CTF, is challenged to fine-tune CTF's operation and marketing strategies in order to sustain its leading competitive position. The company is also facing some severe headwinds that could slow down its growth path. One of the biggest hurdles is the anti-graft drive initiated by the Chinese President to stamp out corruption among government officials. Many analysts fear that this campaign would have negative or even devastating consequences for many luxury goods companies like CTF, especially for goods associated with conspicuous consumption.

The U.S. made a deal with the EU to drop its trade dispute in the WTO over the EU's ban on hormone-treated beef. In return for the U.S. ending the WTO case and dropping its retaliatory tariffs on selected EU products, the EU would increase its imports of non-hormone-treated beef from the U.S. While the 14 beef producers who participated in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's non-hormone-treated cattle (NHTC) program were pleased, the bulk of the U.S. beef industry, almost all of which uses growth hormones in its production processes, would not benefit from this deal.

Rina Castillo lived the American Dream. A recent graduate of the Stanford School of Engineering, she was the first in her family not only to leave her native Mexico but also to attend and graduate from a university. While at Stanford, Castillo received a cash and stock offer for the advertising network she founded, which left her in a unique and newfound situation of wealth. This case describes a hypothetical investor faced with the challenges of investment strategy and asset allocation implementation, service provider selection, fee structure effects, and passive versus active investing, and rebalancing.

The case profiles the protagonist, Luke Tashie, CEO of Yobella - a self-serve frozen yogurt retail chain that Tashie acquired via a search fund - as the company struggles post-acquisition. The case provides an overview of Luke Tashie's background, his motivation and subsequent capitalization of a search fund, the identification of the Yobella acquisition, and post-acquisition business challenges. As Tashie struggles to maintain financial viability, he debates how to best work with the current investor group and the companies creditors to avoid a financial bankruptcy. The case has historically been taught in tandem with "Jeff Stevens: United Presort Services and Jetsort" (Case E-485) in a joint session on the topic of "managing and surviving from failure."

An update to First Solar (A), this case highlights changes to the solar energy market between 2010 and 2013 and the resulting challenges that First Solar had to overcome. In addition to increased competition from highly subsidized Chinese manufacturers, First Solar lost its pricing advantage due to a steep decline in material costs for the competing solar cell technology, c-Sci. The 2008 global financial crisis spurred a dramatic decline in demand from subsidy markets, further intensifying competition. Within First Solar, the management team went through substantial turnover and was sharply divided over what the company's core strategy should be. Good financial discipline and several key business model decisions kept First Solar solvent. Through acquisitions, the company developed a competitive advantage in the systems business and pivoted away from subsidy markets, pursuing more sustainable markets elsewhere. Finally, First Solar hedged its bet on technology, adding c-Sci, the competing solar cell technology, to its portfolio through an acquisition. These shifts helped to restore optimism and position First Solar to resume a leadership role.

Supplement to case IMD724. Singapore Airlines creates a partnership with India's Tata Group to create a full-service airline to serve the Indian market. The market is served by five existing airlines in both the low-cost and full-service categories. In parallel to the company it is creating with Singapore Airlines, the Tata Group is also launching a low-cost carrier with Malaysia's AirAsia, the overall Asian LCC leader. The case looks at how the different carriers compete in the Indian market, drawing differences between the approaches of low-cost carriers and full-service providers. Learning objectives: To identify and understand the different ways in which a company can compete in a market - low cost vs. differentiation. To understand the close link between strategic positioning and internal competencies.

In the hotel industry, the reuse of towels is considered a main step toward reducing hotels’ high carbon footprint. Windermere Manor, a private, high-end hotel, has established a routine to encourage its guests to reuse towels; however, the hotel’s towel-replacement rate exceeds its towel-reuse rate. The intended routine for identifying towels for reuse is not being followed, even by the hotels’ own housekeeping staff. The hotel's general manager examines the reasons for the breakdown of routine and considers ways of correcting the situation.

Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company's specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or marketing its solutions in a way that took advantage of its distinct capabilities and value-add. Outotec used a cost-based (inside/out) pricing policy, which was the industry norm. As a result, operating profit was only 8% of sales and the CEO had promised the investment community improvements above 10%. Outotec wanted to move from a cost-based (inside/out) to a value-based (outside/in) pricing and selling model to capture more profitable revenues and meet profitability targets the CEO announced to investors. But there were several challenges to this, which the case highlights for students to discuss and debate.

Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company's specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or marketing its solutions in a way that took advantage of its distinct capabilities and value-add. Outotec used a cost-based (inside/out) pricing policy, which was the industry norm. As a result, operating profit was only 8% of sales and the CEO had promised the investment community improvements above 10%. Outotec wanted to move from a cost-based (inside/out) to a value-based (outside/in) pricing and selling model to capture more profitable revenues and meet profitability targets the CEO announced to investors. But there were several challenges to this, which the case highlights for students to discuss and debate.

After reaching the limits of its successful expansion in the United States in the early 1990s, Walmart sought growth opportunities in markets abroad. This case describes Walmart's attempts to replicate its successful U.S. business model in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Central America, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, the U.K., and Africa. Students reflect on the mixed results of these ventures and identify elements in the company's location choices, times of entry, and modes of entry that may explain the outcomes observed. They then formulate a set of recommendations for Walmart to maximize its chances of success when the company expands into India in 2013.

The credit boom that preceded the 2007-2009 financial crisis led to several lending practices that exposed banks to large risks. In particular, when the financial crisis unraveled, there were several billion dollars' worth of leveraged buyout (LBO) loans that were meant to be syndicated but-due to full underwriting-had to be funded by the originating banks. The case protagonist is Bennett J. Goodman, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone. Goodman evaluates the opportunity to buy a fraction of the leveraged loan portfolio being offered for sale by Citigroup. This case can be used as a vehicle for discussing details of leveraged financing. In particular, it illustrates the close connection between syndicated-lending-backed leveraged transactions and loan securitization, and provides a context for discussion of factors that led to the leveraged credit boom that ended in 2007. The case also provides in-depth details of the structure of the transaction and its underlying assets, and serves as a means for understanding and valuing alternative investment strategies pursued by private equity firms during the credit-market crisis. As a byproduct, students learn how to use credit default swaps (CDS), a market-based indicator, for valuation.

This note discusses the capital structure often found in LBO transactions. Although the specifics of each capital structure vary case by case, in any given year, there is a great deal of similarity in the capital structure of these buyouts. These similarities exist because debt structure is largely determined by the deal size and market conditions. The note summarizes historic trends and practices related to the debt structure in the buyout space.

First-year Columbia Business School student Kristen Peters hoped her summer internship with Taylor Reed (TR) would lead to a job offer in private wealth management. Yet mid-way through the internship, Peters received poor feedback, with TR executives citing her low energy and disregard for the firm's rules by checking her phone during classroom time. Vowing to improve her image, Peters completed extra work and extended her networking efforts. By summer's end, Peters remained unsure whether a job offer would be forthcoming. In this case students examine Peters' performance and TR's culture before discussing strategies for building influence. This two-part case series asks students to identify Peter's goals, detect office politics, and discuss how she handles the company culture. It concludes that jobs often possess both meritocratic and political components.

Having identified his "needs and dreams," Paul Schroder had to figure out what to do next. Putting emotions aside, he needed to identify the best options to come up with the required amounts of liquidity at the right times. As Schroder thought through the issues, he viewed his company, Travel Imagination, as the key to his goals. He could continue to manage and own the business, but he was concerned about this asset's concentration and unpredictability in his portfolio. While he was confident that the direct mail company could successfully face the Internet challenge, he was concerned that he might be wrong, and that he would expose his family to too much risk. He knew that he had too much wealth concentrated in this one company, and bad things can happen to good companies. His future support for his daughter Emily depended on it. This case describes a hypothetical investor faced with the challenges of asset allocation, diversification, family businesses, risk, and leverage.

