In 2018, the Lo family of Hong Kong held a combined 68% of Great Eagle Holdings (GEH), a publicly listed and one of the largest real estate conglomerates in Hong Kong, 33.5% through a family trust and the remainder through individual holdings. Only 32.5% of the company was in public hands. The case opened with Dr. LO Ka-shui (KS), chairman and managing director of GEH, musing about a deep and serious split in the family. Trained as a cardiologist, KS helped his father with the family business since 1980 and played a critical role in rescuing the company from near bankruptcy. Between 1984 and 2018, the Net Asset Value (NAV) of GEH expanded by 350 times as Hong Kong property values boomed. KS felt that he could take the credit for the company's success, as his father's right-hand man for most of that time, and chairman for the 12 years since his father's death in 2006, during which he expanded the company's assets, paid off debt, and raised HK$23 billion from capital markets. With the increase in his personal shareholdings to 27%, it raised questions among some of his eight siblings, despite the fact that his personal holdings were a matter of public knowledge. In 2016, KS' mother, Lo To Lee-kwan (Madam Lo), three of his brothers and two sisters challenged his control of the company, in a painful and very public family dispute focusing on the governing structure of the Lo family trust. The challenge not only put family control of GEH in jeopardy; it also raised questions about the ability of trust structures to maintain family unity in an Asian family business, where family unity and harmony, as well as wealth preservation and family values, are top priorities.

Wanda Cultural was one of the four pillars of the Dalian Wanda Group ("Wanda Group"), which had been China's giant of commercial properties. From 2005 to 2018, Wanda Cultural had gone through a number of strategic transformations and developed four major business sectors: films, sports, travel innovation, as well as children's entertainment & education. Through domestic and cross-border acquisitions and diversifications, Wanda Cultural had emerged from a domestic Chinese family-owned enterprise to become a world-class multinational corporation ("MNC"). As a pioneer in film industry investment in China, Wanda Cultural had succeeded in building a vertically integrated business model that spanned across different developed countries and secured leading market position in the world. When Wanda Cultural entered into other foreign developed markets and diversified into different industry sectors, both opportunities and threats for competing in the global environment exemplified. This case explores opportunities facing firms as they seek to develop and exploit core competencies by diversifying into global markets. In addition, it explores different problems, complexities and threats that might affect a MNC's international strategy and rationale for retrenchment. The case also explores business innovation strategies and its impact on global competitiveness and growth.

Edwin Lee, is a fourth generation member of the Lee family. He owns and runs Sun Hing Group, and is a board member of the Simon KY Lee Foundation. The Foundation was established in 1985 and managed by Edwin's grandfather until his passing in 2010. Largely inspired by the family's experience with other charitable organizations, it underwent a major reorganization to accommodate a business model where social innovation is central to the Foundation's charitable activities, and where the entire multi-generational family volunteers to participate in the decision-making process. As next in line to be the senior decision maker, Edwin's challenge is to reconcile his professional ambitions of making a large-scale social impact as a philanthropist with his family's wish for him to become the guardian of the family's business. The question is, to what extent Edwin should be involved simultaneously with the family business operations and The Simon KY Lee Foundation's charitable activities in achieving his personal and family's objectives and in ensuring the Foundation's future development?

Elizabeth Mok was the second born and the only daughter in the fourth generation of the Lee family. She was also the only one of five siblings who did not own shares in the family business, the world-renowned sauce maker Lee Kum Kee, headquartered in Hong Kong. For Elizabeth, it seemed natural not to own shares, as she had high respect for the traditional approach to succession planning, where females did not inherit a family business. Besides, she believed her brothers worked hard to build the firm's international reputation and therefore deserved the shares more than she did. Elizabeth was once again asked by her family to reconsider her decision not to own shares. This time, she could sense their determination to change the state of things.

The Chevalier case demonstrates how a family-controlled and publicly listed group can make use of a listed company's idle assets and turn them into a private equity-like endeavor generating better returns for all shareholders. Founded in 1970, Chevalier Group was a Hong Kong-based conglomerate operating a wide range of businesses. It was a negative change in the fortunes of the IT products distribution business that had inspired Oscar Chow, Executive Director and son of the group's founder, to enter the food and beverage (F&B) business in 2005. The purchase and subsequent sale of Pacific Coffee in June 2010 were landmarks to revitalize Chevalier Pacific Holdings Ltd under Chevalier Group. While parts of the business showed strong growth and recorded healthy profits, others had reached their peak and were showing signs of decline. By late 2011, Oscar was devising a long-term strategy leveraging the group's core competencies. What should the plan be and how should he implement it?