個案總覽

The sole proprietor of a small cake-baking and cake-decorating business needs to make some decisions regarding the company’s future. The company’s growth has brought new challenges including possible space constraints. The desire to improve profitability and to take the business to the next level leads the owner to consider increasing prices and the development of a new advertising strategy.

MassChallenge Inc. is a large non-profit startup accelerator that connects new ventures with other stakeholders within an established business ecosystem. For this new company to engage stakeholders in the numbers envisaged and create a crowd-sourced deal management system, the founders need to develop a model that brings in as many quality or attractive startups as possible. Instead of taking equity in participating ventures as traditional accelerators do, MassChallenge focuses on developing a marketplace for stakeholders to gain access to startups and for startups to access the resources provided by investors and other stakeholders, including government; angel investors, venture capitalists and lawyers; and businesses, foundations and universities. The founders also need to find ways to build MassChallenge through possible expansion and funding opportunities.

In early 2013, the head of business development and commercial operations of Arla Foods, a dairy enterprise focused on Northern European markets, is examining, in the light of a new five-year strategy, alternatives to the existing organization structure. His dilemma is to determine the best structure that can deliver the strategy, which is focused on renewed international expansion. The new structure must support the company's strategy in relation to both the existing core markets in Northern Europe and also the growth markets of the future in countries of Asia and Africa. It must ensure that Arla Foods has the right competitive stance in individual markets, which vary widely in terms of customer buying habits and retail formats. It must also ensure regular innovation of dairy categories developed from local resources and marketable globally.

OWNI was founded in April 2009 as a copyright-free online news and image distribution firm. As part of a web agency that developed web content and graphics for French companies, it insisted that all content produced could be made freely available to others under the Creative Commons licence. OWNI delivered hard-hitting news, sourced in the beginning mostly from bloggers and later supplemented by a team of investigative journalists. Set up to challenge the dominance of traditional French media, OWNI sought to carve out a niche for itself as a provider of richly illustrated, insightful news articles that were available to the public at no cost. Yet, despite its aspirations, the recognition it had received in the form of industry awards and the commitment of its employees, the firm filed for bankruptcy by the end of 2012. A former journalist at OWNI considers its impact on French media, what it represented, what changes — if any — it sparked and what it could have accomplished had it achieved what it set out to do. What were the challenges of growing and maintaining a unique business model in the face of competition and dwindling resources that OWNI’s management failed to meet?

In June 2013, the founder of Healing Through Humour, a comedy school for people with mental illness, considered his options to overcome the barriers to growth for his not-for-profit organization. The school, located in donated space in the offices of the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan in Regina, was designed to build self-esteem and life skills for people suffering from mental illness, to raise public awareness about mental health issues and to break down barriers of mental health discrimination in the community. The classes were free to encourage attendance by those with limited means. Money from ticket sales for the class’s public performances was used to fund performance and operating costs, but there was little left over to expand the organization’s promotional budget beyond maintaining a basic website and Facebook page. Low attendance for both the classes and the performances underlined the need to identify and access target market segments to increase community awareness of this support service, grow the class size to a critical mass and secure ongoing funding to make this health care initiative sustainable.

In 2013, the chief executive officer of the Canadian guitar manufacturer MacKenzie & Marr Guitars was reviewing all options to increase monthly sales, which were well short of the goal of 100 guitars a month or $1 million in annual revenue. Unlike its competitors in Canada, the company sold its products only online, promising delivery within 10 days and providing a seven-day return guarantee if the customer was not satisfied with the product. The first set of decisions related to the launch of a new guitar model: what market segment should be targeted, whether to expand into the United States where the company would face significant online and brand competition, whether the guitar should be endorsed and how it should be priced. He also had to decide whether to begin selling guitar accessories to increase revenues. As well as his concern about product, he had to consider changes in tariff policies that might affect the costs of manufacturing in and shipping from China. Once these decisions had been made, he would then decide on how best to allocate the company’s limited monthly promotional budget, especially whether to increase his Facebook and Google advertising, or invest in industry magazine print ads, or do both.

