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The American plant manager of a large magnesium die-cast auto parts manufacturer has a conversation with the company's vice-president about the technology innovations within the company. This is a supplement to Meridco Magnesium: International Technology Transfer, product 9B01M006.

Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited is a Singapore-based research and media company. The newly appointed director of advisory services is considering the challenges in building the company's latest service offering. The company's strong emphasis on this new service is a departure from their previous strategy of attempting to develop its existing events, custom research and online information services in a relatively even manner. He needs to formulate a plan that will ensure the new service contributes about half of the company's revenue within the next year. This case may be used with Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited (A), 9B01M032.

The music industry has changed dramatically as a result of technological and business innovations that have transformed how music is acquired, and how value is created and distributed. Napster Inc. operated one of several Web sites that allowed Internet users free access to MP3 music files -- which eventually led to lawsuits around issues of the protection of intellectual capital. These issues lead to the examination of the forces at play in the transformation of the music industry, the strategic alternatives for players in the industry and the legal context underpinning the strategic alternatives, with a particular focus on the protection of intellectual capital.

Supplemental file to be sent with case.

The managing director and director of overseas marketing of Midea Group, China's largest air conditioner manufacturer, had concerns about the company's domestic and global competitive position. They felt the company needed to develop a strategy to defend its home market in the wake of more liberalized imports, and simultaneously, develop the resources and skills required to play in a global market where its cost advantages had been nullified because international players were also exporting from China. To do so, they needed to review the company's current international strategy and examine both branding and private label options.

Budget pressures were forcing Talbot University's supply department to reduce its costs. While the workload remained high, the department head wondered how to reorganize the department and the work processes so that the work could be done within a reduced budget. Working towards a solution, he needed to apply principles of organization design to improve the efficiency of the department and then develop an action plan for the required organizational changes.

The owner of a shop specializing in the creation and sale of Celtic art was faced with the challenge of finding a way to rejuvenate sales; customer traffic was declining due to the closing of a local market. He was determined to develop a strategy that would better insulate his business in the future. Limited resources meant that maximizing the returns on his efforts would be critical to the survival of the business. He had to examine his marketing strategy and product mix, consider his options and generate solutions to improve and secure his short-term and long-term profitability.

An investor planning changes to her investment portfolio, looked at Sleeman Breweries Limited (SBL) as a potential investment opportunity. The company had experienced strong growth, primarily through mergers and acquisitions, and had achieved success within the very competitive beer industry. She needed to evaluate the risks and opportunities of investing in SBL. Using qualitative and quantitative information she had to: size-up the current and future management direction of the company; analyse SBL's financial data using the calculation and interpretation of ratios as an analytic tool; and prepare a statement of changes in financial position.

Quest Foods International is one of the world's largest manufacturers of fragrances, flavors and textures for the food, beverage and consumer products industries. Quest Foods' regional vice-president is in the process of implementing a business process re-engineering project for the company. His current efforts focus on developing an information technology-based customer relationship management (CRM) system that he believes could give the company a sustainable competitive advantage with customers in the region and throughout the world. His ultimate goal is to bring Quest to the next phase of e-business. Despite high ambitions, his initiatives are making little headway. Internal opposition to change is significant and some key customers are growing concerned that Quest's CRM plans might miss the mark. Faced with considerable time and resource pressures, he is wondering how to set priorities and where to focus his energies.

Canadel is Canada's leading manufacturer of casual dining room furniture. Following Canadel's entry into the U.S. market in 1992, sales had multiplied eight-fold and were expected to reach $125 million in 2000. The three brothers that made up the company's top management team were discussing recent sales results and future orientation of the firm. Questions that surfaced included growth in existing and new markets, and competition from established industry giants and new upstarts. The brothers were determined to assess these opportunities and threats in the upcoming weeks.

Livent Inc. is the only publicly traded theatrical production firm in North America. A member of the audit committee at Livent is preparing to address the company's board of directors regarding issues contained in a letter published by a leading business magazine. The letter, written by a securities analyst, suggests the company's accounting policies are very aggressive, in particular the approach taken to capitalize and amortize its pre-production costs. In order to address this issue, the audit committee member wants to review the company's current capitalization and amortization policies and to compare its approach with the accounting policies used by other industries which also incur significant development costs.

OrangeWerks, an entrepreneurial company that creates software applications, is preparing to present to venture capital firms for its first major round of funding. However, during routine network maintenance, the network administrator becomes aware that the company may not have purchased the original software used to create the company's product, and that government workplace safety insurance was not in place. He must decide how to proceed with the knowledge by assessing available options and judging the stakeholder impact, as well as his career implications.

