個案總覽

Iloof Technology Co. Ltd. was a Chinese start-up high-technology company at the forefront of the smart water bottle market, one of the newest sectors in the reusable water bottle industry. Smart bottles or cups, also known as interactive water bottles, were technologically advanced devices that had wireless communication capabilities to connect with electronic devices, such as smart phones. They also helped record and optimize the user’s water intake and develop healthy drinking habits. In 2016, after two years of research and development, Iloof Technology Co. Ltd. released its first smart water cup, the HeyDo S1, to great success. However, after three quarters of growth, sales slowed and the company’s founder considered expanding to traditional or offline channels to sustain growth. Could the company operate in both online and offline markets? What potential challenges would the company face in its sales channel expansion?

In 2017, the general manager and head of business conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra Limited (M&M)’s largest factory in Igatpuri, Maharashtra, faced several challenges related to the company’s goal of achieving zero-waste-to-landfill certification from an environmental agency. Since the Mahindra Group’s chief executive officer had decided to focus on sustainability as a key to long-term growth, M&M had to find practical ways to manage waste in the Igatpuri factory. Reducing the waste produced in the factory would require the company to deal with both production-related hazardous waste such as toxic camshaft-grinding waste and other waste such as the cotton gloves iemployees had previously discarded after every shift. The general manager knew that diverting a high percentage of waste from the landfill could produce material savings and cost reductions and boost M&M’s image as a sustainability-focused global brand. He wondered how best to embed waste management policies into the factory’s processes.

On October 27, 2017, the share price of McKesson Corporation and two other major US pharmaceutical distributors dropped by 7–12 per cent over only a few days. The stock price drop was fuelled by reports that Amazon Inc. had quietly acquired wholesales pharmacy licences in 12 US states and, a short time later, formed an independent venture with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. to improve the cost and quality of health care for the US employees of all three companies. These two notable events in the US pharmaceuticals market did not go unnoticed by a group of students enrolled in a value investing class, who wondered if it was possible for Amazon Inc. to disrupt the US health care industry, or if the market was overreacting to the two reports. Was McKesson Corporation’s future in the pharmaceutical distribution business in jeopardy, or was its stock suddenly in a favourable buy position?

In 2007, Trek Bicycles (Trek) entered the Indian market. Although Trek’s market share in India was small compared to its global presence, India held an important position in Trek’s global aspirations, and the country’s potential for growth drove Trek to enter that market. The company strongly believed in innovation and in delivering value to customers through a bundle of services and schemes. Trek operated in the country through a partnership with an Indian distributor and in 2017 set up its Indian subsidiary. The company had a first-mover advantage with respect to the sale of super-premium bicycles in India, but in 2019, after more than a decade, how could the company increase its retail network and grow the community that was connected with cycling?

In late 2018, the chief executive officer and founder of Tunaiku, a new digital consumer-lending financial technology (fintech) company in Indonesia, faced a dilemma. Although he had set out in 2014 to revolutionize Indonesia's consumer lending by providing people in the underserved lower segment of society with small unsecured loans, he now faced his most crucial challenge—dealing with Indonesia’s changing regulatory environment. When he had launched the venture in 2014, fintech was unknown, and the founder had eventually decided to offer the product through a bank. But after Indonesia introduced a new fintech regulation, he needed to reconsider his earlier decision. Should Tunaiku move to a fintech licence or remain as a bank?

This case is set in 2018 in China and follows Daimler’s efforts to compete in the Chinese automotive market amidst fast paced changes which are underpinned by state driven efforts at fostering innovation. Testing its leverage as the world’s largest and most profitable auto market, China is aggressively pushing foreign and domestic auto manufacturers towards new and ambitious targets for electrification. At the same time, Daimler has to be responsive to the particular tastes of auto consumers in China, especially their preferences for on-line connectivity which are creating space for players like Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu to become real competition, threatening traditional car companies’ ability to control the car interface.

