Explores the predicament Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), one of the world's leading luxury products makers, faces with respect to brand management while expanding operations in China. LVMH, a $13 billion group of companies with operations across the world--1,500 retail stores in about 60 countries--had conquered the luxury goods market successfully in Europe, the United States, and some parts of Asia. In the early 1990s, LVMH decided to expand its operations in China and South Korea. A decade later, LVMH made its entry into India. In 2004, Asia accounted for about 40% of the sales of LVMH. LVMH is determined to capture the growing Asian market. However, it faces several challenges in its expansion plans in Asia; one of its major concerns is protecting its brand against dilution. Although China is a huge market, phony branding is endemic there. In addition, LVMH's expansion plans in Asia introduced the issue of private ownership vs. franchising with regard to the profitability of companies in the luxury goods industry.

In 2000, the Hong Kong government introduced the Language Benchmark Assessment for all teachers in Hong Kong. As part of its education reform, the government wanted all teachers to take the tests to prove that they were skilled enough to teach. The pressure to upgrade English raised hackles and drew severe criticism from the 75,000-strong Professional Teachers' Union. Provides a study of why the government introduced the test, the critical issues in implementing the test, and how the government is managing the results of the first benchmark test. Presents issues such as the validity of the test, what the testing proved, and what has been solved in administering the test. Also presents the issue of whether the test is being used for selection and/or recruitment purposes.

Discusses Hong Kong's attempt to become a knowledge-based economy, its socioeconomic condition, and key trends in labor and manpower as well as manpower projections to 2005. Questions what it would take for Hong Kong to achieve the status of a knowledge-based economy, what industries Hong Kong should focus on, what kind of people it should develop and attract, and how it can develop its human resources. Highlights the mismatch between the skills of the workforce and the needs of industry, examines how to bridge the skills gap, and outlines Hong Kong's challenge in attracting talented, skilled people and specialized resources. Also focuses on Hong Kong's population policy and its new approach to bringing highly skilled knowledge workers and other skilled professionals from Mainland China and other foreign countries through the Admission of Talents Scheme and the Admission of Mainland Professionals.

.Discusses how Hong Kong is positioning itself as the gateway to China and as Asia's world city. The Hong Kong SAR government's (HKSARG) program Brand Hong Kong (BrandHK) uses the tagline "Hong Kong: Asia's world city." HKSARG has spent some U.S. $1.24 million of taxpayers' money on the branding program and it is important to measure its effectiveness. The public is somewhat confused about the messages displayed and the distinction from previous campaigns run by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The case highlights HKTB and its successful experience in marketing Hong Kong as a tourist destination and what BrandHK can learn from it. Also focuses on the HKSARG's attempt to market BrandHK with traditional marketing tools and how new marketing tools, such as the Internet, could and should be used.

In December 2000, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) launched the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme, a flagship e-government project. The overall e-government strategy was to use a portal for the provision of electronic public services and commercial services, making the ESD portal (www.esd.gov.hk) a key element. The government contracted a single private operator to implement and provide ESD services for five years. The contract was awarded in November 1999 to ESD Services Ltd. (ESDSL). This case discusses how the HKSAR developed ESD's business model, which is a combination of government-to-citizen and business-to-citizen models, and how ESDSL is implementing it. Also focuses on the major challenges and issues that the private operator, ESDSL, faced in building, implementing, and managing an e-government project. ESD is in its second year of implementation and an immediate issue is the slow adoption of online transactions by the public, which is important in relation to the viability of the ESD's business model.

Hang Seng Bank is the second-largest locally incorporated bank and the fifth-largest public company in Hong Kong. Due to growing consumer demand, peer pressure, and pressure to improve profits, Hang Seng launched e-banking in August 2000. This case provides a study of why Hang Seng accelerated its online banking strategies, critical issues in its implementation of strategies, and how Hang Seng is differentiating its online banking from that of other banks. Hang Seng has been serving customers throughout Hong Kong since 1933; it has been regarded as a reliable and traditional community bank. Discusses how e-banking is helping Hang Seng to strengthen its new image as a contemporary and progressive bank. The case also presents the issue of how to measure the profitability of online banking and/or technology investment.

