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Case Supplement for Case CU326

Updates the Tokio Marine (A) case by providing information on the organisation structure adopted by the Japanese insurance firm as it moved to integrate its global operations, along with changes in HR policies that sought to balance traditional Japanese practices with those of its foreign subsidiaries.

Facing a significant decline (downward trend) in revenues in 2016, David Gwilliam, Head of Transformation at PepsiCo UK introduced a new way of working ("Responsive Working"), which encompasses a set of work practices and some new team structures. The work practices comprise a set of 9 codified practices that employees can be trained in to use as part of their daily work. The team structures - called SLAM teams - are put together following strict procedures to tackle key strategic or operational challenges. They are typically cross-boundary, time limited teams. Through these interventions, PepsiCo UK managed to turn the business around (back to growth) by late 2017. At the time of the case in December 2019, PepsiCo UK seems poised for continued success, while Gwilliam contemplates whether or not to authorize employee requests to initiate modified SLAM team for less urgent and strategic issues.

In August 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, confronted one of the most difficult dilemmas of his career: how to improve the country's economic performance. This case set highlights Gorbachev's reform efforts from 1985 to 1990. Numerous measures of economic performance had declined, and the USSR faced serious crises of economics (declining productivity and financial insufficiency), federalism (challenges to the primacy of the Soviet Union), and separatism (ethnic and nationalist agitation). Three groups of advisers offered competing plans. One plan focused on economic revolution toward a market economy; one on reform of the existing centrally planned economy; and a third on economic retrenchment and reinforcement of socialist discipline that had prevailed over the previous 73 years. Students must evaluate the benefits and risks of each alternative and recommend a course of action.

In the B case we learn that at least 19 France Telecom employees took their own lives between 2006 and 2009, 12 others attempted suicide, and eight suffered from serious depression for reasons reportedly related to work. Some of these deaths occurred in public places, others on company grounds. Labor inspector Sylvie Catala conducted an investigation and found that the "lack of consideration of psychosocial risks in the restructuring is the result of a policy implemented throughout the country... and that the company's top executives put pressure on middle management, who passed on this pressure to workers." She concluded that the company's actions likely "endangered human life" and constituted "moral harassment."

In the C case we learn that former CEO Didier Lombard, Deputy Chief Executive Louis-Pierre Wenes, Human Resources Head Olivier Barberot and France Telecom itself were charged for institutional harassment by French authorities, a first for a CAC 40 company. In December 2019 they were found guilty in a landmark ruling. Each was given a one-year jail sentence, with eight months suspended, and fined €15,000. France Telcom, which had since been rebranded as Orange, was fined €75,000 -the maximum allowed by French legal provisions at the time of the offenses.

The case discusses different steps which Mastercard has followed in its digital transformation journey. They involve opportunity framing, creating innovation pathways, finding digital transformation opportunities, and innovation with partners within adaptive ecosystems. With the objective to stop competing with other payment processing firms (like Visa or Amex) and start competing with cash, Mastercard has moved from an undifferentiated processor of payments to a builder of unique technological platforms. The case has two parts, A and B.

Supplement for Case ISB229

Supplement for Case ISB229

Case B of the two-part series "Zee Entertainment and Essel Group: A Quest for Legacy and Beyond" describes the evolution and eventual resolution of the personal crisis that looms in front of Subhash Chandra, Chairman of Zee Entertainment Limited, in Case A. Chandra was very well-known in India as a successful entrepreneur who brought entertainment to the masses in the 1990s through his television channel Zee. Although Zee had performed very well over three decades, Chandra found himself under significant debt stress due to failures associated with his infrastructure business, which he had founded in 2007. By January 2019, Chandra had offered most of the shares of the listed firms he owned as collateral to banks to borrow additional debt to sustain his infrastructure business. Several developments had occurred by this time that deepened Chandra's predicament, including the tightening of credit by financial institutions, a statutory body investigation into a firm that he owned, and an investigative report outlining his personal indebtedness. These factors contributed to a dip in the stock price of many listed Essel Group companies, and banks threatened to sell the shares of companies of Chandra's thriving media business to recover the debt. Chandra had to sell assets of his infrastructure business and most of his stake in Zee to pay off his debt. Corporate governance lapses at Zee also emerged at the time of the stake sale by Chandra, particularly around related party transactions with other companies that he and his brothers owned. Although his son Punit Goenka continued as the CEO of Zee, Chandra had to resign his chairmanship of the company and was left with a measly 5% stake in Zee, with the dominant shareholders now being institutional investors.

In November 2020, Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Lynda Davis, and Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Barbara C. Morton reflect on a busy four years leading the Veterans Experience Office at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The case provides an update on the transformation efforts at VA that were documented in the "Improving Access at VA" case.