In September 2017, news spread of McDonald’s India terminating its franchise arrangement with its joint venture (JV) in India. The termination notice was the newest step in the saga of the conflict between the two JV partners—US-based McDonald’s and the Indian partner Vikram Bakshi of Connaught Plaza Restaurants Limited (CPRL). McDonald’s entered India in 1996 through a JV that was originally seen as the perfect combination to share investments, reduce risks, and succeed. The events between 2013 and 2017 showed that this was not true, and many reasons were suggested in the media for the problems—strategy, team, resources, and a mismatched value system. Did the former franchise holder CPRL have a legal right to use the McDonald’s name anymore? Could the partners resolve their differences?

Students need to practice talking about taboo topics. The ‘A’ case offers background on recent calls to end discrimination (e.g., #MeToo, Black Lives Matter protests) and highlights the struggles business schools, in particular, have faced in dealing with intolerance. It offers an opportunity for students to consider and role play eight mini-cases based on real events. Topics covered include gender, race, diversity/inclusion, socio-economic inequities, harassment, LGBTQ+ issues, white privilege, and ableism. The ‘B’ case asks students to consider similar past interactions in their own lives so they can personalize the process and make plans for how they will deal with such events in the future.

Supplemental case for product 9B20C043.

In the winter of 2019, the Brazilian entrepreneur and founder of Insolar was proud of what he had accomplished in the five years since the company’s launch. His vision to democratize access to solar energy in Brazil was finally starting to become a reality. Insolar had installed solar panels that were providing a sustainable energy source to 5,000 residents in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The company had also founded an institute to train low-income residents on the installation of solar panels and was continuously designing new innovations to increase the institute’s impact. The founder was ready to make an additional investment and expand the Insolar brand. He had just received word from his research and development team that the final version of his most recent project, the solar kit, would be complete within the next year. However, he still had reservations about launching the product and had to make some key decisions before it could be ready for the market. What would be his next steps on the path to democratize solar energy?

Since early 2015, Uber had been investing heavily in research and development for its autonomous vehicles to revolutionize the ride-hailing industry and provide better ways of competing and fulfilling its promise of profitability to investors. Constant innovation was crucial to stay ahead of its competitors. While this strategy was groundbreaking for the ride-hailing industry, concerns were sparked when one of Uber’s autonomous vehicles was involved in a fatal accident involving a pedestrian in 2018. This accident brought safety lapses in autonomous vehicles into the public eye and was deeply controversial. Consequently, Uber was forced to examine its corporate strategy pertaining to its innovation portfolio. Should Uber continue its current investment in autonomous vehicles? If so, what business models and strategies could Uber adopt with autonomous vehicles to move the company towards profitability?

In October 2019, the interim chief executive officer of Air Traffic and Navigation Services SOC Limited (ATNS) in South Africa faced a dilemma regarding talent management. ATNS’s talent pipeline was unbalanced, and there was insufficient progression into more senior positions within the air traffic controller division. ATNS had been recruiting from disadvantaged communities through a bursary program, which trained recipients to become air traffic control officers (ATCOs). However, it took a minimum of eight years to become qualified at the highest level of ATCO, which was a requirement for more complex tasks and leadership roles at ATNS. Many bursary recipients preferred to remain in the lower levels due to the time it took to progress and also because of their potential to earn at lower levels due to the pay structure within the division. ATNS also faced the prospect of losing the highly skilled upper-level ATCOs to international air traffic services. Should ATNS redesign its talent pipeline?

The RealReal Inc. (Real), a San Francisco, California-based start-up engaged in the trade of used luxury goods, experienced significant growth in its revenue and customer base in fiscal year (FY) 2018, but it was yet to turn profitable after nine years in the business. The reported accumulated losses until the quarter ended March 2019 were US$280.98 million. On June 27, 2019, Real launched its initial public offering (IPO) at US$20 per share. Would investing in the company be worthwhile for investors? What parameters would realistically indicate the future prospects of an emerging growth company like Real?

In late January of 2020, Hratch Jabrayan of Homeland Foods contemplated international expansion into North America and increasing exports to Russia. Would potential customers appreciate and pay a premium for the high-quality, organically-produced dried fruits and nuts. Was the product line’s brand name (“Vozni” was Armenian for “hedgehog”) culturally transferrable? Was it financially feasible to bring the product to Canada and the United States? How would other elements of the marketing mix need to be adjusted for Homeland’s entry into both the Canadian and American markets for dried fruit products?

