個案總覽

In January 2016, the chief executive officer of Harley’s Corner, an India-based online retailer of gourmet dog food, faced a decision dilemma. He needed to decide on the most suitable positioning strategy for the business, which competed against several well-known brands, including other fresh, gourmet, home-cooked food for pets. Harley’s Corner needed to convey a proposition that ran deeper than simply representing an “all-natural, home-cooked” fresh pet food. How could he differentiate the offerings in a relevant way to retain his loyal customers, attract new customers, and thereby grow the business? What was the best way to position his brand, Harley’s Corner, which catered to a niche segment?

In October 2013, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Canada’s largest bank, hired a new head of Enterprise Fraud Strategy, a department tasked with protecting RBC’s global customers from fraud. The department head’s immediate priority was to prevent fraudulent transactions by RBC’s own customers—a phenomenon called first-party fraud—by implementing a bourgeoning technology called social network analysis (SNA). The technology used predictive analytics and big data to forecast the occurrence of first-party fraud. The head of Enterprise Fraud Strategy had three primary questions: First, how should SNA be used to bring down the ratio of fraud alerts to actual fraud at RBC? Second, how should the cost of maintaining SNA protocols be reduced? Finally, how should the issues around systemic performance of SNA be resolved?

Indian start-up firm ColoredCow achieved impressive growth in its first three years. In 2016, the company earned ₹725 million in net revenue, an increase of 140 per cent over the previous year. In early 2017, the company’s target for 2020 was very ambitious: its founder hoped to reach ₹2.5 billion in total revenues, which would be challenging for a company with only 16 employees and a multi-directional focus. ColoredCow's founder wanted to build a direct sales channel to help achieve this target. With rapid changes taking place across the information technology industry, the firm faced some serious questions: What technical and digital capabilities would ColoredCow need to implement to achieve success in the future? What scalability issues would the company likely face? What should ColoredCow’s strategic plan for growth be?

Late in 2016, the owner of a lingerie business in Düsseldorf, Germany, faced a series of questions regarding the health of her business in a changing environment. The German retail environment had traditionally consisted of many specialized (often family-owned) small- to medium-sized retailers, and many of these stores had not kept pace with globalization and the digital revolution; market changes and increasing competition forced them to close. Other main street retailers managed to grow in these challenging environments, overcoming and moving in front of their previous competitors. HKS Wäsche & Dessous was one of those independent retailers. How could the owner of such a business continue to cope with the changing business environment? How could she deal with the digital revolution or even turn it to her advantage? What can entrepreneurs do to maintain and even develop their businesses?

In August 2015, the managing director of the Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers’ Co-operative Society Ltd. (Co-optex), an Indian state handloom co-operative, was preparing to receive an award for one of the organization’s products during the first National Handloom Day celebrations in India. While the award was a validation of the managing director’s efforts to revive Co-optex, which had accumulated significant losses for 13 years, his worries were far from over. Co-optex faced a host of challenges, both on the demand and supply sides. The public-sector organization had experienced a 77 per cent decline in profits over the past year. The director wondered what constituted failure for a public-sector organization. How should Co-optex reinvent itself in a changing competitive landscape to stay ahead of competition and remain relevant in the context of the changing profile of Indian customers?

In January 2017, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of StarTech.com was meeting with the chief operating officer to discuss the London, Ontario, company’s supply chain strategy. With sales of $190 million in 2016, StarTech.com, a manufacturer and distributor of hard-to-find technology products, had grown by almost $70 million in the previous four years and was expected to grow at 20 per cent a year for the next three years. The CEO wanted to ensure that the firm’s supply chain strategy simultaneously supported its aggressive growth targets and optimized its inventory investments. What initiatives should the company consider to ensure high levels of product availability for end-users? How could the company enhance its value proposition to customers while also improving operating margins and inventory productivity?

