Prayas is a unique healthcare initiative, launched in India by Sanofi-Aventis, a French multinational pharmaceutical company, with the objectives of updating the medical knowledge of doctors in semi-urban and rural areas, bridging the gap between diagnosis and treatment, and making available quality medicines at affordable prices. This case discusses the evolution of the Prayas model from its inception to its current state, and the company's business strategies around it. Cognizant of the success of Prayas, many competitors of Sanofi-Aventis are actively developing and implementing similar models. The company's top management team has to respond to the competitive threat.
Termination of WorldSpace India operations in 2009 was a part of restructuring efforts of the Maryland, U.S.-based parent company that had filed for bankruptcy in October 2008. As of June 30, 2008, WorldSpace Inc. (later 1 WorldSpace) had listed debt of US$ 2.1 billion and assets of US$ 307.4 million and had sought bankruptcy protection to help raise fresh funding to repay its debts. The parent's two regional satellites, AfriStar and AsiaStar, and related ground assets had been acquired by U.S.-based Liberty Media, which also owned 40 per cent of satellite radio service provider Sirius XM Radio . The termination of WorldSpace raised a series of questions regarding early mover disadvantages, business ideas and pricing strategy. Analysts further extended the arguments to draw parallels with the likes of Iridium to question strategic decisions relating to the service-hardware mix, service provision and pricing, power of complementors, power of substitutes and overall, the consumers' willingness to pay for incremental choice.
Susan Johnson, founder and CEO of Medfield Pharmaceuticals, is faced with conflicting recommendations for extending the patent life of the company's flagship product, Fleximat, scheduled to go off patent in two years. With only three other products in Medfield's lineup of medications, one of which has only just received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, strategic management of the company's product pipeline is of paramount importance. But a recent $750 million offer to purchase the company has entirely shifted her focus. With this offer, Johnson has the opportunity to exit the business on a high note. Before making her recommendation, Johnson has to determine the value of the company, with a careful review of its existing and potential future products. But this is more than simply a financial decision, since Johnson-and Medfield employees in general-believe that the company is engaged in critically important work. This case is meant for undergraduate, MBA, executive education, and MBA exec audiences. It is taught as a core course, "Financial Management and Policies," at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.
As the head of the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in China, En Li was shepherding a $1 billion R&D investment in China. So far he had been able to attract a large number of Chinese-born but US-trained scientists to play a critical role in establishing the site. How sustainable was this strategy, and what were the key things he had to do right to establish a globally integrated R&D unit in China?
Sym-Bio, an entrepreneurial Chinese diagnostic company with a product line in infectious disease testing, has agreed to be acquired by PerkinElmer, an international corporation with businesses in neonatal testing, life science services, and environmental health. Sym-Bio wants to accelerate its growth and competitive position in China through this strategic move, and PerkinElmer seeks to broaden its access to the Chinese marketplace, leverage the cost advantages of operating in China, and tap into the talent pool of young Chinese scientists. Strategic and operational integration of Sym-Bio into PerkinElmer is explored through the lens of the founder and CEO of Sym-Bio and that of the acquiring company.
The solar photovoltaics (PV) industry would not exist without government policies. Governments around the world have implemented policies to support consumption of solar energy and production of solar PV products. These policies have varied across countries and across time, thus contributing to regulatory uncertainty. This article addresses two related questions. First, how does regulatory uncertainty in the solar PV industry shape firms' market and non-market strategies? Second, how might firms' responses to this public-policy environment affect technological development and the locus of manufacturing? Government policies on solar PV, and firms' strategies to overcome regulatory uncertainty, may have unintended consequences. Firms' decisions on location and technology development may result in loss of employment and national competitiveness for developed countries; and firms' market strategies may increase regulatory uncertainty if they do not involve non-market stakeholders.
This article analyzes the closing gap between regulation and enforcement of environmental protection in China and explores its implications for doing business there. It identifies three major dimensions that characterize change in regulatory systems: priorities and incentives, bureaucratic alignment, and transparency and monitoring. Using these dimensions, it describes the mechanisms that characterized China's prior period where enforcement of environmental protection was decoupled from regulation. Regulation and enforcement are becoming re-aligned. This is due to a change in national development strategy, reorganization of the bureaucracy, and increasing monitoring from both the government and general public. To address these changes, firms need to embrace environmental innovation and integrate local and global standards. They should also be more transparent and compete on reputation.
More and more firms are engaging in greenwashing, misleading consumers about their environmental performance or the environmental benefits of a product or service. The skyrocketing incidence of greenwashing can have profound negative effects on consumer and investor confidence in green products. Mitigating greenwashing is particularly challenging in a context of limited and uncertain regulation. This article examines the external (both institutional and market), organizational, and individual drivers of greenwashing and offers recommendations for managers, policy makers, and NGOs to decrease its prevalence.
Regulatory uncertainty has been inherent in climate change policy due to the absence of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Many companies have called for more certainty and a stable policy framework. However, besides having clear disadvantages, regulatory uncertainty may also benefit some companies if they recognize the opportunities of flux and move early. This article explores business opportunities that have emerged for different types of companies, including utilities, banks, project development & carbon offset companies, brokers, exchanges, consultants, auditors, and legal services providers with respect to clean development projects and the related carbon market.
