個案總覽

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.

In January 2013, the general manager of the Planning Division of the Bank of Maharashtra in Pune, India, is considering how best to analyze the performance of the bank’s 1,728 branches in 28 states and two union territories and its staff of nearly 14,000 people. Such a process would help develop a comprehensive yearly plan by setting realistic targets for each of the bank branches, which have a wide variety of operating conditions. With its market share falling and increasing competition from major players in both the private and public sectors, the bank must take proactive steps to develop a strategy for expansion. The general manager meets a business school graduate who suggests using performance evaluation and benchmarking tools that will not only help evaluate performance in terms of an efficiency score but also indicate possible potential improvements. Should the general manager trust that the young analyst can pinpoint why some branches are not meeting their targets and suggest how their performance can be improved, or should he hire a more experienced consultant?

Sudarshan Chemicals Industries is a top player in the Indian chemicals industry. This case traces the remodelling of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, both along scientific lines and aligned to its core business strategy. Faced with an informal and unstructured CSR initiative, the company uses an innovative method of problem-solving – crowd-sourcing ideas from a top business school in India. A team of students assesses the situation completely in order to make recommendations to the company’s top managers. The case details a process of scientific value-creation in CSR that can be adopted by companies as they make the transition from local to global.

本個案主要在討論精聯公司當面臨產品單價及毛利率均下滑之產業趨勢下，公司一方面期待透過委外代工來降低售價爭取訂單，另一方面又希望能達到執行長所指示三年內製造部門要達到「產值19億，ODM佔20%」的策略目標，公司究應採取何種製造策略？又不同策略間所涉及之風險與成本為何？這些都是本個案所欲加以探討的重點。

More than one-third of India remained without electricity or received less than eight hours of electricity per day. To fight energy poverty, Boond was in the business of providing lighting solutions to the low-income population in rural India. By 2013, it had created a network of four hubs (energy centres) and impacted the lives of more than 50,000 people across two states in India through its solar energy systems. It had forged non-traditional partnerships with regional rural banks and community-based organizations and its plan was to shift from the inception phase to the growth phase in 2013–2014. The aim was to set up 30 hubs covering more than 50 districts in the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh by 2015. This required evaluating the transformational challenges and creating an action plan to address them without losing sight of the social mission. Key obstacles included attracting social investors, extending its reach, and finding and retaining skilled employees willing to operate in small towns and villages.

Zeta Mining, one of the world's largest producers of metallurgical coal, operates a number of mines in the Bowen Basin, Central Queensland, Australia. The company has invested about AU$8 billion in the region. Before extracting the coal, the overburden of dirt, rock and other geological waste has to be removed, and this is usually done by draglines, which are imported from the United States and constructed on site, requiring a significant investment in time and money. In 2012, Zeta’s chief financial officer tasked the Bowen Basin project evaluation director to decide whether to walk one of the 3,400-tonne draglines six kilometres to another mine or to employ external contractors to remove that mine's overburden. To do so, the director was required to perform an incremental comparison analysis using net present value methodology. The CFO will then use the analysis and any other relevant factors in making a final decision.

本個案描述「精聯電子」ADC產品事業所面臨的挑戰及可能的未來發展因應策略。「精聯電子」生產的ADC產品主要包括條碼掃描器及手持式工規電腦；近來ADC產品的單價以每年5%左右的速度下降，致使產品毛利率下滑。「精聯電子」為求擴大市場佔有率、提升業績，歸納出三種發展策略可選擇：(1) 向上整合：研發RFID相關技術，透過自行生產RFID模組以降低工規電腦的生產成本、也可自行開發RFID標籤及RFID讀取器等新產品；(2) 向下整合：搭建軟體設計平台，提供軟體套件，協助VAR及SI共同為終端客戶提供客製化的系統應用，以提高ADC產品的附加價值；(3) 進一步發展成為全面解決方案提供者 (total solution provider)，提供軟硬體整合的產品與應用程式設計服務，以期增加利潤、提升業績。本個案希望引領學生評估各個方案的優劣勢，以及思考各項發展方案的決策考量因素。

精聯電子股份限公司為工業級手持式工業電腦之研發、製造與銷售商。1999年精聯於大陸廈門設立子公司UTC 負責大陸業務，同時於上海、北京、與廣州等地設立辦事處。然而，近幾年來大陸市場環境變化劇烈，精聯於大陸之經營面臨挑戰。本個案主要探討精聯如何調整在中國區市場之組織與策略。

本個案主要討論精聯電子全球營運的組織佈局，如何因應產業環境變化與新興市場的需求重新進行組織設計。精聯電子以「unitech」品牌行銷全球，主要市場為美洲、歐洲、日本、中國和台灣，於2012年全球營業額達19.6億，為台灣第一大「自動資料收集」(auto data capture,以下簡稱ADC) 廠商。精聯電子在美歐日市場採子公司方式經營，2011年後營運面對幾項問題。首先，金融風暴後全球經濟萎縮，精聯電子在歐美地區的業務拓展也受到影響，導致各子公司獲利下滑。其次，新興市場對ADC產品需求日增，但在現有歐美子公司營運無法有效開展的情況下，亦未能有效開發新興市場。最後則是歐美地區適任人才招聘留任的困難，以及人力成本過高的問題。面對此些經營難題，個案中將深入討論如何由公司策略、條件、產品特性與產業環境，釐清精聯電子價值活動執行的關鍵要素，重新思索應如何調整全球營運組織佈局，促成公司策略性成長。

