new cases all disciplines summer & fall 2017€¦ · stakeholder engagement industry: real...

NEW CASES - ALL DISCIPLINES Summer & Fall 2017

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New Cases - All Disciplines Fall 2017

9B17M145

The Humane Society and SeaWorld: Orca Obstacle

Tara Ceranic; Marc Lampe;

In 2016, the respective heads of The Humane Society of the

United States (HSUS) and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc.

(SeaWorld) were trying to reach a mutually beneficial

resolution to their dispute over orca whale breeding. The HSUS

opposed SeaWorld's practice of breeding captive orcas and

each leader was facing challenges. SeaWorld was experiencing

growing negative publicity and a decline in park attendance and

revenues, while the HSUS was in the process of publishing a

book encouraging business leaders to join the animal

protection movement and incorporate HSUS values into their

strategic plans. After a decades-long antagonistic relationship,

how could SeaWorld and the HSUS find common ground? Could

SeaWorld continue operating in a way that was financially

beneficial for the parks and entertaining to guests, while also

being respectful of the welfare of the orca whales in their care?

Could they meet the HSUS’s goals of animal protection?

Publication Date: October 04, 2017

Discipline: General Management/Strategy;

Product Type/Pricing: Case (Field), Standard Case

Pages: 9 (7 pages of text)

Teaching Note(s): 8B17M145;

Issues: negotiation, decision making, collaboration, stakeholder

management, animal welfare

Industry: Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Recreation;

Setting: United States, Large organization, 2016

Difficulty: Undergraduate/MBA

Learning Objective: This case can be used at the MBA level in

courses related to negotiation or business law, in order to teach

collaboration, dispute resolution, and mediation. It can also be

used in courses related to business ethics or strategic

management, to teach issues of ethical decision making,

corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management, crisis

management, corporate culture, leadership, and the categorical

imperative. After completion of this case, students will be able

to

·learn the benefits of reaching a “win–win” resolution;

·recommend points of compromise between opposing

companies;

·understand the varied affects decisions can have on a variety

of stakeholders; and

formulate alternative actions that organizations can take to

arrive at a solution.

9B17M149

Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics,

Worldwide

Klaus Meyer; Alexandra Han;

In 2016, Bossard AG was a leading wholesaler and supply chain

service provider for fasteners. Its business model aimed to

improve the efficiency of clients’ manufacturing operations by

applying Industry 4.0 technologies to integrate the delivery of

the highest quality screws, nuts, and bolts with logistics

solutions for supply chains, and technical solutions for product

designs using fasteners. Bossard’s key selling point was its

ability to enhance its clients’ consumable parts management,

thus reducing their total costs of ownership. Bossard had been

successful in Europe, but found the Chinese market difficult to

penetrate. The company was looking for better ways to deliver

value to Chinese industrial customers.

Publication Date: September 29, 2017

Discipline: General Management/Strategy; International;




Issues: supply chain management, digital economy,

internationalization, intra-logistics, big data analytics

Industry: Other Services;

Setting: Switzerland; China, Large organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case has been designed for advanced

operations, business marketing, strategic management, and

international business courses at the undergraduate and

graduate levels. After completion of this case, students will be

able to

·explain the conversion of the trading and logistics industries,

and the challenges arising from that conversion;

·explain how technology changes associated with Industry 4.0

(Industrial Internet of Things) are changing sourcing and

operations;

·explain the challenges of internationalizing a business model

that is based on local delivery of business services;

·develop a business model for integrated logistics solutions;

and

·develop solutions for growing sales of business services in

China.

9B17M148

Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and

Engaging Stakeholders

Norm Althouse; Peggy Hedges; Cheryl Brazell;

In early summer 2012, Brookfield Residential Properties Inc.

(Brookfield), a Calgary-based residential property developer

with holdings throughout North America, had an opportunity to

develop a vacant site in the inner-city community of Scarboro,

in the southwest quadrant of Calgary. Brookfield did not own

the site but was working with the landowner to request that

the city of Calgary rezone the site from single family to Direct

Control to allow a proposed 52-unit project. Brookfield’s

proposed housing development project was planned by

following the policies set out in Calgary’s Municipal

Development Plan. The plan was focused on the densification

of Calgary’s population, particularly in the inner city and along

established public transportation routes. The question was,

how could Brookfield proceed to get buy-in for its project from

Scarboro and the surrounding communities?






Issues: stakeholder, real estate, development, city planning,

urban real estate development, community engagement,

stakeholder engagement

Industry: Real Estate and Rental and Leasing;

Setting: Canada, Large organization, 2012

Difficulty: Intro/Undergraduate

Learning Objective: This case is primarily suited for

undergraduate students. It is designed for an introductory

strategy course to introduce the ideas and challenges

surrounding stakeholder engagement. After working through

the case and assignment questions, students should be able to

·identify an organization’s stakeholders and their concerns;

·appreciate the issues surrounding stakeholder engagement;

·consider strategies an organization can use to engage

stakeholders and build trust; and

·understand the potential effects of engagement practices on

an organization and its stakeholders.

9B17M151

HCL Engineering R&D Services: First Flight into The

Future

Rahul Kumar Sett;

The president of the Engineering and Research and

Development Services (ERS) division at HCL Technologies Ltd.

(HCL) congratulated the Boeing Company (Boeing) on the

maiden flight of its 787 Dreamliner jet airliner on December 15,

2009. Out of the many companies working on the 787

Dreamliner project, HCL was the only Indian information

technology services firm to be selected for the project. As part

of the project, HCL worked closely with Boeing, and some of

Boeing’s tier-one suppliers, in developing various onboard

mission-critical software systems, such as the electrical power

generation and distribution system and the pilot controls. The

multi-million dollar deal had important implications for HCL and

its future in the US$644.3 billion aerospace and defence

industry. HCL ERS had to make a crucial strategic choice: should

the division continue to offer great value to its customers by

helping them optimize costs and improve delivery time, or

should it move up the value chain by investing more in research

and development capabilities, thereby emerging as a leader

rather than a follower in this highly complex and

technology-driven industry?



Product Type/Pricing: Case (Pub Mat), Standard Case



Issues: value chain, enterprise risk management,

Industry: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services;

Setting: India; United States, Large organization, 2009

Difficulty: MBA/Postgraduate

Learning Objective: This case is best suited for the second year

of a two-year MBA program or the latter part of a one-year

executive MBA program. It can be used in courses discussing

strategy formulation and implementation, enterprise risk

management, and general management. After using the case,

students will be able to do the following:

·Assess and identify the risks and opportunities presented by

the changing dynamics of the civil aviation industry for a

tier-two supplier like HCL.

·Understand the dynamics of the relationships among tier-one

and tier-two suppliers and original equipment manufacturer in

a multi-tier global supply chain in the aerospace industry.

·Identify the capabilities and core competencies (or core

rigidities) of engineering research and development service

providers like HCL, and the impediments these service

providers may face in moving up the value chain.

·Formulate strategies for growth and survival in a risky and

dynamic environment.

9B17M146

L’Oreal India: Where Beauty Meets Tradition

Prem Shamdasani;

In 2013, L’Oréal SA had become the largest cosmetics

manufacturer in the world by understanding different markets

and offering products to those consumers that met needs they

may not have realized they even had. In India, L’Oréal spent

more than 20 years studying its target consumers and

developing products to cater to their specific needs. However,

developing localized products was not the only criterion for

success in a new market. L’Oréal needed to also localize every

aspect of its operations, from research and development to

marketing and outreach. As well, the company needed to deal

with intensifying competition as global and local players

challenged L’Oréal’s efforts to penetrate and dominate the

hair-care, skincare, makeup, and professional hair-care

segments in the value-conscious and largely unorganized but

fast-growing beauty market in India. What localization and

market development strategies should L'Oréal implement?






Issues: cosmetics, hair care, skin care, beauty, localization,

market entry, emerging markets

Industry: Manufacturing;

Setting: India, Large organization, 2013


Learning Objective: This case is best suited for undergraduate

and graduate courses in marketing and strategy for diverse

Page 2 of 33

emerging markets to:

·Identify the opportunities and challenges of launching

products and building brands in large, fragmented, and

value-conscious emerging markets such as India.

·Evaluate the costs and benefits of localization across the

organizational value chain.

·Illustrate the implementation of cost-effective integrated

marketing strategies that leverage traditional and digital

channels to reach a billion consumers in a largely unorganized

retail market.

·Highlight the importance of market development strategies

for highly underpenetrated and unorganized professional

market segments.

9B17C036

San Miguel: Succession in the Philippines' Largest

Corporation

Ruth S.K. Tan; Yupana Wiwattanakantang;

In September 2011, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) celebrated

its 122nd anniversary. Its chairman had just turned 76. Two

years earlier, he had travelled to the United States to receive a

cardiac ablation to correct an irregular heart rhythm.

Succession-related questions were on his mind. SMC needed a

clear plan for the leadership transition. The charismatic

chairman spent his life successfully exploiting business

opportunities, growing SMC from a small brewery company

into a giant business group. By 2011, SMC was the largest

corporation in the Philippines in terms of revenue—accounting

for about 6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product

and employing about 17,000 people. The group engaged in a

wide range of businesses including mining, oil refining and

distribution, power, telecommunications, airlines, airports, and

infrastructure. How could the company continue to thrive

without its remarkable leader? Finding a path towards a

smooth leadership succession would be a difficult task.


Discipline: Organizational Behaviour/Leadership;

Entrepreneurship; International;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17C036;

Issues: family business, business groups, succession,

governance


Setting: Philippines, Large organization, 2011


Learning Objective: This case is suitable for advanced

undergraduate or MBA courses covering the topics of family

business issues, family governance, or financial management by

a family business. Through this case, students will be able to

·explore the role of business groups in emerging economies;

·examine the role of big business and controlling shareholders

in a corporation and in the economy;

·discuss corporate governance of business groups; and

·explore the role of political influence in the businesses of

emerging economies.

9B17B022

Summer Swim Academy: Expansion Options

Melissa Jean;

In October 2016, the founder of Summer Swim Academy—a

provider of swimming lessons and lifeguarding services to

families in Burlington, Ontario—was reflecting on the

organization’s second full season of operations. The founder

had been providing services in Burlington for the past six years

and had been operating the business formally under the

Summer Swim Academy brand for the past two years. She

wanted to evaluate the possibility of expanding her business,

either geographically or to a year-round operation, in order to

achieve a profit goal of $50,000. To determine whether this

goal was attainable, she needed to assess geographic and

service-delivery expansion options for Summer Swim Academy.


Discipline: Entrepreneurship; Accounting;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17B022;

Issues: growth strategy, expansion, target profit, projections,

cash flows


Setting: Canada, Small organization, 2016


Learning Objective: The case is intended for an introductory

financial or management accounting course at either the

undergraduate or graduate level. Before completing the case

analysis, students should be familiar with the structure of an

income statement, the process of projecting an income

statement, and the concept of incremental cash flows. Students

should also be accustomed to incorporating qualitative analyses

into their decision-making processes. After completing the case,


·Assess the expansion alternatives for a swimming instruction

and lifeguarding business, considering the risks and

opportunities of the swim instruction industry.

·Conduct a consumer and competitor analysis to determine

which expansion option is most attractive.

·Project and interpret income statements.

·Calculate and interpret the incremental net income for each

expansion option.

·Make an expansion recommendation utilizing both

quantitative and qualitative information.

Page 3 of 33

9B17M144

The Airbnb Business Travel Vertical in Asia: The

Way Forward

Nitin Pangarkar; Yuan Kay Chung;

In March 2017, Airbnb needed to make some important

decisions regarding its strategy for the Airbnb Business Travel

Vertical (ABTV) in Asia. Despite a short history of less than three

years since the formal announcement of its launch, the ABTV

had exhibited promising performance. The business travel

market offered many attractive characteristics, including its

large size. Despite the attractiveness of the business travel

segment, two issues related to the choice of countries and the

choice of segments were of concern. Another key issue related

to identifying the specific corporate clients to

approach—whether to leverage existing relationships with

multinational customers or to approach Asian corporate clients

directly.






Issues: business travel, entry strategy, Airbnb, market

attractiveness

Industry: Accommodation & Food Services;

Setting: Asia, Large organization, 2017


Learning Objective: This case can be used in undergraduate,

graduate, or executive education courses to discuss corporate

strategy issues. It can also be used in discussions on

international strategy. After completion of this case, students

will be able to understand the following:

·How competencies are built and how a core business can

successfully expand through the acquisition of capabilities.

·How to navigate the varied challenges and opportunities

posed by international business environments and

interconnected markets.

·How to analyze the options and leverage capabilities for

expanding a business line into international markets and/or a

new space.

9B17M150

The Stockton Enterprise Arcade: Incubate or

Graduate?

Jill Tidmarsh;

In February 2016, the owner of a wool and yarn products retail

business in the Enterprise Arcade, a not-for-profit retail

business incubator in Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom,

needed to meet with the manager of the arcade. Based in a

central and prominent position in a struggling Northeast

England town, the Enterprise Arcade was opened by the local

council as a part of a large renovation project. It was intended

to regenerate the area and support enterprise and employment

by providing small, indoor, market-sized retail spaces for

self-employed retail start-ups to test their markets. After 14

months with the incubator, the owner of the wool and yarn

business was expected to be ready to move out, but her

business models were still unproven, and she wanted to stay

longer. The manager had to balance the overall success of the

Enterprise Arcade with the turnover and successful graduations

of the businesses therein. How should the business owner

organize her priorities and prepare to negotiate with the

manager? What should the manager advise her to do?


Discipline: Entrepreneurship; International; General

Management/Strategy;




Issues: start-ups, incubator

Industry: Retail Trade;

Setting: United Kingdom, Small organization, 2016

Difficulty: Undergraduate

Learning Objective: The case can be used in courses or modules

in urban regeneration, social enterprise, business and

management, enterprise, and/or entrepreneurship at the

undergraduate and MBA levels. After working through the case

and assignment questions, students will be able to do the

following:

·Describe the purpose of business incubator units, and

examine their role in supporting entrepreneurship and

economic and urban regeneration.

·Understand a not-for-profit employability model of business

start-up support in an accessible, non-specialist (retail) context.

·Formulate a post-start-up strategy for a small graduating

business.

·List the complex issues addressed by the manager of a

business incubator unit.

·Assess and defend the aims of the key actors in the case.

9B17A050

Racing into the Future: Strategic Marketing for the

Regina Auto Racing Club

Dwight Heinrichs; Chris Street; Michael Taylor;

The Regina Auto Racing Club (RARC) had been operating the

Kings Park Speedway since 1967. In 2016, the race track and

facilities were beginning to show their age and were in need of

costly upgrading. Unfortunately, the club had also been

suffering from declining attendance over the past five years,

and the associated decline in ticket revenue had led to a

shrinking race schedule. At the end of the race season in 2016,

the club managed to break even financially and had a modest

bank account balance. Although RARC was a non-profit

organization, the continued financial viability of the club was at

risk, and action was required to increase revenue. The club

needed to decide among four non-mutually exclusive business

strategies. Should it repair and rebuild the facilities to renew

the appeal of the venue and attract more spectators? Should it

increase its advertising and promotion activities to improve

awareness of the club and events? Should it increase the

number of race classes and special racing events, or should it

introduce non-racing events to the facility to take advantage of

other revenue-generating opportunities?


