The chief financial officer of Acer Incorporated has to decide how to manage the higher level of complexity of the company's exchange risk after their restructuring. This must be done in a way which is consistent with Acer's core principles, one of which is to find simple effective solutions to unavoidable business risks. The case addresses the technical issues of exposure measurement and hedging, the challenge of hedging expected, but not contracted, future foreign currency revenues, and IFRS hedge accounting requirements.

This case showcases the 30-year career of Naina Lal Kidwai, Chairman of HSBC India, a leading woman business leader globally. It demonstrates how Kidwai spent a lifetime overcoming barriers as a woman in a male-dominated profession and as an Indian in the global marketplace. Now, as opportunities to play a role in the environment are beginning to open up, she has to decide the next direction to take in her career.

Dr. Reddy’s Foundation (DRF) was established to focus on offering education and livelihood programs in India. The case deals with DRF’s innovative program called Livelihood Advancement Business School (LABS), under which vocational training programs are conducted to upgrade the skills of underprivileged, semi-educated and unemployed youth. These programs develop specific and marketable technical and work-related skills and provide entry-level jobs to the target group. The LABS program fills an important gap between employers’ need for skilled youth and potential employees who might not have training, skills, credibility or access to such jobs. The case describes DRF’s entry into this particular niche sector and the difficulties that it faced along the way. The case also analyzes the following aspects of the LABS program: monitoring systems and processes; partnering relationships formed to expand its presence and outreach to the target population; challenges related to ensuring fair wages and skilling the differently-abled youth; and potential future directions for the program.

Maria D’souza planned to expand her business by introducing a new product line of frozen foods. She wanted to estimate the attractiveness of the new expansion by estimating net present value (NPV) of the expected cash flows. Her main concern was to find a suitable discount rate to be applied to cash flows to ascertain the NPV of the project.<br><br>D’souza’s consultant friend asked her to analyze cost of capital of similar companies operating in the same industry. The basic principle in this case is that firms in the same industry often have similar customers, operations and assets; therefore they have similar business risks and should have similar costs of capital.

HootSuite is one of the fastest growing SaaS (Software as a Service) social media dashboards on the market. The company’s vice-president of business development needs to determine the best strategy for segmenting and monetizing HootSuite users. He needs to introduce a tiered pricing plan that generates revenues without alienating users.

The case is structured in three sections. Section one describes Brockhaus' response to the emergence of digital encyclopedias and identifies the main reasons for why the company was able to successfully deal with this innovation. At the end of section one, participants are asked to analyze (1) the strategic situation Brockhaus faced when dealing with digital encyclopedias; (2) the actions of Brockhaus in response to the advent of digital encyclopedias; and (3) the reasons for why Brockhaus successfully dealt with this strategic challenge. Section two contains a review of two theoretical concepts: disruptive innovation theory and the value curve. This theory section should provide the participants with the tools necessary to understand radical innovations and to successfully respond to them. Section three describes Brockhaus' war against Wikipedia and the actions Brockhaus took to deal with online ecyclopedias. At the end of the section, participants are asked (1) to analyze how the strategic challenge brought about by online encyclopedias differs from the challenge resulting from the rise of digital encyclopedias; and (2) to use the value curve concept to design possible strategies in response to the emergence of online encyclopedias. In a wrap-up following section three, the case describes that Brockhaus ultimately failed at successfully dealing with the emergence of online encyclopedias and had to leave the market. Learning objectives: The aim of the case is to enable participants to understand that the emergence of Microsoft's Encarta and Wikipedia both represented major challenges for Brockhaus, but that they differed in a very important aspect: While the emergence of digital encyclopedias was a continuous change, the emergence of online encyclopedias was a discontinuous one.

HootSuite is one of the fastest growing SaaS (Software as a Service) social media dashboards on the market. The company's vice-president of business development needs to determine the best strategy for segmenting and monetizing HootSuite users. He needs to introduce a tiered pricing plan that generates revenues without alienating users.

Maria D'souza planned to expand her business by introducing a new product line of frozen foods. She wanted to estimate the attractiveness of the new expansion by estimating net present value (NPV) of the expected cash flows. Her main concern was to find a suitable discount rate to be applied to cash flows to ascertain the NPV of the project. D'souza's consultant friend asked her to analyze cost of capital of similar companies operating in the same industry. The basic principle in this case is that firms in the same industry often have similar customers, operations and assets; therefore they have similar business risks and should have similar costs of capital.

