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The chief executive officer of Dalian Zhangzidao Chuo Cold Logistics Co., Ltd., a Chinese company that specialized in cold chain storage and logistics services for imported frozen aquatic products supply chain, faced a series of urgent decisions. Since beginning operations in 2014, the company’s business volume had increased faster than other enterprises in the industry. However, in 2017, the company still faced the typical dilemma of enterprises in its industry—a lower net profit margin. As a middle link in this supply chain, the company was in fierce competition with upstream suppliers, downstream buyers, and horizontal competitors. The chief executive officer faced some tough choices: Was the company capable of implementing a vertical integration strategy to enhance its competitive advantages? If so, should the company pursue forward integration or backward integration? And how could the company achieve vertical integration, given its current circumstances?

In early 2019, Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (AGC), a diversified Japanese company, was at a critical juncture in its evolution. Three years earlier, AGC had released its Vision 2025, which set a goal for the company to continue as a leading global provider of materials and solutions that improved the daily lives of people around the world. Its financial performance had improved significantly over the previous five years, but profitability remained modest, with operating profit margins slightly above 8 per cent. The modest profitability of the company belied a strong base of technologies in glass, chemicals, electronics, and ceramics. AGC could potentially use these strengths to develop and market high value-added products in varied sectors such as mobility, construction, new energy, and life sciences. To effectively exploit future opportunities, however, the company needed to devise and implement novel strategies, overcome competitive challenges, and align its internal organization. Specifically, it would need to extend or modify its globalization strategy by developing a differentiated strategy for combinations of products and countries, develop new competencies in areas such as biologics, and choose the appropriate entry modes to balance financial and strategic implications. How should AGC proceed toward achieving its Vision 2025 goals?

In May 2018, Walmart Inc. (Walmart) announced its acquisition of a 77 per cent stake in the Indian e-commerce company Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd. (Flipkart). It was the largest acquisition of an Indian company and the world's largest purchase of an e-commerce company. The deal would provide Walmart with the opportunity to expand globally in competition with its old rival, Amazon.com Inc., and it would provide Flipkart with additional capital to operate in a hypercompetitive environment and an opportunity to leverage Walmart's omni-channel retail expertise. However, despite the strategic alignments, several factors could complicate the deal. Were Walmart's detailed analysis and due diligence prior to the acquisition sufficient to ensure a successful acquisition, or could human resources considerations affect the expected outcomes of the acquisition?

Samsui Supplies & Services Private Limited provided 1.8 million meals annually to long-term care facilities in Singapore through the company’s flagship project, Samsui Central Kitchen. The company had won accolades for its work, and in April 2018, the director felt that the time was right to expand the project. He wondered, however, how he would illustrate to the organization’s key stakeholders the social impact Samsui was having in the SG$89 million market of providing meals for long-term care facilities. To gain support for scaling up Samsui’s initiatives and maximizing the social impact the company was delivering, the director needed to quantify the impact of the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives in a clear and simple message to its various stakeholders.

Spreadsheet for product 8B19M080.

Student spreadsheet to case W17348

A new era of disruptive technologies and changing business practices is moving a number of industries toward the "real-time" enterprise. With increased capabilities and intensity of online digital platforms, managers need to deliver goods and services faster, and to respond rapidly to customers within a disruptive and dynamic business environment. It is therefore critical to ask what "real time" means to managers, what real-time management entails, and learn how enterprises capture business value through real-time management, especially when the ability to adjust and operate in real time must be ingrained in organization's culture, structures, and processes. We surveyed over 1,000 senior managers to better understand those issues and to get broader insights into enabling technologies and organizational mechanisms needed to transition more effectively into real-time management. Interviews provided deeper insights about managerial perceptions of real time, and about how, depending on the manager's focus, real time generates value to the enterprise. We show that managers, who use "real time" in different ways, articulate different facets of experience and practices, leading to the Fast & Flow framework. Thinking of real time as "Fast & Flow" presents a sensemaking that is better attuned to the organization, the market, and a technology-driven state of flux. We provide insights for managers to build a "Fast & Flow" responsive enterprise and to transition to real-time management.

The case traces the growth of Asian Paints Limited ("APL") from being a small paint manufacturer in 1942 into the undisputed leader of the Indian paints industry. The case invites students to analyze the strategic decisions made by APL's management over its 75+ year journey and identify key factors that enabled the company to dominate this industry for the last five decades. The case enables students to unpack how a firm's strategy that is hidden in plain sight affords sustainable competitive advantage.

