Case Collection

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BUSINESS POLICY

Raffles Hotel (1886) Pte Ltd * (BSC #99-02)
by Seok-Hui, Ng and Gaik-Eng, Lim

Decision Sciences

American Electronics Limited (BSC #99-03)
by KV Ramani, Sum Chee Chuong, Jasbir Singh, Alfred Tan

Marketing

Robinsons & Company It's Worth Waiting For... (BSC #03-01)
by Prem Shamdasani

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The Legend Group's Marketing Challenges in China: A Case Study (BSC #01-01 & TNN #01-01)
by Hean Tat Keh and Jiye Xu

Synopsis
This case describes the emergence and growth of the largest PC manufacturer in China. Within a period of 15 years, the Legend Group has evolved from being a distributor for imported computers and computer peripherals to a successful manufacturer and marketer of PCs and PC components. With its competitive prices and large distribution network, the company has managed to compete successfully with its larger and more established foreign rivals. However, with the emergence of e-commerce and new, aggressive competitors, Legend has to find new ways to stay on top of the market.
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McDonald's Hello Kitty Promotion in Singapore (BSC #01-02 & TNN #01-02)
by Lau Geok Theng

Synopsis
Starting from 1 January 2000 (Saturday) and continuing each Thursday over the subsequent five weeks, McDonald's in Singapore was releasing a different pair of soft toys depicting Hello Kitty and her friend Dear Daniel wearing different styles of wedding costumes. Customers were entitled to buy either one Kitty or one Daniel doll at S$4.50 with every purchase of an Extra-Value meal for S$5.30. The response from customers proved overwhelming. For the first set (Millennium Wedding), the toys were sold out in three days. For the second set, the toys were sold out in two days. For the third and fourth set, the toys were sold out during the first day and for the fifth set, the toys were sold out within the first three to four hours.
Many outlets encountered problems. Huge crowd queued outside store entrances many hours before opening times. Crowd control proved to be a challenge and fights broke out among customers at some outlets. Customers in the queues littered rubbish in the surrounding of the outlets. Some customers threw away the McDonald's meal after obtaining the toys, drawing comments by some observers that this was wasteful. Traffic congestion built up around drive-through outlets, resulting in many Singaporean turning up late for work. Retailers operating around McDonald's outlets complained that the queues were disrupting their business. All these problems were attracting negative publicity for McDonald's, although the promotion program proved to be a successful and profitable one.
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JointCom Myanmar * (BSC #99-01 & TNN #99-01)
by May Lwin, Jochen Wirtz

Synopsis
U Mya Win, managing director of JointCom, an advertising agency in Myanmar was considering how the company would respond to the region's economic crisis. The executives of JointCom were debating whether to join the general advertising industry bandwagon by making drastic budget cuts, or whether to continue investing in more local activities. U Mya Win needed to decide on a specific business strategy for the company.
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Allercare: Penetrating Singapore's Allergy Prevention Market (BSC #99-04 & TNN #99-02)
by Jochen Wirtz, Tan Soo Jiuan and Christopher Lovelock

Synopsis
AllerCare is a retailer in the Singapore allergy prevention market. It has been trying somewhat unsuccessfully to position itself as a high quality, value-for-money provider against a much stronger and aggressive competitor. One year after market entry, it is still struggling with lack of profitability. Trapped in the midst of an economic crisis, facing cutbacks in consumer spending and increasing costs, AllerCare must reconsider its market penetration strategy.
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Ameer Steel Furniture (BSC #99-05 & TNN #99-03)
by Mohammed Abdur Razzaque

Synopsis
Ameer Steel Furniture, manufacturers and retailers of steel furniture in a Bangladesh city of 680,000 people, had just completed its first year in business in a fairly competitive market. The overall sales of the firm totaled Tk. 2,007,000 and its market share stood at 10.3 percent. The company's profit margin of 17.8% was substantially lower than the industry average of 23%. The market, however, was characterized as a growing one. Mr. Ameer was planning to improve the company's performance by adopting various measures including emphasis on advertising and was involved in developing a budget.
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Birla Whilte (BSC #99-06 & TNN #99-04)
by V. Ravi Shankar, Saroja Subrahmanyan

