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This case describes the motivation for and the development of Siemens' digital manufacturing enterprise vision, which became the foundation for its implementation of Industrie 4.0. While the effort started with a purely defensive move by Anton Huber, head of the Digital Factory Division, to protect his core programmable logic controller business from the migration of value to software from hardware, the scope expanded radically as the company completed the acquisition of UGS. It was then able to articulate a complete roadmap from computer-aided product inception and design through simulation and automation system design all the way to the factory floor. The initial implementation at the Electronics Works Amberg became widely cited as the prototype for Industrie 4.0. The central question of the case is the importance of vertical integration to the delivery of the vision, in the face of pressure for open standards that will expose large parts of the system to competition and price pressure. How will Siemens earn a reasonable rate of return?

Pal's Sudden Service has developed a unique operating model and organizational culture in the quick service restaurant business. With a deep emphasis on process control and improvement, zero defects, extensive training, and a high level of employee engagement, Pal's has been able to achieve excellent operating and financial performance. The case examines the challenges it potentially faces as it contemplates growing the chain significantly from the 28 units it currently operates.

In November 2005, World Peace Industrial Group was at an important milestone as it prepared to join two other major electronics components distributors to form the WPG Holdings and become a dominant player in its industry. As its chief executive officer prepared for the merger, it became apparent that the company’s financial position was threatened by inventory management and forecasting problems. Although sales and market share were increasing, profit margins were dropping as a result of increasing inventory costs. The chief executive officer asked the director of the Business Effective Promotion Group to resolve the worsening problem. How would the director identify the sources of weakness and recommend a plan of action as soon as possible?

The owner of Oliver's Diner in Grand Bend, Ontario, was confident that his new venture would be a success. His diner had become an instant hit with local cottagers and tourists, often leading to long waiting lines at peak periods. However, the popularity of the restaurant had led to some "growing pains," and the owner wanted to improve his operation. In particular, he was concerned the high volume of customers had placed a strain on his staff, particularly on weekends. He was also discouraged to hear customer complaints about the long queues to get a table, and longer than expected wait times for meals. It was early July 2016, and the owner was reviewing data from his first two months of operation. He needed to identify opportunities to improve operations and customer service.

Ferrero Group is a confectionery manufacturing company which produces a line of chocolates and chocolate spreads with hazelnut as the main ingredient. The company is the largest buyer of world hazelnuts (25%). The company procures hazelnuts from Oltan, the world's largest producer of processed hazelnuts with a market share of 25% to 30%. Ferrero purchases almost 70% of Oltan's hazelnut production. Recently, there was crop damage owing to which the harvest of hazelnut crop is low. This has increased the prices of hazelnut. One of the customers (Esha in the case) is concerned about the price increase of Nutella owing to such hazelnut supply issues. Hazelnut is a major ingredient of this chocolate spread. Esha is considering Ferrero's vertical integration, in which it may decide to purchase large producers such as Oltan. Further, she is also evaluating the implication of such a strategy for the final market prices of Nutella.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Best Teaching Case Studies Award at the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI)</strong></p><br>In 2014, as one of the most well-known Taiwanese cuisine brands, Din Tai Fung operated more than 100 restaurants around the world. Attracted by its signature xialongbao (soup dumpling), long queues of customers at Din Tai Fung’s storefront were a common sight. Requests for partnerships for global expansion were constantly arriving. Customer feedback from overseas, however, suggested a notable gap in service quality between the overseas and Taiwanese branches. The demand for support by overseas branches had also surged significantly due to the fast pace of growth in recent years. The company’s chief executive officer had deferred his plan to open the 10th branch in Taiwan. Nevertheless, plans to open new branches in overseas markets were enthusiastically evaluated by existing partners. Two new potential partnership offers from Dubai and the Philippines were being aggressively pursued. What was the best way to cope with the increasing number of requests for support from overseas branches and to ensure high quality? Should Din Tai Fung approve the two overseas offers for partnership that seemed promising? What was the best overseas expansion strategy?

In 2016, transportation plays a key role in Canada’s economy. The first part of the note deals with Canada’s transportation network, providing an overview of the transportation services sector and the economic importance of transportation. The second section examines the role of government in Canada’s transportation sector, including government policy. The third section describes the characteristics of each of the six main modes of transportation: air, rail, truck, marine, pipeline, and intermodal. The final section addresses the key challenges facing the Canadian transportation sector, including environmental and safety issues.

Transportation plays a key role in Canada's economy. The first part of the note deals with Canada's transportation network, providing an overview of the transportation services sector and the economic importance of transportation. The second section examines the role of government in Canada's transportation sector, including government policy. The third section describes the characteristics of each of the six main modes of transportation: air, rail, truck, marine, pipeline, and intermodal. The final section addresses the key challenges facing the Canadian transportation sector, including environmental and safety issues.

