個案總覽

Madam C. J. Walker, who has been credited as the first self-made African-American woman millionaire, created a hair-care empire after years spent as a laundress in St. Louis, Missouri. Decades before the Civil Rights movement, her company gave employment to thousands of African-American women and marketed its products around the world. Madam Walker was active in the social and political causes of her day, and used her position as a successful entrepreneur to promote philanthropy and self-advancement in the African-American community.

As part of its expansion and diversification strategy, the Chiaphua Group explored real estate investments in emerging markets. The Group was one of the largest privately held company groups based in Hong Kong, with international investments in a variety of manufacturing and property development. A family member, Raymond Cheng, had narrowed the list of potential markets to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Notwithstanding a history of instability and conflict and substantial government control of markets, Raymond concluded that Vietnam was the best option. Revolves around how to assess the market in the absence of hard data, and what would be the appropriate entry points. Illuminates how relationship-driven investments can be the foundation of a long-term investment strategy. Issues also involve how, by working with government through a structured forum (along with personal relations), laws and regulations can evolve to facilitate real estate investments.

In order to execute a strategy to transform the entire 768-school Los Angeles public school district, Green Dot Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school management organization with 10 high-performing high schools around Los Angeles, is faced with a crucial choice about how to open its next several schools. Should it pursue an opportunity to collaborate with the public school district, or act on an equally attractive opportunity to compete head-on with the district by working in a neighborhood that has been dramatically underserved for decades?

Steve Jones, senior investment analyst at Stonehill Capital, among other responsibilities, had to ensure that his team prepared a pitch book which presented all the numbers and graphs necessary to acquire a client's business. Jones was already overworked so he enlisted his intern, Joe Livingston, to help with the task. As the deadline approached, Jones and Livingston worked 18-hour days preparing the pitch book and were very tired and sleep deprived. The morning after the day of the pitch, Jones received an email from the vice-president of Investment Banking telling him that the bank's deal team had been embarrassed by having to explain an error in the pitch book during their meeting to try to secure the deal. Jones is now being asked to explain what happened.

It is February 2007, exactly three years before Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics. Judy Rogers, City Manager for the City of Vancouver and a member of the Board of Directors for Vancouver's Organizing Committee (VANOC), is keen to ensure the Games will have a lasting positive impact on the city and on Canada. However, a recent event reveals that significant social tensions could negatively effect the event and Vancouver's image across the globe, and Rogers will have to find a way to address the growing concerns. More pressingly, Rogers and her team are faced with the task of creating an Olympic Legacy Reserve Fund that could enable the city to achieve its sustainability goals, but involves a significant tax increase for Vancouver's residents and businesses. With the world watching and the clock ticking, there is a lot at stake. How should Rogers respond to these challenges? Allows for an in-depth examination of critical social marketing issues in the context of one of the world's biggest sports events. Provides rich data on the possible benefits and drawbacks for a variety of constituents, including the International Olympic Committee, the host country and city, its businesses, and local residents, and can serve to illustrate the key tensions as well as best practices in social marketing initiatives.

Describes the initial considerations of Gilead Sciences as it designed a strategy for delivering its AIDS drug Viread to developing nations in Africa. In October 2001, Gilead Sciences received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the commercial sale of Viread, a significant new drug for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Viread proved to be an immediate success, increasing rapidly in sales and market share in the United States within its first year on the market. As Gilead made plans to take the drug global in early 2003, a high priority was to make the drug readily available to millions of people in the least developed nations, where the HIV virus was having its most devastating effects. Pricing and distribution were key considerations. Gilead did not have a distribution system in place in any of these countries, and the price charged in the United States would be prohibitive in the developing world.

Examines what happened to Korea after the 1997 financial crisis and the implementation of the IMF-mandated reforms imposed on Korea as conditionalities to the country's emergency loan package.

