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A consortium of private equity firms (KKR and Silver Lake Partners) is in the process of acquiring the semi-conductor division of Agilent. To prepare for the signing of the acquisition agreement and the subsequent transfer of ownership, the deal team is revisiting their investment thesis with respect to upsides and risks. Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/chips-on-the-side/ (copy and paste the url into a browser).

The chief executive officer of Mission Hills, a Chinese golf course operator, is reviewing a handful of expansion options. In August 2011, Mission Hills has three large land holdings in Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Haikou, 12,000 employees and 22 golf courses. In addition to golf courses, it owned two luxury hotels and sold houses built within its properties. Mission Hills occupies an average of 60 per cent of the land it currently owns, and Chu is trying to decide if growth should come by expanding to a third Chinese province or if it should continue building in its current land holdings. He wants to identify and mitigate some of the risks that come with running a high growth business.

This six-part video case series features social entrepreneur Craig Kielburger as he faces pivotal moments in his life and the remarkable evolution of his organization. The primary dilemmas are strategic in nature and their solutions rely on leadership and social entrepreneurship. Students assume the role of Craig Kielburger in each case, which begins with a video set-up, followed by a short one- or two-page case and a discussion, and concludes with Craig describing what happened in a video clip. (This product consists of one of the six cases. Use product #9B12M031B to order the remaining five cases.)

In May 2009, High-Tech Metal Components (HTMC) inaugurated its brand new production plant of forgings and castings for automotive supplies in Suzhou, a city of 13 million close to Shanghai, China. After the successful installation of machinery and placement of workers, the company was prepared to begin production. A month later, the general manager of the Chinese division of HTMC received a phone call from the chief operating officer of its German headquarters; it was decided that it was necessary to cut costs for 2009 by more than five per cent. The cost structure was way too high, with many components imported from Europe. How could cost-cutting be done with the existing supply chain design in China? What long-term measures could be taken to realize the goal?

When a professor found out that one of the groups in her management information systems (MIS) MBA class plagiarized part of their assignment, she did not know what to do. Plagiarism was not an unusual situation to her; in the past, she had always reported it. Her university also took plagiarism seriously, and students who were caught were expelled. But this situation seemed somewhat different, as the four members of the group in question might not all be equally guilty. She wondered whether reporting the students and having them expelled was the sensible approach this time.

In November 2011, just days before the holiday shopping rush, the senior leadership team of The Home Depot, Inc., (Home Depot), the world's largest home improvement chain, discussed how best to navigate the new interconnected world of retail. Retailers across the board faced a rapidly changing environment with the growing acceptance of on-line retailing that empowered customers by providing greater price transparency and more options. Marketing channels and communication touch points continued to shift. Home Depot's leadership grappled with the challenges of operating in an interconnected world, how best to leverage Home Depot's brick-and-mortar success in the new environment, and continuing to build and sustain lasting emotional connections with customers.

Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm is the story of one entrepreneur's vision and journey to create a market-leading, environmentally responsible business founded on the principles of product quality, organizational alignment and sustainability. A former environmental activist, Hirshberg built Stonyfield Farm, (an organic yogurt maker based in New Hampshire), up from a seven cow-operation into a business that in 2010 had $360 million in annual revenues. The narrative pays particular attention to the early, turbulent years of the yogurt company and the excitement and uncertainty of entrepreneurial life. The case also details the supple, innovative marketing the company created to expand its customer base, the means it devised to cultivate and maintain customer loyalty, and the strategies it employed to penetrate the highly competitive yogurt and dairy categories nationwide. Throughout, readers will encounter the challenges that Hirshberg, his colleagues and his family confronted as they (all) worked to create a business with a firm commitment to both sustainability and high quality--a commitment rooted in Hirshberg's dedication to spreading the "gospel" of organic production to consumers.

Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong Limited (DiD HK) is a social enterprise founded in August 2008 that uses exhibitions and workshops to raise the public’s awareness of the disadvantaged and provide jobs for the blind. It also aims to achieve financial success and sustainability, and provide dividend payouts to investors. In the first two years of operation, DiD HK’s innovations attracted many participants and created jobs for visually impaired employees. It made progress toward a breakeven in 2010 through its unique ownership and business models; the start-up team invented many new programs unheard of in other franchises.<br><br>Although DiD has franchises all over the world, none of them are sustainable and successful. Geared toward expanding to other parts of Asia, DiD HK is not without its problems. Its product range and market have room for improvement, and there is a lack of repeat visits to the exhibition. DiD HK also needs further financial capital, human resources, and other resources. Thus, it is imperative for management to review its strategies, and find ways to sustain its expansion and financial performance. If DiD HK can overcome these challenges, it may serve as a role-model social enterprise not just in Hong Kong, but also in other parts of the world.

Clarke, a mosquito abatement company seen as having a core business that is environmentally harmful by its very nature — selling pesticides — faces unique challenges in its transformation into a sustainable enterprise. Should it shift its focus entirely towards offering “green” pesticides and risk losing some of its customers, or should it keep offering its less expensive, more toxic products? This case shows how even when innovation leads to new green products, processes, technologies, and business models, the leadership of a company must cope with the daunting task of engaging employees and customers in the idea that green can be effective and profitable.