In 2018, ITC Hotels, a chain of luxury hotels based in India, achieved a distinct positioning with its branding, “ITC Hotels: Responsible Luxury.” The company intended to communicate its image of being environmentally sustainable, responsible to the local communities and society, and responsible for the safety and comfort of guests and employees. This strategy shaped many of its operational decisions and processes. However, the executive director of ITC Hotels, felt cautiously optimistic about its positioning in the market. Could ITC Hotels succeed in balancing responsibility with luxury? Could this business strategy and positioning counter the intensifying competitive threats from India’s other major luxury hotel chains?

In November 2019, Saudi Arabia’s government officials and advisers had to decide whether or not to proceed with a plan to make the government-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) a private company and list it on a stock exchange. At the time, Aramco was considered to be the most profitable company in the world. Therefore, its initial public offering would potentially be the largest in history. The company’s market capitalization would dwarf those of global giants Apple Inc. and Google LLC. Saudi Aramco managed the world’s largest oil reserves and had the world’s second-lowest cost of oil extraction. However, there were concerns about the targeted valuation of US$2 trillion. There were also various other questions to be answered: Should the government-owned Aramco become a private company? Was the timing right to list the company on a stock exchange? What fraction of shares should be offered to investors? How should the largest initial public offering in history be priced?

In July 2019, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of a one-year-old start-up in Los Angeles was reviewing the path forward with the company’s new technology platform. The product helped brand managers insert their brands virtually and in real time into television (TV) and movie scenes. With each placement customized to the individual habits and personal preferences of the viewer, virtual placement was a considerable improvement over physical placement of brands as permanent fixtures in TV plots and movie scenes. The technology represented a major disruption to the product placement industry. The company’s CEO needs to resolve three dilemmas to take Ryff forward. First, how should the company find its fit with large advertising agencies that operate in a traditional placement market? Second, how should the company convert traditional industry person-to-person interactions to interactions driven by software programs? Third, how should the company take its business global?

On November 3, 2016, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) launched a bid for Singapore-based food and beverage company Super Group Ltd. (Super). JDE had already acquired 60 per cent of the shares but needed another 30 per cent in order to delist the company and take it private. The minority shareholders of Super faced the task of evaluating whether the offer from JDE was reasonable and whether they should tender or hold on to their shares. Their decisions would depend on the valuation of Super’s shares, based on financial and other relevant and available market information.

In 2019, Ai Hua Ong, Group Chairperson, Asia Pacific of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), was ruminating over the choice of Singapore as the company's regional headquarters (RHQ). While political stability, ease of doing business, a start-up friendly and open innovation ecosystem and supportive government regulations had built an ideal climate for the city to function as a base for a RHQ, many other cities in Asia provided tough competition to the city country. Moreover, while co-location had been widely recognised as one of the drivers towards the effectiveness of the innovation ecosystem - emerging technologies like hologrammatic communication could make the need for the RHQ model outdated. In the R&D space, the need for a skilled workforce could be alleviated by employing technologies like Artificial Intelligence. For the purpose of collaboration, blockchain technology could be applied to enable firms to share data more securely over longer distances. The use of Internet of Things (IoT) in the biomedical sciences sector, could reduce the need for being close to the consumer for R&D and market research; while the increased use of 3D printing devices could make Singapore's advantage as a logistical hub in the region less salient, as designs could be shared virtually and printed locally. Amidst such tugging tensions, Ong wondered if Singapore would continue to remain an attractive destination as an RHQ? Would its innovation-ecosystem suffice as a sustained differentiating factor? Could the concept of Technology Hub be an alternative path?

In November 2019, Tommy Leong, Zone President, East Asia & Japan (EAJ), of Schneider Electric, a French multinational corporation (MNC), hosted regional clients in the Singapore HQ building. He highlighted how the company would capitalise on digital transformation to help create a futuristic city. Despite the high operating costs, Singapore was an ideal location for a regional HQ because of its first-rate infrastructure, strategic location and business-friendly corporate ecosystem. Through the Economic Development Board, the government actively pitched to MNCs and provided concierge services when possible. Schneider Electric was the global leader in energy management and industrial automation with strong growth prospects due to increasing urbanisation and digitisation trends. Leong had identified ASEAN as the growth region for the company. How could he create customised solutions for the business requirements of clients?