Jerry Michaels, a retired entrepreneur from Australia, found an opportunity to develop a lawn bowling facility in Bali. The Komodo Dragon Resort (KDR) had two unused and neglected tennis courts that offered a space that would be ideal for a lawn bowling facility. The resort had suffered with poor occupancy during the pandemic, but by 2023, predictions were favourable for increasing occupancy. Thus, Michaels thought he might negotiate a favourable arrangement with the Indonesian owners of the resort, who surely would be interested in rejuvenating the neglected space.<br><br>Michaels soon realized, though, that he was not in Australia anymore and business arrangements in Indonesia were not quite as tidy and neat as he was accustomed to. Was there a path for Michaels through the shifting conversations and personal interests that were characterizing these negotiations or did the nature of doing business in Bali pose too much of a risk for Michaels’s investment?
In 2019, an American couple were travelling the world when they settled in Bali and were employed by Spice Island Cruises (SIC). At the time, SIC was controlled by a venture capitalist who ignored local indigenous business traditions and measured success with short-term key performance indicators. A collision between the Western and Indonesian organizational cultures resulted, and following a crisis meeting of SIC partners, the venture capitalist sold his share in the company. The American husband was appointed general manager and had only two weeks to prepare an action plan for SIC before taking over. What strategy should he follow to restore the company's reputation and employees’ trust and to develop a successful future?
In 2015, a Shanghai businessman contacted the director of ObiSoft, an American software company, to request becoming the company’s partner in China. Over the next two years, they proceeded to develop the partnership and grow ObiSoft's business in China. The Shanghai businessman became ObiSoft’s partner and master reseller in China. In 2018, the Shanghai businessman proposed moving the company's research and development on software to China, and ObiSoft scheduled an August 2018 board meeting to discuss this issue. What should ObiSoft’s board decide regarding the company’s software development and future in China?
An executive at a North American-based multinational company contacted an old friend and former business associate in Indonesia in hopes of collaborating with him to purchase Asian software companies. After several emails, the two disagreed and disengaged. The North American declined the Indonesian’s advice to invest time in developing the relationships required to access this market. Three months later, after realizing he had closed the door on a huge and growing market, the North American again contacted his Indonesian associate. He realized that his North American style of negotiation was ineffective in this market and that the Asians had their own preferred approach. He planned a phone call to Indonesia to try to restart the process. What style of communication should he use this time in an effort to generate a better understanding and success?
In August 2015, a law student in Singapore came up with the idea for his first scooter when he needed a simple and economical mode of transport to get from his apartment to university. The student, who was Norwegian, and his Singaporean partner registered and incorporated Skutis Corporation Pte Ltd (Skutis) within only five days. The Skutis e-scooter emitted no fumes or noise and featured a quick folding design for easy storage. As new entrants in the industry, they felt confident that their combined study skills (law and business) would help them design and produce a more durable and dynamic scooter than those currently available. However, by April 2017, Skutis had already encountered major difficulties dealing with a Chinese manufacturer of its products. After 20 months of experience in the market, the two entrepreneurs were planning their company’s strategy for the future. Having experienced the lows and highs of the Chinese production market, they were searching for ways to make their business more profitable and develop a long-term trustworthy relationship with a reliable manufacturer who would produce their designs.
Between 1999 and 2017, the Roaring Dragon Hotel (RDH) evolved from a state-owned enterprise (SOE) into a modern, market-driven 5-star accommodation provider, experiencing a combination of market economy and privatization forces. Its initial operations under the new status progressed from the poor performance and management practices of China’s planned economy to a portfolio of operational and strategic reforms that saw it become semi-privatized in 2005, and a fully privatized 5-star accommodation provider by 2017. On the surface, this model of evolution would make any Chinese national proud. However, what was perceived from the outside did not necessarily reflect what was occurring within. Market evolution had produced complex challenges related to employee loyalty, competition, internal resistance to change, promotion prospects, management, and the continuation of questionable practices. What changes should management make in the second half of 2017 to continue the hotel’s transition to a modern global hotel, turn around its declining revenue, and improve its competitive outcomes?
