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In the spring of 2012, the executive team at Midwest Electronics decided to manufacture its products in Asia for the Asian market. That was a challenging new direction for the company, and subsequent difficult decisions-where to situate the factory, whether to build a new facility or acquire an existing one, and how to finance the project-would also need to be made. This case presents students with the company's summary financial statements, as well as labor, real estate, and cost of capital information, in order to assess the myriad of financial, cultural, and political questions that arise when a company considers relocating some of its manufacturing abroad.

In the spring of 2012, the executive team at Midwest Electronics decided to manufacture its products in Asia for the Asian market. That was a challenging new direction for the company, and subsequent difficult decisions-where to situate the factory, whether to build a new facility or acquire an existing one, and how to finance the project-would also need to be made. This case presents students with the company's summary financial statements, as well as labor, real estate and cost of capital information in order to assess the myriad of financial, cultural, and political questions that arise when a company considers relocating some of its manufacturing abroad.

Since early 2009, the information technology (IT) division of a leading manufacturer of semiconductor chips had noticed a growing trend among the company’s 80,000 employees worldwide to bring their own smartphones and storage devices to their individual workstations. Recognizing that Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) was not a passing fad but a growing phenomenon, the company decided in January 2010 to formally implement this initiative. As the company’s chief information security officer prepares for a full rollout of BYOD, he revisits the issue of ensuring security of corporate data stored on devices owned by individual employees. He also wonders how Intel should respond to the demand for e-Discovery, wherein a litigant could seek access to internal documents stored on devices not owned by the company. He also reflects on a more fundamental and strategic issue: How can Intel extract value from the BYOD initiative and turn this initiative into a new source of competitive advantage?

Cargill Inc., a U.S.-based multinational company, is known for its skills in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. It processes food products and markets them in bulk to large institutional buyers with whom it has a strong customer orientation. However, the head of the refined edible oils business at Cargill India, the company’s fully owned subsidiary, is facing a problem with the parent company's value proposition around B2B. While developing the annual marketing plans for the next financial year, he finds that the volatility of commodity price movements has made the task of revenue forecasts at Cargill India difficult. This volatility is compounded by frequent changes introduced by the federal government to official regulations governing the edible oil business in India. In order to gain control over the two variables, he is examining the prospect of moving into the business-to-consumer (B2C) space in India. This is a new strategic direction not only for the Indian subsidiary but also for Cargill Inc. Can he achieve buy-in not only from the parent company but also from his own managers? Will he be able to attract marketing professionals who can promote his new brands successfully to the Indian consumer?

East Solutions was a successful business process outsourcing (BPO) provider based in Bangalore, India. Although salaries for Indian IT professionals were about half of those of their counterparts in the United States, the board of directors at East Solutions recognized a worrying trend: if salaries in India continued to grow at a fast rate, they would soon erode the cost advantage of sending work to India and potentially threaten the entire Indian BPO industry. As a solution, East Solutions repositioned itself by leveraging technical, industry and process expertise to form a partnership with clients based on value added in addition to cost savings. This plan required East Solutions to refocus on fewer geographic and sector groups. It also required transforming the role of the company’s IT managers, who needed extensive training, additional resources and a new compensation strategy. On an average year, the new compensation plan increased the IT managers’ incomes by 4 per cent, so it was expected to be popular, but IT managers rejected the new compensation plan and it was abandoned after 18 months. The chief executive officer (CEO) in charge of the new plan for East Solutions was unsure why it had failed.

A social enterprise organization, whose mission is to battle poverty and gender discrimination through providing access to technology, is faced with the prospect of losing some or all of its government funding in a time of global recession. Under the legal structure of a non-governmental organization, Digital Opportunity Trust has partnered with large corporations and other organizations and established a local presence in disadvantaged areas. It has worked in a partnership setting to mobilize the information technology knowledge of young people and train them to become leaders of change in their local communities, which in turn will give them the relevant skills and experience to support their own career paths. The organization’s striking success has been driven by its innovativeness and, more particularly, its noticeable efforts to reconcile the corporate and non-profit aspects of doing business, along with the challenges that come with it, without compromising the quality of the social enterprise brand that it is bringing forward.

The CEO and founder of ExerciseApp decided to take the plunge and spec out the features of his new iPhone mobile application and supporting website. He planned for ExerciseApp to stream exercise workouts from pro-athletes to followers who wanted to “Train. Play. Be. Like the Pros” and get an edge to their workouts. As he envisioned the application, he realized he would need a lot of help with the technology and the setup of this entrepreneurial venture in order to successfully bring it to market. With limited funding, he must decide on the next steps for the business, including the application’s features, business model and market strategy.

A U.S. medical device manufacturer is operating in more than 40 international markets, including its most recent entries in the BRIC markets. The company president is now ready to look to new emerging markets for revenue growth. This time a more advanced “post-BRIC” analysis is needed to determine which market to enter next. Because the capital investment and risk associated with entering a new market is high, making the right market selection is critical.

The urgency of financial inclusion had been well-recognized by policy makers, the government, the Reserve Bank of India and banks as a national priority that would play a crucial role in promoting inclusive economic growth. New technology could enable innovative sustainable business models to reach previously excluded customers. This case presents FINO’s technology-based model for financial inclusion and the challenges presented to the Kohlapur district coordinator as he starts the process of building the local organization.