Synopsis
In 1988, an Indian Company, India Rayon Industries Limited, set up a new division-called Birla White Cement (BWC), to manufacture and market white cement. Unlike others in the industry who sold all types of cement as a commodity, BWC decide to market white cement as brand. Towards this end a whole new distribution set up was introduced throughout the country although IRIL was manufacturing grey cement and could have used their existing set-up. In addition, although only 15% of white cement was expected to be sold through retailers, BWC planned to sell smaller quantity bags of 1 kg, 2 kg and 5 kg, in addition to the existing norm of selling only 50 kg. bags. Margins on the smaller bags for the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer were higher. However, the branded white cement was more expensive and hence the uncertainty in demand would pose risks to launching the brand.
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Carrefour's Asian Expansion: Competition for Retail Space (BSC #99-07 & TNN #99-05)
by Prem N. Shamdasani

Synopsis
The case highlights one of the more successful examples of a global value retailer, a French hypermarket chain, expanding aggressively in Asia. While Carrefour has been successful in Asia in general, the Singapore retail market poses serious competitive and operational challenges, which threaten its long-term viability. The major challenge is to find low cost and reasonably large retail sites in land scarce Singapore to successfully operate the no-frills, hypermarket concept. Additionally, Carrefour's successful and popular Malaysian store in the neighboring Johor Baru state, continues to cannibalize its flag ship Suntec City Store's sales in Singapore. With another hypermarket planned a short distance away from the second causeway link between Singapore and Malaysia, the threat of cannibalization continues to put a damper on Carrefour's plans to expand the number of hypermarkets in Singapore.
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Charoen Pokphand (BSC #99-08 & TNN #99-06)
by Swee Hoon Ang, Siew Meng Leong

Synopsis
Charoen Pokphand (CP) is one of the largest southeast Asian conglomerates. Specializing in animal feed, it ventured into China in the late 1970s. This venture proved to be a major success. However, Chinese companies began imitating CP's agricultural technology, the most notably being Hope Feed. Hope began a price war with CP which saw CP's market share and profits dwindling.
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Dassalut Falcon Jet Corp. (BSC #99-09 & TNN #99-38)
by May Lwin

Synopsis
In January 1999, Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. was contemplating the decision to enter into the Asian market. Its major market, at that time, came mainly from North and South America. Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. is a subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, which is one of Europe's largest aerospace companies whose business is in the production and sale of aeroplanes. This division concentrated on business jets.

The case provides some background information on the type of business relationship that Dassault has with its clients, the typical profile of the buyer and the economic information of certain Asian markets. This case will give the students an opportunity to analyse the case from the business buyer perspective and provide an understanding of business buyer behavior in the Asian context. The focus of the case is on the factors that govern the decision to purchase a high-end business product.
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e.Com Services-Launching Spacedisk, an Innovative, Internet-based Service (BSC #99-10 & TNN #99-07)
by Jochen Wirtz and S. Mohan

Synopsis
e.Com Services Pte Ltd, a company providing Internet-based services, was in the process of developing a global marketing strategy for its latest innovation - SpaceDisk, an intelligent classification and storage agent. Issues that need to be addressed include pricing of the product, alternative sources of revenue in addition to subscription income, as well as the development of a comprehensive plan for marketing SpaceDisk to potential target segments.
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Giordano: Extending Its Success Into The New Millennium (A)   (BSC #99-11 Giordano picture & TNN #99-08)
by Swee Hoon Ang and Jochen Wirtz

Synopsis
Giordano is one of Asia's most successful retailers, with operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Middle East. The Success of Giordano was attributed to factors such as providing excellent customer service, understanding consumers' needs and wants, stringent selection and training of staff, and extremely good inventory control and turnover. With a strong emphasis on customer service and value-for-money, Giordano was able to differentiate itself from its competitors.

Giordano started to expand regionally when sales at home in Hong Kong stabilized. For the past years, five markets dominated its retail and distribution operations: Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Korea and Singapore. However, Giordano was adversely affected by the Asian economic and currency crisis in 1997. In view of the crisis in Asia, Giordano planned to open stores in countries beyond Asia. Giordano faced the uncertainty whether it could succeed in the new markets. At the same time, Giordano was facing the threat of losing focus of the fast evolving and ever-changing fashion trend.
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Giordano: Making a Value-for-Money, High Volume and High Quality Service Strategy Work (B) *   (BSC #99-12 & TNN #99-09)
by Jochen Wirtz, Swee Hoon Ang

Synopsis
Giordano is one of Asia's most successful retailers, with operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Middle East. The Success of Giordano was attributed to factors such as providing excellent customer service, understanding consumers' needs and wants, stringent selection and training of staff, and extremely good inventory control and turnover. With a strong emphasis on customer service and value-for-money, Giordano was able to differentiate itself from its competitors.

