個案總覽

Saregama India Limited (Saregama), a 117-year-old music company, was on a growth trajectory. Its third-quarter financial results in 2017–2018 had shown unprecedented growth. Over the previous three years, Saregama had converted its conventional copyrighted music into high-quality digital formats and made a rare stretch from the business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-consumer (B2C) market. The company had added new intellectual properties (IP) in audio and video. Then in 2017, Saregama launched Carvaan, a portable music player with 5,000 evergreen songs. Cleverly created to meet the needs of its older target audience, the Carvaan was largely responsible for the company’s turnaround.<br><br>Saregama’s goal was to be a ?20 billion IP content company in the next five years. To make that happen in the context of rapidly evolving technologies and consumer trends, the company needed sharply defined short- and long-term strategies that addressed content acquisition, its success with Carvaan, and its pursuit of B2B and B2C markets.

Montreal Toheed Society (MTS), a community-based organization founded in 2012, has adopted various social media technologies to capture member interactions and to make the work of its board of directors more efficient and effective. The organization attempted to meet its needs by using JomSocial at first, followed later by Viber. MTS was partially successful in reaching its social media goals by implementing the Viber platform. The organization is now considering migrating to a new platform to overcome some limitations of the Viber technology. Two options for a new social media platform are Telegram and WhatsApp. In order to ensure a successful migration to a new platform, MTS must consider several questions: What should be the governing structure of the new social media platform? What would be the optimal balance of user freedom versus control? What sort of content should be allowed on the platform? Given its structure, how can MTS find the resources to manage a larger digital community?

In late 2016, HaoDF Online launched an Internet hospital in Yinchuan, China, which, in its first three months, served more than 31 million users and conducted online diagnosis and treatment for almost 1 million patients. The online health care services platform could collaborate with physicians to remotely monitor patient conditions and guide paramedical staff in the decision-making process. However, beyond diagnosis, consultation, and prescriptions, patients needed a physical hospital or clinic for the actual treatment, which led to the first of two major challenges that the company needed to address. The online health care platform could not achieve its full business value and become profitable without collaborating with existing traditional health care organizations, which were reluctant to embrace the online health care system as a medium for interaction with patients. How could HaoDF Online better attract traditional health care organizations for collaboration? Also, dozens of newcomers were entering the market, enticed by the readily available venture investment and funding, which raised a second challenge for HaoDF Online—What business strategies should the company develop to sustain its competitiveness and become profitable?

In 2015, Homesake entered the home décor sector in India by designing, producing, and selling home décor products, including lighting, tableware, and wall hangings. By 2018, after three years in operation, Homesake had generated sufficient sales that its founder was ready to grow the business internationally; increase its traditional (offline) retail sales; and expand to hotels, bars, pubs, and restaurants. However, challenges related to a possible expansion were becoming evident, including the contractual nature of the labour force, inefficiencies in the supply chain, a constant need to design and develop new products, and the need to improve quality control and logistics. What would be the best course and business model for the founder to pursue to ensure Homesake's consistent growth in the future?

In February 2016, SpruceLand Properties Inc. (SpruceLand) faced a difficult decision that would determine the future of the company. SpruceLand had been founded as a community development company mandated to create financial returns while engaging in socially beneficial projects. Residents of the northern Alberta region could choose to be shareholders and invest in their own communities’ economic development. The company had grown successfully, but it had become a victim of its own success. It had diversified investments and continued to grow and be profitable, but the company’s initial mandates had long been achieved and the liquidity of shares remained a problem. What actions should the chief executive officer recommend to the board?

Alvéole was an urban beekeeping start-up in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 2012, Alvéole offered beekeeping services and products in support of its social mission of educational outreach surrounding issues related to the natural environment, food security, and ecological concerns facing society. The company had successfully launched in the Montreal region and was now considering how to grow the firm. At the same time, Alvéole wanted to address some existing challenges such as seasonal labour and cash flow management.

Founded in late 2014, Xinke used a crowdfunding café model to provide a platform for communication among entrepreneurs and investors. In June 2015, Xinke co-operated with a leading real estate company to create a crowd innovation café, and in August 2016, it received A-round financing that led to the establishment of a crowd innovation fund and the creation of a self-access media platform. Xinke had opened a high-end shared office to provide all around services such as funds, publicity, and venues for settled enterprises. It had a network of crowd innovation space (CIS) platforms in various cities across China and was beginning to build a nationwide CIS platform. Could the crowd innovation ecology designed by Xinke inject new vitality into the development of the CIS? How should Xinke’s crowd innovation eco-strategy be improved? How could Xinke realize professionalization in and improvement of the crowd innovation ecology?

