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Lieven Demeester was the Associate Dean of the Singapore Management University (SMU) Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme. The University was launched in 2000 as a school with a distinctive approach to undergraduate education relative to two well entrenched local competing business schools - both in terms of a broad-based curriculum and an interactive pedagogy that aimed at developing students with strong communication and collaborative skills. In 2008, SMU launched an MBA programme with a small cohort of 45 students (including both part-time and full-time) students. Since then, the programme had undergone a few changes to its curriculum and had expanded in size to around a hundred full-time and part-time students. SMU capitalised on its location in the heart of Singapore to attract foreign candidates who were keen to work in the country. However, regulatory changes had made it more difficult for foreign students to find jobs in the country after graduation. The MBA programme was especially important because growth of the undergraduate programme was constrained by the Ministry of Education, which subsidised tertiary education. Also, it is usually the flagship programme of a business school. The recruitment team regularly travelled to hold roadshows and information sessions within Asia while the marketing team used social and traditional media to raise awareness for the programme. The career services team was expanded to help students in their job searches. Deemester was considering getting the programme ranked internationally. How could he differentiate the SMU MBA programme from competing programmes, taking into account the needs of its target market?

It was March 2019, and Fermin Diez, Deputy CEO of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), ran the Sun Ray scheme that had been launched in 2014 to mitigate manpower issues due to pay disparity and lack of career progression in the social service sector. Singapore's heretofore prosperity did not result in an even distribution of wealth, and with the changing demographics, Social Service Agencies (SSAs) required assistance in identifying and improving various programmes to support vulnerable groups. The government had recently announced plans to provide more support with the goal of building a more caring and compassionate society. NCSS had administered several leadership programmes to develop human capital and support organisations in the sector to strengthen the local social service ecosystem. However, the previous leadership programmes introduced experienced limited success due to low participation rates and the heavy workloads of staff in the social service sector. The newer Sun Ray scheme would instead centrally hire potential social service leaders under the NCSS payroll and second them out to SSAs. In return, the SSAs were required to pay a subsidised secondment fee to NCSS. This way, individual SSAs would benefit from good leaders at subsidised salaries while the impact of each Sun Rayz would not be limited to any particular SSA. Diez knew that the scheme had been successful, but sought to make improvements.

In August 2018, Felicia Wong, Chief Investment Officer at 88 Capital, the investment arm of a Hong Kong family office, was considering investing in a bike-sharing company. The bike-sharing business was booming in China, with the two dominant players Mobike and ofo rapidly expanding. Mobike had been acquired for US$3.4 billion by Meituan Dianping, a food delivery company. ofo also had unicorn status with a roughly US$3 billion valuation. The bike-sharing industry could potentially disrupt the transportation industry. Bikes had the advantage of being able to bypass gridlocked streets and were more environmentally sustainable than private cars. In addition, the use of bikes promoted a healthier lifestyle and offered a prospective solution to the last mile problem for commuters who used public transport. But despite the many advantages of using dockless bikes, the practice brought about problems as these bikes were parked indiscriminately on pedestrian walkways and pedalled on busy roads. The industry also had too many players in China. In addition, bike-sharing companies were not yet profitable. Companies had prioritised gaining market share over making profits to increase the value of their respective platforms. It was expected that the industry would become more valuable should city planners approve plans to redesign transport networks to accommodate bikes. As at August 2018, the low rental fees and high capital expenditures were proving to be unsustainable. Mobike was the largest player in China and were likely to survive the industry's consolidation phase. The firm had strategic partnerships to help it reach critical mass and improve its service offerings. Wong wondered if it was worth investing in Mobike at this stage.

In June 2018, Ow Fook Chuen, the Accountant-General of the Accountant-General's Department (AGD), was in charge of the Accountant-General's Department (AGD) as it sought to improve through innovation and the use of technology. Being the steward of public sector finance transformation, AGD partnered public sector agencies to uplift the role of finance from being the custodian of public finance, to a strategic partner who empowers decision-making. In its role, AGD had to handle various financial transactions related to the government and its vendors, and process the payroll of all government officers. Staff from AGD were seconded to work closely with other public sector finance professionals in the finance and internal audit departments of various public sector agencies in order to implement key initiatives. To improve the accuracy and efficiency of its processes, AGD had reviewed new technologies and spoke to private sector companies on their experiences. It linked many individual systems used by various ministries across the Whole-of-Government (WOG) into a central data analytics platform to enable public sector agencies to perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Despite facing a few challenges, Ow knew that the data analytics journey would help AGD strengthen finance functions across WOG.