Case A is set in 2010. Shinji Tanaka is a senior economist at Kyoto Heritage Foundation, a Japanese think tank, and he wondered if Sharp's new manufacturing plant in Sakai could turn the company around. Sharp's vision and innovative culture led it to invest in LCD technology. It played an important role in consigning cathode ray tube technology to the past and eventually outlasted plasma as well. However, Sharp's fortunes started to take a hit as plant construction racked up large debts and profitability declined as the global economy shrank and LCD prices fell due to increased competition. The company responded by doubling down on LCD technology and built a larger and more expensive plant to build more technologically advanced LCD panels. Case B continues in 2016. Technological improvements continued to bring down the prices of LCD panels. Sharp had to be bailed out from its losses twice and was facing bankruptcy again. The company had to decide between two choices. One option was to merge with the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a government-owned investment fund, to create a national champion. The second one involved doing a deal with Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics giant that could realise synergies. Which option should Tanaka suggest Sharp to take?

In June 2020, UBits faced the uncertainties of a global health crisis—the COVID-19 pandemic. The company had experienced several temporary setbacks, but the chief executive officer and co-founder was encouraged by the shifts in market dynamics that seemed to hold a bright future for online training. However, major competitors had also intensified their efforts to capitalize on the new opportunities in the market. UBits needed to re-evaluate its options for growth, as new opportunities and challenges were arising from the pandemic’s impact on society.

In June 2020, UBits faced the uncertainties of a global health crisis-the COVID-19 pandemic. The company had experienced several temporary setbacks, but the chief executive officer and co-founder was encouraged by the shifts in market dynamics that seemed to hold a bright future for online training. However, major competitors had also intensified their efforts to capitalize on the new opportunities in the market. UBits needed to re-evaluate its options for growth, as new opportunities and challenges were arising from the pandemic's impact on society.

The case aims to exercise skills in decision-making, negotiations, and conflict resolution in extreme crisis management. It is a multi-party negotiation: CEO of the company that produces the spill, national government and municipal government, port authorities, and environmental associations. There is also a multivariable agenda to negotiate: an emergency level to be declared, cleaning operations to be deployed, additional environmental recovery work, provisions in the port area, and compensation mechanisms for the affected communities. The multimedia format allows adding information to extend the discussion of the case to an extreme experience design format with recordings of people involved, filming of affected residents, news in the media, and the impact of social networks.

The case aims to exercise skills in decision-making, negotiations, and conflict resolution in extreme crisis management. It is a multi-party negotiation: CEO of the company that produces the spill, national government and municipal government, port authorities, and environmental associations. There is also a multivariable agenda to negotiate: an emergency level to be declared, cleaning operations to be deployed, additional environmental recovery work, provisions in the port area, and compensation mechanisms for the affected communities. The multimedia format allows adding information to extend the discussion of the case to an extreme experience design format with recordings of people involved, filming of affected residents, news in the media, and the impact of social networks.

The case aims to exercise skills in decision-making, negotiations, and conflict resolution in extreme crisis management. It is a multi-party negotiation: CEO of the company that produces the spill, national government and municipal government, port authorities, and environmental associations. There is also a multivariable agenda to negotiate: an emergency level to be declared, cleaning operations to be deployed, additional environmental recovery work, provisions in the port area, and compensation mechanisms for the affected communities. The multimedia format allows adding information to extend the discussion of the case to an extreme experience design format with recordings of people involved, filming of affected residents, news in the media, and the impact of social networks.

The case aims to exercise skills in decision-making, negotiations, and conflict resolution in extreme crisis management. It is a multi-party negotiation: CEO of the company that produces the spill, national government and municipal government, port authorities, and environmental associations. There is also a multivariable agenda to negotiate: an emergency level to be declared, cleaning operations to be deployed, additional environmental recovery work, provisions in the port area, and compensation mechanisms for the affected communities. The multimedia format allows adding information to extend the discussion of the case to an extreme experience design format with recordings of people involved, filming of affected residents, news in the media, and the impact of social networks.

The case aims to exercise skills in decision-making, negotiations, and conflict resolution in extreme crisis management. It is a multi-party negotiation: CEO of the company that produces the spill, national government and municipal government, port authorities, and environmental associations. There is also a multivariable agenda to negotiate: an emergency level to be declared, cleaning operations to be deployed, additional environmental recovery work, provisions in the port area, and compensation mechanisms for the affected communities. The multimedia format allows adding information to extend the discussion of the case to an extreme experience design format with recordings of people involved, filming of affected residents, news in the media, and the impact of social networks.

The case aims to exercise skills in decision-making, negotiations, and conflict resolution in extreme crisis management. It is a multi-party negotiation: CEO of the company that produces the spill, national government and municipal government, port authorities, and environmental associations. There is also a multivariable agenda to negotiate: an emergency level to be declared, cleaning operations to be deployed, additional environmental recovery work, provisions in the port area, and compensation mechanisms for the affected communities. The multimedia format allows adding information to extend the discussion of the case to an extreme experience design format with recordings of people involved, filming of affected residents, news in the media, and the impact of social networks.