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This case discusses the issues faced by AgFeed Industries Inc, a China-based company seeking growth through the US capital market, both from the perspective of the Chinese company, as well as US investors. It chronicles the evolution of a small, local animal feed farm into a troubled international pork producer. While some may posit that AgFeed's journey is typical of many China-based companies, the lessons from this case are relevant to fast-growing companies worldwide. The case surfaces discussions on corporate governance and ethics, issues concerning capital market regulations, business strategies in fast-growing industries, the challenges of cross-cultural management, and management capability.

Xi Jinping assumed his position as head of China's fifth generation of leaders in 2012. Xi was head of both the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, which had ruled China since 1949. Xi inherited a country far more unequal than the one that Mao Zedong, Communist China's first leader, had left behind in 1978. The growth of markets had made China much wealthier, but also generated many social problems, including inequality, corruption, and social protests. This case discusses China's political and economic development in the 20th century to situate Xi's-and China's-contemporary challenges.

The case describes Argentina's struggle to establish a credible monetary system under populist pressures and the recurrent use of exchange rate stabilization plans. It focuses on two episodes where there was "too little money" in the economy: during the hyperinflation episodes during the late 1980's-when money demand collapsed and the early 2000's when the supply of money collapsed under a hard currency peg.

This case describes the entrepreneurial process of an Argentinean Canadian who created a new international venture based on the demand of Vancouver firms for international human resource management services and of Argentinean nationals for overseas internships and vocational training. Students will learn about the entrepreneur's background and how it influenced his opportunity recognition and organization of resources. They will also learn about business model evaluation and financial, personal, and social changes driven by entrepreneurship.

This case uses the story of IT-Ration, a small firm based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to enable students to conduct an in-depth analysis of the founding manager, the firm, and the industry so as to make a strategic growth decision. The story unfolds in 2009 at a time when IT-Ration was at a crossroads - should it continue to focus on the Quebec market or go into the U.S. in order to grow? Remaining in Quebec meant that the business would face problems related to limited market size. However, a move to the U.S. would also bring its share of challenges. The entrepreneur had to weigh the pros and cons in order to make an informed decision.

The case is based on Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), the second-largest broadband service provider in the territory in 2012. The young and dynamic company is growing at a faster pace than its competitors, and attributes this success to its innovative approach to Talent management, which involves attracting, developing, retaining, and rewarding its 3,080-strong Talent base. HKBN's Talent enhancement programs are designed to drive strong individual, team, and organizational performance, inspiring a highly engaged workforce and a high-performance work culture across the organization. In mid-2012, when HKBN's parent company, City Telecom, sold HKBN and all related telecom businesses to a global private equity firm―CVC Capital Partners-it created a new challenge for NiQ Lai, head of Talent engagement and CFO. The new directive for NiQ was to lead HKBN to an initial public offering (IPO) in three to five years' time. To do so, the key question was, how should the management team leverage its Talent base to maximize the value of the company?

In the fall of 2013, the people of Ukraine disagreed passionately whether their country should intensify ties with the European Union or Russia. After President Yanukovych rejected the free trade agreement with the EU in November, thousands of Ukrainians peacefully protested. But the protest movement morphed into a violent, deadly confrontation in January, culminating in February in mass slaughter, an overthrow of government, foreign invasion, and international crisis. The four months that shook Ukraine is a case study on the interrelated problems of geopolitical struggle, politics of economic pacts and clash of regional economic blocks, post-imperial disintegration and trade, and identity and interdependence.

In late October 2011, after losing 1 billion of dollar reserves in one month, the Argentine government began imposing a series of currency controls, limiting the ability to buy foreign currency. As of October 2011, Argentina's tax collection agency AFIP had been granted the power to approve or reject all requests to buy dollars with pesos in Argentina's banking system. By June 2012, AFIP had removed ""saving"" as a legitimate explanation. While the official exchange rate was approaching six pesos to the dollar, the black market was demanding almost ten pesos to the dollar-a nearly 65% difference. These were not the first currency restrictions that Argentina had imposed on its citizens.

Joysun was established as a state-owned enterprise in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in China in 1995. Thanks to the effective leadership of its general manager and to the monopolistic nature of the Chinese import and export industry in the mid-1990s, the company had grown rapidly from a shop with five employees in its early days to a major player in the logistics industry by the end of 2012. However, Joysun’s journey had been rocky due to the profound and rapid transformation of the Chinese economy over the 17 years of the company’s existence. By the end of 2012, the company had several projects underway to consolidate its market position. Nevertheless, the management team felt that it should undertake more initiatives in order to sustain Joysun’s leadership over time. More specifically, the general manager wondered whether Joysun should enter the cold chain segment of the logistics industry. Considering the country- and industry-level context, what was the strategic relevance and operational feasibility of Joysun entering this new segment?

Joysun was established as a state-owned enterprise in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in China in 1995. Thanks to the effective leadership of its general manager and to the monopolistic nature of the Chinese import and export industry in the mid-1990s, the company had grown rapidly from a shop with five employees in its early days to a major player in the logistics industry by the end of 2012. However, Joysun's journey had been rocky due to the profound and rapid transformation of the Chinese economy over the 17 years of the company's existence. By the end of 2012, the company had several projects underway to consolidate its market position. Nevertheless, the management team felt that it should undertake more initiatives in order to sustain Joysun's leadership over time. More specifically, the general manager wondered whether Joysun should enter the cold chain segment of the logistics industry. Considering the country- and industry-level context, what was the strategic relevance and operational feasibility of Joysun entering this new segment?

