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Instructor spreadsheet for product 8b10N10.

Mustang Music (A) and (B) cases introduces students to data modeling, database implementation and database querying.

This supplement to Mustang Music (A), product #9B10E009, introduces students to data modeling, database implementation and database querying.

The case illustrates the opportunities, challenges and trade-offs involved in the design, evolution and institutionalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS) within the Tata Group, an India-based indigenous multinational enterprise (MNE) with a unique 140-year old commitment to the community as the key stakeholder of business. Despite the 2008-2009 global recession, the Tata Group topped the economic value creation charts. In 2008-2009, the Group had grossed US$70.8 billion in revenues; 64.7 per cent of the Group's revenues were now coming from outside India. Its 96 independent companies spanned seven sectors: information systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. Economic turbulence had put a break on social and environmental investing for many other companies, but renewed Tata Group's commitment: the Group had recently revised its charitable giving, adopted a group-wide climate change policy, and separated its mandatory and voluntary initiatives. The case deals with the intricate connections between the Group's profitability and competitiveness on the one hand and its long-standing tradition of social responsibility on the other. It explores value-creation, leadership, ethics and sustainable development on the backdrop of rapid internationalizations and shifting stakeholders' expectations for corporate social responsibility.

As her boyfriend's birthday was fast approaching, Ashley struggled to make a decision on what mp3 player to buy him (Kade) as a gift. After failing to acquire her first desired choice, Ashley narrowed her selection down to two different mp3 models. Option A was to buy the Creative Zen Stone Plus, which was recommended by her boyfriend's best friend; a friend who knew Kade's personality and character very well. Ashley believed Kade's friend would be a good source to ask for recommendations, as he would have a better knowledge over Kade's interests and preferences. Option B was to buy the Rio Carbon 5, which was recommended by the salesman, who claimed to be an expert in mp3 players. She felt somewhat relieved hearing from an expert, as she did not know much about mp3 players. Given these two options, Ashley struggled to make a decision. Should she go with the suggestion offered by the friend? Or should she go with the suggestion offered by the expert? Should she go with her interpersonal advisor or the expert advisor? Ashley had to make the decision today, and she was running out of time.

In 2005, the vice-president of Lundbeck, a Danish based pharmaceutical firm, needed to decide what to do with one of his most promising subsidiaries, Lundbeck Korea. Over its short lifetime, under the leadership of the country manager and the Asia regional manager, the subsidiary had grown well beyond the original goals set for it. The vice-president wanted to create a reporting structure and management mix that would balance the local demands that Lundbeck Korea required for growth with Lundbeck's overall strategy of specialization, speed, integration and results. The case also traces Lundbeck's internationalization efforts in Asia over the past 20 years. The company had grown from pure licensing arrangements to establishing its own country level subsidiaries. This case introduces the dynamic tensions between taking advantage of local management expertise and executing a corporate strategy developed for an entire global group. In addition, it illustrates the importance, but difficulties, of being sensitive to local management goals, while promoting a global corporate culture.

Pfizer Inc., the largest research-based drug company in the world, was faced with multiple challenges, including fierce court battles with generic drug companies over the patents of Lipitor, reduced productivity from research and development, and a changing external health care environment globally, with growing importance of emerging markets. These challenges were set within a business environment characterized by multi-level change and uncertainty.<br><br>The case dwells on the newly appointed chief executive officer’s strategy in transforming a giant pharmaceutical organization by changing its business model, strategy, and structure to foster organic growth and explore external opportunities. Did Pfizer need more change or was it merely a matter of time before the new strategy generated results?

The case presents the situation faced by the board of directors at Hydro One, a government-owned Canadian electric utility, as they discuss updating the current executive compensation packages because of the pending privatization of Hydro One. As a government owned enterprise, compensation was moderated by the job security and prospects of career advancement in the public sector, but the imminent privatization required the compensation system to be revisited. The case presents details of the current compensation system for Hydro One's key officers and the comparative data for their counterparts at similar firms. The case allows for discussion of the interplay between corporate governance processes, the corresponding responsibilities of directors and the decisions they make, in particular chief executive officer and executive compensation. The postscript to the case allows for a lively class room discussion of corporate governance, fiduciary responsibility and communication among major stakeholders.

