Month: February 2018

 
Individual Case Study – ‘Levendary Café: The China Challenge’ (25%, due Friday 8 September 2017, 23:59 hrs AEDT, submission via Turnitin)
Bartlett, CA & Han, A 2011 (rev 2013), ‘Levendary Café: The China Challenge’, Harvard Business School Publishing Brief Cases – 4357 (4357-PDF-ENG). Provide in the attach files.
A submission must be made via Turnitin for assessment using the template provided

• viewing of the Originality Report is permitted
• re-submission is not permitted
• Assignment Questions
• From the case study, Mia Foster, the CEO of Levendary Café strongly believes in the standardisation of a brand, making sure that there are no differences in the offering of the product. Out of the 23 Levendary Cafés that Chen had opened in China, only two very closely typified the company brand as it was known in the USA the country of origin. According to Chen, the other cafés were meant to suit location requirements. However, Foster was aware the McDonald’s brand had not been altered even as it expanded into China—it was only slightly modified to include rice porridge in the breakfast menus. Denny’s Japan on the other hand had altered its entire menu to meet local requirements, when Denny’s, an American restaurant company, entered the Japanese market—and by doing that it attained great success.

1. Discuss the pros and cons of standardisation of business operations for multinational corporations offering a brand in multiple locations across the globe. (300 words)
2. What are the critical tasks and key success factors in the restaurant franchising business in international context? You also need to consider the country manager’s role and the nature of headquarters-subsidiary controls here. (300 words)
3. What implications do these have for the way Levendary should manage its international operations? (300 words)
4. From this analysis, what recommendation would you make to Mia Foster on the issues she raises at the end of the case? What should be on the agenda for her meeting with Chen? (600 words)

 
Material which could be used for the case study:

• Baruch, Y 2002, ‘No such thing as a global manager’, Business Horizons, vol 45, no 1, pp. 36–42.
• Haas, H and Nüesch, S 2012, ‘Are multinational teams more successful?’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol 23, no 15, pp 3105–3113.
• Schlevogt 2000, ‘Doing business in China II: Investing and managing in China – how to dance with the dragon’, Thunderbird International Business Review, vol 42, no 2, pp 201–226.
• Paul, H 2000, ‘Creating a global mindset’, Thunderbird International Business Review, vol 42, no 2, pp 187–200. 
Also make reference to some of the articles in the weekly reading lists provided by the Offering Coordinator. You should have a minimum of ten good references.
• *Also make reference to some of the articles in the weekly reading lists provided by the Offering Coordinator. You should have a minimum of ten good references.

Weekly reading list:

1. Shah, A 2010, ‘Nigeria and Oil’, Global Issues, 10 June. (http://www.globalissues.org/article/86/nigeria-and-oil)

This article discusses the negative effects on the environment and other matters of western oil MNCs in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria.
 

2. Hitchcock, D 2011, ‘Social entrepreneurship: Harnessing the marketto solve world problems’, International Society of Sustainability Professionals. (https://www.sustainabilityprofessionals.org/social-entrepreneurship)

This article considers social entrepreneurship as that which involves identifying a problem and then building a business model not dependent on external funding such as donations or grants, with a determination to provide a solution to the problem.
 

3. Boschee, J & McClurg, JS 2003, Towards a better understanding of social entrepreneurship: Some important distinctions.

(https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/courses/fileDL.php?fID=7289 )
This article aims at helping in understanding the meaning of entrepreneurship by explaining the differences between entrepreneurship in general and social entrepreneurship in particular, differences between sustainability and selfsufficiency, differences between earned-income strategies and social-purpose business ventures, and also highlighting differences between innovators, entrepreneurs and professional managers. It also makes one think about a non-profitmaking organisation that is doing good to society, whilst asking the question if its activities be viewed as innovative or entrepreneurial.
 

4. Ngwakwe, CC 2008, ‘Environmental responsibility and firm performance: evidence from Nigeria’, World Academy of Science Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic and Management Engineering, vol 2, no 10, pp 187–194.

(http://waset.org/publications/12811/environmental-responsibility-and-firmperformance-evidence-from-nigeria)
 

5. McKinsey & Company 2012, ‘Women matter: An Asian perspective, Harnessing female talent to raise corporate performance’, McKinsey & Company Report. (http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey%20Offices/Japan/PDF/Women_Matte r_An_Asian_perspective.ashx)

6.This report presents a case that corporations could benefit from the different but complementary leadership styles that women bring to their work. The research concludes that female leadership enhances corporate performance.
 
7.Grant Thornton 2012, ‘Women in senior management: still not enough’, Grant Thornton International Business Report.    (http://www.grantthornton.ae/content/files/ibr2012-women-in-seniormanagement-master.pdf)
This article highlights the low levels of women in top positions and explains why it is important to address this imbalance.
 
8.Hewlett, SA & Rashid, R 2010, ‘The Battle for Female Talent in Emerging Markets’, Harvard Business Review, May. (R1005H-PDF-ENG) (https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pl/50856547/50856551/0b2b75d759ce545a90ea 45eadb9f15b9 )
The premise of this article is “To attract and retain well-educated, highly ambitious women in developing economies, companies must understand the societal challenges those women face.”
 
9.Lolidis, M 2006, ‘Kaizen Definition & Principles in Brief: A Concept & Tool for Employees Involvement’.
(http://www.michailolidis.gr/pdf/KAIZEN08.pdf )
“Kaizen means improvement, continuous improvement involving everyone in the organization from top management, to managers then to supervisors, and to workers.” This document defines the concept and its principles, and discusses how it may be successfully applied.
 
10.Hong, H-J & Doz, Y 2013, ‘L’Oréal Masters Multiculturalism’, Harvard Business Review, June. (R1306J-PDF-ENG) (https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pl/50856547/50856553/9fdc61862804ec77f44f 52875248e44c )
“As the cosmetics company L’Oreal has transformed itself from a very French business into a global leader, it has grappled with the tension that’s at the heart of every global enterprise: Achieving economies of scale and scope requires some uniformity and integration of activities across markets. However, serving regional and national markets requires the adaptation of products, services, and business models to local conditions. Since the late 1990s, the L’Oreal Paris brand–which accounts for half the sales of the consumer products division–has dealt with that tension by nurturing a pool of managers with mixed cultural backgrounds, placing them at the center of knowledge-based interactions in the company’s most critical activity: new-product development. L’Oreal Paris builds product development teams around these managers, who, by virtue of their upbringing and experiences, have gained familiarity with the norms and behaviors of multiple cultures and can switch easily among them. They are uniquely qualified to play several crucial roles: spotting new-product opportunities, facilitating communication across cultural boundaries, assimilating newcomers, and serving as a cultural buffer between executives and their direct reports and between subsidiaries and headquarters.” (Source: https://hbr.org/product/loreal-masters-multiculturalism/R1306J-PDFENG)
 

11. The Economist 2007, ‘No country is an island – Japan is reluctantly embracing globalisation’, The Economist, 29 November. (http://www.economist.com/node/10169924 )

This article presents data which shows that Japan has the lowest levels of import penetration and inward FDI, and that its foreign affiliates’ share of manufacturing and service-sector turnover is low. This shows how the economy is mostly dependent on local activities. It is argued that, for example, globalisation could be accelerated through domestic and foreign acquisitions.
 

12. Turpin, D 2009, ‘How Japan can improve its competitiveness – the urgent need for more global leaders’, International Institute for Management Development (IMD), October.

(http://www.imd.org/research/challenges/TC082-09.cfm)
This article highlights the difficult economic circumstances faced by Japan which affect its international competitiveness. The author presents some thoughts on how the Japanese firms can globalise.