為了提供顧客到位且有效率的服務，進而累積良好的品牌美譽度，玉山銀行設計了一套獨特的服務系統和服務流程，藉由挑選和培訓合適的服務人員和團隊，輔以新的電子資訊技術和設備來針對顧客所帶來的不確定性進行管理，並創造優良的顧客知覺價值。良好的服務系統設計也讓玉山銀行多次獲得「金牌服務大賞」、「五星服務獎」、「2015影響力品牌」、「金牌服務業調查–銀行類第一名」…等獎項的殊榮和肯定。

1-800-Flowers.com was a market leader in the floral gift industry, offering solutions for everyday gift needs as well as for special occasions. The U.S. company’s mission was to “deliver smiles” to its customers by designing and delivering innovative and valuable gifts. 1-800-Flowers.com had a very good brand in terms of floral distribution. However, the online market for flower and gift sales was changing rapidly, presenting new opportunities for efficiencies and market expansion. In March 2012, the company's chief executive officer was faced with a pressing decision. How could 1-800-Flowers.com gain competitive advantage through collaborations with the extended supply chain?

In 2016, Canadian Arrow Mines Limited (CRO) had a promising nickel property, the Kenbridge deposit, located 70 kilometres southeast of Kenora, Ontario. The spot had been the site of significant exploration in the past. Further exploration by CRO had indicated that it could be profitable. CRO had spent close to CA$10 million on redevelopment, and needed a further $3 million for the final feasibility study before going into full operation. In 2007, nickel hit a high of $27 per pound, but by 2009, prices had dipped to under $8 per pound, which severely curtailed the firm’s ability to raise the final $3 million. CRO turned its attention to other projects to raise money in the hope of a recovery, but the trend had been negative until mid-2016. To save the property, CRO had laid off all of its employees and reduced expenses to the minimum required. With a small recovery evident, CRO management wondered if CRO should hang on further and wait for nickel prices to rise enough to support the final feasibility study. The team wanted to know what nickel price was required to run a profitable operation. Were there any indicators about which direction this price would take in the future?

NeoGenius Co., Ltd. (NeoGenius) was an early-stage entrepreneurial venture based in South Korea. Founded in February 2000, NeoGenius provided a wide range of business-to-business (B2B) e-business software and related services. In June 2001, the company was up and running, but it faced competition from larger firms, and the effects of a global economic downturn; as a result, its financial performance was falling short of expectations. NeoGenius had received significant offers from three different entities: a business partner, a competitor, and a venture capitalist. The chief executive officer had only a short time to choose from several options, including growth and exit.

This two-case series focuses on leadership succession and strategic transformation in a Chinese private business, Qingdao Red Collar Group Co., Ltd. (Red Collar Group).<br><br>Case A describes the strategic transformation put forward by the founder and chief executive officer, who firmly believed that the personalized customization model (i.e., the model based on made-to-order products) was the future of the traditional mass-production model. As a result of a decade of efforts and millions of dollars in investment, Red Collar Group successfully launched a global suit-customization supplier platform, Red Collar Made to Measure. In 2013, Red Collar Group upgraded its strategy, aiming to provide thorough solutions for the garment industry. Behind the strategic transformation in this case is the story of the chief executive officer, who was willing to hold on to his dream despite the lack of support from his employees. He was looking for a professional manager to succeed him as the leader of the company.<br><br>See 9B17M004 for Case B.

In 2015, the executive director of Furniture Bank had successfully managed the Toronto social-service agency by turning a $300,000 net loss two years prior into a $100,000 net income. He had employed a variety of strategies and information technologies to integrate and rationalize business processes that resulted in significant productivity and performance improvements. However, Furniture Bank, which collected unneeded furnishings from donors and distributed them to those in need, had been a victim of its own success; it had maximized its capacity and was struggling to meet growing demand for its services. The executive director had to explore growth opportunities, specifically those accessible by leveraging information technology (IT), and choose from among four likely options.

Earls Restaurants, Ltd., a Canadian restaurant chain headquartered in Vancouver, was facing a communications crisis in April 2016, when it changed its sourcing policy with regard to beef. In a bid to appeal to millennial consumers, who were conscious of animal welfare standards, it decided to source beef from a U.S. farm that had its beef independently certified as humane. This cut out the restaurant’s traditional supply sources among Canadian ranchers, most specifically in Alberta, where the restaurant chain had been founded. The backlash was immediate. After discussing the situation with his core management team and asking a consultant for help formulating a communication strategy, the company’s president had to decide how to proceed to restore the company’s reputation. Should Earls do nothing and wait for the attention to die down, go back to sourcing its beef through Canadian suppliers, or continue to serve humane beef in its restaurants?

