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The case focuses on the establishment and development of LYFEN, a Chinese leisure food brand. LYFEN created a business model of “small packaging + store.” Through accurate analysis of consumer habits, it quickly became one of the major brands in China's leisure food industry. In the process of entrepreneurship, it grasped the economic opportunity during SARS and quickly bought a large number of stores at low prices, laying the foundation for the rapid development of the follow-up. At the same time, its active practice of introducing information construction also further improved the business's competitiveness. Case B mainly focuses on the external and internal environment of LYFEN after 2015. According to estimates made in 2014, LYFEN's online sales were supposed to double, but LYFEN was gradually falling behind the competition.

In China, supply chain finance (SCF) has gradually emerged as a new service for the retail industry. This case systematically discusses how JD conducts product design and risk control of supply chain finance and related financial services, and analyze the impact of supply chain finance on JD's retail operations. The case also analyzes the relationship between JD supply chain finance and traditional financial institutions, and explore the future development of retail supply chain finance.

The student will examine from a systemic perspective qualitative information from a company to propose improvements to its business model.

After working for more than 10 years with a global company, in January 2006 the Guadalajara-based jewelry SME, Divine Jewelry Co. (DJC), was facing liquidity problems, overstock and a debt from a bank loan, among others. The planned expansion of DJC, a family business founded in 1980, had resulted in just the opposite. Daniel, the owner and CEO of DJC, was determined to reverse the company's precarious situation as soon as possible. Some of the questions he asked himself centered on what actions he should take to pay off liabilities and try to survive in the industry his business had held a place in for 25 years. Daniel wondered whether, to pay off debts and have sufficient liquidity to have working capital and move forward, it would be enough to make efforts to recover those clients they had stopped serving, along with getting new ones. In addition, he thought it was necessary to formulate a plan to use the remaining proceeds from the sale of the property if they had to dispose of it. The case is about analyzing the strategic management of a company, specifically its business model, considering the context of its industry. The case also illustrates the problems that arise from focusing on serving a single client.

The case “Divine Jewelry Co: From Expansion to Survival” has been designed to be used by university students in initial management or strategic management courses on the following topics: Business modelsPorter's Five Forces ModelFormulation of strategies

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS11: Strategy.

This case is about “Red”, a cross-border e-commerce platform developed from a community which was built to share overseas shopping experience. With sharp insights into the consumption behavior of urban white-collar women and riding on its community e-commerce advantage, “Red”, a cross-border e-commerce startup, pulled in three rounds of financing within just 16 months regardless of increasingly competitive market. On the other hand, well-established platforms such as T-mall International and Joybuy also stepped in, and their involvement will also speed up the industry integration and usher in a reshuffling period. Confronted with the “price war” started by those e-commerce giants, in what ways can “Red” adjust its shopping experience and after-sales services to enhance the brand value and sharpen its edge?

This case explores how driver training school create experience value for their trainees. It describes the development of driver training industry, the foundation and new training mode of Rongan Driving School, changes and challenges of environment for Rongan facing and so on, which will guide readers to discuss six influence factors of customer experience, six dimensions of customer-experience value, the relationship between them, and the influence of social environment. Rongan's innovative training mode of “pay after learning, time-based billing, one car for one person”, provides a good training experience for driving trainees. It has become the benchmark of the national driving training industry within six years.

The widespread family businesses play an important role in the national economy of developed countries in Europe and North America, or of developing countries in East Asia. However, family business succession is a worldwide difficult problem. The innovative family business succession practices of Robert Bosch GmbH, the German family company which has a history of 130 years (1886-2016), basically follow the trend of evolving from family businesses to social enterprises after further socialization. However, it has its own innovation and uniqueness which is worthy of reference by Chinese family businesses.

Upon completion of this case study, students should be able to apply lessons learned in core readings, analysis and discussion to a specific case study dealing with a current, real-world situation, specifically: critically assess Livestock Wealth’s case facts and present and justify their point of view – based on attentive reading, critical analysis and engagement – about the company; use a range of strategic tools such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis, PESTLE analysis and the Ansoff matrix to thoroughly evaluate Livestock Wealth’s internal and external business environment for developing strategic options for business growth and improvements to marketing strategy; use strategic thinking to develop a range of creative solutions to guide the company’s business growth and improvements to marketing strategy; and assess their own growth and development in terms of personal preparation and organisation, collaboration, critical thinking, decision-making skills, participation and problem-solving.

By February 2022, Ntuthuko Shezi, the founder and chief executive officer of Livestock Wealth, had turned his idea of “crowd farming”, which enables anyone to invest in living farm assets and earn a profit at harvest, into a full-fledged business that was creating wealth for both investors and farmers. Underpinning this case study is Shezi’s vision of an African continent where there is “no ground that is not planted with something of value”, local economies are created in those areas, communities are wealthy, there is abundance, there is money for children to attend school and ultimately where “cows (and agricultural produce in general) are seen as money”. Shezi had grown up in a rural area with grandparents who owned a couple of cows, realizing that the cows were the bedrock of the family’s finances. Describing his business, he says, “Cattle are like a walking bank, and we see ourselves as the bank of the future, where every person who owns a cow can access financial services through Livestock Wealth, just like it has always been in Africa.” This case study describes the two key decisions that Shezi needed to make – what direction to take in terms of business growth and how to improve his marketing strategy (with a limited budget) to attract sufficient investment into Livestock Wealth to make his dreams a reality.

This case study is suitable for use for a post-graduate diploma in business, master of business administration or master’s in management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.