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How does the new president of an IT division of a global company that originally sold cooking oil attract, develop, and retain key talent in the quick changing high tech business? The story illustrates the cultural challenges of transforming an Indian company to enhance its global effectiveness. The (A) case demonstrates some of the methods Wipro Technologies used to leverage difference in the workforce to create competitive advantage for the firm. The (B) case further describes some of Sudip Nandy's ideas for business growth. In the (C) case Nandy reviews more strategies and updates the business situation to late 2002. Wipro illustrates the importance of national culture and ethnicity issues to everything a large corporation does--including its own culture of origin, the cultures of its potential customers, and the cultures of its employees. The case lends itself well to unfold the Hofstede cultural model during the class.

A village leader must reallocate farmland and decides to hold a competition among the three most capable farmers in the village. The contract to the farmland will be awarded to the farmer with the best performance in the growing season. The growing season is over and the village leader must review the farmers' capital structure, capacity, and leasing costs, and make his decision.

Terralumen is a family-owned agricultural company that has expanded into consumer products. A senior executive with the company has helped build a successful joint venture over a period of 16 years with Delta, an American fast food chain. After a directors meeting, he senses that the American joint venture partners want to end the partnership, but he is unsure why. The joint venture has been profitable, and he also believes his company contributed the most to its success and that prior to the joint venture Delta had limited success in foreign markets. With the break up of the joint venture pending, he must determine how to extract the largest return on Terralumen's investment.

N.K. Builders and Contractors was a construction company newly formed by an experienced contractor and a young project manager. The project manager was very knowledgeable of the construction industry but not familiar with the bidding process for contracts; for this he relied heavily on the experience of his partner. The company's first project was a government contract that required the partners to go to the divisional office to apply for the tender, where they found out they were one of 15 interested in the highway project. The bidding process was similar to an auction, the highest bid won. Money generated from the highest bid was shared equally among the remaining contractors, and the higher the bid the more commission government officials received. Winning the contract is only the beginning. Once a company receives the project, they are expected to begin work within a month; however, many things can happen between winning and the completing of the contract and he would discover there would be a number of times when it would be necessary to pay various officials to proceed with the project. The project manager was disappointed in the way the company was awarded the project and now must decide if he should quit and lose the money he invested in the company or remain with the business.

SW Construction (Holding) Limited is a construction company that develops and manages properties. After a number of successful years in exclusively developing its own properties, the company has suffered a loss in revenue. The executive director is concerned that they have not been able to obtain a government contract. He must determine how the company can win more government contracts by collecting and analysing data from the last 20 auctions.

Helped the Aged Canada, a non-profit organization, has hired Kate Archer to manage their prosthetic clinic in Haiti. After her arrival in Haiti she learns that its key employee does not meet her performance expectations. Communicating with the employee, a deaf-mute, however, was very difficult and required the use of another employee as translator. She must communicate her performance expectations to the employee. The supplement to this case, Kate Archer In Haiti (B), product number 9B01C036 describes how Kate develops a contract and finalizes the agreement with the employee.

Gino SA was a major European-based manufacturer of burner units that are sold in China through exclusive contracts with three distributors. As a result, the three Chinese distributors have significant bargaining power with Gino. A leading boiler manufacturer, who is currently purchasing through a distributor, has approached Gino to receive OEM treatment (a further discount by purchasing the burners direct from the manufacturer, in return for a commitment to purchase a percentage of their burners from Gino). In deciding whether or not to pursue the company's first direct OEM relationship, the marketing manager must consider the impact of his decision on the distributors, the competition and the company's corporate management.

Procter & Gamble is a major player in the global hair care industry. In a practice common to many companies facing fierce competition in a lucrative market, Procter & Gamble hired a competitive intelligence contractor to monitor the activities of a rival company. As a result, Procter & Gamble acquired valuable information on the competitor. While legal counsel confirmed that the information was not gained through illegal activities, senior executives acknowledge that Procter & Gamble's own core values may have been compromised.

In the early 2000s, a university graduate working as a project manager for a small Chinese consulting firm is in the middle of a very important project when he receives a call from a former colleague offering him an attractive package to move to a new company. His decision would affect many stakeholders and he wonders what might happen to the project he is working on. He has only three days to decide whether to stay with the firm or accept the offer.

The president and chief executive officer of a large food manufacturer is preparing his company's strategic agenda for the next five years. One of the top five food manufacturers in Canada, the company went public and restructured its management team six years ago. The efforts were successful, resulting in an increase in the company's market share. Recent food industry trends, however, added box stores and private label brands to the domestic competition. At the same time, the terms of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement are expected to abolish food-related tariffs within two years, opening up competition from across the border. While the company has experienced success in the past five years, the president and chief executive officer needs a strategic plan that will take the company to the next level.

Textron Ltd. is a family-owned manufacturer of cotton and sponge fabricated items. The company wants to expand its business with an offshore manufacturing enterprise that will fit with the company's policy of caring for their employees and providing quality products. The company is looking at two options: a guaranteed outsourcing purchase agreement or a joint venture. After several meetings with offshore alliance candidates the vice-president of the company must analyse the cross-cultural differences to established corporate guidelines of global ethics and social responsibility that the company can use in their negotiations with a foreign manufacturing firm.

