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This supplement to Hopax (A), product number 9B10M004, recounts the events that followed until 2008 and explains how the company applied principles of judo strategy to become the second largest supplier of repositionable notes in the world.

By 2009, China's exports had increased dramatically from $250 billion in 2000 to a projected $1,500 billion in 2009. This enormous growth of exports severely damaged competing businesses in the advanced nations, particularly the United States and Europe. China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 guaranteed China's right to export to these nations, but at the same time the WTO required China to adhere to certain rules that sought to support fair trade and create a level playing field. Several broad subjects each gave rise to a series of trade disputes: the protection of intellectual property, health and safety concerns about China's products, labour and environmental standards, China's manipulation of their currency, and costs and prices determined by the government rather than free markets. This case examines each set of trade disputes and China's attempts to resolve them. Many disputes were embedded in cultural practices and ideological positions and so they might not disappear quickly. Shortcomings in China's legal and judicial system hampered enforcement. In addition, many rested on the government's desire to protect the interests of Chinese businesses and their employees, and so China might alter its practices only if confronted with credible retalitory threats. China's central government experienced the principal-agent problem where its wishes and decisions could be ignored by local governments and firms. Meanwhile, changes in industry structure within the advanced nations were altering the negotiation positions of Western governments. The case examines the WTO dispute resolution procedures and enforcement mechanisms that have been directed at China's trade disputes.

This three-case series, set internationally (Japan) explores corporate responsibility and brand rebuilding in the face of a serious crisis. Suitable for MBA, executive education, and undergraduate students, it depicts a consumer advocate's decision-making process as she considers whether to help the company restore its reputation. In spring 2002, leading consumer activist Nobuko Hiwasa was invited to join the Japanese company Snow Brand Milk Products' board of directors. The CEO wanted her to assist in SBM's revitalization efforts, which were being implemented in the wake of two recent scandals-contaminated milk and beef mislabeling-that had almost brought down the venerable company. Hiwasa had to decide whether to take on this Herculean task. Was the company sincere in wanting to reform and revitalize? Would she be accepted as an equal among the board members, and would her views and suggestions be given serious consideration? Was the request publicity-driven? How would fellow consumer advocates view her if she accepted the position? This case details the history of Snow Brand Milk Products and the missteps and scandals that plagued it in the 1990s and early part of the decade that followed, and includes Nobuko Hiwasa's decision making process as she considers whether to join the board of a company that has been badly tainted by scandal.

This case outlines the turnaround efforts Snow Brand undertook to address its grave missteps: shifting to a consumer-oriented, integrity-focused management style; providing greater transparency and communication; establishing a corporate ethics committee and a Snow Brands Code of Conduct. In June 2002, after much consideration and reflection on Snow Brand's issues (as outlined in the A case), consumer activist Nobuko Hiwasa joined its new board as its sole outside director, serving as the impetus for the changes the company made. Her appointment indicated Snow Brand Milk Products was indeed serious about reform and revitalization.

The turnaround at Snow Brand Milk Products was a real learning experience for all involved. The lessons were many, and while prioritizing them was difficult, it seemed clear that the most significant was the realization that the company existed to serve the consumer and, through that service, the broader society. This brief case outlines the successes that Nobuko Hiwasa pushed Snow Brand management to accomplish, and introduces the challenges that the company faced in 2009: primarily, continuing to build its Corporate Social Responsibility approach and addressing environmental and social issues.

Should an international company operating in a violent nation pay a paramilitary group to keep its employees from harm? Executives at Chiquita Brands' Banadex subsidiary in Colombia faced a dilemma in 1997. Carlos Castano, the leader of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, a paramilitary group, was demanding payment in return for not harming Banadex's employees or operations. The executives must weigh the various options including, among others, making the payments or shutting down operations. This case examines the history of Chiquita (formerly the United Fruit Company) in Colombia (and other South American countries), its interaction with the country's political and social structure, and the difficulties of doing business in one of the world's most violent countries.