Discipline: Marketing; Entrepreneurship;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17A050;

Issues: SME strategy, small and medium enterprises; viability;

not-for-profit




Learning Objective: The case is suitable for use in MBA and

executive program courses on strategy, marketing,

Page 4 of 33

entrepreneurship, and not-for-profit. By the end of the class

discussion, students will be able to do the following:

·Apply environmental scanning frameworks to make sense of

evolving competitive realities.

·Assess the ongoing viability of a business opportunity.

·Benchmark best practices of comparator organizations (e.g.,

other member-operated race clubs).

·Develop a vision and specific goals for a business.

·Develop growth strategies, noting constraints such as

financial resources.

9B17D015

Safe Boat Trip Ltd.: Launching the Flying Ferries

Joshin John; Neetha J. Eappen; Sushil Kumar;

Safe Boat Trip Private Limited (Safe Boat Trip) of Kerala, India, is

planning to launch a hydrofoil ferry service connecting the Port

of Kochi, India, with two other ports in the state of Kerala by

August 2016, to benefit from the tourism potential of the

season in Kerala. The managing director has asked the principal

superintendent of Safe Boat Trip to prepare a project plan for

the boats to be commissioned into service, following approval

from the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS). The principal

superintendent must also carry out a break-even analysis of the

project investment. With these challenges before him, the

superintendent must set out to devise a solid plan of action

before the company’s next meeting.


Discipline: Operations Management; Entrepreneurship;

International;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17D015;

Issues: project management, break-even analysis

Industry: Construction;

Setting: India, Small organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case is suitable for an MBA program in

a first-year course on operations management or a second-year

course on project management. It provides students with

practical and managerial orientation to construction- and

manufacturing-related projects. The case gives students the

opportunity to:

·Understand and apply project management concepts in the

context of the marine tourism industry.

·Prepare a project plan manually or using project

management software (e.g., Microsoft Project).

·Understand the concepts of work breakdown structure,

precedence relationship among activities, drag, slack (float)

time, and critical path.

·Conduct a break-even analysis of a proposed investment,

recognizing the various costs involved.

9B17N019

Groupon India: A Management Buyout Decision

Rajesh Panda; Madhvi Sethi; Pooja Gupta;

In early 2015, the chief executive officer and the management

team of Groupon India, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Groupon Inc.,

faced a management buyout decision. Buoyed by a high growth

rate and huge market potential in India, they wanted more

India-specific product positioning and greater control over

technology. They explored growth options available to the

company, but faced the constraints of being part of a global

conglomerate. The management team had narrowed its

options to either starting a new venture or acquiring ownership

of the subsidiary through a management buyout. How could

they ensure they made the right decision?


Discipline: Entrepreneurship;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17N019;

Issues: management buyout, investment banking,

entrepreneurial finance, venture capital

Industry: Information, Media & Telecommunications;

Setting: India, 2015


Learning Objective: This case is intended for postgraduate

students in an MBA program, and is best suited to

entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance courses. It can

also be used in investment banking or private equity and

venture capital courses. After completion of the case, students

will understand

·the entrepreneurial finance framework;

·the financing options over the life cycle of a venture;

·the concept of a management buyout as a financing option

for an entrepreneur;

·the complexities involved in evaluating and structuring a

management buyout deal, including term sheets, pre-money

and post-money valuations, and equity dilution; and

both qualitative and quantitative factors affecting such a deal.

9B17M143

YourStory: Strategically Communicating

Entrepreneurial Journeys

Atul Arun Pathak; Sunil Kumar Sarangi;

In July 2015, the founder of YourStory Media Private Limited

(YourStory) needed to make key strategic decisions to scale up

her business. YourStory was a top-ranked online media

platform that focused on developing the entrepreneurial

ecosystem in India by publishing news stories about

entrepreneurs and start-ups and by organizing entrepreneurial

conferences and events. Since its inception in 2008, the

company had grown slowly and steadily using its own funds.

However, it needed to expand rapidly in order to attract

venture capital funding. YourStory’s founder knew that

potential investors would translate their initial interest into

actual investments only if she was able to demonstrate that

YourStory had a coherent, comprehensive, and consistent story

of its own. She had identified various strategic growth

alternatives: given the evolving online media marketplace,

which should she pursue to meet her expansion goal?


Discipline: General Management/Strategy; Entrepreneurship;

International;

Page 5 of 33




Issues: online media, growth strategy, entrepreneurship




Learning Objective: This case can be used in MBA and other

graduate-level management programs in courses such as

strategic management, entrepreneurship, and management of

e-businesses. The case can be used to help students understand

how business strategy is formulated by considering market

opportunities and evaluating the resources and capabilities of

the organization. Students will learn how to:

·set appropriate decision criteria for evaluating alternative

approaches to meeting objectives;

·evaluate alternatives from various perspectives and

recommend a coherent strategy; and

·carry out a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

analysis.

9B17A049

TELUS: The Public Mobile Brand Acquisition

Decision

Michael Taylor; Brooke Cooper;Sarah Dickson;

TELUS Communications (TELUS) acquired Public Mobile

Holdings Inc., a small, money-losing, wireless carrier that

operated in the lower, price-sensitive tier of the market. TELUS

had not previously competed in the lower tier of the market,

which had a history of low revenues per customer and low

customer retention. The director of Mobility Marketing at

TELUS faced the decision of what to do with this newly

acquired brand. He was considering the market positioning

options, brand portfolio implications, and financial impact of his

decision. The options included migrating the new customers to

one of the company’s existing brands, continuing to operate

the firm as an independent brand, or repositioning the brand to

improve profitability.


Discipline: Marketing;




Issues: brand acquisition, brand assessment, brand integration,

wireless communications




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for both

undergraduate and MBA programs in a core marketing course.

It also fits well in a competitive strategy course, and a brand

management course. It provides a good opportunity to teach

complex decision making, positioning, market dynamics, and

competitive strategy. After completion of this case, students

will be able to

·analyze the strategic options to integrate an acquired brand

within a broader strategic positioning and profitability

framework;

·conduct a systematic value map and evaluation of the

acquired firm’s competitive advantage, relative to different

segment needs/priorities, as well as the relative advantage (or

parity) with competitors;

·evaluate a multi-tier, multi-brand portfolio in a complex

competitive environment;

·analyze and understand a capital intensive,

hyper-competitive, subscription business; and

·evaluate differentiated brand positioning in a market with

few tangible points of differentiation.

9B17M142

Mismanagement of Fiscal policy: Greece's Achilles'

Heel

Tulsi Jayakumar;

In December 2016, the debt-stricken Greek government

announced the distribution of a sizeable “Christmas gift” to its

low-income pensioners, a one-time bonus that would cost the

government €617 million. This cost was in addition to

suspending increases in the value-added tax on some Greek

islands. These plans were in clear violation of the terms of a

bailout provided to Greece by Eurozone nations in 2015, which

required Greece to implement austerity measures and achieve

specific fiscal targets. What was the reason for Greece’s

economic troubles and why did Greece’s debt-to-GDP (gross

domestic product) ratio climb to its current three-digit figure?

Faced with an imminent exit from the Eurozone, how could the

country’s government solve Greece’s longstanding fiscal

problems?


Discipline: International; General Management/Strategy;




Issues: fiscal policy, sovereign debt, bond yield, greek debt

crisis, bond spreads

Industry: Public Administration;

Setting: Greece, 2016


Learning Objective: This case can be taught in a general

management course in a graduate/MBA program or an

executive MBA module dealing with the business environment

(macroeconomics), international economics, or in a course on

business and government.The case provides students with a

basic understanding of fiscal policy and deficits, financing of

deficits, and the ramifications of accumulated deficits.

Specifically, the case will help students to understand the

following:

·The relationship between deficits and debt.

·The use of fiscal policy in mitigating business cycles.

·The operationalization of fiscal policy through a budget.

·The financing of fiscal deficits and its significance, especially

for debt.

Page 6 of 33

9B17D014

State Civil Supplies: Value People, Value Their

Money

Rohit Kapoor; Ayushi Agrawal; Soumyajyoti Datta;

In November 2014, a senior administrative service officer at

Madhya Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited was

faced with the problem of determining how to best allocate

food grain according to location demands. She needed to

choose the best delivery routes and provide a cost-effective

means of meeting demands for food grain from "fair-price

shops." How should she approach this problem? How should

she manage any changes that she makes in the distribution

plans?


Discipline: International; Operations Management;




Issues: public distribution, transportation problem, distribution

planning, capacity allocation

Industry: Public Administration;



Learning Objective: The case can be used to teach the concepts

of transportation problems and is suitable for postgraduate

operations management courses, and undergraduate or

postgraduate courses on decision sciences and operations

research. It is also relevant for any practitioner course on

logistics and supply chain management. Discussion of the case

can provide students with an understanding of the following:

·The large-scale logistics associated with the shipment of

commodities;

·The challenges of implementing an optimization algorithm in

a public sector context;

·The transportation cost matrix and problem solving using MS

Excel Solver Add-in

·The differences between a balanced transportation problem

and an unbalanced transportation problem

9B17B021

Black River Farms

David M. Currie; Kyle S. Meyer;

In 2016, the owner of a cow-calf operation must decide what

the appropriate weight for cows in their herd is. For decades,

the national trend has been for cow weights to increase

because they produce larger calves, but evidence indicates that

cow weights may have reached the point where the cost of

maintaining a larger cow has become greater than the return

from producing a larger calf. Analyzing this issue introduces

marginal principles from economics. Formerly "Old Mule

Farms," product no. 9B10B004.






Issues: marginal analysis, CVP analysis

Industry: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting;

Setting: United States, Small organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case is appropriate for a

microeconomics or managerial economics course at the

undergraduate or graduate levels as a real-world example of

marginal analysis. The case can be extended to a discussion of

managerial accounting principles such as drivers, cost

allocation, and CVP analysis. Students compute contribution

margin per cow and then compute the herd size needed to

break even or achieve a target profit. The challenge then

becomes choosing the most effective way to replenish the herd

while minimizing financial risks and short-term losses. After

completing the case, students will have an understanding of

these concepts:

·Marginal analysis

·Determining cost drivers

·Cost allocation

·CVP analysis

9B17M134

Canadian Pacific Railway (A): Border Skirmish or

Nuclear Winter?

Murray J. Bryant; Karin Koopmans;

In early 2012, the chair of the board of directors of Canadian

Pacific Railway (CP) had to determine how to respond to

demands made by the company’s largest shareholder, Pershing

Square Capital Management (Pershing), an activist hedge fund.

Pershing’s chief executive officer (CEO) claimed that CP was

underperforming, and expressed his desire to replace two

board members and appoint a new CEO. The chair of the board

of directors had to determine the best means to fight the proxy

battle and serve the interests of shareholders. Pershing was not

likely to back down easily. With a shareholders’ meeting

expected to occur in the next few months, the chair had to

resolve the matter quickly. Because shareholder activism was

relatively new in Canada, the outcome of this conflict would

send a message to other activists interested in Canadian

organizations.






Issues: board of directors, activist hedge funds, board and

management duties, shareholder engagement

Industry: Transportation and Warehousing;



Learning Objective: This case series is designed for both

undergraduate and graduate level courses, and can be used to

facilitate a progressive in-class discussion in courses on

corporate governance, risk management, corporate strategy,

and leadership. The case series has been designed in three parts

to illustrate the progressive nature of the correspondence

between CP and its shareholders, and to allow students to

make key decisions at crucial stages as the proxy battle and its

timeline unfolds. This case is designed to

·introduce students to the scope of board of director

responsibilities and accountabilities;

·explore the role of shareholder activism in the governance of

corporations;

·illustrate the importance of corporate communications and

shareholder engagement; and

·introduce to students the influential role that proxy advisory

firms and institutional shareholders play in the shareholder

voting process.

Page 7 of 33

9B17M138

Ivey Publishing: Making a Case for Paying the Price

Brent Beal; Karen MacMillan;

In 2017, Ivey Publishing, a publisher and distributor of cases for

the academic market, struggled with widespread copyright

infringement, which affected its revenue stream. The digital

revolution, which had an impact on so many other creative

industries, including music, film, and computer software, had

also affected the publisher.

Ivey Publishing’s sales team leader made a call to a business

professor to elicit his support in encouraging his students to

purchase cases from Ivey Publishing (rather than copying them

from other students). Having failed to persuade this professor

and others, the sales team leader reflected on what else she

could do to strengthen Ivey Publishing’s financial performance.






Issues: ethics, value capture, power, persuasion, value, price,

cost framework, copyright, publishing, property rights,

intellectual property

Industry: Educational Services;



Learning Objective: This case can be used at either the

undergraduate or the graduate level. It has been written to

support three different analytical approaches—ethics, value

capture, and power/persuasion. It can be used in a variety of

different courses, including business ethics (or courses that

include a module on business ethics), strategic management (in

a module on value creation and value capture), and

organizational behaviour (in a module on power and

persuasion). In addition, the multi-faceted approaches

represented in the case make it particularly suitable for a

capstone course that requires students to integrate a number

of different perspectives.

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to

·identify and prioritize strategically significant shifts in a

business’s operating environment;

·approach business challenges from an ethical perspective

that incorporates both the interests of the business and those

of other stakeholders;

·explain and apply the value-price-cost framework; and

·debate the use of different power tactics to influence the

behaviour of others.

9B17M126

Branding BY-HEALTH: The Value of Transparency

Denghua Yuan; William Wei; Matthew Mardres;

BY-HEALTH Co., Ltd. (BY-HEALTH), a Chinese dietary

supplement company founded in 1995, had a first-mover

advantage as a contemporary health supplement provider in

Mainland China. It had successfully utilized this advantage to

conquer a significant portion of the market. However, by early

2017, maintaining this leadership position in the market had

become increasingly difficult, largely due to deteriorating public

perception of consumables originating in China. BY-HEALTH had

sought to differentiate itself by actively making its sourcing and

production processes fully transparent to stakeholders, most

notably by opening a transparent factory in Guangdong

Province. While BY-HEALTH’s transparent factory and corporate

social responsibility activities developed consumer trust and

positively contributed to the environment within which the

company operated, they were also prohibitively expensive to

maintain. It was also difficult to determine how they affected

the company’s bottom line. As he prepared for a company

shareholders’ meeting in January 2017, the company’s chief

operating officer was faced with difficult questions. What

programs should the company continue to invest in for the

future? Should some of these initiatives have an end date? If

they were ended, what effect would this have on the

community? How could he communicate the value of the

transparent factory to consumers and shareholders?






