Publications

March 1991 (Revised January 1996)
Case

The General Mills Board and Strategic Planning

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Examines the General Mills Board of Directors' role in the General Mills joint venture with Nestle S.A. to sell cereals outside of North America. It raises the more general question of the appropriate role for the board of directors in strategy formulation. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Trade; Corporate Governance; Managerial Roles; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

September 1997
Case

Siam Cement Group, The: Corporate Philosophy (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Prompilai Khunaphante

In 1996, senior executives of Thailand's Siam Cement Group must decide whether to apply its management philosophy and code of ethics when doing business outside of Thailand. The status of the code in joint ventures and contractual relationships is of particular... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Making; Joint Ventures; Corporate Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Policy; Construction Industry; Thailand

June 1993 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Retail in Mexico 1993

By: David B. Yoffie and Charles McHugh LaFollette

In the wake of NAFTA, U.S. retail firms begin to see Mexico as an attractive market for international expansion. This case examines the structure of Mexico's volume retail (grocery, discount, warehouse club, hypermarket) industry, the joint ventures between U.S. and... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Global Strategy; Joint Ventures; Industry Structures; Trade; Retail Industry; United States; Mexico

March 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

ACCION International: Maintaining High Performance Through Time

By: Michael Chu

ACCION International has been a major innovator in microfinance for 30 years. Reviews organizational context under which key industry-shaping concepts were developed (from peer group lending, guarantee funds, equity investment funds, and regulated commercial banking... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Equity; Microfinance; Employee Relationship Management; Non-Governmental Organizations

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

The Shouldice Hospital Today

By: James Heskett and Roger Hallowell

The leadership and staff of Shouldice Hospital in Toronto, Canada have, for 75 years, sought to do one thing better than any other hospital in the world, repair inguinal hernias. For some years, a possible second hospital in another market has been under... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Health Industry; Toronto; Canada; United States

Article

Multilateral Matching

By: John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

We introduce a matching model in which agents engage in joint ventures via multilateral contracts. This approach allows us to consider production complementarities previously outside the scope of matching theory. We show analogues of the first and second welfare... View Details

Keywords: Matching; Stability; Competitive Equilibrium; Core; Networks; Competition; Joint Ventures; Balance and Stability; Groups and Teams; Entrepreneurship

January 2001
Case

Abgenix and the XenoMouse

By: Robert J. Dolan

Abgenix has a unique method for generating antibodies useful in treating a number of diseases, including cancer. In early 2000, the company's cancer has performed very well in animal testing and is moving to early stage human testing. Abgenix must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Marketing Strategy; Health Testing and Trials; Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry

May 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Case

STAR TV (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and J. Peter Williamson

Concerns the decision whether or not to launch a satellite television service in Asia in the 1990-1991 period. STAR TV was a joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and Li-Ka Shing and was established to launch such a service. Li-Ka Shing's son, Richard, was CEO.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Product Launch; Service Delivery; Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Asia; Europe; United States

September 2010 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., a Social Business

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

Grameen Danone is a joint venture between the Grameen Group (a sister company of Grameen Bank) and Groupe Danone, a $2 billion (revenues) French food company. The company's goal was to provide nutritional yogurt (brand name Shoktidoi) for the nearly 50 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Food; Distribution; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; Bangladesh; France

August 1990 (Revised February 1991)
Case

Whirlpool Corp.

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Sarah D. Hall

Examines the company's global strategy and potential acquisition of Philips' major domestic appliance operations in Europe in light of increasing trends toward globilization in the major appliance industry. Allows discussions weighing the advantages and risks of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Joint Ventures; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

February 1985 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Computervision-Japan (A)

The CAD/CAM market in Japan is about to take off. Computervision wants its exclusive distributor to dramatically expand its sales and service coverage. The distributor wants a joint venture with Computervision before expanding. Several distribution alternatives... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; Japan

June 1995
Case

Northern Telecom and Netas (A): Turkey's Telecommunications Team

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Kalman D. Applbaum and Pamela A. Yatsko

The Turkish general manager of a successful telecommunications equipment-manufacturing joint venture between the Canadian company Northern Telecom and local partners in Turkey reviews the solutions to a crisis in 1989 and wonders whether the company will be able to... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Political Elections; Telecommunications Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Turkey; Canada

December 1999 (Revised October 2003)
Case

BRL Hardy: Globalizing an Australian Wine Company

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Two new product launch decisions face Christopher Carson, managing director of BRL Hardy, Europe. Responsible for the European operations of a major Australian wine company, Carson has begun to globalize his strategy beyond selling the parent company's wines. After a... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Joint Ventures; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Style; Food and Beverage Industry

November 2008 (Revised February 2010)
Case

CBS and Online Video

By: Dennis A. Yao, Francisco Pizarro Beleza Rodrigues Queiro and Julia Rozovsky

In late March 2007, CBS faces an important decision about its online video strategy. A just-announced joint online distribution venture between NBC Universal and News Corporation (Fox) is the impetus for this decision. Should CBS join forces with this new venture, come... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Distribution; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Cooperation; Online Technology; Media and Broadcasting Industry

February 1999 (Revised March 2004)
Case

QI-TECH: A Chinese Technology Company for Sale

QI-TECH, is a Chinese manufacturer of precision coordinate measurement machines. A foreign investor who holds 50% of QI-TECH must negotiate a sale with its Chinese partner and a potential buyer (a large Western measurement machine company). For this purpose the foreign... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Negotiation; Valuation; Joint Ventures; Financing and Loans; Manufacturing Industry; China

January 1994 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Repligen Corporation: January 1992

By: Josh Lerner and David Kane

Sandford Smith, CEO of Repligen, faces the breakdown of negotiations about a proposed joint venture with a large pharmaceutical firm. He must decide whether to proceed using his firm's internal resources or whether to seek to revise the proposed collaboration. If the... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Value

June 1995
Case

Northern Telecom and Tong Guang Electronics (A1): Getting to Know Each Other

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Pamela A. Yatsko

In its second year of operation, the joint venture between Northern Telecom (Nortel) of Canada and Tong Guang Electronics of China to manufacture telecommunications equipment in China has hit a crisis. The Chinese partner has asked Northern Telecom to replace its... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Joint Ventures; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Leadership; Telecommunications Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Canada; China

June 1995
Case

Northern Telecom and Netas (B): Transferring Technology to Central Asia

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Kalman D. Applbaum and Pamela A. Yatsko

In the early 1990s, the Turkish telecommunications firm, Netas, established joint ventures in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as miniature replications of Netas's own experience on the receiving end of technology transfer with Netas's 51% owner, Northern Telecom. This case... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Change Management; Transition; Developing Countries and Economies; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Learning; Technology Adoption; Telecommunications Industry; Turkey; Kazakhstan; Azerbaijan

November 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Background Note

Business as Stakeholder in Public Education: A History of Business Efforts to Improve Public Schools in the United States

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Explores seven roles businesses and business leaders have played with respect to U.S. public education reform historically and today: "owners" helping set the agenda; "investors" donating funds; "customers" hiring graduates; "experts" contributing management know-how;... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Performance Improvement; Business and Community Relations; United States