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Intel PRC was a division of Intel Corp., a U.S. $20 billion semiconductor manufacturer. A newly appointed division head makes a decision that an employee responds to emotionally, with a deep resentment, creating the potential for conflict within the department. The incident forces the manager to examine whether there are deeper organizational or communication problems he needs to consider. Cross-cultural issues come into play given that the manager, although originally from China, was educated and gathered extensive experience in the west and was thus considered an expatriate by his employees. The case examines the effect of organizational culture on an employee's behavior.

It had been almost a decade since the first article surfaced in the media alleging that factories subcontracted by Nike in China and Indonesia were forcing workers to work long hours for low pay and for physically and verbally abusive managers. The article was the seed of a media campaign that created a public relations nightmare for the company. A financial crisis in Asia and intense competition in the domestic market contributed to a decline in Nike's revenue and market share after three years of record performance. Though no direct correlation could be proven between the consumer's negative perceptions of Nike and the company's decline in market share and stock, it certainly did not help in its efforts to establish itself as the global leader in a hotly competitive industry.

A small team of Canadian managers from a large financial institution is faced with the challenges of managing a recently acquired Mexican operation. Managers must cope with a language barrier and cultural differences as they try to restructure the over-staffed Mexican financial institution. A second teaching note (5A97L01) discusses how to use this case from a cross-cultural orientation perspective.

A small team of Canadian managers from the Bank of Nova Scotia are faced with the challenge of managing a recently acquired Mexican operation. Managers must cope with a language barrier and cultural differences as they try to restructure the over-staffed Mexican financial institution.

The general manager of a division of an international cosmetic company must decide hoe to deal with a lack of response to a memo. The general manager wrote to the vice-president of operations to elicit some response from Operations that would lead to better communication between marketing and operations. It is now only three days until the next meeting between operations and marketing and the vice-president has made no response to the general manager's memo.