個案總覽

AddRec Solutions Pvt. Ltd (AddRec), a recruitment process outsourcing firm, had had a successful year in 2011 and the founder had big plans for 2012. He dreamed of three-fold growth in the next five years without adding any new branches or losing the firm's boutique positioning. Yet he faced more than a few challenges. Competition in the sector was increasing, not only from other vendors but also from the internal human resource departments of some of AddRec's clients. The founder's personal charisma, relationship management abilities and direct involvement had been instrumental in AddRec's growth thus far, but it remained to be seen whether the company, at this point in its evolution, was ready for the next growth phase. Further, his team had a set of capabilities that would need to be aligned with the growth he envisioned. Had the time come for him to distinguish between the strategic and operational roles in the organization?

In January 2012, Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) Corporation's chief executive officer resigned after two major breakdowns on the North-South Line in December 2011. SMRT was a public transport operator in Singapore, with a transportation network that comprised buses, trains and taxis. The two breakdowns were arguably the largest public transportation incidents in Singapore's history, prompting public outrage and heavy criticism of the CEO's qualifications and personal style. However, it was uncertain whether she, as CEO, bore primary responsibility for the train breakdowns. To what extent did her gender and unconventional style affect the public's perception of her effectiveness as a leader? How much did the media influence the public's perception? Could the train breakdowns have been averted if a CEO with an engineering background or industry-specific experience had been in charge?

In August 2012, the chief executive officer of Cconma.con, an online shopping mall based in Chung-Ju, South Korea, is considering his company's future. The company has grown substantially since it was founded in 2005 and is now preparing to further expand into Hong Kong, China or to a second location in the United States. The company's vision, rooted in an ethic of corporate social responsibility, is to build a happy and healthy community, including employees, customers and sellers. By focusing on its customers' basic necessities, products for a healthy life and the needs of its producers to minimize sales costs, the company has found its niche where no other online retailer has dared to venture. Its success demonstrates that it is possible to be good and profitable at the same time. Expanding to a new location will bring myriad challenges, some of which can be anticipated while others will need to be resolved on the fly. The management team needs to focus on defining the specifics of their go-to-market plan. When should they enter? With which local players should they collaborate? Will an increased marketing effort or local outreach be necessary?

NationWide Primary Healthcare Services has launched a chain of primary healthcare clinics in India with the aim of bridging the gap between fragmented general practitioner services and highly expensive, specialist hospital care. The potential need for primary care is immense, though its delivery through organized retail is a new concept in India. The case describes the organization's initial four years' of operation. The clinics are not doing as well as expected. The initial business model and its subsequent refinements are discussed as the company tries to balance its core logic with its strategic choices for creating, delivering and capturing value.

Branded as the "Millennial firm for Millennials," Mike Rothenberg founded Rothenberg Ventures (RV) in 2012 while earning his MBA at the Harvard Business School (HBS). Over the following twenty-four months, Rothenberg raised $20 million and built a venture capital firm that made dozens of seed investments in technology-focused startups. Pitched as an event that could pack a year's worth of networking into a single day, Founder Field Day was perhaps the firm's largest bet to date. On a spring day in May of 2014, as some 300 invited founders descended on AT&T Park in San Francisco, one attendee, Fran Hauser, had a much larger decision to make than just selecting which sessions to attend in the day's 7th and 8th "innings." Rothenberg had recently asked Hauser to join RV as a partner and investor, and invited her out to the Bay Area to consider the offer. Hauser, who had left her role as the President of Digital for Time Inc.'s Style & Entertainment Group three months earlier, wondered if Rothenberg's inexperience would prove to be a drawback or a strength.

This case describes the evolution of a tech startup, WebTracker, and focuses on the decision of two aspiring entrepreneurs (Julie Stern and Mark Foster) who have just received offers for Venture Capital (VC) financing for the company. These offers, or term sheets, are similar in some respects and different in others. The two firms offering financing are also different. The heart of the case involves comparing these term sheets and determining the "best deal" for them and for their company. The "deal" ultimately cut will parse the economic rewards of success and implement control and governance provisions that are designed to reduce risk for the VC. The term sheet is a great place to see these complex tools and tradeoffs play out.

Equality of opportunity is endorsed universally even though, or more likely because, it can mean such different things to different people. What definition of equality of opportunity ought to figure into policy decisions? How close, or far, is the United States from providing equal opportunity? Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom.

