個案總覽

The case examines the career of Joan Bavaria, a pioneer of Socially Responsible Investing,and founder of Trillium Asset Management and Ceres, the non-profit organization advocating for sustainability leadership. It describes her personal journey from art student and college drop out to financier and campaigner for corporate sustainability. Trillium grew out of Bavaria's initial work in Boston-based Franklin Research and Development Corporation, and became an independent entity in 1982. Bavaria argued that investment houses could use their funds to promote corporate social responsibility, and that such investments could be profitable. This was considered extremely unorthodox in the industry at the time. In the wake of the giant oil spill from the tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989, Bavaria launced the Ceres Principles aimed to generate standardized corporate reporting on enviromental performance. Ceres grew as an organization and launched the Global Reporting Initiative in 1997. The case provides an opportunity to explore the opportunities and challenges of both SRI and corporate environmental reporting.

This case considers the entrepreneurial career of Olivia Lum, who founded the Singaporean water company Hyflux in 1989. An orphan born in Malaysia, Lum provides a rare case of an entrepreneurial success in a country whose economic success has primarily rested on state-owned and foreign firms. The case describes the formidable challenges she initially faced, her subsequent breakthrough in China, and the subsequent growth as a global water treatment company employing membrane technology. In 2004 the company entered the large Middle Eastern market for water treatment but soon encountered problems, including political turbulence. The case ends with demonstrations and an emergent crisis in Libya in 2011, a country in which Hyflux had recently invested. The case offers opportunities to explore the nature of entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia, the business importance of relationships between overseas Chinese and mainland China, and the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs. More broadly, it serves as vehicle for teaching students about the global water crisis and the role of business in helping to resolve it.

This B case takes up the story of the Afghan female entrepreneur Kamila Sidiqi between 2009 and 2015. The case opens with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praising her achievements at a State Department dinner in March 2015 for the newly elected President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani. It describes the growth of her Kaweyan firm, which diversified into dried fruit processing and a cab service, against a background of some economic and social progress, but also continuing economic, social and security challenges in the country. In October 2014 President Ghani asked Kamila to become Presidential Deputy Chief of Staff, a position which she accepted. The B case can be used in conjunction with the A case to explore the issue whether entrepreneurship alone can significantly overcome the many challenges faced by post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan, or whether improvements in institutional frameworks are a pre-condition.

The case focuses on the career of Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of the German-based sports shoe manufacturer Adidas. The origins of the firm were in the interwar years, and it rose to public prominence after it provided spikes for the famous African-American sprinter in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. From the 1950s Horst cultivated relationships with athletes and national associations to expand his sports apparel business and develop sports sponsorship, competing fiercely against competitors such as Puma and Nike. During the 1970s he played a key role in commercializing the international soccer federation FIFA, including creating a television market for soccer, and he subsequently became a key force behind arranging sponsorships and broadcasting rights for the Olympics. The case explores the drivers of success of this major consumer brand, and provdes the opportunity to discuss the positives and negatives of the globalization and commercialization of sport.

The case builds on the earlier A case which described the origins of the Turkish business group established by Vehbi Koç before 1988. This case takes the story forward to 2012 as the Koç group was led by Vehbi's son Rahmi followed by his grandson Mustafa. It explores both the professionalization of the management, and a radical restructuring of the business portfolio as the group refocused on five core sectors. The case also examines the start of the group's globalization strategy which was focused on the white goods affiliate Arçelik.

Considers the marketing and strategic challenges faced by natural beauty brands using the case of Australian-based Jurlique, which was acquired by Pola of Japan in 2011. The case opens two years later in July 2013 when Sam McKay, the chief executive officer, on a visit to Pola's head office in Tokyo, heard news of critical comments about the company and animal testing in a Facebook post from a group in South Australia, where the brand had been founded as a small biodynamic farm in 1985. The discussion of Jurlique's involvement with animal testing was a sensitive issue as it contradicted the brand's strong environmentally-friendly and ethical positioning. The matter had already arisen during the Pola acquisition as Pola, like all Japanese cosmetics companies, traditionally tested products on animals. The animal testing issue is put in context by a discussion of how during Jurlique's growth as a successful premium brand there had been substantial changes in market position, in part associated with shifts of ownership. At times the brand had been focused on core green consumers, but McKay had sought to broaden the consumer base by repositioning it as making "the most effective products as natural as possible." The company lost few existing customers, and found that Jurlique's image was an asset in attracting Chinese consumers who liked the story of the Australian farm which produced most ingredients. However, Chinese regulations refusing to allow the firm's stores to use recycled wood, and mandating of animal testing, were challenging to the brand's global natural brand position. The case can be taught both in marketing classes concerned with green business and in strategy classes exploring the challenges faced by global brands.