Case A is set in 2008. Tong Yee is a co-founder of The Thought Collective (TTC), a group of social enterprises that aimed to enhance the social capital of local society. His background in education led him to provide private lessons to underprivileged children. In 2006, he worked with his partners to launch School Of Thought (SOT), a tuition centre that focused on public welfare and charged affordable fees with the goal of maximising social impact instead of profits. TTC subsequently branched into the restaurant business in 2007 with Food For Thought (FFT) when the opportunity fortuitously arose. FFT began by donating 10% of its profits to the community. Later on, in collaboration with the National Heritage Board (NHB), a statutory board charged with preserving the shared heritage of Singapore's diverse communities, FFT would also be a place where people gathered to share stories of their local life experiences. FFT hence aimed to provide good food for a good cause. At the end of the year, Tong and his team had to decide if a much larger restaurant location at the Singapore Botanic Gardens was worth bidding for. The area was popular with tourists and locals alike and fit their goal of bringing people together in community areas. A dynamic rental model would also allow their rent to fluctuate with sales. However, the costs would be a lot higher than at their other outlets and demand was uncertain. Case B continues in 2011. After FFT decided to rent the space at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, they suffered huge financial losses in the first few years. The team started to face new operational and staffing issues and had to figure out how to move forward or cease operations. The case also explores what the team could have done differently.

Case A is set in 2008. Tong Yee is a co-founder of The Thought Collective (TTC), a group of social enterprises that aimed to enhance the social capital of local society. His background in education led him to provide private lessons to underprivileged children. In 2006, he worked with his partners to launch School Of Thought (SOT), a tuition centre that focused on public welfare and charged affordable fees with the goal of maximising social impact instead of profits. TTC subsequently branched into the restaurant business in 2007 with Food For Thought (FFT) when the opportunity fortuitously arose. FFT began by donating 10% of its profits to the community. Later on, in collaboration with the National Heritage Board (NHB), a statutory board charged with preserving the shared heritage of Singapore's diverse communities, FFT would also be a place where people gathered to share stories of their local life experiences. FFT hence aimed to provide good food for a good cause. At the end of the year, Tong and his team had to decide if a much larger restaurant location at the Singapore Botanic Gardens was worth bidding for. The area was popular with tourists and locals alike and fit their goal of bringing people together in community areas. A dynamic rental model would also allow their rent to fluctuate with sales. However, the costs would be a lot higher than at their other outlets and demand was uncertain. Case B continues in 2011. After FFT decided to rent the space at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, they suffered huge financial losses in the first few years. The team started to face new operational and staffing issues and had to figure out how to move forward or cease operations. The case also explores what the team could have done differently.

Case A is set in 2016. Trung Dung is the founder of iCare Benefits (iCare), a social enterprise established to aid low-income workers. His background included studying computer science in the US and successfully working in the American software industry. Trung returned to Vietnam to discover that many low-income workers had to borrow heavily for basic household necessities, especially migrant workers who moved to the city with nothing. How could he help? Trung decided to tackle the related problems of lack of access to the formal financial sector and the workers' lack of basic consumer durable goods. He partnered with employers, global manufacturers and financial institutions to develop a third-party employee benefits programme that would help low-income migrant workers afford basic goods. iCare would undertake retail functions to enable migrant workers to buy consumer goods. Using an innovative retail model, iCare would provide workers with zero-interest procurement loans for up to six months. His value proposition to partners allowed for a collaborative setup that permitted the social enterprise to operate without donations. Case B continues in 2018. iCare has been successful in reducing borrowing from other sources at usurious rates. Many workers now have access to financing and consequently basic consumer durable goods. Trung is able to scale up and reach many more workers. However, he wanted to help existing members as well. He would start to offer additional consumer discretionary products and services in the areas of education, healthcare and insurance. How might he further improve the lives of low income workers?

