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An executive wonders if it is possible to increase profits by changing the mix of products at a shipyard. The yard currently operates below the breakeven point, so must achieve profitability or default on loan payments.

The new chief executive office of a struggling dotcom is faced with high costs and slow revenue generation - sufficient to have burned $Cdn20 million, and profitability was not yet in sight. Fortunately, his venture cap company was still willing to advance funds and he believed that he could nail down some elephant deals to save the enterprise. He had the option of chasing smaller deals for immediate cash. In what priority should he attack his strategic issues, and in particular, what size and type of selling opportunities should he pursue.

Eastern Bank Limited has taken over the Bangladesh operations of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International after its collapse. The new chief executive officer of Eastern Bank must make decisions about which corporate banking clients to target, how to develop and position the Eastern Bank brand, what products to emphasize, in what price structure and whether to centralize or decentralize the bank's operations. The supplement Eastern Bank Limited (B), product 9B04A031 updates the situation. This case provides a good vehicle for discussing relationship management in a complex service analysis of market segments and the present and future profitability, so that the marketing strategy decisions are customer driven.

Indian Oil Corporation, a public sector undertaking of the Government of India, is faced with the prospect of the deregulation of the oil industry in India and the need to compete with nimble new market entrants. A major initiative toward this end is the enterprise resource planning system that the company has commissioned. Now, several years into the implementation, several snags arise; the implementation is clearly not going as planned. The company must decide how to bring the implementation back on track and also use the lessons it has learned to re-evaluate whether it is headed in the right direction.

Money laundering is not an activity far removed from the corporate world; in fact, many organizations are unwittingly drawn into the web of money laundering with often damaging results. This note traces the history of money laundering, explores the different stages in the money laundering process, and investigates the growing phenomenon of cyber-laundering. Its intent is to raise awareness of the phenomenon as it relates to the corporate world and to help inform corporate personnel and business students how it might affect their workplace and their work lives.

Jay Nielson has done charity work in India with Akka International for a number of years. After a recent trip, the president of Akka proposed that Nielson enter into a joint venture with Akka to provide information technology outsourcing services to American companies. Akka was willing to provide $100,000 in seed money to fund the venture. Nielson must decide if he wants to undertake this challenge and what it would take to make this work. This also poses an ethical dilemma for him. Should he risk losing the much-needed funds in the hope of bettering a number of lives, or request the seed money be used to provide direct services to the most needy?

Paybox.net AG was the world's first mass-marketable mobile payment system. Launched in 1999 at the height of the dotcom boom, it had been steadily losing ground. The company's founder, and architect of the technology underlying Paybox, must decide if his product has a future, and if so, what the market strategy should be.

Takahiko Naraki is a young entrepreneur in Japan who is trying to make his Internet-based business model work in the challenging Tokyo business world, and must make a key decision: whether and how to expand his business. In addition to discussing the work-life balance of entrepreneurs in general, and this one Japanese entrepreneur in particular, the case also introduces aspects of the Japanese entrepreneurial environment including the importance of networking, the business laws regulating entrepreneurial activity, social perceptions of entrepreneurship, and the capital market for small companies in Japan.

The Zambian government embarked on a divesture of its mining industry in 1992. However, by July of 2004, 67 per cent of the mining assets were still in government hands and the government is still looking for equity partners. This case can be used as a basis for discussing political and country risk analysis, international negotiations, feasibility study analysis, managing strategic failure, and ethical and social responsibility issues.

Amway is a large manufacturer of household products that uses the direct selling approach. The company was established in the late 1940s and over the years, still using direct selling, branched into the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan. With this global success it expanded further, into the Chinese market. However, the company must look at its strategy after the Chinese government implements regulations on the direct marketing business model. The supplement Amway in China (B): Adopting to a Changing Environment, product 9B04M036, looks at how the company responds to the changing social and political environment.

The Chinese government has placed a ban on direct marketing. With direct marketing being the primary marketing method the company uses, it must respond to the changing social and political environment. This is a supplement to Amway in China (A): A New Business Model, product 9B04M035.