This case considers the strategies of Charles W. Engelhard, an American mining magnate who made large investments in apartheid-era South Africa. Engelhard was widely believed to have been the model for the James Bond villan Auric Goldfinger. During the 1950s and 1960s Engelhard, who was well-connected with the leadership of the Democratic Party in the United States including President Lyndon B. Johnson, was one of the largest American investors in that country. His close relationship with Harry Oppenheimer, the head of the Anglo-American Corporation, gave him substantial influence within the South African business system. The case starts with anti-apartheid demonstrators protesting outside a ceremony awarding him a prize in Newark, New Jersey. It provides an opportunity to debate the political and ethical responsibilities of businesses in repressive regimes, and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs operating in countries with different value systems and political regimes.

The case is concerned with Elia Nuqul, the founder of Jordanian-based Nuqul Brothers, a large diversified business group. It shows how Nuqul, a Christian Palestinian whose family was forced to flee to Jordan after the creation of Israel in 1948, built a business in his new home, first in trading and later in consumer products such as hygienic paper mnaufacturing. The case shows the challenges of building such an entrepreneurial business in a developing region with high political instability. The case is positioned within the wider context of the regional conflict in Palestine and Israel, and it provides a vehicle for exploring the role and responsibility of entrepreneurs, if any, in such conflicts.

How will the logic of globalization change for corporations from countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey if the growth opportunities in emerging markets continue to far outpace those in developed markets? Natura Cosmeticos, a Brazilian beauty giant, has considerable experience with that question. For some 30 years, the company has been attempting to move, with decidedly mixed results, into developed markets even as the opportunities of its region have grown stronger and stronger. Markets like the United States exert a strong pull on emerging-market multinationals, but Natura must contend with a changing economic equation: The U.S. beauty market grew by an anemic 1.1% in 2010, whereas demand in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru increased by 10.9%. Ultimately, Natura has moved beyond stereotypes of globalization, recognizing that winning in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico can be an entry onto the world stage every bit as effective as conquering Paris or New York.

Examines the career of Marc Rich, the world's leading commodity trader before his criminal indictment in the United States in 1983. The case surveys the historical growth of commodity trading, especially in metals, from the late nineteenth century, and its evolving forms as governments intervened in markets after 1945. Rich joined Philipp Brothers, then the largest commodity trader, in 1954. He formed his own firm two decades later. He was instrumental in the creation of a spot market in petroleum, and assumed a pivotal role in the industry during the 1970s by selling Iranian oil to Israel and South Africa. The case provides a means to explore the rationale and advantages of giant commodity traders, as well as enabling students to debate corporate use of tax havens.

The case describes the creation of Turkey's largest business group by Vehbi Koc. The foundation of this group in the interwar years, and its subsequent diversification into many industries, including automobiles, household goods, and services, are analysed. The case serves as a vehicle to explain why diversified business groups are so important in emerging markets such as Turkey. It explores the role of market imperfections, government policies, and entrepreneurial ambition in their creation, as well as the organizational challenges posed by managing such diversified firms owned by a family. Much of the firm's growth came from licensing and joint venture agreements with multinational firms that were unable, or unwilling, to invest directly in Turkey because of political risk and government restrictions. The case ends in 1988, when the founder has received a report from the management consultancy Bain calling for the firm to reduce the range of activities it undertakes because of the competitive challenges resulting from the liberalization of the Turkish economy.

This case examines the management of home and host country risk by Beiersdorf during the interwar years. It can be used both in business history courses and more generally to teach political risk management by multinational corporations. Beiersdorf, a German personal products company, expanded globally before 1914, but had its foreign factories and intellectual property expropriated during World War 1. After 1919 ceo Willy Jacobson rebuilt the international business, and sought to protect it by "cloaking" the ultimate ownership. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler, as German Chancellor in 1933, Beiersdorf and Jacobson personally also came under attack by the anti-Semitic Nazi regime in its home country. The case can be used as a vehicle to understand the rise of both host and home country risk by companies during the interwar years, and more generally to explore the strategies which firms can follow to attempt to manage such risks.

