Windmill Microlending, was established in 2004 by a group of community activists who saw the need to help Canadian newcomers restart their careers. The organization offered microloans to help pay the costs of reaccreditation and training. The organization’s first chief executive officer was hired in February 2017, and by September 2017, she had formulated a new vision for the organization that would address three goals: growing the number of clients and the number of loans, increasing clients’ success and their job placements, and maintaining the loan repayment rate. She also needed to address whether Windmill Microlending should expand into other cities and provinces and how to diversify the organization’s funding sources and revenue streams to generate more operating revenue and loan capital to support the required growth. She needed to present her vision and strategy at the next board meeting and ensure the board was onside.
A proposed private-public partnership (P3) involves a Calgary-based private enterprise, Alta Injection Molding (Alta), the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the government of Canada. Alta has been chosen to collaborate with SAIT because it developed a unique way to generate revenue throughout its value chain. Alta’s strategy towards fostering innovation revolves around a seven-step approach to turnkey innovation. In this P3, Alta would have access to the equipment, while SAIT students would gain exposure to the plastic manufacturing processes and have the opportunity to be connected to company leaders or distribution channels through Alta’s large network. Considering the parties involved in this P3, significant differences exist in terms of mindsets, goals and concerns. The president of Alta is wondering whether to participate in the P3, and, if he does, what steps he should take to ensure his business remains viable while not impeding SAIT or the government’s goals.
In 2005, the vice-president of Lundbeck, a Danish based pharmaceutical firm, needed to decide what to do with one of his most promising subsidiaries, Lundbeck Korea. Over its short lifetime, under the leadership of the country manager and the Asia regional manager, the subsidiary had grown well beyond the original goals set for it. The vice-president wanted to create a reporting structure and management mix that would balance the local demands that Lundbeck Korea required for growth with Lundbeck's overall strategy of specialization, speed, integration and results. The case also traces Lundbeck's internationalization efforts in Asia over the past 20 years. The company had grown from pure licensing arrangements to establishing its own country level subsidiaries. This case introduces the dynamic tensions between taking advantage of local management expertise and executing a corporate strategy developed for an entire global group. In addition, it illustrates the importance, but difficulties, of being sensitive to local management goals, while promoting a global corporate culture.