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A U.S. medical device manufacturer is operating in more than 40 international markets, including its most recent entries in the BRIC markets. The company president is now ready to look to new emerging markets for revenue growth. This time a more advanced “post-BRIC” analysis is needed to determine which market to enter next. Because the capital investment and risk associated with entering a new market is high, making the right market selection is critical.

The urgency of financial inclusion had been well-recognized by policy makers, the government, the Reserve Bank of India and banks as a national priority that would play a crucial role in promoting inclusive economic growth. New technology could enable innovative sustainable business models to reach previously excluded customers. This case presents FINO’s technology-based model for financial inclusion and the challenges presented to the Kohlapur district coordinator as he starts the process of building the local organization.

It was May 16, 2012, and the highly anticipated pricing of Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering (IPO) was underway. An analyst at CXTechnology Fund was preparing to speak to the lead underwriter about his final interest in the deal. The analyst had reviewed Facebook’s phenomenal growth, its profitable business model and the competitive landscape for the social networking industry. The IPO appeared to be oversubscribed with heavy interest from institutional and retail investors alike, but the valuation seemed expensive, even by technology standards. The analyst needed to make a decision on whether to buy shares in the IPO or not. A spreadsheet for students is available, product 7B12N031.

A recent business school graduate has enjoyed moderate success with her YouTube channel, which is devoted to videos detailing how to artistically transform T-shirts into unique fashion items. The entrepreneur has successfully monetized the site by allowing YouTube to place ads on it, through the YouTube Partner Program. The case outlines the entrepreneur’s efforts, describes her participation in YouTube’s Partnership Program and asks students to consider her next steps. The options include monetizing her videos by renting them through YouTube or another channel, creating and selling do-it-yourself kits, opening a physical store to sell her creations and to conduct classes or extending her brand into other arts and crafts.

This case examines the business options for implementing a company-wide product take-back program. It focuses on PerkinElmer, a $1.9 billion global technology company developing diagnostics and biomedical products for the environmental and human health sectors. The company, which operates in more than 150 countries, is committed to community engagement, sustainable and ethical business practices and eco-innovative products, including a commitment to continuously reducing the environmental and health impacts of its products throughout their useful lives. As of 2012, PerkinElmer was required to comply with two European Union regulations restricting hazardous substances and monitoring the disposal of electronic waste, but there were no similar broad-based federal U.S. regulations at that time. One of the European Union directives required the company to practise end-of-life management, that is, to take back and responsibly manage its products at the end of their useful lives. PerkinElmer used a study group at Boston College to examine the different options for handling old products and to discover if there was a profitable or at least profit neutral business model for doing so, in light of what its competitors were doing in this area. If the benefits outweigh the risks, how should the company roll out a corporate-wide product take-back strategy?

Books for Change (BfC), a small publisher, produces books that focus on the social sector. The company’s purpose is to raise awareness about specific development issues among academia, researchers and policy makers. BfC was started in 1998 by ActionAid, an international non-governmental organization working in the field of social development. Like other small publishers, BfC faces various challenges, including a lower demand for its books and difficulty in distribution and marketing. ActionAid has provided financial support to BfC by covering its operating losses; however, it now needs to allocate greater funds to its own development activities and, therefore, has asked BfC to become financially independent. BfC needs to prepare the strategy and plan for making BfC profitable.

This case presents complex managerial challenges that stem from the institutional context in emerging markets, particularly in relation to the intellectual property regime and its impact on business strategy. The case centres around a multinational pharmaceutical firm, Novartis International AG (Novartis), that is waiting on a major court decision regarding patent policy as it pertains to one of the firm’s products. <br><br><br><br>The case takes students through the company’s journey in marketing a promising anti-cancer drug that had global sales of US$3.9 billion in 2009. Novartis’ global success with this drug is being challenged by the changing institutional environment surrounding innovation and pharmaceutical patents. The company’s decision to patent the drug in India and challenge the institutional system of patent law is meeting significant resistance from those who argue that the drug is neither novel nor affordable for most patients. With key domestic players staking their claim to the large pool of patients who could benefit from the drug, the case focuses on a controversial patents law. Given the uncertainty of the court’s final decision on these matters, students are asked to develop an action plan for the company’s future.

