個案總覽

Since the mid-1990s, management-metaphor boutique Serendipity Associates (SA) has been offering clients sizzling similes and snappy sound bites. But the head of SA, Barton Brady, gets word that someone is now poaching in his territory. It's the low-rent operation Tropes R Us, which has started offshoring production to Ireland and will soon flood the market with high-quality, low-cost metaphors. Does this move confirm Brady's fear that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge in right-brain work? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0809A and R0809Z. Daniel H. Pink, an author and consultant, says SA should move to higher ground--to find new ways to differentiate itself on the basis of right-brain capabilities that will be difficult to offshore. Doing this, he writes, requires an education system that nurtures creativity. John Chuang, CEO of talent consulting firm Aquent, writes that Brady could rally U.S. citizens to protest the country's current immigration policy, which makes it difficult for companies to import top talent. Brady should also broaden the definition of SA's business. Richard Phelps, a human resource executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers, argues that contrary to the prevailing view of many in the West, workers in emerging economies are equal to the demands of creative work. SA should assemble the best right brains on the planet and either hire them or contract with them to represent the SA brand. Charlie Wrench, the CEO of brand and design consulting firm Landor Associates, advises Brady not to worry about his country--which Wrench believes will continue to attract a disproportionate share of the world's creative talent--but about his multinational clients, who need service providers to display a powerful combination of right-brain and left-brain skills.

Since the mid-1990s, management-metaphor boutique Serendipity Associates (SA) has been offering clients sizzling similes and snappy sound bites. But the head of SA, Barton Brady, gets word that someone is now poaching in his territory. It's the low-rent operation Tropes R Us, which has started offshoring production to Ireland and will soon flood the market with high-quality, low-cost metaphors. Does this move confirm Brady's fear that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge in right-brain work? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0809A and R0809Z. Daniel H. Pink, an author and consultant, says SA should move to higher ground--to find new ways to differentiate itself on the basis of right-brain capabilities that will be difficult to offshore. Doing this, he writes, requires an education system that nurtures creativity. John Chuang, CEO of talent consulting firm Aquent, writes that Brady could rally U.S. citizens to protest the country's current immigration policy, which makes it difficult for companies to import top talent. Brady should also broaden the definition of SA's business. Richard Phelps, a human resource executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers, argues that contrary to the prevailing view of many in the West, workers in emerging economies are equal to the demands of creative work. SA should assemble the best right brains on the planet and either hire them or contract with them to represent the SA brand. Charlie Wrench, the CEO of brand and design consulting firm Landor Associates, advises Brady not to worry about his country--which Wrench believes will continue to attract a disproportionate share of the world's creative talent--but about his multinational clients, who need service providers to display a powerful combination of right-brain and left-brain skills.

Since the mid-1990s, management-metaphor boutique Serendipity Associates (SA) has been offering clients sizzling similes and snappy sound bites. But the head of SA, Barton Brady, gets word that someone is now poaching in his territory. It's the low-rent operation Tropes R Us, which has started offshoring production to Ireland and will soon flood the market with high-quality, low-cost metaphors. Does this move confirm Brady's fear that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge in right-brain work? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0809A and R0809Z. Daniel H. Pink, an author and consultant, says SA should move to higher ground--to find new ways to differentiate itself on the basis of right-brain capabilities that will be difficult to offshore. Doing this, he writes, requires an education system that nurtures creativity. John Chuang, CEO of talent consulting firm Aquent, writes that Brady could rally U.S. citizens to protest the country's current immigration policy, which makes it difficult for companies to import top talent. Brady should also broaden the definition of SA's business. Richard Phelps, a human resource executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers, argues that contrary to the prevailing view of many in the West, workers in emerging economies are equal to the demands of creative work. SA should assemble the best right brains on the planet and either hire them or contract with them to represent the SA brand. Charlie Wrench, the CEO of brand and design consulting firm Landor Associates, advises Brady not to worry about his country--which Wrench believes will continue to attract a disproportionate share of the world's creative talent--but about his multinational clients, who need service providers to display a powerful combination of right-brain and left-brain skills.

This case describes a decision confronting the founder of Nantero, a company developing a new semiconductor technology. The company needs to raise additional venture capital. Potential investors have competing visions for the company, and its business model. Some investors want the company to license its technology to semiconductor companies. Others want the company to become a "lableless" semiconductor company producing and selling its own products. The question for the team at Nantero is, what model makes sense and which investor offers the most attractive terms?

