Several private startups, including Planetary Resources, SpaceX, and Deep Space Industries, had initiated plans to mine minerals in space. The ventures looked promising: an asteroid one kilometre in diameter contained, potentially, $20 trillion worth of industrial and precious metals. Governments had become involved in space exploration as well, with interests that ranged from projecting military power in space to claiming resources. The current legal .....more

Supplement to 9B16M053.

Renault-Nissan Alliance (RNA) launched four convergence projects in four key functions (research and development, manufacturing and logistics, purchasing, and human resources). The projects required the two independent entities, Renault and Nissan, to increase collaboration and integration to strengthen economies of scale, and thus reduce costs in order to better compete globally in both developed and emerging markets. However, as the alliance increased .....more

At dawn on May 29, 2015, Swiss authorities acting on behalf of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation entered a plush hotel in Zurich, Switzerland to arrest nine senior executives of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), soccer’s global governing body, as delegates from across the world convened to elect a president to lead them for the next four years. The incumbent president, who had been in office since 1998, at first refused .....more

As the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon had a 12.3 per cent worldwide market share and had operations in 10 countries. However, its performance was markedly unbalanced across different countries. For example, it had a significant market share in Germany at 21.4 per cent, while it only owned 1.7 per cent of the Chinese online retailing market. In this way, Amazon faced critical challenges in developing future international strategies. Should .....more

A health services company is planning for an initial public offering. Its new business model is the farming of body parts to feed into the organ supply chain in developed economies to help reduce the waiting lists for organ transplants.

International Services Group (ISG) serves global and local clients with accounting solutions. ISG has grown substantially over the last few decades, thanks to a very pro-active management culture at the local subsidiary level. While this growth has been good, it has also introduced certain inefficiencies. ISG’s chief executive officer now wants to change the organization from a locally responsive structure to a globally integrated one by introducing .....more

In 2013, after years of success, Samsung, a manufacturing conglomerate based in Korea but with offices, research and development divisions and factories worldwide, is established as a global powerhouse in the smartphone industry. But success has revealed opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed as the company navigates the competitive landscape. Samsung has sold more phones than rivals such as Nokia and Apple and is also a major player .....more

Under the guidance and vision of founder Peter Munk, Barrick Gold Corporation had risen to become an industry leader and the world’s largest gold producer. The company had grown, mostly through mergers and acquisitions, from one single mine in Northern Ontario to 26 operating mines on five continents, with more than 20,000 employees worldwide. By 2013, however, weak gold prices, asset value writedowns and operational cost overruns have negatively .....more

In late 2011, SAP, the German leader in the enterprise software industry, announced a major investment plan for expanding in China and also acquired a leading American firm in cloud-based human capital management software. At first glance, these investments seemed rather unconnected. A closer look at SAP’s strategy, however, revealed a closely connected and coordinated network of strategic decisions and investments for which alignment and finding .....more