Giordano started to expand regionally when sales at home in Hong Kong stabilized. For the past years, five markets dominated its retail and distribution operations: Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Korea and Singapore. However, Giordano was adversely affected by the Asian economic and currency crisis in 1997. In view of the crisis in Asia, Giordano planned to open stores in countries beyond Asia. Giordano faced the uncertainty whether it could succeed in the new markets. At the same time, Giordano was facing the threat of losing focus of the fast evolving and ever-changing fashion trend.
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Haier Group Corporation   (BSC #99-13 & TNN #99-10)
by Yanmin Gu

Synopsis
This case focuses on quality management and service as Haier is the first electrical appliance firm in China that gained ISO9001 award in its core business of fridge, freezer, washing-machine, and air-conditioner. Moreover, its philosophy that customer is always right has earned itself high brand visibility and sales. In contrast to other state owned enterprise, Haier establishes a clear line of reward and punishment system to insure quality products and superior service. Furthermore, it has been able to move ahead of its competitors. Haier started quality revolution when its competitors are struggling with production. When its competitors realized the importance of cost reduction and quality management, Haier has moved to brand management. Haier has started its charge into the international market while its major competitors are competing fiercely with each other in the domestic market. By working ahead of its competitors, Haier was able to out-compete. Will Haier succeed, as its president Mr Zhang expected, in its international push and become an international brand?
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Hagemeyer (S) Pte Ltd   (BSC #99-14 & TNN #99-11)
by Prem Shamdasani

Synopsis
This case documents the classic dilemma of Hagemeyer, an established distributor of popular brands of home appliances and electronic products, who was overly dependent on one major manufacturer, Asia Matsushita, for exclusive distribution rights to market and service its National and Panasonic products in Singapore. After nearly 40 years of working with Asia Matsushita, Hagemeyer was suddenly faced with the prospect of survival after losing this exclusive distributor privilege. National and Panasonic products accounted for more than 90 percent of Hagemeyer's sales turnover in Singapore. In response to losing this key supplier account, Hagemeyer decided to launch and market its own in-house brand of home appliances called Cornell in Singapore and the regional markets subsequently. This risky decision to launch Cornell was largely motivated by necessity and facilitated by Hagemeyer's in-depth knowledge of customers' home appliance needs and its strong relationship ties with dealers and retailers.
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Industrial Suppliers Corporation of Malaysia   (BSC #99-15 & TNN #99-12)
by Lee Khai Sheang

Synopsis
The formation of a wholesaler alliance presents Mr. Lee a dilemma. If he agrees to the transfer of the their dealership rights to the newly formed company, then the long term distributorship status of ISCM might be threatened. On the other hand, if Mr. Lee does not agree to KSB's request, then both short and long term revenues for ISCM might be affected. He has therefore to assess each of these alternatives carefully, before he decides as to how he can resolve the dilemma.
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Kao Biore Pore Pack   (BSC #99-16 & TNN #99-13)
by Swee Hoon Ang

Synopsis
This case discusses the process that was undertaken in developing a successful product in Kao Biore Pore Pack. The close working between the Research & Development (R&D) department and the Marketing department as well as across product divisions is admirable. The case also discusses how competition is quick in catching on a great idea. It discusses the maneuvers that competition has done and the steps that Kao has taken to counter these competitive attacks.
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Lucky Film Corporation   (BSC #99-17 & TNN #99-14)
by Yanmin Gu