In June 2008, the Kimpton Hotels' area director of revenue management (director) for Washington, D.C. was trying to process the most recent customer information report from Priceline.com (Priceline). In an attempt to improve revenues during periods of low occupancy at the hotel, the director had recently been using Priceline's name your own price bidding format. While using this sales channel had limited success, the director was wondering the best way to maximize the revenue coming from Priceline without cannibalizing existing sales or tarnishing the Kimpton brand. His challenge was to create a pricing strategy that would determine the optimal posted price for rooms in the Washington, D. C. hotel as well as the number of rooms that should be provided to Priceline.

In June 2008, the Kimpton Hotels' area director of revenue management (director) for Washington, D.C. finished creating a pricing strategy that would determine the optimal posted price for rooms in the Washington, D. C. hotel as well as the number of rooms that should be provided to Priceline.com. He realized there was even more potential to gain revenue by posting more than one price; however, this would add further complexity into the strategy and he was unsure of the potential impact of having multiple posted prices.

The Kimpton Hotels' area director of revenue management (director) for Washington, D.C. was excited about using Priceline.com to help fill rooms on some of Kimpton's low-demand weekends. He estimated the coming weeks' demand across three rate classes and across three lengths of stay (LOS), and he wanted to make sure he did not use Priceline.com too aggressively by releasing too many rooms onto the site.

Apple Inc. is one of the world's most successful and most recognizable companies. Over its 30 year existence, the company had seen a lot of changes in the computer industry. What would the future hold for the computer giant in a rapidly changing world? How should the company allocate resources between its more traditional offerings (computers) and its newer products (iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, etc.) in order to maintain and improve its market position. Also, how should Apple's unique retail strategy be used to support the company's product decisions, and by capitalizing on new and emerging trends thus further maintaining its competitive advantage.

In 2007, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) was facing a saturated market for women's tennis and identified the emerging middle-class in Asia as a growth area. The chief operating officer (COO) of the WTA was faced with a dilemma: He had to decide the new location of the Asian regional office of the WTA and present his recommendation at both the next board meeting and the WTA Global Advisory Council. The COO's presentation had to include the rationale for the chosen location and a strategy to increase the sport's popularity in the Asian market. With several cities to choose from, the COO had to weigh the pros and cons of each to present the most logical choice.

In 2007, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) was facing a saturated market for women's tennis and identified Asia as a growth area. Subsequently, it committed to opening a regional office in Beijing but was unsure how to approach staffing the local office. The dilemma revolved around the intricacies of determining the appropriate mix of local employees and expatriates. The goal of the staffing plan was to achieve a quick, efficient and lasting presence to successfully bring women's tennis to a developing market. The chief operating officer realized that it was no small task to analyze all the different factors to determine the best mix of employees.

The case discusses the story of the IOI Group, one of the largest palm oil players in Malaysia, which has seen rapid growth in the past two decades. Family-controlled since 1982, the IOI Group's main businesses initially were property and palm plantations. As a relative latecomer in the palm oil industry, it grew both organically and through acquisitions, and, in 2010, had sales of about US$4.3 billion and employed 30,000 people. Over the years, the IOI Group moved away from producing crude palm oil (CPO), a key commodity, and pursued a strategy of vertical integration by moving into downstream activities such as food ingredients manufacturing and oleochemicals. This transformed IOI from a Malaysian plantation company to a global ingredients manufacturer, making IOI a good example of a so-called emerging market multinational.<br><br>The case takes the point of view of the second generation family leader who is currently in charge of the downstream businesses, and discusses three challenges he faces in IOI's transformation process: 1) the issue of optimizing and integrating the global value chain; 2) the most suitable way to coordinate a multinational company with substantial global sales and operations; and 3) adaptation to changing needs of global customers. All this is supported by extensive information on the changing dynamics in the palm oil industry, where emerging market players are moving up the value chain, snapping up manufacturing assets from global fast-moving consumer goods companies, such as Unilever, while the latter increasingly focus on branded goods and seek to exit the lower margin and capital intensive manufacturing of ingredients. Students are asked to analyze the changing industry dynamics and provide recommendations given the goal to make IOI a leading palm oil player.

