Incorporated in 1978 as a joint venture between Biocon Biochemicals Ltd, Ireland and a company led by Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, a young Indian entrepreneur, Biocon had long depended on revenues from the production of enzymes and generic drugs. However, competitive pressure from within the country as well as from other developing economies like China was quickly eroding price levels in these lines of business. Moreover, the 2005 adoption of WTO TRIPS in India meant that the generics-based strategy that many of India's pharma and biotech companies had followed might not be viable anymore. To continue on its current growth path, Biocon needed to consider moving from being a producer of biogenerics to becoming a global biopharmaceutical innovator. Concerned with strategy in an emerging industry, sheds light on the effects of clusters on strategy, as well as the effects of national and supranational factors on strategy. Leadership issues and low-cost strategies for diversification are also addressed.
Founded in 1881, Seiko gained prominence for introducing the world's first quartz watch in 1969 and is often associated with the "quartz revolution" of the 1970s that threatened to destroy the Swiss watchmaking industry. Competition from inexpensive Chinese watch producers, a resurgent Swiss watch industry, domestic rivals, and a profusion of new fashion brands have led the company to reconsider its sales-oriented strategy of offering numerous products at various price points. Having become nearly obsolete in the face of quartz technology, the mechanical watch business was thriving once more, as a number of predominantly Swiss firms attracted luxury watch buyers. Since the 1960s, Seiko has produced luxury and complex mechanical watches for the domestic market under the brands "Grand Seiko" and "Credor." In 2003, Shinji Hattori, a great grandson of Seiko's founder became Seiko Watch Company's president and CEO and felt that Seiko should raise its perceived image outside Japan. In management's view, Seiko could claim distinction as the only "mechatronic manufacturer" in the world--a vertically integrated watchmaker that excelled in both mechanical watchmaking and micro-electronics. The launch of an innovative new watch movement--the Spring Drive--presented an opportunity for Seiko to make a timely foray into high-price segments in the international watch market. Examines the legacy of Seiko's watch business and provides a basic overview of the world watch industry. Considers the manner in which watches have evolved as a product category, and how a company like Seiko has attempted to reconcile its competitive advantage with its brand positioning in a highly crowded market.
This is the first of a two-case series (IMD328 and IMD330). The idea for Dubailand first came up in early 2002 as part of the country's efforts to diversify the sources of its gross domestic product (GDP) by expanding the tourism market offering. The answer, developed by the Dubai Development and Investment Authority, was the founding principle behind Dubailand - the creation of a globally competitive entertainment and leisure hub. Between 2003 and 2005, a master plan for the project was drafted. International theme park experts and consultants were called on to provide input as to how the land should be divided and what should be included to make the destination globally competitive. In April 2006, Christian Perdrier, current CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Dubailand, was approached by a headhunter based in London about the Dubailand project. They were looking for someone with international experience and industry expertise to lead the project, which was not taking off beyond the master-planning phase. He accepted the challenge and joined the company in February 2007. The case is set in 2007, in the first few months after a CEO is hired to make the vision happen. Between February 2007 and December 2010, the CEO will have to turn a plan into a reality, opening a leisure and entertainment complex of 27,000 hectares, hiring the first wave of the 250,000 people who will ultimately work in a hub that will include dozens of theme parks, hotels, retail and residential units.
Deck is a U.S.-based multinational supplier to the automotive industry. It is a part of a joint venture in Romania, which, in October 2006, needs to be expanded to fulfill the growing needs of Renault-Dacia and its highly successful new world car, the Logan. But the question of the joint venture's expansion has revealed that the JV does not meet many of Deck's global manufacturing and business practice criteria. It is now being aggressively pushed by the customer to expand its investment in a small, local market, which may not yield sufficient financial results to justify the investment.
Nordic Telephone Company, formed by a consortium of private equity firms, has made a public tender offer for Denmark's leading telecommunications company, TDC. TDC's board of directors approved the take-private transaction, and 88% of shareholders have accepted the offer. Nordic Telephone must gain 90% of TDC's shares to force compulsory redemption under Denmark law. However, a pension fund that held 5.5% of the outstanding stock has rejected the offer. Should Nordic Telephone lower its 90% acceptance threshold and purchase TDC without a guarantee of full ownership, or should TDC walk away from the table?
