個案總覽

The president and chief operating officer of Cadim, the real estate arm of the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Canada's largest pension fund management firm, had recently been approached with several interesting multimillion-dollar investment opportunities in India and China. Although Cadim was still deciding whether to invest in either country (see Cadim: The China and India Real Estate Market Entry Decisions case), if the company chose to do so, it wanted suitable partners and deals lined up. Each deal had its pros and cons, but the president knew all too well that the wrong combination of partner and deal could have dire consequences for Cadim's profits and the team's reputation. The case analysis involves risk assessment, partner assessment, cash flow analysis and portfolio fit analysis.

In 1730, Japanese merchants petitioned shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune to officially authorize trade in rice futures at the Dojima Exchange, the world's first organized (but unsanctioned) futures market. For many years, the Japanese government had prohibited the trade of futures bills because it was widely regarded as a form of gambling that caused rice prices to rise. However, when the price of rice fell to record lows in the late 1720s, the samurai (whose income was tied to the value of rice) saw their economic position fall relative to the merchant class, whose growing economic power worried the nation's elites. The shogun responded by easing restrictions on futures trading, but without officially sanctioning a futures market at Dojima. The question now was whether he should heed the merchants' petition and take the next step.

The case describes the hostile bid of Mittal for Arcelor in the first half of 2006. It documents stock price behaviour around the crucial events surrounding the acquisition. It also provides estimates of synergy benefits as well as a spreadsheet that allows students to calculate directly the implications of synergies for shareholder value.

A manufacturing company with a solid reputation for excellent service and quality and a command-and-control style of management with little communication across the organization decides to undertake a lean transformation, working closely with Lean Dynamics, a management consulting group with extensive lean-implementation experience. The challenges the company faces are examined in detail as are the lean implementation process, tools, and practices. But little progress has been made by the end of the second cycle of a three-improvement-process cycle. Students are asked to reflect on various aspects of the case and describe alternative solutions and actions that they might have taken by placing themselves in the role of the CEO, division president, or consultant.

The Port of Tauranga, located on the north island of New Zealand, was struggling against the Port of Auckland and not doing well financially. The case depicts the bold and dramatic steps during the 1990s to change the economic circumstances. Decisions were made that changed the rules of the game and, in so doing, made Tauranga a very successful and profitable enterprise. Capital investments and a total reframing of possibilities coupled with bold management execution transformed the port to a position of world-class performance.

The newly appointed country director of MIA Philippines, a non-profit organization with a mandate to alleviate poverty in developing countries, is faced with the challenge of designing and managing a development assistance project that would establish a go-to-market supply chain for a remote Filipino fishing village. The country director has to enter a new country, launch the project, deal with the constraints of a foreign culture, manage the expectations of major stakeholders whilst trying to manage a multi-cultural team and conclude the project on time. The value of the case lies in the realistic assessment of stakeholders' motivation, their capabilities and assets, and project constraints during the design and implementation stages. Value chain analysis, value added analysis and stakeholder analysis are used to assess the applicability of project design, impact and long term success.

This case chronicles a change process to counteract the epidemic of HIV/AIDS on a coal mine in South Africa that impacts the sustainability of the organization. The case describes the business case for dealing with the problem and the sequence of events that were instituted. It illustrates the type of leadership activities needed to deal with a compelling environmental force impacting business. It shows how a wide range of stakeholders needs to be involved and systems and practices instituted for sustainable change to be implemented. It raises the question of the role of business in society. The case also provides insights into doing business in emerging economies. The challenge at the end of the case is how to roll out (replicate) the intervention into other divisions of a large multinational.

College Summit, a nonprofit organization "committed to the day when every student who can make it in college makes it to college," was faced with an important strategic decision. After growing rapidly at more than 30% a year for the last several years, Founder and CEO J.B. Schramm, Chief Strategy Officer Mora Segal, and the College Summit team must now decide whether or not to dramatically redefine their organization's theory of change. College Summit could continue to "get results and grow real fast" or make the bold choice to re-conceptualize its strategy to focus on system-level change. While there were numerous risks to pursuing the alternative strategy, for Schramm and Segal, the possibility of helping redefine the purpose of secondary education might be too significant to ignore.