Elixir Technology is a small software development company based in Singapore that develops data analysis and report generation software and provides technical training and consulting services. By May 2003, it had successfully sold this software to corporate clients in Singapore, China and Japan, following a very adaptive marketing strategy in each market. Now the managing director is contemplating entering the Middle East but must choose an entry strategy quickly to capitalize on the current window of opportunity. Available entry choices include direct entry, or several partnership options.

In less than a decade, Korea's Samsung has transformed itself from a maker of low-end consumer electronics into a legitimate rival to Japanese industry giants such as Sony and Panasonic. Success has been due largely to efforts to reposition Samsung as a provider of stylish, leading-edge digital technology. But shadows of the old brand image remain, spurred on by the continued availability of several of the company's traditional products. The president of Samsung Electronics Canada has been directed to solve this problem, prompting difficult choices regarding product, pricing, distribution and promotion that threaten to hurt sales and short run profits.

Arvind Mills, a large Indian textile and garment manufacturer, has to assess the costs of a large order, as a basis for a price quotation. The company is in a significant loss position. The textile industry in India is constrained by government regulations and the industry is critical as both an export earner and a major employer in the economy. However, the industry is losing share to China and must change to meet that threat. The vice-president of operations must assess the costs associated with the order, including an assessment whether to use the traditional cost system or the customer and manufacturing based activity cost system. The decision is also strategic as this order is at the core of the company's new strategy to be both a designer and manufacturer.

The president of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Fund is faced with the decision of how to expand the Dabbawallahs of Mumbai service. The service could be expanded in terms of product offering or geographical setting. This is a supplement to Dabbawallahs of Mumbai (A), product 9B04D011, and asks students to examine the opportunities and challenges in growing the service, and decide upon the most appropriate course of action.

The president of Daikin Industries Residential Air Conditioning Shiga Factory was confronted by the prospects of an unseasonably cold summer, at a time when the Shiga Factory had large quantities of its products in inventory in anticipation of strong summer sales. The president was concerned not only about pending losses in the current year, but also about the factory's long-term survival. Unprofitability was unacceptable and Daikin was caught in a stagnant market in which it was increasingly difficult to build share by product differentiation. The Shiga Factory had been forced to use large inventories to cope with uncertain demand and a long and unwieldy supply chain. The president must decide whether to reduce the number of models, build a lower-cost factory outside Japan, or exit the business. He must also determine if there are any other options.

The top sales person for Alchemy Training Firm has visited three potential clients, an existing customer, a warm call referral and a cold call, to sell a new offering from the company. While the company was well-known for providing top quality sales management training programs, the owners have decided to branch out with a new offer of supply chain management/purchasing training courses. The sales person must prepare a report of these sales calls for a planning session, and is concerned that the outcome may not be successful. He wonders what he could have done differently. The case highlights the difficulties in selling a new intangible service when firm reputation, trainer reputation, and course customization opportunities compete with cost as main buyer priorities. The differing opinions of the owners on the firm's growth strategy are an issue, as well.

The purchasing manager was wondering how many bottles he should purchase in the coming year. Last year, the market had levelled off and sales predictions were difficult. On the one hand he wanted to be sure sufficient bottles were available to supply this year's sales levels, yet he also wanted to minimize year-end inventories as covered storage space for empty bottles was tight and a bottle change-over seemed possible in the next two years.

The research and development improvement manager at Shanghai Bell, a major telecommunications device manufacturer in China, has just finished a meeting with top management on strategic initiatives suggested in the corporate information systems plan report. One project that was suggested in the report — implementing a collaborative product commerce (CPC) system — is about to begin. The manager must review the project planning process and examine the extent to which the company, a European-Chinese joint venture, is ready to undertake the project.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Shanghai branch has successfully launched its Internet-based private banking service. The vice director of e-banking felt that the project was a success in terms of schedule and quality, and he needed to present his experiences and lessons learned to senior management. Of particular importance were the e-banking system’s benefits to users, the consumer profile, impacts on the bank’s performance, and factors influencing the effective implementation of the system.