The Ivey Network Hong Kong Chapter

Dr. Stewart Thorhnill had concluded the last Case Night in this year on May 25.

We had discussed the case Activplant, which was considering expansion to European market.  The discussion involved various considerations on what were the options for the company to go to Europe.  How were these option affect the company and did the company have enough resources to implement it.

Stewart gave us a nice framework for strategy planning.  Considering the market environment, resoruces, organization, corporate vision and product market strategy, it helps manager to identify the missing link and formulate the right strategy.  We all enjoy the night and the learning from it.

On May 5, we have shared a great night with Prof. Niraj Dawar.

We had alumns from different years came back and join us on the discussion.  The case discussed was the Splash Corporation expansion decision.  It started by entrepreneur as a small company and grew steadily into the domestic star in Philippines.  People from Philippines also helped to increase the company’s awareness to the foreign countries.  However, due to increasing competitions from multinational big brands, lower cost competitors and competitions from extended product lines from their retailers, Splash was considering whether to expand their market from Philippines to nearby Asian market or the Western Market.

Prof. Niraj led the discussion and we shared a lot on the consideration on International expansion.  Using the model introduced by Prof. Niraj, firm can group their capabilities into four categories by examining their ease to transfer from local to global market and the pressure to globalization – Dodger, Contender, Defender and Extender.  With Splash’s current strengths, under the high pressure of globalization, it could either choose to be Dodger or Contender.

It’s a great night with Prof. Niraj.  We all learned a lot from the case and we wish you will join the last Case Night by Dr. Stewart Thornhill on May 25!

March Case Night will be on March 26, 2009. We are glad to have Dr. Gerard Seijts on this Case Night. Gerard is a professor of organization behavior at Ivey Business School. March Case Night will discuss the turnaround at the Stratford Festival of Canada. This is a great case on change management, discussing how to ensure the Festival’s survival and return to greatness.

Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009 
Time: 7:00-9:00pm
Location: Richard Ivey School of Business, 5/F, Phase I, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

For registration, please contact Amelia Chan (achan@ivey.com.hk).

Prof. Larry Wynatt hosted the second case night of this year on February 23rd.  On the case night, Larry had shared with us on an IPO decision for a Chinese based technology company.  When a company decides to go for IPO, the management team needs to construct a great story to attract investors.  On the other hand, investors have different aspects considering the growth of the company.  In addition, the management team needs to manage the expectations from institutional investors, the venture capital partners, etc.

Larry had demostrated how the various roles should act on their responsiblities on the IPO process.  We were divided into the management team and the investors to flow in the key messages to the investors as well as the concerns and risks on the future growth of the company.  We also discussed whether an IPO was necessary for raising funding – one of the point which many companies hasn’t considered well before they go for IPO.  It was a great night with Larry.

Prof. Michael Pearce kick started this year case night series on January 15th. We were pleased to have Michael share with us a case when social responsibilities become the highlight on marketing a product. As customers demand corporations to exercise more social responsibilities, the balance between short term profitability and long term brand equity become increasingly complicated. 

Michael used the Award winning Nestle case to demonstrate the evolution of Nestle’s marketing strategy for the “social responsible” coffee, and how Nestle encounters the “fair trade” brand when these NGOs are becoming more influential in governing customers’ needs and wants.