Blue Ridge Spain was a joint venture established between a well-known American fast food chain and an old guard family-run agricultural company that was seeking to diversify in the wake of Spain's entry into the European Union. The European Regional director of the company has been dealt an unexpected professional blow. After several years of fostering a successful joint venture, the regional director is stunned to find out that the new owners of Blue Ridge want out of the arrangement. In spite of the fact that this particular joint venture has been profitable since its inception and the company has experienced brisk growth during that time, the new owners are determined to end the partnership. The regional director is left examining how he is to respond to a request that he feels is not only detrimental to his company, but also contrary to his principles. He questions the ethics of secretly undermining the joint venture in order to achieve the upper hand in buyout negotiations. As a Greek, the importance of personal relationships and social contracts only adds to his dilemma.

The March 2002 decision by President George W. Bush to impose tariffs on some imported steel capped a long-running campaign by the US steel industry and its unions for assistance in dealing with surges of low-priced imported steel, often said to be sold in the US below its cost of manufacture. The Bush decision came as a surprise to many convinced that a free trade-oriented administration would not adopt measures likely to be viewed as protectionist. This case provides definitive historical context for those seeking to understand the Bush decision. It uses the long-running dispute over whether steps should be taken to limit the quantity of steel imported by the US as a window on the wide range of laws, factors, and players who influence the making of American trade policy. The case traces the steel dispute through the late 20th century, with particular focus on the Clinton administration. It provides a primer on trade laws-particularly the roles of the Commerce Department, which determines whether illegal "dumping" (selling below cost of production or home market price) of imported goods has occurred, and the International Trade Commission, the quasi-judicial federal agency which rules on whether imports have injured a domestic industry. HKS Case Number 1651.0

Nanjing Chuangqi is a small auto parts manufacturing firm. The general manager of the company is deciding whether the company should integrate its product line from existing universal joint and steering shaft to steering column and whether the major processes involved should be outsourced or made internally. Using breakeven and net present value analysis, he must consider the impact on the company and the auto industry when China joins the World Trade Organization and import tariff barriers are removed.

Optical Recording Corporation (ORC) secured the rights to a technology known as digital optical audio recording. During the time it took to negotiate the final transfer of the technology ownership, it was rumored that some major electronics manufacturers were developing compact disc (CD) players that recorded digital optical audio signals. A patent lawyer advised ORC that the compact disc players and compact discs recently released by these companies might be infringing the claims of ORC's newly acquired patents. Based on this information, the company proceeded to successfully negotiate licensing agreements with the two largest CD manufacturers, Sony of Japan, and Philips of the Netherlands The third largest manufacturer, WEA Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., maintained a position of non-infringement and invalid patents. With the U.S. patent expiry date looming, ORC decided to sue Time Warner for patent infringement. When the defense counsel presented testimony that questioned the integrity of the licensing agreement, ORC's president realized that the entire licensing program was in jeopardy and must decide whether he should accept a settlement or proceed with the lawsuit.

The founder of a Canadian publishing company is nearing retirement. His mission has been to promote Canadian authors and he has actively pursued government assistance and policies to protect Canadian cultural industries. However, there are often policies against free trade of cultural products which has hurt exporting. Discussed is how firm value is affected by government policy and the trade-offs of cultural protectionism.

Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a holding company based in Hong Kong with its core business interests in property development, retail and manufacturing, telecommunications and finance and investment. The deputy managing director must assess the company's corporate strategy. She must consider how the corporate office adds value to the underlying business and review the business portfolio and its considerable geographic scope. It is unlikely Hutchison Whampoa can be a global player in all of its businesses, so she must determine which of the businesses can be global, regional or local.

EuroGame is a multinational interactive games company. The company is considering making its products available through the newly developed interactive television market. A consultant to the company has been asked by the Internet Director to advise whether Eurogame should invest in this new market and if so, determine how the firm could leverage these capabilities and with whom it should partner with.

Monsanto, one of the world's largest producers of commodity chemicals, had decided to focus its operations on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The first shipment of genetically modified soybeans arrived in Europe in November of 1996. Genetic engineering promised to reduce the use of pesticides and curtail world hunger. Therefore, Monsanto was dismayed at the powerful opposition that developed over the next few years. A series of food safety concerns, the foremost being mad cow disease, only added to consumer skepticism. The company must examine its strategy and the relationships with key stakeholders (including governments, farmers, industry groups, environmentalists, grocers and consumers). The (A) case provides background on Monsanto, their corporate strategies and the climate in which they introduced genetically modified products in the United States and Europe. The supplement Monsanto (B), product 9B02A008, focuses on the roles of government and other regulatory bodies in the acceptance of genetically modified products.

This supplement to Monsanto Europe (A), product 9B02A007 discusses the non-acceptance to genetically modified products showing up in the poor performance of Monsanto's agricultural division, affecting its successful divisions and the survival of the company. In order to win back its respectable standing in the marketplace, Monsanto must develop new strategies to educate consumers and influence political decision makers in order to gain greater acceptance of its products.