On December 8th 2013, as Dr. David Keith was leaving the set of the Colbert Show, he couldn't help but replay the interview over and over in his mind. Did he actually get his point of view on solar geoengineering across or had he just added to the stereotype that he was more of a 'mad scientist' than a scholar? Science knew, beyond doubt, that volcanoes cooled the planet by forcing sulfates high into the stratosphere. This cooling effect had been recorded in history over and over again. The question that Keith and many other climate scientists wanted to answer was: could humanity learn how to design, deploy, and manage similar cooling effects to manage the threats from climate change?

Inner City Renovation (ICR) was a social enterprise established to address decaying infrastructure of inner city Winnipeg neighborhoods while providing opportunities for their residents - who would otherwise likely have been unemployed and on social assistance - to learn a trade and earn a living. ICR created 30 full-time permanent jobs and completed more than 100 construction projects in the Winnipeg area. However, its financial viability was an issue. It had lost money on operations every year and was close to the limit on its line of credit. While its most important customer had just ceased operations, which threatened the very existence of ICR, its founder was determined to keep it going.

An executive has just joined adult entertainment producer Private Media Group Inc. (PMG) as a strategy consultant. Despite being a highly controversial industry, adult entertainment has been credited with furthering the widespread adoption of major technologies such as the VCR, Internet and digital transmissions over hand-held devices. In preparing for his first meeting with PMG's president, the executive wonders if he should recommend pursuing larger productions with higher costs and higher sales versus the current mixture of large productions ($100,000 or more in production costs), medium productions ($75,000) and small productions ($5,000). He also believes there is an opportunity to increase PMG's brand awareness through licensing. Finally, the executive knows that the adult entertainment industry is quick to adopt new technologies so he wants to prepare PMG for the inevitable demise of DVDs. See the supplement to this case.

In July 2013 Tom Perez became the United States' 26th Secretary of Labor. Perez took the helm of the Department of Labor at a critical juncture. In recent years, the US economy was marred by historically high rates of unemployment, fueled by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Although the economy had begun a slow recovery in 2010, there were only lackluster gains in private sector jobs. By 2013, more than 11 million Americans remained out of jobs and-in a competitive global marketplace-faced disheartening employment prospects. The Department of Labor was besieged by a sharp rise in demand for its worker development and protection services, but hobbled by fierce budget cuts. At a time when Americans faced stagnant wages and rising income inequality, could Perez's leadership help revive America's "ladder of opportunity?" The case provides a comprehensive review of the U.S. Department of Labor. The case explores the challenges Perez faces in his first year as Secretary of Labor and questions what his priorities should be even as millions of Americans struggle to make a decent living. Case number 2031.0

Most business activities can be understood as progressions from insight to outcome - getting from the original spark of an idea to the actual realization of financial and strategic results. And yet, leaders and companies fail to master this progression all the time, in the headline-grabbing, large scale transformative initiatives we read about, as well in the rest of iceberg - the core business processes and the non-routine initiatives and projects that collectively can have a defining impact on a company's performance. In this teaching note, we argue that senior executives can, in fact, systematically ensure their organizations' ability to progress effectively from insight to outcome, and we discuss three critical behaviors that they need to embrace to make this happen: managing the insight to outcome sequence as an integrated, end-to-end process; recognizing and overcoming the challenges of the degree of difficulty curve; and mastering the complex calculus of strategic inflection points.

Ratchtar Karasuddhi, the head of business development for general trade at Unilever, has an idea to assist a flood stricken owner of a local neighbourhood convenience store. He believed that with some upgrading and better visibility, the shop could be revived and become an alternative to the nearby modern trade convenience store. What started out as a simple wish to help a single distressed shop owner soon spawned into a viable business idea that would benefit the local community and the company. The number of Star Stores, or Platinum Stores as they were called within Unilever, expanded rapidly - the first outlet was inaugurated in March 2012 and there were 7,800 Platinum Stores by July 2014. The frenetic growth in the number of stores eventually affected business execution, as the operations side struggled to cope with the openings of four to five new outlets daily. Each store required the full engagement and cooperation of the shop owner, a customised planogram, and training and capability building of the shop owner. What is necessary for the sustained success of Platinum Stores in Thailand?

This case study set in 2013 discusses the critical career decisions that Matthew Tan, a young university graduate from National University of Singapore, has to make. The case is in three parts. In Part A, Matthew inspired by his childhood experiences is toying with the idea of leaving his job at Ernst & Young (E &Y) and opening a hotel that would help under-privileged youths. It is a risky decision as he has no experience in the hotel business and no capital to start it with.