Now into their third year at the helm of an Internet start-up in China, Ken Pao and Bill Li were managing a totally different company (with a new name) from the one they first founded in 2006. Having changed their business model from a social networking site to an online gaming business came with new challenges. They hired almost an entirely new staff, cultivated new partnerships, and most urgently sought new funding. However, with three years of experience, they were no longer a "start-up" and now faced the ramifications of mid-life. What would it take to remain a viable competitor in China in a new industry?

This case examines the strategy implementation and risk management decisions at Sydney IVF, a research-based in vitro fertilization and stem cell company based in Australia. Drs. Robert Jansen and Jock Anderson, who co-founded Sydney IVF in 1986, developed novel technologies which they leveraged to carve a leadership role in the inherently risky artificial fertilization business. As the company grew, its executives grappled with managing the political, ethical and business risks associated with the contentious lab-based fertility field, instituting sophisticated safeguards such as an independent ethics committee and a "whistle blower" system for employees concerned with the company's practices. In less than two decades, Sydney IVF grew from just four employees to over 200, expanded internationally, and broadened its services to include prenatal screening for genetic diseases and DNA tests to determine lineage and paternity. In addition, the company launched a wholly-owned subsidiary, the Stem Cell Company. CEO Robert Jansen hoped to grow the Stem Cell Company, but faced many challenges, including the significant ethical risks, challenging regulatory environment, and uncertain future of the stem cell field. The case describes how Jansen safeguards against risk without stifling the innovative spirit necessary to commercialize stem cells.

Nik Nesbitt is preparing a presentation of his Kenyan contact center startup to a group of angel investors visiting for the first time. The task has given him cause for some soul searching: has it been worth it to battle the impoverished infrastructure and inappropriate government regulations to launch this venture?

Pitney Bowes, a Fortune 500 mail and document management firm, offered its first health plans in the years following World War II. Over the ensuing decades, Pitney Bowes adapted its approach to employee health amid rising health care costs, shifting employer attitudes towards health benefits, and a rapidly changing policy environment. By 2008, the firm was widely regarded as an innovator in employee health, having dedicated substantial time and resources to its health benefits under the leadership of then CEO Michael Critelli and Corporate Medical Director Jack Mahoney. The case provides an overview of the history of employee health benefits in the U.S. and at Pitney Bowes. The range of health plans Pitney Bowes offered to employees in 2008, as well as the firm's contracting policies with commercial insurers and self-insured plan administrators, are examined in detail. Pitney Bowes health and wellness programs are also described, enabling an analysis of the firm's overall employee health strategy in 2008 and a discussion of where Pitney Bowes should focus its attention moving forward.

Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, a Boston biopharmaceutical startup company, was seeking additional financing for growth. The company had developed and patented an improved delivery platform for long-acting biopharmaceuticals and then utilized that technology to develop new therapies to treat chronic diseases. The Transceptor® technology utilized a unique biological pathway to allow efficient delivery of SynFusion™ drug therapies. Several companies licensed the technologies in joint development deals to address several different conditions: Hemophilia B, autoimmune disorders, and infertility, as well as for use in enhanced peptide inhalation. The company had used up Angel money and Rounds A and B of venture capital financing and was looking for an additional $80 - $100 million for growth. In September 2006, Syntonix was in negotiations with a VC syndicate to gain a 'C' Round of funding. One member of the proposed syndicate, Biogen Idec, indicated interest in buying Syntonix outright. The founders needed to make a decision about the offer.

Michel Portal, a French executive with Auchan, has been appointed to lead a newly acquired subsidiary in the imaginary country of Syldavia. This case is based on a real situation that has been disguised for confidentiality reasons. The setting, Syldavia, is depicted as a transition economy and therefore fits in with the eastern and central European countries, although the case that inspired this situation is not situated in this part of the world but in Southern Europe. Auchan Syldavia is typical of a "taking charge" case study, where participants are expected to help Michel Portal, the new CEO, develop a strategy for his new assignment in a company that he is expected by upper management to turn around in a relatively short time span.

