Teaching note for product 9B02M033.

A senior manager in a U.S. manufacturing firm must make a recommendation about whether 57 labour intensive jobs should be moved from the existing California plant to a new facility in a Mexican maquiladora. If the Mexican opportunity is pursued, decisions are also required regarding the entry mode (subcontracting, shelter operator or wholly-owned subsidiary) and location (border or interior).

The commercial director for ICI Colours (a $400 million global business) faced a major decision: should it implement the Customer Charter initiative? The intention of Customer Charter was to agree on a mutually agreeable service package with key customers, then monitor and report C&FC's performance against these requirements. The program hinged on the promise to trace back and forever eliminate service deficiencies at their source. Some concern .....more

The semi-annual meeting of the board of Toppan Moore, a joint venture between Toppan Printing of Japan and Moore Corporation of Canada, took place in Tokyo. With sales exceeding US$1 billion, Toppan Moore was a leader in the Japanese business forms industry and widely considered one of the most successful international joint ventures in Japan. While pleased with the venture's recent results, the issue for the board members was how to ensure continued .....more

The Japanese-American Seating Inc. (JASI) case series involves a 65-35 joint venture in southwestern Ontario formed by Japanese and U.S. automotive parts companies which are leaders in their respective geographic markets. After the venture has been in operation for nearly two years, this case describes the perspective of the newly-appointed American general manager. The case addresses the strategic and operational issues which may arise in a cross-cultural .....more

The Japanese-American Seating Inc. (JASI) case series involves a 65-35 joint venture in Ontario formed by Japanese and U.S. automotive parts companies which are leaders in their respective geographic markets. In operation for nearly two years, this case describes the perspective of the Japanese president of JASI. The case addresses the strategic and operational issues which may arise in a cross-cultural venture, particularly: (a) how the venture will .....more

Delta Agrochemicals is a global multiproduct agricultural chemical company that has been experiencing some performance problems and management has not made much headway in finding solutions. The case provides an exposure to the complications of running a diverse, global business. It demonstrates that the basic concepts of change management, steps of analysis and prescriptions that apply in simpler situations also apply here. It is quite possible to .....more