Issues: marketing, transparent factory, CSR, corporate

citizenship


Setting: China, Large organization, 2017


Learning Objective: This case is appropriate for undergraduate,

MBA, and executive students who are being introduced to the

concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and responsible

business practices. It can also be incorporated into a class on

market entry from an international business perspective. The

goal of this case is to determine the suitability and sustainability

of BY-HEALTH’s different corporate social responsibility

activities. After working through the case and assignment

questions, students will be able to do the following:

·Explain the concept of corporate social responsibility.

·Evaluate the impact organizational actions can have on

immediate stakeholders and market conditions.

·Analyze the profit motivation in implementing CSR initiatives.

·Determine the appropriate degree of communication a firm

should have with stakeholders regarding its CSR activities.

Page 8 of 33

9B17M124

Free Geek Toronto: Shaping a Social Enterprise

Simon Parker; Ken Mark;

In late 2016, the executive director of Free Geek Toronto faced

a challenge. Free Geek Toronto was a social enterprise based in

Toronto, Ontario. It focused on recycling electronics waste and

aimed to use its business profits to expand its scope of

operations and deliver on its social mission of both reducing

electronics waste going to landfill and employing at-risk and

marginalized individuals. As a result, the executive director

purposely hired individuals who had severe physical or mental

disabilities, or both, and who had recently received, or were

currently receiving, disability benefits, had poor health, or

experienced general struggles with regular employment. The

executive director’s challenges included juggling the financial

and social goals of running a work integration social enterprise.

In view of the constraints he faced, the executive director

began considering whether to call on the assistance of

volunteers—people who, despite their well-meaning intentions,

might unwittingly disrupt the operation of the enterprise.

Should he move forward with recruiting volunteers? If so, how

could he ensure that doing so would not adversely affect the

organization’s current culture or demoralize the current

employees?






Issues: social enterprise

Industry: Social Advocacy Organizations;



Learning Objective: This case is suitable for undergraduate and

postgraduate courses on social entrepreneurship. It is also

suited to an exploration of the limitations of conventional

human resources practices, particularly in the setting of a social

enterprise. After completion of the case, students will be able

to

·assess the potential of changing a social enterprise’s culture;

·identify the trade-offs that social entrepreneurs face,

especially those working in a work integration social enterprise;

·discuss the balance between social impact and economic

programs; and

·understand and overcome negative perceptions of members

of vulnerable groups in society.

9B17C035

Bharat Petroleum: Long-Term Wage Settlement

Zubin R. Mulla; Sushil Patil;Mansi Dubey;Jasleen Kaur;

In May 2012, the director of human resources at Bharat

Petroleum Corporation Limited was involved in negotiating a

long-term collective agreement between management and the

unions at the large public-sector oil corporation in India. The

negotiations had begun in 2009 and were stalled largely

because of wage issues. Due to time-bound promotions and

open-ended pay ranges, workers’ salaries had spiralled out of

control. When economic conditions changed from an

administered price mechanism with government subsidies to

one in which the corporation was expected to compete with

national and multinational private-sector companies, the issue

of high operating costs had to be addressed. After 13 rounds of

discussions, there was still no agreement. The management

team needed to decide which of the issues originally identified

were essential for resolution and which were only desirable.

The team also had to decide how to approach the negotiation

in order to secure agreement from the unions.


Discipline: Organizational Behaviour/Leadership; International;




Issues: wage settlement, union, negotiation

Industry: Utilities;



Learning Objective: The case is suited for a course on

compensation management or collective bargaining. It also

involves managing labour in a public-sector organization within

the context of Indian labour laws and is useful for a course on

public-sector management, industrial relations, or international

human resources management. After completion of this case,

students will be able to

·analyze a salary database and provide options to the unions

for salary revision, while keeping in mind business realities;

·understand the complexity and dynamics emerging from a

union–management negotiation during a long-term settlement;

·understand the dynamics of negotiating with multiple parties

at one time; and

·understand the complexities of managing labour in the Indian

context.

9B17M141

Bali Hai Cruises: Creating Business Success in

Indonesia

Stephen Grainger;

Bali Hai Cruises had grown from a start-up company in 1990 to

become a thriving multimillion-dollar business in 2017 that

employed 460 people on the Indonesian islands of Bali and

Lembongan. This solid and consistent business development

took place despite a business environment and government

that had not always been friendly and positive toward foreign

investors. What critical factors brought success to this

tourism-based company in such a challenging market? What

behaviours and strategies had Bali Hai Cruises followed to build

trust, deliver on performance, and resolve challenges in

developing this vertically integrated company? The company

now faced new challenges in terms of an aging leadership and

workforce, the continuing need to manage and maintain its

working relationships with the Indonesian government and the

Page 9 of 33

harbour authorities, the rapidly developing information

technology capacity of the marine tourism industry, and the

potential of growing competition. What strategies could Bali

Hai Cruises implement to continue its success and growth in

2018 and beyond?

Publication Date: August 31, 2017

Discipline: Entrepreneurship; General Management/Strategy;

International;




Issues: culture, relationships,


Setting: Indonesia, Medium organization, 2017


Learning Objective: This case is suitable for use in

undergraduate and MBA courses in international business,

business in Asia (specifically Indonesia), Asian and international

human resources management, entrepreneurship, and

diversification. After completion of the case, students will be

able to

·identify, analyze, and understand the importance of

relationships when conducting business in Bali;

·identify methods of motivating, producing, and maintaining

excellent performance from employees in a cross-cultural

environment;

·propose successful methods of succession; and

·identify and understand the strategies and mechanisms used

by Bali Hai Cruises to achieve success.

9B17M139

Curana: Managing Open Innovation for Growth in

SMEs (A)

Wim Vanhaverbeke;

Curana BVBA was a small family-owned company in Belgium. In

the 1990s, it was producing mudguards and fenders as an

original equipment manufacturer for the European bicycle

industry. As Curana BVBA faced increasing competition in 2009,

it needed to make a strategic turnaround. The company

focused on the top segments of the market and introduced

innovative and design-based bicycle accessories. The company

didn't have the competency to develop these new products

itself, so it built and relied on an open innovation strategy that

included several partners who could develop and manufacture

the original products. As the network matured, Curana derived

new competencies from the partners, which ultimately allowed

Curana to embark on a proactive innovation process, spawning

entirely new product designs more rapidly than anyone else in

the industry.


Discipline: Entrepreneurship; General Management/Strategy;

International;




Issues: open innovation, commodity, ecosystem management,

entrepreneurship


Setting: Belgium, Small organization, 2009


Learning Objective: This case is relevant for graduate students,

MBA students, and executive education students taking

innovation, entrepreneurship, start-up development, and open

innovation courses. It shows how small and medium

enterprises in traditional industries can avoid increasing

competition by using open innovation. Ideal for use in

management and strategy classes at the undergraduate and

graduate levels, this case guides students through the

entrepreneur’s initial vision to the commercial introduction of

new bicycle parts. Using the case, students will learn about

·the importance of a founders vision;

·the challenges in setting up an innovative ecosystem;

·the need to make changes in the company's strategy one

step at a time, over time; and

·the difficulties in coping with business model changes.

9B17A047

Maha Research Labs: The Turkish Opportunity

Sandeep Puri; Elena Poliakova;

Maha Research Labs Private Limited was a growing

pharmaceutical company. It ended 2016 with sales worth

₹508.4 million at 31.2 per cent growth over the previous year.

The company’s ambitious goal was to achieve 38 per cent

growth and a net revenue of ₹700 million in 2017. In May 2017,

on receiving a call from a friend in Turkey suggesting he explore

the Turkish pharmaceutical market, the managing director of

the company was considering doing so. However, he had some

doubts, and wondered what the best way to enter the market

in Turkey would be. Was his product range suitable for the

Turkish market? What were the possible risks?


Discipline: Marketing; International; Entrepreneurship;




Issues: international marketing, market expansion, opportunity

analysis, cross-cultural marketing




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for MBA marketing

courses on international marketing, international business,

analysis of business opportunities, and marketing strategy. It

can also be used to facilitate discussions on market entry

strategies for international markets. The case is intended to

provide students with an understanding of the following:

·Strategies for entering international markets

·The modes of doing business in foreign countries

·The different staffing approaches in international marketing

·The importance of cross-cultural marketing issues in

international marketing

Page 10 of 33

9B17A045

Precia Pharma: Promoting Ethical Sales Practices

Sandeep Puri; Ajay Kohli;

Precia Pharma Private Limited was considered one of the

fastest growing companies in the highly competitive Indian

pharmaceutical industry. An email from the company’s star

performing executive in March 2017, highlighting sales

pressures and unethical practices in the industry, forced the

managing director to face the reality of how the ills plaguing

the pharmaceutical sector might affect his company. He

wondered what he must do to maintain the company’s ethical

code of conduct while striving for a healthy balance between

ambitious targets and good selling practices. The case explores

the strategies of the company for managing the different

ethical issues in a pharmaceutical setting.


Discipline: Marketing; International;




Issues: sales management, ethical selling, pharmaceutical

selling, false reporting, first line managers, sales executives

Industry: Health Care Services;

Setting: India, Medium organization, 2017


Learning Objective: The case explores the strategies of the

company for managing the different ethical issues in a

pharmaceutical setting. It gives students an opportunity to

deliberate on the importance of ethics in sales management in

an industry characterized by fierce competition and ethically

questionable practices. It is designed for an MBA-level

marketing course in a segment on ethics in marketing or for a

sales management course to analyze ethics in selling. It can also

be used to introduce the basic concepts of pharmaceutical

selling and is suitable for a leadership course on ethical business

conduct. After completing the case, students should be able to

do the following:

·understand the role of sales representatives in the

pharmaceutical industry;

·discuss the various practices followed in the industry; and

·understand the importance of ethics in sales management.

9B17B020

Yalla Momos: Expansion Dilemmas of a Small

Business

Anupam Mehta; Vimi Jham;

In 2015, the owner and the founder of a restaurant business in

Dubai was concerned about the company's future expansion

and growth. Although it was doing well in terms of profitability,

a financial forecast was required for the following year,

particularly in light of tough competition in the restaurant

business in Dubai.


Discipline: International; Accounting; Entrepreneurship;




Issues: cost-volume-analysis, breakeven point, restaurant

business, sensitivity analysis, small business, performance

measurement, desired profitability, margin-of-safety,

contribution margin statement


Setting: United Arab Emirates, 2015


Learning Objective: The case can be used in an introductory

management accounting course at the undergraduate,

graduate, or postgraduate levels. It presents students with the

opportunity to

·understand the dynamics of the food industry in Dubai;

·understand the relevant factors to be considered in the

decision to expand;

·examine the various issues faced by a typical small

restaurant, and determine how to resolve these with the help

of CVP analysis;

·explore the interrelations between cost, volume, and profit

by applying CVP analysis techniques and by identifying the

break-even point and the margin of safety; and

·critically evaluate the impact of uncertainty on projected

sales using the sensitivity model.

9B17M137

Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of

Creative Directors

Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Léo Guilbert; Andrew Jiro

Poplawski;

On April 1, 2016, fashion house Yves Saint Laurent (YSL)

announced the departure of its creative director who had been

responsible for successfully reviving the struggling YSL brand

since 2012. Three days after this surprising departure, the

company announced that its next creative director would be a

relatively inexperienced, 36-year-old designer. After decades of

leadership turmoil and financial instability at YSL, the incoming

creative director was facing increasing pressure from

stakeholders to build off the success that his predecessor had

achieved. The global luxury fashion industry had become

increasingly competitive, with multiple brands competing for

the industry’s estimated value of €265 billion in 2017. Had YSL

made the right decision in selecting this young director? To help

YSL remain one of the top brands in the fashion industry,

should the new director implement a strategy that builds upon

the successful foundation created by his predecessor, or should

he develop new strategies?



International;




Issues: luxury, diversification, leadership, fashion, creative

industries, branding, succession


Setting: France, Large organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case was written for senior

undergraduate and graduate business students. The case

should be used in the strategy formulation and strategy

implementation sections of a strategic management course.

The case helps students learn about several topics, including

the following:

·Value proposition

·Competitive advantage and first-mover advantage

·Licensing and diversification

·Organizational leadership (especially in the luxury fashion

Page 11 of 33

industry)

·Succession

9B17M133

Eye-Q: Vision for the Long Term

S. Ramakrishna Velamuri; Geetika Shah;

Two life-long friends, one a doctor and one a business

professional, joined forces to set up Eye-Q Super Specialty

Hospitals in 2007. Driven by their shared goal of bringing

superior quality eye care to places where such services were

desperately needed, the partners chose to operate in the small

towns and cities across India. Both men believed in a vision that

combined a socially driven business model with a commercially

viable enterprise, and they had experienced great success with

this model during their first seven years of operation. In January

2014, as they charted out Eye-Q Super Speciality Hospitals’

plans for growth, the partners decided to expand the

organization’s reach from 30 to 125 hospitals over the

upcoming five years. Was this growth expectation realistic?

What strategy would best suit this objective?



International;




Issues: health care, business model




Learning Objective: This case provides the framework to do the

following:

·Examine the opportunities and the challenges of operating in

the health care delivery sector in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India.

·Understand the business model and value proposition of a

firm that provides services that are of world-class quality, yet

affordable and accessible.

·Illustrate the role and significance of the founding team and

its composition to the overall growth and strategic direction

adopted by the firm.

·Understand the key challenges that entrepreneurs face in

scaling up their organizations, especially those involving critical

services such as health care.

9B17B019

Tesla's Non-GAAP Accounting Measurements:

Revenue Recognition and Stock-Based

Compensation

Martin Persson; Mitchell Stein; Spencer Higgs;

In November 2014, questions were raised about American

electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc.'s (Tesla's)

accounting practices, which did not follow the generally

accepted accounting practices (GAAP). Tesla’s third quarter

2014 financial statements showed a loss of almost US$75

million when using U.S. GAAP standards, compared to a profit

of over $5 million when using its own non-GAAP standards. The

accounting discrepancy between the two systems was due

mainly to the allotment of vehicle buybacks, stock-based

compensation, and regulatory credit sales. Tesla’s share price

had risen to $242 from its initial public offering of $17. Had the

company’s non-GAAP adjustments influenced investors’

perception of Tesla’s performance and, therefore, the resulting

stock price? Specifically, was it reasonable to state that Tesla

had been profitable in the third quarter of 2014? Were Tesla’s

non-GAAP adjustments appropriate? How could the

adjustments between Tesla’s GAAP and non-GAAP numbers be

explained? What would Tesla’s performance look like if the

financial statements were adjusted for the resale value

guarantee, regulatory credits, and stock-based compensation?


