個案總覽

On January 4, 2016, the co-founders of Forked River Brewing Company (Forked River), a small brewery in London, Ontario, revisited the company’s original business plan from 2012. Over the course of only four years, the founders went from home brewing enthusiasts to owners of a striving, award-winning craft brewery. Forked River beers were now offered in pubs, restaurants, and retail stores across the province of Ontario. In the past year alone, Forked River had expanded its production capacity by 50 per cent, hired an additional full-time brewmaster, and added a retail outlet to the brewing facility. However, business had recently become more complicated due to changes to Ontario retail liquor laws, increasing non-brewing administrative work, and looming decisions about the product portfolio and distribution strategy. Now, the three founders wondered whether Forked River was still on the right track or if a new strategic plan was needed to ensure its long-term success in the fast-changing craft beer industry.

In October 2015, WestJet, Canada’s second largest airline, needed to expand its social media presence. The vice-president of marketing and communications and the manager of social media were excited about the prospects of continuing to grow their customer base and reach even more guests through social media. WestJet had developed a highly successful approach to managing social media, and now the two executives were faced with two new possible social platforms: Snapchat and Pinterest. With an economy in decline and a flat marketing budget for 2016, they had a decision to make. Should the company pursue either of these platforms for the coming year, and if so, how? Which one would be best for the growth and evolution of WestJet’s social media presence?

The Information Age represents the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution. But despite the fact that family structures have changed dramatically since the early 1900s, the standard eight-hour workday remains entrenched. This article describes how the author’s company moved to a five-hour workday, with excellent results. As he explains, the five-hour day is about managing human energy more efficiently by working in bursts over a shorter period. Humans are not machines; just because a manager sees employees at their desk for eight hours doesn’t mean they are being productive. Having more time to pursue passions, nurture relationships and stay active also gives workers more energy emotionally and physically—which is why studies show that happiness improves productivity. Furthermore, a five-hour workday necessitates time management by forcing employees to prioritize high-value activities. The author of The Five-Hour Workday offers five tips on how to get started: 1. Read The 4-Hour Workweek by serial entrepreneur Timothy Ferriss, which discusses the 80/20 Rule or Pareto Principle. 2. Shift to a production mindset, measuring work in output rather than hours. 3. Drop the “always available” attitude. 4. Use technology to boost efficiency. 5. Don’t restrict yourself to a 25-hour week.

Student spreadsheet for product 9B14N035.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 8B17M083.

In 2012, TwinHills was a proposed community development project by a private land developer in Calgary, Canada. The developer's utopian vision was to create a community that met a “five bottom line” model of economic, social, environmental, technological, and spiritual components. This vision was not necessarily shared by the agencies involved in the development approval process, including those in city council. The landowner identified social return on investment (SROI) as a possible tool to use to demonstrate the value of the community and expedite approvals. Two students took on the task of researching SROI and recommending specific applications for the TwinHills project. However, they encountered problems that complicated the decision process. What recommendations should the students make regarding the use of SROI for this project? They would have to use skills including cost-benefit and stakeholder analysis, while absorbing and applying the new concept of SROI to suggest the most appropriate course of action.

Belmont Abbey College was on the verge of closing when a new president took office in the spring of 2004. Enrolment at the private liberal arts college had dropped to just over 500 students, and net revenues were insufficient to support ongoing operations. Belmont Abbey College was not alone in facing dire financial prospects, however. Higher education in general confronted an array of challenges due to dramatically escalating costs and a significant decline in the number and economic circumstances of prospective students. The president made efforts to strategically position the college in attempting to mitigate costs. In 2014, would his efforts over the last decade—including a bold and perhaps risky move to compete directly on the basis of price—pay off and secure future enrolment?

Facing a decline in the company’s core camera business as a result of the aggressive entry of smartphones, Canon identified the network security industry as a potential growth market, with expected revenues of US$23 billion by 2020. Canon opted to pursue this kind of growth potential outside its core competency by acquiring Milestone Systems in 2014 and Axis Communications in 2015. Canon paid a 50-per-cent premium to acquire Axis in a cash-only offer, while choosing to allow its two acquired companies to continue operating as independent entities. Should Canon have instead created a strategic alliance with these two companies? Would these acquisitions allow Canon to achieve synergies and secure its goal of $1 billion in sales from the network securities market by 2020?

Hector Beverages reinvented the ethnic drinks category in the Indian market with its beverage brand Paper Boat. The brand had been successful since its launch in 2013, posting triple-digit growth in 2015. By the end of December 2015, Hector Beverages’ future seemed to be heavily dependent upon Paper Boat. With Paper Boat constituting 90 per cent of the company’s total sales, 2016 would be a critical year for Hector Beverages. Should the company add more variety to its line of products, or should it focus on a few best-selling variants? Would the Paper Boat brand remain strong despite the launch of a similar product by a major competitor? Could Hector Beverages maintain its hold on the Indian ethnic drinks market?