Explores the challenges of female entrepreneurship in Afghanistan through the case of Kemeli Sediqi, who built a business under the Taliban, and founded a consultancy in 2004. The case positions Sediqi's experiences against the background of Afghanistan's turbulent history, with a focus on the contested role of women in Afghani society.

The case examines the entrepreneurial career of Rupert Murdoch, and the growth of News Corporation from a small Australian newspaper to a global media giant. It shows how he expanded geographically to Europe, the United States, and Asia and from newspapers to the film and television industries. The case identifies the personal role of Murdoch in this growth, and the role of his family in its management. The case considers the political impact of News Corporation's newspapers and other media, and their alleged role in shaping political opinion.

This case describes the nineteenth century founding by Werner Siemens of the Siemens electrical business in Germany. Werner's dual role as inventor and entrepreneur is explored as he created one of the world's first multinational enterprises, whose growth initially rested on its pioneering role in the new telegraph industry. Werner sent his brothers to open businesses in Great Britain and Russia, and the case explores the advantages and disadvantages of family business as a form of organization, as well as the challenges growing it poses for such family firms.

The case describes the growth of Guggenheim Brothers as one of the largest mining companies in the world in the early twentieth century. Global expansion led the firm to Chile, first in copper and later in natural nitrates. Chile's economic growth was driven by the profits from mining, especially its world monopoly of nitrates. The Guggenheims invested in Chilean nitrates after synthetics were developed by German chemists. Their strategies to modernize the industry collapsed with the outbreak of the Great Depression, during which Chile experienced the greatest fall of incomes of any country. The case serves as a vehicle to explore the devastating economic and political impact of the Great Depression on the countries of the South, such as Chile, which had specialized in primary commodities, and on mining and financial capitalists such as the Guggenheims.

The case describes the foundation of Christian Dior, the leading Parisian fashion house, in 1946 and its subsequent globalization strategy. After explaining the historical origins of France's pre-eminence in upscale fashion, the case explores the challenges to this position from New York after World War 2, and the importance of Christian Dior's New Look in restoring French fashion to world leadership. The case examines, in particular, Dior's innovative strategy to combine a high fashion business in Paris with a ready-to-wear business in New York, and his subsequent pursuit of licensing opportunities in jewelry and other luxury products. The case provides an opportunity to explore the role of creativity in the luxury fashion industry, and the challenges and opportunities of globalizing such an industry.     

This brief (B) case documents the fate of Mitsubishi and the shipping company NYK after the death of Yataro Iwasaki in 1885. The case supplements case 808-158, "Yataro Iwaski: Founding Mitsubishi (A)."

A business historian reminds us that since the nineteenth century, predictions about globalization have been reliably wrong. Despite technology for the fast diffusion of knowledge, information-like wealth-seems to be concentrating even further.

Considers the creation of one of the world's largest beauty and fragrance companies by Bernd Beetz, appointed chief executive of Coty Inc. in 2001. The case opens with the creation of a new Russian subsidiary in the wake of the global financial crisis, and examines how a virtually new company was created over the previous years. In 1990 the German consumer goods company Benkiser began acquiring fragrance and cosmetics brands with the intent of developing a beauty business. These included the long-established, but relatively small US fragrance company Coty. In 1996 the beauty business was spun off under the name Coty. When Beetz was hired as chief executive, it was still a fragmented collection of recently acquired brands. The case describes how Beetz re-ignited the dormant celebrity fragrance business with the successful launch of a new Jennifer Lopez fragrance line. Fashioning a new entrepreneurial culture based on the principles of "faster, further, freer," Coty hired longstanding executives from other firms and liberated their entrepreneurial capabilities, refreshing brands which had been tarnished into a global mass color cosmetics brand. In 2005 the acquisition of Calvin Klein from Unilever, and its renewal, catapulted Coty into the position of the world's largest fragrance company. The case provides an opportunity to examine the entrepreneurial, cultural, and organizational factors which enable acquired brands and employees to be re-invigorated and molded into a dynamic new global business. It asks if the cultural and other factors behind its rapid growth can sustain the company as it seeks growth much further as a top five beauty company.