個案總覽

Pure Organic Food and Juice Bar (Pure) is a restaurant located in Collingwood, Ontario specializing in raw, organic and vegan foods. The company's strategy is to tap into the growing demand for food that is associated with a healthy and more sustainable lifestyle. However, the difficulty of attracting customers in a small town with seasonal fluctuations in the number of residents/visitors, combined with competition from "green" products provided by competing restaurants and grocery stores and the lack of a focused strategy have resulted in weak profit levels. The co-founders are wondering what needs to be changed to tap into the lucrative mainstream market. Students are pushed to think about how Pure should change its strategy, what sorts of marketing approaches it should use and, most importantly, how the co-founders can tap into the mainstream market without compromising their original values.

In the summer of 2010, the landscape of university athletics in the United States faced the potential for groundbreaking change. U.S. university sports teams belonged to conferences - alliances of competing sports teams, often from similar geographic locations. Rumours of conference realignment were suggesting a significant shift away from traditional conference membership and structure. With renegotiations for a multi-year television contract looming, a prominent conference has announced plans for expansion, with the goal of securing a lucrative television agreement through new members. While considering factors such as resources, exposure and tradition, various conferences are actively pursuing one dominant institution in particular, the University of Texas. As a result, the Texas team faces a crucial decision: to leave its position for another conference and significantly alter the landscape of collegiate athletics or to remain a member of its current conference and face the ramifications involved in any additional fragmentation.

In the summer of 2010, the landscape of university athletics in the United States faced the potential for groundbreaking change. U.S. university sports teams belonged to conferences — alliances of competing sports teams, often from similar geographic locations. Rumours of conference realignment were suggesting a significant shift away from traditional conference membership and structure. With renegotiations for a multi-year television contract looming, a prominent conference has announced plans for expansion, with the goal of securing a lucrative television agreement through new members. While considering factors such as resources, exposure and tradition, various conferences are actively pursuing one dominant institution in particular, the University of Texas. As a result, the Texas team faces a crucial decision: to leave its position for another conference and significantly alter the landscape of collegiate athletics or to remain a member of its current conference and face the ramifications involved in any additional fragmentation.

With roots in sporting and excursion goods, Abercrombie and Fitch Co. (A&F Co.) has grown into one of the most well-known men and women’s retail clothing brands by 2012. From the beginning, A&F has stuck to (its) knitting by not trying to be all things to all people” and adopted the philosophy of creating a unique brand experience throughout each of its subsidiary brands. The company’s CEO was faced with the decision to focus attention on expanding direct-to-consumer operations and international brick and mortar stores, while closing stores domestically. The brand saw growth in sales in recent years but, in 2011, saw a drop in shares after missing Wall Street’s projected estimates. A&F Co. was in an interesting position — the company had to decide where to focus its brand and which market segment it would cater toward.<p>You might also like: Abercrombie & #Fitchthehomeless, Mountain Dew: The Most Racist Soft-drink Commercial in History?, Domino’s Pizza

The executive of Government and Corporate Affairs at Qantas Airlines faced a communication situation that was spiralling out of control. Qantas had launched a contest through the social media service Twitter, asking participants to use Twitter to describe their “dream luxury inflight experience.” However, the competition dissolved as thousands of people used the opportunity to express negative comments about Qantas. By the second day, nearly 15,000 people worldwide had used social media to vent their frustrations with the airline.<br><br>The executive needs to devise a plan of action, before additional damage is incurred by one of Australia’s strongest brands.

The executive of Government and Corporate Affairs at Qantas airlines faced a communication situation that was spiralling out of control. Qantas had launched a contest through the social media service Twitter, asking participants to use Twitter to describe their "dream luxury inflight experience." However, the competition dissolved as thousands of people used the opportunity to express negative comments about Qantas. By the second day, nearly 15,000 people worldwide had used social media to vent their frustrations with the airline. The executive needs to devise a plan of action, before additional damage is incurred by one of Australia's strongest brands.

Law Professor Ronald Sullivan was asked to lead a turnaround of the Orleans Public Defenders as a one-year assignment following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The office was underfunded and had perverse incentives embedded throughout the system. Sullivan's new vision to rectify the challenges was not readily accepted by judges and lawyers who benefitted from the flawed system and put up resistance. The case follows Sullivan and his team in their efforts to bring about positive systemic change to the Orleans Public Defenders and at a minimum live up to the principles provided by the American Bar Association.

