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Global Bubbles Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of chewing gum. The vice-president of manufacturing must evaluate various global capacity rationalization plans to determine the strategic direction the company should take. Her goal was to determine the optimal manufacturing strategy for the various markets supplied by Global Bubbles. She must analyse multi-currency net present value calculations, discount rates, exchange rates and the role of strategic options associated with multiple sourcing locations.

Northeastern Mutual Life is a large insurance company. As a result of falling profitability, the chief executive officer has to evaluate the rights of various stakeholders as he plans to reduce staff. He must quantify in dollar terms the moral claims of shareholders and various other stakeholders, and apply ethical analysis where legal requirements are unclear. In particular, he must decide how to manage the layoffs and the implications to the company of the payout of pension benefits.

A village leader must reallocate farmland and decides to hold a competition among the three most capable farmers in the village. The contract to the farmland will be awarded to the farmer with the best performance in the growing season. The growing season is over and the village leader must review the farmers' capital structure, capacity, and leasing costs, and make his decision.

Nanjing Chuangqi is a small auto parts manufacturing firm. The general manager of the company is deciding whether the company should integrate its product line from existing universal joint and steering shaft to steering column and whether the major processes involved should be outsourced or made internally. Using breakeven and net present value analysis, he must consider the impact on the company and the auto industry when China joins the World Trade Organization and import tariff barriers are removed.

Komandor SA is a subsidiary of a Polish holding company that manufactures sliding doors and closet organizer systems. The company president and his Canadian counterpart must decide on a transfer pricing policy for consulting services and associated components shipped between the two countries. Polish tax regulations seem unclear and arbitrary and the tax auditor has disallowed the consulting fees. The two presidents must decide whether allocating the consulting fee to product overhead will solve the problem.

Shanghai Eurotel Center Co. Ltd. is a joint venture formed by four parties from China, France (2) and Singapore to construct and operate a group of buildings including one five-star hotel, a luxury shopping center, some apartments and office space. After the first seven months of operation, actual profit of the hotel was under budget. The chief accountant, in preparing for a report for the board of directors, must decide how to resolve the problems with ambiguous accountability for operations, lack of appropriate performance measures and must analyze performance using flexible budgets.

This note provides a non-technical description of the Chinese legal system relevant to international business. It outlines the Chinese concept of law, the Chinese legal system, dispute resolution, the 1999 Unified Contract Law and the legal framework for foreign investment enterprises.

Welcome Pharmaceuticals was a joint venture between North China Pharmaceutical Corp. and Hong Kong Triple Well International and is a leading producer of vitamin C in China. The company's general manager had just returned from an industry wide meeting, and was disturbed by what he had learned: there was a worldwide oversupply of vitamin C and already sagging prices had not yet hit rock bottom. The general manager knew the only way for Welcome to survive was to reduce costs, and because Welcome's material costs were already among the lowest in the industry, the only area left to trim was labor costs. The management team was called together to decide whether this was, in fact, the company's only option. If so, the management team had to quickly decide how to go about effecting what was bound to be an unpopular change among several tiers of workers.

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 administrative assistant at the Edmonton, Alberta branch of Vandelay Securities was faced with a dilemma. Her superior had requested a purchase of shares in a firm whose securities were restricted to residents of Alberta for one of her clients who resided in British Columbia. On the purchase request form, the client's province of residence was listed as Alberta, and a post office box address was given. This transaction was the latest in a series that made her feel uncomfortable.

The administrative assistant at the Edmonton, Alberta branch of Vandelay Securities was faced with a dilemma. Her superior had requested a purchase of shares in a firm whose securities were restricted to residents of Alberta for one of her clients who resided in British Columbia. On the purchase request form, the client's province of residence was listed as Alberta, and a post office box address was given. This transaction was the latest in a series that made her feel uncomfortable. The primary teaching objective of this case is to explore when and how one should blow the whistle. The individual's responsibility to herself, the firm, the clients and other stakeholders in exposing the unethical acts of a colleague is presented for debate. Secondary ethical issues include insider trading, high-pressure sales tactics, conflict of interest, and misrepresentation to a regulator.

The newly appointed branch manager at a branch of PEB Securities was worried. He had just finished speaking to a sales assistant regarding a series of transactions made by him over the last few months. Earlier in the day, the branch manager had received a call from a client's lawyer regarding the mishandling of her account by the firm. As he sat down to review the file again, he wondered which of the transactions, if any, exposed the firm to legal liability and what his next course of action should be. The main pedagogical objectives of this case are to explore liability issues. Several transactions are presented; in each case, students must examine the legal as well as ethical issues and determine to what extent the individual or firm can be held liable.

The general manager of the Champagne Hotel in Hong Kong has to decide what action to take in the hotel laundry. June's operating expenses are significantly over budget. The manager has to investigate the causes of the cost overrun, and decide on further action, including whether to outsource the laundry service.

Chung Yong, president of Samsung China Headquarters (SCH), was considering a recent meeting with the SCH marketing director responsible for developing a marketing strategy for the entire China market. The topic at the meeting was the marketing strategy for color TV, which had been chosen as the flagship product for the China market. Samsung had to decide whether it should focus on the low- or high-end market segment (or both), and whether to import or produce locally.

Mr. Chung Yong, president of Samsung China Headquarters was considering a recent meeting with the marketing director who was responsible for developing a marketing strategy for the entire China market. The topic at the meeting was the marketing strategy for color TVs, which had been chosen as the flagship product for the China market. Samsung had to decide whether it should focus on the low or high-end market segment (or both), and whether to import or produce locally.