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MULTINATIONAL MANAGEMENT

BMAN 70012

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

General Remarks

• The following questions are to be considered as “guiding questions”. That is these

questions will stimulate discussion within each group.
• However, groups are encouraged to integrate academic thinking as much as possible
(evidence of wider reading to support their strategic decision making).
• Develop strategic alternatives; evaluate these strategic alternatives against
conceptual/theoretical considerations.
• Each group should also provide an update on where the company(ies) is at nowadays.

Notes for the report

You should not spend equal number of words for each question. Some questions can be
answered shortly, others require more analysis. You can include an update on the case when
appropriate. You should always try to relate the case and its managerial implications to the
content of the class & topics covered in the lectures.

JOLLIBEE FOODS CORPORATION

Case Decision Issue

This case traces the international expansion of Jollibee Foods Corporation, a Philippine base
fast food company led by entrepreneur Tony Tan Caktiong (or TTC) that is expanding within
Asia, and now byond. It opens with a trigger issue focused on three investment decisions
facing the international division’s new general manager, Noli Tingzon. He has opportunities
to expand into Papua New Guinea (PNG), Hong Kong, or the United states, and recognizes
that his decision on which project to back will probably shape the broader strategic agenda
and organizational model that the company’s international operations will follow.

Assignment Questions
1. How was Jollibee to build its dominant position in fast food in the Philippines? What
sources of competitive advantage was it able to develop against McDonald’s in its home
market?
2. How would you evaluate Tony Kitchner’s effectiveness as the first head of Jollibee’s
international division? Does his broad strategic thrust make sense? How effectively did he
develop the organization to implement his priorities?
3. As Noli Tingzon, how would you deal with the three options described at the end of the
case? How would you implement your decisions?
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ACER, INC.: TAIWAN’S RAMPAGING DRAGON

Case Decision Issue

Describes the strategic, organizational , and management changes that led Acer from its 1976
startup to become the world’s second-largest computer manufacturer. Outlines the birth of the
company, the painful “professionalization” of its management, the plunge into losses, and the
transformation under founder Stan Shih’s radical “fast food” business concept and his “client
server” organization model, which are put to the test when a young product manager in Acer
America develops a radically new multimedia home PC with global potential Shih must
decide whether to give an inexperienced manager in a loss-generating subsidiary the green
light. Teaching purpose: To explore the links between global strategy and structure, to
evaluate leadership of transformational change, and to examine development of global
competitive advantage.

Assignment Questions
1. What accounts for Acer’s outstanding startup? What caused this company to outpace
scores of other Taiwanese PC companies?
2. After such a strong decade, why did Acer’s growth and profitability tumble in the late
1980s? How do you evaluate Leonard Liu´s performance?
3. How effective has Shih been in rebuilding Acer in the early/mid-90s? What do you think
of his new business concept (“fast food” model, Uniload, Smiling Curve, etc.) and his new
organization model (Client-Server, 21 in 21, etc.)? Is this a visionary framework for
Acer’s future competitiveness or a random series of ill-conceived top-down initiatives?
4. As Stan, what action would you take on Aspire? Should he approve its continued
development? Should he allow AAC to continue to lead the project? Should Aspire
become a global product? If so, who should manage the worldwide rollout?

ELI LILLY

Case Decision Issue

Eli Lilly in India documents the evolution of an international joint venture over a 10-year
period between Eli Lilly and Ranbaxy. The case highlights phases in the evolution of the
IJVB. Both partner firms are facing constraints and challenges calling for a major strategic
restructuring. Managers need to evaluate the options ahead and draw an action plan
recognizing the pros and cons of staying as a JV or becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary or
some combination thereof. An analysis of the Indian situation and the global positions of Lilly
and Ranbaxy individually is essential.

Assignment Questions

1. Did Eli Lilly pursue the right strategy to enter the Indian market?

2. Carefully consider the evolution of the joint venture. Evaluate the three successive IJV
leaders. Identify the unique challenges faced by each.
3. How would you assess the overall performance of the JV? What did the partners learn
from the IJV?
4. What action would you recommend regarding the Ranbaxy partnership? What are the
implications of your recommendation? How would you implement this?
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P&G JAPAN

Case Decision Issue

The biggest strategic challenge facing most companies operating in a global environment is to
develop and diffuse worldwide innovation rapidly and effectively. In the case, Paolo
DeCesare, then President of P&G’s Beauty Case business in Japan and member of P&G’s
global leadership team (GLT) for Beauty Care, is at a major decision point. He is trying to
decide if he should recommend to the GLT that SK-II, a prestige skin-care product developed
in Japan, should be rolled out as a global brand. The case describes how Japan becomes a
source of innovative new product development. With the global business units in place, new
corporate structures, systems, roles and processes had to be developed to leverage local
initiatives into global brands.