Fabindia is a for-profit Indian retail company with the stated mission of providing employment to weavers and traditional handicraft artisans in rural India. Established in 1960 as an exporter of home furnishings, Fabindia has grown as a consumer-facing retailer of apparel, home furnishings, organic food, and body care products, and has plans to expand further. Given their mission, their supply chain is fragmented, geographically scattered, and unpredictable. Can they overcome these challenges and still grow profitably while staying committed to their mission?

As opposed to other emerging countries, the tire market in India was almost exclusively dominated by local players: 90% of all tires on the Indian market were made and sold by local Indian companies. It is important to note that the big names of the world tire industry--Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Continental--were hardly visible in India. Michelin was absent from the Indian tire market and it is very surprising that the world leader of the tire industry had neither a production facility nor a distribution network in India. Why such an absence? Why did Michelin have so little presence in Asian emerging countries and especially in India? Presents the main features of the tire industry in India and allows students to carry out a comprehensive strategic evaluation of the industry's attractiveness as well as an in-depth analysis of the structure of competition. They will also conduct performance analysis for each company.

Computer science departments were new to universities in the 1960s, and the one created at the University of Utah by David Evans and Ivan Sutherland had a research mission to invent the field of computer graphics. Details the research process that led to many of the critical breakthrough concepts and algorithms for the field and the training of PhDs, who then created companies that brought the new technology to the marketplace.

As of late 2004, the chief executive officer (CEO) of New York-based wine distributor Monarchia Matt International (MMI) is looking at his portfolio of wines and wondering what advantage Hungarian wine could provide in becoming a powerful niche player in the highly fragmented and complicated U.S. wine industry. The CEO is cognizant of Hungarian wine's reputation in the United States as an inexpensive, mass-produced, and low quality drink. At the same time, the CEO is aware of Hungary's rich wine making tradition and is confident that the country's wine varieties could prove to be a key differentiator and help him grow revenues, from $6 million in 2004 to $50 million by 2010.

A young entrepreneur with a family background in the Thai restaurant business examines whether to open his own Thai food restaurant. Students are asked to assess his capabilities as a restaurant manager/owner. Students must perform a qualitative size-up of the market and examine whether the chosen location is a good fit. A seating plan is to be designed. Students are to project an income statement and balance sheet and to determine the impact on financial statements if sales increase or decrease 20 per cent from the original forecast. Based on their analysis, students are asked to determine if the restaurant should be opened.

In 2002, the Orsa Group consisted of several business units in the pulp, paper, and packaging sector, having grossed nearly US$ 250 million that year. The Group's enterprises were: Orsa Celulose; Papel e Embalagens [Orsa Pulp, Paper and Packaging], featuring industrial plants in the states of Sao Paulo and Goias and in the Amazon; and Jari Celulose and Orsa Florestal, both located in the Jari region in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. In addition, its philosophical principle of social and environmental responsibility led the Group to create a non-profit organization, the Orsa Foundation, supported by 1% of the Group's consolidated gross sales. More than a mere social welfare action branch, the Orsa Foundation became a priority within company operations as a result of two major factors: a) Orsa was a family-owned business run by main shareholder and president Sergio Amoroso, an entrepreneur with a penchant for social issues; and b) the strategic alignment, especially at the Jari Celulose unit, between business objectives and local, sustainable development. In the light of the specific challenges faced by pulp companies and international markets in general, Amoroso, along with Orsa Group's advisors and top managers, needed to assess the impact of the Orsa Foundation's social strategy on Jari operations.

A joint study by the Confederation of Indian Industries and McKinsey forecast the potential of healthcare tourism to amount to US$2.2 billion by 2010. The Indian Government's growing awareness of this lucrative market led to a series of task forces and meetings to finalize decisions on how to develop the country into a major health destination. Allows students to evaluate the industry dynamics and competitive situation in order to develop a proposed positioning and targeting strategy.