Young, and particularly high-growth ventures often need to raise significant external finance, since their internal cash flow is usually insufficient to support the investments needed to grow. Although raising equity from venture capital or angel investors is the most well-known source of external finance for high-growth ventures, many entrepreneurs, particularly small business owners, rely on debt and other non-equity sources of capital to finance their ventures, either because equity capital is not available to them or because they want to avoid the ownership dilution and governance constraints associated with equity investments. This note focuses on these non-equity sources of financing for entrepreneurs, paying particular attention to how the emergence of new technologies in risk assessment have expanded their availability for young firms.

Since 2008, FOTILE has actively introduced philosophies of the traditional Chinese culture - such as benevolence, justice, courtesy, wisdom and faith - into its management, which it believes to compensate for deficiencies in western management concepts and creates a new Chinese enterprise management model. FOTILE's attempts are controversial and evoke intense discussions and reflections. The core question for class discussion is whether its philosophy is sustainable and applicable to modern enterprises generally in China? How can one integrate the western management philosophy with traditional Oriental culture? Is it really possible? This case can be used in MBA, EDP, EMBA Organizational Behavior and Corporate Culture courses. It supports a 60-90-minute class discussion. The case describes how FOTILE developed its Confucian culture-based management model in a world of market competition. It first introduces the company's background, including its startup and development processes. It next describes the transformation of FOTILE's management model from western philosophy to one based on traditional Oriental concepts. It then shows how Confucianism is applied in FOTILE's management. In particular, it describes the applications of Confucianism in FOTILE's HR management and performance evaluation.

In December 2005, Sapient Consulting signed a fixed-price contract with U.S.-based Global HR Outsourcing Inc. to design a human resources portal for its international customers. Sapient's senior manager of project management, who was based in India, had been handed the project with full faith that it would not only be delivered on time but within the fixed price and using the new agile hybrid methodology. The client wanted the portal built for them and insisted that the project be delivered in a phased manner and with functionality approved by them. Thus, the challenge was to meet the needs of the client while maintaining the margins for the organization.

First-year Columbia Business School student Kristen Peters hoped her summer internship with Taylor Reed (TR) would lead to a job offer in private wealth management. Yet mid-way through the internship, Peters received poor feedback, with TR executives citing her low energy and disregard for the firm's rules by checking her phone during classroom time. Vowing to improve her image, Peters completed extra work and extended her networking efforts. By summer's end, Peters remained unsure whether a job offer would be forthcoming. In this case students examine Peters' performance and TR's culture before discussing strategies for building influence. This two-part case series asks students to identify Peter's goals, detect office politics, and discuss how she handles the company culture. It concludes that jobs often possess both meritocratic and political components.

The MobiChair case describes the story of Lucy Ahn and Josh McKinnon, graduates of Stanford's Graduate School of Business who are also in a relationship, who take on the role of co-CEOs of a power wheelchair company after being offered the position by a mentor who is on the company's board. MobiChair is facing stalled growth and the board hopes to revive the company with new leadership. Though hesitant at first, the couple decides to take on the challenge and soon find themselves faced with a series of interpersonal issues and conflicts that threaten to overwhelm them. From their very first meeting with MobiChair's top three vice presidents, Ahn and McKinnon pick up on red flags that indicate the company operates with a "good enough" culture where 6-hour workdays, a focus on the tactical rather than the strategic, and reluctance to change are all the norm. In the second vignette, McKinnon must deal with an HR manager who defies instituting an employee recognition program McKinnon has requested. On a trip to the company's East Coast office, Ahn and McKinnon are alarmed to find that several top managers are underperforming and need to be replaced, after having assured the West Coast staff that they will not be shutting down any offices of undergoing layoffs. Finally, the co-CEOs are faced with an ultimatum from the controller which forces them to decide whether they can manage without her, or whether they must tolerate her antics until a suitable replacement is found.