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Tokyo Jane is an accessible fashion jewelry company that makes and markets its products as “luxury for less” by designing, importing and selling fashion jewelry pieces that look luxurious but cost only a fraction of the high-priced items that inspired them. Finished products are air-shipped to company headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark from factories in China, stocked in the head office and delivered to 400 retail partners —small fashion boutiques, big department stores and online shops — who then sell to consumers in Europe, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and Canada. The two partners who founded the firm in 2005 are facing several problems: the brand definition is not well enough developed to support the next stage in the firm’s growth, certain challenges have outstripped available human resources — they have only three permanent employees and a revolving number of interns — and distribution operations and management need to be rethought as the firm rapidly increases the scale of its operations. Things come to a head in April 2013, when they are confronted by an important customer about quality issues with their products. How can they not only save their company but continue to grow?

In a quest to organize the unorganized secondary market for used computers, a team of three entrepreneurs attempted to develop a viable plan in a typical emerging market context. Identifying e-waste management problems and the digital divide as overarching social issues, they identified a potential market for empowering consumers through affordable access to information technology (IT) by re-harnessing the potential of used computers. In doing so, they identified emerging market characteristics through micro and macro analyses of the environment and the IT industry.

Visual merchandising (VM) plays an important role in hypercompetitive product categories. Though shoppers may be exposed to advertisements extolling the virtues of brands, they tend to get swayed at the point of purchase due to an attractive display or simply because of the prominence of a brand at the retail location. As such, companies must invest in processes and infrastructure to make effective VM possible.<br><br><br><br>Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting is among the largest fast-moving consumer goods companies in India and has a wide range of products across different categories. One of its sales development managers must choose between several options for making certain that the company’s strategic objectives are met through VM. There are four options, including two models where either the company or its channel partners manage the elements of VM, and two models where VM is outsourced to specialized agencies. All models have their pros and cons and the manager must use the available qualitative and quantitative information to compare the models across different parameters and make a choice.

This case describes the second home market strategy of Tata Communications Limited (TCL) and its evaluation of Russia as a new market opportunity. Ahead of a July 2012 board meeting, TCL's Chief Strategy Officer had to decide whether to pursue an acquisition opportunity in Russia. The case traces TCL's transformation from an Indian public sector monopoly to a global challenger in the telecommunications market, its previous acquisition history and its foray into South Africa as a second home market. The latest opportunity - to create a third home market in Russia - was the possible acquisition of a Russian Internet Service Provider (ISP) which had a business-to-business (B2B) focus and product mix similar to TCL.

After the successful launch of their virtual grocery stores in South Korean metro stations, Tesco UK is trying to determine whether the virtual grocery store concept should be launched in their home market. In order to make this decision, Tesco needs to determine the role of the virtual store(s), the location(s) of the store(s) and the product range. At the same time, Tesco needs to compare the Korean and U.K. markets in order to determine whether the virtual store concept is viable.

In January 2005, the vice-president of International Affairs at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, must decide how to respond to a request for proposal from the Hamad Medical Corporation of Qatar. In order to reach its global mission of “Healthier Children, A Better World,” the Toronto hospital, which had an international reputation for excellence in pediatric medicine, had established an arm called SickKids International. In addition, it was anxious to find new ways to recover from an operating deficit caused by the aftershock of the SARS outbreak. Hamad Medical Corporation, a major state hospital medical supplier in Qatar, was looking for international centres that would want to partner with it in the development of what it hoped would become the best children's hospital in the Middle East. The vice-president understood the enormous benefits that the partnership had to offer but recognized the need for a comprehensive strategy to mitigate all of the associated risks, such as the difference in cultures between Canada and Qatar, the pressure on the Toronto hospital’s staff to make the project successful and the uncertain political and business environment in the Middle East. Should she recommend to her executive team that they go ahead with their first international request for proposal?

This case presents a role play between a buyer, seller and consultant. In January 2012, India Steel Ltd., a successful, family-owned, mid-sized steel manufacturing company headquartered in India but with agents in Europe, the United States and some parts of the Middle East, is about to enter into a negotiation to buy a steel plant owned by Swedish Steel AB, a large Swedish steel company with more than 7,000 employees working in nine production facilities all over the world. Encouraged by a family friend, India Steel’s CEO has hired an Indian consulting firm to go to Sweden and evaluate the offer.<br><br>This case involves the buyer and is used with Indian Steel Ltd.: Tri-Party Negotiation – The Seller (B) and Indian Steel Ltd.: Tri-Party Negotiation – The Consultant (C).

