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In 2014, Hubtown Limited (Hubtown), an Indian real estate development company, was attempting to implement a process to differentiate between its employees in order to enhance performance, identify employees who could be groomed for future growth, and distribute rewards. Hubtown was consolidating to concentrate on a few large, complex projects in residential and commercial spaces in urban centres. Like other companies in the industry, it competed for talent and faced challenges when attempting to retain, reward, and promote valuable employees.<br><br>Earlier efforts to implement a results-based performance management system had failed, so the organization decided to design and adopt a behaviour-based approach and to implement it from the bottom up to bypass resistance from senior management. Case A describes the challenges the human resources head faced in creating an institutionalized performance culture and designing the implementation plan for this system. Case B describes the implementation process and presents the initiatives taken by the human resources team to implement the process, train the stakeholders, and address challenges along the way.

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On December 20, 2008, Ontario’s premier, Dalton McGuinty, and Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced their decision to provide $3 billion in interim loans to General Motors of Canada Limited. Due to the 2008 economic downturn and declining auto sales, the company had drawn from its cash reserves in an effort to maintain operations and, as a result, was facing insolvency. The automaker accounted for approximately 19,000 direct jobs in Ontario, and its collapse would mean a great economic loss for Canada. The provincial and federal governments needed to work together to support the company and, in doing so, also support Canada’s economy during this financial downturn. Ontario’s assistant deputy minister of Finance needed to determine the best way to proceed with the proposed financial plan, while also working with multiple governments and appeasing public opinion.

Before re-entering the Southeast Asian market in 2015, the Hisense-Hitachi joint venture mainly used the well known Hitachi brand to explore overseas markets for the sale of commercial central air conditioners. After the JV had accumulated enough capacity to adopt a product differentiation strategy, they decided to treat the Hisense brand as the focal brand in Southeast Asia and adopted a series of distribution strategies that differed from what they had used to sell Hitachi branded products elsewhere. The (B) case provides a basis for discussing target market selection, and the establishment of varying distribution channels (exclusive vs non-exclusive agents) in different countries. This case can be used with Hisense-Hitachi Joint Venture (A): Expanding Internationally (9B16M169).

In 2012, the incoming general manager for AdNike Pharmaceutical’s operations in China faced a major challenge. AdNike was a leading global pharmaceutical company that had been in China for over 40 years. However, its performance in the country had been worse than expected. In the most recent half-decade of its operations in China, AdNike faced a changing regulatory environment that was becoming more challenging to navigate. Also, local competitors were making significant inroads into AdNike’s business. The new leader was charged with reinvigorating the company so it could achieve the growth and performance that was originally intended. Despite being new to China and not speaking any Mandarin, he had to determine a new strategic direction for AdNike while balancing the needs of external and internal stakeholders.

In September 2015, the marketing manager of the Advanced Surgical Solutions Division at Medtronic plc (Medtronic), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), weighs his options as to how best to respond to yet another instance of “grey marketing,” that is, the unauthorized distribution of genuine branded products. The rampant parallel importation of one of Medtronics’ best-selling products—LigaSure Vessel Sealing instruments—has resulted in a much smaller-than-usual order from one of Medtronics’ most important customers, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center. Medtronics' marketing manager must find a way to respond appropriately to the customer without risking the ire of his sole authorized distributor in KSA.

DesiFirangi.com was an online women’s apparel retailer in India. Started in November 2014, DesiFirangi catered to the fashion needs of modern Indian women with international style. Within the short span of its operations, the company had established itself as a niche electronic retailer of lingerie, nightwear, and clubwear. However, the online apparel market in India was highly crowded, and the fledging company faced stiff competition from a number of established and upcoming players. Given this intense competition in the market, DesiFirangi was incurring high marketing and customer acquisition costs, which were hurting the company’s bottom line. In order to increase revenues, DesiFirangi's founders needed to find ways to increase the number of unique visitors to the site, and convert more visitors to buyers.