Kinder Morgan, Inc., was a leader in the transportation and distribution of energy throughout North America, managing a master limited partnership with over $35 billion in infrastructure assets. In the summer of 2006, Richard Kinder, the founder and Chairman of Kinder Morgan, led a consortium of buyers to take the company private. The independent board of directors of Kinder Morgan must decide whether or not to accept Kinder's offer and assess the fairness of the proposal, given the conflicts of interest in this management buyout.
The Vanguard Group is one of the largest asset managers in the U.S., with over $1 trillion in assets, ninety percent of which are mutual fund assets, and more than 12,000 employees at year-end 2006. Vanguard has built a strong reputation as the manager of reference for low-cost investing and high-quality customer service which always does what it thinks is best for its clients. Vanguard has recently launched a family of life-cycle funds called Target Retirement Funds. Life-cycle funds, which have proven popular both with investors in company-sponsored defined-contribution pension plans and with individual investors, are built on the idea of "age-based investing," or the notion that investors should allocate more of their long-term savings to stocks when they are young and have longer retirement horizons, and decrease this allocation as they approach retirement. The management at Vanguard is examining the central role of these funds may play in some initiatives aimed at growing Vanguard's retail, defined contribution and client advisory services. The pending approval of the Pension Protection Act will make it possible for sponsors of defined-contribution plans to take a more active role in advising plan participants, and the assets in individual retirement accounts and defined-contribution pension plans are expected to continue their rapid growth moving forward. Should Vanguard promote these funds as the next step in Vanguard's quest to make investing as simple, low-cost, and effective as it can possibly be? At stake is Vanguard's brand and client trust, and the welfare of millions of Americans now responsible for providing for their own retirement.
Sante Fe Relocation Services was a premium provider of relocation services based in Hong Kong. Founded in 1980, the company had built a reputation as a reliable, high-quality packer and mover of household goods. By 2000, the company also offered a full range of relocation support services including visa and immigration applications, home searching and cultural and language training. Santa Fe relocated expatriates and their families between Asian countries and between Asia and other regions. The company had its own staff and assets in Asia and managed its international operations through a network of partners. In 2005, the chief operating officer faced three key challenges: differentiating and positioning the brand in a crowded and often price-driven market; incorporating an expanded service line under the original brand and gaining market recognition for those additional services; and managing the brand across the Asian region with an effective balance of standardization versus local adaptation.
AARP Foundation--a leading non-profit corporation--must create a new "Dashboard" performance measurement tool to track the effectiveness of its new strategic plan.
Examines the plans for a new knowledge management system at Katzenbach Partners LLC, a 150-employee management consultancy, from the perspective of the firm's managing partner. Covers both system functionality and plans for driving user adoption of the system.
In 2003, Philips Electronics Private Limited, Singapore launched Philips People Services (PPS), a shared services centre to provide various standardised human resource services. With PPS reducing the cost of business support function and improving decision-making related to recruitment and retention activities, the Head of PPS had to mull over a product division head's expectation of lower annual service fee.
The main objective of this case is to introduce students to the calculation and usage of ratios in a real world environment. Secondly, students will be required to access, read and use an actual annual report. Lastly, Dairy Farm International is an Asian-based multinational and, therefore, by using comparative data from a United Kingdom multinational, Tesco, and a local Canadian company, Sobeys, students will be introduced to issues related to international financial comparisons.
Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and by 2006 is in need of yet more funding. Pushes students to dissect the business model and current operations--and their financial performance--and figure out what went wrong initially, if the business model and operations are now on solid footing, and, assuming capital can be raised, whether it is better to take the "bird in the hand" of significant capital at an admittedly disappointing valuation, or wait for a strategic investor who would pay a higher price but will need significantly more time to complete due diligence.
Nextel Partners' shareholders have voted to exercise a put option that will require the company's largest shareholder, Sprint Nextel Corp., to purchase all the shares it does not already own. However, the put option does not stipulate a price to be paid, but rather a process involving third-party appraisers, who will set the sale price. This is so even though Nextel Partners is a publicly traded company. Raises issues regarding the definition and determination of "fair market value" and permits discussion of topics such as control premia, discounts for illiquidity, and possible departures by the stock price from "fair market value."