This note provides a few basic facts about the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO). We also investigate why we need those institutions from an economic perspective. In other words, we seek to understand what problems the GATT/WTO solve, and why without them the trade liberalizations that they seek would not emerge.
In 2017, it was a challenge to assess the future of global trade. It was an open question whether the US financial crisis and the recession that it triggered would mark a turning point for the liberal post-World War II world order. If one looked toward Europe, China, Latin America, and Japan, there was a flurry of activity. New trade agreements were being completed and pursued. In Washington, DC, on the other hand, President Donald Trump seemed set on ripping apart and/or renegotiating any trade deal the United States was ever part of. This case explores Trump's opinions and emerging policy stance on trade, bilateralism, and the global economy, among others. It also gives an overview of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and asks whether the Trump presidency would constitute a major challenge to the WTO and what it stood for in 2017.
In 2013, two entrepreneurs founded Magic Markers, a whiteboard animation company in Bogotá, Colombia, with the mission of gracefully explaining complex issues to interested audiences. The (A) case describes how the company experienced unanticipated growth after one of its videos went viral. The two founders faced several challenges and needed to quickly learn how to manage their growing business. Human resources issues proved to be particularly trying and difficult to manage. In late 2017, an investor presented Magic Markers with an investment offer, which the owners needed to evaluate carefully. The (B) case focuses on social media reactions to content posted by the company.
In September 2015, Bartos Stainless Limited, an Indian steel-producing company that emerged as a strong brand in the mid-2000s, was facing a series of internal and external challenges: challenges from frequent changes at the chief-executive-officer level, fluctuating metal prices, the global slowdown of the steel industry, increasing competition from imports, and diminished investor confidence. The managing director needed to address these challenges and manage the risks of his business model, while maintaining profits.
On September 12, 2017, just as Apple's Tim Cook was unveiling the iPhone X, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group (CBG), and Glory Cheung, his Chief Marketing Officer, were discussing some key strategic issues regarding Huawei's smartphone business. Established in 1987, Huawei was the largest telecom equipment company in the world. Huawei established the CBG in 2012 to focus on Huawei-branded smartphone models, and within five years had risen to be the No. 3 player in the market in terms of shipments; next only to Apple and Samsung. As they finished watching Cook's presentation, Yu and Cheung thought about the Mate 10 series, Huawei's most advanced smartphone that would be launched on October 16, 2017 in Germany. The new models would include Huawei's proprietary Kirin 970 chipset, which boasted having the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) mobile processor. They had to decide how to position, communicate and price the new phones. Yet beyond these near term decisions, a major challenge facing Huawei was how to make good on Yu's bold vision to overtake Apple and Samsung in market share within three to five years, while maintaining healthy profits. This task seemed particularly daunting given the difficulties the company had encountered in penetrating the lucrative US market. What would it take for Huawei to be the number 1 smartphone brand globally?
AM-Pharma is a biotech company developing a medicine for patients with acute kidney injury. The case describes the company's journey from inception in 2001 to a large deal with Pfizer in 2015. The aim is to discuss the value creation of AM-Pharma through its strategic decisions over time. It highlights the patient journey, company challenges, market size potential, and how the management team was able to raise multiple financing rounds from venture capitalists. It further provides the readers with a unique insight in the key risks and operational challenges of a biotech company and the value of an experienced management team backed by strong investors. The drug development process is inherently risky, long and expensive and the probability of commercializing a new drug is very low. The company's CEO is the protagonist and the case is split in three parts to provide the readers with surprises and open strategic questions which are time related. The case is semi-chronologically and a patient story is intermingled to provide a different perspective on clinical trials, ethical dilemmas and the high unmet medical need for new therapies. The case ends with a valuation simulation, in which the readers can negotiate the AM-Pharma/Pfizer deal themselves. Learning objective: The aim of the case study is to evaluate the value creation of AM-Pharma strategic decisions over time. 1/ The strategy diamond and Porter's Five Forces will be applied as a tool for understanding the industry and the company's strategy. 2/ The key success factors are also assessed for this challenging setting of a biotech startup. 3/ Role of Serendipity and management vision in opening new doors. 4/ Different exit options are discussed, highlighting pros, cons and what actually happened. 5/ How clinical outcome, and exit timing highly impact the valuation. The case will trigger discussions on the strategic options listed, and engage the students into exit negotiations simulation.