In May of 2008, a team of sovereign debt analysts at Moody's had to decide whether to downgrade the country's sovereign long-term debt from Aaa to Aa1 or lower. Investor sentiment toward Iceland had changed radically in March, and the Moody's team was fearful that the situation could spiral out of control. The Moody's team knew that carry traders increased Iceland's vulnerability to a confidence crisis because they were quick to liquidate their holdings at the first sign of distress. The plunge in the Icelandic Krona since the beginning of 2008 also forced the Icelandic people to confront a decision: would joining the European Union (EU) protect Iceland from capricious swings in investor sentiment? What, if anything, should Iceland do to avoid a future crisis?

Absolute Return for Kids [ARK] is a charity with strong financial support--what are the constraints on its growth and impact? ARK seeks to transform the lives of children who are victims of abuse, disability, illness and poverty. As one of the 50 largest fundraising charities in the United Kingdom, the organization's trustees wrestle with how to meet the needs of this vast and most vulnerable population through program expansion and delivery in Eastern Europe, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. How can the organization replicate its existing successful programs faster, both within and existing new countries? How can it best identify new areas into which ARK should expand over the near term and further down the road--and to recognize the ones that would overstretch ARK's organizational capacity and risk failing to maintain the highest quality of delivery?

This case series considers the capital-investment decisions to be made by executives of a large chemicals firm in January 2008. The A case (UVA-F-1543) presents a go/no-go project evaluation regarding improvements to a polypropylene production plant. The B case reviews the same project but from one level higher, where the executives face an either/or investment decision between two mutually exclusive projects.

This case explores the role that MTV, with its heavy diet of music and general youth-oriented media content, plays in spreading public-service messaging to contain the scourge of HIV/AIDS worldwide. There is a focus especially on its efforts in several emerging markets, particularly the parts of Africa that have a heavy disease incidence. MTV has developed a DNA of public service announcements that it claims are of central relevance to its high-risk customer base. How core is this to the strategy of a for-profit firm like MTV? What role can a multinational play in helping develop the health care 'soft' infrastructure in such emerging markets?

Critics have accused Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, of eschewing market principles in favor of the foreign policy priorities of the Russian government, ever since the energy giant cut off the supply to Ukraine in January of 2006. The purported motive for the decision, however, seems to indicate the opposite: the company claimed that it had no other choice because the sides failed to conclude a contract on the terms of future trade. The case takes a look back in history for clues that may resolve this paradox. It highlights how politics shaped the economics of natural gas trade in the former Soviet Union and Europe since the late 1960s until the end of the 1990s; sketches the story of the creation of Gazprom by the first post-Soviet government of Russia; and describes how the erection of new sovereign borders in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, coupled with political and economic transition, created major problems in the gas trade between the former Soviet republics, emerging with the greatest intensity in the Russian-Ukrainian relations.

This case presents points of contention and issues in the brand launch of a new telecommunication service of KTF, one of Korea's mobile telecommunication companies. As the second-place player in the 2G service market, which offered voice and text-messaging services, KTF decided to be the number one player in the new 3G service market, which offered stable video communication and high-speed data transmission as well as voice and text-messaging services. To do so, KTF developed a new brand, called "SHOW," and implemented various integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategies to attract customers. After only four months since its launch, KTF had successfully attracted more than one million members. Several critical points for successfully launching a new brand in the mobile telecommunication service can be determined from this case. The introduction highlights the success of KTF's new brand launch strategy. Then the mobile telecommunication service market situation in South Korea is summarized. The next section provides a brief explanation of KTF and its new brand launch strategy in the 3G service market, covering topics from the market survey for 3G service to the brand-building processes. This is followed by an examination of how KTF used marketing-integrated communication for its new SHOW 3G service brand. Finally, the competitor's reaction to KTF's successful brand launch is summarized.

In a letter to ABN AMRO in February 2007, TCI, a British hedge fund with a small stake in ABN AMRO, stated: "We believe that it would be in the interests of all shareholders, other stakeholders and ABN AMRO for the Managing Board of ABN AMRO to actively pursue the potential break up, spin-off, sale or merger of its various businesses (or as a whole)...". Eight months later, after a head-to-head battle with Barclays, the bank was finally sold to a Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium, which included Banco Santander of Spain and Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch group. It was the largest financial services transaction ever and the first time that bidders had attempted to break up a large lender. This case looks at the events that led up to the takeover and examines some of the strategic decisions of the recent past which may have triggered the process. It discusses the financing and timing of the deal in the turbulent financial markets of 2007 and raises questions about the future. What were the risks of splitting the bank? Could this complex task be achieved successfully? Learning objectives: This integrative case gives participants an overview of the different aspects of a takeover: finance and control, integrated risk management, strategy. Issues for discussion include strategic lessons for the future of banking in Europe and worldwide; strengths and weaknesses of the two bids regarding valuation, synergies, timing, deal structure, concerns regarding integration planning and implementation.