Assignment Questions
1. As Paolo DeCesare, what factors do you need to consider before deciding what to
recommend in your SK-II presentation to the GLT?
2. Explain why SK-II had the potential to become a global brand within P&G’s worldwide
operations, and include a critical discussion on negative aspects too.
3. Which of the three market options should Paolo DeCesare recommend to the GLT? What
benefits/risks do you expect to gain/face?
4. How should he implement your option? What are the implications for P&G’s new post-
O2005 organization? What support/resistance can you expect?

PHILIPS VS. MATSUSHITA

Case Decision Issue

The case traces the history of Philips and Matsushita as they evolve during the pre- and post-
war era to emerge as major competitors in the global consumer electronics industry, and the
actions taken by successive CEOs as they try to initiate the changes necessary to ensure
continued competitiveness. By tracing the organizational development of each company and
its implications on that company’s distinctive strategic capabilities, the case demonstrates
how organizational mirror images are reflected in almost opposite strategic capabilities. Both
companies have endured great strategic and organizational turmoil as they tried to build
sources of competitive advantage very different from those around which they had developed
their original strength. In the new century, it is evident that the strategic biases that have been
built into their organization since their earliest days still endure.

Assignment Questions
1. How did Philips become the leading consumer electronics company in the world in the
post-war era? What distinctive competencies did they build? What distinctive
incompetencies?
2. How did Matsushita succeed in displacing Philips as No. 1? What were its distinctive
competencies and incompetencies?
3. What do you think of the change each company has made to date – the objectives, the
implementation, the impact? Why is the change so hard for both of them?
4. What recommendation would you make to Gerald Kleisterlee? To Kunio Nakamura?
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SILVIO NAPOLI

Case Decision Issue

The case focuses on a series of strategic and organizational challenges facing Silvio Napoli as
a new country manager setting up a Greenfield subsidiary in India for the Swiss elevator
company, Schindler. Napoli has important decisions to take soon: one involving a challenge
to his Indian strategy by local management, another relating to unexpected changes to internal
transfer prices from Schindler’s European operations, and a third involving impediments to
his plan to source locally most of the components for the elevators he plans to sell in India.
Each of these decisions must be taken in the context of Schindler’s worldwide strategy and
organization. Through all this runs the cross-cultural challenge facing an Italian manager
working for a Swiss company in an Indian start-up.

Assignment Questions
1. Was Silvio the right choice for general manager of Schindler’s India operations?
2. As Luc Bonnard, how would you evaluate Silvio’s first seven months as a general
manager of the Indian company? What advice would you offer?
3. What advice would you give to Silvio regarding his decision on the nonstandard glass
wall elevator that has been ordered?
4. How should he deal with the challenges he is facing over transfer prices and limited
technical cooperation from the European plants?

GLOBAL WINE WARDS: NEW WORLD CHALLENGES

Case Decision Issue

The case presents a brief history of the global wine industry, and in particular on how
competition has escalated in the last decade or so between companies from the Old World
(France, Italy, Germany, Spain, etc.) and those form the New World (Australia, the United
States, Chile, South Africa, etc.). The case discusses various methods of production and
distribution, and regulations that characterize the industry’s development. Growing
competitiveness of the emerging challengers is discussed, as well as how the industry
becomes more fashion driven as it moves into new markets with more upscale consumers.
The case also discusses how the governments in the Old World countries respond to the
challenge to their established industries by more intervention.

Assignment Questions
1. How did the French become the dominant competitors? What sources of competitive
advantage were they able to develop to support their exports? Where were they
vulnerable?
2. What changes in the global industry structure and competitive dynamics led France and
other traditional producers to lose market share to new challengers?
3. What advice would you offer today to the French Minister of Agriculture/head of French
wine industry association/owner of a mid-size vineyard producing wines?
4. What advice would you offer today to the Australian counter-parts?