個案總覽

The Antamina Mining Company (Compania Minera Antamina, or CMA) is the world's 3rd largest producer of zinc, 7th of copper, and the largest combined operation for both minerals. This Peruvian company, whose operations are located between 4,200 and 4,700 m.a.s.l., is a leader in environmental and social responsibility. Although CMA was a fairly new company (the exploration and construction phases of the mining operations took place between 1997 and 2001, the year in which the production phase began), it had to face a series of complex challenges in order to become an economically viable organization that was both socially and environmentally responsible. Meeting these objectives has implied developing institutional capacities (conflict resolution, management of adverse social contexts, multiculturalism, self-learning, and innovation) that normally appear much later in a company's evolution. Shows some of the typical challenges that managers must face when engaging in large-scale initiatives. CMA's executives worked with tight deadlines and in a high-risk context to make quick decisions whose consequences would have long-term implications, since they would determine the type of relations the company would maintain with diverse stakeholders. In order to make these decisions, they had to establish priorities among at least three distinct logics: i) that of construction and production, where tight time limits, engineers' technical criteria, and cost reduction predominate; ii) the environmental logic, where caution predominates along with impact assessment and an active international community of stakeholders; and iii) the community-based logic, where to co-exist with the primarily indigenous and poor peasant families directly affected by the project it is necessary to obtain a so-called "social license". This phase took place in a context in which CMA had the pressing need to secure financing from international banks.

In November 1997, Richard D. Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial Corporation, was reflecting on the success of his company since its initial public offering (IPO) in 1994. The success had come primarily from one business: credit cards. Despite the phenomenal success of the company in this one market, Fairbank's vision for the company was not limited to credit cards. He wanted to diversify to reduce Capital One's vulnerability to consumer credit market saturation and downturns. Fairbank also saw an opportunity to extend Capital One's capabilities into other markets. He saw Capital One as not just a credit card or financial services company but rather as an information-based marketing company. Because Capital One's strategy would work well in other information-driven industries, Fairbank's idea was to concentrate on growing, data-rich industries--large enough to contribute significantly to the company's growth trajectory--and focus on products and marketing channels where Capital One could leverage its capabilities in scientific testing and mass customization. Despite having investigated over 50 diversification opportunities, Capital One was not pursuing any, largely because they were a poor fit or failed to capitalize on Capital One's core competencies. A recent hire, Mike Rowen, and his team, however, had just finished a four-month long investigation into the auto financing industry. It was up to Rowen and his team to decide whether to present auto financing as the right opportunity for leveraging Capital One's information-based strategic capabilities. The team knew that if it recommended going ahead, it would have to put forth a plan that would address any concerns or objections raised by Fairbank.

In 2007 Grupo Bimbo, a leading global player in the baking industry, expands into China, while at the same time undertaking initiatives to make its U.S. and South American operations more profitable. Allows students to analyze the company's entire global strategy. Places particular attention on how a multinational firm should best adapt to differences in the basic institutions of capitalism and consumer preferences across countries as well as within them.

McDonald's seeks to learn from a successful response to Greenpeace's Amazon deforestation campaign in order to make its supply chain more socially and environmentally responsible.

Rapid growth is pushing Burt's Bees' natural personal care products into mass distribution channels, with products and brand elements that are less quirky, more commercial than they used to be. Indeed, CEO John Replogle believes that by focusing on efficacious, natural, and unique ingredients, and also by promoting earth-friendly production processes, Burt's Bees will impose superior product expectations and win over the mainstream personal care category. Can Burt's Bees become the "Starbucks of personal care" without distancing itself too much from the people, values, and narratives that have made the brand successful thus far?

Aurolab is the in-house producer of IOLs (required in cataract surgery) for the Aravind Eye Care System, a group of charity hospitals with the largest volume of eye surgery in the world. Aurolab's manufacturing capability and capacity had long exceeded the requirements of Aravind. With its impending move to a new, world-class facility, fundamental questions of strategic direction and mission fulfillment gained renewed attention among the organization's senior leaders.

The executives of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Ltd., one of the largest brokerages in India, are considering an IPO on the Indian markets. The company recently received a small private equity investment from two global private equity firms, which it has not yet fully invested. Historically, the Indian markets have favored higher-revenue companies. Should Motilal Oswal go public now, to take advantage of the hot Indian market, or hold off and build its revenue for a higher valuation?

When Jim Weddle took over as Managing Partner of Edward Jones in January 2006, the brokerage firm was at a critical juncture. The firm's distinctive strategy had enabled it to grow from its roots in small-town America to become the 4th largest broker in the U.S. Weddle was concerned, however, that the firm's success, and the changing landscape of the financial services industry, were challenging the core aspects of the strategy that had brought the firm so far. He knew that the impending strategic decisions would determine whether Edward Jones could sustain its extraordinary performance and achieve its goal of growing to 20,000 financial advisors by 2017.