This case focuses on New Balance, a privately held company and the fourth largest athletic footwear manufacturer in the world. Founded over 100 years ago, New Balance has a strong social responsibility culture and mission established by its owners. Its commitment to employees, for example, was expressed through maintaining domestic manufacturing in the United States (the only large footwear manufacturer to do so presently) and avoiding layoffs in the deep recession of 2007-2009. In the late 1990s, the company established the Responsible Leadership Steering Committee to address human rights issues in overseas factories. Throughout the years, private ownership had allowed New Balance to take risks and make choices that publicly held companies might not have been able to do; at the same time, private ownership also meant lower pressures to disclose social and environmental performance. The owners were also very humble and hesitant to talk aloud about social responsibility. As a global player, the present challenge for the company has become to move corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the next level from doing what's right to fully integrating CSR into the business strategy. The overall goal of the case is to use the provided information from a comprehensive company assessment to identify a few key areas where New Balance can focus on and demonstrate industry leadership while also supporting the bottom line. A set of key questions is included at the end of the paper to guide student's discussion around critical issues for building an integrated CSR strategy for New Balance, considering its culture, structure and present level of corporate citizenship management.

The Swagruha Foods case has been developed to highlight the challenge facing many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) all over the world. There are many SMEs that have successfully overcome the initial survival challenge. They have a stable base of loyal customers, are able to command attractive prices, and have built up a reputation for good quality. Yet they are unable to grow beyond a certain point. Why? What must they do to overcome the growth challenge? Swagruha Foods is a good example of an SME that has enjoyed considerable success, thanks to the dedication and commitment of the Chagarlamudi family as well as to the changing socio-economic situation in India. Yet, there are several indications that it is unable to fully exploit its growth opportunities.

Against all odds, the founder of Mk II Corporation (Mk II) has started an American watch company. The founder, a former investment banker and a Wharton MBA graduate, began his venture in 2002 with no prior experience in the watchmaking trade. He started his company to produce watches in the United States during an era when U.S. manufacturing was in decline and the country had no indigenous watchmaking firms to speak of. In addition, the economy was recovering from the dotcom bust and there was intense competition from large, vertically integrated players. Despite all this, the founder has managed to deliver a few thousand watches and watch parts, and has a growing customer list. His challenge in March 2009 turns from trying to survive to figuring out how to manage Mk II's explosive growth.

A stock analyst is reviewing information about Finning International Inc. He wonders how strategy at Finning's business unit-level is translated into financial and individual performance metrics at the line of business level. The case study describes Finning's internal management systems and shows how the metrics at the various levels are in alignment with the company's overall objectives.

GPS-to-GO is a successful company that has a wealth of brilliant researchers and scientists who have created advanced global positioning systems (GPSs) for complex air-traffic control and logistics systems. Now, the vision of one of the up and coming managers is to use GPS-to-GO's knowledge to dominate the consumer market with premium-priced and feature-rich GPS units. Even though GPS-to-GO is far ahead in terms of GPS technology, the consumer market demands low-cost units and yearly follow-on products, which requires drastically different skills than GPS-to-GO's typical five- to 10-year cost-plus government projects. One of the managers is tasked with how to meet the cost target and market window for the new product, while working with the same engineering group that caused the unit manufacturing problem and launch delays in the first place. The key issues concern 1) engineering-centric companies and their culture, business strategies and processes for managing new product development 2) the implications these strategies and processes have on addressing the needs of customers, shareholders and employees in a totally new market segment 3) the role managers can play in making critical decisions with a keen eye on roadblocks to success, such as culture, inadequate skills and overly optimistic and myopic visionaries. The case includes an Excel spreadsheet with break-even scenarios that professors can use to complement the teaching note. The case is intended for courses in managing new product commercialization, managing technology and innovation, strategic thinking, operations management and leadership.

Spreadsheet for teaching note 8B09A27.

This case examines how CEMEX adapted its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) program (Patrimonio Hoy) to the specific socio-economic realities of Puerto Rico - Fundacion Arte en Concreto (the Foundation). The Foundation was a partnership between a number of entities in the private, public and not for profit sector. For CEMEX, the main partner and founder, Arte en Concreto provided a way to promote concrete as an art form while contributing to the economic and social development of Puerto Rico. The goal of the Foundation was to rehabilitate prisoners through vocational training. The case also examines a number of external factors that affected the Foundation in 2008-09, such as global and local economic recessions, a slowdown in the construction sector, destabilizing effects for a public-private partnership of a new political party in government, and a general distrust of CEMEX's environmental record. The staff at the board of directors needed to develop a strategy that could guarantee the future of the Foundation.