In January 2016, the president and chief executive officer of Canaan Group in Richmond, British Columbia, was evaluating plans for a proposed trans-loading facility, which would be located inland from Port Metro Vancouver. The trans-loading facility had the potential to simultaneously offer a lower-cost transportation alternative for exporters and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Lower Mainland. Despite the potential opportunities, three important hurdles needed to be overcome before successfully launching the new operation. First, co-operation was needed from exporters and their shipping companies to provide sufficient throughput of containers. Second, an agreement from Canadian Pacific Rail to provide service at a competitive rate was essential. Third, successful negotiations were required for a long-term lease for the proposed site to justify the necessary investment. The Canaan Group president reviewed the data from a completed pilot study and wondered what his next step should be. With which stakeholder should he start his negotiation? What were his bargaining strengths and weaknesses? Were there other stakeholders that should be engaged?

In January 2016, the president and chief executive officer of Canaan Group in Richmond, British Columbia, was evaluating plans for a proposed trans-loading facility, which would be located inland from Port Metro Vancouver. The trans-loading facility had the potential to simultaneously offer a lower-cost transportation alternative for exporters and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Lower Mainland. Despite the potential opportunities, three important hurdles needed to be overcome before successfully launching the new operation. First, co-operation was needed from exporters and their shipping companies to provide sufficient throughput of containers. Second, an agreement from Canadian Pacific Rail to provide service at a competitive rate was essential. Third, successful negotiations were required for a long-term lease for the proposed site to justify the necessary investment. The Canaan Group president reviewed the data from a completed pilot study and wondered what his next step should be. With which stakeholder should he start his negotiation? What were his bargaining strengths and weaknesses? Were there other stakeholders that should be engaged?

The Container Store (TCS) is a Texas-based retailer of organization and storage solutions. The company prides itself in taking care of its employees first and its co-founder and CEO Kip Tindell practices Conscious Capitalism. Since it beginnings in 1978, TCS grew to a chain of around 70 stores located in over 20 states by 2013. Tindell believed TCS's employee-first culture and the seven Foundation Principles, which guided the company, were what differentiated the company from other retailers. With plans to grow to 300 stores, TCS went public in late 2013. Since its IPO same store sales have suffered and the company's stock in early 2016 was trading well below its IPO price. As such, the company's culture and Foundation Principles were being put to the test. This product can be used with the free Job Design Optimization Tool (JDOT), available at: hbsp.harvard.edu/jdot

Transformation is a preoccupation of corporate leaders like never before, creating a wave of multi-million-dollar organizational change programs. But as more companies decide to radically rewrite their business and operating models, as well as inject critical change into their underlying business, technology, and people strategies, the results are less inspiring. While many factors are at play, the essential elements of impactful transformation are effective leadership, vision and implementation. This article describes these principles in terms of the author’s recent change engagement with McCarthy Tétrault LLP, a 160-year-old law firm known as an industry poster child for modern customer service. <br><br> During the change initiative, the key components of leadership were quiet leadership, strong and supportive leadership, leadership that’s set up for success, and leadership that’s united as a team. Effectively establishing and communicating a new vision was broken down into balancing data and human insights; driving vision down to the details; and creating a new vision-supporting culture. Finally, the following best practices were key to implementing the change initiative: defining accountability and responsibility; introducing project management discipline; and planning to communicate and celebrate. Besides a communication plan, successful corporate transformations require a detailed celebration and recognition program to ensure that significant individual and team efforts are acknowledged. The principles of effective transformation ask three questions: What exactly do you want to accomplish? Who will lead the change program and how will they do it? How will you keep everything on track?

The Great Recession didn’t only harm financially troubled companies. After all, every time a bankruptcy is filed, shock waves travel along supply chains and often take healthy companies by surprise. In other words, when companies share suppliers, especially with major global corporations like General Motors, they share operational risks. Businesses can simply accept this risk. But with the global economy still struggling, it makes more sense for managers to consider using a group purchasing organization, or GPO, to insulate their operations from the ongoing business failures that are a natural result of any financial crisis or economic downturn. And let’s not forget the risk posed by black swan events like Japan’s earthquake/tsunami disaster in 2011. <br><br> Partnering with a GPO isn’t for everyone. Indeed, managing one’s own supply chain feels in line with the entrepreneurial spirit and enables flexible, one-on-one relationships with supplier partners. However, GPOs insulate companies against downturns and disasters and mitigate the risks associated with independent supply chain management. Other advantages include: 1) Better pricing: GPOs use the collective buying power of their members to negotiate better prices. 2) More advantageous payment terms: GPOs can negotiate better payment terms with sellers so that members can save money. 3) Greater reliability: When a supplier goes bankrupt, it can devastate a supply chain if there are no backup suppliers available. 4) Improved selection: Product development must continue even in a recession, so it’s essential that businesses can obtain the resources needed for new products and services. While GPOs have existed for a long time, they are growing in number in the post-Great Recession world because supply chain management is now more about guarding against market uncertainties than ever before.