Discipline: Accounting;




Issues: financial accounting




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for an undergraduate

financial accounting or graduate accounting course. Ideally,

students should have some familiarity with public financial

statements and some understanding of the principles

underpinning revenue and expense recognition. After

completion of the case, students will be able to

·assess GAAP versus non-GAAP reporting, while

demonstrating the substantial differences that can exist

between the two methods;

·adjust between GAAP and non-GAAP financials, while

identifying the drivers of the differences between the two

methods;

·discuss different revenue recognition concepts; in particular,

the treatment of revenue with a corresponding future

commitment to customers, under the U.S. GAAP method;

·distinguish between revenue from core business activities

and revenue from non-core business activities; and

·consider the relationship between public policy and company

earnings.

9B17M129

Ambuja Cement: Measuring the Value of Water

Utkarsh Majmudar; Namrata Rana;

In 2016, Ambuja Cements Limited (Ambuja Cement) was one of

the largest cement companies in India. Company operations

required the use of water for cooling, dust suppression, and

domestic needs, but the use of water stressed the water

resources at some of the company’s locations. Ambuja Cement

thus identified the availability of water as a risk area for the

organization and made water conservation a key element of

their sustainability agenda. By virtue of its sustainability

initiatives, Ambuja Cement became one of the first cement

companies in the world to be certified as water positive. The

company wanted to account for both the social and economic

value its water conservation efforts generated. However,

valuing water was a complex task involving many

considerations, such as water sources and uses, the social value

of water, water scarcity, and exchange rates.






Issues: sustainability, valuation




Learning Objective: This case is ideal for general management

Page 12 of 33

classes at the graduate level and gives students the opportunity

to do the following:

·Understand the links between an organization’s business

strategy and its social responsibilities.

·Assess the strengths and weaknesses of various

measurement systems for evaluating total business value.

·Understand a company’s externalities and how they affect

decision-making in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and

sustainability activities.

·Illustrate a practical approach to the measurement of an

externality.

9B17A046

Club Sportif MAA: Staying Ahead of the Game

Robert Mackalski; Delaney Brown;Marc Ducusin;

Club Sportif MAA (the MAA) was an iconic fitness club and

athletic institution in Montreal and the oldest fitness facility in

Canada. In early 2017, the club’s president and general

manager faced a changing market and pressure to ensure that

the club evolved and remained competitive. Consumer and

fitness trends had increasingly fragmented the market in this

area, and the MAA membership declined since 2016. The MAA,

which traditionally served a fairly exclusive clientele, needed to

examine its fitness, health, and social offerings to determine

how to meet the evolving needs of a wider and increasingly

diverse customer base without sacrificing the character of the

brand. The president needed to decide how to preserve the

MAA’s upmarket image while expanding its appeal. He needed

to determine which market segments to target and how best to

communicate the MAA’s offerings to these specific groups.


Discipline: Marketing;




Issues: iconic brand, sports, market segmentation, branding,

product offering, communication, fitness, membership


Setting: Canada, Medium organization, 2017



MBA students in courses on brand management, services

marketing, and marketing management. The case focuses on

differentiation, segmentation, product offering, branding, and

communication in light of a changing market. The case has

three key learning objectives:

·Understand differentiation, especially in the context of an

iconic brand.

·Understand segmentation and select a desired target market

from among different segments.

·Understand how targeting impacts the offering and

marketing mix.

9B17M128

Lagom Kitchen + Brewery: A Quest for Survival

Sanjeev Pathak; Rajesh Pillania;

On the evening of September 30, 2016, the founder and chief

executive officer of Lagom Kitchen + Brewery (Lagom) surveyed

his newly opened microbrewery and restaurant with pride. He

had put a great deal of hard work, time, and money into this

venture; in the past two years, Lagom had required an

investment of US$1 million. Yet the business’s Gurgaon

location, within India’s Delhi National Capital Region, had failed

to deliver the footfall that the founder had expected. Lagom

was at the centre of an information technology corporate park

where more than 10,000 employees worked, and was

surrounded by many business parks and malls. However, fewer

companies had moved into these spaces than anticipated,

which was affecting Lagom’s sales. Should the founder alter

Lagom’s product offerings or increase the price of the menu

items? Should he increase the focus on corporate customers by

undertaking exclusive tie-ups, or should he increase Lagom’s

social marketing efforts to attract customers from nearby

condominiums? Lagom’s founder had only two weeks to act

before the restaurant’s financial situation became critical.



International;




Issues: external environment analysis, industry analysis,

dynamic strategy, PESTEL analysis




Learning Objective: This case is best suited for MBA students in

strategic management and entrepreneurship courses. It

explains the impact of external environment changes on

company strategy. Ideally, the case should be taught as part of

a class on external environment analysis. Through this case,

students will learn how to do the following:

·Conduct an external environment analysis, which includes

political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and

legal (PESTEL) factors and industry analysis (Porter’s Five

Forces).

·Refine business strategies when there are uncertainties

associated with the external environment.

Page 13 of 33

9B17M123

Macroeconomic Forces, the National Hockey

League, and Winning the Stanley Cup

Davin Raiha;

On June 15, 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Tampa

Bay Lightning to win the National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley

Cup. It was the Blackhawks' third league title in six seasons. In

previous years, the off-seasons immediately following Stanley

Cup victories had been challenging. The general manager was

typically forced by the NHL's salary cap to change key

components of the championship rosters. In late June 2015, the

situation differed from in the past. Two superstar forwards

were locked into identical eight-year contracts worth US$10.5

million per year beginning July 1, 2015. However, significant

macroeconomic events around the world had unfolded rapidly,

specifically in Canada and the United States, where the NHL

operated. How would these macroeconomic forces shape the

future of the NHL and the Blackhawks?






Issues: exchange rate risk, exchange rates, sports management,

hockey


Setting: Canada; Saudi Arabia; United States, Medium

organization, 2015


Learning Objective: This case is appropriate for courses in

macroeconomics, sports economics, or sports management in

upper-level undergraduate or MBA programs. It can also be

used in a macroeconomics course in a discussion of foreign

exchange rates and exchange rate risk. After completion of the

case, students will be able to

·recognize how economic events across the world can

generate exchange rate risks that can significantly affect

organizations in seemingly unrelated sectors in North America;

·discuss the determinants of foreign exchange rates—for the

Canadian dollar in particular; and

·gain an understanding and appreciation of the far-reaching

impact of macroeconomic forces, which can stretch into areas

of society and business not typically associated with the initial

forces.

9B17B018

Style Inc.: Fine Bespoke Tailoring

Elizabeth M.A. Grasby; Richard Bloomfield;

In 2016, the owners of Styles Inc. (Styles), a bespoke tailoring

company in Toronto, Canada, needed to decide whether to

discontinue the least profitable of the company's seven clothing

lines or to increase that clothing line’s retail selling price. Over

the previous six years, Styles had been financially successful,

and customer retention was a major factor in this success.

However, competition was increasing and profits were

shrinking. Should the owners drop the clothing line that had the

lowest margin or increase its retail selling price? If they chose

to increase the price, they would need to decide on the amount

of the price increase. The owners wondered whether increasing

the price would still enable them to meet their target

contribution margin.






Issues: break-even analysis, contribution analysis, product mix



Difficulty: Introductory

Learning Objective: This case is intended for undergraduate

students in an introductory financial business course. After

completion of this case, students will be able to

·understand the challenges of a niche business in the retail

clothing industry;

·perform an in-depth qualitative analysis of industry trends,

the competitive landscape, and corporate capabilities before

making a future-oriented decision;

·calculate unit contribution and contribution margin rates for

different products;

·calculate a weighted average contribution margin and

determine how it can be of value to decision making;

·calculate and interpret multiple break-even points; and

·make a decision and support it based on their analysis.

9B17M127

Testin: Partnering with Multinational Corporations

Shameen Prashantham; Liman Zhao;

By 2017, Beijing Testin Information Technology Co., Ltd.

(Testin), had forged partnerships with multiple large

multinational companies (e.g., Microsoft, IBM, ARM, Intel).

Since it was founded in 2011, Testin had served over 800,000

application developers by conducting more than 150 million

quality and security tests on over 2.5 million mobile

applications. It had received several rounds of financing totaling

over $80 million. Many Chinese Internet companies had tried to

acquire Testin, and a well-known MNC asked Testin to sign an

exclusive service contract. Wang and his partners resisted such

offers and were determined that Testin should maintain its

neutrality. But as a five-year old enterprise, Testin’s big concern

was how it could “stay hungry and stay foolish.”



International;




Issues: partnerships, international entrepreneurship,

international new venture, startup


Setting: China, Medium organization, 2017


Learning Objective: This case can be taught in graduate or

executive-level courses in entrepreneurship, international

entrepreneurship, and emerging markets. The case is

structured to enable a discussion on the following issues:

·Attracting strategic partners early in the life-cycle of a new

venture

·The challenges faced by a new venture in an emerging (albeit

large and significant) market trying to gain the attention of

large players headquartered in advanced markets

Page 14 of 33

9B17M130

The Chia Co: Offering a Superfood or a Fad?

Arpita Agnihotri; Saurabh Bhattacharya;

Founded in 2003 by a fourth-generation Australian farmer, John

Foss, The Chia Co recognized the demand for healthy food

among different segments of consumers and aimed to provide

health and wellness to the global community through the

production and distribution of chia seeds. Through his creative

entrepreneurial skills, Foss encouraged a new Australian

agricultural industry, which had unique supply chain practices

and an emphasis on sustainability and fair value for farmers.

Nevertheless, by 2016, the company was facing several

challenges. Some critical issues included demand that overshot

supply, threats from other healthy superfoods such as flax

seeds and quinoa, and lack of scientific evidence of the health

benefits of chia seeds. In this context, Foss needed to

determine how to make The Chia Co a world-class market

leader in chia seeds and how to overcome supply and demand

challenges. If superfoods really were just a fad, he also had to

consider what lay in the future for The Chia Co and its products.



International;




Issues: creative entrepreneurship, Porter's diamond model,

activity map, superfoods, business model, social capital,

agricultural marketing


Setting: Australia, Small organization, 2016-2017


Learning Objective: The case is intended for undergraduate and

postgraduate students in courses on entrepreneurship,

strategy, and international business. This case deals with

creative entrepreneurship, the comparative advantage of

nations, business models, and activity maps of The Chia Co.

After completing the case, students should be able to do the

following:

·Recognize the skills required to be a creative entrepreneur.

·Understand how countries gain advantages over other

countries in different product categories.

·Discuss the business model and activity maps for The Chia Co.

·Understand the different types of capital Foss created

through his business venture.

·Understand the ethical constraints of marketing superfoods.

·Discuss measures to resolve current challenges faced by The

Chia Co.

9B17C034

Shirdi Infratech: Should a Star Manager Be Fired?

Anjali Tiwari; Madhushree Agarwal;

Shirdi Infratech Pvt. Ltd. was in the wooden furniture

manufacturing business and dealt with a wide range of

diversified products such as modular kitchens, furniture, and

doors. With its normal profit margin, the firm was growing, but

not at a rate that satisfied the owner. At the same time, the

business faced personnel management issues. The dilemma

began in 2015 when the owner learned that one of his top

performers had potentially leaked confidential information to a

competitor and was offered employment by them. The owner

recognized this employee’s importance, as well as the critical

timing of the project he was working on. In light of this, would

the best option be to retain that employee or let him go? The

owner was also concerned about social capital management,

and how to use the employee’s intellectual skills to develop

others in the organization.







Issues: human resource management, dysfunctional retention,

recruitment, confidential information



Learning Objective: This case is suitable in a post-graduate or

executive-level talent management course for a discussion on

retention, or in a management development program. Working

through the case will give students an understanding of

·the make and buy talent strategies of a small firm;

·dysfunctional retention strategy;

·retention strategy to counter dysfunctional turnover; and

·social capital management strategy.

9B17D012

BrightView Plumbing and Heating: A New Business

Model

Kenneth Sousa;

BrightView Plumbing and Heating (BrightView) was founded in

1997 to provide plumbing services for both residential and

commercial customers. The founder's son joined the company

in 2008 and implemented a new operational strategy. However,

he soon discovered problems in the process and procedures.

Although he was able to apply an effective system for

warehousing products internally, by 2015, the day-to-day

policies and operational activities were not proving to be

efficient, and the cost of goods sold was rising at a higher rate

than the increase in sales. The company encountered

miscommunication between the appointment scheduling

(dispatching) and the availability of parts. BrightView needed to

resolve the issues by analyzing the current situation and

developing recommendations for improvement.


Discipline: Operations Management; Entrepreneurship;

Product Type/Pricing: Case (Gen Exp), Standard Case



Issues: project management, inventory logistics, information

Page 15 of 33

technology

Industry: Construction;

Setting: United States, Small organization, 2015


Learning Objective: The case can be integrated into various

advanced undergraduate or graduate courses, including

operations management, logistics, supply chain management,

project management, or information technology (specifically,

systems design, business process, or strategy). After completion

of the case, students will be able to

·analyze process and tasks associated with a service-based

business that requires timely completion and quality customer

service to remain profitable;

·determine the sources of problems related to information

systems and business processes, and find approaches to

eliminate those issues; and

·explore the application of various techniques related to

business process re-engineering and integration into business

operations.

9B17C033

Canaan Group Reshaping the ECS Division

Kenneth Goh; Ken Mark;

In January 2015, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Canaan

Group, a privately owned logistics conglomerate of businesses

in Vancouver, Canada, was considering how to capitalize on

opportunities in the freight forwarding industry. The first thing

he needed to do was stabilize the Export Cargo Specialist (ECS)

division. The ECS division focused on ocean freight

forwarding—helping customers coordinate and ship goods

from origin to destination. To counter a glut of shipping

capacity and fall in demand over the past few years, the CEO

had restructured the roles and assignments in the division. He

attempted to create a cross-trained workforce capable of

performing a range of functions for clients. However, issues

emerged with the restructuring, leading to employee

departures and, along with the industry changes, a net loss in

operations. The CEO was looking to turn things around and

avoid further mistakes. He wondered if he should give his

restructuring experiment more time, bring in an experienced

project manager, or promote a current ECS staff member to

find a solution.



Entrepreneurship;




Issues: turnaround, leadership, team management




Learning Objective: This case is designed for both

undergraduate and graduate level courses in leadership, human

resources management, and entrepreneurship. It can be used

to address how teams are organized for high performance, the

need to match human resources plans with strategic goals,

training and improving the skills of employees, and overcoming

obstacles to achieve a management objective. The case gives

students an opportunity to

·assess the potential effects of a change in human resources

policy on employees;

·identify the difficulties in changing work expectations;

·discuss the balance between employee skill improvement

and work efficiency; and

·understand and work to overcome team management issues.