This case is about a software development company, Telerik, which was based in Bulgaria and had international offices. The company was founded in 2002 and had become a world leader in user interface (UI) components for Microsoft’s .NET framework. It was still managed by its original four founders and had grown to 400 employees. In 2006, in response to fast growth and to retain its rapid development product process, Telerik adopted agile development, which was a values-driven process that included decentralization, rapid development cycles, intense customer service, teamwork, and face-to-face communication. <br><br> Telerik had moved into a new and modern building and its physical environment was designed specifically to facilitate agile development. The company’s management style was informal, hands-on, consultative, and development-driven, with a youth-focused culture. Its recent innovations in benefits, including concierge services and stock options, had given Telerik an edge in human capital with an employee turnover rate of under five per cent. The founders’ success was based upon the rapid deployment of committed human capital in a culture of teamwork and custom. They were excited about the growth of Telerik, but wondered how the company could continue to be successful and innovate.

Part (A) of this case series presents the situation of a multinational brewer, InBev, having acquired several breweries in Germany, and wishing to proceed with operational integration and the closure of smaller, less efficient plants. This move triggers resistance not only from the local workforce, but the local community. For InBev, this is a case of corporate restructuring and strategy implementation. Yet for a group of local entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity to plot a management buy-out (MBO) and to recreate a historical local brewery. The case is designed as a business negotiation setting that brings together Inbev, the local entrepreneurs, the city council, and a local bank (instructions for four teams involved in the negotiations are provided in the teaching note). The case can also be used as a conventional case on entrepreneurship or strategy implementation.

This case is a supplement to Wolters Brewery (A): Negotiating Restructuring. It gives a debriefing of the (A) case. It is also an independent case on small- and medium-sized enterprises facing issues of local brand marketing in an industry increasingly dominated by global players, and of developing exports from scratch.

Companies in every industry are attempting to reduce their use of chemicals, particularly synthetic organic compounds, where there is a perception of harm to human health or the environment. The industrial and commercial floor-cleaning equipment industry is no different, with many equipment manufacturers seeking to reduce their use of harsh cleaning chemicals such as petroleum solvents. But with every competitor pursuing similar greening efforts in a mature market, companies find it difficult to differentiate their offerings to customers. <br><br>Tennant Company chose to differentiate itself through a technology-driven business strategy based on chemical-free cleaning. Instead of reducing the use of harsh cleaning chemicals, or reducing the harshness of those chemicals, Tennant offered its customers a cleaning solution that used ionized tap water to clean and disinfect surfaces, thereby eliminating harsh chemicals altogether. The benefits to customers were numerous, including lower total cost of ownership and improved health and safety, while maintaining cleaning performance relative to conventional chemical-based products. This case helps to illustrate the challenge of profitably going beyond incremental “greening” efforts (aimed at doing less harm) — could a significant innovation in environmental performance be the central argument for the company’s value proposition?

In 1985, the president and founder of New Deantronics (ND) launched her sales office in San Francisco, California, and then set up a factory in Taiwan in 1987. With no technical background or prior experience, the president used her system of management strategy and philosophy and built ND’s reputation as a trusted manufacturer and developer of medical devices. All of ND’s products were directly exported to large global health-care companies, including Philips Medical Systems, Johnson & Johnson, and Covidien. With the rapid increase in business, the need for expanding production capacity became increasingly urgent. Sitting in her office in early 2009, the president knew that she could no longer postpone her decision to relocate. Several options were presented to her, and the factors that influenced her decision included considerations about the supply of quality human resources, geographical convenience, the willingness of her current employees to relocate, affordability, and the possibility for future expansion. The president pondered what would be the best bet.

This case is a supplement to A Non-Traditional Female Entrepreneur (A).

This case is a supplement to A Non-Traditional Female Entrepreneur (A).

Companies in every industry are attempting to reduce their use of chemicals, particularly synthetic organic compounds, where there is a perception of harm to human health or the environment. The industrial and commercial floor-cleaning equipment industry is no different, with many equipment manufacturers seeking to reduce their use of harsh cleaning chemicals such as petroleum solvents. But with every competitor pursuing similar greening efforts in a mature market, companies find it difficult to differentiate their offers to customers. Tennant Company chose to differentiate itself through a technology-driven business strategy based on chemical-free cleaning. Instead of reducing the use of harsh cleaning chemicals, or reducing the harshness of those chemicals, Tennant offered its customers a cleaning solution that used ionized tap water to clean and disinfect surfaces, thereby eliminating harsh chemicals altogether. The benefits to customers were numerous, including lower total cost of ownership and improved health and safety, while maintaining cleaning performance relative to conventional chemical-based products. This case helps to illustrate the challenge of profitably going beyond incremental "greening" efforts (aimed at doing less harm) to offer a disruptive step-change in environmental performance as the central argument for the company's value proposition.

Abstract too long

This note describes the hybrid electic vehicle market, the results of different automaker strategies, and the environmental regulatory issues that can promote or inhibit market growth in the United States. Introduces students to the technologies and regulatory aspects of vehicles using alternative powertrains and fuels including hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, electic vehicles, and deisel engines. Enable students to evaluate the success of the Toyota Prius, especially when used as an updated supplement to a case discussion of Toyota Motor Corp.: Launching Prius (HBS Case 706458).

In January 2000, World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s executive VP is faced with a challenging decision. He had been appointed the executive VP just three months ago, and was tasked with restoring the company to a profitable position. However, WCW's onscreen product was suffering; ratings for the flagship WCW Monday Nitro (Nitro) program had fallen to their lowest levels in nearly three-and-a-half years. WCW was losing its market leadership position, its viewing audience and even some of its on-screen talent to its major competitor, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The executive VP faced problems on a number of fronts: a talent roster low on motivation and morale, turnover among both the writing staff and company leadership, and a rapidly shrinking audience. Furthermore, the current instability in leadership meant that another major change would seriously impact the already-low morale among WCW's on-screen talent and support staff.