Synopsis
The case focuses on Lucky Film Corporation in the competitive Chinese market of color film. Color film market in China is growing very fast. By the end of 1998, it is world's number two market. Kodak and Fuji are the two major players of color film. Lucky Film - the only domestic player with some meaningful market share (20%) in China - is making full use of its home court advantage to compete with the giants of color films. The marketing strategy Lucky Film employs are multi-faceted. Because of its weakness in R&D, Lucky Film targeted its products toward the lower income Chinese consumers. Moreover, it made use of top leader visits to generate a lot of media attention. Through this public relations campaign, Lucky Film was able to raise its brand name recognition. In addition, Lucky Film reorganized its corporate structure and raised a significant amount of capital to expand its production capacity and marketing network. Despite its inferior market position, Lucky Film is taking some very good steps to address its weakness. The initial outcome in early 1998 seems to indicate that the marketing strategy of Lucky Film may work. However, whether Lucky Film can survive and prosper in its home turf depends on its own effort as well as the Chinese consumers.
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Maharaja's Under the Golden Arches   (BSC #99-18 & TNN #99-15)
by Saroja Subrahmanyan, Rajan Sreenivas

Synopsis
In 1996, McDonald's entered the Indian market by setting up an outlet in Delhi and Bombay. The economic liberalization policies followed by the Indian government since 1991 saw many MNCs beating a path to the doors of the world's second most populous country and the largest democratic country. The case describes some of the challenges that MNCs face when marketing in India. It also describes McDonald's marketing strategies, which include a good distribution system, quality control and many other aspects that the company has standardized in its operation throughout the world. However, the adaptation of its menu to suit the Indian palette and religious sensibilities are much more extreme than in other countries. In addition, although the population is huge, only 2% of the population are considered "rich" and have annual incomes greater than $12,500. Although McDonald's has been cautiously expanding, it remains to be seen whether the country offers a large potential for growth.
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The Mobile Phone Services Market in Singapore   (BSC #99-19 & TNN #99-16)
by Geok Theng Lau

Synopsis
SingTel Mobile was the sole provider of mobile phone services in Singapore before 1 April 1997. The Singapore government sought to liberalize the industry and on 1 April 1997, a new license was issued to M1 to operate mobile phone services. Before the entry of M1, SingTel Mobile sought to strengthen its position in the market by further improving its network coverage, by improving its services and by lowering its prices. Upon entry, M1 sought to provide superior services and priced its services competitively. Its network coverage was not as extensive as SingTel Mobile's but consumers perceived its service coverage as good as SingTel Mobile's.

One effect of M1's entry appeared to be faster market growth and penetration. By the first month, M1 had gained 10% share of the market or 40,000 subscribers. By August 1997, M1 had carved out a 20% market share, which increased to 26.6% by August 1998. Market observers reported that M1 had signed 90% of the 15,000 new subscribers in January 1999. At the end of January 1999, SingTel Mobile announced price cuts totalling S$90 million. With an hour, M1 responded with a similar price cut. SingTel Mobile responded two hours later with an additional S$78 million worth of price cuts. Meanwhile, SingTel Mobile had also announced that it would increase the commission incentives paid to distributors for new subscription signed by 50%.
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ModFashion Inc.   (BSC #99-20 & TNN #99-17)
by Mohammed Abdur Razzaque

Synopsis
ModFashion Inc. - a clothing store operating in a posh suburb of Dhaka, since early September 1996, offers a complete line of Western clothing for men, women and children featuring brands offered only in a few city stores. After one year in business, the store became quite popular among the foreigners, tourists and other young people from the middle and upper middle income families and had generated a reasonable amount of profit. Motivated by its performance the owner of the store opened a second outlet in Uttara Model Town, another upcoming upper middle class residential area of Dhaka in October 1997. Unfortunately, business in the newly opened store was not as successful as the owner expected. This prompted the owner to find out what went wrong. He conducted a questionnaire survey of the existing customers visiting its two outlets.
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Olarn Water-Ski Lake    (BSC #99-21 & TNN #99-18)
by May Oo Lwin

Synopsis
This case highlights Olarn Water-Ski Lake, a recreational and competitive water-ski site in Thailand. The lake was opened in 1995. Since then, the facility has been successful in attracting skiers on weekends while weekdays saw an under-utilization of the cable-skiing facility. The basic issue here is how the pricing strategy can be utilized to encourage greater weekday usage of the lake.
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Pepsico Foods International   (BSC #99-22 & TNN #99-19)
by Geok Theng Lau

