個案總覽

In mid-January 2013, the owner of Lake Superior Lodge and its newly appointed manager were meeting to figure out a marketing plan to turn things around at the motel. The owner, who was born and raised in Duluth, Michigan, bought Lake Superior Lodge primarily because of its location. The property sat on the scenic North Shore of Lake Superior between Duluth and Two Harbors. Ten years later, however, the motel had yet to turn a profit. The manager was hired in late 2012 to operate the motel and to increase its profitability. If he could not make this happen, the owner would have no choice but to sell the property and move on.

In an initiative to develop its herbal soap offering and create a repositioning strategy for its soap products, one of the front-runners in the Indian skincare market explored the perception of the brand image, using survey data to compare its own image with those of two of its strongest competitors. The challenge for this brand was to reposition itself and build its equity after taking into consideration the perceptual results of the study and the existing positioning of soap brands.

Sound financial management is the most important element in the viability of any business undertaking, and capital investment decisions are the foundation stone of this process. A company can pursue either an internal, organic approach to its financing options or an external, inorganic approach that uses borrowed funds to make acquisitions it hopes will increase its business. This is the route taken by Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s leading telecommunications giant. Beginning in 2010, it has borrowed heavily on the international market to invest in acquisitions of a 3G licence in India, in Zain Africa and in the broadband wireless access branch of Qualcomm Inc. However, due to many causes — including the effects of the global recession on the industry; the highly competitive Indian telecommunications market; restructuring and disorganization in the firm’s top management; and lack of innovation in offering and delivering new services in India — the company has experienced not the growth it expected from its expansion strategy, but a steady decline in profits. How can the management turn this situation around and regain the company’s position as a leader in the telecommunications market in India and globally?

Excel spreadsheet for instructors.

Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys, published in 2014, revealed to the public numerous controversial Wall Street trading practices made possible by advances in technology as well as regulatory changes that were (ironically) intended to improve pricing fairness in the financial markets. Lewis’s story focused on the man who blew the whistle: Brad Katsuyama, a Canadian banker who ran the New York trading desk for the Royal Bank of Canada. In 2010, he had noticed some odd system responses to his trading requests and began to ask questions. The answers he discovered, and publicized, about high frequency trading set off a firestorm regarding the moral integrity of the financial markets. Very few people understood what was happening, and fewer still comprehended the central role played by information technology.<br><br>Questions remain: How does information technology influence our concept of wealth? Why do “flash crashes” occur? Are the markets rigged? Will the next disruption to the financial markets involve technology?

With four outlets of Taco Bell opened in Bangalore, India by December 2013, the managing director of Yum! Restaurants India, the parent company, felt eager to expand. The company took pride in providing the best Mexican-inspired fast food at a low price in a friendly atmosphere. Its target market was young people with global aspirations and/or experiences who were aware of the brand and willing to try something new. India appeared to be a large and fitting market for this quick service restaurant: a population of more than a billion people, the majority of whom were under 35, growing income levels and increasing tastes for international cuisines. Yet, despite a record-breaking launch in 2010, its retail foot traffic was declining. The addition of vegetarian items to the menu had limited success in luring customers to repeat visits. Were the price changes on the new menu reasonable and consistent with the brand promise Taco Bell had made during its launch? What could be done to sustain the company’s survival in India?

After a series of strikes in its Manesar manufacturing plant in 2011, Maruti Suzuki India Limited is beginning to recover from the after-effects of the strike. Amid this tense atmosphere, a minor brawl breaks out between supervisors and workers, then escalates into full-scale violence and arson, which results in the death of the plant’s general manager of human resources. The company locks down the plant, and law enforcement agencies initiate criminal proceedings against the workers. The incident raises serious questions about industrial relations at the plant and, in particular, the suitability of the Japanese management style in the Indian context.<br><br>See A case 9B13C009.

This case deals with the revitalization of Tata Chemicals Ltd. (TCL) by way of significant international acquisitions in the first decade of the new millennium. Set in 2011, TCL has a decision to make on the potential acquisition of a stake in a North American early stage potash development company. This acquisition could allow TCL to set up a fertilizer plant, which might give the company a jumpstart just as earlier acquisitions had helped the company to be ranked number two in the world in soda ash production. As backward integration can be a risky strategy, the acquisition needs to be carefully considered in terms of when to integrate and when to rely on market-driven contractual arrangements.

Sheng Siong was the third-largest supermarket chain in Singapore. Its chief executive officer co-founded it with his two brothers in 1985. Sheng Siong’s business model was well suited to cater to the price-sensitive and more traditional customer segment in Singapore, with a dominant presence in suburban areas called “heartlands.” It also had a unique corporate philosophy, which was influenced by the personal values of its founding family. However, the market became increasingly saturated, competitors were aggressive and costs were rising. The key question was whether Sheng Siong’s original competitive advantage was sustainable and how it could grow.

A small Danish design company seeks to collaborate with its largest supplier in Thailand in order to improve health, safety and environmental conditions, as well as labour standards, as a core element of complying with the UN Global Compact principles. The company takes its corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda seriously and has developed a new standard for CSR in its supplier factories that is implemented and audited by a non-governmental organization. New challenges emerge as attention shifts to the certification of production inputs such as wood. Although Western small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face pressures to audit their suppliers in developing countries, these SMEs often lack the financial and political resources to change behaviours in supplier factories. The firm’s quality manager must evaluate its sustainability approach. How much leverage can a small company expect to have with its suppliers? Furthermore, is the cost of auditing suppliers in a country such as Thailand too high?

