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Wayne Adlam, head of equity capital markets for CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Inc. (Wood Gundy), sat at his desk contemplating placing a value on the equity units of the Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust. Wood Gundy and RBC Dominion Securities Inc. had been given the mandate to co-lead manage Legacy's Initial Public Offering (IPO). Legacy planned to use the proceeds of its IPO along with funds raised in a concurrent $300 million subordinated debt offering to invest in 11 hotel properties located in major business centres across Canada. The hotel properties would be acquired from CP Hotels.

The assistant engineer in the Thermal Treatment Department of a state-owned enterprise in China has received approval for the formation of a new quality control group to reduce the high defect rate of a critical part. The total quality concept is presented within the context of a specific quality problem, which encourages students to both assess the company's quality system and apply quality improvement tools to this particular problem. This case is the first of a three part series that applies the principles and tools of total quality management in a Chinese setting. This case can either be used independently or in combination with the (B) case, 9A98D002 and (C) case, 9A98D003.

The head of the Clinical Resource Management Committee at St. Catharines General Hospital which was responsible for monitoring and promoting optimal resource utilization by physicians and the other staff at the hospital. While the committee had made some gains, there was little effect on the hospital's operating costs and many physicians were uninterested or resistant to the concept of utilization. In addition, hospitals in the region were faced with restructuring proposals and budget cuts in the near future. The case highlights the changes taking place in the health care sector and the implications for managerial analysis and control. Issues covered include: cost analysis, design of a funding scheme to promote certain behavior, data collection and validity, incentives, and performance measurement.

Group Retirement Services (GRS) is a division of London Life Insurance Company in London, Ontario. The vice president of GRS implemented the balanced scorecard in his division in 1994. Since that time, the industry and London Life have experienced significant change. Although the scorecard was not yet complete (after three years), the real issue here is whether the scorecard has been useful to GRS and whether the scorecard could be improved to assist the department in the future.

Phil Stephenson, the director of China for Bundy Asia Pacific (BAP), was preoccupied with Bundy's business in China. BAP's CEO, Tony Martin, had shown Phil the fax from Robin Thompson, the new marketing and product development director of Bundy International, BAP's UK-based parent company. Thompson had asked BAP about its strategy for the refrigeration business in China. Despite 10 years of experience in China, Bundy had not met its market goals. Whatever strategy was developed, it would be an important part of Bundy's proposed global refrigeration strategy. This rich case allows detailed discussion around issues including (a) business (re)development strategy, (b) joint ventures versus wholly owned subsidiaries, (c) organizational structure, and (d) expatriate and local staffing.

The Computer Shoppe has five year's worth of customer information of past computer system purchasers in its database. While sales are good, the owner is wondering how he can use the customer information available to him to increase sales.

The managing director and operations director of the manufacturing arm of a joint venture were experiencing severe difficulties. Transferred three years ago, they shared management responsibilities with other expatriates. The workforce was predominately locals. The performance of the company was not meeting expectations of either of the joint venture partners, a problem especially acute for the managing director, whose father was chairman of the partner's holding company. Problems included high turnover, changing roles with the recent departure of a firm originally in a 3-way partnership, intercultural communications and general confusions as to what to do.

The general manager faces a difficult decision whether to sell the family business to a publicly listed company with the needed resources and experience to bring the firm to the next level of success. Complicated by complex family relations, including the death of his uncle who ran an Indonesian subsidiary and his father's departure to attend to the large losses from this business, he wonders what the best course of action is. Not the least of his concerns is the increased importance of mainland China business to his Hong Kong company and the problematic nature of some of these activities. In addition, he has a personal ambition to practice law, after suspending these interests for several years to serve the family's needs. (A supplement to this case under the same name, case 9A98F003, addresses a number of social and emotional complexities.)

An employee has completed nearly one year in her first full time job and faces a decision about a pay increase offered by her headquarters office. A native of North America working in Hong Kong for an Italian fashion house, she unexpectedly assumed responsibilities well beyond her original contract. In addition, both cost of living and inflation in Hong Kong have exceeded her projections. She is concerned that the raise is insufficient for the circumstances and is wondering what to do. (A sequel to this case is available, titled Maria Mancini - Expatriate Compensation (B), case 9A98G008.)

As a central component of its Vision 2020 strategy, the city of Wellington, New Zealand has developed preliminary plans to transform itself into a wired city. The overarching project was called Info City. One of the sub-projects was called City Link. The objective of City Link was to create a high-speed digital communications infrastructure for the downtown business district. Fibre optic cable was to be used to wire up, simply and inexpensively, the city's downtown businesses, to provide a backbone network that businesses could utilize, however they wished, to make themselves more competitive. A consortium of interested parties had recently been formed, a telecommunications architecture was being developed, and plans for stringing cable were under way. While the project champion was unclear about the utility of the new system, he was confident that once the infrastructure was in place, ideas for its utilization would readily emerge. This case provides a setting for exploring the issue of the role of IT in competitive strategy. It also raises interesting social policy questions, about who should pay for such undertaking, who should benefit, and so forth.

The purchasing officer at the Hillview Hospital in London, Ontario, was reviewing four suppliers' quotes for antiseptic handsoap. He had asked for new quotes after receiving a large number of complaints from hospital staff about sudden problems with the current handsoap. Testing revealed that the current supplier had changed the soap's formulation without informing the hospital.