Supplement for case 313026

Case A reviews the history of IMAX Corporation from its founding until the introduction of Digital Media Remastering (DMR) technology in 2002. Since its founding, IMAX had struggled to achieve sustainable, profitable growth. The case explores IMAX's difficulties in attracting movie studios and theatres to its platform. Case B describes the changes in the ecosystem implemented after DMR, and the resulting performance.

Case A reviews the history of IMAX Corporation from its founding until the introduction of Digital Media Remastering (DMR) technology in 2002. Since its founding, IMAX had struggled to achieve sustainable, profitable growth. The case explores IMAX's difficulties in attracting movie studios and theatres to its platform. Case B describes the changes in the ecosystem implemented after DMR, and the resulting performance.

The case is structured in three sections. Section one describes Brockhaus' response to the emergence of digital encyclopedias and identifies the main reasons for why the company was able to successfully deal with this innovation. At the end of section one, participants are asked to analyze (1) the strategic situation Brockhaus faced when dealing with digital encyclopedias; (2) the actions of Brockhaus in response to the advent of digital encyclopedias; and (3) the reasons for why Brockhaus successfully dealt with this strategic challenge. Section two contains a review of two theoretical concepts: disruptive innovation theory and the value curve. This theory section should provide the participants with the tools necessary to understand radical innovations and to successfully respond to them. Section three describes Brockhaus' war against Wikipedia and the actions Brockhaus took to deal with online ecyclopedias. At the end of the section, participants are asked (1) to analyze how the strategic challenge brought about by online encyclopedias differs from the challenge resulting from the rise of digital encyclopedias; and (2) to use the value curve concept to design possible strategies in response to the emergence of online encyclopedias. In a wrap-up following section three, the case describes that Brockhaus ultimately failed at successfully dealing with the emergence of online encyclopedias and had to leave the market. Learning objectives: The aim of the case is to enable participants to understand that the emergence of Microsoft's Encarta and Wikipedia both represented major challenges for Brockhaus, but that they differed in a very important aspect: While the emergence of digital encyclopedias was a continuous change, the emergence of online encyclopedias was a discontinuous one.

Dr. Reddy’s Foundation (DRF) was established to focus on offering education and livelihood programs in India. The case deals with DRF’s innovative program called Livelihood Advancement Business School (LABS), under which vocational training programs are conducted to upgrade the skills of underprivileged, semi-educated and unemployed youth. These programs develop specific and marketable technical and work-related skills and provide entry-level jobs to the target group. The LABS program fills an important gap between employers’ need for skilled youth and potential employees who might not have training, skills, credibility or access to such jobs. The case describes DRF’s entry into this particular niche sector and the difficulties that it faced along the way. The case also analyzes the following aspects of the LABS program: monitoring systems and processes; partnering relationships formed to expand its presence and outreach to the target population; challenges related to ensuring fair wages and skilling the differently-abled youth; and potential future directions for the program.

Patient safety is a critical issue in health care and remains a problem in almost all health care institutions. The challenge is to change the culture so that all providers of care put patient safety as job one. Traditionally physicians have suggested that patient safety is due to individual error. In contrast, patient safety is a system and cultural change. The joint chief of staff at a medium-sized community hospital wants to address patient safety by influencing his fellow physicians to change practices of patient care without appearing paternalistic. The arena of patient care and changing attitudes is a new concept at Grand River Hospital. The case examines the various means that the joint chief of staff can employ to introduce a patient safety culture at the hospital.

Jabwood, a wood trading company with four branches in Lebanon owned by the Jabado family, is contemplating international expansion into new markets — specifically, Saudi Arabia and China — to compensate for a decline in revenues. This case examines the macroeconomic environment of Lebanon, China and Saudi Arabia as well as the wood industry in those countries. The characteristics of a successful international expansion are considered. In addition to identifying the criteria of attractiveness for each country, the case requires a decision on a market entry strategy that would ensure a successful expansion for the company. Given the risks and tradeoffs in each country, Jabwood has to decide whether it should expand in either market or both and on the mode of entry it should adopt to increase its chances of success.