9B17E010

Mobile Blood Donor Clinic: A Discrete Event

Simulation Model

Rasha Kashef; Felipe Rodrigues;

While donating blood on campus, a management science

graduate student noticed that the mobile blood donor clinic set

up at his university’s community centre was a congested

tandem queuing system. Finding one-and-one-half hours too

long for donors to wait, the student considered how the

process could be reduced by at least half an hour. He needed to

devise a reasonably precise model to represent the donor flow

in the clinic. Using either the mode or the average service times

supplied by the nurses, the student could build a relatively

straightforward discrete-event simulation model to identify

bottlenecks and improve the donor flow.


Discipline: Management Science;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17E010;

Issues: queuing models, simulation




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for undergraduate

classes in honours business administration or for MSc and MBA

simulation courses. Previous knowledge of basic statistical

distributions and formulas in Microsoft Excel is required for the

case. This case provides an introduction to basic queuing

theory, bottleneck analysis, and discrete-event simulation

models. After completion of the case, students will be able to

·explain basic queuing theory;

·create a simple discrete-event simulation model;

·analyze bottlenecks identified in the simulation model; and

·propose changes to reduce bottlenecks in the simulation

model.

9B17M121

Tervita's Acquisition of Complete Environmental

Inc. (A)

Brandon Schaufele; Ken Mark;

On January 3, 2011, the Canadian Competition Bureau was

reviewing a recent business merger. CCS Corporation Inc.

(Tervita) had acquired Complete Environmental Inc.

(Complete). Prior to its acquisition by Tervita, Complete had

received regulatory approval to operate a secure landfill site in

Northeastern British Columbia (NEBC). However, a complaint

about the purchase was filed by SECURE Energy Services Inc.

(SECURE), one of Tervita’s competitors. The complaint claimed

that the price Tervita paid for Complete was well above fair

market value, and that the purchase would eliminate a

competitor in the NEBC market. At the time, only two secure

landfills operated in NEBC. Both were owned by Tervita, which

provided a wide-range of waste management, recovery, and

disposal services to the North American oil and gas industry.

The Canadian Competition Bureau had to evaluate the

economics underlying Tervita’s decision to pay a premium price

for Complete. It also needed to determine whether the

acquisition violated the Competition Act, or whether the

complaint was merely a frivolous case of “sour grapes”

Page 16 of 33

stemming from SECURE’s own failure to acquire Complete.






Issues: competition, oligopoly, regulation

Industry: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction;



Learning Objective: This two-part case is suitable for use at

undergraduate and graduate levels in courses covering

competitive strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and

government policy. After completing both parts of the case,


·discuss competition policy in Canada, including issues of

monopoly, oligopoly, and perfect competition;

understand interactions between competitive dynamics and

regulation in Canada;

·understand the Hotelling linear city model; and

·discuss how a market’s geography can lead prices to become

strategic substitutes.

9B17N018

Narayana Health: The Initial Public Offering

Decision

Narendra Nath Kushwaha; Bipin Dixit; David J. Sharp;

Narayana Health, an Indian private healthcare provider, was

established with the aim of providing affordable healthcare

services without compromising quality. Over the years, its

growth and expansion was financed by private equity investors.

In August 2015, private equity investors of the company

decided to go public through the offer for sale route. Private

equity investors had to decide the value of the initial public

offering (IPO) and whether the time was appropriate for

Narayana to go public. To do so, they needed to consider the

company’s financial performance, the pros and cons of the

company’s strategy and business model, the industry’s future

growth potential, and macroeconomic factors.


Discipline: Finance; International;




Issues: healthcare, initial public offering, discounted cash flow,

valuation, stock market,




Learning Objective: This case was written to help students

understand different motives behind going public. It discusses

different choices for raising capital and documents the methods

commonly used in the industry for valuing companies in order

to arrive at an appropriate offer price band. The case requires

students to arrive at a suitable share price by considering the

financial performance of the company, pros and cons of the

company’s strategy and business model, the industry’s future

growth potential, and macroeconomic factors. It also provides

insights about IPO underpricing, a commonly observed

phenomenon across markets. After working through the case

and assignment questions, students will be able to

·understand the process of equity issuance in India;

·understand the valuation of an initial public offering (IPO)

using discounted cash flow (DCF) and multiples methods; and

·explore the concept of IPO underpricing and post-IPO stock

performance.

9B17M125

Udaipur Times: Strategy of a Hyperlocal News

Website

Atul Arun Pathak; ShabbirHusain R.V.;

In August 2016, the director of UdaipurTimes.com, a hyperlocal

news website, and his partner were faced with a problem. Their

start-up venture had thus far grown without any explicit

strategy. Despite a steady readership of nearly 200,000,

achieving further revenue growth and sustained profitability

were ongoing issues. UdaipurTimes.com needed to come up

with a comprehensive strategy by evaluating various

alternatives (such as creating a mobile app and soliciting

user-generated content) to increase the frequency of customer

visits and attract new readers to the website. Given its limited

financial strength and its focus on speedily growing its

customer base while leveraging current resources and

capabilities, what strategy should UdaipurTimes.com choose?



Entrepreneurship;




Issues: hyperlocal online news website, strategic alternatives,

rational decision making, digital strategy




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for use in MBA and

other graduate-level management programs. It can be useful in

courses such as e-business management, strategic

management, entrepreneurship, and management of small

businesses. The case aims to help students achieve the

following objectives:

·Understand the growth strategy options in an online media

business.

·Understand the revenue and cost drivers of hyperlocal news

websites in order to foster an understanding of the various

elements of strategy.

·Follow a rational decision-making process and set

appropriate criteria (based on objectives) for evaluating

options.

·Evaluate strategic growth alternatives and recommend a

coherent strategy.

Page 17 of 33

9B17B017

Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO

Elizabeth M.A. Grasby; Jimmy Wang;

In July 2016, the founder and president of Lockbox Social Inc.,

an American social media management company for real estate

agents, was contemplating whether to offer search engine

optimization (SEO) as a new product. He needed to decide

whether to pivot his business to pursue SEO exclusively, include

SEO with the current product mix, or stay with the status quo

and reconsider SEO at a later date. How would the two

products—social media management and SEO—meet his

customers' needs? Would they provide a good fit with his

business and personal goals? He also needed to determine how

much to charge for SEO and whether the company's current

pricing model was appropriate for social media management.


Discipline: Accounting; Entrepreneurship;




Issues: market planning, competitor analysis, consumer

analysis, new venture



Difficulty: Introductory

Learning Objective: This case is suitable for undergraduate

introductory business courses in a segment on marketing

management. Students should be familiar with a marketing

framework that includes product, price, placement, and

promotional analysis. After completion of this case, students

will be able to

·understand the most effective Internet marketing methods

and terms to help real estate agents gain exposure on the

Internet;

·assess how start-up businesses navigate the introduction

phase of their product life cycle;

·identify and complete an industry analysis, a consumer

analysis, and a competitive analysis;

·identify the strengths and weaknesses of a business to

complete a corporate size-up; and

·develop a marketing plan to specifically address the product

mix to be offered and how the products should be priced.

9B17M116

Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship: Business

Incubation in the Danish Context

Robert D. Austin; Dana Minbaeva; Demetra

Dimokopoulos;

In 2015, the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship (CSE), the

largest business incubator in Denmark, was admitting 100–125

new start-ups each year and attracting external funding of

US$33 million from both public and private sources—all with an

annual budget of US$435,000, funded exclusively by the

Copenhagen Business School. Like most business incubators,

CSE worked to provide entrepreneurs with training,

mentorship, and investors, and to enhance their visibility in the

market. It required all admitted start-ups to participate in a

screening/selection tool and a set of incubation activities over

three specific stages. The school measured success in terms of

the number of incubator participants who had both a business

customer and a sustainable business model at the end of a

nine-month incubation period. In 2015, CSE's success rate was

53 per cent. At this point, CSE's leaders recognized a need to

question how they measured the benefits of the program. How

should the 53 per cent success rate be compared to the

Copenhagen Business School's investment? What changes

could the CSE leadership make to create more value for Danish

society?



International;




Issues: business incubator, start-up


Setting: Denmark, Small organization, 2015


Learning Objective: This case could be used in a variety of

courses, but it is especially relevant to courses on

entrepreneurship and innovation practice at the

MBA/postgraduate level. It is designed to convey a basic

understanding of how incubators work and a more detailed

sense of how this particular incubator works.

After working through an analysis of the case and the

assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

·Understand the importance of entrepreneurial ecosystems

and the roles that incubators can play in such ecosystems.

·Analyze the design of a business incubator, assess how it

creates value, and measure how much value it creates.

9B17M118

KritiKal Solutions: The Big Leap

Mita Brahma; Shiv S. Tripathi;

In September 2016, the leadership team at KritiKal Solutions

Private Limited, a software product research and development

company in Noida, India, was facing several challenges. The

company provided product design and development services in

computer vision and image processing, embedded systems, and

the Internet of things, as well as web, software, and mobile

applications. It was highly regarded by its clients and employees

for its research orientation and technical competence.

However, the leadership team was struggling with options for

strategic growth and product mix. How much time and effort

should go into services and how much into new product

development? What kind of structure and funding would work

for the company as it expanded? The chief executive officer

needed answers to these questions in order to make the leap to

high growth.



Entrepreneurship;




Issues: venture growth, innovation, product research and

development




Learning Objective: This case can be used in a strategic

entrepreneurship course to teach strategies for creating and

growing a new venture. It is also suitable for a strategic

management course to explore the entrepreneurial experience,

innovation, opportunities, product-market matrix,

Page 18 of 33

organizational structure, management team building, and

financing. After completing the case, students should be able to

·appreciate the operational challenges and dilemmas faced by

a new venture on a high-growth path;

·discuss various innovation strategies and growth options for

a new venture;

·analyze different organizational structures and how they

affect autonomy and control as an organization grows; and

·compare the financing options available to a new venture,

including their advantages and disadvantages.

9B17M117

Mazda Motor Corporation: Surviving by Partnering

with the Giants

Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Tae Kyung Lee; Andrew Jiro

Poplawski;

For 30 years, Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) partnered

with Ford Motor Company (Ford), helping Ford in small-car

engineering and lean manufacturing in exchange for finance

and marketing know-how; however, this alliance was

terminated due to the global financial crisis in 2008. In 2015,

Mazda entered into another long-term partnership to share

technologies and cope with cost pressures—this time with

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota). According to its 2016

Structural Reform Plan, Mazda aimed to achieve a global sales

volume of 1.65 million units, an operating income ratio of at

least 7 per cent, an equity ratio of at least 45 per cent, and a

dividend payout ratio of at least 20 per cent by 2019. Given the

highly competitive domestic and global automotive markets, to

what extent could the partnership with Toyota and the

Structural Reform Plan allow Mazda to achieve these goals?

Would Mazda need to make any changes to its competitive

strategies to keep the company driving forward?



Entrepreneurship;




Issues: industry consolidation, economies of scale,

innovativeness, strategic alliance, corporate restructuring,

Japanese-style management


Setting: Japan, Large organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case is intended for senior

undergraduate- and graduate-level business students in class

discussions on acquisition, collaboration, and restructuring

strategies; competitive strategies; industry analysis; and

Japanese-style management. The case discusses several

competitive strategies for survival in the automotive industry,

where established firms concurrently build their competitive

advantages on economies of scale and innovation. After


·examine the evolution of an industry and forecast new

industry trends;

·understand how a small firm may compete with large firms in

consolidated industries;

·determine and implement an alliance strategy; and

·determine and implement a turnaround strategy.

9B17M115

OrganiGram: Navigating the Cannabis Industry

with "Grey Knowledge"

Opal Leung;

OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (OrganiGram), a New

Brunswick-based company, was a licensed producer of medical

cannabis in Canada. On April 20, 2016, the Canadian

government announced that legislation to legalize recreational

cannabis would be introduced in the spring of 2017 with the

intention of having it become law in the spring of 2018. The

announcement triggered expansion activities at all of Canada’s

largest licensed producers of cannabis. However, there were

many unknowns in terms of how the legalization of recreational

cannabis would happen. What would the timeline be? Who

would be allowed to grow cannabis? In anticipation of

regulatory changes, OrganiGram needed to analyze the

Canadian cannabis industry and engage in a scenario-planning

exercise. How could OrganiGram move through this time of

uncertainty, while both creating a strategy for the anticipated

recreational cannabis market and continuing to work on its

medical cannabis sales?






Issues: cannabis, strategy, value chain, scenario planning,

pharmaceutical industry, Atlantic Canada, Colorado




Learning Objective: The purpose of this case is to give students

experience in making decisions in an uncertain, growing, and

dynamic industry. The case can be used in strategic

management courses at both the undergraduate and MBA

levels. It can also be taught in executive MBA courses that

include a strategic planning module. For undergraduate

courses, the focus would be on applying strategic management

models to perform internal and external analyses. More

advanced courses could use this course as a scenario-planning

exercise. After completion of the case, students will be able to

·highlight the complexity of decision-making during a time of

an anticipated regulatory change;

·apply strategic management frameworks to analyze the

Canadian cannabis industry; and

·engage in a scenario-planning activity.

Page 19 of 33

9B17M113

ibibo: Grow Independently or Sell?

Meeta Dasgupta; S. Veena Iyer;

In 2016, the chief executive officer of the ibibo Group, one of

the largest players in India’s online travel sector, faced a major

decision. MakeMyTrip, India’s market leader in online travel,

had expressed interest in acquiring the ibibo Group. Should the

ibibo Group’s chief executive officer accept the offer and give

up partial or total control of the company, in return for growing

with the market leader? Or should he continue with the

business he had launched in 2007, and rely on outside

investment or the parent company to fund his efforts at

growing the business? It was time to evaluate his strategic

options.







Issues: mergers and acquisitions, grow or sell, business

valuation




Learning Objective: This case is intended for a postgraduate

strategic management course to discuss the dynamics of an

industry and an entrepreneur’s considerations when deciding

whether to agree to an acquisition or to grow independently. It

is also suitable for postgraduate elective courses on mergers

and acquisitions or corporate valuation to discuss the strategies

in mergers and acquisitions, the financial analysis of an

acquisition or merger, and the evaluation of strategic decisions.

After completion of the case, students will be able to discuss

·the concept of industry dynamics, including industry

structure and the forces of competition in an industry;

·qualitative decision-making when information is limited;

·the dilemma facing entrepreneurs in keeping their ventures

going; and

·financial valuation in a merger and acquisition situation,

especially when the target is a private entity.

9B17M119

LinkedIn: Bridging the Global Employment Gap

Jeff Saperstein; Mariela Gonzalez;

In 2016, LinkedIn was the largest online platform connecting

people to job opportunities and training. The company’s goal

was to innovate and co-create with stakeholders a stable, yet

emergent online platform that could serve a global business

community undergoing rapid transformation in technology, job

requirements, and the structure of work itself.