Bali Hai Cruises had grown from a start-up company in 1990 to become a thriving multimillion-dollar business in 2017 that employed 460 people on the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lembongan. This solid and consistent business development took place despite a business environment and government that had not always been friendly and positive toward foreign investors. What critical factors brought success to this tourism-based company in such a challenging market? What behaviours and strategies had Bali Hai Cruises followed to build trust, deliver on performance, and resolve challenges in developing this vertically integrated company? The company now faced new challenges in terms of an aging leadership and workforce, the continuing need to manage and maintain its working relationships with the Indonesian government and the harbour authorities, the rapidly developing information technology capacity of the marine tourism industry, and the potential of growing competition. What strategies could Bali Hai Cruises implement to continue its success and growth in 2018 and beyond?
In 2014, the general manager and a director of an Australian building company were seeking an outside investor to provide the company with the needed resources to recover from a disastrous takeover. The two found such an investor in a Chinese entrepreneur and Sun Tzu master based in Hong Kong. To the shock of those involved with the Australian company, the Chinese investor used Sun Tzu war strategies to take over and destroy the smaller Australian company, while flouting ethical business practices and Australia's standards of corporate governance.<br><br>The Australians' naïveté and their desperate need for capital made the investor's tactics possible. With the benefit of hindsight and omniscient narration revealing the thoughts and actions of both parties, students can evaluate how the events in the case led to the shocking conclusion in 2015, leaving a shell of a company worth penny stock.
In 2012, a real estate entrepreneur and his long-time friend and former neighbour, a police director, had enjoyed the profits of guanxi—a bilateral flow of personal favours—for many years. The use of guanxi in China had long been a core component of successful and sometimes illegal business. However, China’s new president had recently created a tough anti-corruption Disciplinary Committee. As a result, many respected citizens who had previously profited from corrupt practices were being exposed, prosecuted, and imprisoned. News was leaked about the city’s entire police force having enjoyed a six-day vacation in Bali at the expense of the police budget. The real estate entrepreneur and the police director were going to be questioned about their role in arranging this vacation. What should they do? Could they escape the consequences of their questionable business practices, or were they headed for a future in prison?
In 2005, three international information technology professionals formed an international joint venture to design and construct information technology systems for shopping centres and office buildings. Despite being relative newcomers to working in the Chinese marketplace, in 2012, the company won a contract for a large job in China. However, when the company’s three directors travelled to China to meet with their Chinese business partners, they encountered several unexpected, questionable situations. Their Chinese business partners were not there to meet them; rather, they had travelled to another country. The three directors met instead with representatives from the Chinese government consortium overseeing the construction project, and these officials pressed the three company directors regarding what they had brought for them. Their limited preparation and lack of contingency plans challenged their ability to maintain respect and move forward. How could they recover the situation and still achieve their goals of a signed contract?
In 2015, many people in southwest Sri Lanka were experiencing severe health problems as a result of poor water sanitation, decaying pumps and pipes, and the resultant unsanitary water. With Sri Lanka’s dubious credit record and extremely poor economy, the country's government was unsure of how to raise the US$70 million that was required to build new sanitation plants and replace many aging pipes throughout the region. Would it have to accept the first offer of support or would its long-time allies from other foreign governments come to the rescue? There was little doubt that Sri Lanka would be faced with a number of caveats and conditions as part of any agreement to secure the necessary funding. Furthermore, even if the country could find the funds, would the designated officials use them appropriately without falling prey to corruption? As in any developing country, there were many concerns that needed to be addressed, and very few resources with which to address them.
Three friends have followed their entrepreneurial dream to build a five-star hotel in Liepaja, a seaside city in Latvia. After a few early profitable years, the hotel is struggling, due to the massive downturn in the Latvian economy as a result of the European Union financial crisis and slow recovery. The hotel has declined from generating an annual profit to now making a loss or barely breaking even. On several occasions, the co-owners have considered selling up while they can still break even. With the European Union showing signs of recovery, business confidence is returning and the future is starting to look up. The co-owners must decide whether to put all their struggles behind them, retain the ownership of the hotel and look forward to the potential days of profit that lie ahead. Alternatively, they can move in an almost opposite direction, by selling up and moving on. What strategic direction will produce a successful outcome?