Case A is set in 2016. Trung Dung is the founder of iCare Benefits (iCare), a social enterprise established to aid low-income workers. His background included studying computer science in the US and successfully working in the American software industry. Trung returned to Vietnam to discover that many low-income workers had to borrow heavily for basic household necessities, especially migrant workers who moved to the city with nothing. How could he help? Trung decided to tackle the related problems of lack of access to the formal financial sector and the workers' lack of basic consumer durable goods. He partnered with employers, global manufacturers and financial institutions to develop a third-party employee benefits programme that would help low-income migrant workers afford basic goods. iCare would undertake retail functions to enable migrant workers to buy consumer goods. Using an innovative retail model, iCare would provide workers with zero-interest procurement loans for up to six months. His value proposition to partners allowed for a collaborative setup that permitted the social enterprise to operate without donations. Case B continues in 2018. iCare has been successful in reducing borrowing from other sources at usurious rates. Many workers now have access to financing and consequently basic consumer durable goods. Trung is able to scale up and reach many more workers. However, he wanted to help existing members as well. He would start to offer additional consumer discretionary products and services in the areas of education, healthcare and insurance. How might he further improve the lives of low income workers?

Sandy Sim is a senior consultant at Future Solutions, a strategy consulting firm. She was tasked by Comfort Del Gro (CDG), a multinational land transport company, to help revive their taxi business in Singapore. Companies like Grab, a regional third-party taxi-booking app, and Uber, a global transportation app, made use of technology to improve the booking of taxis and introduced private cars to meet the demand for taxis, especially at peak hours. Many customers found their services better and more convenient to use. Some taxi drivers prefer to use the Grab app for client bookings or drive private cars instead. What should Sim recommend for CDG to turn around its flagging fortunes in the taxi segment?

Spreadsheet supplement for Case SMU136

Andy Smith is the Transport Excellence Manager (Asia-Pacific) at GLC, a leading global logistics services company. In April 2016, GLC inaugurated the GLC Hub in Singapore, which is expected to boost cargo volume in Asia-Pacific. However, Smith faces issues further down the supply chain due to problems with road freight vendors. GLC utilises a hub-and-spoke method to transport cargo. Last mile deliveries are typically outsourced to small local transportation providers in the Asia-Pacific region who would complete the delivery by road. These vendors are usually small companies with only a few vehicles. They do not always make the best decisions about their operations, (e.g., deciding the type and combination of vehicles to be used in the fleet), or the type of resources (such as fuel, equipment on board) to be used. This inefficiency results in vendor bankruptcies and subsequent disruptions to GLC's delivery obligations. Smith wanted to devise a long-term solution to help his vendors manage their operations. He decided it would be best to help address their business needs and enable the vendors to make better managerial decisions. He started collating data in an Excel spreadsheet, but it soon became apparent that the spreadsheet was not ideal. He then considered other solutions such as developing a common platform, using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) visual analytics online tools or creating a customised application. He wanted a tool that would ideally allow vendors to analyse their financial health over a period of time, and perform scenario analysis to aid their decision-making.

In November 2016, Arun Madhok, CEO of Suntec Singapore (Suntec), a premier convention and exhibition centre in Singapore, was looking at processes in which productivity could be improved. The global MICE industry was becoming increasingly competitive. Suntec's strategy was to capitalise on its good location while providing a premium venue and good service. Singapore's pro-business and safe environment were positive factors for MICE organisers, and Madhok partnered with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and other local industry participants to attract them to the island. Suntec had recently undergone a major renovation to integrate new technology into its building design. Madhok made use of the downtime to improve his food quality and presentation by sending his staff for training at top hotels. Operationally, many companies were affected by government regulations that introduced quotas for foreign workers. Madhok began a productivity push to review the company's processes, beginning with dishwashing. A designated dishwashing area would be leased out to a vendor, who could solicit business from F&B outlets throughout the Suntec Mall. It proved to be a success as Suntec's dishwashing costs decreased and new checks were introduced to ensure the cleanliness of the items. Madhok was now keen to seek other process innovations.

Luigi Migliorini, CEO of Prysmian China, Frederic Grosse, CEO of Prysmian ASEAN and Frederick Persson, CEO of Prysmian Australia & New Zealand were discussing ways of increasing business in APAC. Prysmian is seeking to make the APAC region a second home market for the group. Previously, the APAC region had been neglected as Prysmian had concentrated on Europe. However, there are several challenges facing the management team. The tried and tested method of acquiring companies and streamlining their processes was difficult to replicate in APAC because competitors tended to be small and privately owned. Internally, the centralised decision-making structure made Prysmian slower than its competitors in providing quotes and rolling out products. Its scattered manufacturing plants worldwide also made intercompany transactions more important. Communications over product specifications and availability had to be made in a timely manner. Additionally, the diverse nature of individual countries and industries in APAC had resulted in niche product opportunities, but made operations more difficult. Still, APAC was a growth region and future infrastructure investments would require various types of cables. The three regional leaders had to devise a strategic approach for Prysmian to grow in APAC. Participants will learn that changing the culture of a multinational corporation is difficult but can be achieved by addressing the company's human capital in terms of talent, leadership, culture, and structure.