Synopsis
The snack food market in Asia is an emerging market. Besides Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the per-capita consumption of snack food products in Asia is generally low. This represents opportunity for PFI but PFI should also be mindful of barriers to greater consumer adoption of snack food products, especially Western salty snack products. This case provides data on major snack food markets in Asia as well as information regarding consumer behavior associated with snack food products and PFI marketing strategies in the market.
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Premium Chocolates Pte Ltd   (BSC #99-23 & TNN #99-20)
by Subhash C. Mehta, Mohammed Abdur Razzaque

Synopsis
Premium Chocolates Pte Ltd., a Singapore based company engaged in the manufacture and marketing of chocolates in Singapore, Malaysia and some other parts of the region, is considering entry into the Indonesian market where its experience in the tropical countries is considered an advantage. The case provides Premium's experience in Singapore and Malaysia, particularly in the later country, where over the years the company has captured 25% of the market share. The case also gives an overview of the Indonesian market in terms of its population, chocolate consumption and the product's distribution outlets. In addition, it talks about some relative advantages in Indonesia such as, lower labor costs, availability of basis raw materials for making the product and higher growth of chocolate consumption. The case further points out that the Indonesian market is broadly familiar with Premium products and its quality is considered superior to many other competing products available in the market.
The student has to analyze all these information and prepare a comprehensive marketing program for introduction of Premium into the Indonesian market.
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Primula Parkroyal Hotel (A)   (BSC #99-24 & TNN #99-21)
by Aliah Hanim M. Salleh and Jochen Wirtz

Synopsis
Primula Parkroyal, a beach resort-cum-business hotel in Malaysia, was drawing up its marketing plan for 1998. To be considered in this marketing plan, was how the hotel should be positioned, so that it can uniquely differentiate itself in the long term, compared to its competitors in Terengganu State. The overall objective, after the management take-over exercise in March 1996, was to regain its image as a premier quality hotel in the eastern coastal state. To achieve this objective, it had to decide on what marketing goals and objectives to set for 1998, and what customer segments to target. Having a new management reputed to be good at turning around hotels was one advantage it had. Other favourable factors included its strategic location, a good property and as a potentially attractive tourist destination. However, management had to face the following challenges: changing the work culture, training to improve the quality of the services delivered, optimising room revenues and cutting operational costs.
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Primula Parkroyal Hotel-Positioning & Managing for Turnaround (B)   (BSC #99-25 & TNN #99-22)
by Aliah Hanim M. Salleh and Jochen Wirtz

Synopsis
Primula Parkroyal, a beach resort-cum-business hotel in Malaysia, was drawing up its marketing plan for 1998. To be considered in this marketing plan, was how the hotel should be positioned, so that it can uniquely differentiate itself in the long term, compared to its competitors in Terengganu State. The overall objective, after the management take-over exercise in March 1996, was to regain its image as a premier quality hotel in the eastern coastal state. To achieve this objective, it had to decide on what marketing goals and objectives to set for 1998, and what customer segments to target. Having a new management reputed to be good at turning around hotels was one advantage it had. Other favourable factors included its strategic location, a good property and as a potentially attractive tourist destination. However, management had to face the following challenges: changing the work culture, training to improve the quality of the services delivered, optimising room revenues and cutting operational costs.
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Sheba Confectioners   (BSC #99-26 & TNN #99-23)
by Mohammed Abdur Razzaque and Geok Theng Lau

Synopsis
Sheba Confectioners, established by a migrant baker from India, was located in Dhaka, the capital city of the then East pakistan. The small shop earned a good reputation as confectioners of quality products. The owners, however, decided to settle in West Pakistan after the liberation war and the confectioners was 'confiscated' by the Bangladesh government and allocated to a local entrepreneur. The new management modernized the operation and market the loaf bread products under the "Sheba" brand name. Market share began to grow to about 14%, but the company could not sustain its efforts in the growing market and share dipped to 9%. Management repositioned the products as a food item for multipurpose use, modernized the packaging and beefed up distribution. Share began to increase to 16%. Management is thinking about introducing a line extension of whole-meal bread.
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Snappers Restaurant (BSC #99-27SnapperAd & TNN #99-24)
by May Oo Lwin

Synopsis
This case highlights Snappers Restaurant, a casual open-air eatery located at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia in Singapore. The restaurant is trying to attract more customers by advertising to local Singaporean customers. The basic issue is whether the advertisement created by the advertising agency can meet the restaurant?s requirements.
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Sony Playstation (BSC #99-28 & TNN #99-25)
by Swee Hoon Ang

