Describes the strategic, organizational, and management changes that led Acer from its 1976 startup to become the world's second-largest computer manufacturer. Outlines the birth of the company, the painful "professionalization" of its management, the plunge into losses, and the transformation under founder Stan Shih's radical "fast food" business concept and his "client-server" organization model, which are put to the test when a young product manager in Acer America develops a radically new multimedia home PC with global potential. Shih must decide whether to give an inexperienced manager in a loss-generating subsidiary the green light.
Follows the development, national launch, and global rollout of the Aspire, Acer's first new product developed outside of Taiwan. Implementing a very promising new PC concept proves challenging to Mike Culver and his U.S. team, who are plagued by coordination problems with experts and resource managers in Taiwan. Leading the global rollout proves equally difficult, with local managers wanting to make local adaptations. After 2.5 years of missed forecasts and unexpected losses, CEO Stan Shih must decide whether to abandon the Aspire. More profoundly, what changes does this failure suggest for his radical "fast food" business concept and his "client server" organization model?
In late 1998, 38-year-old He Boquan, CEO of the Guangdong Nowada Group, a health beverage producer, needs to decide how to fund his company's growth and ambition to become China's number one domestic health beverage producer by 2002. A consultants study revealed that foreign competition in China was likely to accelerate within the next three years, and that, without improved management skills and additional capital, Nowada risked going from being a leader to being marginalized. The consulting firm therefore identified potential investors (including the investment arm of a European family conglomerate, an international direct investment firm, and a food and beverage multinational). In late 1998, several rounds of negotiations gave He and his team three options: accept a majority investment by the multinational, accept a 25% capital injection with a risky repayment put option, or "go it alone."
Jan Eriksson is the country manager of the Indonesian joint venture of Basel-based Novartis (Novartis Indonesia), the world's largest pharmaceutical company, formed by the 1996 merger between Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. The case describes the actions he has taken since assuming his post in May 1996. He was in the middle of merging the Indonesian operations of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy when the financial crisis struck Indonesia. He has prepared two plans to deal with the crisis. In January 1996, headquarters had still not approved Erickssons' plans and he needs to decide how to proceed.
Jan Eriksson is the country manager of the Novartis AG joint venture in Indonesia. At the time of the case, Novartis is the world's largest pharmaceutical company. The case describes the steps Eriksson took to merge the Indonesian operations of Novartis' parents, Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, and to build a new organization during the 1997--1998 Asian financial crisis. Focuses on the impact of the financial crisis on Eriksson's business and details the two operating plans that he has presented to Novartis management in response to the crisis. The case is set in January and February 1998.
In early 1998, William and Victor Fung had to review their business, the Li & Fung Group, to plan for the next three years. Examines strategic and organizational issues including company culture, international expansion, and venture capital projects. A rewritten version of an earlier case.