In 2007, Wal-Mart faced challenges to its historically high growth rate. Lagging same-store sales and setbacks overseas led the company to consider strategic shifts. Wal-Mart was the world's largest retailer, but competition had become particularly acute as the company expanded from rural markets, which it had long dominated, into urban and suburban areas. Covers developments in Wal-Mart's merchandising strategy and its approach to store formats; its sometimes controversial human resources practices; its efforts to improve its image through a public relations campaign; its aggressive, though occasionally problematic, move into international markets; and its leading competitors, especially Target. Exhibits provide data (current as of February 2007) on Wal-Mart's financial performance, its stock-price performance, its international operations, and its store formats, as well as on Target's financial performance.

Brooke Correll, a former executive at MTV, Ziff-Davis Media, and WineShopper.com, joined the privately-owned Clos Du Val Wine Company, Ltd., in Napa, California, as a director of marketing. Co-founded by an expert winemaker with ties to the famous Château Lafite-Rothschild, Clos Du Val had seen its glory days, with high ratings accompanied by robust sales. During the 1990s, however, sales had begun to lag. As the winery's first marketing professional, Correll has to chart a new course for the winery to revive the once-hot brand and to escape flagging sales.

Christian Harbinson, a young associate at the venture capital firm Scharfstein Weekes, has a difficult decision to make before the next investment committee meeting. He's been watching over SW's investment in Seven Peaks Technologies, and sales of its single product have been disappointing. Now the company's head, Jack Brandon, wants another $400,000 to pursue a new product. Harbinson believes in Brandon and in his proprietary technology--a titanium alloy that prevents surgical instruments from sticking to tissue. Three years ago, Brandon quit his job and put $65,000 of his savings into developing a nonstick cauterizing device. Two distributors offered to carry it after they saw his demonstration at a trade show, and a couple of surgeons, quickly becoming enthusiastic, promised testimonials. But if Brandon's cauterizer is to take off, surgeons will have to abandon the forceps they've traditionally used and switch to the Seven Peaks device--a change in behavior that will come slowly if at all. So, Brandon thinks, why not adapt his alloy to a line of forceps? Now Harbinson wonders if he himself has become emotionally overinvested in Seven Peaks and if this decision is as much a test of his VC potential as of the actual deal. Should Scharfstein Weekes back Brandon's company with a second round of funding, or would it be a case of throwing good money after bad? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0703A and R0703Z are Ivan Farneti, a partner with Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures; Fred Hassan, the chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough; Robert M. Johnson, a venture partner with Delta Partners and a visiting professor at the University of Navarro's IESE Business School; and Christoph Zott, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at Insead.

Christian Harbinson, a young associate at the venture capital firm Scharfstein Weekes, has a difficult decision to make before the next investment committee meeting. He's been watching over SW's investment in Seven Peaks Technologies, and sales of its single product have been disappointing. Now the company's head, Jack Brandon, wants another $400,000 to pursue a new product. Harbinson believes in Brandon and in his proprietary technology--a titanium alloy that prevents surgical instruments from sticking to tissue. Three years ago, Brandon quit his job and put $65,000 of his savings into developing a nonstick cauterizing device. Two distributors offered to carry it after they saw his demonstration at a trade show, and a couple of surgeons, quickly becoming enthusiastic, promised testimonials. But if Brandon's cauterizer is to take off, surgeons will have to abandon the forceps they've traditionally used and switch to the Seven Peaks device--a change in behavior that will come slowly if at all. So, Brandon thinks, why not adapt his alloy to a line of forceps? Now Harbinson wonders if he himself has become emotionally overinvested in Seven Peaks and if this decision is as much a test of his VC potential as of the actual deal. Should Scharfstein Weekes back Brandon's company with a second round of funding, or would it be a case of throwing good money after bad? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0703A and R0703Z are Ivan Farneti, a partner with Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures; Fred Hassan, the chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough; Robert M. Johnson, a venture partner with Delta Partners and a visiting professor at the University of Navarro's IESE Business School; and Christoph Zott, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at Insead.

Christian Harbinson, a young associate at the venture capital firm Scharfstein Weekes, has a difficult decision to make before the next investment committee meeting. He's been watching over SW's investment in Seven Peaks Technologies, and sales of its single product have been disappointing. Now the company's head, Jack Brandon, wants another $400,000 to pursue a new product. Harbinson believes in Brandon and in his proprietary technology--a titanium alloy that prevents surgical instruments from sticking to tissue. Three years ago, Brandon quit his job and put $65,000 of his savings into developing a nonstick cauterizing device. Two distributors offered to carry it after they saw his demonstration at a trade show, and a couple of surgeons, quickly becoming enthusiastic, promised testimonials. But if Brandon's cauterizer is to take off, surgeons will have to abandon the forceps they've traditionally used and switch to the Seven Peaks device--a change in behavior that will come slowly if at all. So, Brandon thinks, why not adapt his alloy to a line of forceps? Now Harbinson wonders if he himself has become emotionally overinvested in Seven Peaks and if this decision is as much a test of his VC potential as of the actual deal. Should Scharfstein Weekes back Brandon's company with a second round of funding, or would it be a case of throwing good money after bad? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0703A and R0703Z are Ivan Farneti, a partner with Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures; Fred Hassan, the chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough; Robert M. Johnson, a venture partner with Delta Partners and a visiting professor at the University of Navarro's IESE Business School; and Christoph Zott, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at Insead.