Synopsis
This case is about the phenomenal success of the PlayStation by Sony which evolutionalized the concept of home game entertainment. Set in the U.S. market, this case discusses how Sony redefines competition and relationship marketing not only with customers, but also suppliers and distributors.
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The Asian Face   (BSC #99-29 & TNN #99-37)
by Swee Hoon Ang

Synopsis
This case provides examples of how culture and legislations differ across Asian countries that have implications on advertising, in particular, the choice of talent. For example, Malaysia requires that all talent used be Malaysian and that the ethnic groups are represented. This has implications not only on the talent used but also production implications. In Japan, Western models are favored. The use of models affects consumer perception of the quality of the advertised product.
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The Data Storage Media and Quarter Inch Cartridge Market (BSC #99-30 & TNN #99-26)
by Geok Theng LAU and Teck Boon GOH

Synopsis
Data storage media are used by business organisations for information back-up to their computer system. It is considered a supply item which is important to keep operation going but not critical. The buying center for such purchases tends to be small, usually involving the EDP or MIS department and the Purchasing Department. There are five alternative products for data storage and quarter inch cartridge (QIC) is the dominant product category. The QIC market is created by 3M who is the market leader in Singapore. The market is expected to grow by 12% annually, presenting opportunities for both big players like 3M and smaller players like Verbatim.
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The Ritz Carlton Millenia Singapore   (BSC #99-31 & TNN #99-27)
by May Lwin

Synopsis
In 1995, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. was planning for the launch of its new 608-room hotel in Singapore, which was to open in January 1996. Based on its wide selection of amenities, high quality services and the larger room spaces, it aimed to compete with the top hotels in the country in attracting business travelers.

The case provides some background information on the environmental factors such as the visitors' arrivals and the hotel industry in Singapore, as well as the competitive forces that the Ritz-Carlton Millenia (RCM), as a new entrant into the arena, has to face. This will give the students an opportunity to analyze the case with a sense of realism. The focus of the case is the proposed positioning and the implications for the proposed hotel rates.
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Tupperware in Malaysia (BSC #99-32 & TNN #99-28)
by Hean Tat Keh, May Oo Lwin

Synopsis
This case highlights Tupperware, a company well known for its durable plastic products and its unique selling system. The company is trying to expand its operations in Asia, with the focus in this case being Malaysia. Since mid-1997, Malaysia has been facing economic and political turmoil, and it is against this backdrop that Mr. Samuel Richards, international marketing director of the Florida-based company, is contemplating the next move for the company.
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Shanghai Underwater World (BSC #99-33 & TNN #99-29)
by Siew Meng Leong

Synopsis
The management of a proposed theme park, Underwater World, is contemplating whether or not to introduce the product into the China market. They have decided to conduct a feasibility study into the concept?s viability in the Shanghai market. As an initial step, management commissioned a set of three focus groups with Shanghainese of different backgrounds. They have just obtained the findings of this research and must determine what to do next.
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Watson's Park 'N Shop (BSC #99-34 & TNN #99-30)
by Swee Hoon Ang, Siew Meng Leong

Synopsis
This case discusses the advantages associated with vertical integration. Watson produces its own products and retails it in its various retail outlets such as Watson The Personal Store and Park 'N Shop supermarkets. Besides marketing it own manufactured products, Watson also carries brand name labels such as Sunkist and Spa. This potentially may create channel conflict between the principal and the agent.
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Western Food, Local Flavour (BSC #99-35 & TNN #99-31)
by Swee Hoon Ang, Siew Meng Leong

Synopsis
This case provides a range of examples of how Western fast food restaurants have adapted to the local scene by offering localized food in their menu. The issue of standardization versus localization is discussed. In addition, this case discusses how local fast food restaurants have taken on these Western giants in part because the menu they offer is one that customers can identify with. The example of Philippines' Jollibee is highlighted.
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Westin Hotels in Asia: Global Distribution (BSC #99-36 &TNN #99-39)
by Jochen Wirtz and Jeanette Ho Pheng Theng

Synopsis
The three Westin hotels in Singapore, Bangkok and Manila have been enjoying high occupancies and buoyant markets. The economic crisis that hit Asia in mid-1997 however, saw business and ICM arrivals into the three countries declined by some 15% to 25% in 1998. This resulted in a decrease in occupancy rates of approximately 10% to 20%, and average room prices declining rapidly. To compound things, the pre-crisis economic boom had seen a proliferation of five star international hotels in the three cities. Travel management trends in Asia were also undergoing rapid changes. Many of the hotels' corporate clients were not local companies but multi national corporations (MNCs), that were increasingly centralizing their purchases of travel related services at overseas corporate headquarters.

