個案總覽

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Boeing and Airbus, the leading manufacturers of large aircraft, were locked in a battle for market share that drove down prices for their new planes. At about the same time, the two industry heavyweights began developing new aircraft families to address the future market needs they each projected. Aircraft take many years to develop, so by the time the new planes made their inaugural flights, significant changes had occurred in the global environment. First, emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere were growing rapidly, spawning immediate and long-term demand for more aircraft. At the same time, changes to the market for air travel had created opportunities for new products. These opportunities had not gone unnoticed by potential new entrants, which were positioning themselves to compete against the market leaders. In October 2007, the Airbus superjumbo A380 made its first flight. The A380 carried more passengers than any other plane in history and had been touted as a solution to increased congestion at global mega-hub airports. Four years later the Boeing 787, a smaller long-range aircraft, was launched to service secondary cities in a point-to-point network. The case provides students with an opportunity to analyze the profit potential of the global aircraft manufacturing industry in 2002 and in 2011. Students can also identify the actions of participants that weakened or intensified the pressure on profits within the industry.

Jacob Madisson is wondering how General Mills will make it to its goal of sourcing 100% sustainable cocoa by 2020. Demand is increasing and some are wondering if the supply of the precious raw material will dry up. Prices will certainly increase, nevertheless. With only 10% of its African-based cocoa sourced sustainably, General Mills needs a new strategy. How will the company move forward?

This case looks at the Ambatovy mining project in Madagascar, which involves exploring and exploiting a giant nickel and cobalt mine near Moramanga, on Madagascar's east coast. The project could bring important economic and social development to Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world but requires a high level of commitment to environmental protection along with the support of local communities. The company is developing programs to compensate for its ecological footprint and to achieve the goal of "no net loss" of biodiversity. The case gives a history of the project, the main actions taken, and the results delivered by the company while attempting to engage in "sustainable exploration and exploitation" and to be a "responsible" corporate citizen. The company's perspective of the social, economic, and environmental issues surrounding the project is compared with that of two other stakeholders: the government and local communities.

Environmental activist groups have traditionally opposed nuclear energy. However, the growing environmental problems associated with global climate change requires major changes to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Should environmental groups reverse course and support the construction of new nuclear plants--using technology that could be rapidly deployed at scale--to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global climate change?

An engineer and technology entrepreneur, Nobu Okada, had turned a mid-life crisis into a bold-some would say quixotic-quest to prevent a tragedy of the commons at the global scale. Namely, Okada believed the accumulation of debris in near-Earth orbital space posed a serious threat to a vast array of critical satellites and, thereby, both the modern information economy and the future of human activities in space. Frustrated at what he saw as far too slow a reaction to the threat among major space powers, Okada planned to develop a spacecraft capable of adhering to, and redirecting, that debris. By lowering the costs of debris removal, he hoped to make it routine, even in the absence of government action. As of 2016 his company, Astroscale, which had secured private funding years earlier, was nearing the first demonstration of the technology. This case is intended to help students understand how a tragedy of the commons develops in a specific, nearly textbook example. As important, this case is about potential solutions to the tragedy of the commons when the market and policy both fall short.

In 1950 it looked highly doubtful that Indian democracy would hold -- typical family income was $6 a month, only about 15 percent of the population was literate, there were deep religious and ethnic differences, and more than a dozen national languages were spoken. But after a half a century, India had proved to be the first democracy anywhere near so poor to survive. Why? As well, in 1950 India's economic prospects looked bright for a developing country -- it had a well trained government bureaucracy bequeathed by the British, a secure legal system, national railroads, and more advanced industry than, for example, China. Why did the economy do so poorly?

A product market firm faces an inventory investment decision in the face of demand uncertainty. To hedge against some of the uncertainty, the firm contemplates an additional fixed investment that would offer the flexibility of diverting inventory in case of weak sales. In a follow-up case, the repercussions of this flexibility are explored.

This is a follow-up case to "Curtis LLP: A Case on Cases." It explores the challenges facing debtors when dealing with borrowing firms that have operational flexibility.

The oil and gas industry is one of the largest, most complex, and most important global industries. The industry touches everyone's lives with products such as transportation, heating and electricity fuels, asphalt, lubricants, propane, and thousands of petrochemical products from carpets to eyeglasses to clothing. The industry impacts national security, elections, geo-politics, and international conflicts. The prices of crude oil and natural gas are probably the two most closely watched commodity prices in the global economy. In recent years, the industry has seen many tumultuous events, such as the growth in oil and gas production in the United States; sanctions on Russia and improved international relationships with Iran; continued technological advances in unconventional oil and gas; ongoing strife in Iraq, Libya, and various other oil-exporting nations; continued heated discussion about climate change and non-hydrocarbon sources of energy; and continued uncertainty in crude and gas prices. All of this comes amid predictions that the global demand for energy will increase by 30-40% by 2040.