On April 1, 2017, Flashfood.Shop, a new brand in self-service retailing of fresh meals, was founded in Dalian, Liaoning province, China. The self-service retail platform provided office workers with affordable and convenient fresh meals 24 hours per day. Flashfood.Shop used intelligent self-catering machines as its physical sales terminals and it used an intelligent self-catering system as its online service interface. By the end of June 2018, Flashfood.Shop had launched 51 catering machines, where customers could buy fresh meals. The company had 14 catering suppliers, 135 different types of catering products, and over 500,000 customers. However, along with its success, Flashfood.Shop incurred a loss in five consecutive quarters. After its establishment, the only source of income for the company was the sale of its catered products. However, operating costs were high due to the instability of the hardware and software systems, as well as low operating efficiency and other factors. Faced with these issues, the start-up’s founder and general manager was wondering how to resolve his company’s ongoing losses.

Naledo Foods and Beverages Inc. (Naledo) was a small start-up headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, that operated as a social enterprise in the Toledo District of Belize. In 2018, Naledo's operation in Belize produced about 500 jars a day of wildcrafted turmeric paste. With large orders sometimes taking up to six weeks to fill, it was imperative for Naledo to find a way to increase production, and for that, the company needed capital. Naledo's chief operating officer was thus considering ways to raise the necessary capital.

In late 2017, the co-owners of Rocky Mountain Soap Company in Canmore, Alberta, faced an important challenge. Their company produced and retailed toxin-free, 100 per cent natural bath and body products, and they wanted the product packaging to reflect their company’s commitment to sustainability. To meet the challenge of identifying and implementing sustainable packaging solutions, the co-owners needed to address intensifying competition, make good use of their limited ability to conduct research and development, and manage their customers’ expectations. How could the co-owners develop a packaging solution that aligned with the company’s brand focus of “100 per cent natural”? How could they find the support they needed to move the company forward?

In 2018, Al Baba Sweets was a major player in the Arabic sweets and confectionery industry in Lebanon. However, in the midst of a rough patch in the country’s economy, the company was suffering from decreasing revenues. Any major decision concerning the future of the third-generation family business would have to be made carefully. New, smaller competitors were entering the market alongside the industry’s large, long-time players. The company had to decide what its next steps would be. Should Al Baba Sweets branch out to other countries? If so, which modes of entry should they use? What other possibilities were there to enhance and expand operations?

Incorporated in 1983 in Uttar Pradesh, India, GHCL Limited had established itself by 2018 as a well-diversified group operating in chemicals, textiles, and consumer products segments. The home textiles division had launched a new line of bedsheets called Rekoop—a polyester fibre, extracted from recycled plastic bottles and combined with cotton to produce Rekoop bedsheets. The fibre also contained a DNA marker that enabled tracing of the product from fibre to finished product. The textile division was known for its low prices and weak business performance; to overcome that, the company believed that Rekoop could sell for higher prices and move the division’s focus from volumes to margins. Rekoop could provide brand salience, visibility, and higher prices. However, the president and chief executive officer of the home textile division faced many decisions—what distribution strategy to follow, how to get stores and customers to buy the product, how to increase customer awareness, what price points to use, how to maintain brand salience, and above all which markets to enter.

In 2012, Sina Weibo stood out from competing microblogging products and developed into the largest social media platform in China. However, in 2013, competition from WeChat, a lack of high-quality content, and the exposure of an excessive number of fake accounts led to difficulties for Sina Weibo. By addressing three aspects of user activity—content producers, content consumers, and the platform operator—Sina Weibo was able to get back on the right track. The platform went from a loss in 2014 to a profit in 2018. However, behind the prosperity, in January 2019, Sina Weibo was facing new threats—namely, the disappearance of Chinese Internet user traffic dividends and competition from rivals Toutiao and Douyin. Sina Weibo’s chief executive officer had to determine how to deal with these new threats.

