KOODESIGN was founded in Hong Kong by Larry Koo and Natalie Chan in 2017. From its base in Hong Kong, KOODESIGN has managed global design projects for clients around the world, such as Philips, Whirlpool, and Softbank. All of those product designs then needed to be manufactured and brought to market. Accordingly, KOODESIGN also developed its Go-to-Market strategy to facilitate the process of moving a product from a design concept to a finished product ready to be launched in the market. KOODESIGN's latest project was the design of an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) for a major, new client, Eaton, a global conglomerate with US$20 billion in annual sales. The product called the ATS MATSN was to be manufactured in China and was intended for the mainland China market. As the product design lead for KOODESIGN, Larry interacted extensively with Studio Blue, Eaton's human-centric design team, and studied the Eaton Designer's Guide to Visual Brand Language (VBL) that Studio Blue had shared with KOODESIGN. Natalie, on the other hand, had been in close communication with the ATS MATSN project team in China, which included product development, as well as sales and marketing. They also provided input on product design. Over the course of the interactions that Larry and Natalie had with the respective parties, it became apparent that the priorities of the design team in the USA and the product development and manufacturing teams in China were not necessarily aligned. While KOODESIGN had an established Go-to-Market strategy, implementing that strategy varied across projects depending on the stakeholders involved in each project and their respective priorities. It was necessary, therefore, for Larry and Natalie to further vet the priorities of the parties involved with the ATS MATSN project and ensure that key elements of Eaton's VBL were not compromised while also ensuring that the product could be manufactured and assembled in a cost-effective manner so as to be competitive in
The case is based on WeLab Bank (WLB), a virtual bank in Hong Kong, and can be assumed to be set at the time of its writing in mid-2021. WLB has launched its operations in Hong Kong and introduced its initial retail banking products, with additional products to be launched soon or in the pipeline. As one of eight virtual banks in Hong Kong, a market with a very mature banking sector and extensive financial service offerings, WLB is focused on democratizing financial services in Hong Kong. For many people in Hong Kong, managing their personal finances can be a daunting task. In addition to managing their daily expenses, it can be a challenge to sort through various savings and investment products and identify the ones that can best help them reach their long-term financial goals. Hong Kong also has the most expensive property market in the world, so making a wise property investment, either as a primary residence or as a rental property also requires considerable due diligence. Yet many Hong Kong people feel they do not have access to sufficient financial advice to be able to make informed decisions, whether investing in property, selecting savings or investment products or managing their daily finances. For high net-worth individuals in Hong Kong, however, the situation is different as large deposit holdings at a local bank, for example, provides one with access to professional financial advice. Recognizing this discrepancy in financial services locally, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the defacto central bank in Hong Kong, was hopeful that the virtual banks could leverage their technology resources to provide Hong Kong people of all income brackets with improved access to financial tools to more effectively manage their personal finances. For Ms. Janice Chung, WeLab Bank's Manager for Growth Operations and Strategy, the key challenge was identifying the products and services delivered via digital channels that would best meet the needs of Hong Kong
The case, based on WeLab Bank (WLB), is set in February 2021, following the Chinese New Year holidays in Hong Kong. WLB, one of eight new virtual banks in Hong Kong, began operations in July 2020 amid a global pandemic. The de facto central bank in Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which has been gradually implementing measures to support the development of digital banking in Hong Kong, including the introduction of Open Application Programming Interfaces (Open APIs), which, in principle, would allow Third Party Service Providers (TSP), including fintechs, to gain access to banking customers' data and utilize that data to provide more targeted and innovative services to those customers. Traditionally, banks extended their services to customers at their brick-and-mortar outlets, taking in deposits for which they provided interest earnings and generating income on a variety of loan products for which they charged higher interest than on its deposits. Virtual banks, by contrast, extended their services exclusively via digital channels, including mobile banking. With lower overheads, they could provide some services for free or with minimal charges, while offering financial products with higher earnings for customers. With a growing base of customers accessing financial services remotely, the opportunity existed to find new and innovative ways to serve customers through digital-only channels. The challenge facing WLB and its manager for growth operations and strategy, Ms. Janice Chung, was how to firmly establish itself in a nascent virtual banking market in Hong Kong, while competing with strong traditional banks that were also moving to digitize their banking services. In assessing its strategic options, it could leverage its strong technology infrastructure, open APIs, and the examples of predecessor virtual banks and fintechs in other markets, such as Starling Bank in the UK, Tinkoff Bank in Russia, and Grab in Singapore.
Focusing on the use of digital technologies in the retail sector in Hong Kong, this case describes the challenges confronted by the largest department store operator in Hong Kong, SOGO department stores. A traditional brick-and-mortar retailer with negligible e-commerce operations, SOGO has recognized the impact of technology in the retail sector. Just as its customers are influenced by technology in their daily lives, SOGO has been perpetually challenged in seeking the optimal ways to integrate technology into its daily operations, such as point-of-sale (POS) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. SOGO needs to understand better the best ways to interact with its more than 500,000 loyal SOGO Rewards members, particularly the digitally-savvy younger customers. As a business case, this is not just a discussion about technology trends in retail, but about the strategic decision-making of an Executive Director of SOGO as she confronts the challenges and inherent costs to acquire new technologies and the resources required to train employees to use such technologies which would improve the company's interactions with its customers and drive growth. Furthermore, at the intersection of technology and customers is often data - data about customers' demographics (gender, age etc.), what items they are purchasing, how much they are spending, and what their likes and dislikes are. For SOGO, how could it leverage technology to utilize the extensive data it collects and maximize lifetime customer value?
The SOGO department stores in Hong Kong are part of Lifestyle International Holdings Limited, a large-cap, publicly-listed company on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX). The case describes a company that has recently had to confront its own sustainability reporting practices due to updated requirements by the local stock exchange. Additionally, as a participant in local activities, such as Earth Day, it has also had to examine its own operations and re-assess how to best engage with its key stakeholders and to make sustainability part of its corporate culture.
Founder of Trade Without Borders (TWB), Joseph Fernandez, set up the organization purely for charitable purposes. TWB's mission is to extend trading services to non-government organizations (NGOs) in developing regions of the world. To execute the mission in a financially viable and sustainable manner, Joseph was thinking to establish a base of operations in Hong Kong, which was close to Chinese manufacturers of the products that were traded. A lot of questions came to Joseph's mind: what type of organization would TWB incorporate? And prior to this, what would be the strategy and daily operations of the proposed Hong Kong entity? How could TWB ensure the proposed operations would contribute to instead of hindering the primary social mission of the organization?
Chinese Pharmaceuticals (HK) Limited, a private, family-owned business in Hong Kong that supplies Chinese medicine products to retailers in Hong Kong and Macau, faces a situation where additional cash is needed for additional inventory. Jason Kwok, the General Manager is challenged to maintain adequate inventory levels of Noto37, a Chinese herbal medicine used to control cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Without compromising the company's cash flow needs, Jason has to implement better systems internally, by improving sales forecasting and prudent inventory management, to avoid shortages of the product.
Fat Angelos was a well-established and renowned family style Italian restaurant chain in Hong Kong. Its popularity, however, created challenges. One daily example was the queues the restaurants encountered during their peak dinner periods. Long waits resulted in dissatisfied or even lost customers. On the other hand, during non-peak hours the restaurants was at less than full capacity, meaning lost revenue opportunities. To help bring in additional customers during off-peak hours, the company was considering various measures, including early bird discounts and a new promotional opportunity with online voucher company Groupon.