After completing their exchange semester, the American students felt that they had gone beyond being mere tourists. However, for most, the reality of spending a term in Europe had turned out very different from their expectations. This supplement to the European Experience (A) case, product 9B02C031 continues the discussion as students finished their academic term and prepare for their work placements. This case is the second part of a case series used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. See also European Experience (C), product 9B02C033.
Follows the experience of an American exchange student studying in Spain, as he embarks on a co-op work assignment with a major international manufacturing company. This supplement is the third part of a case series that is used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. Supplement to The European Experience (A), product 9B02C031, and European Experience (B), product 9B02C031.
A manufacturer of construction parts spends $150,000 annually on courier services. When the courier threatens to stop shipments because the required $10,000 deposit has not been maintained, one of the company's owners decided to switch couriers. The new courier is late in delivering a vital component, nearly causing a production shutdown. The materials manager wants to recommend that the company return to the previous courier service. He needs to consider that the owner is a principled person, who favored the new courier. As well, the company has had layoffs and pay cuts. Although he had been a long-term employee and is satisfied with his work, the manager needs to determine whether he should approach the issue at the next management meeting or simply allow the situation to be the sole responsibility of the owner.
ING Direct USA is a direct bank operating in the United States. Launched in September 2000, it offers a small menu of simple banking products available to customers online, via telephone, mail or fax. In September 2001, the global head of ING Direct asked the president of ING Direct USA, if he would consider adding e-brokerage to the portfolio of ING Direct USA's direct banking products. The president of ING Direct USA is approaching the decision to add e-brokerage to the ING Direct USA portfolio with care. He first has to decide if it makes sense to add this new service. If he decides to add it, he has to consider if he will build the capability in-house or purchase an existing player.
A student at a large Boston-area university would soon be completing a dual degree in Management Information Systems and Business Administration. She is the oldest child and only member of a Japanese family that spoke English and was learning to represent the family business, Kashiwa Tubing, with its international accounts. It was planned that she would eventually assume leadership of the company. During her studies she became a believer in the potential and reach of the Internet. She immediately set up a Web site for the company. Within six months, the Web site generated its first major sale, a $2.5 million order from Saudi Arabia. Recently, she had begun to negotiate a multi-million dollar deal with a Taiwanese firm. The company's Japanese headquarters recently forwarded an inquiry from Nigeria. The inquiry was from a member of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, proposed a business transaction that would, if successful, represent the largest single Internet order in the history of Kashiwa Tubing. Believing in personally meeting with customers and building long lasting ties, her father suggests that she should meet with this customer, even if that meant traveling to Nigeria.
This exercise is designed to help students identify patterns of trust within their network of work and/or personal relationships. The exercise examines three types of trust (coomunication-based, contractual-based, and competence-based), and is intended to help students gain insight into their own propensity to trust others, as wellas their perception of the trustworthiness of the important people with whom they interact most often. The exercise is a self-assessment tool and may be used with MBA and executive audiences.
In 2002, Nomura, though long the market leader in Japan, lacked global presence and was beset at home by strengthened local competitors, Wall Street firms that were taking the best deals, outdated systems, controls, and staff skills. Was Nomura still a player to fear? Could it be?
A group of international business majors from a large Boston-area university traveled to Spain, France and Germany for a yearlong period of study and work. Some of the students described their initial impressions and reactions to living and studying in another country and functioning in another language. Topics discussed include adapting to life in Europe (including language, pace of life, personal space, smoking, local food, sexual norms, personal appearance, and government and bureaucracy), being away from family and friends during the holiday seasons, academics (including differences in learning and teaching styles), and language. The objective of the case is to help undergraduate students who will be living, studying, and working in another country to prepare for their experience. Supplement cases, The European Experience (B), product 9B02C032, discusses the students finishing their academic term and preparing for their work placement and The European Experience (C), product 9B02C033, follows the experience of one student on his co-op work assignment.
After completing their exchange semester, the American students felt that they had gone beyond being mere tourists. However, for most, the reality of spending a term in Europe had turned out very different from their expectations. This supplement to the European Experience (A) case, product 9B02C031 continues the discussion as students finished their academic term and prepare for their work placements. This case is the second part of a case series used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. See also European Experience (C), product 9B02C033.
Follows the experience of an American exchange student studying in Spain, as he embarks on a co-op work assignment with a major international manufacturing company. This supplement is the third part of a case series that is used to help prepare North American undergraduate business students for international exchange programs. Supplement to The European Experience (A), product 9B02C031, and European Experience (B), product 9B02C031.
QuickMedx has created a chain of small kiosks, located in drugstores and shopping malls in the Minneapolis area, that cater to patients with a limited range of very simple primary care conditions. Service is rapid and cheap and patients wait only a few minutes to be seen. The kiosks provide an alternative to the primary care physician's office and the emergency room. Clinical care itself is highly standardized and is delivered by nurse practitioners whose decisions are governed by detailed protocols. The company is now considering its expansion strategy. Should it increase the number of kiosks or widen the currently restricted range of conditions treated?
Describes steps taken to implement and manage a successful employee mentoring program at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. A cultural change at the bank provided the context out of which the program grew. The case describes the development of the program, highlighting design principles key to the program's success and its implementation and initial results after nine months. Program manager Amy Rubinstein and executive sponsor Jack Wixted considered how to expand the successful program to include more employees while maintaining the key aspects that contributed to the program's success.
This case can be used in management of international business courses to illustrate the analysis of market attractiveness, the importance of fit between firm capabilities and market requirements, and the effects of multimarket competition. It describes the international expansion challenges facing EAC Nutrition, the infant formula division of a Danish conglomerate, in early 2002. Growth in EAC's core markets of Thailand and Malaysia has stagnated and EAC is contemplating three expansion options: entry into India, geographic expansion within China, and product line expansion in existing markets.
Retaining talent is an issue for any company whose success relies on the creativity and excellence of its employees. This is especially true for Cirque du Soleil, the spectacularly successful "circus without animals," whose 2,100 employees include 500 artists--mimes, clowns, acrobats, gymnasts, musicians, and production professionals. Managing a company full of creative people is a juggling act in itself, between keeping its artists happy and pursuing a successful strategy for attracting more business and talent.
Discusses selecting investors and avoiding board-level conflicts of interest in start-ups. Using the "term sheet" in third-round financing as a negotiation over future governance and control rights. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
Sanjay Kumar, the CEO of Computer Associates, faces investor communication challenges following the company's implementation of a new business model and the accompanying change method used to recognize revenue. Despite management's confidence that the new business model is working effectively, the firm's stock price falls significantly and a major shareholder challenges management through a proxy contest.