In a testament to the power of social media and the effect it can have on a business, the chief executive officer of a bank adopts the habit of taking to Twitter on a daily basis to promote his company’s services. But when the bank’s most recent ad campaign ignites a furor among TV audiences, Twitter quickly becomes a vehicle for crucifying the bank rather than promoting it. Within a week of the ad's air date, the bank is inundated with angry tweets, Facebook messages and media criticism. It becomes clear that the bank has made a mistake and will have to act quickly to decide on an appropriate response.

Two business-school grads are the co-founders of a technology startup that provides a mobile-based solution for automotive reviews. The case focuses on customer validation and on fitting a demand model to the aggregate sales data from the test versions of their product.

Pyramyd Air, a small and growing online airgun retailer serving the shooting community, wants to broaden its sustainability practices from its current internal initiatives in order to communicate an even stronger value proposition: sustainability isn’t just about recycling and efficiency, it is about a thriving environment leading to more engaged employees and more loyal premium customers. Though the airgun industry is not by its nature built on sustainability principles, as is solar energy for example, Pyramyd Air recognizes that some sustainability practices are vital to its customers’ long-term enjoyment of a flourishing outdoor sporting industry. For a company with strong customer relationships, can sustainability strengthen the relationship between employees and customers by building on the inherent industry values of the great outdoors and a sense of community?

The morning of October 9, 2012 found the portfolio manager for the Thackery Real Estate Fund (TREF) lost in thought. TREF was a large investment fund that specialized in commercial and industrial real estate. While TREF had a number of investors, there was one large institutional investor, and it had asked for an update on the fund by week’s end. Weighing on the portfolio manager’s mind was a particular industrial park in Montreal, Quebec known as the Centre Corporate Abbott. He was focused specifically on a proposed investment that required $20 million to purchase a completed, tenanted building known as Building A. In 2008, the portfolio manager had bought two other adjacent properties for $17 million from the same developer. In making his decision, he knew that the economic news across the globe was not rosy. In Canada and Quebec, the manufacturing sector had still not overcome the challenges of 2008’s Great Recession. For Quebec in particular, it also looked like the voters might be leaning towards another separatist government and news of corruption in the construction sector had become daily fodder. The portfolio manager wondered whether he should follow through with the investment and, if he did, how he would explain his recommendation to his investors as early as Friday.

GOJO Industries, a U.S.-based hand hygiene company, plans to use sustainability as a business strategy in its big hairy audacious goal of reaching one billion people every day by 2020. It has developed a six level framework to embed sustainability throughout every aspect of the company internally and to assess its successes in the following areas: mitigating risk; reducing energy, waste and materials; differentiation; entering new markets; protecting and enhancing brand; and influencing industry standards. The company has a long history of using sustainability to drive innovation and facilitate expansion into new markets and sees sustainability as a key differentiator from its competitors to achieve its goal. In order to so, the company must also consider the importance of employee engagement in order to further embed sustainability and increase the number of people it reaches with its products.

This case explores issues faced by the corporate sustainability manager at the corporate headquarters of a large hotel group in a developing nation as she implements her company’s corporate sustainability strategy through supplier partnerships with bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) social organizations. Under the rubric of responsible purchasing, the hotelier’s “Creating Sustainable Livelihoods” initiative engaged cause-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by exploring opportunities where the products or services of such organizations could substitute for similar products or services sourced from for-profit suppliers. The case illustrates the challenges inherent in a BoP responsible purchasing strategy, including the delicate balance between meeting business objectives while supporting social causes.

This case presents a social enterprise considering whether a for-profit model might be an effective way to scale its impact. Mexico City-based La Vaca Independiente (The Independent Cow) was founded to bring art to underprivileged children. The founder observed that many global problems are caused by humanity’s increasing state of isolation, with individuals disconnected from the planet and from each other. She concluded that most benefit corporations address outcomes of isolationism, but that La Vaca could target the matter directly. La Vaca focused exclusively on a program called Developing Intelligence through Art (DIA). Using artwork as a stimulus for thought and discussion, DIA provided individuals with opportunities to develop meaning in their lives. She believed, based on evidence that companies lose annual revenue due to the effects of isolationism on their employees, that she and her team could pursue a for-profit business model in order to expose La Vaca to markets and opportunities inaccessible to a charitable organization.

