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Midea Group: Founder to CEO Succession
Ziqian (Stella) Zhao; Jean LeeCase IVEY-9B17C012-ELeadership and People ManagementMidea Group Co., Ltd. was a white goods empire built by its Chinese founder over several decades; consequently, the Midea brand led the home appliance industry in China. In August 2012, the 70-year-old founder and chairman retired as board chairman. The founder’s chosen successor was a 45-year-old professional manager and the former chairman and chief executive officer of one of Midea Group’s firms. This manager faced a grim situation as he took ...Starting at €8.20
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Nestlé KITKAT in Japan (D): A Trajectory For Future Growth
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B17A040-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategySupplement for product 9B17A037. It was 2017 and the KITKAT brand in Japan was at a critical juncture. The KITKAT marketing leaders sat down for a special meeting to review how Nestlé Japan had been able to create meaning and value for their brand. However, as they began to discuss their options for future growth, they faced difficult decisions: Should they look to export the flavor variations that had become such big hits in Japan to overseas ma...Starting at €5.74
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Innovating Tradition at Hosoo
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B18A058-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategyHosoo was a kimono and textile company, established in 1688 as a traditional Nishijin weaving company. The 11th generation president of the company, Masao Hosoo, had transformed the business from a producer of premium kimono fabrics and kimonos for the luxury market in Japan to a globally respected textile producer for some of the world’s top brands. A great deal of the company’s success in the global market could be attributed to the master craf...Starting at €8.20
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Suntory: Rebranding the Japanese Whisky Highball
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B20A017-EMarketing, StrategyFounded in 1899 by Shinjiro Torii in Osaka, Japan, Suntory Holdings (Suntory) boasted a rich history in Japan’s alcoholic beverage industry. It purchased US-based Beam in 2014 for $16 billion, renamed itself as Beam Suntory, and transformed into one of the world’s largest alcoholic beverage makers, reaching total global revenues of more than 2.5 trillion yen ($23 billion) by the end of fiscal year 2018. Now, in 2020, could the Suntory team pull o...Starting at €8.20
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Yonghui Superstores: Profit-Sharing and Partnership Reform
Xiaoming Zheng; Ziqian (Stella) ZhaoCase IVEY-9B19C008-EEntrepreneurship, Leadership and People ManagementIn July 2018, several employees of Yonghui Superstores stood outside the company’s headquarters in Chongqing, China to protest a pay cut that had been imposed on them. In 2012, the national supermarket chain had rolled out a performance monitoring system that periodically identified employees with inferior results. A broad-range profit-sharing plan was linked to the new performance system and calculated results based on team performance. Yonghui ...Starting at €8.20
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Jia Yuan Company: Brothers Vying for Control of a Family Business
Ziqian (Stella) Zhao; Jin Song Huang; Liu RuiCase IVEY-9B20M110-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyJia Yuan Company was a small Chinese business founded by two brothers in 2005. The more ambitious of the brothers worked at the front of the business, successfully transforming it from a local sales agent for foreign branded products to a contractor for gStarting at €8.20
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Lenovo 2009: The Role of Board Chairperson in a Turnaround
Neng Liang; Ziqian (Stella) Zhao; Mike UseemCase IVEY-9B16M079-EStrategyLenovo, China’s largest personal computer manufacturer, had just replaced its American chief executive officer (CEO), the third replacement since the company’s 2005 acquisition of IBM’s personal computer business. The leadership shakeup was seemingly caused by the worsening conditions in Lenovo’s key target market and the company’s subsequent disastrous financial loss, but, in reality, the reasons were more complicated. Lenovo was dealing with th...Starting at €8.20
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Suntech Power Holdings: How to Avoid Bankruptcy
Daniel Han Ming Chng; Ziqian (Stella) ZhaoCase IVEY-9B17M106-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn 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 initia...Starting at €8.20
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Li-Ning Co. Ltd.: A Leading Chinese Company Stumbles
Daniel Han Ming Chng; Ziqian (Stella) ZhaoCase IVEY-9B16M068-EStrategyIn 2012, Li-Ning Co. Ltd. (LNCL) was the third-largest sportswear company in China in terms of revenue, after international brands Nike and Adidas. Following its highly successful founding in 1990 by China’s Olympic champion and company namesake, Li Ning, the firm attempted to formalize its organizational structure and establish a professionally managed organization, while dealing with the rise of well-established international sportswear brands ...Starting at €8.20
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KITKAT in Japan (A): Sparking a Cultural Revolution
Philip Sugai; Adrian SossnaCase IVEY-9B17A037-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategyIn 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 c...Starting at €8.20