This article aims to scrutinize an emerging and prominent type of work team in organizations: the spontaneous virtual team (SVT). Despite the promising benefits an SVT can provide, it is confronted with great challenges throughout its lifecycle. In this article, we first highlight the unique structure and characteristics of SVTs as compared to other conventional types of work teams. Furthermore, we decompose the lifecycle of an SVT into three stages. We then use interview data among SVT managers and participants across several industries to analyze the challenges, corresponding solutions, and the role of information and communication technologies in each of the three stages. Understanding the emerging SVTs will be of salient value to professionals and corporate executives who are interested in finding effective technology-enabled means and work patterns to improve organizational work performance. The current work can also serve as a basis for future academic research on exploring the SVT phenomenon.

In October 2009, Andrew Amphlett, a financial analyst at Southern Cross LLC, and a recent MBA graduate, was asked to prepare an analysis of Pre-Paid Legal Service's financial performance and its accounting methods. Pre-Paid Legal Services recruited associates to market its legal plans to consumers who paid about $21 per month for access to the network of independent legal firms who supplied legal services for a fixed fee. In effect, Pre-Paid Legal Services was a multilevel marketing organization, or what is often perjoratively called a "pyramid scheme." Southern Cross planned to consider adding the company to its shorts portfolio after Price Target Research maintained a hold rating and established a price target of $36 per share. The shorts fund included companies that Southern Cross thought were headed for substantial stock price declines based on fundamental analysis. By October 2009, Pre-Paid Legal's stock price was trading at $43 per share, significantly higher than Price Target Research's recently established target price of $36 per share. Southern Cross's portfolio manager had asked Amphlett to pay close attention to the company's accounting methods, and particularly to its policy of capitalizing and amortizing indirect outlays, instead of expensing them immediately. Pre-Paid Legal had experienced several disagreements with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) over its accounting policies. In 2002, it restated its financial statements at the request of the SEC, and Deloitte & Touche, its independent accounting firm, resigned from the account. In October 2009, the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested information from Pre-Paid Legal Services about its financial, business, and accounting policies.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 613065.

This case describes the sourcing policy for a consumer electronics company. The company must decide how to structure contracts with their supplier - using a purchase contract, an option contract, or combination of the two. The company can also buy from the spot market. The students use a spreadsheet model with Monte Carlo simulation to analyze the contracting options.

This case narrates the development of the Republic of Korea from 1960 to 1990. The case discusses three broad issues. First, the case provides a discussion of industrial policy in Korea. Second, the case explains the relationship between industrialization and inequality and how Korea developed without increasing inequality. Finally the case has a brief discussion of the role of education in industrialization and development.

Spreadsheet for product 9B11M051.

The beer industry comprises elements of sub-national, national and global competition. To expand, the industry players use various strategic approaches as illustrated by five major beer companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Groupo Modelo (9B11M125), Tsingtao Brewery (9B11M126), San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). Observations about the beer industry — a fairly easy product and industry to understand — can be extrapolated to other industries. Lessons can be drawn regarding the influence of industry pressures on the four key components of an international expansion strategy: product choice for expansion, market choice for geographic expansion, timing of entry and mode of entry.

The beer industry comprises elements of sub-national, national and global competition. To expand, the industry players use various strategic approaches as illustrated by five major beer companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev (9B11M124), Groupo Modelo (9B11M125), Tsingtao Brewery, San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). Observations about the beer industry — a fairly easy product and industry to understand — can be extrapolated to other industries. Lessons can be drawn regarding the influence of industry pressures on the four key components of an international expansion strategy: product choice for expansion, market choice for geographic expansion, timing of entry and mode of entry.

In July 2004, Bombardier Aerospace announced its intention to develop a new family of aircraft called CSeries. In May 2007, three years after the initial announcement, the final decision on whether to proceed with the initiative was still pending. Moreover, during this period, the company released several confusing announcements that raised concerns among investors and industry analysts regarding the sustainability of the company’s long-term strategy. In the meantime, Brazilian Embraer had invested heavily in research and development and had taken the leadership position in the regional aircraft segment from Bombardier. Consequently, Bombardier was faced with a serious dilemma of whether or not to launch the CSeries project. The decision was expected to have a major impact on the future market positioning of Bombardier.<br><br>Students may be asked to act as advisors to Pierre Beaudoin, president and chief executive officer of Bombardier Aerospace, and recommend whether the company should proceed with the CSeries initiative. More specifically, students should do a full analysis of the company’s external environment, identify the alternatives available to Beaudoin, assess these options based on internal and external environments, and recommend a course of action. For Beaudoin, the recommendation was due before the annual meeting of shareholders, scheduled on May 29, 2007.

In July 2004, Bombardier Aerospace announced its intention to develop a new family of aircraft called CSeries. In May 2007, three years after the initial announcement, the final decision on whether to proceed with the initiative was still pending. Moreover, during this period, the company released several confusing announcements that raised concerns among investors and industry analysts regarding the sustainability of the company's long-term strategy. In the meantime, Brazilian Embraer had invested heavily in research and development (R&D) and taken the leadership position in the regional aircraft segment from Bombardier. Consequently, Bombardier was faced with a serious dilemma: launch or not launch the CSeries project. Whatever the decision was, it was expected to have a major impact on the future market positioning of Bombardier. Students may be asked to act as advisors to Pierre Beaudoin, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bombardier Aerospace, and recommend whether the company should proceed with the CSeries initiative. More specifically, students should do a full analysis of the company's external environment, identify the alternatives available to Beaudoin, assess these options based on internal and external environments and recommend a course of action. For Beaudoin, the recommendation was due before the annual meeting of shareholders, scheduled on May 29, 2007.