Case Studies

On July 7, 2015, a power fault during the evening commute led to a system-wide disruption on SMRT, Singapore’s heavily used mass rapid transit lines. Train service on both lines was shut down for more than two hours, affecting more than 413,000 commuters. The public was outraged at the scale of the breakdown and how ineffectively it was handled. Detailed investigations revealed the breakdown to be a result of maintenance lapses, and SMRT was criticized for its failure to provide clear and timely information and instructions to passengers. Following the breakdown, the company embarked on a service recovery process encompassing various new initiatives. This case illustrates the tensions SMRT faced during and after the breakdown, and its journey to recover the public’s confidence in is transit services. For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

Malaysian palm oil company IOI Corporation Berhad (IOI) developed from a plantation company in Malaysia to become a vertically integrated manufacturing company with a range of higher value manufacturing businesses across Asia, Europe, and the United States. The rapid expansion into what the chief executive officer (CEO) called a “mini-multinational” placed greater demands on IOI and its leadership. The CEO had struggled to simultaneously achieve growth, innovation, control, and coordination, and the company had experienced a sustainability crisis in 2016. In early 2017, the CEO needed to decide whether to approve an ambitious growth strategy—proposed by IOI’s specialty oils and fats team, which led most overseas operations and handled IOI’s most innovative products—to be achieved by 2025. While he was eager to expand IOI and strengthen its position as a widely admired Asian family multinational, he also needed to weigh the constraints. He could not risk growing the company faster than the leadership’s ability to control it. For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

Since 2000, China’s Jiuzhai Valley National Park (Jiuzhai Valley) had been experiencing a sharp increase in the volume of tourists it received. The park contributed significantly to the surrounding area’s economy: in 2015 and 2016, it contributed more than 60 per cent of the total admission income received from the four major scenic parks within the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. However, pollution and noise due to the influx of visitors presented a constant threat to Jiuzhai Valley’s ecosystem and environment. Despite Jiuzhai Valley’s fairly advanced and disciplined approach to park management, there was no easy solution to the problem it faced in trying to balance its economic success and sustainable environmental initiatives. Attempts to manage information using digital and smart technologies and “big data” were still in their early stages, and had yet to yield the expected benefits. How could the park balance conservation and development to attain sustainability? For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

A key contributor to the business reputation and success of Caterpillar Inc. (Caterpillar) was the company’s reliable aftermarket service. Caterpillar’s Asia Distribution Centre in Singapore processed urgent spare parts orders received from dealers located in 10 Southeast Asian countries. In 2017, the operations team was working to develop a rigorous analytical method for making daily decisions about how to ship the spare parts. Shipments were consolidated by country destination and needed to optimize the interests of three stakeholders: (1) Caterpillar, which wanted to minimize freight costs; (2) dealers, who wanted to receive the spare parts in the shortest time possible; and (3) freight forwarders, who wanted to be rewarded for their on-time delivery performance. For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

The Tan Group began as a small construction company in the aftermath of World War II. It made its name in hotels and grew into a well-known property company in Indonesia. But it struggled during and after the Asian crisis of 1998 and experienced nearly two lost decades. Four siblings of the third generation took control of the Tan Group after their father’s passing, but each had different ideas and interests on how to revive their family’s legacy. Yet, they had to make a decision on how to put the group back on a growth path while incorporating individual interests and complying with their father’s wish to continue the business together as a harmonious family.

In July 2013, the National Environment Agency (NEA) announced the roll out of the Tray Return Initiative to all hawker centers in Singapore over the next two years, following a pilot scheme, involving nine hawker centers, which started in November 2012. The Tray Return Initiative involves the introduction of tray return racks, designated tray return points within each hawker center as well as reminders, in the form of posters, table stickers and volunteers, to encourage adherence and success of the initiative. This initiative is born with the aim of addressing the issue of rising labor costs by reducing the number of cleaners needed as well as to help build a more gracious Singapore. This case outlines an overview of the Tray Return Initiative and the supposed changes in customer behavior and role of cleaners. It also highlights the reactions of the different stakeholders with regards to the initiative.

In September 2011, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) celebrated its 122nd anniversary. Its chairman had just turned 76. Two years earlier, he had travelled to the United States to receive a cardiac ablation to correct an irregular heart rhythm. Succession-related questions were on his mind. SMC needed a clear plan for the leadership transition. The charismatic chairman spent his life successfully exploiting business opportunities, growing SMC from a small brewery company into a giant business group. By 2011, SMC was the largest corporation in the Philippines in terms of revenue—accounting for about 6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and employing about 17,000 people. The group engaged in a wide range of businesses including mining, oil refining and distribution, power, telecommunications, airlines, airports, and infrastructure. How could the company continue to thrive without its remarkable leader? Finding a path towards a smooth leadership succession would be a difficult task. For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

In 2013, L’Oréal SA had become the largest cosmetics manufacturer in the world by understanding different markets and offering products to those consumers that met needs they may not have realized they even had. In India, L’Oréal spent more than 20 years studying its target consumers and developing products to cater to their specific needs. However, developing localized products was not the only criterion for success in a new market. L’Oréal needed to also localize every aspect of its operations, from research and development to marketing and outreach. As well, the company needed to deal with intensifying competition as global and local players challenged L’Oréal’s efforts to penetrate and dominate the hair-care, skincare, makeup, and professional hair-care segments in the value-conscious and largely unorganized but fast-growing beauty market in India. What localization and market development strategies should L'Oréal implement? For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

In March 2017, Airbnb needed to make some important decisions regarding its strategy for the Airbnb Business Travel Vertical (ABTV) in Asia. Despite a short history of less than three years since the formal announcement of its launch, the ABTV had exhibited promising performance. The business travel market offered many attractive characteristics, including its large size. Despite the attractiveness of the business travel segment, two issues related to the choice of countries and the choice of segments were of concern. Another key issue related to identifying the specific corporate clients to approach—whether to leverage existing relationships with multinational customers or to approach Asian corporate clients directly. For NUS Business School: (Faculty only) To obtain a free copy of the case, please contact Ms Kwok Siew Geok (bizksg@nus.edu.sg)

Three students joined the NUS Business School some years ago with very different backgrounds; as they were about to graduate, they started to reflect on their experiences at the University and how it prepared them for their first jobs. Throughout their student lives, they had taken on a combination of internships, leadership roles and case competitions, and in the process, they had developed different career aspirations. However, the future was still uncertain as they struggled with making momentous decisions regarding their careers. With so many options and possibilities before them, what was the 'best choice' for these individuals?