In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China's Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the country: the construction of a port in the poor district of Hambantota (also the previous president's hometown), for which Sri Lanka borrowed 1.2 bn USD from the China Ex-Im bank, and a major real estate project outside of Colombo. The new administration pursued renegotiation of both contracts. In 2016, a Chinese state-owned company purchased the asset of the Hambantota port, generating concerns about sovereignty in Sri Lanka and Chinese naval ambitions in Delhi and Washington, DC. This case explores the dynamics of Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a large-scale infrastructure and connectivity project launched under its powerful leader, Xi Jinping, as well as the politics and economics of sovereign borrowing in the age of Chinese lending. Did Sri Lanka fall victim to a sort of "debt diplomacy," or did the Chinese side fail to understand Sri Lanka's domestic political landscape? Was the sale of the asset the right choice for Sri Lanka? The right investment for China Merchants Group, which bought the 99-year lease?

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 1, Planning a Project, introduces two fundamental models: one to establish the strategic aspects of a project plan-the project mission-the second, the tactical concerns. It also set outs a structure for a plan that reflects the different levels of volatility. In doing so, it provides an overview of the book, defines many of the key terms used in the book, introduces the Project Mission Model, and identifies the key steps involved in planning.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 2, Schedule-Driven Planning, focuses on time-constrained project planning. It provides examples of such projects. It also identifies both the challenges of this form of planning and potential strategies and tactics to increase the odds such a project will succeed.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 3, Resource-Driven Planning, highlights the challenges of planning when resources like time and/or money are scarce, and indicates the specific nature of several such challenges. It also provides various techniques to mitigate the effects of these constraints.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 4, Not a Penny More-Budget-Constrained Planning, highlights the uncertainly of planning related to budgets, and indicates the nature of this uncertainty. It also provides various techniques and factors to consider when responding to these challenges.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 5, When It Really Does Have to Work, discusses projects that are mission critical. In such situations, the avoidance of risk drives planning, which must center on total conformance to a pre-specified capability that forces usual planning efforts to be modified to avoid the possibility of events that cannot be managed and known performance must be reliable and verifiable through testing. The chapter thus highlights the uncertainly of planning related to budgets, and indicates the nature of this uncertainty. It also provides various techniques and factors to consider when responding to these challenges.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 6, When Stakeholders Really Matter, identifies the importance of stakeholders to projects. It indicates questions that project planners must ask regarding stakeholders' criteria, the characteristics of such stakeholders, and the general types of projects that are stakeholder intensive. It also provides guidance on how to manage such projects and the questions it is necessary to ask when doing so.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 7, Planning When It Has to be Different, focuses on projects in which innovation and creativity are core goals. Such projects must involve more freedom, as well as tolerance for failure that requires different forms of management and collaboration, but nonetheless need a thoughtful planning approach to be successful. This chapter provides some methods for doing so.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 8, Planning Operational Projects, identifies the challenges of managing operational projects, which require the practices and processes of the organization to continue uninterrupted. These projects pose unique challenges to organizations because they are often staffed and run by operational personnel and often slide in priority because the organization is too busy to improve its performance. This chapter provides some suggestions for mitigating this pattern of behavior.

To succeed, projects must meet the conditions defined by the project's stakeholders. Sometimes these conditions are explicit: it must be finished by this date, it cannot exceed this budget. Sometimes they are more subtle: the outcomes, must meet specific-often poorly articulated-criteria. The context shapes what must be achieved, how it has to be done, and when. To deal with this 'uniqueness' and its uncertainty, project managers must plan. There is no single approach to planning a project, but for a given set of circumstances, there is a best one. This book takes you through many common planning situations you will meet. It uses stories of real projects to show how planning decisions alter depending on the project context. It discusses how resource-constrained planning differs from end-date schedule planning. It looks at what is different between cost-constrained plans and time boxing. It explores why you must plan when using Agile approaches, and how to plan for innovation. Chapter 9, And Finally, briefly argues for the importance of project management and the need for project managers to be willing to adapt to the different types of project constraints they encounter. It also provides a graphic depiction of the different types of projects discussed in the earlier chapters.

Cabalonga S. A. (Cabalonga) was a unique, low-cost hostel located in the small seaside town of Puerto Cayo, Ecuador. The beachfront land on which Cabalonga was established had been inherited by one of the two proprietors. In 2017, the company did little better than break even, but the hostel did provide the occasional weekend getaway for its owners. However, the weekend getaways had actually become hectic cross-country commutes for the owners, and too many hours were spent attending to guests’ needs. While the enterprise was financially stable, the owners wanted it to be a self-sustaining and less time-intensive investment.