The Japanese-American Seating Inc. (JASI) case series involves a 65-35 joint venture in southwestern Ontario formed by Japanese and U.S. automotive parts companies which are leaders in their respective geographic markets. After the venture has been in operation for nearly two years, this case describes the perspective of the newly-appointed American general manager. The case addresses the strategic and operational issues which may arise in a cross-cultural venture, particularly (a) how the venture will be managed (traditional Japanese, North American or combination thereof), (b) what will be the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the president (from Japan), the general manager (from the U.S.), and the management team (mainly from Japan, with a few Canadian managers) and (c) how to overcome the cultural conflicts which are likely to occur as a result of these issues. A follow-up case Japanese-American Seating Inc. (B) is also available.
The president of Polysar's global rubber division must determine how to commercialize an award-winning new product, Tornac Rubber. This product represents a potentially critical addition to the company's core business activities. Although members of Tornac Rubber's product development team are highly committed to the product, recent market developments combined with the financial circumstances of Polysar's new parent company create uncertainty regarding whether the rubber division should commercialize Tornac Rubber independently, or whether they should instead establish an alliance with one of their major competitors globally, Bayer A.G. of Germany. (A 16-minute video can be purchased with this case, Polysar Ltd. and Tornac Rubber - Video.)
Daytun Inc. is a small office equipment company ($6 million in revenues) which focuses primarily on photocopier sales and service in the London, Ontario market. In the 10 years since its formation, Daytun's strategy of high quality products and high levels of service at moderate price has enabled them to outperform local operations of large multinationals such as Xerox and Canon, and they currently have the leading market share position in London. However, industry maturity, impending economic recession, and increasingly threatening moves by major competitors raise concerns about Daytun's ability to grow with their current product lines. It appears Daytun must either expand their product line and/or broaden their scope to new geographic markets in order to achieve their growth objectives. An accompanying industry note, North American Photocopier Industry - 1990 is available.
This industry note outlines the North American photocopier industry in 1990. Several recent developments, including a slowing of technological change and maturation of market demand for photocopiers, threaten to dramatically transform the nature of competition within this industry. This case was written to accompany the Daytun Inc. case 9A92M001, although both the case and this note may be used on a stand-alone basis.
This case highlights Kimberly-Clark's perspective on the fierce competitive battle with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the diaper industry in 1989. The competitive struggle involves a broad range of issues including: rapid product development, international threats and opportunities, diversification options and public pressure over environmental concerns. In particular, Kimberly-Clark must decide on a response to P&G's most recent product introduction.
The CEO of IPL Inc., was reassessing his company's policy regarding involvement in custom-molded plastic products. A leader in the Canadian injection molded plastics industry, IPL had traditionally relied on proprietary products rather than the manufacturing-on-order of custom products for other firms. However, since 1984 IPL had been supplying custom-molded auto parts for the Ford Motor Company and had recently been offered a contract to manufacture a large volume of additional parts for them. Having only one month to respond to Ford's offer, the CEO was concerned about how he should proceed.
The president of Mr. Jax is faced with a strategy and resource related decision. The company has pursued a product diversification strategy during the past several years, but the Free Trade environment would best suit a strategy of expansion into the U.S. market. Unfortunately, limited resources require the president to make some choices regarding a future strategy for Mr. Jax.