Case studies

Teaching cases offers students the opportunity to explore real world challenges in the classroom environment, allowing them to test their assumptions and decision-making skills before taking their knowledge into the workplace.

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Case study
Publication date: 26 June 2020

Alexander St Leger Moss, John Luiz and Boyd Sarah

The subject area is international business and strategy. The case allows scope for the following areas: internationalisation, market strategy, emerging market multinational…

Abstract

Subject area of the teaching case

The subject area is international business and strategy. The case allows scope for the following areas: internationalisation, market strategy, emerging market multinational companies, and doing business in Africa.

Student level

The primary target audience for this teaching case is postgraduate business students such as Master of Business Administration (MBA), or postgraduate management programmes. The case is primarily designed for use in courses that cover strategy or international business.

Brief overview of the teaching case

This case centres on the international growth strategy of FMBcapital Holdings Group (FMB), the Malawian commercial banking firm. The case finds the founder and current group chairman, Hitesh Anadkat, in 2016, as he and the FMB board are about to decide on the next move in their Southern African strategy. Since opening the first FMB branch in Malawi and becoming the country's first commercial banker in 1995, Anadkat and his team have ridden a wave of financial deregulation across the region to successfully expand into neighbouring Botswana, Zambia, and Mozambique. Now, an opportunity to gain a foothold in Zimbabwe means the leaders must decide (1) whether they want to continue to grow the FMB footprint across the region, or focus on their integration and expansion efforts within existing markets; and (2) how they will realise this strategy.

Expected learning outcomes

International expansion – identifying the need to expand into new markets; identifying the combination of internal strengths and external conditions that make international expansion viable; and identifying and analysing each possible new market(s) and the decision-making process involved.

Political, social and economic factors in Africa – understanding how these external institutional factors present constraints, risks and opportunities for internationalisation and hence shape strategy; understanding that these factors may vary significantly across countries on the continent (in spite of their geographic proximity) and in some cases, within a single country; and understanding that by selecting markets with extreme socially and politically volatile contexts, the risk of a worst-case scenario transpiring (in which institutional forces trump business strategy) is appreciable.

Combination of resource- and institutional-based approaches – recognising that successful internationalisation requires capitalising upon both internal resources and institutional mastery.

Choosing expansion strategies – assessing the type of new market entry (e.g. greenfield or acquisition of existing operations) and its adequacy for penetrating a new market.

Using networks and local partners – to substitute and enhance the benefits that originally flow from a small (and sometime family-established) business, with an emphasis on acquisition of skills and networks in foreign countries.

Regional integration – optimising business operations through a sharing or pooling of resources and improved capital flow between subsidiaries, in some instances by taking advantage of economies of scale (this extends to enhancing the reputation and awareness of a brand across a wider region).

Family businesses – identifying the value that can be gained through establishing a family business with the support of many “close” stakeholders while also noting the limitation that exist as expansion and growth is required.

Details

The Case Writing Centre, University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2633-8505
Published by: The Case Writing Centre, University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

L. J. Bourgeois and Sriram Nadathur

Prudential Equity Group had downgraded Danaher to underweight status, citing concerns over its inadequate organic growth. By March 2009, its CEO wondered how to keep growing a…

Abstract

Prudential Equity Group had downgraded Danaher to underweight status, citing concerns over its inadequate organic growth. By March 2009, its CEO wondered how to keep growing a company that faced changing worldwide economic circumstances, pressure from low-cost competitors, new competitors, flat or declining demand for company products, price increases for certain raw materials, and criticism from market analysts.

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Petra Christmann, Jin Leong and Michele Tan

This case can be used in management of international business courses to illustrate the analysis of market attractiveness, the importance of fit between firm capabilities and…

Abstract

This case can be used in management of international business courses to illustrate the analysis of market attractiveness, the importance of fit between firm capabilities and market requirements, and the effects of multimarket competition. It describes the international expansion challenges facing EAC Nutrition, the infant formula division of a Danish conglomerate, in early 2002. Growth in EAC's core markets of Thailand and Malaysia has stagnated and EAC is contemplating three expansion options: entry into India, geographic expansion within China, and product line expansion in existing markets.