This case presents a role play between a buyer, seller and consultant. In January 2012, India Steel Ltd., a successful, family-owned, mid-sized steel manufacturing company headquartered in India but with agents in Europe, the United States and some parts of the Middle East, is about to enter into a negotiation to buy a steel plant owned by Swedish Steel AB, a large Swedish steel company with more than 7,000 employees working in nine production facilities all over the world. Encouraged by a family friend, India Steel’s CEO has hired an Indian consulting firm to go to Sweden and evaluate the offer.<br><br>This case involves the seller and is used with Indian Steel Ltd.: Tri-Party Negotiation – The Buyer (A) and Indian Steel Ltd.: Tri-Party Negotiation – The Consultant (C).

This case presents a role play between a buyer, seller and consultant. In January 2012, India Steel Ltd., a successful, family-owned, mid-sized steel manufacturing company headquartered in India but with agents in Europe, the United States and some parts of the Middle East, is about to enter into a negotiation to buy a steel plant owned by Swedish Steel AB, a large Swedish steel company with more than 7,000 employees working in nine production facilities all over the world. Encouraged by a family friend, India Steel’s CEO has hired an Indian consulting firm to go to Sweden and evaluate the offer.<br><br>This case involves the consultant and is used with Indian Steel Ltd.: Tri-Party Negotiation – The Buyer (A) and Indian Steel Ltd.: Tri-Party Negotiation – The Seller (B).

The author left the Boston Consulting Group to join Ozon in part because she had once been an entrepreneur and missed the excitement--but mostly because she saw the company's potential to become the Amazon of Russia. Russians were going online at an extraordinary rate; if Ozon could figure out how to deliver goods in an e-commerce market, despite the country's shaky distribution systems, its growth would skyrocket. The company's success in e-commerce would hinge on logistics and customer support. It had to persuade people that they could get their goods more quickly and reliably by ordering them online and having them delivered than by hoping to find them in stock at a shop. It needed a way to safely take and process the cash that Russians usually pay with. And it had to provide personal contact with customers and harvest data about their purchases and preferences. This is the story of how Gavet and her team met those challenges.

A manufacturer of over 75 grades of styrenic resins — used to make DVD cases, refrigerator trays, packaging materials and auto parts — faces a “transition loss” each time it switches production from one grade to another. A transition loss for each grade arises from the initial 16 metric tons produced, which are sub-standard and unsuitable for usage by customers. To the company, this implies a loss of resources (raw material and production cost) and a disposal fee ($10,000) to remove each sub-standard production.<br><br>The case illustrates a sample of 15 grades for which data on their requirements for machine time usage, raw materials and labour hours are provided, as well as their production cost, selling price and market demand. Some of these grades must also be sold jointly in specific ratios. A newly hired sales executive must present an optimization template that would meet the company’s production constraints and maximize its profitability. Which grades of styrenic resins should be produced? Furthermore, how much of each grade should be produced?

By 2009, since the introduction of liberal economic policies by the government of India in 1991, many Indian companies manufacturing leather cloth were closing down due to cheap imports from China and Taiwan. There had been no new investment or expansion in this field at all. In such a business environment and against the advice of many trade analysts, the chief executive officer of Northern India Leather Cloth Manufacturing Company Pvt. Ltd., based in the industrial town of Faridabad, India, decides to beat the competition by investing in new technology. He undertakes a rigorous examination of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as well as listing and prioritizing four associated factors — technological, business, cultural and social, and financial — to identify the potential advantages and challenges associated with new technology absorption. Should he invest or not invest in new technology, and, if so, which of three possible technologies should he choose?<br><br>There is a supplement to this case, <br>9B14M069.

In this, the B case, the chief executive officer wonders how to enlist and prioritize important qualitative factors, along with financial factors in evaluating the shortlisted technologies from which he must choose. He consults a leading industrial pundit for his advice on multi-criteria decision-making techniques used by many practitioners in industry. They decide to use the analytic hierarchy process methodology, which had gained huge popularity among managers due to its simplicity and its ability to incorporate tangible and intangible factors alike. In training sessions involving managers with varied experiences across business processes such as manufacturing, quality, commercial, human resources and marketing, the three technologies were subjected to a close analysis and a decision was made about which one would best achieve the goal of expanded future growth for the company. See A case 9B14M068.