A $2.4 billion bid made by a competing company presented the founder and chairman of China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited with a dilemma. He had successfully transformed his company from a small-scale canned-fruit manufacturer into the largest juice producer in China. Despite the strong need for external funds to achieve further growth, the company’s founder had always been prudent in introducing outside investments into the firm, carefully maintaining his control of the business. To him, Huiyuan Juice was almost like a child that he had nurtured, rather than a product to be sold. However, the company’s rapid expansion had placed its founder under increased pressure and he now had to decide whether or not he should sell.

Books for Change (BfC), a small publisher, produces books that focus on the social sector. The company’s purpose is to raise awareness about specific development issues among academia, researchers and policy makers. BfC was started in 1998 by ActionAid, an international non-governmental organization working in the field of social development. Like other small publishers, BfC faces various challenges, including a lower demand for its books and difficulty in distribution and marketing. ActionAid has provided financial support to BfC by covering its operating losses; however, it now needs to allocate greater funds to its own development activities and, therefore, has asked BfC to become financially independent. BfC needs to prepare the strategy and plan for making BfC profitable.

In September 2012 Walmart became the first multinational retailer to announce entry into India. The company would need to invest heavily in processing, refrigeration, storage, and information systems to open and operate stores in the country. The International division's executives had thought that similar investments would pay off when they invested in retail stores in China, only to experience early missteps. This case provides background information about the retail environment in both China and India and summarizes Walmart's experiences in both countries, asking students to suggest a plan for Walmart's expansion into India that aligns well with its global strategy and proven business strengths.

This case presents complex managerial challenges that stem from the institutional context in emerging markets, particularly in relation to the intellectual property regime and its impact on business strategy. The case centres around a multinational pharmaceutical firm, Novartis International AG (Novartis), that is waiting on a major court decision regarding patent policy as it pertains to one of the firm’s products. <br><br><br><br>The case takes students through the company’s journey in marketing a promising anti-cancer drug that had global sales of US$3.9 billion in 2009. Novartis’ global success with this drug is being challenged by the changing institutional environment surrounding innovation and pharmaceutical patents. The company’s decision to patent the drug in India and challenge the institutional system of patent law is meeting significant resistance from those who argue that the drug is neither novel nor affordable for most patients. With key domestic players staking their claim to the large pool of patients who could benefit from the drug, the case focuses on a controversial patents law. Given the uncertainty of the court’s final decision on these matters, students are asked to develop an action plan for the company’s future.

In 2010, a recent business graduate tries to resolve a constant bottleneck in the printing department of the family business. The two-part case discusses the issues of identifying the need for relevant information and then discusses the staff’s resistance to change and how these objections were handled and overcome. <br><br>This pair of cases seeks to identify the pressures faced by small businesses, along with the task of managing the various stakeholders, including the father-owner and the personnel on the factory shop floor.

This is a supplement to product no. 9B12E014.

The U.S. federal government has attracted increased criticism due to the government shutdown in 2013. This author, a former director of financial and enterprise affairs at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), recommends a reform of laws regarding political contributions and the way legislative districts are determined. Nonetheless, he argues that from a broad governance perspective, the United States still looks relatively attractive as a market in which to invest. He supports this view through a global-governance ranking he has developed of 44 countries as investment destinations, based on major comparative studies. These include the annual “Doing Business” ranking by the World Bank and IFC, where the United States ranked fourth and Canada ranked 19th out of 189 countries; the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, in which the United States ranked seventh and Canada ranked 14th; and the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, where the United States ranked 17th and Canada ranked ninth. In the author’s global-governance ranking of 44 nations, he places the United States in seventh and Canada in 14th. He argues that despite justified fears of America’s increasing governance failures, it remains a relatively strong investment destination.

The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), a South African non-government organization, played a crucial role in turning the tide in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The organization significantly influenced the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic through its credibility, research output and multiple stakeholder engagement. The collaborative multiparty relationships between WRHI's stakeholders were a key component of the organization's success. However, WRHI’s sustainability faced serious challenges in the rapidly changing operating environment, particularly since the organization was totally dependent on funders. What strategic initiatives should WRHI pursue?

China, whose most active multinational companies are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), is actively investing in various sectors overseas. While the role of the Chinese government in the global expansion of Chinese multinationals is significant, government support should not be confused with firms’ own goals. In Africa, Chinese investments have been mostly in sectors such as infrastructure and energy, but investors have recently become interested in services and manufacturing. Chinese telecom firms in Africa enjoy advantages linked to China’s political economy agenda, while Chinese resource companies also have a large stake in Africa. Western commentators tend to speak of “the Chinese” as a single, resource-hungry entity and rarely mention that vast amounts of oil extracted by Chinese firms are sold on the international market. Although strong ties exist between the Chinese government and Chinese national oil companies, similar linkages have often existed in the West. This article argues that Chinese SOEs are hybrid organizations that receive exceptional assistance from the state but also function as private companies competing against global corporations and against other Chinese firms.

KSOIL has a project that bills customers on units of documents delivered. The productivity of employees is evaluated on the same basis. The output of the home-based team has increased two to three times compared to its previous office-based performance. As a result, the rewards and compensation for the home-based team have doubled compared to office-based employees. The head of HR is convinced home-based workers are using unfair means to achieve such high output. She is against the decision of the project manager to increase the size of the home-based team. She believes this will only increase the unrest among office-based workers. The general manager needs to make a decision soon, while keeping in mind the profitability, employee welfare and ethics of the firm.

The founder and CEO of a management company needs to address the future of its joint venture in Iran with a U.S. developer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The joint venture partners need to decide whether to pursue a potential client’s request for a custom version of the ERP system that the joint venture sells. The two partners disagree regarding the strategic direction forward, but must make a decision.