Two entrepreneurial students want to launch their new business called College Home Safety Inc. College Home Safety consists of high school and university students selling carbon dioxide detectors door-to-door. The two entrepreneurs felt strongly about this new business as it would provide jobs for students and address a safety concern that had been increasing in the past few years. The advice they received from a professional accountant was not what they expected. Told they would lose their shirts and to reconsider their concept and start-up plan, they only had a few months left before the launch date to decide whether or not to proceed with the venture.

Cushy Armchair, based in Hong Kong, is a leader in the global armchair business, controlling fully autonomous business groups in 17 countries. Cabletronica has recently acquired the company and has sent one of their own senior personnel to restructure operations and integrate the company with another of their furniture divisions outside of the country. Acting as a consultant, the founder of Cushy is approached regarding a communication on a change in policy, but the new head of the company decides to use the parent company's standard method and now must manage with the results change can have on a cross cultural, multinational business.

The account manager at the Confederation Bank was contemplating a loan request from Peak Roofing, a wholesale and retail distributor of roofing supplies. The funds would be used to add a new branch to its existing three Montreal sites. This was an opportunity to steal Peak Roofing's business from a competitor, but he knew he had to put together a careful analysis of the risks and opportunities to get the deal approved. To do so, he needed to size-up the business, create projected financial statements and structure a deal for both a term and operating loan.

eLance.com allowed buyers to find sellers for time-sensitive project work without limiting bids to sellers within the vicinity of the buyer's physical office. It was just finishing the beta test of its site which had facilitated over 30,000 transactions in the past year. eLance was in the midst of closing its second round of venture financing which would allow it to execute its plan to become the premier online global services marketplace. To do this, it needed to prevent disintermediation - instances when eLance buyers and sellers, after being introduced on the eLance site, decide to conduct future project-related transactions offline. This would prevent eLance from mediating these transactions and gaining revenue from them. eLance had already implemented several customer-focused onsite and offline features to deter disintermediation. The co-founder and vice-president of business development had to determine what incentives were needed to keep customers dealing with each other through the site rather than offline.

The Taiyuan Project involved the construction of a pipeline to supply water from the Yellow River to Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province, China. The main contractor for the project intended to appoint Taiyang Company, a six partner joint venture, as the supplier of the 82 kilometres of prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) needed for the project. The general manager for Taiyang Company had to decide what the company's involvement should be. The company was the only supplier of PCCP in China, however, due to a slow start, it had no cash. A new factory and new equipment would be required to meet the requirements of this project. He would have to work out a capital budget for a cash-constrained situation while considering whether to find a joint venture partner and what the most advantageous way to structure the company would be from a tax perspective.

The founding partners of Three Fish Solutions, a Hong Kong-based Internet start-up company, developed what they thought was a powerful business plan in preparation for a meeting with a deep-pocketed, potential equity partner. The meeting was critical because the partners were short of cash and because it would provide them with their first opportunity to discuss their business plan with a highly respected investor. Students have the opportunity to analyze a business plan of an e-commerce-based start-up company; identify critical success factors that are generic to start-up companies and areas of risk that need to be mitigated; and better understand the motivations of venture capital firms and the considerations they make when evaluating business plans. The Three Fish Solutions (B) case, product 9B01M013, discusses the meeting with the investor and the options facing the company.

PepsiCo Inc. spanned more than 190 countries and accounted for approximately one-quarter of the world's soft drinks. The vice-president of finance for PepsiCo East Asia had been collecting data on the firm's proposed equity joint venture in Changchun, People's Republic of China (PRC). While PepsiCo was already involved in seven joint ventures in the PRC, this proposal would be one of the first two green-field equity joint ventures with PepsiCo control over both the board and day-to-day management. Every investment project at PepsiCo had to go through a systematic evaluation process that involved using capital budgeting tools such as new present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). He needed to decide if the proposed Changchun joint venture would meet PepsiCo's required return on investment. He was also concerned what the local partners would think of the project. The final decision would be made after a presentation to the president of PepsiCo Asia-Pacific.

Lufthansa, the flagship German airline, was undertaking an aggressive expansion program. The chairman of the board had negotiated a deal with Boeing for the purchase of 20 new aircraft at a cost of US$500 million. The U.S. dollar was at historic highs and he had to decide how much, if any, of the US$500 million purchase price to hedge and best method to use. Since Lufthansa's revenues were mainly in deutsche marks and this amount was payable in one year, he needed to determine how to deal with the resulting foreign exchange risk by examining principle foreign exchange hedging strategies. Covenants restricting Lufthansa to take on new debt made it critical that he be sure of the financing and risk exposure before finalizing the deal.