A student in his final year at a management school has been asked by his uncle to suggest an optimal investment portfolio for the reinvestment of his retirement account. His uncle wants to invest only in mutual funds managed by reputed asset management companies that have historically given superior returns. He also wants to limit the risk involved to less than 10 per cent per annum. The student now needs to prepare a portfolio that offers the highest possible return for the risk defined by his uncle.

In March, 2014, the founder and chairman of the board of Yama Ribbons & Bows Co., Ltd., the world's largest polyester ribbon manufacturer based in Xiamen, China, was reflecting on the awards, accolades, victories and revenue growth that he had achieved over the past 16 years. In spite of the problems that beset the Chinese ribbons industry — intense competition, rising labour and production costs and strict international regulation of imports — the company had not only launched a successful subsidiary in the United States and was poised to open a second in Hong Kong but planned to outsource some of its manufacturing operations to a new plant in India. It had won a major trademark dispute and successfully survived an investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce joint investigation into anti-dumping and anti-subsidy practices. By concentrating on superior customer service through its make-to-stock strategy and in-house research and development, the company was able to control inventory while achieving an excellent product deliverable on time anywhere in the world. As he reflected on his growth goals for the company, the founder wondered what, if anything, he was missing. How could he best grow the company over the next decade?

Flipkart.com is one of India’s best known online retailers. Founded in 2007, with the ambitious dream of becoming India’s Amazon.com, Flipkart.com started out selling books and quickly expanded its product portfolio to include laptops, computer peripherals, consumer durables, consumer electronics, fashion accessories, media and games. Flipkart’s products were competitively priced, its customer service was exemplary and it offered innovative solutions to enhance the customer experience such as its cash on delivery service. These factors, coupled with a smart marketing mix and catchy advertisements that sensitized the Indian consumer to the online shopping experience, contributed to its rapid growth. While the customer viewed the company with rose-tinted glasses, all was not well within Flipkart. It was plagued by a multitude of issues, including a business model that swallowed cash faster than it was generated, increasing constraints on its operational and supply chain capabilities and deteriorating investor confidence. Indeed, Flipkart found itself in trouble in late 2012. With competitors hot on its heels and the imminent entry of Amazon.com into the Indian market, Flipkart had to evaluate its options carefully and make some smart moves if it was to survive and regain investor confidence.

A newly appointed state program manager for a non-governmental organization (NGO) has been given the responsibility of managing several health centres in rural India. The state program manager quickly found that his new business environment was full of interpersonal difficulties and unprofessional conduct, which were threatening to derail the organization’s goals. Despite being a newcomer to a well-established and structured NGO, the manager knew that he would have to find a way to persuade his staff to work as a team and to focus on the tasks at hand: the question was, how?

In 2013, the chief executive officer of South Africa’s fourth largest bank, the Nedbank Group Limited, is considering the past and future of his organization. The company is in the process of transformation from a low point in 2003 of poor staff morale and falling share prices, with the threat of losing its licence because of poor capital liquidity, to the best bank in Africa, winning praise for its efforts in environmental sustainability and promoting the post-Apartheid government’s broad-based black economic empowerment policy. Through acquisitions and joint ventures, the company is expanding into neighbouring countries with the result that, after a period of retrenchment, the number of branches and staff has grown. Clearly, his and his predecessor’s clear vision, measurement and focus on culture have enabled the turnaround and subsequent organizational transformation. Yet, in the midst of the global financial crisis, the company is facing increasing competition not only from other banks throughout Africa but from telecommunications companies and retailers that operate financial services. The question now is: Can these transformation efforts be sustained?

The director of analytics and reporting at The Leading Hotels of the World and his team were to present their new idea to the company’s executive team: the hotel engagement scorecard (HES). HES was received well and gained recognition from the executive team of 10 members, becoming one of four company goals for the year. HES was to be implemented across all of The Leading Hotels of the World’s 25 global offices and more than 430 member hotels. As the founder of the idea, the director of analytics and reporting felt responsible and motivated to make HES as strong as possible before its implementation. He wondered how HES innovation could move forward and assist member hotels as much as possible.

The case explores a public-private partnership initiative on environment education in India, highlighting the strategic, institutional, and reputational implications for corporate social responsibility in an emerging country context. Launched in 2010 with a target to reach 200,000 schools, “Paryavaran Mitra” (Friends of the Environment) was a multi-layered collaboration with three primary and more than 160 secondary partners. The case is positioned in 2013, when the senior manager of corporate responsibility for the firm that serves as the corporate sponsor of the project must make a decision about the future of the initiative.