Case Map for Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright - Harvard Business ...

Avon Products (A): Lynn Sharp
Paine; Gregory C. Rogers
Product #: 301059
Length: 22p
Union Carbide's Bhopal Plant (A):
Debora Spar; Suzanne Hull; Julia
Kou
Product #: 795070
Length: 17p
Teaching Note: 798121
B case available
Colgate-Palmolive: Managing
International Careers: Philip M.
Rosenzweig
Product #: 394184
Length: 22p
Teaching Note: 394188
AES in Nigeria: John McMillan;
Ade Dosunmu
Product #: IB29
Length: 22p
Teaching Note: IB29T
an ice-breaker during the initial class/session of international management
programs. It can be used for individual assessment, and/or for the
development of a group measure. By summing a management groups' or
class of students' collective exposure to the world's peoples, the result will
inevitably be the recognition that together they know a lot. This can be a
useful team-building and familiarization activity in an initial class. The
intent of the exercise is not to embarrass or center out as inadequate
those individuals with limited exposure. They may feel this way in any case
so care must be taken to highlight those who have seen the most rather
than the least.
The general manager of Avon Mexico, Fernando Lezama, must decide
whether to promote a woman to the position of vice president of sales. If
appointed, the candidate would be the first female in all of Latin America to
hold an executive position and one of the first women in Mexico to attain
this level of responsibility. Lezama's all-male executive team has doubts
about the candidate's readiness but Lezama is also cognizant of Avon's
global vision which calls for the advancement of women at all levels of the
organization. Earlier in the year, the Avon Mexico organization had
completed an exercise called "appreciative inquiry" aimed at enhancing
gender relations in the workforce.
Learning Objective: To examine the cultural aspects of managing in the
Mexican environment and to illustrate the use of "appreciative inquiry" as
part of a cultural change process.
In December 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, sprung a leak,
releasing thousands of gallons of toxic gas into the atmosphere. By the
time the leak was sealed, over 2,000 people had died. In a series of three
excerpts from published accounts, the case covers the events that led up
to the tragedy and the aftermath--financial, legal, and emotional--for Union
Carbide's management. The case is designed to allow students to explore
the complex set of responsibilities that surround foreign direct investment.
It enables them to discuss the extent to which Union Carbide's U.S.-based
management was responsible for actions undertaken by Indians in India,
and then to think of this responsibility in terms of its various components-financial,
commercial, and moral.
Subjects Covered: Business government relations; Chemicals; Corporate
responsibility; Environmental protection; Foreign investment; India;
Occupational safety
Colgate-Palmolive, the U.S.-based consumer products firm, has long
emphasized international experience for its managers, and has developed
a comprehensive policy to manage expatriate assignments. The rise in
dual-career families has made some managers reluctant to accept foreign
assignments, causing Colgate-Palmolive to re-examine the way it
manages international career development.
Learning Objective: To examine the many dimensions of international
experience and expatriate assignments in a multinational corporation.
The U.S. energy company AES is in the process of entering the Nigerian
market through acquisition of a controlling equity interest in a 270megawatt
power generator project. AES has a unique mode of
organization and operation that emphasizes integrity, empowerment, and
social responsibility. The Nigerian environment is very different in many
dimensions (high levels of corruption, low infrastructure availability,