In January 2010, Google threatened in a public statement to stop censoring its search results on its google.cn website, as required by Chinese authorities. Should Google exit China? Or attempt a compromise with the Chinese government?

The last year's rather adventurous journey from 2004 to 2009 had taught the fifth-largest toy-maker in the world - the LEGO Group - the importance of managing the global supply chain effectively. In order to survive the largest internal financial crisis in its roughly 70 years of existence, the management had, among many initiatives, decided to offshore and outsource a major chunk of its production to Flextronics. In this pursuit of rapid cost-cutting sourcing advantages, the LEGO Group planned to license out as much as 80 per cent of its production besides closing down major parts of the production in high cost countries. Confident with the prospects of the new partnership, the company signed a long-term contract with Flextronics. This decision eventually proved itself to have been too hasty, however. Merely three years after the contracts were signed, LEGO management announced that it would phase out the entire sourcing collaboration with Flextronics. This sudden change in its sourcing strategy posed LEGO management with a number of caveats. Despite the bright forecasts, the collaboration did not fulfill the initial expectations, and the company needed to understand why this had happened. Secondly, what could LEGO management have done differently?

Polar Challenge was a company that offered an annual 320 nautical-mile race to the magnetic North Pole organized by Arctic experts. It had been successful in the United Kingdom, establishing marketing partnerships with the BBC, Sony, Fujitsu and others. Polar Challenge saw the United States market as untapped potential for both sponsors and racers. In 2008, with the centennial of polar exploration approaching in 2009, the company decided to offer the race to Americans. The director of marketing is given responsibility for establishing a presence in the United States, but he soon finds that U.S. companies and media outlets do not have the level of interest he expected. In addition, companies worldwide were cutting back on advertising spending in response to the global economic crisis. This case examines a number of issues focused on expansion into new markets and resource commitments to such endeavours. It can be used to discuss the importance of understanding the target market, targeting the unique needs of different customer segments, adapting product offerings to international markets and establishing realistic goals.

In 2009, Parle Products Pvt. Limited (Parle), a leading Indian biscuit manufacturer, had the distinction of producing the largest selling glucose biscuit brand by volume in the world, the Parle-G. Parle-G biscuits sold for approximately US$1 per kilogram and as very few processed and ready-to-eat foods were available at this price point, Parle-G was strongly associated with offering value for money (VFM). A looming problem in this brand category for Parle was that the input prices of two major raw materials for the Parle-G biscuits (which together accounted for 55 per cent of their input costs) had risen enough in the past 18 months to decrease margins from 15 per cent to less than 10 per cent. Pressure to restore margins led Parle to consider a price increase yet a previous attempt had caused dramatic reduction in sales. Parle subsequently addressed rising input costs by reducing the weight of the package, franchising production, reducing supply chain costs and reducing packaging costs. Parle could not ignore the deeply entrenched perception of VFM when devising both short- and long-term marketing plans to retain Parle-G's success in the marketplace. These plans needed to address segmentation, positioning and changing Indian demographics when considering a potential price increase for Parle-G biscuits.

L’Oreal S.A. is in the process of implementing a global diversity strategy. The firm's Europe diversity director is working with various country units to roll out the strategy. The director faces obstacles such as cultural differences between countries and, generally, low awareness of the benefits a diversity strategy can bring.

The chief financial officer of Acer Incorporated has to decide how to manage the higher level of complexity of the company's exchange risk after their restructuring. This must be done in a way which is consistent with Acer's core principles, one of which is to find simple effective solutions to unavoidable business risks. The case addresses the technical issues of exposure measurement and hedging, the challenge of hedging expected, but not contracted, future foreign currency revenues, and IFRS hedge accounting requirements.

With a change in management in 2005 came a radical reorganization and the announcement of several new strategic initiatives. Among the initiatives was the establishment of the Vestas Technology research and development (R&D) business unit with an aim of achieving global leadership in all core technology areas and, consequently, strengthening the core competence for the company. By 2008, Vestas had succeeded in setting up a global R&D network with R&D centres in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Singapore and India, and, in early 2009, a centre was opened in the United States. This transformed Vestas into a high-tech company and put a greater emphasis on its technological innovations.