This case was developed to record corporate governance reform at ICBC within the context of China's banking reform. It describes the evolution of governance in China, the challenges faced by leaders at all levels, the choices made and the results of these hard decisions. The challenges and discussion are relevant to Western companies in terms of understanding the corporate governance structure adopted by large Chinese enterprises. The success of the bank and its unique governance structure bring much inspiration from East to West. Learning objectives: Participants can explore the different issues behind ICBC's governance reform. At undergraduate level in a political economy program, students can discuss the strategies involved in transforming from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy and the systematic design required to make any reform work. In MBA programs, participants can discuss issues related to corporate restructuring, governance structure, IPOs, as well as competitive strategy. At executive and board level, participants can focus on the banking governance structure and the pros and cons of the ICBC system. By the end of the class discussion, participants should have gained an insight into working with large Chinese companies. They should be able to grasp the problems arising from conflicts of interest among shareholders, directors, supervisors, the management team, strategic investors, the communist party and regulators. They should also understand the inner workings of these stakeholders, in particular the incentives of each stakeholder group, which differ greatly from those in the West. Participants will realize how corporate governance could be managed differently and how complex it could become. The discussions offer participants the opportunity to reflect on governance practices in the West and borrow elements that could be useful.

Patient safety is a critical issue in health care and remains a problem in almost all health care institutions. The challenge is to change the culture so that all providers of care put patient safety as job one. Traditionally physicians have suggested that patient safety is due to individual error. In contrast, patient safety is a system and cultural change. The joint chief of staff at a medium-sized community hospital wants to address patient safety by influencing his fellow physicians to change practices of patient care without appearing paternalistic. The arena of patient care and changing attitudes is a new concept at Grand River Hospital. The case examines the various means that the joint chief of staff can employ to introduce a patient safety culture at the hospital.

The founder and chief executive officer of Mobiroo Inc. must make several decisions regarding the future of his mobile application (app) gift card company. Mobiroo had created the first app gift card for Android and Blackberry users ? similar to the iTunes gift card for iPhone users. Over the past two years, the company had experienced phenomenal growth in the business-to-business space, selling a white-labelled app storefront to mobile carriers and handset manufacturers. Recently, the company had focused on moving into the competitive retail gift card space: should Mobiroo enter the world of retail slowly or go full speed ahead, making significant investments in both time and money? With the holiday season for gift-giving approaching, a decision was needed quickly.

The role of branding at the corporate level, distinct from product marketing, has evolved to serve as an expression of corporate values. This note surveys current thinking about the ways corporations consider the alignment of brand with the business model and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This case presents the perspective of a Chinese company, Zhejiang Tianlong Capsule Co. Ltd. (Tianlong), and its experiences with the negative impact of an industry scandal. On April 15, 2012, China Central Television disclosed that several capsule producers in Ru’ao had illegally used industrial-grade gelatin to produce medical capsules. The capsules were found to contain excessive chromium, a heavy metal harmful to human health.<br><br>Tianlong was not on the list of guilty companies, but the scandal threatened to ruin the reputation of all capsule firms located in Ru’ao. Most pharmacy companies immediately avoided Ru’ao after such a nationwide scandal. The director of Tianlong must decide how to address customers’ concerns and keep Tianlong’s good reputation from being damaged as a result of the current scandal. The director was also annoyed by the local government’s requirement to suspend production. Some gelatin material had already been melted; suspending production would result in a direct financial loss. How should he respond to the supervision agency’s order?

Most organizations focus their attention on simply achieving gender diversity on their boards. This approach misses the point. A complex relationship exists between board gender diversity and good governance whereby such diversity can have a negative, positive, or neutral impact on organizational performance, indicating that organizations may only reap the benefits of gender-diverse boards under proper conditions. This article examines which conditions allow gender-diverse boards to flourish and which conditions lead to failure. Organizations usually increase female representation on boards of directors to achieve one of two goals: gender parity or improved governance. Each of these goals is influenced by different circumstances and thus must be approached in a unique manner. Three recommendations are offered herein for organizations trying to achieve each goal. Gender, ethnic, and cultural board diversity all share related justifications and challenges, so organizations that follow the recommendations in this article will be well positioned to benefit from all three sources of increased diversity on their boards of directors