When Chris Chen founded VanceInfo Technologies in Beijing in 1995, the firm had 25 employees and one low-end IT services outsourcing project for a U.S. multinational. By August 2008, through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, VanceInfo employed more than 4,800 people, had numerous Fortune 100 clients, and enjoyed revenues exceeding $80 million over the preceding 12 months. Although small compared to more sophisticated Indian rivals, VanceInfo was well placed to capture an expected explosion in demand for China-based offshore IT services. At the same time, rapid growth was straining the firm's management personnel, systems, and resources. Headcount was slated to quintuple to 20,000 in four to five years' time to keep pace with aggressive revenue targets. Old ad-hoc ways no longer could accommodate current or future needs. To succeed, management had to implement new financial, operational, and internal management systems, especially in the critical area of human resources where VanceInfo faced some of its greatest challenges. These included introducing effective processes for rapidly expanding, training, managing, and retaining its workforce. Moreover, in its quest to grow its workforce to 20,000 within five years, move into higher-margin business lines requiring new expertise, and beat out domestic and international rivals, management had to strike a balance between quick gains via acquisitions and potentially slower growth through organic expansion. The case helps students think through the complexities involved in managing a fast growing company. Specifically, it asks students to analyze whether VanceInfo's current strategy of growing organically and through selective strategic acquisitions will allow it to achieve its goals. It also asks them to analyze the company's human resource challenges and its efforts to meet them.

The vice-president of the Bank of London was stunned to hear that the union representing clerical workers was initiating a complaint of gender discrimination in starting salaries. The vice-president had believed the Bank of London was actively promoting diversity and inclusion as a natural part of its culture; additionally, the senior leadership team understood how vital diversity and inclusion were to organizational effectiveness and growth. The vice-president was wondering what the accusation of discrimination was costing the Bank of London, and how to manage perceptions both inside and outside of the organization. To determine this, he wanted to understand if discrimination had in fact occurred and analyzed the following factors between male and female job-holders: beginning salary, time at current job, education and experience.

VOSS is a Norwegian bottled water company that produces one of the world's purest drinking waters, sold at an ultra-premium price in a sleek cylindrical glass bottle of minimalist design. In the U.S. (the company's primary market), VOSS' high-end brand presence is strongest in on-premise locations -specifically, top-of-the-line restaurants, hotels, and clubs. The brand has only recently begun penetrating the off-premise channel. In June 2007, Ole Christian Sandberg, VOSS' founder and Head of U.S. Operations is considering how to grow the brand. The key question is whether VOSS should increase its distribution in the off-premise channel: Will this diminish VOSS' high-end brand cachet? A related question is whether VOSS should begin expanding its portfolio by offering, for example, flavored water for the rapidly-evolving U.S. bottled water market.

Marcel Lorent, head of International Mobility at Brussels-based Solvay Group, faces decisions on the expatriation status of four of his firm's talented executives. Each decision will impact the candidate's professional and personal life, and will have implications for effective management and growth in Solvay's global markets. The case explores these issues, with a close look at Solvay's attempts to develop talent management and mobility processes that allow the firm to align its strategic needs with the complexities of its individual employees' needs and lives.

How can a biotechnology start-up navigate a complex regulatory and stakeholder terrain to bring to market an innovative product with potentially significant public health benefits? This case focuses on the challenges facing Ventria Bioscience, a small biotechnology firm based in California. The company had developed an innovative technology for "growing" medical proteins useful in the treatment of childhood diarrhea in genetically modified rice. The company's efforts to obtain regulatory approval in California to commercialize its invention met with a firestorm of opposition from a wide range of stakeholders, including environmentalists, food safety activists, consumer advocates and rice farmers. The case presents the hurdles faced by Ventria as it has attempted to commercialize its invention in the context of the broader debate over the ethics of plant-based medicines. This case is suitable for an upper-division undergraduate or graduate course in entrepreneurship, small business, the management of technology or biotechnology. In such a course, it is best positioned in a discussion of the regulatory environment and stakeholder relations. Alternatively, the case may be used in a segment on technology or stakeholder relationships in a course in business and society.

The president and chief operating officer of Cadim, the real estate arm of the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Canada's largest pension fund management firm, was considering whether Cadim should enter India, China or both on a long-term basis to diversify its global real estate holdings and take advantage of the growth these two countries were experiencing. The fund's investment would potentially amount to hundreds of millions of dollars and could lead to substantial returns; however, these investments carried considerable risks. The case introduces many of the issues involved with managing an international portfolio of real estate and provides a detailed overview of the business environment and culture of both China and India. In doing so, the case exposes students to the complicated nature of regional risk assessment and the challenges of doing business in developing countries. Students must assess whether the complexity and risk levels involved with entering a new developing country are worth the potential returns.