The manager of business development for Carvel Asia Limited is trying to determine how best to increase ice cream cake sales in Beijing. In doing so, he needs to develop a complete marketing program which includes decisions about product offerings, pricing, placement (distribution) and promotion - the 4 Ps. Carvel Asia was a 50-50 joint venture between Carvel (USA) and China's Ministry of Agriculture.
The managing director and founder of Bangkok-based Siam Canadian Foods Co., Ltd., was considering the emerging business opportunities in neighboring Burma (also known as Myanmar). Although relatively undeveloped compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, Burma had been experiencing increasing levels of foreign investment activity in recent years. Siam, who had considered entering Burma in the past but declined, needed to determine if the time was now appropriate for the company to enter the market.
The assistant engineer in the Thermal Treatment Department of a state-owned enterprise in China has received approval for the formation of a new quality control group to reduce the high defect rate of a critical part. The total quality concept is presented within the context of a specific quality problem, which encourages students to both assess the company's quality system and apply quality improvement tools to this particular problem. This case is the first of a three part series that applies the principles and tools of total quality management in a Chinese setting. This case can either be used independently or in combination with the (B) case, 9A98D002 and (C) case, 9A98D003.
The general manager of COM DEV's Chinese facility which assembled satellite components, was trying to decide whether the plant should seek ISO 9000 certification. Not only did ISO 9000 registration have a number of advantages and disadvantages, but as well, the decision in the Chinese plant would have some implications for COM DEV's other facilities in Canada and Europe. In addition, if the general manager decided to seek ISO 9000 certification for his plant, he would have to decide which level of certification to seek.
Global Sources Limited is Asia's leading publisher of business-to-business (B2B) trade-related magazines. In the latter half of the 1990s, the Internet became a powerful force for change in the business world, leading to an explosion of Internet-related activities by both traditional bricks and mortar companies, as well as countless upstart dot.coms. The chairman and chief executive officer of Global Sources had foreseen the opportunities afforded by the Internet early on, and had made it an integral part of the company's strategy. Currently, the level of activity in the B2B portal space has evolved so quickly that a noticeable degree of confusion among suppliers, buyers and investors about the merits and drawbacks of these portals has arisen. Moreover, the sustainability of these ventures has been brought into question, which is causing a dramatic reversal of fortunes for many companies. The result is that there are strong signs that the industry will experience a significant consolidation. This has left Global Sources chairman with the key challenge of generating greater visibility among users and potential users of the companies services, as well as greater interest from the investment community in order to remain viable. The company must be able to educate and convey its value proposition to its users, as well as determine whether it should continue to remain an independent player, purchase a competitor, or enter into a strategic alliance.
Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited is a research and new-media company that provides Asian-based economic and political information. The managing editor is facing several challenges in building a new online business intelligence service that focuses on Asia's new economy. As the person responsible for the company's first Internet related initiative, he is expected to design, manage and help market the new initiative that will be independent from, yet complementary to, the company's existing events-oriented and research services. Although he is satisfied with the content that has been developed, he still needs to resolve several issues regarding target audience, pricing policy, revenue diversification options and service awareness. A sense of urgency pervades the situation, since he is expected to ensure that the new service will contribute 25 per cent of total company revenues within the next year.
Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited is a Singapore-based research and media company. The newly appointed director of advisory services is considering the challenges in building the company's latest service offering. The company's strong emphasis on this new service is a departure from their previous strategy of attempting to develop its existing events, custom research and online information services in a relatively even manner. He needs to formulate a plan that will ensure the new service contributes about half of the company's revenue within the next year. This case may be used with Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited (A), 9B01M032.
The founding partners of Three Fish Solutions, a Hong Kong-based Internet start-up company, developed what they thought was a powerful business plan in preparation for a meeting with a deep-pocketed, potential equity partner. The meeting was critical because the partners were short of cash and because it would provide them with their first opportunity to discuss their business plan with a highly respected investor. Students have the opportunity to analyze a business plan of an e-commerce-based start-up company; identify critical success factors that are generic to start-up companies and areas of risk that need to be mitigated; and better understand the motivations of venture capital firms and the considerations they make when evaluating business plans. The Three Fish Solutions (B) case, product 9B01M013, discusses the meeting with the investor and the options facing the company.
The president must determine how to increase business development at the feedmill. The challenge facing him is to have the feedmill's managers adopt attitudes and behaviours that are consistent with a market driven enterprise. This is no easy task considering that the feedmill is a former state-owned enterprise which did not strive to achieve independent profitability.