AWARD WINNING CASE - This case won the Best Teaching Case Studies Award at the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), 2015. In 2014, as one of the most well-known Taiwanese cuisine brands, Din Tai Fung operated more than 100 restaurants around the world. Attracted by its signature xialongbao (soup dumpling), long queues of customers at Din Tai Fung's storefront were a common sight. Requests for partnerships for global expansion were constantly arriving. Customer feedback from overseas, however, suggested a notable gap in service quality between the overseas and Taiwanese branches. The demand for support by overseas branches had also surged significantly due to the fast pace of growth in recent years. The company's chief executive officer had deferred his plan to open the 10th branch in Taiwan. Nevertheless, plans to open new branches in overseas markets were enthusiastically evaluated by existing partners. Two new potential partnership offers from Dubai and the Philippines were being aggressively pursued. What was the best way to cope with the increasing number of requests for support from overseas branches and to ensure high quality? Should Din Tai Fung approve the two overseas offers for partnership that seemed promising? What was the best overseas expansion strategy?

Defining a perfect day is a powerful way of getting employees focused so that they can achieve profoundly new performance. This article examines this simple, practical approach to improving performance and helping organizations clarify what needs to happen to prepare for sustained, long-term change. Companies that have succeeded with the perfect-day approach have taken four steps. First, leaders have aligned senior management around a definition and measures of the perfect day. Next, leaders have worked with managers to generate area- and team-level goals that, if met, would produce the desired improvements. The third step is honing in on the workforce behaviours critical to attaining the perfect day. The fourth step is aligning leadership behaviours across the organization to ensure that the right consequences exist to help motivate the desired behaviours. <br><br> Focused as they are on long-term strategies and short-term operational plans, leaders often think it’s enough to train people, tell them what to do, and give them some tools — but it isn’t. Decades of research in behavioural science have shown that nothing really changes until behaviour changes, and the right kind of behaviour change doesn’t happen on its own. To achieve sustained performance, leaders often look to the latest trend, methodology or technology. Yet the most effective path to superior execution is simpler. Focus employees on a few key good behaviours, and align the organization around performing them. Over time, as you increase the number of perfect days, you’ll become more skilled at aligning your employees to improve their execution. You’ll come to master what lies at the core of any successful change in an organization’s operations: behaviour.

This case deals with several types of uncertainties faced by project team in an oil company north east in India. These challenges and uncertainties are in the areas drawing approval, supply chain, critical equipment availability, soll type, control room, soil type, employee availability, environmental clearances, safety and wildlife clearances. This project demonstrates the ownership issues, why it is difficult to complete a project on time in the Northeast of India or why public sector project gets delayed.

This case deals with steps taken by NTPC in construction and project management in 500 MW power plant. The project have several innovative ways of managing challenges, in land acquisition, design, implementation, contract worker management, enforcement of safety rules, managing regulation iand in team building in leadership. A suitable case for site management, it shows in spite of being a public sector undertaking, how the project was constructed in record time of 42 months.

Honda Canada was coping with a communication and supply chain crisis after a triple disaster - an earthquake followed by a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown - that hit Japan in March 2011. Honda's worldwide supply chain was characterized by a just-in-time, single-source approach, wherein the supplier for each component provided the best quality at the lowest price. The approach normally ensured economies of scale but now, in an abnormal time, Honda's supply chain was vulnerable. In the short term, Honda Canada had to manage the chaos through effective communication with its stakeholders. In the long term, it had to ensure checks and balances in its supply chain. See supplemental case B.

Honda Canada was coping with a communications and supply chain crisis after a triple disaster - an earthquake followed by a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown - that hit Japan in March 2011. Honda's worldwide supply chain was characterized by a just-in-time, single-source approach, wherein the supplier for each component provided the best quality at the lowest price. The approach normally ensured economies of scale but now, in an abnormal time, Honda's supply chain was vulnerable. In the short term, Honda Canada had to manage the chaos through effective communication with its stakeholders. In the long term, it had to ensure checks and balances in its supply chain.

Honda Canada was coping with a communications and supply chain crisis after a triple disaster — an earthquake followed by a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown — that hit Japan in March 2011. Honda’s worldwide supply chain was characterized by a just-in-time, single-source approach, wherein the supplier for each component provided the best quality at the lowest price. The approach normally ensured economies of scale but now, in an abnormal time, Honda’s supply chain was vulnerable. In the short term, Honda Canada had to manage the chaos through effective communication with its stakeholders. In the long term, it had to ensure checks and balances in its supply chain. See supplemental case 9B16D005.