This case considers attempts by a Turkish manufacturer of cosmetics packaging to trade off quality for cost, in order to compete with the influx of low-cost products from China. It describes the challenges faced by SomPack management in their effort to survive in the face of low-cost Chinese competition as well as the credit crisis. The company had grown because of its focus on quality and customer relations, but had to slash costs first in response to foreign competition and then again due to the global credit crisis. The case discusses many facets of the company's strategy: company efforts at automation to reduce labour costs in conjunction with their efforts to reduce product quality for parts that were to have automated assembly; use of cheaper raw material that required specialized equipment; use of cheaper costs in conjunction with their efforts to reduce product quality for parts that were to have automated assembly; use of cheaper raw material that required specialized equipment; use of cheaper machines that were not acceptable to customers who required high-quality manufacturing; implementation issues with a lower-cost ERP system; and attempts at outsourcing certain components. Decisions to reduce the quality of either processes or products must be made with great care: even though they are meant to be short-term survival measures, they can create significant short-term disruptions apart from potential long-term problems, such as making the company less attractive as a supplier to customers who may still prefer quality and service over cost.

This case examines the giant Canadian mining corporation, Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick), (called Africa Barrick Gold plc since 2009), and the way it engages in sustainable community developments that surround its mining activities in Tanzania. Following recent organized tensions and heightened criticism from local communities, media, international social lobbyists and local not-for-profit organizations (NFOs), Barrick has attempted to deal with the local communities in a responsible manner. At issue for senior management was whether there was much more that it could reasonably do to resolve the tensions.<br><br>The case considers: how MNEs seek social license and local legitimacy; the relevance of hybrid institutional infrastructures; the evolving global roles for MNEs and their subsidiaries. The case is appropriate for use in courses in international management, global corporations and society, and international development and sustainable value creation.

Canada is becoming increasingly multi-ethnic and many members of these groups start small retail businesses. This case is an example of one such situation. Princessa sold beauty products to the English speaking black community in Montreal. In 2005 and 2006, sales were flat and, in 2007, sales fell by about 16 per cent. The owner was concerned and wondered what action, if any, he should take. While the issues were clearly marketing oriented, recommendations and their implementation were constrained by limited human and financial resources.<br><br> Demographic information and maps for Montreal are provided. The case is designed to familiarize students with issues related to marketing to ethnic groups, dealing with secondary data, defining a retail market and developing a strategic plan for a small business operating under severe resource constrictions.

This case deals with the opportunities and challenges of Louis Vuitton, the leading European luxury-sector multinational firm, in Japan, taking into account the unique features of brand management and integrating culture and consumer behaviour in Japan. In the last decade, Japan has been Louis Vuitton’s most profitable market, but the global economic crisis has presented challenges.<br><br>Facing a weak economy and a shift in consumer preferences, Louis Vuitton has been adapting its unique strategy in the Japanese market. The days of relying on a logo and a high price seem to be gone, as there is more interest in craftsmanship and value for money. To promote sales, the company has had to launch less expensive collections made with cheaper materials. The brand has also been opening stores in smaller cities, where the lure of the logo still works.<br><br>Over the years, Japanese consumers have demonstrated fascination with and passion for the iconic brand. What have been the keys to Louis Vuitton’s successful business model in the Japanese market?

The case describes the challenges faced by Immunovaccine (IMV), a small biotechnology company founded in Halifax, Canada. The company has seen early success in the effectiveness of its technology in animal health and is looking for ways to exploit the potential of its technology more broadly, particularly in human health. The company's challenges are presented in the context of the evolving relationship between the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The case describes the various issues the company faces around 2008, shortly after the new president and CEO has taken over. It then provides details on strategy formulation and execution under the new CEO.