雖然已有不少之討論與研究發表，探討庫存和經營策略、銷售/行銷、生產、研發、業務、備料、採購之間的個別關係，但此「工規行動電腦的庫存管理」卻是少數的個案，能同時且完整地提及庫存和經營策略、銷售/行銷、生產、研發、業務、備料、採購之間的實務關係。此個案也提供一實務資料，描述資通訊科技之快速發展及採購環境之快速變遷對電腦相關產品之生命週期、生產與銷售策略有何影響。

The target market of Citibank cards in India was aligned with the profitability objectives of the company. However, if it continued with its current strategy, it faced the risk of being a niche player in a growing market and losing the profit potential from other segments and geographies in the near future. The CEO needed to reconsider the target market and finalize a marketing strategy in the face of the changing composition of the marketplace, the competition and the commercial imperatives of the credit card business. This was a critical decision that would have a long-term impact on resource deployment and budgeting.

Mistral Energy is looking to build a $40 million power plant in close proximity to both the Alberta and Saskatchewan power markets. The Alberta market is deregulated and the price fluctuates hourly with supply and demand. The Saskatchewan market, on the other hand, is a regulated monopoly. Mistral Energy needs to understand into which market they should sell their power. Because the prices available in Saskatchewan are unknown, Mistral is particularly interested in what power price would make the company indifferent between markets. Additionally, because the power plant is roughly equidistant between Alberta and Saskatchewan transmission lines, it might be possible to choose between markets on an hourly basis. Mistral is interested in investigating the value of this inter-market connection. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, this switch is not instantaneous, and the plant must be shut down for 30 minutes before supplying power into the other market. Another challenge is predicting when the power price in Alberta will be greater than the contract price available in Saskatchewan. Because the future Alberta price is unknown and highly variable, the risk exists that high prices might not be sustained long enough for Mistral to realize any value.

In early 2013, the 23-year-old owner and designer of Korra Dancewear was brainstorming ideas to garner more attention for her new dancewear collection. Her business sold dance apparel online, and the company needed a comprehensive marketing plan to improve sales. With limited funds, this would be a challenge, but the young owner was keen to examine three pieces of her marketing plan: distribution options; launching a new children’s line; and pricing challenges and promotional options.

Ludhiana City Bus Service Limited (LCBSL) was created to improve the urban transportation system in the city of Ludhiana, India. As per the existing pricing strategy, bus fares (one of key revenue source for LCBSL) were set by the state government. LCBSL management was convinced that there was ample scope for raising the bus fares. The partial project implementation had been generating a return on capital of 1.9 per cent. To reduce this breakeven period and achieve targeted returns on capital of 4 per cent, management was considering the option to increase fares across different distance categories. Would this price restructuring be a game changer for LCBSL and a benchmark pricing strategy for other city bus service projects to follow?

The performance of Wonderla, the leader in the amusement park industry in South India, for the year 2011/12 could not be better. It grew at 30 per cent with more than one million customers visiting each of its two parks in Kochi and Bangalore. It also completed the development of a three-star hotel in its Bangalore park. Its growth is creating challenges that it has not faced before. The chief executive officer is concerned with the issue of prioritizing investment among its different businesses as the existing amusement parks are growing and new parks are being planned in two new locations. At the same time, effort is required to create demand for the hotel business. The concern extends beyond investment to examining the option of leveraging the brand Wonderla, which stands for “Fun,” to its hotel, with attendant implications for that business and for the brand and its image.

<p>This <a href="https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/category/collection/international-business/0ZG5c000000k9be?c__results_layout_state=%7B%7D">International Business</a> case study explores how the profits of a generic-pharmaceutical company, Parkin Laboratories, are dwindling as a result of recent legislation implemented by the Indian government. To compensate for the loss in value, the company needs to increase its sales volumes.&nbsp;The&nbsp;general manager of sales is exploring the idea of investing in a program of sales force effectiveness to increase the efficacy of the sales team.&nbsp;</p>

The human resources department at China Sunwah Bank had to decide on 22 new appointments — only 12 of which were officially advertised — to Sunwah Bank’s 28 branches. More than 4,000 applications had been received and the final list of candidates based on merit had been reduced to 48. The department members had spent many hours reading applications and conducting interviews; however, some members had been coping with specific endorsements for certain applicants from government officials, friends, former teachers and bank managers in a system known as “guanxi,” which was based on a reciprocal exchange of favours that bound individuals together. The challenge was how to choose the most qualified and talented recruits for the new positions at Sunwah Bank, keeping in mind the guanxi-based requests for favours from important stakeholders and friends — including some who had granted significant favours to Sunwah Bank executives in the past. The choice would require sensitivity and cultural awareness. Who would the department hire and why?