In 2012, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, cofounders of the Hövding company, reflect on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. Since 2005, Haupt and Alstin had been working on a new type of bicycle helmet-an "airbag for cyclists". What had begun as a thesis had grown into a seven-year journey of research and development, including raising over $5 million of venture capital. The product had been granted Europe's CE certification in 2011 and had been launched simultaneously in Sweden and Norway. Yet, a year later, the company had still not reached the breakeven point. To help them establish a commercialization strategy, the Hövding board had prevailed upon the founders to hire a professional CEO. But surrendering management control was an emotional process for Haupt and Alstin, while the CEO struggled to assert his leadership and build the company's commercial capabilities. Should Haupt and Alstin collaborate with their CEO despite their misgivings or should they step away from the company they had dedicated seven years to building?

Established in 1971, DePaul Industries was a social venture operated as one organization (and for short called DePaul Industries) but legally registered as two 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organizations (DePaul Industries and DePaul Services). DePaul's mission was to generate employment opportunities for people with disabilities. DePaul operated in three industries that shared three characteristics: they were employment intensive, had paper-thin margins, and were cash-thirsty. DePaul derived most of the funds to finance its operations from revenue from these businesses but had yet to turn a profit. In the past, banks had been willing to provide DePaul with financing (mortgages, credit lines, and factoring loans), but it had always been challenging and it appeared to be increasingly so. Dave Shaffer, DePaul's CEO, had begun to explore other options, namely social investors, but with little success so far. Considering DePaul's increasing difficulties to identify suitable financing, Shaffer had begun wondering whether these difficulties were, as in the past, rooted in financiers' lack of understanding and sympathy towards DePaul's social venture nature or whether there was something else-the eroding of DePaul's net assets connected with recent business losses (largely derived from its contract packaging business).

Social entrepreneur Kohl Gill founded LaborVoices in 2010 with the goal of using mobile phone technology to bring transparency to the global supply chain. Gill's vision was to build a company that would allow workers in supplier factories for major brand companies-initially in Bangalore, India, and later in other locations-to use their mobile phones to report and share information about factory conditions. This information could potentially be useful to a variety of groups: the workers themselves, nongovernmental organizations and unions that sought to improve working conditions in the global supply chain, factory managers who wished to attract and retain high-quality workers, monitoring and auditing organizations that wished to improve their information sources, and international brand companies that sought to assure compliance with their codes of conduct and to protect against reputational risk. The case describes the experiences and thought processes that led to Gill's business concept. It also provides information on labor conditions and supply chain dynamics in the textile and garment industry in southern India. At the end of the case, Gill is reviewing various business models and considering how to launch his social enterprise successfully.

First National Bank (FNB), one of South Africa's "Big Four" banks, has, under the stewardship of its CEO, invested in a strategy of innovation to grow its market presence in South Africa, other emerging-market African countries, and India. In line with its strategy to lead digital banking in South Africa, FNB has invested in building a social media strategy to enable the brand to strengthen its relationships with customers, through building customer knowledge and stickiness and humanizing its brand.<br><br>In 2012, FNB's head of digital marketing and media sees a tweet from Standard Bank stating that it has instructed its attorneys to lodge a complaint against what it alleges to be FNB's misleading advertising. She wonders whether Standard Bank's use of Twitter to communicate this competitive action is related to FNB's extensive and well-publicized use of the micro-blogging service. She knows that the debate on Twitter will be a significant indicator of whether her social media strategy has been successful. How can FNB continue to differentiate itself and alleviate the pressure on non-interest revenues?

In July 2014, the head of Data Sciences Lab, the technical division of Housing.com, an online realty company based in Mumbai, India, is wondering whether the company has truly revolutionized the housing search process. The Indian real estate market is extremely unorganized, fragmented and suffering from lack of clear information. Any facts about properties for sale or rent primarily rest with brokers, who not only often charge exorbitant fees from the buyer as well as the seller but also commonly misrepresent the location and condition of the property in question, making finding a place to live a very frustrating experience. Founded in 2012, Housing.com is a relatively new entrant to this market and is using a data-driven approach to attract customers by providing accurate intelligence, using photographs and a map-based user interface to display all its listings on the Internet. Recently, the company started scaling up its operations by leveraging the power of quality, technology, innovation and speed, with impressive results. Will this strategy help Housing.com capture an even bigger portion of the market? Will competitors in the online property space be able to imitate its business innovations easily? More importantly, what future products should Housing.com offer?

Movie-industry analyst David Fitzhugh must estimate the value of the sequel rights associated with Chance Encounters, a soon-to-be-produced movie. The producers intend to use the cash from the sale of the sequel rights to help fund production of the original movie. With the purchase of the sequel rights, the client fully intends to produce a sequel--should the original movie prove successful.