In May 2010, Forbes Technosys Limited (FTL) was not doing well. After more than a year, the company’s bill payment kiosk business was losing money and no longer seemed viable. The time had come to re-evaluate all aspects of this business line and make decisions regarding FTL’s future course of action. Accordingly, FTL’s chief executive officer proposed an idea regarding prepaid mobile recharges using the existing bill payment kiosks, along with a new technology platform for this purpose. He hoped that handheld terminals could be used by retail-level franchisees to sell recharges to prepaid mobile users. Essentially, FTL had three options: should the company persist with or pivot the service provider business model, or “perish” the complete solution provider idea entirely and revert to being a product manufacturer? Whichever strategy FTL chose, it would have to limit and balance both operating and capital expenses.

This industry note details the state of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in China in 2012. It has details on the size of the respective industries, their growth, their regulation and key political actors, as well as information and analysis on other important stakeholders in the pharmaceutical and health care sectors in China in the 2010s. The level of detail is high, as is the complexity of information presented. The note can be used independently, however, it was written primarily to serve as a companion to 9B16M225.

In April 2014, the founder of SecureNow met with one of his classmates who was now an angel investor. The two had recently met socially and the founder had briefed his classmate on SecureNow’s online business-to-business insurance marketplace. The classmate was now expressing interest in investing in SecureNow but his valuation was much lower than the founder’s expectation. The founder was confident of SecureNow’s future growth, but he wanted funds to expand. His classmate would provide him with the kind of relationship he was seeking with an investor, but the founder wondered how he and his classmate arrived at such different valuations. He also wondered whether he should accept the funds at a low valuation, consider other options, or just postpone his expansion plans.

In 2014, Alibaba Group (Alibaba), the largest e-commerce platform operator in China, boasted in its New York Stock Exchange prospectus about its e-commerce ecosystem, which was being built over time. Alibaba’s chairman and chief executive officer declared that the company’s mission was to “make it easy to do business anywhere.” However, the ecosystem, which was well suited for people’s Internet habits of the past, would not likely be up-to-date in the mobile age, when browsing for information no longer posed a problem and people became fascinated by mobile apps that provided practical and entertaining services. Internet traffic, representing people’s attention, started to take on a new pattern. Having thrived on pooling Internet traffic by displaying a huge variety of merchandise on its platform, Alibaba could not afford to now lose Internet traffic to countless customized small apps.

In 2014, Alibaba Group (Alibaba), the largest e-commerce platform operator in China, boasted in its New York Stock Exchange prospectus about its e-commerce ecosystem, which was being built over time. Alibaba's chairman and chief executive officer declared that the company's mission was to "make it easy to do business anywhere." However, the ecosystem, which was well suited for people's Internet habits of the past, would not likely be up-to-date in the mobile age, when browsing for information no longer posed a problem and people became fascinated by mobile apps that provided practical and entertaining services. Internet traffic, representing people's attention, started to take on a new pattern. Having thrived on pooling Internet traffic by displaying a huge variety of merchandise on its platform, Alibaba could not afford to now lose Internet traffic to countless customized small apps.

Quilts of Denmark was a Danish start-up company founded in 2000 with the goal of producing high-quality, functional quilts and pillows that contributed to healthy sleep. The company’s open innovation with a space agency and technology company resulted in an “intelligent” quilt that regulated body heat, providing users with an elusive but much-desired experience: a good night’s sleep. Selling a premium product in a commodity market was a challenge, and competitors were close behind. In 2010, Quilts of Denmark was preparing to introduce a new generation of temperature-regulating quilts, and the company's founders needed to decide how to introduce their newest innovation to the market.

Environmental & Best Safety (EBS) China was the subsidiary of an American mid-sized firm in the safety products and services industry. Between 2000 and 2015, it had employed at different points a variety of strategic approaches to the Chinese market, including local market exploration and learning, autonomous local research and development (R&D), the transfer of local knowledge to centralized R&D, and the return of localization. The global business of EBS had experienced a continuous downturn over the last five quarters. The situation in China was even worse, with sales significantly under the initial target for the Chinese market, which had been the fastest-growing market for EBS over the last 10 years. In 2015, the global EBS president and the head of EBS China needed to make a decision about the next stage in the business strategy of EBS China. The meeting would be critical for EBS China to re-position itself within EBS worldwide.

