Investors had lost confidence in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. It was once one of the world's most valuable private technology companies, valued at USD45bn after four years of operation. With Xiaomi, founder Lei Jun had created an internet company with an online business model that made tech-driven products with minimal margins. It focused on building value around the phone with products and services. Consumers quickly became fans. In 2014, Xiaomi became China's best-selling smartphone brand and also the world's third largest. Investors anticipated continued growth. But the excitement around the company did not last long. In 2016, Xiaomi's overall smartphone shipments fell 36% from the previous year after a series of supply chain issues. To revive investor confidence, Lei adjusted the company's strategic direction and led a series of internal restructurings. Its long-awaited IPO in 2018 was priced at the bottom of the range and raised USD4.7bn, less than half of its initial target. Worse, six months after the IPO, the company's market capitalization had dropped by half. According to some analysts, the company had been "overhyped" and Xiaomi was "just a hardware company." But the image of Xiaomi as a value-for-money brand stuck. Some even gave it the nickname "assembly house." What could Xiaomi do to revive the confidence of investors?

Jim Coke had been a jack of all trades since his student days. A big dreamer, Coke knew that he was on the cusp of something big. A Hong Kong resident since 2010, he wanted to dominate the coffee distribution market in Hong Kong and mainland China. After only one year, he had managed to secure the unthinkable: a coffee distribution deal with Hong Kong's leading supermarket chain, ParknShop. More importantly, he was now Jamaica Blue Mountain ® coffee's official licensee in 67 countries, including China and Hong Kong. Should he continue to obtain exclusive or non-exclusive Hong Kong distribution rights for specialty food commodities or was it time to take on China, with its population of 1.35 billion people?

Ten years after expanding abroad, Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei faces espionage accusations from the US government, a claim that has shut it out of most of the US market. Now the threat has started to hinder potential deals in Canada, a market it entered only four years ago. This is a market where it has gradually built a market presence with a strategic focus vital to its global research initiatives. Sean Yang, president of Huawei's Canadian operations, must now reaffirm the company's commitment to Canada and regain its customers' trust. This case focuses on the changing competitive landscape in the global and regional environment, and describes the constraints on and advantages of an emerging-markets multinational operating in developed markets. It can also be adopted for teaching external analysis, including PESTEL, five-forces, driving-forces and key success-factor analyses.

Geotech Telecom (Geotech) is a small but successful 14-year old company that provides telecom consulting to two main clients, Rogers Telecom and Bell Canada. The company is facing the upcoming transfer of a large multimillion-dollar telecom contract from one of its largest clients, Bell Canada, to another provider. Geotech's president doubts whether Geotech will be able to compete for the project and, hence, a potentially disastrous future lies ahead for the company. At the same time, the widow of the company's founder wants to sell the company, and Geotech has received acquisition offers from larger telecom consulting companies. The president needs to decide what steps to take next.