In view of the shrinking market conditions, intense competition and changing travel management trends, the three Westin hotels in Asia have to critically reassess their own marketing and distribution strategies. A new opportunity presented itself in late 1997, when Westin's parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., acquired ITT Corporation, making it the largest Hotel and Gaming Company in the world, with over 650 hotels in 73 countries employing more than 150,000 associates. Uppermost in the mind of David Shackleton was the need to leverage on the size and global marketing strength of Starwood, to develop new business for his hotels and gain market share from the competitors.
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When Imitation is not Flattering (BSC #99-37 & TNN #99-32)
by Saroja Subrahmanyan

Synopsis
Software piracy is a problem throughout the world and is quite high in Asia. This case introduces an ethical decision making situation wherein a manger in an Indian firm considers whether to make an extra copy a software program, which is not allowed according to the license agreement. Several issues relating to software piracy are raised. These include the importance of software to the economy, what constitutes piracy, what motivates consumers to pirate and measures taken to combat piracy.
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ZhengTai High School (BSC #99-38 & TNN #99-33)
by Yanmin Gu

Synopsis
ZhengTai High represents a pioneering effort in a region dominated by public schools. With rapid industrialization and increasing wealth, the demand for more and better education is growing throughout China. The public sector seems unable to satisfy this demand. Mr. Gu Ping Dao, with many years of experience in education and a good study of the local market, recognized a niche market for private education. Consequently, he, along with some of his colleagues, sets up the first private senior high school in Taixin City. By positioning itself between the urban and rural schools, it is able to recruit enough students to begin its experiment in spite of the lack of a good track record. While the success of the school is far from secured, it has, nonetheless, a good start.
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Cathay Pacific Airways (BSC #99-39)
by Siew Meng Leong, Swee Hoon Ang

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Cathay Pacific Airways - Instructor's Guide (TNN #99-34)
by Siew Meng Leong, Swee Hoon Ang

Synopsis
In 1994, Cathay Pacific launched a new corporate identity in a massive advertising campaign. Titled "Heart of Asia," the campaign launched a new logo, a brushwing, as well as a series of print ads and two television commercials which sought to reposition Cathay Pacific as a modern airline serving to the needs of the Asian traveller. Although the campaign generated a lot of publicity, tracking studies conducted did not yield completely positive findings.
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SIA's Alliances: The "Star" Attraction * (BSC #99-41 & TNN #99-35)
by Prem Shamdasani

Synopsis
This case documents SIA'S strategic decision to dissolve its 8-year old partnership with Swissair and Delta Airlines and forge a new alliance with Lufthansa. Having tied-up with Lufthansa, SIA is considering the feasibility of joining the Lufthansa-led Star Alliance whose other members include United Airlines, Air Canada, Scandinavia's SAS, Thai Airways and Varig of Brazil. While the benefits of its newly formed bilateral alliance with Lufthansa are more evident, joining the 6-member Star Alliance involves a whole new set of strategic and operational considerations for SIA. This case highlights the need for global and regional airlines to form strategic tie-ups in response to changes in the competitive environment in the aviation industry. SIA, voted one of the best airlines in the world, is no exception, and has to constantly evaluate its existing alliance relationships and explore the feasibility of forming new partnerships to remain competitive in the global aviation scene.
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XPress Print Pte Ltd - Niching Its Way to Success * (BSC #99-42 & TNN #99-36)
by Tan Soo Jiuan, Jochen Wirtz, Christopher Lovelock

Synopsis
This case illustrates how a small and medium sized service firm made use of a market niching strategy to establish itself in a technologically challenged industry and highly competitive environment. Xpress Print was a Singaporean company that started in 1976 as a one-client printer and developed into a multi-million dollar business today, with clients from all over the world. The growth of the Internet, which reconfigured market needs and market competition, posed new challenges to Xpress Print.