LinkedIn had a leadership role in this transformation; the

company vision, market penetration, and expertise promised to

help address major problems of global unemployment and

underemployment. The company’s Economic Graph, a massive

data set of employment information, was part of the response,

but LinkedIn had some challenges to address. How could

LinkedIn co-create with stakeholders a stable, increasingly

scaled online platform that could serve a global business

community, while the structures of those stakeholders

inhibited interconnectivity, the skill sets for workers were

evolving, and the requirements for and nature of work itself

was going through rapid, uncertain transformation? How could

it expand to include less educated adults and connect people in

regions with different business cultures, values, and practices?

How could it better coordinate open-source information among

stakeholders? How could it define “soft skills” and connect

people with good soft skills with hiring managers?







Issues: human resources, jobs, social networking




Learning Objective: This case can be used in business, human

resources/administration, and communications courses in

senior undergraduate courses and in graduate level courses.

After working through the case and assignment questions,


·Understand the role of social media platforms in developing

a career plan, accessing opportunities, and acquiring and

cultivating a professional network.

·Learn how an online platform can globally scale, co-create,

and acquire new capabilities through continuous customer

co-creation, service improvement, and business acquisitions to

engage customers.

·Understand that data, cloud computing, augmented

intelligence, platforms, software applications (apps), social

networks, and interconnectivity will redefine the nature of

work and professional opportunities.

·See how LinkedIn enables individual and group self-reliance

through an entrepreneurial mindset, fundamentally changing

how institutions and work will evolve in a global marketplace

for global workers, who can find and connect with one another

seamlessly.

9B17D011

InteraXon Inc.'s Muse: Aligning the Supply Chain

David Barrett; Ramasastry Chandrasekhar;

In 2016, the chief operating officer (COO) of InteraXon Inc., a

Toronto-based technology start-up in the health and wellness

sector, needed to put together a revised supply chain that was

consistent with the company’s new strategic plan. InteraXon’s

flagship product was a lightweight headband called Muse,

aimed at measuring the wearer’s brain activity. The COO

needed to keep in mind two major requirements of the new

plan: a) the company would be relocating the production of

Muse from China to the United States and b) it needed to

quickly scale up its manufacturing and marketing operations.

What plan of action should the COO develop?


Discipline: Entrepreneurship; International; Operations

Management;




Issues: supply chain, reshoring, redesign, scale up




Page 20 of 33

Learning Objective: This case is suitable for undergraduate,

MBA, and executive education courses related to operations

and supply chain management. It can also be used in a health

innovation module. After completion of this case, students will

be able to

·highlight the strategic compulsions of reshoring;

·establish the priorities for action in redesigning a supply

chain; and

identify a strategy for scaling up operations.

9B17N013

Buy or Rent: Living in Singapore

Ruth S.K. Tan; Zsuzsa R. Huszar; Weina Zhang;

Mr. and Mrs. Wong and their three children had rented a

condominium unit in Singapore for the past six years. During

that time, they had been watching the property market with

the objective of buying a home of their own. A larger unit in the

same building finally became available for sale in June 2016.

Coincidentally, their rental lease would expire soon after that

date. If they decided to buy the larger unit, they would hold it

for the next 10 years. Their net gain or loss of the buy versus

rent decision would depend on the selling price of the unit at

the end of 10 years and the rental payments.

Publication Date: July 31, 2017





Issues: opportunity cost, time value of money, annuity, growth

Industry: Finance and Insurance;

Setting: Singapore, 2016


Learning Objective: This case can be used in an undergraduate

or MBA course in personal financial management or

fundamental financial management. It gives students an

opportunity to

·perform a quantitative analysis of a buy or rent decision

using the opportunity cost of capital, time value of money,

discounted cash flows, ordinary annuities, and growing

annuities; and

·consider qualitative factors such as the stability of the rental

market, the stability of income, alternative investments, and

the flexibility provided by renting.

9B17C029

Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in

Times of Crisis

Nitika Sharma; Archana Shrivastava;

In 2014, the production manager at Hari Krishna Exports Pvt.

Ltd., a diamond manufacturer and exporter in India, faced the

challenge of maintaining his duty towards the company’s

employees while it experienced low growth and profitability

after a downturn in the industry. High attrition among

employees was a common problem across the industry; it cost

the company heavily and had a significant impact on

employees’ morale. Recruiting strong employees and retaining

them was a challenge, especially during a time of crisis. The

production manager wanted to build on the initiatives of the

chairman and founder and pursue a performance-based

incentive system, value-added incentives, and other

employee-friendly human resource policies. Could these

strategies keep the attrition rate low and help the company

create a high-performance work environment? Success could

help Hari Krishna Exports in its plan to grow from a diamond

manufacturer to a diamond jewelry retailer with a global reach.


Discipline: International; Organizational Behaviour/Leadership;

Entrepreneurship;




Issues: human resource management, organizational

alignment, attrition


Setting: India, Large organization, 2014-15


Learning Objective: This case is suitable at the graduate level in

business and management courses. The case outlines human

resource management, organizational coherence through

effective leadership, and the importance of effective

organizational communication. After completion of the case,


·understand the correlation between the successful financial

performance of a company and management practices that

treat employees fairly;

·exemplify human resource and people-friendly policies that

drive organizational performance and reduce attrition;

·assess leadership values, competencies, and commitments

associated with good leaders; and

understand the important role that organizational

communication plays in the implementation of policies.

9B17N014

Maruti Suzuki: Good Company or Good Stock (A)

Pitabas Mohanty; Supriti Mishra;

On January 28, 2014, the management of Maruti Suzuki India

Limited (MSIL) surprised the market by announcing that its

plant in Gujarat would be operated as a subsidiary of Suzuki

Motor Company of Japan, MSIL’s parent company, rather than

by MSIL. The stock price fell by 8 per cent that day. The days

following this announcement were marked by justifications by

MSIL management about the benefits of the new structure and

allegations by some analysts and fund managers that it was

against the interests of minority shareholders. MSIL

management took more than 20 months to send a letter to

shareholders asking for their approval of the decision taken by

the board. At that point, the shareholders needed to decide

whether to support or oppose the decision.






Issues: corporate governance, minority shareholders




Learning Objective: This case can be discussed in advanced

courses on corporate finance or business valuation in a

graduate program. It can also be used in courses on financial

modelling, where students can build a financial model to look

at the impact of the proposed structure on MSIL’s value. It can

also be discussed in a business ethics or corporate strategy

course dealing with governance. The case gives students an

opportunity to discuss valuation and the priorities of

Page 21 of 33

institutional investors in depth. After working through the case,

students should be able to

·identify the valuation impact of a corporate announcement

regarding the operation of a domestic plant as a subsidiary of

an international parent company; and

·evaluate issues of performance and governance in an

investee company, and determine which should be the priority

of institutional investors.

9B17N017

Nava Bharat: Energy Solutions for India

Maram Srikanth; Palanisamy Saravanan;

On June 30, 2009, Nava Bharat Energy India Limited (NBEIL)

proposed the setup of two coal-fired power projects: one in

Paloncha, Khammam District, and another in Dharmavaram,

East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh. The sites of these

projects were located adjacent to the existing power plants of

Nava Bharat Ventures Limited, parent company of NBEIL, a

renowned industrial group based in South India.

NBEIL approached the president of a bank to arrange a term

loan of ₹9.70 billion through project financing under a

syndication strategy. The banker would have to evaluate

whether project financing would be a suitable lending

instrument for these projects, and if so, what would be the

potential implications to both the lenders and project owners?

Would it be wise to proceed to syndicate the term loan for the

coal-fired power plants?


Discipline: Finance; Entrepreneurship; International;




Issues: project finance, loan syndication, thermal power

Industry: Utilities;



Learning Objective: This case is ideal for MBA students who are

studying corporate banking, project finance, or advanced

corporate finance as part of their curriculum. This

comprehensive case can also be used in executive education

programs for senior managerial personnel in banks, financial

institutions, or other corporate houses. The case is intended to

challenge the participants not only with respect to quantitative

aspects but also on qualitative parameters.

The objectives of the case are as follows:

·Assess NBEIL’s project-finance proposal with regard to its

managerial, technical, market, environmental, and financial

appraisal aspects.

·Understand parent company Nava Bharat Ventures Limited’s

rationale in creating a special purpose vehicle in the form of

NBEIL.

·Explain the cash flow waterfall mechanism of NBEIL’s power

project.

9B17A043

NewStar Marine & Scooter: Growing a Family

Business

Spencer Wiechert; Ethan Pancer;

NewStar Marine & Scooter Inc. was a small family-owned retail

operation in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. It offered a diverse

range of products, from boats and motors to scooters and

trailers, all under one roof. For a small family business, it was

very successful. Sales grew from $198,000 in the first year to

over $600,000 by year three, despite little marketing, few

part-time staff, and an unconventional operational strategy. By

February 2017, this significant growth coupled with the owner's

lack of planning had created a series of problems, including

unhappy employees, facility limitations, and brand confusion.

To continue its remarkable growth, the owner needed to

rethink the business operational and marketing strategies.


Discipline: Marketing; Entrepreneurship;




Issues: family business, dealership, product diversity




Learning Objective: This case explores several key issues in

marketing and entrepreneurship. It can be used in a marketing

strategy or entrepreneurship course at the undergraduate,

MBA, or executive MBA level. After completing the case,

students should be able to

·develop strategies to handle the growth of a small family

business while considering the values of the entrepreneurs

nearing retirement;

·choose product offerings to concurrently satisfy customer

needs and maximize profitability;

·identify a reasonable solution to address capacity challenges

associated with a larger volume of inventory; and

·propose a marketing plan for a small family business with

limited resources.

9B17M108

The Edifício España: A Global Investor Meets Local

Politics

Klaus Meyer; Alicia Wang;Tomaz Fittipaldi;

The Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. (Wanda) was a fast-growing

real estate imperium in China, built by Jianlin Wang, the

wealthiest man in China. In 2010, Wang transformed Wanda

into an entertainment conglomerate and initiated an ambitious

international growth strategy. His ambitions knew few limits;

however, one of his acquisitions—the Edificio España in Spain,

an iconic historical building in the centre of Madrid—ran into

difficulties due to conflicts with the local authorities. Wang’s

refurbishment plans for Edificio España envisaged a

comprehensive renovation and upgrade of the building’s

commercial spaces, which required approvals from the Local

Historical Heritage Commission. Initially, politicians expressed

their support for Wang’s plan, but the application progressed

slowly through the formal process and became entangled in

local politics. A local election mid-process resulted in a new

party gaining control of the city council—a governing party that

was not supportive of Wang’s plans. Should Wang cut his losses

and sell the building, or persist and reboot his project

management?

Page 22 of 33



Entrepreneurship;




Issues: non-market strategy , political risk , MNE to government

relations, managing foreign subsidiaries, international

entrepreneurship, urban development, stakeholders of the

MNE, protection of cultural heritage

Industry: Real Estate and Rental and Leasing;

Setting: Spain; China, Large organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case illustrates political risks in host

societies, and thus, the need to incorporate political and

regulatory considerations in conducting due diligence, even if

leading local politicians actively support the initial investment.

The case also challenges students to proactively develop

strategies to handle local stakeholders’ concerns that go

beyond legal requirements. The case has been designed for

graduate- and executive-level students in advanced

international business, business and society, and real estate

management classes to achieve the following learning

objectives:

·Appreciate the complexity and importance of stakeholder

relationships in host societies.

·Incorporate political and social aspects in conducting due

diligence.

·Appreciate the specific challenges faced by Chinese

multinationals operating in Western societies.

·Evaluate and develop political influence and non-market

strategies for stakeholder engagement.

9B17M110

The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic

Turnaround

Tulsi Jayakumar;

In July 2016, India celebrated the 25th anniversary of its

economic reforms, which were initiated in 1991 as a result of a

severe fiscal deficit-driven balance of payments crisis. The

reforms saw India gradually break free of a low annual growth

rate of 3.0–3.5 per cent. In 2016, with a growth rate of 7.6 per

cent, India emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the

world. The increases in the country’s macroeconomic indicators

in the past 25 years indicated a major turnaround. Were these

positive macroeconomic indicators sufficiently sustainable?

Should investors be confident about India’s growth story in

2016?






Issues: macrofundamentals, macroeconomics, government

policy, business environment



Learning Objective: This case can be taught in a general

management course in a business environment module or in a

module on business, government, and international economy.

After completing the case, students will be able to

·understand macroeconomic objectives and the indicators

used to assess the performance of an economy;

·recognize the challenges to an economy’s growth;

·understand how external sustainability affects an economy;

·understand the roles of fiscal policy and fiscal prudence in an

economy; and

·relate macroeconomic indicators to business.

9B17M102

Midea Refrigerator：The “Go Global” Odyssey

Zhiying Liu; Mengxia Zhang;

By 2016, Midea Refrigerator was one of the leading Chinese

manufacturers and exporters of refrigerators. Yet despite its

broad global product market, the company’s development was

stagnant. The high cost of exports had become a disadvantage.

Fierce global competition was driving Midea Refrigerator to

choose foreign direct investment (FDI) as its next strategic step,

and China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative presented an

opportunity for international expansion. The manager of Midea

Refrigerator had to determine which of Russia or India (two

countries linked to China by the new initiative) represented the

best choice to start the company’s FDI. He also needed to

decide which FDI model—greenfield investment, acquisition, or

joint venture—was the best option for the chosen destination.






Issues: foreign direct investment, FDI, international

management




Learning Objective: This case involves strategy and

international decision making at the senior management level.

Accordingly, the case is suitable for courses in international

management or international trade programs at the

undergraduate or MBA level. After completing the case,

students should be able to do the following:

·Apply the eclectic theory of international production to

support international investment decision making.

·Identify the characteristics of different modes of

international market entry.

·Evaluate investment destinations to make correct investment

choices.

·Understand the issues that must be considered in

international marketing.

Page 23 of 33

9B17A041

OSSCube: Deciding on the Levers of Growth

Jaydeep Mukherjee;

In November 2015, the co-founders of OSSCube Solutions Ltd.,

an Indian-based information technology (IT) solution provider,

faced the risk of shrinking and uncertain profits if they

continued with their open source solution strategy. Changing to

non-open-source technology would entail re-positioning the

company in the minds of employees and customers. The

re-positioning could lead to a more stable revenue stream and

open up access to larger customers. However, it could also

attract severe competitive retaliation and cause the company

to lose clients and employees. The challenge of evolving the

organization from a technology focus to a customer focus was

further complicated by an increasing trend for customers to

rationalize their IT vendor list. The co-founders needed to

decide whether to expand their business scope now or

postpone the decision. If they went ahead now, they needed to

address the timing and sequence of the change.


Discipline: Marketing; International; Entrepreneurship;




Issues: target market selection, strategic shift, culture change,

business growth, scaling up an entrepreneurial venture, change

from hunting to farming strategy


Setting: India; United States, Medium organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case is suited for various management

disciplines in post-graduate management programs. Because it

deals with change in the business environment, the case works

well for executives in short-duration management development

programs. It can be used in introductory marketing, strategy,

and entrepreneurship courses. The case deals with the

challenges faced by smaller organizations focused on niche

technologies that are shifting their client base or making

changes to become more customer-centric. It gives students an

opportunity to

·recognize why a company may need to make changes in its

target market in response to the changing needs of

stakeholders and the need to grow the company;

·analyze the risks of changing a company’s target market and

scaling up the business;

·discuss the challenges in shifting from a technology-focused

to a customer-focused organization; and

·consider strategies for repositioning a company in the minds

of its employees and customers.

