In the mid-1980s, following new directions in the Singapore government's national economic development policy, Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) set out on a plan to create an oil bunkering industry where none existed before. By the early 1990s, using standards development as a strategic tool, Singapore's port grew to be the top oil refueling centre in the world. In the 2000 decade, the new process technology of mass flow metering for quantity measurements could bring about significant operational efficiencies in the oil bunkering industry. However, it could change the standards put in place over the last three decades. The key challenge for Singapore was: how should the standards development process be managed to deliver the promise of the new technology, balance the interests of diverse groups of stakeholders while maintaining Singapore's position as the world's top oil bunkering centre?

In the first decade of 2000, major global innovator drug companies were acquiring or collaborating with generic drug companies. Daiichi Sankyo was the first major Japanese Pharmaceutical firm to test this 'hybrid' business model in early 2008 when it acquired a majority share in Ranbaxy, then the largest India-based generic drug company and a global generic drug manufacturer and exporter. At Ranbaxy, the acquisition was followed quickly by several leadership changes. Chairman/ CEO Malvinder Singh, the grandson of Ranbaxy's founder, resigned in May 2009; Atul Sobti who took over as CEO, resigned the following year citing differences with the Japanese company on the running of Ranbaxy. In early 2011, Ranbaxy President and Chief Financial Officer, Omesh Sethi also left the company. On the financial front, the Japanese firm booked a valuation loss of US$3.9 billion from the acquisition in the third quarter of its 2008 financial year and recorded a net loss of US$2.21 billion for that financial year. With the acquisition, Daiichi Sankyo was able to expand the scope of its global business and to lessen the concentration of its assets in Japan from 78.96% to 53.7% in 2011. However, in 2011, the Japanese firm had yet to reap the full benefits of its vision of a value chain based on an integrated hybrid business model. Was a transformational organizational change needed to realize this? The case study examines the cross-cultural challenges of integrating the two businesses as the leadership worked to implement the hybrid business model.

Daiichi Sankyo was the first major Japanese pharmaceutical firm to acquire a generic drug company. In early 2008, it acquired a majority share in Ranbaxy, then the largest India-based generic drug manufacturer and exporter. This case examines the cross cultural challenges in the post-acquisition task of integration.

This case illustrates the process and challenges of designing a new product and then making it a reality. It examines a myriad of product development, manufacturing and launch challenges confronting entrepreneurs with resource constraints. It does this from two perspectives: that of a product designer and that of an entrepreneur and business owner. Thus, the issues are both creative and practical.

Established in 1991, Wilmar grew rapidly to become one of the largest palm oil companies in Southeast Asia, with revenue and net profits of US$23.9 billion and US$1.88 billion respectively for the year ended March 2009. It operated in the entire value chain of the industry, from plantations to processing, merchandising, shipping and distribution. As the third-largest listed plantation company in the world, it operated 300 processing plants and had an extensive global distribution network. Its products sold in more than 50 countries, including China and India. As the global demand for palm oil grew, environmental groups were concerned about the impact of palm oil industry on the social and natural environment, such as loss of forest ecosystems, environmental damage, soil degradation, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. They were pressuring palm oil producers, including Wilmar, to take action to address these issues. By late 2010, Wilmar had two strategic initiatives to drive future growth. It was poised to acquire Sucrogen, Australia's largest sugar company with operations in sugar milling and refining, bioethanol production and generation of renewable electricity. It was also expanding into sub-Saharan Africa, where many governments were keen to support the development of commercially managed large-scale oil palm projects. However, as in Asia, palm oil producers and governments could expect to encounter pressure from environmental groups with regard to possible adverse effects. The challenge was to manage these initiatives and the environmentalists' demands for more sustainable operations.

In 2002, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) set up operations in China, following its major client, GE Medical Systems. TCS China operations also supported the software needs of multinational and regional companies expanding in China, while providing the company with a platform to grow its local clientele base. In 2006, TCS announced a new global business initiative which included plans for large-scale operations in China. The aim was to grow its China operations to become TCS' second global delivery centre after India, functioning as its offshore IT outsourcing hub for the Asia Pacific region. In addition, China's growing domestic software market presented attractive opportunities for IT services. TCS shifted its focus to China's financial sector, as many of China's domestic banks were then undergoing a period of major organisational transformation. Given this, in 2007, the company set a target to increase its China-based manpower strength from 800 to 6,000 by 2011. However, the tight supply of IT talent in China was a major challenge and in early 2010 TCS' manpower strength reached 1,100. The company set a new target to quadruple its manpower strength to 5,000 by 2014. Product/service innovation was an essential catalyst to sustain its growth momentum and to maintain a competitive edge in the Chinese market. What steps should the company take to tap the rising demand for outsourcing services while tackling the problems of achieving service excellence in a resource-tight situation?

The case discusses the entrepreneurial paths taken by two men, a father and son team, who created a highly successful business venture in regional marine offshore industry in the first decade of the 21st century. The factors that contributed to venture's rapid growth are examined as well as the challenges they faced in taking their company, Ezra Holdings, to the next level of fast growth. Started in 1992, the entrepreneurs leveraged on their knowledge of the regional oil and gas (O&G) and marine engineering businesses to grow the firm into a global offshore support services company with market capitalisation of US$1.2 billion by the end of January 2010. The firm began as a small company managing and operating supply vessels supporting offshore O&G activities in the region. From managing small vessels, they moved on to build the essential capabilities needed to operate efficient offshore support services for O&G exploration and production projects of major global firms. To drive growth, they embarked on a series of asset acquisitions and joint ventures with other players. In a highly capital-intensive business, they were successful in prospecting for funds needed to secure the operating assets of their business. As they moved up the value chain in their segment of the industry, they also kept a lookout for industry veterans or specialists and technical staff from acquired companies to build their human resource pool. Ezra's decade of rapid growth is examined from several perspectives: • Entrepreneurship as the dynamic process of structure and action. • Capability building as an essential condition for new venture success as reflected in Ezra's resource acquisition strategies for funds, human capital and technical knowhow.

