Ievgeniia Sapa_BU_598
Cases summaries
The case” Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., 2002”
It begins with the praise of Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Japanese auto manufacturer Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., his successful work and prosperous contribution to company that had reached amazing results in 2002 comparing with the last three years of almost bankruptcy. Its operating profits and net profit raised 68% and 12,4% and operating margin raised from 4.75% to 7.9% from the previous year. From the case we can follow the development of the company. It was founded in 1933 and it was one of the first Japanese company to manufacture automobiles. It began to increase in 1950s and in 1970s it was the second company after Toyota but after that the company began to lose their market position, staying far behind its rivals Honda and Toyota. In 1987 Nissan tried to double their sales by investing almost $4,5 billion into development of their domestic network and $1,8 billion into manufacturing facilities. By1992 they increased their dept in three times to $32,7 billion. This was decade of losses and declines. Yutaka Kume on the last year of being president began to restructure the company and Nissan had a loss in recurring profit. The next president of the company was Yoshifumi Tsuji and he had another plan of expanses reducing to $2 billion, in three years. After him was Yoshikazu Hanawa with his restructuring plan. In that period Honda took the second market place in Japan. Nissan company kept on suffering from underinvestment and faced problems with bank loans, while its rivals had success in U.S. market. In 1999 Nissan started partnership with Renault in order to rescue the company situation. Renault made the largest investment to a Japanese company but they intended to get North America and Asia market. In 1999 Carlos Ghosn an executive vice president of Renault was voted COO. We can learn that he showed himself as a straight and confident leader. He recognized five main problems in the company: lack of profit orientation, customer focus, cross-functional, cross border-orientation, a sense of urgency, a shared vision and a long term strategy. Company suffered from a poor organization. He created nine cross-functional teams. He put a strong pressure on every department and the entire company. Their goal was to reduce purchasing cost to 20%.Ghosn made everybody to feel that he is a part of a team and it is mandatory to bring your ideas and impact to the company development.
It is an evaluation case. From this case we can judge the effectiveness of Carlos Ghosn heading performance in the company. The case starts with the description of Ghosn successful management in the company and goals achieved and then we can compare the previous presidents’ rule, achievements and market place of the company. Of course the outside situations also had influence on the development of the company, but still we can see that the Ghosn time in a company is no doubt the best one. The numbers show that a company had a steadily declining performance before the period of Ghosn heading it. The criteria for our judgment can be the performance of the company comparing to its rivals that we can see from the data provided, and numbers from the outcome in different years. The company faced a desperate situation before Carlos Ghosn came, it was disorganized, and managers did not have particular understanding of their sphere of responsibilities and accountabilities. Neither Tokyo nor Europe wanted to admit their falsies in a certain occasion, so he found a solution and created nine cross-functional teams (CFT) he wanted everybody to work as a team and forget about organizational barriers. The essential step was a rival plan that the company should reduce the costs by $9 billion and cut the loan by 50% by 2002 and produce at least 4,5% of operating profit. As we can see Ghosn did a remarkable work because in 2002 its operating profits and net profit raised 68% and 12,4% and operating margin raised from 4.75% to 7.9% from the previous year. Of course the were some negative aspects in his policy, for example a very hard working schedule sometimes without weekends and summer vacations what was extremely complicated for everyone and the cut of the costs needed to fire a lot of employees and closing of three plants, but that was his decisions for challenges he faced heading the company. By the way the other side of his policy was good conditions for employees to get bonuses, promotions and compensations, for example if a manager achieved his aims he would get some extra bonuses and I think it is was a great motivation for his people. It is a common fact that motivation is one of the keys to successes.
Hypothesis to this case can be that Ghosn did a great work by 2002 for Nissan Co., Ltd., despite the fact that when he took heading of it, it was doing poor. However, he realized that if the company wants to obtain a great place in the world market they do not have to stop making changes for improvement and development of the company. He recognizes a meaning of a real leadership and shows it in his actions, so I would insist on doing what he does and believe in his leadership capacity and follow all his ideas about changes in company. Carlos Ghosn showed also that he is very straight, simple and easy to understand, his requirements were clear comparing with previous atmosphere in the company. He had a clear vision of what he was doing and his actions were instructive.