In early 2016, Canada’s venture capital (VC) investment environment was growing and, as a result, exciting new start-ups were fruitfully collaborating with a sophisticated selection of investors. Ajay Joshi, a partner at Helarctos Ventures (HV), a seed-stage venture capital investment fund based in Toronto, Canada, was an experienced entrepreneur in the mobile wireless technology (tech) space and a savvy VC investor. HV, founded in 2013, had invested in 28 tech start-ups, and six of them had been successfully acquired. But even with past successes, in an environment of hungry, enthusiastic start-ups that was getting larger and more diverse every year, Joshi and the HV team needed to continuously re-evaluate their process and be sure that they were relying on the right criteria for evaluating investments. Each investment in a start-up was a major decision and represented a significant and long-term allocation of finite capital, time, and energy. Joshi and HV needed to be sure of their decisions, when surety was in short supply.

Faced with the challenge of continuing to differentiate the Wellness Institute from traditional fitness facilities, the executive director at the non-profit organization was considering undertaking a thoughtful and comprehensive internal and external branding exercise to improve and refresh its brand. The executive director found the inconsistencies of the current brand troublesome. She was faced with some potential opportunities she would like to explore by better understanding the organization’s brand. But would her many stakeholders support spending money on a branding exercise and investing resources in an effort to impact a broader community? Could she justify the expense to her board? How would her staff react to the rebranding? Was branding the best place to invest resources to impact the broader community?

This case focuses on how Company A, which is in Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS), applied big data analysis to respond to fast-changing order demands and human resource planning challenges with a high turnover rate of workers, especially in peak season. Through discussion of this case, students will understand the process of human resource planning, recruitment, and selection in the industry of electronics manufacturing services. Through data analyses, students can learn the rationale of how to convert data stored in the company databases (e.g., work log data) into data that can be statistically analyzed and statistically analyzed.

此個案聚焦於「社團法人桃園縣木匠的家關懷協會」在由非營利組織進行社會 創新轉型的過程中,管理者如何達到堅持創辦理念與穩固經濟收益之間的平衡。此 組織當初創立的初衷,只是單純希望附近學生能擁有良好的休閒空間,進而發現年 輕人的力量可以透過社區服務,為當地居民創造在地化的就業機會,有效提升弱勢 族群的經濟能力與就業能力。然而此個案也面臨發展創新商業模式與照顧弱勢族 群之間的矛盾、在不同時期運用政府資源產生的僱用問題差異、以及不同管道的人 力資本運用可能會產生的人力資本取得與運用議題。透過本個案的引導,學生將能 釐清社會企業的動態歷程與挑戰,以培養管理者的重要知能。

In 2016 (A case), the founder of Tokyo Smoke, a cannabis retailing enterprise based in Toronto, needed to attract investors. The former Google Inc. employee had taken advantage of public policy changes in Canada and was modelling his retail business on Starbucks Corporation, which had educated North American consumers about coffee and captured a huge share of the coffee market. He needed investment capital in order to build his brand and needed to determine an appropriate valuation as part of his pitch for investment capital. By 2018 (B case), he had to address new challenges in his role as chief retail officer of Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy), the Canadian licensed producer of cannabis that had taken over the company he founded. How could he position Canopy as a world leader in retail cannabis?

In 2018, the founder and chief executive officer of Zarr Tech Canada Inc. (Zarr Tech), understood the need for his young business to continue along its impressive growth trajectory. However, he was unsure how this goal could best be achieved. Given the increasingly competitive information technology consulting sector, he questioned whether Zarr Tech was well positioned to take advantage of further industry growth, and he wondered how best to promote his business to achieve the growth it needed. He considered various options, such as attending trade shows; hiring a sales representative; using online advertising mediums, such as Google Ads or LinkedIn; and employing an email marketing campaign. Additionally, the business' young founder was considering expanding his operations to the Vancouver area but wondered if now was the right time to do so.

In January 2019, the low-cost brokerage house Zerodha emerged as India’s largest broker by number of customers. From 2014 to 2018, Zerodha's client addition had grown by 200–300 per cent annually; however, the company now needed a strategy to maintain and defend its leadership position. It needed to tap India’s retail broking segment for continued growth. And in a market swamped with nearly identical products, Zerodha needed a strategy to avoid being confused with similar firms and to consistently be consumers’ first choice. Could it stay ahead of its rivals with product innovation?