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In June 2014, Chartered Speed Private Limited, the contract provider for the much acclaimed Bus Rapid Transit System of Ahmedabad, India, would like to improve customer service in order to position itself strongly during upcoming contract renewal talks with Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, the municipal body responsible for the system. Buses arrive at the company’s workshops during the night for daily repairs and leave the next morning for their scheduled runs. However, given time and resource constraints, bus departures may either be delayed or buses may have to leave the workshop without the scheduled repair operations. Moreover, there is a long list of deficiencies with the buses or drivers and of incidents, such as accidents or breakdowns, that can result in financial penalties to the company. How should maintenance activities be designed to minimize the penalty losses and guarantee high customer service levels?

The founder and chief executive officer of Human Touch Connect Pte. Ltd. was hard at work in his office in Singapore. He had been working on the detailed valuation of his latest venture, EatOnline.Asia, to be presented to the partner of Top Line Ventures, a venture capital firm. He was hoping to be able to convince the firm to invest the required amount of SGD1.5 million. The founder wondered what method(s) of valuation he could use to reflect the fair value of the project. The second issue that was troubling him was, in the event that he was successful in convincing Top Line Ventures, how much stake he could offer for an investment of SGD1.5 million.

This case discusses the issues faced by AgFeed Industries Inc, a China-based company seeking growth through the US capital market, both from the perspective of the Chinese company, as well as US investors. It chronicles the evolution of a small, local animal feed farm into a troubled international pork producer. While some may posit that AgFeed's journey is typical of many China-based companies, the lessons from this case are relevant to fast-growing companies worldwide. The case surfaces discussions on corporate governance and ethics, issues concerning capital market regulations, business strategies in fast-growing industries, the challenges of cross-cultural management, and management capability.

Perched on a cliff, the ninth-century Tatev Monastery is one of the most important monasteries in Armenia. A prominent Moscow-based businessman has decided to make it into an accessible and attractive tourist destination. Complicating matters is the region’s significant poverty and inaccessibility due to harsh weather conditions and a lack of proper infrastructure. In addition, shortcomings in hospitality management and training mean that tourist numbers remain low. One of the greatest challenges of the project is the management of eight stakeholders, including the Armenian Church, the local community, investors and UNESCO. How can the founder of the revival project devise a commercially successful strategy that will address all stakeholders’ interests without compromising his own principles and ethical values?

An elaborate engraving by the Swiss artist Jost Amman in 1585 depicts scenes from the mercantile economy in Northern Europe, revealing the variety of forces that can bring success or failure to a business.

Airtel mCommerce Services Limited was waiting for news from the Reserve Bank of India related to mobile banking regulations, as it was eager to unleash the massive potential and untapped opportunity in India regarding mobile commerce. Its service, Airtel Money, was struggling in India, but it had experienced a huge success in Africa. Though it had some initial success in India, it still had a long way to go to capture the Indian mobile market.

Based in Delhi, India, Sherry’s Bakery (Sherry's) faced a host of challenges at the four-year point in its operations, with issues related to business expansion and management, cost management and fund procurement. The business had gradually grown from a hobby based on a love of baking into a home-based business that showed lots of potential for growth. The owner needed to devise a marketing and communication plan for her business since she wanted to turn Sherry’s into a full-fledged bakery rather than simply operating from her kitchen.

Vietnam has made impressive economic gains over a period of three decades, following the Doi Moi reforms of 1986. Before reform, the country’s socialist economy had been unable to displace the poverty that had plagued the country in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. After reform, Vietnam has experienced many years of sustained growth, as evidenced by its advances on several economic performance rankings. By 2014, Vietnam's rankings compared favourably with those of many of its Asian neighbours. A major feature of the country’s strategy for economic development was its emphasis on information and computing technologies. Students will analyze Vietnam's past successes to extract lessons that can lead to additional future success.

Case A describes the difficult situation facing the recently appointed plant manager of Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire, a joint venture between a poorly performing Chinese state-owned enterprise and a France-based private company, Michelin Corporation. Michelin headquarters was pressing the plant manager to implement the Management System of Daily Production to improve the factory’s performance, but the plant manager sensed that the plant’s employees were not yet ready. He contemplates what changes to make in this factory and how best to do so. Case B, 9B14C013, reports on the plant manager’s actions to improve the joint venture’s performance.

This is a supplement to 9B14C012.

This real case about cms electronics, a European electronic manufacturing services (EMS) provider, presents a decision situation in which the company's CEO must determine the best way to expand activities in the Asian market. A "follow the customer" strategy seems to be called for, as the company's customers, mainly in the automotive sector, are shifting their focus from Europe to Asia. Setting up a local factory, however, would involve a high level of risk and investment for this relatively small company. The case can be used to discuss how geographic shifts in the centre of gravity of a global industry can affect the global supply chain management and internationalization strategies of a relatively small industry player.