In 2009, Hyflux Ltd (Hyflux) was one of Asia's leading environmental water treatment companies with operations in Singapore, China, the Middle East, North Africa and India. Specialising in membrane technologies, Hyflux provided integrated solutions for municipal water treatment as well as for industrial manufacturing processes, including the recycling of spent oils and solvents. Started in 1989 by Singapore-based entrepreneur Olivia Lum, Hyflux was an early mover into China's nascent industrial water treatment market in 1993, servicing numerous manufacturing plants there. In 1998, to widen Hyflux's market base and accelerate growth, Lum moved into the municipal water treatment market in Singapore. With this, Hyflux sales revenue jumped from $17.7 million in 2000 (nine months) to $554 million in 2008 and despite the 2008 global recession during which its municipal business remained strong, the company was able to secure large-scale high value projects in North Africa. As a newcomer, Hyflux leveraged on its innovative water treatment technologies and entrepreneurial drive to grow the business. However by 2009, as a player in the global water treatment business, Hyflux had to prove that it could execute greenfield municipal projects in a far-flung continent and compete with other global water treatment companies in these new markets. To respond to these challenges, Hyflux had to rapidly grow its human capital and organisational capabilities to match the firm's aggressive market penetration strategies.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), India's largest IT services provider, reached a major milestone when manpower strength crossed the 100,000-employee mark in October 2007. Based on a business model heavily reliant on low-wage software engineering talent, TCS tapped with great success, India's large pool of engineering graduates, mainly from top universities, for its human capital needs. These software project consultants formed the backbone of the company's service delivery system and the lynchpin of TCS' growth as a global IT company. TCS used a systems approach to design a training and development framework that had enabled the firm to scale up the human capital requirements to meet rapid business growth. By the end of March 2008, TCS' global employee strength was more than 111,000. Ninety percent of its IT consultants were Indian nationals, as were majority of the TCS consultants in the USA. However, as TCS followed its multinational clients and set up operations in China, the Chinese government expected TCS to tap on local engineering talent as much as possible. The challenge for TCS was whether the training framework it had used to build its India-based human resource pool would also be effective in the Chinese context where TCS hoped to grow its second global delivery hub after India.

In 1992, when Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC (ASHH) of Sri Lanka announced its intentions to build a tourist resort in a region with several ancient archeological sites and rich in natural biodiversity, the local communities as well as environmentalists were apprehensive about the negative impacts of the development on the region. In response, the resort developers embarked on sustained and ongoing environmental, social and community development programmes to preserve the physical environment, benefiting the surrounding communities and involving local residents in the operations of the resort. The resort, Heritance Kandalama, went on to receive many international awards for environment management and social and community development. It was the first Asian hotel to receive Green Globe 21 certification in 1999. The resort also raised the profile of its parent company, ASHH, as one of the pioneers of sustainable tourism in Asia. This case examines (a) the environment management and social and community development strategies/programmes at Heritance Kandalama, (b) the emergence of an organisational culture anchored on sustainable development, and (c) HR practices that supported the implementation of sustainable tourism practices.

By 2008,Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC (ASHH), a leading Sri Lanka hotel group had established a reputation for operating iconic resorts, in particular, its resort at Kandalama in the central highlands region of the country. Heritance Kandalama, the resort, had evolved after a troubled beginning to gain international recognition for its social, ecological and environmental best practices. In large measure, this was due to the emergence of a set of people management practices that had evolved an organizational culture with values that supported these best practices and enabled the resort to survive, notwithstanding ongoing civil conflict in Sri Lanka. In 2007, ASHH launched a strategic drive into hotel management services in India. A major element of the group's brand equity was its core competency in sustainable and community-sensitive development, much of which it had acquired through the Heritance Kandalama resort experience. A key challenge for ASHH: Can the group's philosophy of sustainable development be successfully implemented in India's hospitality industry? How could ASHH use the Kandalama experience to manage hotels in the culturally and socially diverse towns and cities of India?

(1) To highlight the critical role of the environmental forces driving change and competition in the global marine and offshore industry: oil prices, technology changes and new cycles of industrialisation; (2) To discuss Keppel O&M's approach to strategic management in its volatile market and to evaluate the reasons for the firm's success in such an environment.

This case illustrates the process and challenges of designing a new product and then making it a reality. It examines a myriad of product development, manufacturing and launch challenges confronting entrepreneurs with resource constraints. It does this from two perspectives: that of a product designer and that of an entrepreneur and business owner. Thus, the issues are both creative and practical.

In 2004 and 2005, The Theatre Practice (TTP), an established theatre company in Singapore conducted a series of drama workshops for service staff of InterContinental Singapore. In the absence of performance metrics, TTP had to convince managements of other hotels and service firms that theatre techniques could help to build the soft skills critically needed by service workers in Singapore.