個案總覽

This case looks at the Ambatovy mining project in Madagascar, which involves exploring and exploiting a giant nickel and cobalt mine near Moramanga, on Madagascar's east coast. The project could bring important economic and social development to Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world but requires a high level of commitment to environmental protection along with the support of local communities. The company is developing programs to compensate for its ecological footprint and to achieve the goal of "no net loss" of biodiversity. The case gives a history of the project, the main actions taken, and the results delivered by the company while attempting to engage in "sustainable exploration and exploitation" and to be a "responsible" corporate citizen. The company's perspective of the social, economic, and environmental issues surrounding the project is compared with that of two other stakeholders: the government and local communities.

Jacob Madisson is wondering how General Mills will make it to its goal of sourcing 100% sustainable cocoa by 2020. Demand is increasing and some are wondering if the supply of the precious raw material will dry up. Prices will certainly increase, nevertheless. With only 10% of its African-based cocoa sourced sustainably, General Mills needs a new strategy. How will the company move forward?

Environmental activist groups have traditionally opposed nuclear energy. However, the growing environmental problems associated with global climate change requires major changes to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Should environmental groups reverse course and support the construction of new nuclear plants--using technology that could be rapidly deployed at scale--to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global climate change?

An engineer and technology entrepreneur, Nobu Okada, had turned a mid-life crisis into a bold-some would say quixotic-quest to prevent a tragedy of the commons at the global scale. Namely, Okada believed the accumulation of debris in near-Earth orbital space posed a serious threat to a vast array of critical satellites and, thereby, both the modern information economy and the future of human activities in space. Frustrated at what he saw as far too slow a reaction to the threat among major space powers, Okada planned to develop a spacecraft capable of adhering to, and redirecting, that debris. By lowering the costs of debris removal, he hoped to make it routine, even in the absence of government action. As of 2016 his company, Astroscale, which had secured private funding years earlier, was nearing the first demonstration of the technology. This case is intended to help students understand how a tragedy of the commons develops in a specific, nearly textbook example. As important, this case is about potential solutions to the tragedy of the commons when the market and policy both fall short.

In 1950 it looked highly doubtful that Indian democracy would hold -- typical family income was $6 a month, only about 15 percent of the population was literate, there were deep religious and ethnic differences, and more than a dozen national languages were spoken. But after a half a century, India had proved to be the first democracy anywhere near so poor to survive. Why? As well, in 1950 India's economic prospects looked bright for a developing country -- it had a well trained government bureaucracy bequeathed by the British, a secure legal system, national railroads, and more advanced industry than, for example, China. Why did the economy do so poorly?

A product market firm faces an inventory investment decision in the face of demand uncertainty. To hedge against some of the uncertainty, the firm contemplates an additional fixed investment that would offer the flexibility of diverting inventory in case of weak sales. In a follow-up case, the repercussions of this flexibility are explored.

The oil and gas industry is one of the largest, most complex, and most important global industries. The industry touches everyone's lives with products such as transportation, heating and electricity fuels, asphalt, lubricants, propane, and thousands of petrochemical products from carpets to eyeglasses to clothing. The industry impacts national security, elections, geo-politics, and international conflicts. The prices of crude oil and natural gas are probably the two most closely watched commodity prices in the global economy. In recent years, the industry has seen many tumultuous events, such as the growth in oil and gas production in the United States; sanctions on Russia and improved international relationships with Iran; continued technological advances in unconventional oil and gas; ongoing strife in Iraq, Libya, and various other oil-exporting nations; continued heated discussion about climate change and non-hydrocarbon sources of energy; and continued uncertainty in crude and gas prices. All of this comes amid predictions that the global demand for energy will increase by 30-40% by 2040.

This case describes how Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), a leading provider of broadband, IPTV, and long-distance services in Hong Kong with approximately 2 million Internet subscribers, went through a management buyout (MBO) transaction with CVC Capital Partners (CVC), a global private equity investment firm. Subsequently, the case describes how HKBN's unique corporate culture, particularly its Co-Ownership scheme, led the company from an MBO to a successful IPO. In May 2012, CVC along with key management team members purchased HKBN from Ricky Wong, a well-known Hong Kong entrepreneur in the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) industry, and completed the MBO transaction. Through a series of value-added efforts made by both the management team and the CVC team, two years and 10 months after the MBO, HKBN made an IPO in early 2015, resulting in HKBN being one of the few successful MBO transactions in Asia. What are the key factors that contributed to this success within a short time? How should the management team ensure that these success factors, particularly the Co-Ownership scheme, continue to guide HKBN to success in its industry?

Two undergraduate business students wanted to assess the feasibility of starting a business that would sell an all-natural and completely biodegradable alternative toothbrush - the Miswak. A total of $50,000 had already been secured for the initial investment; however, the young partners wondered whether this investment would be sufficient to sustain the cash flows of the business for its first three years of operations and, if not, how much additional funding would be needed. To discover whether their proposed venture would be feasible, the pair set out to perform a variety of qualitative and quantitative analyses.

In 2013-14, the Indian government issued Inflation Indexed Bonds for institutional investors and Inflation Indexed National Savings Securities for retail investors. The immediate trigger for the issue of inflation indexed securities was the coincidence of an increase in trade deficit, an increase in gold imports and a period of high inflation, leading policy makers to conclude that households were increasing their gold holdings as a hedge against inflation. It was expected that investors would use the Inflation Indexed Bonds to hedge against inflation and reduce their demand for gold. However, response to the inflation indexed securities was poor and the issue was not considered a success. The government must now decide whether this was a case of wrong policy or wrong execution.

Fruitzone India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company was contemplating launching a new flavour of fruit juice and decided to conduct a feasibility study. It hired an external market research agency, India Monitor International (IM) to conduct the market research. This case discusses the exploratory phase of the research conducted by IMI. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses

Near the end of 2014, Derek Belch decided to turn his master's thesis into a virtual reality athletic training company called STRIVR Labs [Sports Training in Virtual Reality]. Born out of Stanford University's famed Virtual Human Interaction Lab, STRIVR garnered immediate interest from a wide array of organizations. Having played and coached football at Stanford University, Belch had connections within several professional and collegiate football programs. Furthermore, he had tested STRIVR's revolutionary product extensively with the Stanford University Football team throughout the 2014 football season. During this testing phase, Belch made drastic improvements to the virtual reality training solution, and several national media outlets began to take notice of the innovative technology. Against this backdrop, Belch was able to secure several meetings in the beginning of 2015 with coaches, scouts, and NFL executives, with the hope of acquiring a few customers. By the end of June, STRIVR had signed contracts with two NFL teams and six colleges. By the end of August, STRIVR had added an additional four NFL teams, three college football teams, the NBA's Washington Wizards, and the NHL's Washington Capitals. As STRIVR grew its customer base, it generated significant press, which led to even more inbound interest in STRIVR's solutions. Much of the interest came from sports teams, eager to utilize STRIVR's sports training solution. However, several companies approached Belch to discuss partnership opportunities outside of sports training-some related to sports entertainment, and others in industries completely unrelated to sports. In less than a year, Belch and the STRIVR team had seemingly endless opportunities for growth. And while Belch was thrilled about the many potential avenues for STRIVR's continued expansion, he knew that the excitement needed to be tempered with caution.

BancoSol, a microfinance bank headquartered in La Paz, Bolivia, was forced to adjust its lending strategy and business model because of a regulatory change. 60% of the bank's lending portfolio would have to move to the productive sector of the Bolivian economy by 2018, and these loans would have a controlled interest rate of 11.5%. How would BancoSol meet these targets, fulfill its mission, and remain profitable?

IMAX is a provider of comprehensive testing and personalized content across mid-range and low-cost private K-10 schools in India. It aims to improve learning outcomes by providing schools with an integrated product suite including  textbooks, workbooks, assessments, feedback reports, personalized worksheets  and teaching support material. Its founders however, view their B2B strategy as a seeding strategy to eventually form a B2C education marketplace where they can collaborate with other education content companies and publishers to provide the right content to the right student in the right form at the right time. To fuel this rapid growth, IMAX has been scouting for investors. It has received an equity investment offer from a large Indian educational book publisher that has been rapidly acquiring companies to strengthen its hold in the education market. The founders must decide if they should accept the publisher's offer or continue to look for an investor who believes in their vision.

Caesars Entertainment was a large casino operator in the United States that had been purchased in a 2008 leveraged buyout by Apollo and TPG. In January, 2015, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC), its largest subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11. This set up a battle between the company and a set of large distressed investors. At issue was not only how to restructure the business and reduce Caesars debt, but also multiple lawsuits alleging that the company had damaged creditors in their quest to preserve equity value. Of particularly focus were a series of transactions that took place during 2013 and 2014 to sell assets from one subsidiary to another and to eliminate a valuable parent guarantee that had been granted to CEOC creditors. This case provides a good example of a variety of "defensive maneuvers" employed by companies and their private equity sponsors to protect a troubled investment.

In April 2010, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Steelworks, a Singapore-based metals company recently acquired by an Indian conglomerate, embarked on a plan to realign the organization's structure and processes across its subsidiaries. However, he had difficulty getting the long-serving general manager of a plant in China to sign off on the current year's audited financial statements. This led to a tense and bizarre confrontation between the CEO and the regional general manager. The restructuring project was taking autonomy from regional unit heads. Was that the problem? Was Steelworks mismanaging its subsidiaries? Had the general manager of the Chinese plant, a Singaporean expatriate, been seconded to China for too long? It was unclear how a member of the senior management team who had been with Steelworks for his entire career could behave this way and jeopardize his position. What could the CEO have done differently?

Solectric was a small solar power venture located in Sydney, Australia. The founder was an academic entrepreneur who was planning to return to his academic career. A new business development manager had been hired to explore and enter markets with varying degrees of uncertainty and potential profitability. The capital was running out and an unfocused strategy was exacerbating negligible sales revenues. Together, they were faced with the decision of which market(s) to focus on, how to allocate available capital, and how to consider the implications regarding distribution of equity and control.

In April 2011, a university professor of accounting and finance was examining the financial statements of Pangang Group Steel Vanadium & Titanium Company (Pangang), a leading Chinese steel manufacturer listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Pangang had a dramatic turnaround in its reported net income in 2010 with its share price rising over 60 per cent in a six-month period. The professor suspected that the controlling shareholder of Pangang - Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel) - had been manipulating Pangang's earnings to artificially inflate the stock price. The timing coincided with the expiry of put options awarded by Ansteel to minority shareholders as part of a restructuring. Was Pangang manipulating its earnings to influence stock prices? Was there sufficient evidence to expose the fraudulent scheme to the public or report the case to the Chinese securities regulators?

In 2009, Enbridge announced the Neutral Footprint program to enhance its social licence to operate, increase its corporate responsibility, and in turn improve its corporate reputation through good performance. The program also gave Enbridge an opportunity to provide information about its financial and non-financial performance. By the end of 2012, Enbridge had suffered from unfavourable publicity due to oil spills. It also encountered a great deal of opposition against its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project. The company's situation was further complicated by the retirement of its chief executive officer who had started the Neutral Footprint program. Enbridge's new chief executive officer and president needed to be convinced of the benefits of the Neutral Footprint program, most of which were difficult to quantify. Would the project be cancelled, continue as is it was, or become even more engrained in Enbridge's culture?