Sandra Hawken is faced with the challenge of developing a marketing plan for Romil Reyes, vice-president of operations of Purely Gr...8! Water Company Inc., a premium purified bottled water company in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. Romil, a 20 per cent owner of the business, wants to expand the target market from its current client base of Filipino home users. Romil's father, the majority shareholder, enjoys servicing the small client base and does not want to take risks with his business. Sandra is left with the task of making product positioning, pricing, promotion and distribution decisions that will appease both owners.

FastLane Technologies was a young entrepreneurial software company that had developed a powerful language that could help organizations manage, administer and control large enterprise networks. In late 1996 they received an infusion of capital from Newbridge Networks and Celtic House, a venture capital firm. In May 1997, the new vice-president of marketing at FastLane must make his first presentation to the Board of Directors about his proposed marketing strategy for FastLane. The company faced a number of important issues, including whether to focus on the language or application tools based on the language and the most effective strategy for rapidly moving its products into a dominant position in its segment of the emerging market for Windows NT services. Developing effective channels to reach the large organizations that were its target customers was a particularly challenging issue. The case can be used in business-to-business marketing, marketing strategy, strategic market planning courses or in small business or entrepreneurship courses. (A 43-minute video can be purchased with this case, video 7A98A006.)

A bank supervisor must contend with various personnel problems, specifically highlighting individuals- both subordinates and superiors. his immediate supervisor said that the new group was supposed to be great, his new position fun. In the view of his boss' boss, the group had major problems. He soon discovered that he had more problems than he had anticipated. How was he to deal with a dysfunctional group when his superiors disagreed about whether or not there were problems and were also personally antagonistic.

An entrepreneur is hoping to open Caribbean Internet Cafe in Kingston, Jamaica. He has gathered data on all the relevant costs: equipment, rent, labor, etc. He has also found a partner in the local telephone company, Jamaica Telecommunications Limited (JTL). JTL has provided equity and a long-term loan at favourable interest rates. He is now faced with the task of analyzing fixed, variable and start-up costs, contribution margin, and the concept of break-even to guide his decision.

A senior product manager at Abbott Laboratories Limited (Abbott) must develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to launch Abbott's ground-breaking drug, Norvir, into the Canadian market. Norvir has recently been launched in the U.S. and was used to treat patients with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). With fewer than six months before the scheduled Canadian launch date, he must make a number of decisions concerning product positioning, sales representation and promotion.

Ellen Moore, a systems consultant, was sent to Korea to manage a project involving a team of North American and Korean consultants representing a joint venture between a major Korean conglomerate and a significant North American information technology company. The Americans were to be involved for the first seven months in order to transfer expertise and knowledge to the South Koreans, who had little experience in this area. Ellen's superior had played an integral part in securing the contract in Korea due to his depth of knowledge on the subject. He chose Ellen to be the key North American project manager because she had significant project management skills and impressive international experience. Upon Ellen's arrival, she discovered that the Korean consultants were far less skilled than she had expected. In addition, Ellen had understood that she and the Korean manager were to be co-managers, but immediately tensions arose regarding who was giving direction to the team, and the scope of the project. Tensions escalated until it was clear that the project was behind schedule and the Koreans were not taking direction from Ellen. The Koreans insisted that Ellen was the problem. Ellen’s superior disagreed; he and Ellen needed to decide how to proceed. The challenge was to balance strategic goals with individual action.

The new president of Black & Decker-Eastern Hemisphere, attempts to introduce a new performance appraisal and management development system. Black & Decker is a relatively weak player in the Eastern Hemisphere and the president is convinced that he needs to significantly increase the number and quality of managers in the region. To assist in the development process, the president is considering introducing a US-designed Appraisal Development Plan (ADP) in the region. ADP uses 360 degree feedback from peers, subordinates, and supervisors to assist employees in building managerial skills and in increasing personal accountability. Despite a successful track record for ADP in Black & Decker North America, members of the top management team are concerned that ADP will be a failure in the Eastern Hemisphere. They argue that the system faces huge barriers due to organizational cultural issues related to staffing, systems leadership and structure. The president is flirting with disaster if he proceeds.

Unicon supplies pre-cast concrete products to the flourishing construction market in Hong Kong. The deputy managing director, is evaluating an opportunity to pursue a blanket regulatory approval for Unicon's custom-designed concrete products with its largest customer, the Hong Kong Housing Authority. This opportunity promised to offer cost savings to both Unicon and this customer, although questions remain about the broader implications for Unicon's manufacturing operations and other customers. At the same time, management must develop a plan to expand its manufacturing capacity if Unicon hopes to capitalize on the rapidly expanding market and fend off new competitors from mainland China.

The manager for Asia of James Hardie, a major Australian company in the building products industry, must decide whether to recommend a proposed $50 million investment in the Philippines. If James Hardie is to make the investment and grow the company, should it do so as a joint venture with Jardine, James Hardie's Hong Kong-based distributor in the Philippines, go it alone, or form a joint venture with a Philippine company? This is a major investment for James Hardie and marks the beginning of its new growth initiative into Asia after a period of consolidation. If the project goes ahead, James Hardie's Asia headquarters would be moved from Kuala Lumpur to Manila.