Assignments

The case write-up should be no more than three double-spaced pages (750 words). You may choose any case to analyze. Submit the write-up at the beginning of class on the day the case is to be discussed. This is an individual assignment, so please write up the case on your own, not with your project team. Case write-ups must be submitted for one of the following cases:

  1. Vietor, Richard H. K., and Emily J. Thompson. "Singapore Inc." Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-703-040, February 27, 2003.
     
  2. Quelch, John A. and Katherine E. Jocz. "Google in China (A)." Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-510-071, January 10, 2010.
     
  3. Quelch, John A. "Google in China (B)." Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-510-110, April 1, 2010.
     
  4. Anthony, Kevin, Roger Erdong Chen, Aaron Rackoff, and Wai Yan Wong. "PPS.tv and China's Online Video Distribution Market." MIT Sloan School of Management Case. MIT Sloan Teaching Innovation Resources. Case: 08-074, July 29, 2008. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
     
  5. Huang, Yasheng, and Harold F. Hogan, Jr. "India's Intellectual Property Rights Regime and the Pharmaceutical Industry." Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-702-039, February 21, 2002.
     
  6. Kalegaonkar, Archana, Richard Locke, and Jonathan Lehrich. "Biocon India Group." MIT Sloan School of Management Case. MIT Sloan Teaching Innovation Resources. Case: 08-081, November 4, 2008 (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF).
     
  7. Porter, Michael E., and Christian H. M. Ketels. "Indonesia: Attracting Foreign Investment." Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-708-420, November 19, 2007.
     
  8. Carlisle, Erica, Chris Lin, Libby Putman, and Emily Sporl. "Mercy Corps and KeBal Healthy Food Carts: Sustaining and Scaling Up." MIT Sloan School of Management Case. MIT Sloan Teaching Innovation Resources. Case: 10-106, September 26, 2010. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.7MB)
  9. Lehrich, M. Jonathan, Paul John Paredes, and Ramesh Ravikumar. "Compsis at a Crossroads." MIT Sloan School of Management Case. MIT Sloan Teaching Innovation Resources. Case: 07-044, December 15, 2009.

A write-up is an analytical discussion of issues central to the case. Please do not summarize the case or repeat case facts except to bolster your argument. Based on the information provided in the case materials, please be analytically critical and evaluative. You should propose alternate managerial views and action plans whenever appropriate and discuss the relevance and applicability of the frameworks proposed in the readings and lectures. In short, you should write what you think of the situation in the case and not merely what the author of the case says.

Note that some cases include study questions or write-up questions at the end of the text; others have questions available below. These are study guidelines, not writing requirements. It is far more valuable to write a cogent analysis than to mechanically answer every question.

Case Questions

"Singapore Inc."

  1. How do you assess Singapore's economic performance since 1957? How do you characterize the development strategy of Singapore during this take-off period?
  2. Evaluate its performance in terms of GDP growth and productivity growth.
  3. How have the business-government relations contributed to that performance?
  4. How do you assess the new direction of its strategy? Can a government jump-start entrepreneurship?

"India's Intellectual Property Rights Regime and the Pharmaceutical Industry"

  1. What is piracy? Did Indian firms pirate the intellectual property rights of Western pharmaceutical firms after 1970? Why were Indian firms successful in this business space?
  2. Should a country protect its own pharmaceutical industry? How do you measure the successes and the failures of such protection? What are the conditions that may make such protection more successful? Should India now move away from its 1970 IPR regime? What are the pros and cons?
  3. Does the experience of India's pharmaceutical industry offer valuable lessons for China? What are the lessons for MNCs?

"Indonesia: Attracting Foreign Investment"

  1. Assess the overall role of FDI in promoting economic growth in Indonesia.
  2. Assess the conflicts or complementarities between foreign investors and local interests in the case of Indonesia.
  3. Does FDI promote or hinder development of local entrepreneurship?
  4. What are the right conditions for FDI to promote sustainable long-term development of a country?