PowerPoint presentation for product 8B12M111.

In 2010, a recent business graduate tries to resolve a constant bottleneck in the printing department of the family business. The two-part case discusses the issues of identifying the need for relevant information and then discusses the staff’s resistance to change and how these objections were handled and overcome. <br><br>This pair of cases seeks to identify the pressures faced by small businesses, along with the task of managing the various stakeholders, including the father-owner and the personnel on the factory shop floor.

This is a supplement to product no. 9B12E014.

Spreadsheet for product 9B11N022.

Lack of candour stems from avoidance of difficult or uncomfortable situations. However, what begins as an attempt to avoid difficulty often turns into a series of bad decisions and bad consequences. Candour allows organizations to have better idea generation, faster problem solving through avoiding “beating around the bush,” and more efficient processes. The authors argue that candour requires character and that with character comes the judgment that ensures the appropriate expression of candour. Their research has shown that candour requires depth of character across eleven dimensions. <br><br>To understand candour in practice, the authors have interviewed General Rick Hillier, former Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces. Hillier defines positive candour as that which focuses on a leader’s charges. He refers to leaders making comments for personal gain — such as in the case of certain whistleblowers — as an example of negative candour. He explains that if a leader acts candidly, then they must expect their subordinates to be equally candid and must not punish them for doing so. Arguably, being candid is the best way to treat people fairly. However, Hillier clarifies that candour is culturally bound and that leaders must be patient and polite in their interactions with foreigners in order to ensure effective communication.

In most free-market economies, restrictions exist to curb the activity of cartels — groups of otherwise independent businesses that collaborate to lessen or prevent competition. Between 1990 and 2008, the total known affected sales of cartel activity topped US$16 trillion. Although government bodies have committed substantial resources to battling illegal corporate activity, it still happens and many corporations reoffend after being sanctioned for crimes. The authors have conducted research using a database of all known international cartels between 1970 and 2008. They suggest four courses of action to curb cartel activity: 1) Remunerative practices should be designed with a better understanding of the environmental drivers of illegal activity. Compensation should focus on solid strategic behaviours rather than rewarding short-term performance. 2) More independent boards are associated, somewhat counter-intuitively, with more illegal activity. Thus, the call for more independent boards needs to take into account the tendency of independent boards to structure CEO compensation to be more output-based, which often leads CEOs to focus only on short-term financial metrics. 3) Regulators should introduce harsher financial penalties in order to incent “means-based” organizational behaviour and punish “ends-based” activity. 4) Organizations should be made to have a legal requirement to protect society.

Autonomous teams — work groups granted the organizational latitude to establish their own internal goals and work practices — have surged in popularity. This article discusses findings from a recent study that revealed a unique set of organizational dynamics that can be nurtured to fuel powerful autonomous teams. Three distinct dynamics were found to prevail in organizations with strong autonomous teams. 1. Firstly, an organization must be committed to using autonomous teams. Weak support from management can precipitate failure. Members of autonomous teams desire the ability to make decisions without significant managerial interference. However, too much autonomy can negatively influence team outcomes and result in increased stress levels in team members. 2. Secondly, strong teams require steady, upfront commitments to allocating resources for team use. Stating an upfront commitment to providing resources can be more significant in motivating team members than actual resource availability. 3. Finally, autonomous teams benefit from frequent face-to-face feedback from organizational leaders. While a plethora of team dynamics, ranging from internal conflict levels to demographic composition, influence the effectiveness of autonomous teams, the power of organizational dynamics to shape the implementation of these teams must not be underestimated.

The U.S. federal government has attracted increased criticism due to the government shutdown in 2013. This author, a former director of financial and enterprise affairs at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), recommends a reform of laws regarding political contributions and the way legislative districts are determined. Nonetheless, he argues that from a broad governance perspective, the United States still looks relatively attractive as a market in which to invest. He supports this view through a global-governance ranking he has developed of 44 countries as investment destinations, based on major comparative studies. These include the annual “Doing Business” ranking by the World Bank and IFC, where the United States ranked fourth and Canada ranked 19th out of 189 countries; the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, in which the United States ranked seventh and Canada ranked 14th; and the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, where the United States ranked 17th and Canada ranked ninth. In the author’s global-governance ranking of 44 nations, he places the United States in seventh and Canada in 14th. He argues that despite justified fears of America’s increasing governance failures, it remains a relatively strong investment destination.

