Grove International Partners, one of the world's largest international real estate private equity funds, is actively seeking new investment opportunities in the seniors housing industry. The firm has identified two potential opportunities--one located in Japan and one in the United Kingdom--that would place it at the leading edge of one of the most lucrative and socially meaningful health care services markets in the world. Grove evaluates these two opportunities and decides which one, if either, to pursue.
Discusses platform structure in new networked markets, that is, whether a market that exhibits network effects will be served by a single platform or by rival platforms. Defines "platforms" and "platform structure"; describes factors that influence the odds that a winner-take-all outcome will prevail; and presents a framework for analyzing these factors in combination to predict platform structure.
This case discusses the efforts by the state of Andhra Pradesh and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to provide water services to its poorest inhabitants - approximately 1.7 million people. Undermining this challenge is the reality that Hyderabad is located in a comparatively dry region of India, and the Water Board is only able to provide water for an average of two hours per day. To attract investment, the government decides to privatize the Water Board, but the World Bank conditions its support for this privatization on Andhra Pradesh's ability to develop a program that will provide water to the city's slums. HKS Case Number 1828.0
This case examines the dilemma confronting the Brazilian electricity regulator in the period following power rationing. Brazil privatized about 65 percent of the distribution companies (DISCOs) in the 1990s, but the companies were hit hard financially, first by a dramatic fall in the currency exchange, and then by a supply crisis that forced the government to require consumers to reduce their consumption by 20 percent. The case explores the deliberations by the Brazilian regulatory agency, ANEEL, on whether to grant significant tariff increases to DISCOs during a period of economic turmoil. It also addresses several key regulatory issues: How to calculate the value of a regulated firm's asset base; Should a regulated firm be compensated for changes in exchange rates? Similar problems are confronted by regulators in other sectors and other countries so that the lessons in this case are transferable. HKS Case Number 1826.0
How does a public-private venture emerge in one of the world's poorest countries (Laos) and how does it obtain $280 million in financing for a 215 MW hydroelectric facility to supply power - not to the host country, but its neighbor? At the time of the project, Laos had no domestic capital market, and commercial lenders and equity investors believed the country too politically and economically risky. As a result, Laos had almost no foreign direct investment and had never entered into a public-private venture for energy infrastructure. HKS Case Number 1829.0
In 2005, Erez Meltzer, the president and CEO of Netafim (the world's leading manufacturer of drip irrigation equipment), was wondering whether Netafim's supply chain was strong enough to support the change in strategy he was planning for the company: migrating from selling products to selling solutions. When Meltzer stepped into office three years earlier, the company was struggling with flat sales, an out-of-date supply chain, and no global synergies. In just three years, Meltzer turned around the company, restructured its supply chain, and reinvigorated its growth. The question was whether the newly restructured supply chain would support the new strategy--one that would require new supply chain-related competencies from the organization.
Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is beginning to disrupt plain old telephone service (POTS). Ron Close has been offered the job of heading Bell Canada's nascent VoIP business. Bell is Canada's largest telco and supplier of POTS. The case provides a platform for discussing a disruptive innovation (VoIP) and its implications for an incumbent player. Ron Close explains how Bell addressed the technology challenge, and its managerial and organizational consequences in an available video, product 7B06M009.
In 1996, Kari Stefansson launched a new kind of biotechnology company and a whole new way of attacking diseases. Based in Iceland, his firm, deCODE Genetics, plans to identify the individual genetic markers that lead to society's most prevalent diseases. To do so, it plans to create an unrivaled database of genetic and medical information, drawing on Iceland's unique genealogical records and patient information from a countrywide medical database. But when patient advocate groups form to oppose the plan, deCODE is forced to change its strategy.
This note addresses a number of different frameworks that general managers and consultants use to address problems. A general framework for addressing Operations Management is presented that can be used by both operations consultants and general managers.
The CEO of a publicly traded Indian auto components manufacturer must decide whether to accept an investment from a consortium of private equity firms. Describes the decision process for both the private equity investors and the entrepreneur and profiles the opportunities and risks in investing in India.
Presents a time-driven version of the Wilkerson Co. activity-based costing case (101092). Faced with declining profits, Sippican Corp. is struggling to understand why it is encountering severe price competition on one product line. The controller collects data that will enable development of a time-driven, activity-based cost model to explain better the different demands of each product line on Sippican's indirect and support resources. Illustrates a powerful connection between strategic planning and operational budgeting.
A real estate appraiser has been hired to provide an alternate assessment on a set of office buildings in London, Ontario. Real estate assessments are often based on comparisons versus similar properties. However, because the set of comparison properties is small he cannot rely on standard quantitative techniques like linear regression. Instead he uses a technique called quality point in which the property valuation problem can be formulated as a quadratic program.
The Canadian firearms program initially was established to set up a shared database. However, increasing costs of the firearms program is a concern for a number of Canadians. Should the federal government continue, de-escalate, or cancel the program.