AM-Pharma is a biotech company developing a medicine for patients with acute kidney injury. The case describes the company's journey from inception in 2001 to a large deal with Pfizer in 2015. The aim is to discuss the value creation of AM-Pharma through its strategic decisions over time. It highlights the patient journey, company challenges, market size potential, and how the management team was able to raise multiple financing rounds from venture capitalists. It further provides the readers with a unique insight in the key risks and operational challenges of a biotech company and the value of an experienced management team backed by strong investors. The drug development process is inherently risky, long and expensive and the probability of commercializing a new drug is very low. The company's CEO is the protagonist and the case is split in three parts to provide the readers with surprises and open strategic questions which are time related. The case is semi-chronologically and a patient story is intermingled to provide a different perspective on clinical trials, ethical dilemmas and the high unmet medical need for new therapies. The case ends with a valuation simulation, in which the readers can negotiate the AM-Pharma/Pfizer deal themselves. Learning objective: The aim of the case study is to evaluate the value creation of AM-Pharma strategic decisions over time. 1/ The strategy diamond and Porter's Five Forces will be applied as a tool for understanding the industry and the company's strategy. 2/ The key success factors are also assessed for this challenging setting of a biotech startup. 3/ Role of Serendipity and management vision in opening new doors. 4/ Different exit options are discussed, highlighting pros, cons and what actually happened. 5/ How clinical outcome, and exit timing highly impact the valuation. The case will trigger discussions on the strategic options listed, and engage the students into exit negotiations simulation.
AM-Pharma is a biotech company developing a medicine for patients with acute kidney injury. The case describes the company's journey from inception in 2001 to a large deal with Pfizer in 2015. The aim is to discuss the value creation of AM-Pharma through its strategic decisions over time. It highlights the patient journey, company challenges, market size potential, and how the management team was able to raise multiple financing rounds from venture capitalists. It further provides the readers with a unique insight in the key risks and operational challenges of a biotech company and the value of an experienced management team backed by strong investors. The drug development process is inherently risky, long and expensive and the probability of commercializing a new drug is very low. The company's CEO is the protagonist and the case is split in three parts to provide the readers with surprises and open strategic questions which are time related. The case is semi-chronologically and a patient story is intermingled to provide a different perspective on clinical trials, ethical dilemmas and the high unmet medical need for new therapies. The case ends with a valuation simulation, in which the readers can negotiate the AM-Pharma/Pfizer deal themselves. Learning objective: The aim of the case study is to evaluate the value creation of AM-Pharma strategic decisions over time. 1/ The strategy diamond and Porter's Five Forces will be applied as a tool for understanding the industry and the company's strategy. 2/ The key success factors are also assessed for this challenging setting of a biotech startup. 3/ Role of Serendipity and management vision in opening new doors. 4/ Different exit options are discussed, highlighting pros, cons and what actually happened. 5/ How clinical outcome, and exit timing highly impact the valuation. The case will trigger discussions on the strategic options listed, and engage the students into exit negotiations simulation.