Coping with uncertainty is a fundamental challenge for firms. One way they can respond is by building up strategic flexibility. By looking at airlines' flexibility responses to regulatory uncertainty associated with their inclusion in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, this article shows that firms can respond to regulatory uncertainty by developing such flexibility in two ways: they can either anticipate the potential consequences of changing regulatory conditions and try to prepare for them; or they can adapt quickly and efficiently to them once the regulatory situation has become clear. By examining evidence from nine case studies, the article identifies the organizational capabilities required to pursue an anticipatory or adaptive strategy and demonstrates that each type of response requires a specific bundle of capabilities.
Automotive assemblers and suppliers have employed a number of different strategies to deal with external uncertainty. These strategies have evolved relatively rapidly of late in part because of changes in the locus of innovation from OEMs to suppliers, changing market conditions, and the future regulations of greenhouse gases. This presents a unique challenge for the industry. Some auto firms have been more effective in dealing with market and regulatory uncertainty due to technology resource integration across platforms and integration between functions on the value added chain from suppliers to retailers.
This article offers two integrated strategies managers can use in the face of environmental regulatory uncertainty. As integrated strategies, they both recognize non-market forces while taking into account market realities. Advocating for pragmatic, progressive policies enables firms to shape future policy around existing environmental strengths; this strategy raises competitors' costs when competitors have yet to develop identical competencies. Systematically embracing advancing regulation enables firms to satisfy activists who are pressuring policymakers to force firms to conform to higher environmental standards in other jurisdictions; this strategy allows managers to adapt to coming regulation at their own pace while leveraging market competencies. This article presents four case studies that highlight how some firms have implemented these strategies, and why some have been successful at mitigating regulatory uncertainty and some have not.
This case features Old Spice's efforts to reposition Glacial Falls after sales stagnated in the United States. The challenges in this case are twofold. First, it sets the stage for deciding whether and how to reposition a brand after a period of significant stagnation. This entails a targeting dilemma about whether to keep existing customers or take the risk of losing them to go after a new target. Second, this case examines whether the company should make a sensory change in the product (i.e., the scent) or whether it should undertake a cognitive change in the positioning of the product instead.
There are not many families in the world that can claim continuity of existence for over 76 generations in business or otherwise. Families that survive over the long term tend to have strong values that are in line with the basic principles of trusteeship — to preserve and grow wealth (both material and otherwise) for the benefit of future generations. This case is based on the history and current challenges of the Mewar dynasty, who ruled part of India for 13 centuries. The family must consider the issue of succession and continuity in its palace hotel business and non-commercial activities.
In 2007, J. W. "Bill" Marriott Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International, faced criticism from various groups about the fact that the Marriott hotels offered in-room adult entertainment. Because the Marriott family and organization was affiliated with the Mormon Church, which decried pornography, claiming that it was harmful to children, family, and society, critics assailed the company for not being true to Mormon values. In an attempt to make a decision, Bill Jr. reflected on the history of the Marriott Corporation and his family's deep ties to the Mormon Church and community. The company had been founded on his father's strong principles, and Bill Jr. knew that the ultimate decision had to adhere both to these principles and to his responsibility for the corporation's financial stability and the needs of its customers.
There are not many families in the world that can claim continuity of existence for over 76 generations in either business or otherwise. Families that manage such a feat tend to have strong roots of values and culture that are in line with the basic principles of trusteeship - to preserve and grow wealth (both material and spiritual) for the benefit of future generations. This case is based on the history of and current challenges faced by such a family, the Mewar dynasty from India.
It was August 2011 and Martin Cartier, senior board member, was beginning to feel the pressure of Drowling Mountain's 2010 general meeting that was coming up in two months. Drowling Mountain had historically been the ski resort of choice for the local residents of Syracuse, New York. However, the company had recorded losses for the past two years. At last year's annual general meeting, Cartier explicitly stated that he would bring the company to sustainable operations. He felt personally responsible for the company's struggles since he was the longest serving member on the board. Management had been keen on developing a new marketing plan focused on increasing sales and new pricing schemes, but Cartier thought an advance meeting to discuss the plan with select board members would be advantageous. Cartier held significant influence in the meeting coming up in October, and any recommendations that he made were likely to determine the future success of the company.
Bruce Ballantyne had recently joined CRP Products (CRP) of Stratford, Ontario, to help review the company's operations and assess what changes were necessary to keep up with demand. Although it was early 2011, and the peak season was still four months away, Ballantyne knew that he would have to determine what equipment was needed over the next three weeks to ensure it was delivered and installed before the peak season. Jamie Bailey, the owner of CRP, had also concluded that CRP did not have the financing available for both the new equipment needed to make its unique design of outdoor furniture and the seasonal working capital required to support inventory and accounts receivable. He had turned to Ballantyne to develop a solution that would keep up with demand, keep inventory low and work within the available financing.