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.
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.
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Skyler King, Ismail Karabas and Anthony Allred
In the 1980s and 1990s, Nintendo was dominating the video game industry with a market share of 90 per cent. Since that time, market share has dropped substantially with new…
Abstract
Case overview/synopsis
In the 1980s and 1990s, Nintendo was dominating the video game industry with a market share of 90 per cent. Since that time, market share has dropped substantially with new competitors, new technology and changing consumer preferences. This case examines the history of Nintendo including its loss of market share in a rapidly changing industry.
Complexity academic level
This case is suitable for undergraduate courses in strategic management where an instructor’s focus is on strategic decision-making.
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Timothy Harper, Barbara Norelli, Melanie Brandston and Mary Taber
Micro organizational behavior – an individual level of analysis (i.e. motivation, personality, attitudes, learning, etc.). Meso organizational behavior – team/group level of…
Abstract
Purpose
Micro organizational behavior – an individual level of analysis (i.e. motivation, personality, attitudes, learning, etc.). Meso organizational behavior – team/group level of analysis (i.e. communication, team dynamics, power, politics, etc.). Macro organizational behavior – an organizational level of analysis (i.e. strategy, structure, culture, control, etc.). Marketplace or external environment (PESTEL analysis).
Research methodology
The research was conducted by a consultant in the role of a participant-observer.
Case overview/synopsis
The focus of the case is a disguised nonprofit organization, the American-Netherlands Foundation (AmNet), based in Chicago. The organization faced leadership and organizational challenges related to conflicting strategic and operational priorities among the board of trustees, the president and staff. An unexpected contribution of $750,000 increased the salience of these differences. The case provides students an excellent opportunity to apply their analytical skills and knowledge gained in a management and business course.
Complexity academic level
Organizational behavior; organizational design; organizational development; and organizational theory. Levels – upper-level undergraduate through first-year MBA students.
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The following theoretical concepts are applicable to the case and its learning objectives: Stakeholder Power-Interest Matrix and Carroll’s Pyramid of Corporate Social…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
The following theoretical concepts are applicable to the case and its learning objectives: Stakeholder Power-Interest Matrix and Carroll’s Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Research methodology
Information was obtained in three separate interviews with PSEG. In February 2018, an introductory phone conference was conducted with a number of senior managers within PSEG, including the Director of Development and Strategic Issues, Kate Gerlach. In April 2018, an onsite interview was conducted with Gerlach, who connected the author with Scott Jennings. A phone interview was conducted with Scott Jennings in May 2018 and follow-up communication with him was handled via e-mail. The information obtained from these interviews was supplemented by material obtained from secondary sources. None of the information in the case has been disguised.
Case overview/synopsis
Scott Jennings, a Vice President at PSEG, the diversified New Jersey-based energy company, was the project leader for a large commercial wind farm that was to be built off the coast. The project, Garden State Offshore Energy, a joint venture between PSEG and Deepwater Wind, an experienced developer of offshore wind projects, had been announced over six years earlier, in late 2008. In the time that had passed, the Garden State Offshore Energy project team had waited for the New Jersey Bureau of Public Utilities, which had been tasked by Governor Chris Christie to evaluate the project costs before it could authorize the actual construction of the wind turbines. Justifying the project on a cost basis proved to be difficult; despite the growing public sentiment in favor of projects that utilized renewable energy sources such as wind power, the Garden State Offshore Energy team was unable to move the project forward. Scott needed to decide whether it made sense to continue to hold regular meetings with the Garden State Offshore Energy team. Scott’s colleagues suggested that Scott speak with senior management at PSEG to find out if the resources that had been dedicated to the Garden State Offshore Energy project could be shifted to other projects that might be more feasible.
Complexity academic level
This case is suitable for courses in Sustainability. It is appropriate to use the case in undergraduate courses to illustrate decision making in a regulated industry. Sufficient information is presented in the case to debate both sides of the offshore wind authorization issue.
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The purpose of this paper is to help readers better understand the psychological impact of employees feeling underutilized in the workplace.
Abstract
Theoretical basis
The purpose of this paper is to help readers better understand the psychological impact of employees feeling underutilized in the workplace.
Research methodology
The case is based on primary data collected from Jonathan and describes his actual experience in the workplace. Mark also provided input on the situation. Because Jonathan and Mark are still employed in the same institution, the names have been disguised to protect their identity.
Case overview/synopsis
Jonathan is a highly motivated and successful employee who was promoted into a position that had no real responsibility. His manager would not restructure the job to make it more challenging or rewarding, so after three years of frustration, Jonathan has to decide if he should keep trying to fix the job, coast until retirement or resign.
Complexity academic level
This case is applicable for undergraduate business courses in organizational behavior, principles of management, principles of human resource management or leadership.
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John-Gabriel Licht, Jamie O’Brien and Marc Schaffer
This case has three primary objectives. First, it allows students to think through a conceptual cost and benefit analysis associated with the decision-making process in line with…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
This case has three primary objectives. First, it allows students to think through a conceptual cost and benefit analysis associated with the decision-making process in line with basic economic thinking. Students will revisit core concepts of marginal benefit vs marginal cost, the notion of opportunity costs and the role of sunk costs in this type of analysis, while also highlighting the nature of market structure, oligopolies and competition across firms in an industry. The second goal of this case is to consider the role of business ethics in the DC-10 case: specifically, to consider the potential influence of moral awareness and moral disengagement in unethical decisions made by McDonnell Douglas. Students will develop an understanding of these concepts and solidify their learning by applying them to the case and engaging in active discussion. Finally, the third goal of the case allows students to explore organizational culture and specifically offer recommendations for organizations thinking about the link between decision-making, the role of ethics and culture.
Research methodology
The technical reports released by the National Transportation Safety Board along with secondary data such as available public data such as news reports were used to round out the synopsis of the case study.
Case overview /synopsis
This case explores the accidents of two McDonnell Douglas DC-10s in the early 1970s at the onset of the jumbo jet race between Boeing, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas. It explores the series of events during the “Windsor Incident” in 1972 and the subsequent accident over Paris in 1974. It explores the reasons why the cargo door on the DC-10 was faulty and subsequently why the door was not fixed. It examines the interplay of industry suppliers such as McDonnell Douglas and how they interact with oversight authorities such as the Federal Aviation Authority. The Teaching Note focuses on the economic thinking at McDonnell Douglas, behavioral ethics and organizational culture.
Complexity academic level
This case is best explored over a 90 min session but could be expanded to take up one 3 h session. The authors have used this case format in an undergraduate organizational behavior class, an MBA Leadership and Organizational Change class, and an MBA Economics of Managers class. It works particularly well in the MBA setting, as students with work experience can see the links between the mistakes made by McDonnell Douglas and their workplaces.
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Case provider
- The CASE Journal
- The Case for Women
- Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
- Darden Business Publishing Cases
- Emerging Markets Case Studies
- Management School, Fudan University
- Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
- Kellogg School of Management
- The Case Writing Centre, University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business