本個案以義美食品的五大把關原則為主軸，透過義美食品在台灣的營運發展，讓學生瞭解，企業如何透過所提供給消費者的各項功能，將環境保護的意念傳遞給消費者，並進一步透過產品盡到對社會的責任。此外，透過義美食品對食品安全的重視以及實際做法，並加上食品安全事件的歷史脈絡、消費者對食品安全態度的轉變等資料，讓學生了解義美食品如何能不同於其他食品廠，在食品安全事件中逆勢成長，進而成為廣受民眾歡迎的指標品牌。

Fundación Inclusión y Desarrollo Laboral (IDEL) was a not-for-profit organization in Buenos Aires, Argentina, whose mission was to enhance the dignity of and improve the quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities by promoting their inclusion in the formal labour market. IDEL did this by providing a sheltered work environment, projects, and wages for participants in its programs. In 2016, IDEL was seeking to increase the number of individuals it served by developing its own source of earned income and securing additional stable clients to provide work projects and revenue for these individuals. <br><br>The organization acquired a machine to produce garbage bags that it planned to sell in the Argentine market, and the organization's executive director was finalizing a plan to develop the manufacturing of garbage bags as a source of earned income. She needed to decide how to grow IDEL sustainably, by scaling its operations to serve a larger community while also addressing the needs of its stakeholders.

Yogo Game, Inc., a successful Japanese social media company, had launched a subsidiary in the United States. In spring 2016, the parent company directed the subsidiary to expand its U.S. operations. Yogo Game America projected that it would need to triple its workforce by the end of 2017, which required that the U.S. subsidiary decide whether to hire locals or expatriates, and whether to adopt the company’s home culture of Japan or its adopted culture in the United States. These decisions were complicated by the fast-paced, highly competitive gaming industry targeted by the subsidiary. Employment in the high-tech sector had its own subculture within the broader U.S. culture. What policies and practices would help the company adapt to the U.S. culture without sacrificing the Japanese policies and practices that had already made the parent company so successful?

Soweto Gold was a premium microbrewery in the township of Soweto, South Africa. In 2011, one of its co-founders got the idea to start a craft brewery while on an advanced brewing course in London. After a period of soul-searching and research, in 2013, he found a partner to begin producing and marketing a new craft beer. They found early success by focusing their efforts on getting to know the craft beer market and creating a sustainable value proposition. However, by 2016, they faced questions regarding how to grow the market for their iconic brand. How could they better reach some of their untapped markets and cement the brand in the minds of consumers? Should they contract out the brewing to a larger company outside Soweto in order to expand production? The challenge was to act boldly but not make any mistakes.

The Mountain Musical Theatre Company (MMTC), located in Great Falls, Montana, was an important part of the local cultural scene. For many years, MMTC had performed a wide variety of shows that had been much enjoyed by local and visiting patrons, and it would have been easy to assume that the organization was a great success. However, significant organizational and financial problems had been brewing inside MMTC. In September 2015, these problems came to a head. The organization did not have formal financial statements, and the absence of these had recently led to major disagreements between MMTC’s leadership team and its board of directors. The recently appointed board chair did not know if MMTC was making or losing money. Although she feared the consequences could be serious, the board chair needed to ensure that financial statements for MMTC were created and analyzed to determine the truth about the organization’s financial situation.

台灣的中小企業普遍面對成長過程中人才培育與接班的困擾及問題，本個案即希望藉由程曦資訊整合股份有限公司接班規劃制度的討論，呈現中小企業接班制度的規劃及實施的做法及挑戰。

In February 2017, a purchasing manager for General Motors Company (GM) needed to come up with a sourcing proposal to source e-boost modules, which were required to support the enhanced 2020 Chevrolet Bolt Electric Vehicle and the new 2020 Chevrolet Bolt Autonomous Vehicle. GM had four possible international suppliers to choose from. Each supplier had its pros and cons in terms of price, product development capability, and the architectural nature of the braking system. GM wanted to be a disrupter to the autonomous vehicle industry. Its top priorities were public safety and defect-free quality. In order to continue to maintain the market leadership position, GM wanted to retain the intellectual property of the e-boost modules. Which supplier would best meet the needs of the company?