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Leadership.

The case is suitable for MBA, Executive level courses.

Yongye Group is a biotechnological enterprise in Inner Mongolia, China. In China, people lack trust in economic transactions due to the transitional state of the economy, especially regarding food safety. To respond to this situation, Wu Zishen, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Yongye Group, was determined to build trust among employees, distributors, farmers, and consumers towards the company. To this end, he started using a creative incentive system with employees and stakeholders: the pay-before-performance incentive system. According to this system, the reward is delivered in advance, contrary to be paid after the fulfillment of the task. This practice is meant to transform employees' work attitude from a passive “being told to work” to a more proactive “I want to work” mentality. When such an incentive system is practiced with customers and external distributors, it sends a message that the company is “treating customers as company employees”, which means that they are trusted as if they were part of the company itself. Wu Zishen also introduced a coherent series of leadership practices that generate a truly proactive culture in the organization.

From this case, students will learn how to create a proactive culture in business organizations and the effect of pay-before-performance on employees' work motivation.

Teaching notes and an exercise for class-based discussion are available.

Uber China is a strategy pricing case that examines the role of customer acquisition tactics and brand positioning in entering the tantalizingly large Chinese market. The case adopts the perspective of an outside observer looking at Uber's efforts to compete in China from its entry in 2013 to its exit through its acquisition by Didi Chuxing, the highly dominant industry leader in China's ride-sharing market. After laying out the market opportunity, consumer and competitive landscape, and the various acquisition-related moves of Uber and the other major players, the case asks students to conduct a postmortem on Uber's failure in China. Specifically, they must consider what drew Uber to the opportunity in China and what it might have done differently in terms of positioning and customer acquisition to compete more effectively. First and foremost a pricing-related discussion, the case illustrates the relationship between pricing and acquisition tactics and brand positioning and the use of both in market entry and penetration.

At the end of the session, learners are expected to be able to evaluate the detrimental impact of stress on blue-collar workers’ well-being in Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; develop effective strategies to improve stressful conditions experienced by blue-collar workers in Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; analyse and select appropriate approaches that can help maintain the motivation levels of blue-collar workers in Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; analyse the impact of Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd’s extensive investment in training new blue-collar workers, alongside the subsequent high turnover rate, on the decline in sales and profit; identify the critical changes that the managing director should have implemented to prioritize employee retention among blue-collar workers at Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; discuss the strategic implementation of mechanization, specifically in the context of automating repetitive processes, as an innovative solution to address the challenges faced by the ship repair and maintenance service industry heavily reliant on blue-collar workers in emerging markets; cultivate thoughtful debates on ways to keep blue-collar workers in the shipping repair and maintenance industry, as well as active learner participation and group interaction; develop learners’ analytical and critical thinking skills by guiding them through the analysis of a real-world case study in the shipping repair and maintenance industry, concentrating on the difficulties and potential solutions for blue-collar worker retention; and equip learners with practical knowledge and insights on implementing effective human resources strategies for retaining blue-collar workers in the shipping repair and maintenance industry, emphasizing the conversion of theoretical concepts into workable solutions.

This teaching case study centres on Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian conglomerate that bestows ship repair and maintenance services. Regrettably, the corporation has been subjected to a decrease in profitability and productivity owing to its high turnover rate of blue-collar workers. The ship repair and maintenance service industry is accountable for delivering comprehensive repair and maintenance services to ships, including their engines, hulls, machinery and other related components. The fundamental aim of this case study is to ascertain the rudimentary factors that contribute to this issue and foster effective strategies to enhance the motivation and retention rate of blue-collar workers in the ship repair and maintenance service corporation, using appropriate management theories, models and concepts. The case study brings to light the importance of discovering the most suitable approaches to retain blue-collar workers in the corporation to improve its profitability and productivity in a highly competitive market. This teaching case study will be beneficial for students and practitioners who want to grasp the disputes associated with retaining blue-collar workers in the ship repair and maintenance service industry and learn how to apply management theories, models and concepts to address these disputes effectively.

This case discussion would be highly suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate university students who are pursuing their studies in management or related fields and are eager to delve into the nuances of the ship repair and maintenance service industry. Furthermore, trainers from both private and public agencies who are keen on gaining a deeper understanding of the issues pertaining to retaining blue-collar workers in this particular industry and devising result-oriented strategies to tackle these concerns would also find this case discussion immensely helpful.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

In writing this case, the research team used secondary resources such as academic journals, trade magazines and websites to inform and verify the information.

January 7, 2021, was not a good day for Goya Foods CEO Robert Bob Unanue, who has been at the helm of Goya since 2004. On that day, the nine-member board of directors of Goya censured Unanue for publicly questioning the legitimacy of the 2021 United States Presidential election. A day before, on January 6, a mob “trapped lawmakers and vandalized the home of Congress in the worst desecration of the complex since British forces burned it in 1814” (Hockstein, 2021).

Unanue was considered a follower of former president Trump and has expressed that “the country was […] blessed to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder” (Hawkins, 2020). In January 2021, Unanue appeared on Fox News and said a “ war was coming,” as Joe Biden’s election was “unverified.” These, among other words, motivated the censured by the board of Goya Foods, Inc. (Santana and Isidore, 2021).

Students are asked the following questions for discussion: Did the board of directors of Goya Foods carry its role too far by openly censuring Unanue? Did Unanue go too far by openly expressing subjective opinions and thus influencing how people view the election results? Should he have remained as CEO of Goya Foods after his words on Joe Biden’s election?

One of the authors has taught the case in the Strategic Management course for MBA students. In addition, graduate students of corporate governance, business ethics, social responsibility and leadership, among other classes, will be the target segments for the case.

1. Recognize the effects on brand image and sales when CEOs participate in political arenas and publicly discuss social issues.

2. Understand the dynamics behind ethnic family businesses, such as their governance and conflict resolution approach.

3. Assess the value of the corporate board’s management of corporations.

CCS11: Strategy