BYD Company Limited (BYD) manufactured rechargeable batteries, mobile phone components, and automobiles. In 2008, the company caught the attention of Warren Buffet’s investment group, and their investment in BYD caused BYD’s share price to increase 917.86 per cent over just a year, setting Chinese investors’ expectations high for BYD’s release of A-shares, planned for June 2011. <br><br>BYD’s 2010 annual report showed that the company’s performance had already taken a dip, but its prospectus was optimistic about the market prospects. The first quarter report for 2011, issued the day before the A-shares were to be released, was not as optimistic. BYD’s A-shares fared well on the first day of release, but the company’s net profits declined remarkably, and reports forecasted further decline. However, the company’s 2011 annual report showed a drop in operating profits of just 49.04 per cent year over year—just slightly less than the 50 per cent decline that would have triggered intervention by the securities regulators. <br><br>Was the company making a remarkable recovery? Were BYD’s A-shares still a sound investment, or had the company “managed” its financial statements to protect itself and its securities underwriters?

In March 2016, India-based information technology start-up MD Solutions was facing a human resources challenge. Since 2012, the company had offered a three-day-a-month flexible work arrangement to its employees. Because of a family emergency a star performer, and the key person on a high-value project, needed to be relocated to his hometown, which was over 1,000 miles away. The company faced several challenges: how could it devise a new flexible work arrangement policy for retaining the star performer without hurting the cost structure and team morale; deal with virtual complexities; and develop a sustainable human resources framework that would benefit the company in the long-run in terms of performance excellence and talent retention.

In 2010, two entrepreneurs launched Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI), Southeast Asia’s first start-up accelerator in Singapore. They aimed to help develop Singapore’s start-up environment through a structured program that provided access to early stage funding and mentorship. More than 70 start-ups had graduated from the program, and more than half had raised substantial funding. However, five years later, in 2015, JFDI faced challenges as a result of Singapore’s small market size, the more than 20 accelerators that had entered the market, and an uncertain macroeconomic climate. The founders wondered whether JFDI should open up new revenue streams by diversifying into advisory and consultancy services, such as in-house accelerator programs in established corporations. Alternatively, should the company expand geographically to broaden its access to capital, talent, and new markets? Or were there still other options that the founders should pursue?

In January of 2016, Singapore International Airlines Group (SIA) announced that it had secured more than 90 per cent stake in Tiger Airways Holdings Limited (Tigerair), and would take Tigerair private. Once the buyout offer closed on February 19, trading in Tigerair’s shares would be suspended because the free float had fallen below the minimum 10 per cent threshold. Tigerair had been suffering losses amounting to more than SG$600 million from 2012 to 2015. When SIA initiated the buyout offer, Tigerair’s shareholders wanted to use the discounted cash flow model, the discounted dividend model, and relative valuation to determine whether the buyout was a fair deal.

In 2013, the chief business officer at the Bombay Stock Exchange needed to prepare a recommendation on whether to pursue liquidity enhancement schemes in the equity cash market. The Bombay Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in Asia, had held a monopoly in India until 1994, when the National Stock Exchange was launched. When derivatives were introduced to the Indian stock exchanges in 2000, the Bombay Stock Exchange had been unprepared, and the National Stock Exchange soon captured the entire derivatives market. In 2011, the Securities and Exchange Board of India approved the introduction of the Liquidity Enhancement Incentive Programmes on illiquid securities in the derivatives segment. The Bombay Stock Exchange then introduced the incentives for various illiquid products in the derivatives segment, but lost profit as a result of the incentives it paid out. Had the Liquidity Enhancement Incentive Programmes improved liquidity in the derivatives segment? Was it worth sacrificing profit to gain liquidity and market share? The chief business officer needed to address the long-term benefits of liquidity enhancement schemes and the merits of introducing such schemes to the Bombay Stock Exchange’s equity cash market.

The founder of a digital media firm had to decide whether to list or to sell his company, PacificLink iMedia (PacificLink) in 2015. The founder had fielded more than 20 offers from various companies to acquire PacificLink since 2007–2008. He rejected all these past offers, because he was working to position the company to list on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, in 2015, the founder received an offer from Accenture that appealed to him because PacificLink was finally in a position to satisfy all listing requirements for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He knew that he must consider many criteria in making his critical decision to sell or list PacificLink. See also the first and second cases in the three-part series, 9B00M024 and 9B09M023.