Firms spend millions of dollars annually on whistle-blower hotlines, training, and other efforts to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and company policies. Yet malfeasance remains entrenched in the corporate world. Why? Too many firms treat compliance as a box-checking exercise, making employees sit through training and attest that they understand the rules, but failing to assess the effectiveness of their compliance programs, or doing so with faulty metrics. The authors explain how we reached this sorry state--and how we can remedy it. Firms should start by linking compliance initiatives more closely to specific objectives: preventing misconduct, detecting it, or aligning policies with laws and regulations. Then, using careful model design and some creativity, firms can develop better metrics to measure what's working and what isn't.

First Respond is a for-profit Chinese social enterprise focused on developing emergency services with the mission of making China a safer place. In China, there is a severe lack of first aid awareness and systems, and to fill this gap, First Respond delivers first aid training, products and services, and solutions to both businesses and individuals in the private and public sectors. They also provide in-race first aid service for marathons. Looking to the future, key challenges include how to most effectively communicate their social mission to stakeholders and how to best sell their products and services in China, a market with a number of institutional barriers to public safety. Case number 2103.0

China Data Group (CDG) is a leading business processes outsourcing company based in Beijing, China. Roc Yang, Chairman of CDG had to confront a dilemma when he discovered that one of his senior managers gave a gift to a potential client in an effort to win a large business deal. Although this practice was pervasive in the China business context characterized by heavy reliance on personal relationships or guanxi, it went against the founding principles of CDG - professionalism and service quality. Yang had to decide where to draw the line between adherence to principles of professionalism and local norms in a country caught in the midst of rapid economic transformation.

Haitao Jin, Chairman of Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd. ("SCGC") and Wanshou Li, President of the SCGC must decide how to continue to grow their venture capital/private equity firm in China. SCGC is a premier VC/PE fund in China and a pioneer of the Government Sponsored Fund (GBF) structure. The firm had grown to RMB 20 billion in just ten years and had funds in 29 different cities across China. As competition for investments becomes more intense, Jin and Li must decide the growth and strategic direction that SCGC should pursue. The case highlights the important success factors for VC/PE investing in China as well as the important role that the Chinese Government plays in the financing landscape.