In April 2013, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Forus Health Private Limited sat in his office in Bangalore, India contemplating the future direction of his company. He was under pressure by his venture capital partner to rapidly penetrate the market for 3nethra — an innovative, multi-functional and low-cost ophthalmology device — before imitators stepped in. Given its features and advantages over expensive imported specialized tools, 3nethra could help address the huge challenge of preventable blindness in India, but after three years since inception, only 100 devices had been sold. Although the market opportunity was large, acceptance by the ophthalmology profession was key to gaining momentum. He had two choices: to maximize sales numbers through the scattergun tactic of going all out and all over the market or to build a sufficient base of positive word of mouth to gain the momentum necessary to pole-vault from the early to the mainstream market. How should he direct his sales team to take the company forward?

In 2011, Sudarshan Chemical Industries Limited, a global pigment company with sales in over 40 countries, was poised to become one of the top four pigment producers in the world. The vice-chairman was about to meet with an external consultant whom he had hired when he assumed leadership of the family business in 2003 following the demise of both the founders — his father and eldest uncle. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the various initiatives that had been undertaken at Sudarshan since 2003 to systematically professionalize the group. The vice-chairman could not help wondering whether the company was heading in the right direction. Should a family member always be the head of the business? What if the family member being prepared for the leadership role did not gain the acceptance of the family and non-family professionals to lead the business?

Comair Limited was South Africa’s largest private airline and consisted of British Airways SA and the low-cost airline kulula.com. After acquiring more fuel-efficient aircraft, Comair decided to adopt Sabre, a reservation and scheduling technology platform. Initially, some Comair executives thought that the Sabre implementation was an IT project, but they soon realized that all employees were affected and that a culture change was required to successfully implement the new standardized way of working. An organizational transformation company was hired and “Operation Crossover” was created as a reference point for employees and metaphor for change in order to enable the change process, starting with a change readiness assessment and culture change roadmap. How could Comair’s CEO capitalize on the positive changes from this project and maintain the profitability and growth of the last 68 years?

The entrepreneur owner of Proof Engineering is facing a difficult decision: whether to sell his family business to a large corporation and shift to a corporate career or abandon the deal and continue as an entrepreneur. Following a setback from a previous deal in which he sold 50 per cent of his company, the entrepreneur has managed to grow Proof Engineering into a successful international enterprise. However, this second offer presents many potentially lucrative opportunities. There are a number of motivations involved in the decision to sell — including personal, financial and business considerations.

Globally acclaimed singer, actor, author and Grammy Award winner Ricky Martin “decided [on March 29, 2010] to put an end to the hell that was going on inside [his] mind” by using Twitter to openly declare his homosexuality. Issues posed by the revelation included: What options were available to Martin’s management before and after the revelation in order to effectively deal with situations that could have jeopardized Martin’s career and future projects? Should those close to Martin have planned for a potential brand repositioning strategy? If so, how should they have handled it?

In September 2008, the CEO of Rainbow Group, a Chinese group of companies specializing in environmental protection services, was in Beijing, China, thinking about his experience that evening. A few hours ago, eight senior executives from Rainbow Group’s subsidiary in Hangzhou had come to Beijing requesting that the CEO fire their general manager, who had been appointed by the CEO only six months ago. This manager had taken control of the Hangzhou subsidiary with ambitious efforts to implement lean management and better cost control, but had met resistance from the other managers. The CEO was reviewing this appointment and thinking hard. What was the problem? What should he do?

In 2014, Paris Baguette was the largest bakery chain in South Korea with 3,200 stores throughout the country and 178 locations in China, Southeast Asia and the United States. Since 1988, the company had vertically integrated with ingredient suppliers and developed its own food processing capability, giving it considerable control over the value chain. In addition, it had developed an innovative franchise arrangement that allowed for improved cash flow from operations. However, in response to domestic market saturation, intense competition from local and multinational bakery chains and independent bakeries and a recent change in government regulations, its chief executive officer is wondering how best to achieve his goal of operating 6,000 stores in 60 countries worldwide and achieving revenue of KRW4 trillion by 2020. He is also considering whether it would be better to focus instead on improving the profitability of the company’s domestic operations and delay his expansion plans.

Piron Smart Technologies Co. Ltd., a private enterprise located in an underdeveloped region of China, was transitioning from being a founder-centered to a professionally managed firm. In the summer of 2010, the founder and chairman of Piron attempted to hire a senior executive from a Western multinational firm as chief operating officer, with the promise of a later promotion to chief executive officer (CEO). The candidate turned down the offer and demanded to be appointed CEO from the onset, leading to a conflict between the newly arrived CEO and the insiders passed over in Piron’s search for a CEO. See supplement 9B15M016.

Supplement to 9B15M015.