In August 2024, Richard Kung, the newly appointed director of Asian business at Akira Spring Co. Ltd. (Akira Spring), faced a critical negotiation. Akira Spring, a Japanese automotive springs manufacturer, was competing to provide components for a power back door system to Kern, a leading German automotive parts supplier. The deal was valued at €27 million and had potential for continued collaboration worldwide. What began as product specification .....more

Cartech Technology Development Co. Ltd. (CARtech) was a fast-growing used car platform based in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, that connected consumers, car dealerships, and financing partners through a data-driven marketplace. In spring 2023, Chief Financial Officer Mei Lin was navigating the complex post-merger integration of numerous independent “mom-and-pop” dealerships into the company’s corporate structure. Lin had introduced a finance-first .....more

Happy Lamb International Catering Chain (Happy Lamb) was an international hot pot restaurant chain, founded in Boston in 2016 and since steadily expanding to 40 stores outside China. From inception, Happy Lamb remained committed to its core concept of Mongolian hot pot, adopting a strategy focused on Western markets. The company actively pursued localization throughout its globalization process—from building product competitiveness and supply chain .....more

Yisi Changtian (Nanjing) Digital Intelligence Technology Co. Ltd. was an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up in Nanjing, China, focused on automated machine learning. By March 2025, it had validated demand through its consumer-end (C-end) software-as-a-service (SaaS) product and attracted early adopters through content-led community operations. Meanwhile, business-end (B-end) inquiries were increasing, including requests for private deployment, .....more

In June 2023, the chief executive officer (CEO) of TH International Ltd. (Tims China), was at a strategic crossroads. Since entering the Chinese market in 2019, the master franchisee of Restaurant Brands International Inc. (Tim Hortons) had scaled through a mix of company-owned stores, city franchising with corporate investors, and key account franchising with established corporations. However, the competitive landscape had intensified drastically. .....more

In May 2024, US President Joe Biden’s administration introduced tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) imported from China to the United States. The policy was a response to the growing threat of low-cost Chinese EVs flooding the US market, which, while having the potential to drive EV prices down, was also seen as a threat to the competitiveness of American auto manufacturers. The EV tariffs represented a significant turning point in international trade .....more

This case examines the strategic challenge faced by Lily Hsu, overseas regional manager for Asia-Pacific at Chacha Food Co. Ltd. (Chacha), as the company sought to expand its business in South Korea. Although Chacha had achieved broad retail distribution for its core sunflower seed products through an exclusive distributor, growth remained constrained by cultural consumption barriers and a heavy reliance on overseas Chinese consumers. Hsu had to decide .....more

The China-Africa Cooperation Forum Summit took place in Beijing on September 4, 2024. The summit focused on the industrialization of the manufacturing sector as a key aspect of China–Africa collaboration. During its 28 years of operations in Africa, such industrialization had been a priority for the Chinese manufacturer Hisense Group, which had started out with trade but progressed to investing in manufacturing plants and establishing research and .....more

Founded in 2015, Huachu KaDian New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. specialized in smart batteries and intelligent energy management. By the early 2020s, as competition in China’s energy storage industry intensified, its digital transformation—mainly in research and development and manufacturing—remained fragmented, with supply chain and logistics underdigitized. Realizing that isolated upgrades were insufficient, the company recognized the need for an .....more

In July 2025, Faro Hsia, managing director of overseas markets at Hangzhou Jiandan Youwei Co. Ltd. (UWANT), confronted weak US traction for a Chinese digital-native cleaning-appliance brand based in Suzhou, China, that thrived in China via livestreaming and e-commerce. Amazon Inc. (Amazon) launches and ByteDance Ltd. (TikTok) campaigns lifted early sales of its vacuum cleaners but failed to build awareness or trust, while rivals such as Dyson Holdings .....more