As an extension of UFIDA (A-E), UFIDA (F) using early 2012 as the time node, looks at UFIDA's major steps taken during 2010-2011, accomplishments, and major future opportunities and challenges. The case focuses on the new market development of Cloud Computing and Management Software Industry. Cloud computing provides both strategic opportunities and poses tremendous challenges. It combined a technology revolution with necessary change in business models. In its movement to embrace cloud computing, the company had adopted a strategy of actively embracing transformation, and boosting core competiveness through efficiency-based high-growth. Today, UFIDA's core strategy has shifted from being the leading accounting software vendor in China to becoming the largest management software vendor in Asia and eventually a world-class cloud service provider.
In response to the potential collapse of large financial institutions in 2007, the U.S. government committed trillions of dollars to loans, asset purchases, guarantees, direct spending to provide fiscal stimulus, expansionary monetary policy, and bailouts of various private financial institutions. The bailouts were especially controversial because public money was used to protect private financial institutions and their wealthy executives while ordinary citizens received no such protection. One outcome of the government's response was the proposal to enact into law the Volcker rule, which prohibited banks from engaging in proprietary trading, or trading for their own-not their clients'-benefit. Proprietary trading was believed to generate up to 10 percent of total trading revenues, which would have exceeded $5.9 billion in 2010 for the six largest American banks alone. If the Volcker rule were to become law, government agencies, including the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, would write the detailed regulations that would implement the law. These agencies employed civil servants but were run by political appointees with technical backgrounds. After issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking the agencies would solicit comments from the public, which would help shape the regulations. Executives of large banks needed to decide how to respond to this potential change in their business environment.
CBM Pte Ltd (CBM) originated as a subsidiary developed to support the facilities management (FM) needs of its property development parent, Singapore-based City Developments Ltd. Viewed as an industry, FM comprised a surprisingly large component of the GDP in mature markets such as Europe and North America, and was beginning to grow rapidly in emerging markets such as Asia and the Middle East. With the Singapore market approaching saturation, and new opportunities arising in overseas markets to which the recently reorganised firm had good access, CBM had achieved several years of double-digit growth. However, the FM market was evolving as large players began to expand their overseas networks and integrate their services to follow multinational clients around the globe. Was the trend toward service integration and environmental sustainability an opportunity for CBM, or a threat? How could they sustain their profitable growth?
The three-case series is about how a medium-sized Taiwanese company approached competition with 3M in global markets. The series covers a 14-year period. The A case starts in 1994, when 3M decides to launch a lawsuit against companies (including Hopax) selling repositionable notes that compete with 3M's highly successful Post-It notes in the United States. How should Hopax respond? The B case explains that, unlike the other players, Hopax decides to fight in court. Staples, Hopax's largest customer in the United States, decides to cancel its contract. What should Hopax do now? The C case recounts the events that follow until 2008 and explains how the company applies principles of judo strategy to become the second largest supplier of repositionable notes in the world. The series allows students to explore options to smaller innovative companies as they try to compete in global markets with large, resource-rich, players who do not hesitate to use courts to try to eliminate their smaller competitors.
This supplement to Hopax (A), product number 9B10M004, explains that, unlike the other players, Hopax decides to fight in court after Staples, Hopax's largest customer in the United States, decides to cancel its contract.
This case is about Colbun, Chile's second largest electricity generator, which is facing significant uncertainty regarding the cost and availability of alternative energy sources. Problems with the contracted supply of natural gas and the volatility of oil prices, coupled with pressure from collective activists, force Colbun to revise its business strategy and its sourcing mix. The case also deals with the pros and cons of various energy sources in view of their perceived environmental impact. The company's CEO, Bernardo Larrain Matte, has to take all these different considerations into account when planning Colbun's future, especially in the light of new opportunities and challenges posed by global climate change. The case analyzes the operations of Colbun to illustrate the complexities associated with conducting business under the influence of global energy markets, political uncertainty, and environmental activism.
The FDA approvals of novel therapeutics were seen as signs in the personalized medicine community of real progress in the growth of personalized medicine; The FDA's approval of such drugs, along with companion diagnostics, suggested a shift in thinking and regulatory practices at the agency. Beyond the regulatory questions, many considered the reimbursement system archaic, dispersed, unpredictable, and unnecessarily time consuming. Many questioned whether the traditional models of reimbursement were relevant in the era of personalized medicine, and who should be covering the cost of tests needed to identify the sometimes small number of patients who could benefit from expensive targeted drugs. This case focuses on the array of possibilities and the ambiguity surrounding these regulatory and reimbursement issues.
Changes in the global environment are generating opportunities for companies to build advantage by creating loosely coupled networks or ecosystems. Ecosystems are larger, more diverse, and more fluid than a traditional set of bilateral partnerships or complementors. By leveraging ecosystems, companies can deliver complex solutions while maintaining corporate focus. This article describes six keys to unlock ecosystem advantage: pinpointing where value is created, defining an architecture of differentiated partner roles, stimulating complementary partner investments, reducing the transaction costs, facilitating joint learning across the network, and engineering effective ways to capture profit.
Confronted with public concerns about health and obesity, food companies are taking several initiatives. However, it is unclear to what extent they should communicate these policies. This article explores reactions in the blogosphere to health-related announcements by large food companies. Results show that taste-related announcements generate not only more reactions, but also more positive buzz than knowledge-related announcements. Valence is influenced by issue association per company type: those with highest obesity associations generate more negative blog posts. In case of low issue association, there are only limited blogosphere reactions. This analysis has important implications for managing interaction with social media.
A strong reputation is widely acknowledged to be the most valuable asset of a firm, and sustainability has become an important component of corporate reputation. Many stakeholders, from customers to investors to employees to purchasing managers, report that sustainability is an important factor in their decision-making processes. However, sustainability messages have become ubiquitous-almost table stakes-for most large firms. In such an active marketplace, especially for firms who have not pursued leadership positions, it is difficult for companies to use sustainability to create meaningful differentiation from competitors and thus benefit from their investments. There is often a major gap between stakeholder perceptions and firm performance. Firms that integrate sustainability into their culture and business practices are better able to integrate sustainability messaging into mainstream communications
The maritime industry is widely seen as less permeable to innovation than other industries. However, the industry is now recognizing that demands for increased environment protection can only be achieved by more innovation. This study demonstrates that environmental innovation has played a significant role in changing the industry's innovation paradigm. It has also been transformed over time.
A large global study examines the factors that stock analysts consider most important when issuing buy, hold, or sell recommendations. The considerations that are deemed significant vary widely from region to region.
Seeing matters through your counterpart's eyes is key to successful collaboration with outside stakeholders. Four strategies companies can use to make this an organization-wide skill.
Want to improve your relationship with a partner--in your personal life or at work? You can strengthen it if you spend more time moving physically in the same direction.
The global vice chair of public policy for Ernst & Young discusses how emerging multinationals can address talent shortfalls in rapid-growth markets. The problems start, she says, with senior leadership teams that lack international experience. Often they are driven to poach talent from rivals, inviting high turnover and salary inflation. Instead of focusing so much on the "science" of talent management--the best practices of Western companies that have been internationalizing for decades--executives need to pay attention to the "art": a commitment to inclusive leadership. They must value difference as opposed to merely tolerating it, encouraging discussion and actively engaging conflicting points of view.