Jabwood, a wood trading company with four branches in Lebanon owned by the Jabado family, is contemplating international expansion into new markets - specifically, Saudi Arabia and China - to compensate for a decline in revenues. This case examines the macroeconomic environment of Lebanon, China and Saudi Arabia as well as the wood industry in those countries. The characteristics of a successful international expansion are considered. In addition to identifying the criteria of attractiveness for each country, the case requires a decision on a market entry strategy that would ensure a successful expansion for the company. Given the risks and tradeoffs in each country, Jabwood has to decide whether it should expand in either market or both and on the mode of entry it should adopt to increase its chances of success.

Patient safety is a critical issue in health care and remains a problem in almost all health care institutions. The challenge is to change the culture so that all providers of care put patient safety as job one. Traditionally physicians have suggested that patient safety is due to individual error. In contrast, patient safety is a system and cultural change. The joint chief of staff at a medium-sized community hospital wants to address patient safety by influencing his fellow physicians to change practices of patient care without appearing paternalistic. The arena of patient care and changing attitudes is a new concept at Grand River Hospital. The case examines the various means that the joint chief of staff can employ to introduce a patient safety culture at the hospital.

This case was developed to record corporate governance reform at ICBC within the context of China's banking reform. It describes the evolution of governance in China, the challenges faced by leaders at all levels, the choices made and the results of these hard decisions. The challenges and discussion are relevant to Western companies in terms of understanding the corporate governance structure adopted by large Chinese enterprises. The success of the bank and its unique governance structure bring much inspiration from East to West. Learning objectives: Participants can explore the different issues behind ICBC's governance reform. At undergraduate level in a political economy program, students can discuss the strategies involved in transforming from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy and the systematic design required to make any reform work. In MBA programs, participants can discuss issues related to corporate restructuring, governance structure, IPOs, as well as competitive strategy. At executive and board level, participants can focus on the banking governance structure and the pros and cons of the ICBC system. By the end of the class discussion, participants should have gained an insight into working with large Chinese companies. They should be able to grasp the problems arising from conflicts of interest among shareholders, directors, supervisors, the management team, strategic investors, the communist party and regulators. They should also understand the inner workings of these stakeholders, in particular the incentives of each stakeholder group, which differ greatly from those in the West. Participants will realize how corporate governance could be managed differently and how complex it could become. The discussions offer participants the opportunity to reflect on governance practices in the West and borrow elements that could be useful.

Jabwood, a wood trading company with four branches in Lebanon owned by the Jabado family, is contemplating international expansion into new markets — specifically, Saudi Arabia and China — to compensate for a decline in revenues. This case examines the macroeconomic environment of Lebanon, China and Saudi Arabia as well as the wood industry in those countries. The characteristics of a successful international expansion are considered. In addition to identifying the criteria of attractiveness for each country, the case requires a decision on a market entry strategy that would ensure a successful expansion for the company. Given the risks and tradeoffs in each country, Jabwood has to decide whether it should expand in either market or both and on the mode of entry it should adopt to increase its chances of success.

Patient safety is a critical issue in health care and remains a problem in almost all health care institutions. The challenge is to change the culture so that all providers of care put patient safety as job one. Traditionally physicians have suggested that patient safety is due to individual error. In contrast, patient safety is a system and cultural change. The joint chief of staff at a medium-sized community hospital wants to address patient safety by influencing his fellow physicians to change practices of patient care without appearing paternalistic. The arena of patient care and changing attitudes is a new concept at Grand River Hospital. The case examines the various means that the joint chief of staff can employ to introduce a patient safety culture at the hospital.

The founder and chief executive officer of Mobiroo Inc. must make several decisions regarding the future of his mobile application (app) gift card company. Mobiroo had created the first app gift card for Android and Blackberry users ? similar to the iTunes gift card for iPhone users. Over the past two years, the company had experienced phenomenal growth in the business-to-business space, selling a white-labelled app storefront to mobile carriers and handset manufacturers. Recently, the company had focused on moving into the competitive retail gift card space: should Mobiroo enter the world of retail slowly or go full speed ahead, making significant investments in both time and money? With the holiday season for gift-giving approaching, a decision was needed quickly.