The human resources department at China Sunwah Bank had to decide on 22 new appointments — only 12 of which were officially advertised — to Sunwah Bank’s 28 branches. More than 4,000 applications had been received and the final list of candidates based on merit had been reduced to 48. The department members had spent many hours reading applications and conducting interviews; however, some members had been coping with specific endorsements for certain applicants from government officials, friends, former teachers and bank managers in a system known as “guanxi,” which was based on a reciprocal exchange of favours that bound individuals together. The challenge was how to choose the most qualified and talented recruits for the new positions at Sunwah Bank, keeping in mind the guanxi-based requests for favours from important stakeholders and friends — including some who had granted significant favours to Sunwah Bank executives in the past. The choice would require sensitivity and cultural awareness. Who would the department hire and why?
Martin Fassler’s dynamic entrepreneurial and innovative skills were evident when he saw an opportunity in the smoked marlin market and started his now-successful company, Fassler Gourmet (FG). After coping with the initial challenges that every new entrepreneur faces, he found success in supplying airlines flying out of Singapore, Bangkok and Seoul with original seafood dishes. Airline travel — and FG’s revenues — were decimated by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998, the SARS epidemic in 2003 and the global economic downturn in 2008. During these hard times, Fassler excelled in innovation and diversification and developed five distinct and growing markets for exotic seafood. Rather than fire employees during these crises, Fassler instead reduced their work hours and thus cultivated an extremely loyal workforce. FG now works with many wholesalers, exporters, re-sellers, hotels, airline caterers, restaurants, cafes and sandwich shops and has factory outlet and home-delivery customers. Martin Fassler, now in his fifties, has reached a critical moment in his business career. Should he continue to lead, innovate and diversify further or should he begin to reduce his involvement? Selling a share to a new partner, handing responsibilities to his younger managers or divesting himself of this successful company altogether are all options, but risk alienating his loyal workforce.
The Roaring Dragon Hotel (RDH), a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE), was under pressure to become a profit generating 5-star hotel due to the continued development of the Chinese market economy. As for many SOEs, the RDH was overstaffed, filled with archaic work practices, internal cliques, unsystematic production systems and a dysfunctional motivation system unrelated to performance. During modernization, a number of human resource management problems became increasingly evident; solving these problems had become a priority. In 2000, the RDH’s provincial government and stakeholders made their first attempt at modernizing the hotel by hiring a globally renowned company to undertake the upgrade. The disastrous outcome caused the provincial government and stakeholders to lose heart, momentum and motivation until six years later. A new joint venture owner and the RDH board recovered enough confidence to attempt modernization for a second time. They contracted Premium Hotel Services (PHS) to undertake the second attempt at improving operations. The PHS found the quality of older employees, increasing turnover of new staff and policies emerging from the continuing evolution of the Chinese economy were now presenting problems never confronted before at the RDH. How could the stakeholders solve these problems and have the RDH emerge as an internationally recognized five star, commercially viable hotel?
The Liang family, experienced family hoteliers in China, had to leave the mainland under the pressure of the forces of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China in 1949. They resettled in Taiwan, resumed their hospitality business and now, two generations later, have returned to Nanjing to find that their family’s old guest house has been allowed to run down and deteriorate as a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SoE). They repurchase the old guest house with the intention to redevelop it. How will they deal with this privatization and the inevitable bureaucracy of purchasing, demolishing, and rebuilding the old guest house? How will they convert the existing SoE human resources (trained under planned-economy conditions) into dynamic employees operating in the market economy, while being sensitive to the cultural characteristics and challenges of this mainland Chinese workplace? With more than 6,000 Chinese SoEs still being targeted for privatization, this case is very relevant and provides a real-world opportunity for students to exercise their research, analytical, international management, entrepreneurial, and cross-cultural management skills.
An Australian business professor has just arrived in China with a group of students, when one of the group members comes down with the H1N1 virus. The entire group is hospitalized or quarantined. The professor, who is also the tour director, must determine how to deal with the crisis, and quickly. This case is designed for use in a crisis management course, or in an early class in an international management course to illustrate the sorts of differences one may confront in international settings.