個案總覽

Huazhang is a joint venture between China Machine Press and Multi-Lingua Publishing International, Inc. of the United States. Since its establishment, Huazhang had developed from a company with three employees to more than 100 employees. The shareholders are interested in determining how well the company has been managed and the board decides the best way to do this would be to value the company. The board also wants to measure the general managers' future performance based on the increased value of the company. The issue for the newly-appointed general manager is to determine which of the many possible methods should be used to value the company, including the discounted cash flow model, and to perform sensitivity tests.

Newfoundland-based Fishery Products International (FPI) is one of the largest seafood companies in North America. FPI has experienced its best performance in a decade and has recently survived a hostile takeover bid by three competitors who acted in concert. The chief executive officer (CEO) has just returned from New Zealand where he was visiting a major competitor to see if there was the possibility of a strategic alliance. The CEO knew he had to do something to prevent another hostile takeover and to continue to grow shareholder value while still maintaining the social conscience of FPI. Some of the issues facing FPI were: performance, strategic leadership and corporate governance, and implementing an integrated product differentiation/cost leadership strategy.

In 1998 it appeared that Japanese auto companies could be forced to pay duty on their non-NAFTA imports into Canada. The U.S. Big Three auto makers (GM, Ford and Chrysler), in contrast did not have to pay such a tariff on their offshore imports such as those made by Ford-owned Jaguar (United Kingdom) and GM's Saab (Sweden). The Japanese and U.S. firms were treated differently because of the 1966 Auto Pact that made all Big Three imports duty-free. However, in the early 1980's, in order to encourage auto investment, the Canadian government granted virtual Auto-Pact status to Japanese firms (Toyota and Honda) that located in Ontario. This eliminated tariffs on the Japan-made models they sold in Canada. Public debate arose during the Free Trade Agreement (1989) and North American Free Trade Agreement (1994) trade negotiations. The U.S., under the Big Three influence, pushed Canada to withdraw the Pact-like benefits it used to attract the Japanese factories. Canada eventually complied with the U.S. demands, while leaving the Pact in place for U.S. automakers. This led the Japanese government to challenge the fairness of the proposed tariff at the World Trade Organization (WTO). While waiting for the WTO process to unfold, the Japanese and U.S. automakers were considering how to respond to the forthcoming judgement.

Komia Holdings SA is the second largest fixed-telephony operator in Poland. The chief executive officer must decide if the company should participate in the government bidding process to acquire an operating license for the third generation (3G) wireless telecommunications in Poland. This technology will allow the company to offer high-speed Internet access as well as many promising multimedia services on mobile handsets. He must consider his company's strategy, competition from other operators and several political debates about the bidding process that has lead to changes in the way the process is handled. The supplement, Komia and the 3G Wireless Phone Auction in Poland (B), product 9B01M038 follows, with the decision of Komia to participate in the bidding process.

Global Sources Limited is Asia's leading publisher of business-to-business (B2B) trade-related magazines. In the latter half of the 1990s, the Internet became a powerful force for change in the business world, leading to an explosion of Internet-related activities by both traditional bricks and mortar companies, as well as countless upstart dot.coms. The chairman and chief executive officer of Global Sources had foreseen the opportunities afforded by the Internet early on, and had made it an integral part of the company's strategy. Currently, the level of activity in the B2B portal space has evolved so quickly that a noticeable degree of confusion among suppliers, buyers and investors about the merits and drawbacks of these portals has arisen. Moreover, the sustainability of these ventures has been brought into question, which is causing a dramatic reversal of fortunes for many companies. The result is that there are strong signs that the industry will experience a significant consolidation. This has left Global Sources chairman with the key challenge of generating greater visibility among users and potential users of the companies services, as well as greater interest from the investment community in order to remain viable. The company must be able to educate and convey its value proposition to its users, as well as determine whether it should continue to remain an independent player, purchase a competitor, or enter into a strategic alliance.

This note provides a non-technical description of the Chinese legal system relevant to international business. It outlines the Chinese concept of law, the Chinese legal system, dispute resolution, the 1999 Unified Contract Law and the legal framework for foreign investment enterprises.

Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited is a research and new-media company that provides Asian-based economic and political information. The managing editor is facing several challenges in building a new online business intelligence service that focuses on Asia's new economy. As the person responsible for the company's first Internet related initiative, he is expected to design, manage and help market the new initiative that will be independent from, yet complementary to, the company's existing events-oriented and research services. Although he is satisfied with the content that has been developed, he still needs to resolve several issues regarding target audience, pricing policy, revenue diversification options and service awareness. A sense of urgency pervades the situation, since he is expected to ensure that the new service will contribute 25 per cent of total company revenues within the next year.

Stella Artois, Interbrew company's flagship brand of beer, has experienced phenomenal success on the international market. The United Kingdom market has played a critical role in that success, and Interbrew needs to assess the reasons for this. Interbrew's managing director and its chief marketing officer are meeting to have a discussion about how to proceed in developing the Stella Artois brand. First, they need to understand what part of the company's success was due to expert marketing practices and what part might possibly be due to being in the right place at the right time. As well, they want to assess what possible steps might be taken to spread these practices across the corporation for use in the company's global marketing strategy.