When he created Shanghai Tang in 1994, Hong Kong businessman David Tang intended to launch China's first bona-fide luxury brand. In the first few years, Tang's flamboyant, cross-cultural style and ties to celebrities fueled the buzz surrounding the brand. But the brand was unable to establish its core customer outside its home market of Hong Kong, and the company struggled to find a niche among successful, established global luxury brands. In 2005, under new leadership and revised creative direction, Shanghai Tang expanded into several regional markets worldwide, with a particular focus in Asia. But was the company on track to become the first global Chinese luxury brand?

Farm Equipment Services (FES), the tractor manufacturing division of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), is considering entering the Chinese tractor industry through a joint venture with Jiangling Tractor Company (JTC), a state-owned automotive enterprise. M&M had seeded the Chinese tractor market with exports and had concluded that the most efficient and prudent way to serve the Chinese tractor market was through a joint venture with a local partner. JTC had good brand recognition and strong position in the small tractor market. However, due to the lack of interest from the parent company, Jiangling Motor Company Group, JTC faced severe operational challenges, was over-staffed, had high overhead, owed significant amounts to suppliers, and dealers were fleeing the company. M&M saw an opportunity to work with a management team they were comfortable with and to leverage JTC's potential to grow in China and to export tractors as well as components. The challenge was to determine how management should proceed to restructure and integrate the joint venture assets.

Taka Haneda, a proprietary trader at the Tokyo office of Goldman Sachs, has just learned that the Nikkei 225 will undergo a significant redefinition over the coming week. He faces several billion dollars of customer orders, as well as the opportunity to commit the firm's capital to provide liquidity for the event. He must decide what positions to establish, and at what price he is willing to get out.

The notable success of insurance products for low-income clients of its microfinance network leads Opportunity International to launch the first global specialized microinsurance company, the Micro Insurance Agency (MIA). Building on the experience in 10 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America of developing products appropriate to the sector and acceptable to risk carriers, and minimizing distribution and administration costs by going through Opportunity International (OI) partner microfinance institutions (MFIs), MIA must now define the strategy for its future growth. Facing both the need to achieve scale and profitability as quickly as possible, and increasing competition from international and local providers with few barriers to entry, MIA must grapple with a series of strategic choices: geographic expansion, continued product innovation, serving MFIs outside of the OI network, and new distribution mechanisms to reach market segments beyond MFIs. Wholly owned by faith-based nonprofit OI, MIA must also factor in OI's desired mission impact with commercial viability. Illustrates the challenges and tradeoffs inherent in pioneering efforts at the edge of microfinance, the emerging industry to serve the financial needs of low-income sectors in the developing world.

An upscale ecolodge in southern Nicaragua hopes to achieve a 53 per cent occupancy rate within three years of opening, and has hired a management company to prepare a marketing strategy. Despite its proximity to Costa Rica and its focus on providing a unique luxury vacation retreat for one of the fastest growing segments in the travel industry - the ecotourist - the hotel faces numerous hurdles. The greatest challenge is to overcome Nicaragua's negative reputation, based on its recent history of political and social unrest, still fresh in the minds of tourists. The hotel must also operate within the country's rural infrastructure, characterized by interruptions in the power supply, poorly maintained roads and below-standard sanitation. Additionally, Nicaragua does not have a pool of skilled employees to work in the high-end service industry. The effects of these factors on the hotel's market positioning and market penetration rate are addressed in the preparation of the marketing strategy.

PRG-Schultz will run out of cash within a couple of months unless the new CEO can reduce costs and restructure the company's debt. PRG was the dominant market leader in the audit recovery industry. The industry consisted of firms which employed accounting professionals to audit purchasing transactions to discover and collect funds owed to their clients. PRG had historically been profitable, and clients were satisfied with their service. In recent years, however, the industry overall and PRG's sales, had been in decline. This left PRG with a cost base that was no longer sustainable. The CEO must decide where to cut costs and how to convince creditors to give the company the time it needs to turn around. A bankruptcy reorganization is one option open to the company. Describes the audit recovery industry, the company's history, the CEO, the financial problems the company faced, and the first steps taken by the CEO to save the company.