In early 2018, the chairman and chief executive officer of FOTILE, based in Ningbo, China, announced a change in the company's mission statement from "Enable people to feel better about their homes" to "For the happiness of millions of families." The previous year had seen impressive growth, with sales exceeding ¥10 billion. After only 22 years in operation, FOTILE had become a leading brand, comparable to such prestigious names as Siemens, in the high-end sector of kitchen appliances in China. More importantly FOTILE was hailed as a distinct enterprise, driven by a grand vision, a unique mission statement, and core values based on Confucianism. The FOTILE Confucian Way was embraced with enthusiasm by its employees and close business partners, and was broadly recognized by the Chinese business communities and the general public. However, the chairman understood that FOTILE was still a long way from being a great company, not only in terms of business success but also in transferring positive energy to society and helping people become morally admirable. Although he was deeply absorbed in FOTILE's past achievements, he was also wondering about FOTILE's future international expansion, to North America in particular. Would FOTILE's products be competitive in North America? Would that continent adopt the FOTILE Confucian Way?

In early 2018, the chairman and chief executive officer of FOTILE, based in Ningbo, China, announced a change in the company’s mission statement from “Enable people to feel better about their homes” to “For the happiness of millions of families.” The previous year had seen impressive growth, with sales exceeding ¥10 billion. After only 22 years in operation, FOTILE had become a leading brand, comparable to such prestigious names as Siemens, in the high-end sector of kitchen appliances in China. More importantly FOTILE was hailed as a distinct enterprise, driven by a grand vision, a unique mission statement, and core values based on Confucianism. The FOTILE Confucian Way was embraced with enthusiasm by its employees and close business partners, and was broadly recognized by the Chinese business communities and the general public. However, the chairman understood that FOTILE was still a long way from being a great company, not only in terms of business success but also in transferring positive energy to society and helping people become morally admirable. Although he was deeply absorbed in FOTILE’s past achievements, he was also wondering about FOTILE’s future international expansion, to North America in particular. Would FOTILE’s products be competitive in North America? Would that continent adopt the FOTILE Confucian Way?

In December 2013, Reike Technology Co. Ltd. (Reike), a Chinese information technology and outsourcing company, faced an accounting revenue recognition problem. Reike had a well-deserved reputation in the software outsourcing industry, having built partnerships with Fortune 500 companies since the 1990s. However, in 2012, it collaborated on a project with a multinational software company that included a “pay-when-paid” clause in the contract. According to this clause, payments to Reike would be based on the percentage of the project completed upon review, as long as the software company received the corresponding proportion of payments from the owner. As the project progressed, Reike’s managers became troubled by the following issues: Should the “pay-when-paid” contract containing legal risks have been signed? When should Reike recognize the project revenue? How should the company deal with the project costs considering there was unrecognized revenue at the end of the year? Would there be any effect on performance assessments?

In December 2013, Reike Technology Co. Ltd. (Reike), a Chinese information technology and outsourcing company, faced an accounting revenue recognition problem. Reike had a well-deserved reputation in the software outsourcing industry, having built partnerships with Fortune 500 companies since the 1990s. However, in 2012, it collaborated on a project with a multinational software company that included a "pay-when-paid" clause in the contract. According to this clause, payments to Reike would be based on the percentage of the project completed upon review, as long as the software company received the corresponding proportion of payments from the owner. As the project progressed, Reike's managers became troubled by the following issues: Should the "pay-when-paid" contract containing legal risks have been signed? When should Reike recognize the project revenue? How should the company deal with the project costs considering there was unrecognized revenue at the end of the year? Would there be any effect on performance assessments?

In 2014, a Hong Kong-based chartered accountant inadvertently started a social enterprise called Ana by Karma. The initial intent of helping an illiterate Bhutanese woman soon evolved into a journey to empower women in Bhutan to use their creative talents to become financially independent. As a result of her own charming personality and communication skills, the chartered accountant mobilized a team of volunteers to promote scarves that were handwoven by Bhutanese women and thereby bring hope to an increasing number of Bhutanese families who were living in poverty. In early 2016, while relishing her experiences over the previous 18 months, the chartered accountant mulled over the future development of Ana by Karma. How could the venture evolve sustainably? Was it realistic for her to operate Ana by Karma on a full-time basis?

