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This case presents the perspective of a Malaysian company, Nora Bhd, which was in the process of trying to establish a telecommunications joint venture with a Finnish firm, Sakari Oy. Negotiations have broken down between the firms, and students are asked to try to restructure a win-win deal. The case examines some of the most common issues involved in partner selection and design in international joint ventures.

Is government the biggest, worst customer in the world? And is that a reason for venture investors to back companies that sell to government or to stay away? It had been seven years since Scott Burns joined his friend Zach Stabenow to get a company called GovDocs off the ground. In that time, they had evolved from a provider of government-mandated labor law posters to the country's largest sender of government-to-citizen emails. GovDelivery, as the company became known, was one of the first companies to move governments into the cloud, one of the first to sell them software as a service (SaaS), and in 2007, the only one with 3 million registered citizens using its platform to receive communications from federal, state, regional, and city governments and public authorities. In those seven years, Burns had raised capital from many sources: friends and family, angel investors, strategic partners, banks, and the investment arm of a major family fund. He and Stabenow had also grown the business through operating revenue and by keeping a tight watch on costs. They had to. Because growth capital had come in from almost all corners, expect one: major venture firms. Now, with roughly $6 million in annual revenue and projections to double that within three years, Burns was prepping for discussions with half a dozen Tier 1 firms. In doing so, he was anticipating what he thought would be the "elephant in the room." GovDelivery's business-to-government revenue model had been a conversation-stopper with major investors looking at Burns' company and companies like it. What would he tell potential backers?

In 2015, Nissan was third place in the Japanese auto market, behind Toyota and Honda. The challenge of increasing market share was that 80% of car shoppers who were non-Nissan owners did not consider Nissan during their purchase process. This process involved three main consumer touchpoints: mass media advertising, internet auto websites and the physical dealerships. In the last 5 years, the importance of the dealers in influencing car sales had greatly diminished as consumers researched and chose which make and brand of car to buy online, going to the dealer only to negotiate price, purchase and receive the car. Given this trend, how should Nissan's top marketer make changes in how Nissan manages these three key consumer touchpoints? And how to better integrate them to maximize sales.

Cookie Man, an Australian bakery chain, ventured into India in 2000 with the unique promise of providing "freshly baked premium cookies" on the spot. Opening with a manufacturing unit and its first outlet in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it bought raw materials and most of its packaging locally and used a local refrigerated trucking firm to distribute its goods. By 2015, it was operating 70 company-owned and franchised stores in newly designed malls and high fashion streets in 25 cities across the country. Increasing competition, a move by competitors towards Internet distribution, and the changing tastes of consumers have hurt the financial health of the brand, and some drastic and quick strategic choices need to be made. Should the company grow horizontally and open more stores in India and/or expand into neighbouring countries? Should it look at new channels of delivery or new offerings? What is the right path for survival and growth?

Discusses the power of activity-based costing (ABC) and illustrates its use in several different settings, where full production costs change significantly with its use.

In June 2015, Peter Phillips, Chief Operating Officer of Frontier Services Group (FSG), was preparing an update for the board on how operations would support the company's new strategy. Given the ongoing decline in the price of oil and the extractive industries, the outlook had changed for FSG. His aim was to steer a new course to becoming the leading pan-African logistics provider. Founded in March 2014 by Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy Seal and ex-CEO of Blackwater, a private security firm, FSG was a logistics and transportation company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization in excess of $200 million. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the company employed more than 340 staff in its head office and regional subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Beijing, Dubai, and Malta. In addition to traditional logistics solutions like transporting personnel, materials, supplies, and humanitarian aid, FSG provided civil engineering and support services such as in-house construction, facilities management, and workforce accommodation. Its mission was to build and maintain the infrastructure, installations and platforms its client organizations required to operate in Africa. Although the new approach would open up significant growth opportunities, a number of operational challenges remained. The lack of trained and skilled labor in Africa, coupled with the limited competence of the logistics sector would, if not addressed, impede the future growth of the company. The case traces the evolution of FSG since its inception in 2014 as a Kenyan air charter and freight services company. It offers an overview of the company's recent development and current strategy, notably how it handles the logistics needs of customers across the vast and very diverse African continent.

