Publications

Supplements Toys "R" Us Japan. View Details

July 1995 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Union Carbide's Bhopal Plant (B)

Describes the aftermath of the explosion at Bhopal. View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management

September 1993 (Revised September 1997)
Case

China (A): The Great Awakening

As the third largest economy after the United States and Japan, China's startling economic growth has spurred increasing interest in the economic, social, and political factors that catapulted the country to sudden prominence. This case starts with an overview of the... View Details

Keywords: History; Government and Politics; Society; Macroeconomics; China

October 1992 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Foreign Investment and Free Trade: Canada in the 1990s

January 1999 (Revised March 1999)
Background Note

Note on Rules

A central document for the Managing International Trade and Investment (MITI) course and its cases. Provides a conceptual framework for the course and a systematic way of analyzing the political circumstances that confront firms engaged in international trade and... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Government and Politics

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

H2 Green Steel: A Clean-Tech Triple Play?

By: Debora L. Spar, Gunnar Trumbull, Henry Tao and Julia Comeau

At the end of 2023, the Swedish startup H2 Green Steel was mid-way through construction on an integrated steel plant in Northern Sweden that would use abundant local hydro power to create Europe’s first commercial-scale green steel. Their goal was to help European... View Details

Keywords: Steel; Green Business; Green Technology; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Climate Change; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Renewable Energy; Steel Industry; Sweden

Research Summary

Work, Mate, Marry, Love: How Machines Shape Our Human Destiny

What will happen to our notions of marriage and parenthood as reproductive technologies increasingly allow for newfangled ways of creating babies? What will happen to our understanding of gender as medical advances enable individuals to transition from one set of... View Details

Keywords: Technology; History; Relationships

Research Summary

Making Markets Work: An Executive Education Program for Africa

In the last decades of the 20th century economic growth was distributed unevenly across the world. While some countries experienced sustained and unprecedented prosperity, others fell further and further behind. This widening gap was particularly evident in Africa,... View Details

Article

The Baby Benefits Club

This past summer several prominent firms seemed to be competing for the title of America's most family-friendly company. In August, Netflix announced plans to offer new mothers and fathers "unlimited leave". Microsoft countered quickly, promising to increase its own... View Details

Keywords: Parental Leave; Maternity Leave; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Policy; Gender; Equality and Inequality

March 2023
Supplement

Halftime for Heidelberg

The case follows President Rob Huntington as he seeks to find a viable way forward for Heidelberg University.
Located in Tiffin, Ohio, Heidelberg is a small, private, four-year university. As with many similar institutions of higher education, it currently faces... View Details

Keywords: University; University Administration; University Endowment; Endowments; Brand Management; Higher Education; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Education Industry; Ohio; United States

October 2006 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Coartem Challenge (B)

July 2002 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Phase Two: The Pharmaceutical Industry Responds to AIDS

Describes how major pharmaceutical firms changed their strategy and pricing policies in the years 2000 to 2002 to respond to the growing AIDS epidemic in Africa. View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Health Pandemics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Pharmaceutical Industry; Africa

December 1995 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Lenzing AG: Expanding in Indonesia

In 1994, Lenzing AG, the world's largest rayon manufacturer, is deciding whether to expand production in South Pacific Viscose, its Indonesian subsidiary. Indonesia is a booming market for rayon, but management still has some concerns about the expansion. First, for... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Production; Expansion; Logistics; Manufacturing Industry; Indonesia

June 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Case

White Nights and Polar Lights: Investing in the Russian Oil Industry

In the latter half of the 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet empire created an unprecedented opportunity for Western businesses. Among those most attracted were the oil firms, who rushed to investigate Russia's vast petroleum reserves. But, as they soon discovered,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Market Entry and Exit; Foreign Direct Investment; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Russia

January 1994
Case

China (B): Polaroid of Shanghai Ltd.

Examines the experience of Polaroid of Shanghai Ltd. (PSL), a joint venture between the U.S.-based Polaroid Corp. and the Shanghai Motion Picture Industry Co., within the framework of China's foreign investment climate. Discusses the evolution of foreign investment in... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Foreign Direct Investment; China; United States

March 1993 (Revised July 1994)
Case

Gerber Products Company: Investing in the New Poland

Examines Gerber Products Co.'s evaluation of Alima S.A., one of Poland's largest food processing plants, as a potential overseas investment in 1991. Factors that influenced Gerber's decision are discussed in detail: property rights, taxation issues, and Poland's... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Food and Beverage Industry; Poland

2006
Book

The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception

November 2023
Supplement

'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (B)

By: Debora L. Spar, Paul Healy, Tricia Peralta and Julia Comeau

Since 1834, eight generations of the Ayala family have used their conglomerate to fund nation-building projects in the Philippines, including investments in tramcars, telecommunications, hospitals, and schools. In 1997, Ayala’s subsidiary, Manila Water, took control of... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Economic Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Natural Resources; Crisis Management; Failure; Privatization; Social Issues; Urban Development; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Philippines

Editorial

Where Feminism Went Wrong

January–February 2015
Article

Heroic Villains: Are Foreign Investors Problems or Solutions in the Ebola Crisis?

For months, the news out of West Africa has been unrelentingly grim. As of early December, the devastating Ebola epidemic had infected a reported 17,942 people and killed 6,388, according to the World Health Organization (WHO); the actual toll, which would also account... View Details

Keywords: Ebola; Multinational Corporation; Epidemics; Foreign Investment; Extractive Industries; Multinational Firms and Management; Health Pandemics; Developing Countries and Economies; Government and Politics; Africa