In 2014, a Hong Kong-based chartered accountant inadvertently started a social enterprise called Ana by Karma. The initial intent of helping an illiterate Bhutanese woman soon evolved into a journey to empower women in Bhutan to use their creative talents to become financially independent. As a result of her own charming personality and communication skills, the chartered accountant mobilized a team of volunteers to promote scarves that were handwoven by Bhutanese women and thereby bring hope to an increasing number of Bhutanese families who were living in poverty. In early 2016, while relishing her experiences over the previous 18 months, the chartered accountant mulled over the future development of Ana by Karma. How could the venture evolve sustainably? Was it realistic for her to operate Ana by Karma on a full-time basis?

GreenWood Resources Inc. was founded in 1998 by Jeff Nuss, a bio-resources engineer. It was a Portland, Oregon, USA-based investment and asset management company with a worldwide focus on high-yield and fast-growing tree farms. In spite of its global vision, value proposition and pursuit of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, GreenWood had struggled for almost 10 years to obtain significant investment funds until 2007-2008. Through persistent effort, GreenWood built the key elements (people, resources and business networks) for a successful venture despite the serious early financial constraints. GreenWood entered and navigated the Chinese market, deciding to establish its China operation with only a fraction of the funds it needed. Jeff seized an opportunity to organize a US$175 million private equity fund through his connections with the timber investment community to acquire a large poplar plantation in Oregon. The expanded scale and personnel resulting from the acquisition enabled GreenWood to become a visible player in the tree plantation industry and facilitated its securing an additional commitment of US$200 million of capital for use in the Chinese market. Notwithstanding the availability of the capital and its cumulative knowledge of the Chinese market, the investment screening and negotiation process in China turned out to be complex due to the differences in business approaches and culturally embedded mindsets. In June 2010, Jeff and his team were weighing the pros and cons of two potential projects. They felt that GreenWood needed to proceed carefully to ensure its criteria of sustainable business (in terms of economic performance, social responsibility and environmental stewardship) were met in China but also realized the company should show some progress to its major investor in China, Oriental Timber Fund Limited. Jeff and his senior management team needed to decide whether they should recommend investing in one of the two projects.

This case describes the post-M&A integration of Adisseo of France in 2006 by Bluestar Group, the largest subsidiary of ChemChina (a Fortune 500 company) until 2013. Adisseo was mainly engaged in production of methionine, a feed additive, while China had no methionine production and had relied on its import for a long time. After acquiring Adisseo, Bluestar started to integrate Adisseo, change its executives and sent executives and technical staff to study at Adisseo, expanded Adisseo's production capacity in France and Spain, supported Adisseo in its M&A of the upstream businesses in France, and so on. More importantly, Bluestar and Adisseo jointly started a new methionine project in Nanjing, China, in 2010. In the construction of the Nanjing project, Bluestar reached a successful integration with Adisseo through project team establishment, organization structure replication, management system and institution transplantation and improvement, communication with the trade union, and fusion of organizational cultures. Additionally, in the years of the post-M&A integration, Bluestar and its parent company ChemChina realized remarkable upgrading and development. While Chinese methionine market maintained growth momentum, Adisseo was facing overcapacity of the whole industry and needed to consider the road of future development.

ChemChina is China's largest basic chemical manufacturing firm. It was included in Fortune Global 500 in 2011 and 2012, ranked No. 475 and 402. Its sales revenue in 2011 was 179 billion yuan, and profit was 600 million yuan. The year-end total assets were 254.2 billion yuan. The major products of ChemChina are basic chemicals, new chemical materials, oil processing & refining products, agrochemicals, rubber products, and chemical equipment. The company has106 subordinate enterprises. Its production and R&D bases are located in 140 countries and regions all over the world. Looking retrospectively, ChemChina has been a rapidly growing enterprise and is one of a small number of Chinese enterprises founded after the economic reform and rapidly growing to enter the Fortune Global 500 in 20 years. The development history of ChemChina from nothing to a world giant as well as its strategic measures taken during the process are both characterized by the unique features of itself and deeply stamped with those of the era, reflecting the constantly changing environment faced by the Chinese enterprises in the economic transition years and the strategic movements taken creatively by the Chinese local enterprises to adapt to the environment.Unquestionably, ChemChina is a representative of "big but less strong" companies, lagging far behind the world leading chemical giants in terms of technology and management. Nevertheless, its historical development to become a Fortune Global 500 giant and a leading chemical enterprise in China in less than 30 years is sufficient to motivate us to study its unique history, current reality and future. Today, ChemChina confronts the tasks of internal integration and dealing with financial stringency. New opportunities exist, particularly as Blackstone has became a strategic partner of BlueStar.