Welcome Pharmaceuticals was a joint venture between North China Pharmaceutical Corp. and Hong Kong Triple Well International and is a leading producer of vitamin C in China. The company's general manager had just returned from an industry wide meeting, and was disturbed by what he had learned: there was a worldwide oversupply of vitamin C and already sagging prices had not yet hit rock bottom. The general manager knew the only way for Welcome to survive was to reduce costs, and because Welcome's material costs were already among the lowest in the industry, the only area left to trim was labor costs. The management team was called together to decide whether this was, in fact, the company's only option. If so, the management team had to quickly decide how to go about effecting what was bound to be an unpopular change among several tiers of workers.

A Canadian couple working as volunteers in a human resource centre in Jamaica meet with the centre's principal to discuss their concerns about the general disorganization and lack of motivation at the inner-city community centre's remedial summer school. The principal asks for recommendations to improve the experience for both teachers and students and to address the problems of absenteeism and tardiness.

Far Eastern Textile, a major Taiwanese textile and telecommunications company, is considering its options for raising US$130 million in a new round of global fund raising. The options of a new common stock or long term debt issue are explored but specific attention is paid to an option raised by the company's investment banker. This option entails the issuance of an innovative convertible debt instrument which combines a zero coupon and a significant conversion premium over the current price of the company's common stock. The benefit and costs of a delayed equity instrument for both corporations and investors is examined, as well as issues regarding security pricing in different financial markets.

Velsicol Chemical Corporation, a global company focused on producing specialty chemicals, has formed a joint venture with the Estonian government called Velsicol Eesti AS that would produce benzoic acid. The plant that will produce this chemical was previously part of a conglomerate owned and controlled by the Russian government. When Estonia became an independent state this plant was passed on to the country which then privatized and sold a percentage of it to Velsicol. The newly appointed plant manager came from a benzoic plant outside the country and was responsible for government relations, cost management, liaison with the board of directors, performance standards and staffing. He must quickly put together a management team that would be familiar with the current operations and capable of working together to achieve the company's goals. In order to do this, he needed to better understand the employees with whom he was working. A follow-up case, Velsicol Eesti AS (B), is available, (product 9B00M008), as well as a cultural note on Estonia, (product number 9B00M014).

A summary of Estonia's history, economics, industry and culture is provided in this note as a supplement to be used with the Velsicol Eesti AS (A) and (B) cases, products 9B00M007 and 9B00M008.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - AIB Case Competition, Academy of International Business, and Indiana University Center for International Business Education and Research (IUCIBER) International Case Competition</strong></p><br>Meridco Magnesium is an international automotive parts supplier of magnesium die-cast components with manufacturing plants in Canada, the United States and France. The company has a strong market position in North America; however, two out of the three plants are not performing well. The vice-president of the company's Global Technologies Organization division believes the weaker performance in the two plants is due to resistance to technological innovations. He must determine the reasons for this resistance and develop a plan to resolve the weak performance in the plants before the upcoming annual board meeting. Three supplements further discuss the issues each of the plants have with new technology. Meridco Magnesium: The French Perspective, product 9B01M007; Meridco Magnesium: The Canadian Perspective, product 9B01M008, and Meridco Magnesium: The American Perspective, product 9B01M009.

The president and general plant manager of the French plant of a major magnesium die-cast auto parts manufacturer discusses with the company's vice-president their concerns with the policy on implementing new technology in the plant. This is a supplement to Meridco Magnesium: International Technology Transfer, product 9B01M006.

The vice-president of a major magnesium die-cast auto parts manufacturer is determining why two of the three company plants are not performing well. He meets with the head of each plant to discuss their views on technology innovations in the company. This is a supplement to Meridco Magnesium: International Technology Transfer, product 9B01M006.

The American plant manager of a large magnesium die-cast auto parts manufacturer has a conversation with the company's vice-president about the technology innovations within the company. This is a supplement to Meridco Magnesium: International Technology Transfer, product 9B01M006.

Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited is a Singapore-based research and media company. The newly appointed director of advisory services is considering the challenges in building the company's latest service offering. The company's strong emphasis on this new service is a departure from their previous strategy of attempting to develop its existing events, custom research and online information services in a relatively even manner. He needs to formulate a plan that will ensure the new service contributes about half of the company's revenue within the next year. This case may be used with Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited (A), 9B01M032.

The managing director and director of overseas marketing of Midea Group, China's largest air conditioner manufacturer, had concerns about the company's domestic and global competitive position. They felt the company needed to develop a strategy to defend its home market in the wake of more liberalized imports, and simultaneously, develop the resources and skills required to play in a global market where its cost advantages had been nullified because international players were also exporting from China. To do so, they needed to review the company's current international strategy and examine both branding and private label options.

The music industry has changed dramatically as a result of technological and business innovations that have transformed how music is acquired, and how value is created and distributed. Napster Inc. operated one of several Web sites that allowed Internet users free access to MP3 music files -- which eventually led to lawsuits around issues of the protection of intellectual capital. These issues lead to the examination of the forces at play in the transformation of the music industry, the strategic alternatives for players in the industry and the legal context underpinning the strategic alternatives, with a particular focus on the protection of intellectual capital.