This case tracks Turkish Airlines' transition from regional player to global powerhouse. With an order for 212 aircraft in the first half of 2013, the airline had moved to double its size and become one of the industry's top-ten players. Growing its fleet would allow Turkish Airlines to fly many more destinations, boost revenues, increase aircraft utilization, and achieve higher cost efficiency. But it would also increase the already intense competition with European giants like Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, and the fast-growth Gulf airlines Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways. Critical questions faced CEO Temel Kotil and his team: How would Turkish Airlines keep growing without jeopardizing profitability? How would it manage the operational complexities and other external factors? Recruit the best people? Continue to differentiate itself in a fiercely competitive industry?

Handout for case UV7031.

Handout for case UV7031.

Spreadsheet supplement for case UV7031.

A joint venture company that started its operations in 2004 in India was in the business of growing, processing and marketing fresh fruits and vegetables, both in India and abroad. As new market opportunities emerged in response to the growing demand for frozen products in the domestic market, the company launched frozen vegetables in the Indian market in 2011 and successfully established the supply chain covering contract farming, processing and distributing the product. The following year, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company was reviewing the first year's performance of frozen vegetable business as part of the annual business plan process. The business was still small and not profitable. The CEO had to decide how to scale up and make the business profitable.

Discusses leadership from the perspective of seven activities that must be managed if an organization is to be successful. The activities include: (1) strategy formulation, (2) cultural maintenance, (3) customer management, (4) conflict management, (4) customer management, (5) motivation, (6) management control, and (7) authority and influence.

T Nexus was incorporated in 2000 and in 2013 became a leader in cloud-based supply-chain management solutions. Born as a technology platform dedicated to the shipping industry and in particular to facilitating supply-chain management for major international carriers, in 2002 GT Nexus became in an SaaS (software as a service) provider, integrating analytics software on its platform. The Global Trade Platform introduced by GT Nexus was a major innovation in the shipping industry: it offered a standardized interface to shippers seeking to book cargo space with major carriers and allowed carriers to manage a far larger customer volume. Over time, the GTN platform became a non-industry specific supply-chain solution, used by some of the largest MNCs (multi-national corporations). GT Nexus expanded its product offering and platform, designing its own software solutions, such as the Trade Solution platform for financing, by partnering with other software companies, such as MicroStrategy and Flagship Custom Service, or by directly acquiring competitors, in the case of Metaship AG in Europe. A final merger with TradeCard in 2013 made GT Nexus the market leader in cloud-based supply-chain management software with over US$100 billion of international trade transactions managed on the platform. After the merger with TradeCard, GT Nexus offered a complete procure-to-pay solution on the cloud, covering every aspect of supply-chain management. The company experienced brisk growth as a pioneer of cloud-computing technology applied to supply chains.

In June 2015, FC Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu sees his team lift the UEFA Champions League trophy, completing an impressive trophy haul in the 2014-2015 season. Unique for a club of its caliber, five of the starting eleven are products of FC Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia. Yet none of the trophies and accolades guarantee future success. Bartomeu faces pressing questions about the club's business model-and in particular about the tensions between local and global activities-as well as decisions about the ongoing investment in the youth academy, funding for the club's Foundation and other sports, and its relatively low ticket prices. How could Barça continue to win on and off the field in the increasingly competitive and global world of European football, while still protecting its local focus and traditions?

Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in the firm's financial statements. In this exercise, students are given balance sheet data in percentage form (common-size balance sheets) and other selected financial ratios for a set of 12 unidentified firms from 12 different industries (all 12 companies are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, ASX). Students must use the balance sheet data and the financial ratios along with their basic knowledge of the operating characteristics of these various industries to match each firm to the correct industry.