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Leslie E. Grayson and Golnar Sheikholeslami

This case concerns the troubles that Euro Disney experienced from the start. Euro Disney claimed that the major cause of its poor financial performance was the European recession…

Abstract

This case concerns the troubles that Euro Disney experienced from the start. Euro Disney claimed that the major cause of its poor financial performance was the European recession and the strong French franc. The timing of the park's opening could not have been more inopportune. If the recession had been the only cause of Euro Disney's problems, the financial restructuring would only need to carry the park forward to better economic times. Only when Europeans began spending freely again would investors learn the answers to some uncomfortable questions: Was the whole idea of Euro Disney misconceived? Were there other fundamental cultural problems that could inhibit the park's success? Would Euro Disney fail to recover even though other European companies did? And, if so, why was the Disney theme-park concept successful in Japan and not in France?

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Peter Debaere

This case features a prominent antidumping case in the United States against six of its major foreign shrimp suppliers. The case fits well in a discussion and analysis of the…

Abstract

This case features a prominent antidumping case in the United States against six of its major foreign shrimp suppliers. The case fits well in a discussion and analysis of the (welfare) consequences of protectionism, the basic case for free trade, and the political economy of protectionism.

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Peter Debaere and Vincent de Koninck

The diamond industry has been subject to significant change. There is increased competition from low-wage countries such as India and China, the concern about blood diamonds, and…

Abstract

The diamond industry has been subject to significant change. There is increased competition from low-wage countries such as India and China, the concern about blood diamonds, and policy issues affecting the viability of trading diamonds. In this case, we study how Antwerp's dominant position in the diamond trade is being challenged and eroded. The case offers a good opportunity to introduce and discuss comparative advantage and relate it to Heckscher-Ohlin type of trade.

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

R. Edward Freeman, Jared D. Harris, Jenny Mead, Sierra Cook and Trisha Bailey

John Hume, a veteran game farmer and founder of the Mauricedale Game Ranch in South Africa, was deeply troubled by the record upsurge in black rhino poaching incidents and…

Abstract

John Hume, a veteran game farmer and founder of the Mauricedale Game Ranch in South Africa, was deeply troubled by the record upsurge in black rhino poaching incidents and black-market horn thefts in 2010 and 2011. While the endangered black rhino represented only one segment of Mauricedale's hunting and farming businesses in 2011, the animal's survival was an important component of the ranch's and industry's growth potential in the future. As both a businessman and a rhino advocate, John Hume was contemplating an innovative idea that might help stop the decline of the black rhino: the creation of a market for legalized black rhino hunting. As he pondered the possibilities and alternatives to determine what his next move should be, Hume had several questions on his mind: Was the legalization of the international sale and trade of rhino horns a viable solution? Was it Hume's responsibility to save the black rhino, and was the animal a good investment?

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Peter Debaere and Christine Davies

This case describes and analyzes the negotiations surrounding the U.S.–Thailand free trade agreement (FTA) that never materialized. The case offers an excellent opportunity to…

Abstract

This case describes and analyzes the negotiations surrounding the U.S.–Thailand free trade agreement (FTA) that never materialized. The case offers an excellent opportunity to discuss the complexities of trade negotiations, the welfare analyses of FTAs (with trade diversion and creation), and the growth of FTAs and customs unions (CUs) as opposed to multilateral trade liberalizations.

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Peter Debaere

This case will lead students to a discussion of the causes and effects of hyperinflation. The link with fiscal deficits is explored, and so is the link with societal changes. The…

Abstract

This case will lead students to a discussion of the causes and effects of hyperinflation. The link with fiscal deficits is explored, and so is the link with societal changes. The particular focus is on the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe whose government implemented a controversial land redistribution program. The case can be taught with a class experiment—see teaching note.

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 8 December 2014

Rebecca Goldberg, Tim Kraft, Elliott Weiss and Oliver Wight

Joe Smith, senior director of merchandise management at Beautiful Bags (BB), was about to place a large order for the upcoming winter season. He had to decide how many pieces he…

Abstract

Joe Smith, senior director of merchandise management at Beautiful Bags (BB), was about to place a large order for the upcoming winter season. He had to decide how many pieces he should order of each product. But another big question whether BB should source the product from its domestic manufacturing facility, its Chinese suppliers, or some combination of the two given the timing needs, labor costs, minimum order requirements, and BB's expanding product assortment?

Details

Darden Business Publishing Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-7890
Published by: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation

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