It was summer of 2013, and the news of cyber-attacks and information security breaches was on the rise in India, as it was worldwide. Incidents such as the Axis bank’s cyber-crime incident and the news of the American National Security Agency’s global e-surveillance were creating consternation and dilemmas in the minds of information security consultants. One such consultant owned and operated an information security company, Percept Softech, a Lakshyaa Technology Lab’s Jaipur franchise. The consultant was bogged down by a number of problems and dilemmas. The first was his marketing and business growth strategy, which was not helping him in promotion of his business. Information security solutions, spying, vulnerability checks, key logging and allied propositions were difficult to promote. Managing young millennial talent was another major problem for him. Apart from the woes of business growth, inefficiency in promotion and talent issues, the consultant was now facing another dilemma. Should he start a new business away from the umbrella of the Lakshyaa Technology Lab? Should he partner with a detective agency? Or should he relocate from Jaipur to a more central location (such as New Delhi) where perhaps people would be more aware of the importance of cyber security and students would be more interested in pursuing cyber security training?

In the hotel industry, the reuse of towels is considered a main step toward reducing hotels’ high carbon footprint. Windermere Manor, a private, high-end hotel, has established a routine to encourage its guests to reuse towels; however, the hotel’s towel-replacement rate exceeds its towel-reuse rate. The intended routine for identifying towels for reuse is not being followed, even by the hotels’ own housekeeping staff. The hotel's general manager examines the reasons for the breakdown of routine and considers ways of correcting the situation.

本個案主要討論達芙妮公司從代工到自創品牌之營運與策略。在全代工時期的策略及面臨的壓力，從代工到自創品牌之策略轉變以及經營能力上的不足之處。在回攻台灣市場時，可從大陸市場移轉的優勢以及面對的弱勢及挑戰，以及達芙妮發展成衣市場的挑戰。

The owner of The Jade Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, BC, is ambushed by an impromptu media interview with animal rights activists regarding his restaurant’s serving of shark’s fin soup. This soup has been an upper-class staple delicacy in China for over 400 years; with the increased consumer power that has resulted from the growth of the Chinese economy since 1970, it has become the signature dish for families celebrating important occasions and for sealing business and political deals. However, research has shown that sharks have become a highly endangered species, in part because of the practice of harvesting only the fins and throwing away the rest of the carcass and because of the small birth rate and slow growth development of the fish. The consumption of shark’s fin soup in Chinese culture has become an easy target for animal rights activists because it is so localized. How should the owner react to this media ambush? If he removes this culturally important item from his menu, how will this affect his business in the highly competitive Asian restaurant environment in Richmond? Should a cultural norm trump real concerns about the consumption of an endangered species?

Essar Group (Essar), a large diversified conglomerate based in India, needs to raise significant capital through an initial public offering (IPO) and has to decide whether to do so through the Indian Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange or the New York Stock Exchange. The company will have to continue to report in Indian GAAP and, if it decides to list its IPO in the United States or Europe, it also will have to adopt either U.S. GAAP or IFRS. The chief financial officer of Essar has to recommend to management where to raise the needed capital and what accounting standard to adopt. The B case 9B13B015 discloses the decision and describes some of the implementation issues.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER -Best case in the Entrepreneurship & Indian Family Business category, ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition</strong></p><br>An entrepreneur puts his entire lifetime into building an organization. When it comes to health care in India, it is all the more difficult as there are so many hurdles, such as a huge population that cannot afford to pay, shortage of trained manpower and increasing cost of supplies. LV Prasad Eye Institute has been successful, largely because of its founder’s dedication, hard work and innovative pyramid model of organizational structure. In spite of its success, this healthcare institution faces challenges from increased competition and the lack of a succession strategy.

本個案介紹緯創資通石慶堂會計長藉由導入國際財務報導準則(IFRS)，規劃推動企業管理系統與策略決策功能晉級的過程。