By 2013, the Indian Metal Company, headquartered in Metconagar in eastern India, had been a leading metallurgical company in India for 100 years. While it had ambitious expansion plans, both at home and abroad, it was bedeviled by an increasing attrition of professionals and difficulty in attracting candidates from premier educational institutions. This shortage of talent could jeopardize the company’s investments. The chief executive officer convened an urgent meeting of senior executives to discuss the problem and explore possible solutions. The meeting ended in a confusing barrage of views and counterviews. A committee was appointed to synthesize the competing views and prepare a master plan for talent management. It began its work by reviewing past data related to attrition and holding discussions with small groups of young professionals. The time had now come to prepare its report and recommendations.

Great Offshore Limited (GOL), a leading player in the Indian offshore oilfield services industry, was one of the largest customers of Bharati Shipyard Limited (BSL), the second-largest private-sector shipbuilding company in India. BSL had acquired an approximately 15 per cent stake in GOL (by invoking a share pledge) and made a public offer for a further 20 per cent stake in GOL. BSL’s rival — ABG Shipyard Limited (ABG) — announced a counter-offer. By early August 2009, both BSL and ABG had made further counter-offers and the latest offer price by ABG was 51 per cent higher than the first offer made by BSL. Both players had also invested substantially in building up their equity holdings in GOL. BSL had to decide on how far it should go to make the acquisition.

Instructor spreadsheet for product 8B14N027.

Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH), a leading cardiac hospital network with many firsts to its credit, has revolutionized heart care in India. It has a market share close to 15 per cent in the cardiac sector, has successfully completed 70,000 surgeries and has given insurance to over four million farmers through its microinsurance scheme. Its motto, “caring with compassion,” is its guiding philosophy and the telemedicine network set up at NH has been able to provide treatment for over 50,000 cardiac patients free of charge. The case highlights the evolution of NH and the vision of its founder, and outlines his ambitions and struggles in seeking to increase the number of cardiac surgeries performed each day. How can he retain the top surgeons and fulfill his mission to offer affordable heart care while the compensation of doctors is rapidly increasing?

Prince Pipes and Fittings (Prince) — a family managed enterprise in the Indian PVC pipe industry — had not only navigated the 2008 Global financial crisis, a period when more than 1000 Indian pipe companies had shut down within 90 days, it had in fact used the crisis as an opportunity to successfully transition from an small and medium enterprise (SME) to a large enterprise through acquisitions. In 2013, the company faced a bleak macroeconomic environment of declining GDP growth rates, tight monetary conditions, a pessimistic industrial outlook, a depreciating rupee and rising crude prices. It also faced growing domestic competition. Would Prince be able to reach its goals for 2013/14?

The vice-president and general manager for Michigan Plastic Inc.’s Shelby Division (Shelby) is faced with various options. Shelby specializes in thermoforming plastic gasoline tanks for global automotive companies such as General Motors, Ford and Toyota. The vice-president is looking at ways to restart growth at Shelby, a division that has been the subject of a turnaround effort from 2007 to 2010. In fact, the vice-president has committed to his chief executive officer to double sales in the next five years. This case looks at the competitive environment – competitors and the state of technology – and the vice-president's challenge in selecting the growth option.

Near the end of November 2013, Lululemon Athletica (Lululemon) became the subject of a viral firestorm after a series of negative events seriously ruptured the company's reputation. The company found itself facing its worst quality control problem to date, with a recall of 17 per cent of its Luon pants due to issues with sheerness. In addition, the company’s chief executive officer had stepped down. Was Lululemon destined to follow Blackberry as another example of a failed Canadian company, or could it resurrect its former glory by facing its critics head on?

In July 2009, C&F Consulting, Inc., based in Toronto, sends a team of five brand strategists to work with a client in China on marketing and advertising for a car brand specific to the North American market. The team, consisting of four men and one woman, often meet for dinner after their day’s work, which consists of conducting a crash course in North American-style marketing for the Chinese client’s cohort of new recruits. The woman feels that one of the men on the team treats her with great disrespect, bordering on sexual assault. If she brings up the issue, will all four of her male colleagues take offence? Will they gossip about her at the office and isolate her at work? What might be the impact on her career if she is perceived as anti-social or thin-skinned? How will her superiors react to her accusations? What is the definition of sexual assault in Canadian law, and can she pursue a civil case against her alleged assailant although the acts happened in a foreign country?

By the spring of 2014, the founder of EarthWear Face & Body is in desperate need of part-time employees to help run her successful skin care retail business, which she runs out of her home in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. After eight years of hard work, she has turned her part-time hobby making all-natural skin care products into a thriving business. She sells her products online, through retail stores, at craft and trade shows and at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market. But her successful business has become too much work for her to manage on her own. A failed attempt to bring on a part-time employee made it clear that she needs to develop a targeted recruitment strategy. How can she effectively communicate her corporate culture to attract the best candidates? See supplement 9B14C046.

Supplement to 9B14C045.