9B17B016

Reike Technology: Revenue Recognition and

"Pay-When-Paid" Clauses

Lixin Pan; Ying Yu; Lei Li;

In December 2013, Reike Technology Co. Ltd. (Reike), a Chinese

information technology and outsourcing company, faced an

accounting revenue recognition problem. Reike had a

well-deserved reputation in the software outsourcing industry,

having built partnerships with Fortune 500 companies since the

1990s. However, in 2012, it collaborated on a project with a

multinational software company that included a

“pay-when-paid” clause in the contract. According to this

clause, payments to Reike would be based on the percentage of

the project completed upon review, as long as the software

company received the corresponding proportion of payments

from the owner. As the project progressed, Reike’s managers

became troubled by the following issues: Should the

“pay-when-paid” contract containing legal risks have been

signed? When should Reike recognize the project revenue?

How should the company deal with the project costs

considering there was unrecognized revenue at the end of the

year? Would there be any effect on performance assessments?


Discipline: International; Accounting;




Issues: IT services, outsourcing, revenue recognition




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for accounting courses

at the post-graduate (MBA) or undergraduate level. It focuses

on the accounting processing challenge of an IT outsourcing

company that is cooperating with a multinational software

company in an emerging market. Students have an opportunity

to

·analyze the nature of a transaction when there is a

“pay-when-paid” clause and the risks for accounting revenue

recognition;

·assess whether the specific conditions of the

percentage-of-completion method have been met and make a

proper choice when recognizing project costs;

·evaluate the efficiency of risk management in an IT

outsourcing company; and

·consider how to build a sound relationship between a

company’s accounting system and business risk management.

Page 24 of 33

9B17B015

Technology Uncorked: Crowdsourcing for Ideas

Madhushree Agarwal; Jaydeep Mukherjee;

In December 2015, the co-founder and chief executive officer

(CEO) of Technology Uncorked LLP (TU) was facing decisions

about the company’s future. TU was a four-year-old start-up

that was set up as an ideation engine that would use

crowdsourcing to generate ideas and then fast-track the

development of the best of them. Faced with a previous choice

between early success of a technology project in a

single-product domain and remaining consistent to TU’s

founding vision, the CEO had chosen to maintain the company’s

original direction. This led to the early exit of one of her two

partners. TU’s technology workshops had found a market, and

TU was in a comfortable position financially. Should the CEO

focus her resources on the workshops and scale up to become

a technology training company, or should she move the

business model online and shift resources to the back end of

the business model, becoming more of an innovation platform?

To move online, she might have to consider external funding

sources, perhaps from a private equity investor. This would

mean diluting the founders’ equity and losing some control

over TU’s future direction. Alternatively, she could continue

growing slowly but organically, and retain control.



International;




Issues: growth, effectuation, causal versus effectual logic, open

innovation, innovation platform, crowd-sourced business,

scaling up




Learning Objective: This case can be used in elective courses on

innovation management at the MBA level and also in a course

on entrepreneurship. After working through the case and

assignment questions, students should be able to do the

following:

·Explain how bootstrapped start-ups can monetize various

stages of the business model.

·Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different business

models.

·Understand the benefits and challenges of open innovation

and crowdsourcing-based business models.

·Understand the difference between causal and effectual logic

in entrepreneurial decision making.

9B17N016

Time Value of Money: A Home Investment

Decision Dilemma

Arit Chaudhury; Varun Dawar; Rakesh Arrawatia;

In early 2016, Naresh Jain was busy looking at various rental

properties on popular real estate listing websites. Because of a

sudden downturn in business conditions and an immediate

need for money, Jain’s landlord wanted to sell the property and

therefore had asked Jain to vacate the premises within 30 days.

Jain had been living in the spacious, two-bedroom apartment in

North West Delhi for the past five years as it was within a

reasonable commuting distance to his workplace. After looking

at various rental properties, Jain had come across a furnished

apartment identical to his, next door, and met with a broker to

discuss it. During the discussion, it came up that an identical

apartment in an adjoining locality was for sale at ₹12.5 million.

Jain was thus faced with a quantitative finance decision of buy

versus rent to arrive at the right option for him given his

current financial conditions and the potential future benefits.






Issues: time value of money, opportunity cost, taxation, rental

property, home purchase



Learning Objective: This case can be used in a corporate

finance or financial management course in an undergraduate or

MBA program. The case illustrates practical usage of the time

value of money concept and techniques to quantitatively

evaluate the classic decision of buying versus renting a home.

After working through the case and assignment questions,


·Understand the practical concepts and techniques of the

time value of money.

·Understand the present and future value estimation

framework.

·Estimate relevant cash flows, including equated monthly

instalments, after taking into account taxation and opportunity

cost considerations.

·Perform quantitative evaluation, using the time value of

money framework, for the proposed alternatives of buying

versus renting.

Page 25 of 33

9B17M106

Suntech Power Holdings: How to Avoid

Bankruptcy

Daniel Han Ming Chng; Ziqian (Stella) Zhao;

In 2013, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP) was facing the

threat of bankruptcy. The chief executive officer (CEO), who

had founded the company in China in 2001, was aware of the

complexity and challenges of an emerging global industry (solar

energy) and economy (China). Fears of energy shortages had

fuelled the growth rate for the global solar energy industry, and

governments in many countries had introduced subsidies for

solar energy initiatives. Consequently, the company had grown

from a technology start-up to the leading global producer of

photovoltaic solar cells and modules in 2011. However, by

2013, the company was facing financial distress and the threat

of bankruptcy. Many factors, including the fluctuating cost of

silicon, difficulty finding a stable silicon supplier, the 2008

economic downturn, an uncooperative management team, and

the subsequent decline in the solar energy market had caused

major problems for STP. How could the CEO turn this company

around and avoid bankruptcy?



International;




Issues: decline, PV industry, solar power, alternative energy




Learning Objective: The case is suitable for modules in

organizational decline in second-year MBA and EMBA elective

courses on corporate turnaround or organizational design and

change. It is also suitable for modules on corporate governance

in a standard or advanced strategic management course. The

case illustrates governance issues in an emerging economy with

relatively underdeveloped institutions and organizational and

managerial capabilities. It is especially applicable in

China–Europe international business school environments. At

the completion of this case, students will be able to

·understand the common external (environmental) and

internal (organizational) causes of organizational decline in a

rapidly changing emerging market environment;

·evaluate how external environmental changes affect

organizational decline;

·assess the impact internal organizational actions (or

inactions) have on an organization’s decline;

·analyze the challenges faced by an entrepreneur and an

emerging multinational corporation; and

·propose plausible corporate turnaround strategies.

9B17A042

Yalla Momos: Targeting the Expatriate

Vimi Jham; Anupam Mehta;

Yalla Momos was a restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

that served momos, which were Nepal’s answer to the Chinese

dumpling. Yalla Momos’ sales have grown exponentially since

brothers Prashant and Ishan Goel founded the restaurant in

2012. Recently, in order to safeguard their share of the market,

the Goels have been considering how to take their venture

forward in the face of competition from both the organized (big

retail outlets) and unorganized (individually managed) food

sectors. The founders want to secure a position as market

leaders in providing nutritious, affordable restaurant food to

the expatriate (expat) community in Dubai. How could they

communicate with the public and persuade a wider target

audience of South Asian expats to adopt this healthy food

choice? Should they diversify the menu to attract more

customers, or would that cause the restaurant to lose its core

competitive advantage of serving healthy, nutritious food?

Would harnessing social media attract the expats?


Discipline: Marketing; Entrepreneurship; International;




Issues: food service industry, marketing mix, marketing

communication, competition


Setting: United Arab Emirates, Small organization, 2015


Learning Objective: This case is suitable for undergraduate- and

graduate-level business programs in marketing management

courses. It can be used to teach students about promotion

management and services marketing, while also talking about

service features and the impact of social media. Using this case,

students will do the following:

·Analyze the marketing mix (the “Four Ps” of marketing) and

develop measures for taking on the competition;

·Gain an understanding of how to create a positive customer

experience in the food industry; and,

·Grasp the significance of social media as a communication

strategy in developing a brand.

9B17D010

Onnie Jewellers

P. Fraser Johnson; Larry Menor;

In 2017, the owner of Onnie Jewellers in Leamington, Ontario,

and her daughter were preparing for their annual summer

promotion event. Held in mid-August, the invitation-only

summer promotion event at the store had become hugely

successful and very popular with Onnie’ Jewellers' clientele. The

owner and her daughter were reviewing data from the previous

year’s event and discussing potential changes that would

improve the customer's shopping experience.


Discipline: Operations Management;




Issues: process analysis, service management, quality

management

Page 26 of 33




Learning Objective: The case is well suited for an

undergraduate or MBA operations management course. This

short case provides a familiar context for a class discussion on

basic operations principles. The topics addressed include

process flow and capacity analysis in a service business.

Through the case, the instructor has an opportunity to do the

following:

·Illustrate how operations concepts can be used to diagnose

and resolve common business problems, while offering a

powerful illustration of the challenges related to managing

variability.

·Lead a qualitative discussion, based on students' personal

experiences, about the impact of variability for operational

system performance.

Assess process capability, by using the optional assignment

question that includes data on time spent by customers at the

store during the previous year’s event.

9B17M109

A Pathway for Scotiabank's Innovation: Leveraging

FinTech Partnerships

Jean-Philippe Vergne; Mary Weil; Ying-Ying Hsieh;

In February 2017, Scotiabank’s vice-president of digital

enablement was sitting in his office at Scotiabank’s Digital

Factory in downtown Toronto. He was reflecting on his recent

introduction to the financial technology (fintech) company

Kabbage, and on how successfully the partnership was

progressing. Scotiabank’s vice-president was considering what

opportunities the bank should pursue next, specifically in the

area of blockchain. The Scotiabank–Kabbage partnership

provided a valuable guideline for future partnerships. At the

partnership’s launch, the group head of Canadian banking at

Scotiabank said that the partnership with Kabbage set “an

example of how banks and fintechs are working together to

provide customers with a better banking experience.” However,

all partnerships did not work in the same way. How could

Scotiabank devise an effective partnership strategy, considering

the unique contexts in different sectors and geographic

markets?






Issues: blockchain, partnership strategy, live case, small

business lending

Industry: Finance and Insurance;

Setting: Canada; Mexico; United States, Large organization,

2017


Learning Objective: This case can be used in a class in strategy

or innovation management at the undergraduate, MBA, MSc,

or EMBA level. After completing this case, students will be able

to do the following:

·Determine when a company may need to form a fintech

partnership.

·Discuss what can be learned from a previous successful

fintech partnership.

·Consider other emerging areas, such as blockchain, and how

to devise a viable partnership strategy accordingly.

9B17M112

Alsea: A New CEO Comes on Board

Jose Antonio Davila; Ernesto Bolio; Rod E. White; W.

Glenn Rowe; Selena Shannon Pritchard;

Alsea was a Mexican-based, family-founded conglomerate

operating in six countries in Latin America and Spain. It was a

master franchiser for such well-known brands as Starbucks,

Domino’s, and Burger King. In late 2016, after years of dramatic

growth, Alsea appointed its first chief executive officer (CEO)

who was not a family member or had not been involved with

the company’s founding or early development. However, family

members continued to occupy senior executive roles, serve on

the company’s board, and hold significant shares in the

company. In March 2017, the new CEO needed to decide on

Alsea’s corporate strategy. He also needed to build trust with

the founding family, which held a controlling interest in the

firm. How should he engage the current executives in building a

world-class senior management team? How could he best

demonstrate his value to Alsea's board?






Issues: corporate strategy, family owned, franchising,

restaurant,


Setting: Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Large organization, 2017


Learning Objective: The case is intended for a corporate

strategy course in an MBA/EMBA program or for a strategy

course in a senior-level undergraduate business program. It can

be used to illustrate the challenges of onboarding the first

external CEO in a family firm, the issues associated with

reporting to a board where four former CEOs are board

members, and governance issues in a family business. After

completion of the case, students will understand how to

·enter as an outsider CEO in a family-founded and

family-controlled corporation;

·grow through a relatedly linked corporate strategy; and

·determine corporate-level strategies in international

markets.

9B17C026

Fedore Cooperative: Effective Conflict Resolution

and Decision Making

Claudia Sanchez Bajo; Jamie Campbell; Kaye Grant; Nora

Russell;

In December 2009, Fedore Cooperative (Fedore), a worker

cooperative in a major city in Western Canada, was at a critical

juncture. A general meeting comprising all members had been

convened to resolve conflicts that had been brewing for some

time and threatening the survival of the business. The members

were inspired by the ideals of participation and equality, and

had always made decisions based on consensus. Unfortunately,

they had become deeply split over the poor financial

performance of the business. There was a fundamental

disagreement between two influential members about how to

solve their problem. The situation had stalled their cooperative

decision-making process, and Fedore’s future was at risk. The

question was how to present the issues so that Fedore’s

members could come to a consensus about how to work their

way through the problem and find a solution.

Page 27 of 33


Discipline: Entrepreneurship; Organizational

Behaviour/Leadership;




Issues: mediation, diversification, cooperatives




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for senior

undergraduate and graduate courses on cooperative studies,

general business studies, and courses related to the social

economy, social enterprises, and business management.

Instructors can focus on one or more of the following key

learning objectives in this case:

·Understand the basics of the cooperative model of business

organization, and how it differs from other business forms.

·Recognize, specifically, what a worker cooperative is and the

importance of organizational fit with member values.

·Consider decision making in a collaborative environment,

including how facilitation and mediation can help resolve group

conflicts.

·Analyze business diversification and the challenges for

organizations that are contemplating diversification.

9B17C027

Ingersoll Rand: Creating Effective Engineering and

Technology Centres (A)

Rahul Chandra Sheel; Neharika Vohra;

In 2012, Ingersoll Rand India added the position of senior

director of engineering for its engineering and technology

centres, which were originally established to support the

product development activities of the company. The new

position was established to lead the currently low-performing

engineering and technology centres to a new, more efficient

and effective path. Projects had been missing their delivery

targets, and there were major differences in the understanding

of the requirements among the strategic business unit teams.

This all led to continuous changes in deliverables and resulted

in customer dissatisfaction. Key employees were unhappy, and

some high-performing team members had left the organization.

The new senior director of engineering needed to assess the

situation and determine whether he had the right

organizational configuration to grow and sustain the

engineering for its engineering and technology centres in

Ingersoll Rand India. The case comprises two parts: Part A

describes the challenges faced by the organization overall, and

Part B discusses the progress between 2012 and 2015.