Canadian businesses have fallen far behind their foreign counterparts in competitiveness. Private-sector enterprises should increase internal efforts to be more productive and compete internationally. But before this happens, managers must ensure that the organizational factors that nurture productivity growth are aligned. The Three Pillars of Productivity (3POP) framework presented in this article uses strategy, operations and technology as three pillars that stand upon a base of solid organizational culture. <br><br>Strategy, the first pillar, is usually given minimal attention by SMEs, who focus instead on tactical operations. However, SMEs that follow strategy-execution processes almost always outperform those that do not. After clarifying a company’s mission and performing strategic analysis, a firm should execute its strategy through its operations. This pillar is more flexible and open to continual adjustment, especially in smaller firms. Finally, using technology and collecting quantitative and qualitative data to support decisions is critical, but the wrong investment can make or break a business. While aligning the three pillars is key, the first step to significant productivity improvements is creating a supportive culture. Willingness to change, tolerance for failure and acceptance of calculated risk are almost always needed to realize strong productivity gains. Ultimately, culture characterizes a firm more than any other part of the framework.

Brand battles occur in every industry and in practically every product category. They consume significant managerial attention and consist of far more than marketing tactics — they are ultimately about winning customers’ cognitive resources. Brands make it easier for consumers to find the products they want and need. They also make markets more efficient by bringing buyers and sellers together at a lower cost than would otherwise be possible. In fact, the loss of a brand would often be more harmful to a company’s ability to continue business operations than the loss of its upstream assets. Consumers’ attention is finite, but available information is increasingly abundant, which gives rise to a principle of scarcity that makes brands particularly valuable. Moreover, cognitive economy states that because information-processing capacity is finite, customers often trade off accuracy of results and optimal outcomes for what is most accessible. This partly explains the high failure rate of new, novel products — and why Lexar, when it introduced memory cards for digital cameras, wisely packaged them in gold packages similar to those used for Kodak film. As this article shows, the battle between brands takes place inside the minds of consumers.

In mid-March 2011, the vice-chairman of National Bank Financial had to decide what price to recommend to his Maple consortium partners for the TMX Group Inc. (TMX). The TMX was the owner and operator of Canada’s leading cash and derivatives exchanges. The vice-chairman was leading a consortium of Canadian banks that was planning an unsolicited bid in response to merger talks between the TMX and the London Stock Exchange Group. The case allows for a discussion of mergers and acquisitions and the factors behind merger waves, the mechanics of a hostile bid for a publicly listed company, the changing landscape for stock and derivative exchanges, the valuation of a target company, and the distinction between strategic and financial buyers. An Excel spreadsheet for students is available.

The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), a South African non-government organization, played a crucial role in turning the tide in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The organization significantly influenced the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic through its credibility, research output and multiple stakeholder engagement. The collaborative multiparty relationships between WRHI's stakeholders were a key component of the organization's success. However, WRHI’s sustainability faced serious challenges in the rapidly changing operating environment, particularly since the organization was totally dependent on funders. What strategic initiatives should WRHI pursue?

The difference between an effective and ineffective boardroom can be summarized in nine factors. While the existing corporate governance regime consists mostly of checklists, guidelines and best practices, the use of these tools and techniques results in liabilities of simplicity, misdiagnosis, sameness, and “the outsider.” The authors have responded to these liabilities by collecting feedback from 193 board members and have revealed five fundamental behaviours that must be developed for effective boardroom culture: a) a new approach on strategy-setting by the board; b) establishing support and respect among board members; c) encouraging director preparation; d) fostering a board that is open to change; and e) bolstering the active listening skills of directors. In addition, four secondary factors have been identified as playing an important supporting role: a) decision-making orientation; b) director satisfaction; c) curtailing rogue behavior; and d) director support for the chair, when deserved. The authors argue that the most effective corporate governance regime, based on board performance, has to originate with the board itself and the behaviours of its directors. Ultimately, the focus of all nine factors in boardroom culture is the performance of the board.