個案總覽

This case is a supplement to Pursuing Cadbury (A).

The case focuses on an agricultural institute, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), part of an international agricultural research consortium. Since its inception in 1972, ICRISAT had been a premier agricultural research institute with substiantial international and Indian funding. However, mismanagement and lack of initiative of senior leadership had resulted in multiple crises in organizational functioning and reduced funding by donors. In addition, ICRISAT had to cope with an unfortunate series of leadership changes. In the midst of the decline in staff morale and other daunting challenges, Dr. William Dar joined the institute as the director general. The case describes the various issues faced by Philippine-born Dar when he took over. It also discusses his previous stints in various roles and the style of leadership he displayed during those tenures. The case concludes by presenting the problem of revival of ICRISAT, including reinforcing its research focus.

Reverse innovation-developing ideas in an emerging market and coaxing them to flow uphill to Western markets-poses immense challenges, because it requires a company to overcome the institutionalized thinking that guides its actions. That's why the experience of the automobile-infotainment division of Harman International is so impressive. The U.S.-based business, known for ultrasophisticated dashboard audiovisual systems designed by German engineers, developed a radically simpler and cheaper way of creating products in emerging markets and then applied what it had learned in the process to its product-­development centers in the West. Harman did this using a two-part approach: radical change from below combined with astute leadership from above. A small team based in India and China set audacious goals, created a new organizational structure, and adopted new design methods, while the chief executive, Dinesh C. Paliwal, rebranded the company's future, shifted the corporate center of gravity to emerging markets, made sure that legacy units continued to thrive, and averted conflict between old and new.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article.

In the winter of 2010 in Shanghai, Dr. Zeb Feng, procurement director for Asia at British Petroleum (BP), was acutely aware of the growing burden that quality control imposed over his company’s global operations. Chinese suppliers were masters of cost-cutting, but quality often suffered as a result, which led in turn to an increased need for inspection and development efforts. Almost five years ago, Feng’s company had established an international procurement office (IPO) in Shanghai, which served as a shared service centre for internal customers throughout BP worldwide. Since that time, the IPO had been mainly sourcing non-hydrocarbon goods and services. <br><br><br><br>After a corporate board meeting with Christina De Luca, the vice president of procurement and supply chain management for BP’s downstream operations, it had been decided that the company would start to enhance its global competitive sourcing. As the number-one supplier market in the world, China was a high priority for further oil exploration. The pressing point that concerned Feng was whether Chinese suppliers were sufficiently ready to supply mission-critical supplies for oil drilling, extraction, and refining. During a recent conference call, De Luca had reiterated, “Zeb, our competitors are way ahead of us in their sourcing operations, and they have achieved much lower costs. We’ve got to do something!” Feng had to gather his team for a planning meeting. He knew that supply quality was the key issue, but how could it be resolved?

The president of Unimicron must evaluate the degree to which the company's information systems support its business strategy. The case provides an extensive review of the company's history, its strategy and its key competitive and organizational moves. The case reviews the way in which information systems are used in the company, and challenges students to assess the degree of fit between strategy, organization and technology.

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?

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.

Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation (COMPFED) had been marketing its milk and milk-related products under the Sudha brand name in the Bihar and Jharkhand regions of India for three decades. It operated through six unions and two dairies to process the milk collected from nearly 4,000 village-level cooperatives. COMPFED appeared to have a competitive advantage for its supply of milk, since it maintained the largest network for milk procurement, which spanned a large area and was unmatched by its competitors. However, due to various environmental forces, the ability to procure an adequate supply had declined in the last two years, which negatively affected the profitability of the organization.<br><br><br><br>The marketing manager of COMPFED had been facing difficulty in serving the growing demand and maintaining profitability. Since he operated in an industry with high fixed costs, the declining supply of milk procurement meant lower sales. As a result, there was no opportunity to significantly lower operating costs to match the limited supply.<br><br><br><br>The marketing manager thought of two reasons in the external environment that contributed to this situation. First, a series of floods had caused damage to grazing land and livestock operations. Additionally, private players were disrupting the supply chain by offering short-term higher payments to some suppliers/farmers. These players did not face the same regulatory and hygiene guidelines that COMPFED did. The marketing manager’s options included two very different alternatives: trying to work with these agents or securing a process to minimize or eradicate their activities.

Looking back on the disastrous vacation of an American couple in Indonesia, this case shows how a globally branded North American hotel chain disregarded the basic tenets of maintaining their global brand promise, ignored generally accepted customer service standards, failed to instigate delivery failure recovery, and leveraged firm-specific capabilities to maximize shareholder wealth. The reaction of the local manager at the Indonesian hotel and adaptation of the value proposition are told from the perspective of the vacationing couple that experienced the diluted brand firsthand.

While the impacts of culture on international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) have been much discussed, the influence of languages has been underappreciated in international business. We address this paucity by integrating literature from international economics, international business, Chinese business history, and linguistics to examine the transaction costs of languages. While we recognize that languages represent both a tool in international economic transactions and a vehicle to transmit cultural values, our results point out that this tool is employed differently in international trade and in FDI. Communication costs for both FDI and international trade show a hierarchy, with English the most inexpensive among major trade languages; however, we find that communication costs are much more important in FDI than in international trade. Herein, we offer practical suggestions corporations may implement regarding the matter.

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 owns two luxury hotels and sells 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 case focuses on organizational transformation in an accounting firm in South Africa. It describes how the impact of both globalization and the transformation that the country had undergone since the advent of democracy in 1994 steered StratAFin Inc. towards a process of building a new identity. The firm’s senior management realized the need for transformation based on the many new challenges in the changing environment. Change was experienced at many levels within the organization: from the construction of a new building as a symbol of change, to corporatizing and growing the firm, changing the management structure, investing heavily in technology and human capital development, focusing on continuous improvement, and driving major diversity transformation. The case offers insights into the many drivers that had to be considered in the process, how the organization had to manage resistance to change and the need for flexibility during the process, and the importance of measurement of the many dimensions of the transformation process. The case concludes with the challenge of how the firm’s leadership could ensure that the continuing transformation maintained its momentum.

This case explores social media marketing as both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) strategies. In spite of a challenging real estate environment, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHGRE) was launched in 2008 by Realogy Corporation, the largest franchisor of real estate brands in the world, to maintain and grow market share with a new type of real estate company centered around lifestyle. BHGRE has grown rapidly and has experienced tremendous success with its B2B social media efforts. Now, several years after the formation of the company, the president and chief executive officer must decide how to leverage what she has learned from the B2B effort to create a B2C social media program. Additional factors include a concurrent Canadian market entry.

HIGHLY COMMENDED CASE - African Business Cases Runner-up, 2012 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition. This case chronicles the origins and growth of Sorbet, a chain of beauty salons targeting upper income women in South African metropolitan areas. Owner Ian Fuhr identified an opportunity to redefine the beauty salon experience in South Africa by offering customers a service unlike anything in the industry. He carefully managed human resources to motivate employees and grow the client base. To complement this, the company started an external beauty therapy school to improve staff and train potential employees. In addition, Fuhr stressed the importance of growing brand awareness and carefully adjusted the company’s sales mix to maximize all potential profit margins, all while developing a customer-centric culture. By 2011, two new businesses had been launched under the Sorbet brand (wellness services; event management). Such expansion plus regional diversification options all had to be considered while keeping service quality levels high.