Two companies are about to merge: the English company Royal Biscuit and the German company Edeling GmbH. This merger would create the world second largest consumer food business. The two Human Resources directors of both companies Michael Brighton from Royal Biscuit and Dieter Wallach from Edeling have to create a program that would give Royal Edeling a unique and sustained leadership advantage. Both men have to work together and have to report to Sir John Callagan, the CEO of the new entity. Sir Callagan is furious because of the lack of progression on the program. He gave to both HR directors one week to come up with a “real” program. (more…)

The case:

Jack Emmons, CEO of Voici Brands, is visiting a Chinese factory that produces clothes for Marquise, one of Voici’s competitors. Marquise shrunk the time from fashion design to products arrivals in stores from 50 weeks to 60 days, boosting the bottom line by 20%. Marquise gained some profits by using cheaper Chinese labor, but the main source of higher profits was coming from the faster time to market. Voici is suffering from a too decentralized supply chain; each business inside the company has its own legacy, its own suppliers, and its own management. Jack Emmons is thinking about changing the supply chain. Margie Rosen is Voici’s director (more…)