In 2019, Daniel Pinto, President and COO of JPMorgan Chase, has to make a recommendation to the bank's Chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, about where to physically locate the bank's European trading operations after Brexit takes effect in 2020. The decision-making process considered a range of European locations, including Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris, and ultimately Pinto is left with a choice between Frankfurt and Paris. The case describes the decision-making process and gives an overview of JPMorgan's history in France and the French government's efforts to make the country more economically competitive to lure banks moving from London in the wake of Brexit.
A traditionally mono-brand menswear luxury company faces growing competition from international groups and changes its brand focus from formal wear to leisure wear.
About how Singapore-based natural resources firm Royal Golden Eagle, starting with a palm oil business in Indonesia, eventually expanded into a global conglomerate that also included the kraft pulp and paper, viscose, and natural gas industries.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a rise in "reshoring" sentiment in the U.S., Hester Pharmaceuticals had to decide whether to build a new plant for its new oncology drug Akrozumab in Germany or in the U.S., or whether it should hire a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) to produce the drug.
In August 2019, the leadership of Hester Pharmaceuticals (Hester) had a problem. Italy promised to be a key market for their new breakthrough oncology drug Akrozumab, but for almost two years, its single-payer healthcare system had been unable to agree with Hester on a price. With only a few years before a competing drug to Akrozumab was due to hit the market, company leaders felt mounting pressure to compromise with Italian negotiators. At the same time, they realized that compromising on a low price might jeopardize the higher prices Hester had already negotiated with other European nations, if these countries bought up extra supply from Italy or referenced Italy's low price when they renegotiated their own prices the following year. Should Hester settle for a low price, stall for more time, or walk away? This case introduces students to the process of bringing new prescription drugs to market and the factors that go into pricing drugs in both single-payer and multi-payer healthcare systems. Students will wrestle with the complex strategy behind pricing their drugs internationally.
After articulating its ambitious growth plans, mobile services provider Mahindra Comviva, active in over 90 countries, is thinking about how to titrate and re-plan its growth strategy given the coronavirus pandemic. Its India headquarters considers its people costs, financial investments in acquisitions, and its uncertain future as India continues to remain under lockdown and more people are working from home at Comviva than ever previously in its history.
Comviva, a mobile solutions provider active in India and 94 other countries, has had a rich history and been successful across many emerging and complex markets: Latin America, South-East Asia, Africa. What are the lessons learnt from expansion, cultural fits, and technological business model changes? With a global decline in telecommunication revenue per user, operators are looking for new revenue sources. Now, in 2019, how and where should Comviva India grow?
Italy's March 2018 elections led to a populist government which included the right-wing League and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement. To respect their electoral promises, the two parties came up with a budget plan which provided for a public deficit at 2.4%, a figure higher than what the previous administration had promised the EU Commission. On October 23, 2018, the EU Commission rejected such plan asking Italy to revise downwards the public deficit. The same day, Italian bond yields spoke to 4-year highs, up to 3.7% as investors questioned Italy's capacity to repay its public long-term debt, the second highest in the EU. Would the Italian government be able to implement its plan?
Generali was one of Italy's largest companies and one of Europe's largest insurers and had for decades been at the center of the web of cross-shareholding that has characterized the opaque brand of old Italian capitalism. This bred sub-par returns while serving to strengthen a small group of shareholders. Under new CEO Mario Greco and his vision of a "revolution of simplicity, discipline and focus" the company underwent a successful turnaround. One of Greco's most urgent tasks was to remove uncertainty surrounding the company's majority stake in a joint venture in Central and Eastern Europe, which it had used as a vehicle for expansion in the region.
In late 2015, Dr. Shehan Dissanayake, a managing director and board member of the Bahamian-based investment firm The Tavistock Group (Tavistock), the largest single shareholder in the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), one of the country's largest agribusinesses, faces a potentially challenging future operating environment in Australia. The country's national government has recently instituted changes to its agricultural foreign direct investment (FDI) policies that could affect Tavistock's future goals for its long-term investment in AACo. These regulatory changes were made in response to popular and political concern over increased foreign interest in and ownership of Australian land and real estate. Due to the newness of the regulatory changes, it was unclear at the moment precisely how they would affect AACo, but as a foreign-owned company, it was likely to face more rigorous screenings and oversight as it grew. How could Dissanayake best manage Tavistock's investment in this uncertain political climate?
In September 2013, two years after its $2.1 billion acquisition of Mey Icki Sanayi ve Ticaret AS (Mey Icki), the principal spirits company in Turkey specializing in the local beverage raki, Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks company, was concerned about new legislation approved by the Turkish parliament prohibiting marketing and restricting the places and times at which alcoholic beverages could be sold. Diageo's Mey Icki investment in 2011 was the company's biggest acquisition in more than a decade. Having been caught off guard by the 2013 legislative changes, the Diageo management found itself needing to justify its $2.1 billion valuation, given that Diageo had acquired Mey Icki in 2011 from TPG for three times TPG's purchase price in 2006. Investors as well as analysts were questioning the over seven times value increase in Mey Icki since its privatization in 2003. Menezes, The new CEO, found himself increasingly overwhelmed by these issues. Had Diageo underestimated the uncertainties in the Turkish market? Would Diageo, with its broad range of brands, geographical spread, and significant financial resources be able to adapt to the changing environment and recoup its vast investment in Turkey? The case describes the forces that affect investment circumstances in emerging markets, raising the issue of how to best manage and prepare for risks. The case provides the context for the students to identify the potential elements that companies could face when investing in emerging markets where rules, legislation, and taxation can change and thus affect investment outcomes. The case challenges the students to ponder how companies should think about when investing in volatile markets and what it takes for them to succeed under uncertain and shifting circumstances.
Petrom was privatized by the Romanian state in 2004 and acquired by Austrian oil company OMV, with the state retaining a 20.6% stake in the company. The situation was particularly challenging for the foreign investor since the sector in which the company operated was strategic, was regulated by the Romanian state and the company was a key employer and tax payer in a country that was undergoing major structural change. Under OMV and CEO Mariana Gheorghe's leadership, OMV Petrom saw its net profit and sales almost double since 2005, while headcount was reduced by 50%. Gheorghe had negotiated challenges stemming from Petrom's legacy as a state owned company, such as lack of investment, aged assets, operational inefficiency, and bureaucracy while successfully managing the triangular partnership between the acquirer OMV, acquiree OMV Petrom and the Romanian government.
In 2016, the United States and the European Union struggled to reach an agreement over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Started in June 2013, TTIP negotiations had gone on much longer than anyone had expected. With elections coming on both sides of the Atlantic and a rising opposition in the public opinion, what where the odds that such a comprehensive trade agreement would see the light? How would TTIP change the rules of world trade? Who would benefit and who instead lose if an agreement was finally reached?