The case “Euro Disney in the first 100 days” From the beginning we learn that Euro Disney was not very successful and popular in France. It was opened on time and within its $4,4 billion budget. However the attendance in the park was unexpectedly low, furthermore French were facing social problems and some people were very angry about the noise and it seemed to be not the best time for Euro Disney. Despite Disney kept on meeting losses, its managers stayed optimistic and hoped that it could be a part of French culture in future. Walt Disney Attractions consisted of theme parks, hotels, conference facilities, retail complexes and other. In 1991 71% of Walt Disney Attraction’s revenues were from theme parks, 21% from hotels and 8% from other sources. In early 1990s Disney remained successful in USA having 90% of the repeated customers and 5% customers from Europe. It is said that it was so successful because it sold people a fantasy a myth. Everything in park was done to make visitors happy, involved in a process of a game including different styles and considering different tastes. Visitors had to be called as guests, the policy of Disney was to treat employees as well as guests to create a friendly and warm atmosphere in the park. The employees had to pass a serious interview where they had to show polite, friendly and nice attitude. Tokyo Disneyland was very popular and had a great attendance. The fiscal year 1990 revenues were $988 million at then current exchange rates. Tokyo Disneyland was extremely popular and successful, because Japanese were interested in American style. Almost everything in park was written and done in English, and from all restaurants only one served Japanese food. The attitude of Japanese to Disneyland was very good and positive. The park was very clean, employees very friendly and kind, so even for the U.S. visitors it seemed exactly the same as in U.S. Disneyland.
This is a problem case. The idea of opening Disneyland in Europe probably was not that good as it was supposed to be. The success and profitability of Tokyo’s Disneyland encouraged to create a new one in Europe. It was thought between Spain, France and Germany. Spain had advantages about weather conditions and France about location, and it was also a popular place for European’s vacation so it was decided to be opened it in France. In 1987 they signed the agreement with France government to build it in the farming community of Marme-la-Vallee. First they thought that it is a great location that provides access to a huge population number, second it was near Paris, a popular vacation place.
Hypothesis (Summeries)
Despite Disneyland was an extremely popular place in U.S. and Tokyo it did not prove to be the same with France. However, there is a big culture difference between U.S. and France. While Tokyo popularity was interested in American style of life, food and cultural features, France remained colder and more conservative towards it, for example, French were unsatisfied with the food service because it did not match their cultural peculiarity, they did not want to consume a fast snacks because it contradicts their way of life, their food preferences and attitude. The inability to drink wine also prevents them from their normal understanding of a lunch time. They were very impatient to long lines in the park that caused the complementary expanses for films equipment and other things to entertain people in waiting process. Even the employees showed their lack of awareness about how to behave and act with guests, they were not a part of a Disney, they were acting like normal people. Another problem was a lack of housing apartments for thousands of employees in that area. It is important to take to consideration that while summer period remained satisfactory profitable there must be done some advertising and marketing program to attract visitors in winter time. Then it is important to find resolutions to long lines, improvement in employee policy by encouraging and motivating people and making them to feel the part of a big family. And of course it is mandatory to take measures whether to find a way to make Disney culture and style adorable and accepting for French or maybe change something in this culture to make it more French.

The case “The Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry in 1994”
The case begins with a fact that RTE breakfast industry had reached a critical turning point in its evolution. The industry used to have an above average profit and stability faced a slow demand growth and a surge in private label sales and overtakes the place of the Big Three: Kellogg, General Mills, and Philip Morris. Using the statistics from1993 we can see that the industry sales growth declined by 2% and private labels sales increased 5% market share and 9% by volume for the first time. There was a gap in praises between the industry and private labels, when the praises of the industry raised. The question of how to deal with that occurred.”Each firm faced major decisions going forward about whether to break with an industries lock-step moves and how to deal with a threat of private labels.”
During the 20th century the sales of RTE increased steadily with a compound average annual volume growth of 3 % between 1950 and 1993. In 1993U.s. market used 2.82 billion pounds of cereals it became one of the most concentrated industries in U.S. For along period of time RTE cereals industry controlled the market place they act in such a way not to give a chance other companies to become profitable. They used – trade dealing, in – pack premiums – free toys included in the package to one brand at each time. The RTE cereals industry used five basic methods in production: granulation, shredding, puffing and extrusion process. And the last one required additional engineering and expanses.
This is a decision case. From the beginning of the case we can see that a decision needs to be taken to improve sales situation for RTE Cereals industry. There are few decisions options: each company can stop making lock to the market niche for private labels, and concentrate on their own problems. RTE Cereal industry has comparably high costs to private labels. The average price of private labels’ cereals was $1.90 per pound, 40% less than the Big Three average about$ 3.20 per pound. The RTE Cereal breakfast industry spent a lot on new products introduction, creation of new flavors, particular package and advertisement. Meanwhile private labels continue to develop and to get more space in the market share. In spite of the fact that RTE industry used complicated and expensive technology, private labels did not create anything special; furthermore they tried to save money on a simple package and taste, attracting their consumers only with a low price.
Hypothesis( Summaries)
To overcome decline in sales and improving outcomes RTE Cereal Breakfast industry have to concentrate their attention not on their rivals but on their customers. It is necessary to reduce expanses and cut piracies to improve financial situation and increase sales. The RTE Cereal breakfast industry use coupons to attract customers and make a purchase more pleasant but the use of coupons does not have a good influence. It saves 50 cent for customer and costs 75cent for manufacturer. So there is no reason keep using them. The RTE industry should look forward making some changes in reducing expanses and concentrate on improving of a profit performance.