There are two cases. Both concern the six-month battle in 2006 to create the steel group, Arcelor Mittal, by far the largest steel company in the world, combining as it did the two largest companies. The takeover was of interest because it was the focus of three bitter debates: shareholder interests versus stakeholder interests, European champions versus global champions and the merits of either, and financial strategy versus industrial strategy The first case concentrates essentially on the political, financial and environmental issues (all in the wide sense) of the takeover. The second case looks more deeply at the specifically steel (and hence industrial) issues.

Beijing Hyundai Motor Corporation and Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motors were both troubled by the problematic sales trend of their locally branded cars. At the same time, a Brand Power Research Study conducted by Hyundai and Kia in China showed that both companies still had significant room for improvement in strengthening the power of their corporate branding to induce consumer purchases. Illustrates the importance of global branding when companies expand overseas and allows students an opportunity to evaluate corporate and car branding at both international and local levels.

New York-born Denise Di Novi was a rare breed in Hollywood-she had become a high-powered and highly successful movie producer within a small elite "boy's club" coterie while raising two sons and having a fulfilling family life. Despite the fact that 50-year-old Di Novi had reached the pinnacle in her field, the road had not always been easy. Raising two sons while being on movie sets for marathon 13+ hour days, as well as nurturing a fruitful 19-year marriage with a husband also in the business, required an incredible amount of juggling. How she managed that hectic lifestyle was partly due to her choice not to "go out at night" or frequent the ubiquitous and swanky Hollywood parties or movie premiers unless the movie was made by a close friend. Di Novi's down-to-earth way of thinking and lifestyle has not only made her an anomaly within the high-flying tabloid-rich movie industry, but also has helped her to survive the cuts and bruises inherent to a job where a series of movie flops would get her "dropped" by a studio in a second.

Established in the mid-1970s, microfinance provided tiny loans to poor families to help them start and/or expand small businesses. Thirty years later, the practice had helped more than 80 million people to lift themselves out of extreme poverty and grown into a global industry comprised of more than 3,000 microfinance institutions. Early pioneers of microfinance, such as Muhmmad Yunnus of Grameen Bank, had become celebrities of sorts, receiving scores of humanitarian awards, including the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Similarly, the microfinance movement itself had become so well known that it invited comments from mainstream cultural icons such as Bono, lead singer of the band U2, who said: "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Give a women microcredit, she, her husband, her children, and her extended family will eat for a lifetime." Despite these accolades, Geoff Davis and Mike Murray believed that while microfinance was an important social innovation, it was dramatically underperforming relative to its potential because it had yet to achieve adequate scale. They pointed out less than 20% of the world's demand for microfinance was being met. Murray observed, "Usually, an industry that had those dynamics would have been closed down." Prompted by their vision of microfinance's potential, they founded Unitus, Inc., a nonprofit focused on accelerating the growth of the microfinance industry so that vastly larger numbers of people could gain access to the capital they needed to generate an income, raise their standard of living, and fulfill their basic needs. Explores dynamics in the microfinance industry, describes the Unitus business model, and sets up an important decision facing the company: whether to expand the amount of capital it can provide to its microfinance partners through the creation of a debt or equity fund.

WildChina (A) tells the story of Mei Zhang, a Chinese-born HBS alumna, and her pursuit of a dream: to share her passion for travel, her appreciation of China's beauty and culture, and her desire to start her own business. Describes the startup of WildChina, a tour company targeting a high-end clientele with unusual and high-quality products, and its survival of two business crises. The focus is on Zhang's decision to bring in a COO, transition him to CEO, and assume the position of Chairperson. Also describes communication and control challenges faced when Zhang moves to Los Angeles with her family, and tries to remain involved in her Beijing-based business. The decision Zhang faces is how to proceed when, in the midst of sales and operational problems and financial pressures, her CEO announces that he will be leaving the company in a matter of months.

NCH Capital is considering whether to sell its Ukrainian company Univermag Ukraina, which it has held and built up over the past decade.

Following a successful model in Europe, JP Morgan has introduced a set of five U.S. retail mutual funds with an investment philosophy and marketing strategy grounded in behavioral finance. The asset management group believes that understanding investor biases like overconfidence, anchoring, and loss aversion is key to generating returns on the investment side and educating clients on the advisory side.