Discipline: Organizational Behaviour/Leadership; International;




Issues: alignment, design, talent, change




Learning Objective: The case can be taught in various courses,

including organizational change, strategic human resource

management, and project management (to emphasize the

relationship of process with organizational issues). After


·understand the challenges that multinational organizations

face when dealing with emerging market scenarios;

·apply systems theory tools such as the star model for the

alignment of structure, process, rewards, and people with the

strategy; and

·understand the alignment of business units and innovation

centres in organizations.

9B17C024

Agoda: People Analytics and Business Culture (A)

Kenneth Goh; Ken Mark;

In the spring of 2016, the chief executive officer of Agoda

Company Pte. Ltd. (Agoda), a subsidiary of The Priceline Group,

Inc., wanted to transform the firm’s human resource practices

using data analytics. The idea was not just to get more data, but

to use this data to help managers gain insights to make better

decisions. The three main focal areas of this exercise were

recruitment, performance evaluation, and compensation. As

key executives worked at transforming Agoda into an

organization that emphasized people and development, they

faced various challenges related to collecting, managing, and

leveraging large volumes of data.







Issues: data analytics, human resources, leadership,

organizational design


Setting: Thailand, Large organization, 2016


Learning Objective: This case has been designed for use at both

the undergraduate and graduate level, and can be used in

courses on human resources management, organizational

culture, organizational design, data analytics, change, and

leadership. Following the case discussion, students should be

able to do the following:

·Identify the different ways that behavioural trace data can be

used.

·Assess the effect of organizational culture on organizational

functions and management practices.

·Analyze the downside of people analytics.

·Assess the potential effects of a change in human resources

practices on employees.

·Identify the difficulties in implementing new systems.

·Discuss the balance between the need for transparency and

the need for privacy.

·Understand and work to overcome issues that arise from

converting human resources strategy to practice.

Page 28 of 33

9B17E009

Tech Talk: Creating a Social Media Strategy

Arpan Kumar Kar; Reema Aswani;

Tech Talk is an electronic content publishing portal that

publishes articles on information and communication

technologies. The articles cover specialized areas such as

business analytics, e-governance, e-commerce, web

technologies, big data analytics, software project management,

telecommunication systems, business management theories,

service science, e-payments, and Internet marketing. As a

growth strategy, the co- founder of Tech Talk wants to draw

traffic by creating a larger social media presence. He wants to

use established strategies, and has the following questions:

How should he strategize the interaction with readers on social

media? With so many platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and

LinkedIn, which ones should he focus on? Should he manage

the social media marketing in-house or outsource it?


Discipline: Information Systems; Entrepreneurship;

International;



Teaching Note(s): 8B17E009;

Issues: social media, data analytics, digital marketing, business

analytics, content marketing




Learning Objective: This case can be used at the undergraduate

and MBA level during focused sessions of e-business, digital

marketing, web analytics, and information systems courses,

and works best toward the middle of the course. After

completing the case, students should be able to do the

following:

·Discuss the electronic content publishing industry and its

competitive landscape.

·Summarize the different ways websites get traffic and the

role social media can play in building traffic.

·Outline the different models for social media promotion,

including both ethical and non-ethical strategies for building

social presence.

·Explain how social media analytics provide insights for

marketing.

·Describe key performance indicators available from

Facebook and Twitter analytics.

9B17A037

KITKAT in Japan (A): Sparking a Cultural Revolution

Philip Sugai; Adrian Sossna;

In 2008, the marketing manager for Nestlé Japan’s

confectionery business and his team were struggling to redefine

the KITKAT brand within the Japanese market. KITKAT as a

brand faced a real threat as the retail environment rapidly

shifted toward increasingly powerful convenience store chains

and consumer preferences shifted toward more novel

consumable products. With more than 200 companies

competing within Japan’s crowded and relatively stable

confectionery market, Nestlé Japan was facing the harsh

realities of Japan’s famed position as the world’s toughest

consumer market. To address these challenges, Nestlé Japan

worked over 15 years to instill deep meaning in the KITKAT

brand and then, based upon this foundation, created a

comprehensive product portfolio. How can KITKAT capitalize on

its past success as it moves forward?


Discipline: Marketing; Entrepreneurship; International;




Issues: marketing strategy, brand management, value creation,

distribution strategy, consumer behaviour, innovation


Setting: Japan, Large organization, 2008


Learning Objective: This case series is designed for introductory

marketing courses at the MBA level in order to help focus

students on the process of marketing strategy development.

Because it explores issues related to brands and the concept of

premiumization, it is also appropriate for courses on brand

management, marketing strategy, new product development,

innovation, consumer behaviour, and general strategy. Finally,

as this case series introduces a number of insights about

Japanese consumer behaviour, it is also appropriate for courses

focused on Japan, business in Japan, or business in Asia. This

case series outlines effective solutions for brands struggling to

re-focus and instill deep meaning into a consumer product

brand. Students will learn

·The use of marketing research to identify the most important

problems faced by a specific target customer group (or

lightning rod target customer segment);

·How to leverage these insights to develop a clear and

compelling story that resonates with this target customer

group;

·How to assemble a comprehensive ecosystem of partners to

reinforce this story and ensure that it is consistently delivered

with the highest possible value to all members;

·How to identify scarce resources within the delivery of

products or services and leverage these for competitive

advantage;

·How to infuse meaning into a brand during a time of crisis (in

this case, during one of the worst earthquakes ever

experienced); and

·How to build premiumization efforts upon an existing

product line or category.

Page 29 of 33

9B17M107

Askew's Foods versus Wal-Mart: Sustainable

versus Low-Cost

Robert Malach; Sandra Malach;

A family-owned grocery business, Askew’s Foods Inc. (Askew’s),

had to decide how to handle the threat of a Wal-Mart

Superstore, which included a grocery department, coming into

its market area. Before the news of Wal-Mart’s potential

arrival, Askew’s had already purchased a site on which to build

a second store in the city’s uptown area, and the board needed

to approve the design for the new building. Askew’s had a

long-standing tradition of being an environmentally sensitive,

socially responsible, and community-minded retailer, and the

board wanted to uphold those corporate values in the design

and operation of the new Askew’s store; however, the pending

arrival of this low-cost competitor had to be considered in the

decision. Was it fiscally responsible for Askew’s to stay true to

its principles and build a state-of-the-art, sustainable grocery

store, or, given the new threat to its market share and

profitability, as well as limited funding from its bank, should it

opt for the more conservative and less expensive standard box

option? Was cost the only consideration?






Issues: sustainability, CSR, corporate social responsibility,

market competition, family business




Learning Objective: This case is suitable for use in courses on

family business, strategy, sustainability, or marketing for

undergrads or MBAs. It is also a good capstone case for a

general business course since there are a number of teaching

dimensions that can be explored, including the following:

·Weighing options when dealing with a contentious challenge,

threat, or opportunity

·Exploring options for how a business can refine, entrench, or

redefine its vision in the face of new competition

·Understanding the influence of leadership in defining a

corporation's position on sustainability, corporate social

responsibility, and general strategy

·Discovering the relative merits, strengths, and weaknesses of

the no-frills, low-cost Wal-Mart model versus the upscale,

socially and environmentally responsible retailers

9B17M100

Dilli Haat: Reviving Lost Glory

Amita Mital; Shrey Vig;

Dilli Haat started in 1994 with the objective of providing

infrastructure to craftspeople from across India to sell their

traditional crafts in an urban marketplace and prevent their

exploitation by intermediaries. The marketplace, set up in the

heart of Delhi, the capital of India, was a one-stop shop for

visitors seeking authentic India handicrafts and handloomed

products. Dilli Haat provided a unique shopping experience in a

well-laid-out area, where shopping was combined with cultural

extravaganzas and food courts offering cuisine from all the

states of India. It became a sought-after destination not only

for shopping but also as a meeting place, where families and

friends could spend time together. After rising to its glory, Dilli

Haat witnessed a decrease in visits and was losing its spirit. In

January 2016, the manager was faced with the challenge of

restoring Dilli Haat to its former glory.






Issues: strategic analysis, strategic change, decision analysis,

strategy formulation




Learning Objective: The case is recommended for an MBA

course in strategic management in a module on strategic

analysis and formulation. It can also be used in a course on

strategic change management to enhance students’

understanding of the industry trajectories of change and

organizational responses. Students should already be familiar

with the fundamental concepts and theories of strategic

management. The case focuses on internal and external

analyses of organizations and their strategic positioning. After


·assess the general environment of an organization and

conduct a competitive analysis;

·analyze an organization’s strategic positioning and scope;

·understand the change trajectory and its impact on an

organization’s growth; and

·leverage an organization’s core competence to achieve a

sustainable competitive advantage.

Page 30 of 33

9B17M053

Dropbox: Go-To-Market Sales Strategy

Darren Meister; Matthew Wong;

In late 2014, Dropbox, the San Francisco-based pioneering

cloud-based file storage service, was at an important stage of

its growth. Its user base had expanded into hundreds of millions

of users globally, and the company was expanding its service

offerings to organizations. At the heart of this expansion was

the ever-increasing acquisition of customers in the

software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. As Dropbox targeted larger

customers, it needed to carefully allocate its limited resources

and continually evaluate the appropriate sales approach

because of the highly competitive nature of the cloud storage

market. The head of the Strategic Finance team needed to

recommend how Dropbox could most effectively invest its

limited resources. Should it invest in the self-serve, inbound

approach, or opt for the more proactive and costlier outbound

approach?






Issues: high growth firm, business model innovation, sales

strategy, software as a service, go-to-market




Learning Objective: This case is designed for undergraduate

and MBA classes in finance, entrepreneurial finance, and

general business programs. The case may be valuable in course

modules dealing with new business models (e.g., SaaS),

go-to-market strategies and sales, and e-commerce. The case

may also be valuable in entrepreneurship programs because of

its focus on sales and customer acquisition metrics, which are

both critical aspects of new venture growth. After completing

the case, students should be able to

·understand the core concepts and basic calculations used in

SaaS models;

·apply the concepts and analytical tools used in SaaS

go-to-market strategies, including the use of unit economics, by

examining inbound and outbound sales models; and

·appreciate the comparative strategic values of various sales

models and the importance of various approaches in the

context of an entrepreneurial venture.

9B17M101

Hewlett Packard eHealth Center: Healthcare

Access Through Technology Convergence

Kajari Mukherjee; Michael J. Rouse; Bhuvaneashwar

Subramanian;

In 2012, eHealth Centers (eHCs) digitally delivered affordable

medical care and diagnostic support for patients in villages and

remote areas of India where it was otherwise unavailable. The

solution was initially conceived and developed as a mandate

from Hewlett Packard India’s corporate social responsibility

team under the leadership of the chief technology officer. The

eHCs design incorporated a self-contained diagnostic centre in

a container, operated by a staff of paramedics. Doctors located

in urban health hubs provided consulting care through video

conferencing, and patients could experience the feeling of

being in a doctor’s office in real-time. These eHCs slowly turned

out to be a business opportunity for Hewlett Packard India. By

early 2016, there were 55 centres in operation. The challenge

before the company was to scale up exponentially.






Issues: shared value creation, strategic corporate social

responsibility, technology convergence, bottom of pyramid




Learning Objective: The case can be used at an MBA level in a

strategy management course to discuss issues such as

technology convergence, innovation management, disruptive

technology, partnership models, project management, and

value generation for the bottom of the customer base pyramid.

It can also be used in courses involving shared value creation

and using information technology to solve social and human

problems. The key objective is understanding the alignment of

strategy in the context of the resources and competencies

needed to generate and deliver value. After completion of the


·understand the shift from traditional corporate social

responsibility work to social innovation;

·understand the challenges faced by a company as it seeks to

do well (enhance revenue and profit) by doing good (generate

positive social impact); and

·identify issues regarding partnering with disparate

organizations to deliver value to stakeholders.

Page 31 of 33

9B17M084

Kaffeine: The Nepalese Café Opportunity

Kevin Xo; Zach Hamel; Eric Morse;

In early 2013, three young Nepalese entrepreneurs were

deciding whether to launch Kaffeine, the first of a large chain of

coffee shops, in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. As

experienced entrepreneurs, the partners were interested in a

recently vacated location near Durbar Marg, a major street and

shopping destination in Kathmandu that represented a unique

opportunity to build a highly successful coffee chain. Coupled

with the increasing trend in Nepal toward coffee drinking rather

than tea, this was an opportunity the trio felt they could not

pass up. The entrepreneurs had many things to consider, such

as location, competition, target market, and how to measure

the feasibility of this new venture.



International;




Issues: go-to-market, new business entry, porter's five forces,

emerging markets, financial projections


Setting: Nepal, Small organization, 2013

Difficulty: Intro/Undergraduate

Learning Objective: This case highlights the issues involved in

deciding the go-to-market strategy of a new business and the

importance of aligning marketing decisions with that strategy. It

gives students an opportunity to perform the following tasks:

·Analyze the attractiveness of an industry using the porter’s

five forces framework.

·Consider the additional challenges of starting a business in an

emerging market.

·Assess target market, pricing, and sourcing strategies.

·Perform basic financial analysis, such as profit projection and

payback, to quantitatively justify a business launch decision.

9B17N011

Tesla: The Solarcity Acquisition

Zhichuan (Frank) Li; Tomiwa Ademidun;

In mid-2016, the chief executive officer of Tesla, a U.S.

manufacturer of electric cars, was interested in acquiring

SolarCity, a U.S. solar power manufacturer and distributor. Both

Tesla and SolarCity operated in young, high-growth industries;

however, despite their high growth rates, both companies were

also losing money every year. Both companies had similar

products and could be a strong strategic fit. The chief executive

officer needed to convince Tesla’s shareholders that SolarCity

would be a good acquisition target and then determine a fair

price to offer.


Discipline: Finance;




Issues: DCF, M&A, mergers and acquisitions, valuation;

discounted cash flow





MBA courses in finance and strategy. After completion of the


·analyze the reasoning required when determining the inputs

and assumptions in a discounted cash flow analysis;

·understand the similarities and differences (e.g., synergies,

debt and enterprise value, control premium, and other metrics)

between valuing a stock for a minority equity ownership and

for the strategic acquisition of an entire company;

·appreciate the strengths and limitations of using precedent

transactions and comparable analysis when valuing young

companies that may not yet be profitable; and

·recognize the signs of good and bad corporate governance by

analyzing the management and board structures to ensure that

there are no conflicts of interests and that the goals of the

board, management, and shareholders are aligned.

Page 32 of 33

For more information or to order any of these or other materials, contact:

Ivey Publishing

Ivey Business School at Western University

1255 Western Road, London, Ontario, Canada N6G 0N1

t. 519.661.3208 | tf. 800.649.6355 (in Canada and the United States)

f. 519.661.3882 | e. [email protected]

www.iveycases.com

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