This case focuses on the 2001 negotiation between Mytex Pharmaceuticals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The outcome of the negotiation would determine the new label for Mytex's blockbuster drug for arthritis, Flaxil. The negotiation is quite qualitative and differs from the typical price negotiation with which students are familiar. However, at stake was $500 million in Flaxil sales and the safety of millions of patients. The (A) case presents the perspective of Mytex and the FDA on new data suggesting the Flaxil may have a side effect.

Jessica Pierce and Ashley Mound have developed an innovative product for an entrepreneurship class assignment to be presented to potential investors. They now need to determine 1) which target markets have the most potential, 2) which distribution channels to use and 3) a sales volume estimate. The purpose of the case is to teach students how to use secondary research resources from a typical library to research the nature of the market for a new product. This case is appropriate for introductory business, entrepreneurship, business planning, introductory marketing or marketing research courses. It may also be used as an assessment tool.

Cambridge Space Systems plc, a small private company headquartered in Cambridge, England, was engaged in the design and manufacture of small rockets and space systems for commercial, military, and civil customers. In September 2005, Cambridge approached Equator Partners, a private equity firm, about a potential buyout. Since Equator funded its acquisitions with large amounts of debt, potential acquisitions needed excellent cash flow generation, and modest levels of long-term debt. Andrew Amphlett, a recently hired MBA from London Business School, had to analyze Cambridge to determine whether Equator Partners should pursue a buyout of the closely held firm.

In 2006, Progressive Corporation announced a change in its dividend policy. Henceforth, dividends would be paid annually rather than quarterly and, more important, would be set according to a formula that would result in considerably greater year-to-year variability than was the case historically. Under the new policy, dividends would be tied to the company's underwriting results, its performance relative to pre-determined goals, and a target payout ratio. Progressive's new policy was intended to help with overall capital management in the cyclical property and casualty insurance business.

In early July of 2008, William (Bill) Jacques, Chief Investment Officer at Martingale Asset Management, a quantitative value-oriented investment manager in Boston, Massachusetts, was busy preparing for an upcoming meeting with the group that made new product decisions within the firm. The objective of the meeting was to review the backtesting and real-time investment results of a new minimum-variance strategy within the framework of a 130/30 fund. The performance results were very encouraging, but Bill still wondered if they were a fluke of the data, a result of data mining rather than the reflection of a true market anomaly. He wanted to discuss several possible explanations of the phenomenon, and to decide whether Martingale should offer the strategy to its clients.

Lan Airlines operates three distinct models: low-cost for domestic short-haul flights, full-service for international routes; and an international cargo business, the latter of which makes up 33 percent of Lan's overall revenues (markedly different from many U.S. legacy carriers which derive 3 to 4 percent of revenues from cargo). Since a change of ownership in 1994, Lan has grown steadily and quickly at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent from $318 million in revenues to $3.5 billion at the end of 2007. Lan is at an interesting point in history as the low-cost model was recently implemented. While early results have been strong, observers wonder if the airline can successfully manage three disparate business models.

Chile's largest wine producer faces a price versus value positioning problem. Its highest quality wines are not priced competitively at retail because "Made in Chile" connotes great value and low price.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Fortune Motors, the largest Mitsubishi dealership in Taiwan, has to consider his vision for the survival of the company. Fortune Motors' sales in 2003 had fallen below 50,000 units for the first time in 10 years, and market share had been falling for several years. The CEO had a plan to enter the business of financing used-car purchases. He thought that the "balanced scorecard" would be a useful tool to help him implement this change. The first step was to construct a corporate scorecard.

In 2006, Citect Corporation, a publicly traded Australian software company, was the target of a takeover battle between a financial sponsor and a strategic buyer. Thoma Bravo, the US-based private equity firm, had to decide on its acquisition strategy in the face of competition from Schneider Electric, a large French multinational. The case allows for a thorough analysis of buyer types (financial vs. strategic), deal strategy and valuation. Among other topics covered in the case are the importance of due diligence, the potential for value creation by private equity firms through operational improvements, the use of footholds in deal strategy and the challenges of cross-border acquisitions.