AM-Pharma is a biotech company developing a medicine for patients with acute kidney injury. The case describes the company's journey from inception in 2001 to a large deal with Pfizer in 2015. The aim is to discuss the value creation of AM-Pharma through its strategic decisions over time. It highlights the patient journey, company challenges, market size potential, and how the management team was able to raise multiple financing rounds from venture capitalists. It further provides the readers with a unique insight in the key risks and operational challenges of a biotech company and the value of an experienced management team backed by strong investors. The drug development process is inherently risky, long and expensive and the probability of commercializing a new drug is very low. The company's CEO is the protagonist and the case is split in three parts to provide the readers with surprises and open strategic questions which are time related. The case is semi-chronologically and a patient story is intermingled to provide a different perspective on clinical trials, ethical dilemmas and the high unmet medical need for new therapies. The case ends with a valuation simulation, in which the readers can negotiate the AM-Pharma/Pfizer deal themselves. Learning objective: The aim of the case study is to evaluate the value creation of AM-Pharma strategic decisions over time. 1/ The strategy diamond and Porter's Five Forces will be applied as a tool for understanding the industry and the company's strategy. 2/ The key success factors are also assessed for this challenging setting of a biotech startup. 3/ Role of Serendipity and management vision in opening new doors. 4/ Different exit options are discussed, highlighting pros, cons and what actually happened. 5/ How clinical outcome, and exit timing highly impact the valuation. The case will trigger discussions on the strategic options listed, and engage the students into exit negotiations simulation.
Clubb International Private Limited (Clubb) was a 26-year-old travel goods and accessories firm based in Kolkata, India. The owner believed in a complete ownership model. The firm had come a long way since its beginning and now had close to 200 product offerings. In March 2017, the owner's son (the second-generation director of Clubb) felt it was time to scale up the business and acquire a leadership position in the market. Clubb had at its core a legacy of innovation, quality, and a bootstrapping philosophy, but it might not be conducive to the new strategic vision. For the road ahead, the company needed a professional and streamlined product and retail strategy. Could the desired scale of operations be achieved with the complete ownership model and mantra of no advertising?
Rosslyn Resource identifies exploration targets (potential mineral deposits) in the mining industry and advances them until the project can be monetized, usually through sale to a larger mining company, in return for an upfront fee and a royalty on future revenues. Rosslyn has invested heavily in developing proprietary, innovative equipment and geological data sets that would make exploration cheaper and faster. Rosslyn must decide what to do with the Two Rivers site, for which a preliminary study shows favorable results. Rosslyn could follow its standard approach and sell Two Rivers, or it could move further down the value chain by developing an operational mine at the site (which would be a first for Rosslyn). The potential financial reward for doing so would be far higher, but this option entails higher risk and capital expenditures than Rosslyn is used to. This case can be used in advanced undergraduate, MBA, or executive-level courses.
Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech "Unicorn." The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu'e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune), digital-only banking (MYbank), credit scoring (Zhima Credit ), and consumer credit portal (Ant Credit Pay) among others. After another sales record during the 2016 11.11 Global Shopping Festival along with Alibaba, Long Chen, Chief Strategy Officer of Ant Financial was contemplating the various opportunities and challenges associated with the firm's international expansion, inclusive finance in rural regions, and regulatory uncertainties.
Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech "Unicorn." The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu'e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune), digital-only banking (MYbank), credit scoring (Zhima Credit ), and consumer credit portal (Ant Credit Pay) among others. After another sales record during the 2016 11.11 Global Shopping Festival along with Alibaba, Long Chen, Chief Strategy Officer of Ant Financial was contemplating the various opportunities and challenges associated with the firm's international expansion, inclusive finance in rural regions, and regulatory uncertainties.
In September 2016, Marriott completed its $13.3 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which added 11 brands to its already robust 19 hotel brand portfolio. Tina Edmundson, Marriott's global brand officer, was charged with making sense of the brand portfolio and designing a strategy that would clearly differentiate each brand from the others and a brand architecture system to communicate to consumers how to navigate among them. She would need to decide whether and how to prune brands from the portfolio, whether and how to combine brands through dual-branding and or sub-branding strategies, and whether, where, and how to use the Marriott parent brand to endorse the remaining brands.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla), the electric car company, unveiled its Model 3 in late July 2017 as its stock price continued to appreciate. The Model 3 was priced to sell to the mass market and to potentially compete with the mass-market leaders such as Toyota. The stock market had also responded favourably to Tesla’s decision in 2016 to acquire SolarCity, a manufacturer of solar cells, and its decision to build the Gigafactory, the world’s largest lithium battery plant. Could Tesla justify its sky-high stock price multiple by simply selling electric cars, or should Tesla become a battery company that could fundamentally change the energy storage industry—or for that matter, some other type of company?