Gervais Lavoie, managing director of the Canadian-Chinese joint venture, Beijing Oasis High Nutrition Food Co., needs to decide what means of distribution is most appropriate for the company's newly-developed fruit nectars. The decision is complicated by the fact that different means of distribution have different implications for the ultimate pricing and promotion of the products.
The manager of business development for Carvel Asia Limited is trying to determine how best to increase ice cream cake sales in Beijing. In doing so, he needs to develop a complete marketing program which includes decisions about product offerings, pricing, placement (distribution) and promotion - the 4 Ps. Carvel Asia was a 50-50 joint venture between Carvel (USA) and China's Ministry of Agriculture.
The president of Canadian-based Pacific Western Brewing Co. Ltd. is preparing a Japan market entry strategy for the company's newly developed organic beer. Although she has considerable experience in Japan, several factors are at play which make this product entry particularly challenging. First, the product is unlike any other in the market. Second, Japanese consumer behaviour is undergoing a revolution. Third, the company's last product launch in Japan failed. Therefore, there is a higher than normal level of risk associated with the product launch.
The managing director of health services company is becoming increasingly concerned about the state of leadership at the company's subsidiary. The source of the concern was the president of a wholly-owned subsidiary who had been instrumental in ensuring the very successful launch of the operation during its start-up. Since then, however, the president's behaviour had become increasingly problematic, to the point where he has become very disruptive to the operation. Therefore, it is necessary to craft a leadership development plan for him, or else face the unpleasant task of having to terminate him.
Chai-Na-Ta (Asia) Ltd. is the Hong Kong-based operating arm of Canada's Chai-Na-Ta Corporation, an integrated ginseng firm. The decision has been made to enter the mainland China market and the general manager must make decisions on the entry city, target market(s), product(s) focus, distribution and pricing. Although he has significant knowledge of the Hong Kong market, he is unsure of the degree to which this can be transferred to the mainland markets. The case pushes the student to develop a marketing strategy in a situation in which there is imperfect market information.
The new general manager at a real estate organization needs to devise several action plans to resolve areas in need of change. After spending only one month on the job, she concluded that some changes were badly needed; however, she also knew that initiating any changes would prove to be a considerable challenge. Therefore, she needed to devise these plans while maintaining positive relations with the employees.
The vice-president of finance at Seagram Greater China was contemplating what actions to take in light of the proposed changes to the duty rates which applied to imported scotch and cognac in Taiwan. Given that the Taiwanese spirits market had become very competitive in recent years, careful management of the duty rate changes was critical for ensuring future market share and profitability in Taiwan. The task facing the decision maker was to determine what pricing levels to recommend for Seagram's scotch and cognac products based upon the proposed duty regime. The case is particularly suitable to managerial accounting classes intending to develop skills and application of contribution and margin analysis. The strong marketing linkages in the case also make it applicable to classes dealing with pricing in highly competitive markets.
The president and general manager are reviewing a pay for performance system. The president needs to determine whether or not these systems were properly designed to ensure that they are producing higher quality product at progressively lower costs. If not, he needs to consider how he might suggest that these and other systems be changed in order to achieve cost and quality objectives.
The general manager of COM DEV's Chinese facility which assembled satellite components, was trying to decide whether the plant should seek ISO 9000 certification. Not only did ISO 9000 registration have a number of advantages and disadvantages, but as well, the decision in the Chinese plant would have some implications for COM DEV's other facilities in Canada and Europe. In addition, if the general manager decided to seek ISO 9000 certification for his plant, he would have to decide which level of certification to seek. COM DEV Xi'an was a joint venture between COM DEV International of Cambridge, Ontario and Xi'an Institute of Space Radio Technology.
The director of sales and marketing for the Delta Grand Pacific Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, needed to devise a marketing strategy that would ensure the hotel's success in its very competitive market. He wanted to ensure that the hotel maintain and eventually increase its two key benchmarks of performance, namely, occupancy rates and average room rates, by milking the Sukhumvit Micromarket to its fullest potential. Compounding this challenge was the anticipation of a sharp drop in occupancy at the hotel due to the likelihood that an important client contract would not be renewed.
The assistant engineer in the Thermal Treatment Department of a state-owned enterprise in China has received approval for the formation of a new quality control group to reduce the high defect rate of a critical part. The total quality concept is presented within the context of a specific quality problem, which encourages students to both assess the company's quality system and apply quality improvement tools to this particular problem. This case is the first of a three part series that applies the principles and tools of total quality management in a Chinese setting. This case can either be used independently or in combination with the (B) case, 9A98D002 and (C) case, 9A98D003.