This case describes how Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), a leading provider of broadband, IPTV, and long-distance services in Hong Kong with approximately 2 million Internet subscribers, went through a management buyout (MBO) transaction with CVC Capital Partners (CVC), a global private equity investment firm. Subsequently, the case describes how HKBN's unique corporate culture, particularly its Co-Ownership scheme, led the company from an MBO to a successful IPO. In May 2012, CVC along with key management team members purchased HKBN from Ricky Wong, a well-known Hong Kong entrepreneur in the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) industry, and completed the MBO transaction. Through a series of value-added efforts made by both the management team and the CVC team, two years and 10 months after the MBO, HKBN made an IPO in early 2015, resulting in HKBN being one of the few successful MBO transactions in Asia. What are the key factors that contributed to this success within a short time? How should the management team ensure that these success factors, particularly the Co-Ownership scheme, continue to guide HKBN to success in its industry?

BancoSol, a microfinance bank headquartered in La Paz, Bolivia, was forced to adjust its lending strategy and business model because of a regulatory change. 60% of the bank's lending portfolio would have to move to the productive sector of the Bolivian economy by 2018, and these loans would have a controlled interest rate of 11.5%. How would BancoSol meet these targets, fulfill its mission, and remain profitable?

Student spreadsheet for case W16127.

Two undergraduate business students wanted to assess the feasibility of starting a business that would sell an all-natural and completely biodegradable alternative toothbrush - the Miswak. A total of $50,000 had already been secured for the initial investment; however, the young partners wondered whether this investment would be sufficient to sustain the cash flows of the business for its first three years of operations and, if not, how much additional funding would be needed. To discover whether their proposed venture would be feasible, the pair set out to perform a variety of qualitative and quantitative analyses.

Near the end of 2014, Derek Belch decided to turn his master's thesis into a virtual reality athletic training company called STRIVR Labs [Sports Training in Virtual Reality]. Born out of Stanford University's famed Virtual Human Interaction Lab, STRIVR garnered immediate interest from a wide array of organizations. Having played and coached football at Stanford University, Belch had connections within several professional and collegiate football programs. Furthermore, he had tested STRIVR's revolutionary product extensively with the Stanford University Football team throughout the 2014 football season. During this testing phase, Belch made drastic improvements to the virtual reality training solution, and several national media outlets began to take notice of the innovative technology. Against this backdrop, Belch was able to secure several meetings in the beginning of 2015 with coaches, scouts, and NFL executives, with the hope of acquiring a few customers. By the end of June, STRIVR had signed contracts with two NFL teams and six colleges. By the end of August, STRIVR had added an additional four NFL teams, three college football teams, the NBA's Washington Wizards, and the NHL's Washington Capitals. As STRIVR grew its customer base, it generated significant press, which led to even more inbound interest in STRIVR's solutions. Much of the interest came from sports teams, eager to utilize STRIVR's sports training solution. However, several companies approached Belch to discuss partnership opportunities outside of sports training-some related to sports entertainment, and others in industries completely unrelated to sports. In less than a year, Belch and the STRIVR team had seemingly endless opportunities for growth. And while Belch was thrilled about the many potential avenues for STRIVR's continued expansion, he knew that the excitement needed to be tempered with caution.

In 2013-14, the Indian government issued Inflation Indexed Bonds for institutional investors and Inflation Indexed National Savings Securities for retail investors. The immediate trigger for the issue of inflation indexed securities was the coincidence of an increase in trade deficit, an increase in gold imports and a period of high inflation, leading policy makers to conclude that households were increasing their gold holdings as a hedge against inflation. It was expected that investors would use the Inflation Indexed Bonds to hedge against inflation and reduce their demand for gold. However, response to the inflation indexed securities was poor and the issue was not considered a success. The government must now decide whether this was a case of wrong policy or wrong execution.

This note discusses inflation linked securities.

Fruitzone India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company was contemplating launching a new flavour of fruit juice and decided to conduct a feasibility study. It hired an external market research agency, India Monitor International (IM) to conduct the market research. This case discusses the exploratory phase of the research conducted by IMI. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses

Fruitzone India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company is conducting a market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that they could launch. The case discusses how Fruitzone India Limited conducts an exploratory research and then prepares to conduct a confirmatory research. The case can be used to discuss different exploratory research techniques, how to interpret the findings of exploratory research and questionnaire construction. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses.

Supplement to case A00053. Fruitzone India Limited (FIL) is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company has conducting a market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that they could launch. The case discusses how the data collected in confirmatory research using a primary research is analyzed and interpreted. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses.

Supplement to case A00053. Fruitzone India Limited (FIL) is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company has conducting a market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that they could launch. After they had completed the confirmatory research they still had some questions and they have gone for another round of validation through primary research, including simulated test marketing. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses.