個案總覽

The case "Greece's Debt: Sustainable?" describes the Greek economic crisis, bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the debt restructuring that followed. Because of a lack of trust in Greece's ability to repay its debt, two programs were organized that provided financial assistance to Greece. This was followed by a debt restructuring that provided debt relief to Greece through a combination of lowering interest rates, lengthening debt maturity, and rebates on interest and principal. The case outlines how International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), U.S. GAAP, and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) define accounting for debt and describes the controversy that existed around the proper valuation of Greece's debt. Because Greece had not adopted accrual accounting, its debt was reported in face value terms, according to the Maastricht treaty. This was in contradiction to accounting practices that prescribed fair valuation of debt in line with market prices or present value techniques. The case ends with a series of questions that steer the discussion towards the importance of accrual accounting and valuation of debt. Did Greece have too much debt and as a result a solvency problem? Should Greece push lenders to take a haircut on the debt? Were the austerity measures really necessary? Or did Greece have too little debt, therefore allowing the country to avoid austerity measures, increase spending, and spark growth?

This case explores the strategic options available to TAV Airports Holding, a Turkish firm, after it withdraws from a bid to build Istanbul's newest airport. The new airport would eventually replace Istanbul Atatürk Airport, where TAV makes 43% of its current revenue, and losing it will leave the company without a presence in its nation's largest city. TAV weighs four options: continue expanding internationally to the U.S. and other distant markets, buy an ownership stake in Istanbul's other remaining airport, diversify into related businesses, or seek out large infrastructure projects unrelated to airports. Will vertical or geographic diversification be more likely to ensure TAV's future?

Team Rubicon, a military veteran volunteer disaster relief organization, has experienced significant success in attracting attention and support in its first four years of operation. The challenges of managing the volunteer base, the cost of responding to disasters, and the evolution of the organization raise significant strategic and organizational issues for the founding team.

The Ethiopia: An Emerging Market Opportunity? case centers on the potential and challenges of entering an emerging market. It provides a brief overview of the Ethiopian market, market reforms and policies, and the business environment faced by foreign companies. Three multinational businesses, CareCo, ShoeCo, and MedCo, must decide whether and how to enter the Ethiopian market. Students are asked to make a recommendation for each company based on the attractiveness of the market, the factors that matter most for success, and an assessment of what applies to the companies.

The 2015 case "Royal Bank of Canada: Transforming Managers (A)" discusses programs that the bank put in place between 2011 and 2013 to improve managerial effectiveness. The case looks at the traits that make good managers, how to use data to create visibility into managerial effectiveness, the features of a successful intervention action plan, and the challenges with finding ways to reward good managers. Specifically, the case focuses on a pilot intervention program within the Canadian Banking operations division that was designed by Human Resources thought leaders in collaboration with Canadian Banking operations' top leaders. The program had multiple parts: 1) Using an analytics model based on the employee opinion survey to rank all managers in the division based on effectiveness; 2) Dividing all managers into four effectiveness cohorts (roughly in quartiles); 3) Identifying the managers most in need of, and most likely to benefit from, manager effectiveness training; and 4) creating and carrying out action plans. The action plans included formal coaching by each of the targeted managers' managers (the most effective intervention), feedback, and formal training. The case concludes as the bank waits for the results of the next employee opinion survey to gauge how effective its management improvement programs were. The companion case, "Royal Bank of Canada: Transforming Managers (B)," discusses the results of the programs.

Discovery Communications Inc., an American global networks company, had entered the Indian television market in 1995 with its eponymous channel offering that focused on non-fiction, infotainment programming. Nearly two decades later, steered by a solid senior management team, it had built a formidable operation with 11 channels spanning various genres and created a strong brand presence in India. Though the company was a leader in almost all the genres in which it operated, the Discovery team knew that they could not afford to be complacent even for a single day in the extremely competitive Indian television market. With close to 800 channels fighting for viewership daily, they had to make quick and tough decisions day in and day out. Looking back on their journey and some of the strategic moves they had made in India, it was evident that they had managed to pick up certain distinct capabilities along the way. Not only had they successfully "Indianized" a global brand, they had also deftly overcome some of the challenges inherent to the television industry in India. What was next for Discovery? This was the question that the team was grappling with in 2014. With their most recent launch, "Discovery Kids," it seemed that they were once again moving in the direction of children's edutainment. Did this mean they were coming full circle? Could they successfully apply what they had learned from the past to the unknown future? How could they do things differently and yet stay true to their vision and brand promise of making the Discovery television experience deep and enriching? The case presents the hard choices that Discovery needed to make at several strategic junctures as the cable television market changed and evolved over the years. It facilitates an in-depth discussion on whether, and how, Discovery has developed the ability to make astute decisions and acquired the necessary agility to respond to the dynamic market in India.

Two business partners were considering adding product lines to their international custom software business in Toronto, Canada. From 2009, Myplanet had grown ever more focused, in turn yielding an increase in average project size to US$1 million and a staff that grew from six to 100. Until they created RelayRobin, a system that was similar in capability to Skype, the two partners had achieved their remarkable growth almost exclusively through custom projects for large, well-known U.S. clients. In seeking the next major growth markets, they identified communication services - in particular, the telecommunications industry - as a prime opportunity. Targeting telecom carriers had produced disappointing results, so Myplanet instead opted to turn to original equipment manufacturers. The early results were encouraging.

The U.S.-based executive vice-president (EVP) of Glenmark Generics Inc., the subsidiary of an Indian generic manufacturer, is weighing his options on whether or not to proceed with what is known as a Launch @ Risk in the U.S. market. Defined as a "risk taken by a generic company when it puts a product on the market before resolving outstanding patent lawsuits against it," Launch @ Risk is a widely acknowledged route to gain an entry into the world's largest and most profitable pharmaceutical market. The focal product is the generic version of a hypertension drug whose patent is set to expire in 2015. Glenmark Generics has just secured approval from the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to launch a low-cost generic version of the patented drug but the FDA approval is being contested in a court of law by the patent holder. While awaiting the court's ruling, the EVP must evaluate his company's options and decide whether to proceed, in the interim, with the product launch.

John Park, the owner of 401 Games in Toronto, was wondering where to take his store in the future. One of his product lines, board games, was in the midst of a massive expansion and he was at the forefront in the Toronto market. This provided many opportunities for him to explore. He could expand into online sales, as had most of his competitors. As for his bricks-and-mortar store, he would have the opportunity in the next year to rent out additional space as the second and third floors of his current building would become available. Were he to rent out that space, he thought he would open a board-game café. Another option open to him was to open more stores in other parts of Toronto, or other cities entirely. In addition to overall strategic options, he also had decisions to make about product, promotion and price.

In the years after 2009, Qualcomm navigated the wireless industry's transition from 3G to 4G, retaining its technological leadership and experiencing dramatic growth in revenue and profit. In March 2014, Qualcomm appointed a new CEO, Steve Mollenkopf, who had to contend with a rash of new challenges, ranging from new technologies and new competitors to anti-trust battles and an activist shareholder disappointed by weak stock performance. This brief case brings the analysis of Qualcomm's competitive position up to 2015, when it was preparing for the evolution to 5G, while also investing in new areas, such as IoT, automobiles, eHealth, and eEducation, despite a mixed record in diversifying beyond wireless communications technology.

To achieve its goal of redefining success in business, B Lab recognizes it needs to scale. Its strategy to do so requires B Lab to depend heavily on new partners, venture into new markets, influence new audiences, and to strike a balance between standards and flexibility. Is this the right strategy to achieve B Lab's ambitious goals? Is the business world ready to commit, with real accountability, to purposes beyond shareholder value?

GiveIndia is an online donation platform that bridges the gap between the donors and credible Non-Governmental Organizations. The focus of GiveIndia has been on individual donations with a vision to create a culture of giving, where every Indian donates at least 2% of their income for the poor. In 2013, the Government of India introduced Corporate Social Responsibility Bill, which mandates corporates to invest at least 2% of their profits in CSR activities. At present, GiveIndia has not been seeking corporate, but now they find themselves at the right position to exploit this opportunity. Dhaval, the CEO faces a dilemma. Corporate donations could significantly increase his funding; however, it could also lead deviations from the mission to creating a giving culture. There were other problems to contend with, such as the question of investing in GiveIndia brand, how to pitch business reasons for philanthropy and employee compensation and retention issues. This case presents the evolution of GiveIndia from a modest start to becoming India's largest donation platform in 2013 with over 5.4 million US$ revenues from direct and indirect contributions. It provides a rich context to understand the working of a social enterprise which adopts business principles for a philanthropic cause, and the challenges it faces. The case highlights issues related to the philosophical moorings of the organization and the tension resulting from emerging opportunities and the chances of a mission drift. It also focuses on the problems which social enterprises typically face as they straddle two different worlds of a business enterprise and a social/charitable organization. The case can be used to discuss issues related to marketing, branding and Human Resource Management in a social enterprise and helps develop a holistic understanding of complex linkages across disciplines.

This case describes the innovations of a medical practitioner over six decades of practice. It provides an opportunity to the participants to analyse the motivation, processes, constraints and outcomes or innovating efforts of individuals as opposed to corporate. During his career Dr. Shah has experimented with novel methods of treatment, applications of known solutions and new product formulations. At the end of his career Dr. Shah is wondering whether the innovating efforts were worth their while.

Tagit is a Singapore-based mobile solutions company. The company's offering was based on Mobeix, a ground-breaking technology that allowed enterprises to build secure, scalable and innovative mobile applications across multiple mobile devices and operating systems. Leveraging on Mobeix, Tagit had successfully secured its first contract from PVR Cinemas in India, offering the first online ticket-booking platform. Following this, in 2007, Tagit was contracted by Singapore Airlines to develop a mobile app for the airline's passenger services. Facing intense competition and rapid technological advancement in the online ticketing space, Naffi and his business partners started to consider other options to grow revenues and profits. At that time, many banks in Singapore were looking to offer mobile services. Tagit therefore seized such an opportunity and managed to get Citibank India signed up as a client. On the one hand, winning the Citibank contract opened up a whole new business space for Tagit. On the other, new business lines required the operations of Tagit to be scalable, yet controllable. Naffi was pondering over the possible solutions to this dilemma. Is Naffi able to handle the changes and expansion of business lines? Can Tagit's business model be scaled up? How can Naffi build up the credibility of Tagit?

The case describes Uruguay's soft drink industry, starting with the arrival of Coca-Cola in 1945 and reviewing the industry's track record until 2000. The industry is characterized by having two different periods: one spanning until the mid-1990s, with two highly profitable players -Coca-Cola and Pepsi- and a second one unfolding in the second half of the 1990s, when three new players emerged: Caribeño S.A., with its Nix product, a group of b-brands, and smuggled sodas. At the time of the case, the two large international players have started losing increasing amounts of money, while the new players seem profitable. The case also explores several developments that heavily influenced the industry, such as the introduction of PET disposable bottles, the tax scheme applied to soft drinks by the Uruguayan government, and the lax enforcement of regulations and legal control of industry players. The case ends with Caribeño's CEO, Dr. Marcelo Viera, wondering what to do once he learns that his company is about to replace Pepsi as the second leading soft drink brand in Uruguay.

In February 2010, Germany's national railway broke ground on a project that had been under negotiation for more than 20 years-the Stuttgart segment of the European Magistrale, a 930-mile cross-Europe high-speed rail line that would one day extend from Paris through Munich and Vienna to Budapest and Bratislava. At long last, the German national railway, the state of Baden-Württemberg, and the city of Stuttgart had come to agreement on the routing and station design of the megaproject. Yet within the year, the project would spark the largest citizen demonstrations Germany had seen since the reunification of the country. The Stuttgart 21 opponents were diverse, and so were their concerns, but nearly all were united by one overriding contention: that political elites had conceived the plan without public input and had later refused to take citizen objections seriously. The case provides basic background and context for this controversy, then describes four kinds of public participation that took place in the course of developing the project: (1) a city-sponsored open-participation process in 1997 allowing citizens to weigh in on the neighborhood re-development portions of the project; (2) a petition drive by opponents to hold a city referendum on the project, later followed by mass demonstrations; (3) a state-sponsored mediation process between supporters and opponents of the project; and (4) a state election followed by a state referendum on the project.

Founded in 1951 in Argentina, Arcor Group consolidated as an industry leader in the manufacturing of food, candy, crackers, cookies, chocolates, and ice-cream for consumers in over 120 countries across all five continents. This case focuses on the process carried out by Arcor Group to introduce and institutionalize sustainability in its management and strategy, describing how the process unfolded and highlighting the challenges that were faced, particularly revolving around the decisions that the company had to make to integrate sustainability to its day-to-day business management and to engage employees in this endeavor in late 2010. "Creating Business Value: Arcor Group and Sustainability" includes two documents: the case itself and its epilogue, which provides information on later developments.

The managing partner of Proto3000, a 10-year-old 3D Printing services and supply firm, was both gratified by the recent explosion of popular media coverage of 3D Printing that was certain to bring his firm additional opportunities, and concerned as to how his company could maintain their broad leadership position as new competitors began to join the fray. As the managing partner began thinking about what to do next, he wondered whether he should stick with his biggest market segments or diversify into new markets that seemed to hold a lot of promise. In addition, he wondered which challenges associated with the disruptive technology that his industry revolved around he needed to consider as he plotted a course forward for Proto3000.

Peter and Kate Rose are a young couple looking to buy their first home in the Boston area. They have narrowed down a target list to three homes, but are also considering whether it makes sense to buy a home in the first place. They must make decisions regarding which home to buy, a price, a broker, a mortgage package, and how to source a down payment. Both quantitative and qualitative factors are considered in their decision making.

The region around Cambridge, England (known colloquially as Silicon Fen) is home to a cluster of high-tech startups and established businesses. It has a deep history stretching back to the foundation of the city's elite university in 1284. Silicon Fen shares many characteristics with Silicon Valley (a leading research university, a large pool of skilled workers, a robust startup environment, and the presence of leading high technology firms) but it also has a distinctly different entrepreneurial environment. What factors account for these differences? This case is most effective when paired with Tom Nicholas and James Lee, "The Origins and Development of Silicon Valley, "HBS No. 813-098 (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2013).