In November 2005, World Peace Industrial Group was at an important milestone as it prepared to join two other major electronics components distributors to form the WPG Holdings and become a dominant player in its industry. As its chief executive officer prepared for the merger, it became apparent that the company’s financial position was threatened by inventory management and forecasting problems. Although sales and market share were increasing, profit margins were dropping as a result of increasing inventory costs. The chief executive officer asked the director of the Business Effective Promotion Group to resolve the worsening problem. How would the director identify the sources of weakness and recommend a plan of action as soon as possible?

Alibaba Group (Alibaba) had grown from its founding in 1999, in an effort to help Chinese manufacturers and exporters reach global markets, to become a global leader in e-commerce, big data, and cloud technology. The company’s 2014 initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange had been the largest to date. The company’s founder and chairman, Jack Ma, had used the funds to globally expand Alibaba’s operations and its hold on diverse markets. Ma’s aim was to have Alibaba exist in three centuries and to not only generate profits but also improve lives and societies in China and beyond. How could Ma ensure long-term success for shareholders and prosperity for China and the world?

In January 2006, the general manager of sales at Castrol India Limited was concerned. Sales of Castrol motorcycle oil for four-stroke engines was far less than it should be, especially when considering the five million motorcycles being added to Indian roads each year. Most motorcycle oil changes took place in franchised workshops during the warranty period and in non-franchised workshops after the warranty period. The general manager wanted to increase the sales of Castrol oil in the spare parts shops and non-franchised workshops that serviced India’s growing after-market. Castrol India’s existing distributors were reluctant to sell to those segments, which they viewed as low-volume, high-cost, and risky distribution channels. The general manager needed a distribution strategy that would appeal to the existing distributors and boost Castrol Oil India’s sales without increasing costs to the company.

In September 2006, the general manager at Norwood Waterworks (Norwood) was faced with a difficult situation. Since his original employer, EMCO Corporation (Emco), acquired Norwood, he had been tasked with trying to turn around the new acquisition. Like Emco, Norwood was a distributor of building products and equipment in the waterworks industry. The company had three locations, all in Alberta. However, the general manager soon discovered that Norwood was suffering due to a poor organizational culture. Employees were unmotivated, overpaid, and complacent. He needed to communicate—clearly and effectively—that the Emco culture was here to stay, and that the Norwood employees needed to find a way to change the way they operated.

In 2015, Automaten Technik Baumann (ATB) was dismayed to learn that Volkswagen Financial Services had acquired a 92 per cent stake in Sunhill Technologies, one of Europe’s largest providers of mobile parking and ticketing solutions. ATB had focused on the production of parking meters for several decades, but was now seeing a threat to its existing business due to the rise of mobile parking providers. Consumers could now use their smartphone to pay for parking—making parking meters obsolete. Should ATB take the rise of new entrants seriously? Would ATB need to adjust its business model?

In early 2016, stock markets around the world plummeted, raising the threat of another major depression enveloping the world. In their struggle to recover from the post-2008 global recession, many nations had expanded their money supply and lowered interest rates, with the aim of stimulating both consumer spending and corporate investment. While some of this monetary expansion increased production and employment, much of it created bubbles in asset prices, especially in the prices of equities. Investors faced such low returns from bonds and other fixed-income assets that they poured their funds into equities, which increased price-earnings ratios to exceptional levels. This bubble in stock prices amplified the risks of a severe crash. What could—and should—governments do to avoid a significant stock market crash and a global depression?

In March 2016, an investor wanted to evaluate the strategy and stability of Cisco Systems, Inc. by using historical income statements to predict future cash flows. He knew that he might be able to use time series analysis to evaluate the company’s performance in the near future, but he was unsure how to proceed if the historical data would not be predictive of the future performance. In particular, the investor wondered, how would he determine the likelihood that the company’s next quarter would yield similar net income to the previous quarter?

Excel spreadsheet for instructors.

Excel spreadsheet for students.

In 2014, Kraft Foods Canada was working on an action plan for Kraft Singles, the company’s brand of processed cheese slices. Although the product had been targeted at Canadian families for decades, Kraft Singles needed to be repositioned toward Canadian millennial moms (those born between 1980 and 2000). The company faced three dilemmas. How should Kraft Canada make the brand messaging of Kraft Singles compelling to Canadian millennial moms? What product innovations should coincide with the new messaging? How should Kraft Canada ensure that it would not alienate its traditional customer group?

In 2014, the executive director (ED) of India’s Petroleum Conservation Research Association needed to prepare the next phase of the association’s marketing campaign and media plan, which aimed to promote long-lasting and responsive energy-saving behaviours among India’s petroleum users. The ED was eager to incorporate new media into this marketing campaign but knew that the various segments of the diverse and broad target audience had different media preferences and habits. How could he and his team create the right message and the right media mix to achieve this goal? What would be the best way to distribute the campaign’s resources across the various communication channels to successfully execute the marketing strategy?