The Prysmian Group is a leading global cable manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. Although dominant in Europe and other areas, it has been struggling to improve its market share in the Asia Pacific region. Its competitors are small family-owned businesses that operate within their individual countries in the region. Unable to execute its strategy practised in other regions-of acquiring companies and streamlining their operations-in Asia, Prysmian management decides on a business strategy of improving cooperation within business units and becoming more customer-centric. The three regional leaders in APAC, Luigi Migliorini, CEO of Prysmian China, Frederic Grosse, CEO of Prysmian ASEAN and Frederick Persson, CEO of Prysmian Australia & New Zealand had just completed a strategy meeting in the Singapore office and all understand that the key to implementing the business strategy is its human capital. This case is targeted for participants who are interested in understanding the human capital challenges associated with implementing a business strategy for a multinational corporation. After the session, the students will be able to describe the challenges associated with change in a multi-national corporation, and determine how human capital can impact the implementation of strategy.

City Developments Limited (CDL) has been publishing an annual dedicated sustainability report, in line with the Global Reporting Initiative's reporting guidelines, since 2008. In January 2016, Esther An, chief sustainability officer at CDL, produced the 2015 sustainability report using an integrated reporting approach. She saw the fundamental challenge of integrated reporting as communicating to stakeholders the business and financial impact of the firm's efforts in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration. The business environment was also changing as consumers demanded more transparency and regulators required more non-financial disclosure from companies. Leaving external pressures aside, CDL had always taken pride in being a socially responsible company. For over two decades, CDL had embraced sustainability in its corporate philosophy and business strategy. This focus is evident in the management of its operations both as a developer and landlord, and also through its building designs and construction methods. Adhering to the integrated reporting approach will allow a more holistic form of reporting that linked the impact of the firm's social and environmental performance to its financial bottom line.

Set in 2013, Elaine Ng, CEO of the National Library Board of Singapore (NLB), has to ensure the library remains relevant in the new knowledge economy. The goals of the library have changed from providing convenience and accessibility to information to building social capital and facilitating knowledge sharing under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and the Arts. Additionally, new mediums have become available to access information and people can now access information remotely. NLB has also added more depth and breadth to its book collection to meet the specific needs of niche groups such as young professionals and the business community. As a knowledge leader, NLB is taking the lead in environmental sustainability as they partnered with various organisations in conservation efforts. Their partnership with City Development Limited went a step further in creating the world's first green library for children, My Tree House. It was constructed using sustainable materials and was stocked with literature on environmentalism. The collaboration resulted in an on-going effort to educate the young in environmental sustainability.

The case is set in 2014 in Indonesia, with the leaders of a once strong national bank - Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) - facing the challenge of transformation amidst a volatile and uncertain business environment. With growing competition and the rapid economic growth of the nation, the bank leadership recognises that a major change is needed to ensure the future survival of the bank. In 2008, a new management team was appointed to address those issues as BNI fell from number one to four in terms of market share in Indonesia. The bank suffered from inefficient business practices and a capability gap due to a zero-growth policy in terms of employees. As a long-time stable state-owned enterprise, which was typically slow to adapt, bringing about change would be quite a challenge. At the centre of the transformation agenda is the need to shift from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric one. To achieve this, a strong emphasis on human capital was necessary to address the firm's strategic needs in the areas of talent, leadership, culture, and structure. For this purpose, Felia Salim, the Vice CEO, took charge of the human capital strategy.

Student spreadsheet 2 for case SMU288.

Student spreadsheet 1 for case SMU288.

Set in 2013, Hamidah Hassan works at SATS, a provider of gateway services at Changi Airport in Singapore. SATS has a symbiotic relationship with Changi Airport Singapore and Singapore Airlines in ensuring a smooth travel experience for customers. Hamidah is in charge of the operations at the check-in counter. As passenger traffic at Changi Airport increases, the lengthening waiting lines threaten to impair customer perceptions of the airline and airport. In order to implement an efficient solution, she has to balance her cost of operations against the cost of waiting for passengers and the terms of the service level agreement with the airport authority. This case analyses the problem and solves it using an integer linear program and simulation analysis.