The case examines Harley-Davidson’s decision to enter the Indian market. Due to India’s rapidly growing economy and its swelling base of high-net-worth consumers, numerous luxury product companies lined up to enter India. The case enumerates the factors that such firms should take into account when selecting new markets to enter. Also discussed are the various post-marketing issues Harley-Davidson faced in India after its entry and the resolutions the company could implement to resolve those issues.<br><br>The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the dynamics involved in selecting new markets for the firm to maximize its gain while expanding its business.

This case is a supplement to Maxim Off Highway Axle Business: An Acquisition Opportunity (A).

The case explores the similarities and differences between social media campaigns launched by Nissan and by Tata Motors to stimulate sales for models of their cars in India. The Nissan campaign allowed consumers to compete to star with Ranbir Kapoor, a Bollywood star and spokesman for the Nissan Micra, in a short film featuring the Micra as the hero. The Tata campaign launched India's first social streaming show, in which select teams of consumers participated in an Amazing Race-style road trip competition in different regions of the country. Both campaigns made extensive use of Facebook. Students are tasked with evaluating the two campaigns in terms of their fit with the communication objectives of each company and their effectiveness on a variety of metrics. The case includes links to advertisements and other video material. Although the case is written to be used independently, it also would work well in combination with the "Positioning the Tata Nano (A) and (B)" cases.

The call for new types of collaboration in outsourcing saw the development of the enterprise partnership model by Xchanging in 2001. The case looks at the history of one such partnership with BAE Systems. History shows why the model was attractive to BAE Systems against several other models. In Part 1 of the case, we look at and ask students to assess the in-house, fee-for-service outsourcing and management consultancy options for transforming HR through shared services. In Part 2, the case details the distinctive features of a joint-venture model that was eventually adopted and of the supplier competencies needed. We follow the relationship through the phases of preparation, realignment, streamlining, and continuous improvement, initially up to 2003. Students are asked to assess the model, progress, and what the future holds. In the third part of the case, we follow subsequent developments, including the change in the nature of outsourcing with BAE Systems from March 2007, the launch of Xchanging on the stock market in April 2007, its continued expansion, and its troubled history from 2010 to 2012. The case gives insight into the conduct of a distinctly different form of outsourcing, into how the client and the supplier deal with outsourcing over a number of years, and how a supplier navigates through a highly dynamic 21st century global environment while trying to expand its market services and revenue growth.

Supplement to case SMU403. This case is the second part of a two-part series on Innova Technology, a technology start-up company based in Singapore. The two cases focus on: Case (A) - Developing, producing and marketing a product innovation Case (B) - Growth strategies for a young technology company The case is set in May 2012, and begins with the protagonist, Rick Tan, chief executive officer of Innova Technology Private Limited, contemplating what his company's go-to-market strategy should be. Tan and his business partner, Jonathan Lim, who is also the Chief Technology Officer for Innova Technology, developed PROTAG, a new anti-loss device, using Bluetooth technology. The device, which is about the size of two credit cards stacked together, is synched to a mobile phone and can be attached to valuable personal belongings such as keys, wallets, handbags, passports and even phones. If the valuable item were to be separated from the person by more than a certain distance, the device would set off an alarm alerting the owner of its potential loss. Tan and Lim are two young entrepreneurs who set up Innova Technology in January 2011 as a technology start-up under the auspices of Singapore Management University's Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Tan, the partner with the business and finance skills, focused on developing a sound business plan and raising funds for their product. Lim, the technology guru, channelled his efforts to fine-tune the technology and develop a design with unique functionality. After extensive market research and encouraging results from beta test sales using the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo, Tan had confidence in his product. Yet, he was keenly aware that a great product could fall flat in the market if it was not backed by a well-designed marketing strategy. The partners had invested in manufacturing and 5,000 pieces of PROTAG had already been shipped out from the factory.

In 2006 the French bank Crédit Agricole bought the Greek Emporiki bank, for €2.8 billion, at the peak of a bull market for bank takeovers. Six years, a major financial crisis, and 5.2 billion of losses later, in a context of great uncertainty in the European banking sector, what decision should Crédit Agricole take regarding Emporiki? Through the example of this European cross-border acquisition the case looks at the Greek banking system before and during the unprecedented Greek sovereign debt crisis; the efforts of Greece and the main actors of the European financial system to prevent the battled country from having to exit the euro zone; and the potential scenarios for Greek banks in mid-2012.