In 2001, Citibank's Cash and Trade Group division transformed itself into an e-business, with the strategic intent of converting traditional money management business into an e-business framework. This case discusses how Citibank is using its traditional assets and integrating Internet initiatives into its e-business strategy to create sustainable competitive advantages. Competition in the cash and trade business is becoming intense and a new breed of competent and aggressive competitors is vying for the market, including technology companies interested in B2B e-payment. Citibank is responding to the competition by continually evolving its e-business strategy--connect, transform, extend. Also looks into the challenges that Citibank e-Business Group is facing in developing a single global web platform for the corporate market. The focus is on how Citibank is developing an e-business product that would serve the highly segmented market and how to encourage these markets to use a global single platform online. At one end of the spectrum are multinationals and top-level domestic corporates that operate sophisticated treasuries, and at the other end are companies and small- and medium-size businesses that are not yet ready to upgrade and transform their systems.

Discusses how Grey Worldwide Hong Kong and China (Grey WW-HK/China) is repositioning itself through defined e-marketing and CRM strategies for the Asian market. Examines how integral its customer relationship group is in building a CRM strategy to deliver client value proposition. Grey WW-HK/China has very strong umbrella brand equity, but the brand capital has to be invigorated through a renewed e-marketing focus. Constrained by changing market conditions, particularly industry pressure on commission margins, Grey WW-HK/China needs to differentiate itself and is assessing CRM's value in developing loyal and lifetime customers. However, in a growing Asian market, Grey WW-HK/China is in heated competition with other players, including management consultants, traditional agencies, and pure on-line players who are actively pursuing a CRM business focus. Grey WW-HK/China's CRM team is in the process of developing an Asia-specific CRM blueprint for its internal management, something that is transferable to Grey's clients. Grey WW-HK/China is considering merging technology with traditional marketing philosophy, and the team is expected to deliver a proposal that outlines the CRM tools that Grey WW-HK/China should use to reposition its brand and build customer loyalty.

Looks into the success factors in implementing a continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiative in a project called Pre-Operative Skin Preparation: Shaving and Pre-Operative Baths at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) in Hong Kong. Using focus, analyze, develop, and execute (FADE) as a CQI model, the CQI unit's skin preparation project achieved the CQI objectives. The CQI unit's intention is to administer the same CQI model in other areas, one of which is the Food Wastage Minimization project. A critical factor in the implementation is how should the CQI unit move forward with other changes using CQI? How should the CQI unit respond to organizational resistance and managing professionals through change? The unit also has to consider where and how to collect data in determining areas for CQI application. What are the key elements to be considered to achieve the cooperation of everyone at QMH, or at least of critical decision makers?

Jimmy Lai launched adM@rt, a home-delivery shopping service, in June 1999. The concept, a virtual shopping store on a Web site that allowed customers to browse through competitively priced merchandise, select foods, and complete transactions on-line, was a first in Asia. Lai's vision was to build a virtual shopping mall, rent out virtual store space to niche marketers, and deliver their goods and its own within a few hours of receiving an order.

Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merged in July 1998, creating one of the world's largest full-service professional organizations. This case provides a study of how two major organizations are putting together a global knowledge base that would facilitate communication and coordination within the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) practice. Eventually, this knowledge base would be made available to PwC clients. Discusses the changes, issues, and challenges at PwC in building its Intranet, called KnowledgeCurve, a knowledge management system that incorporates all the assets (knowledge, people, skills) of the company to be utilized by the firm. In order for the organization to be successful, it is crucial for PwC to encourage the users to fully utilize the available resources and to contribute information to the KnowledgeCurve. At the time this case was written, PwC is in its initial stages of setting up its Global Knowledge Curve, which would ultimately serve the entire practice. The limitations in using the Global Knowledge Curve led to the creation of Knowledge Curve at each office level, which incorporates the knowledge base and information important to the local level.