In the spirit of end-of-year celebrations, the IJCSM invites you to the Opera and to the Theatre! The first two cases of this year’s last issue feature an internationally renowned organization, the New York Metropolitan Opera and, in counterpoint, a Québécois theatre start-up named Aux Écuries. “Live from the Met: l’art lyrique entre dans le XXIe siècle” is about the need to rethink the Met’s business model and adapt it to a world undergoing substantial social and technological change, rather a universal problem; of course, here it takes on colours that are specific to the cultural field. Unfortunately, enterprises devoted to arts and culture cannot abstract from financial considerations and the new strategy must reckon with them. At the other end of the spectrum (in terms of size and reputation), conditions for success are somewhat different. They can be explored through “Théâtre Aux Écuries – l’art de faire les choses autrement.” In this case, a young theatre company must deal with several issues related to the organization of a major fundraising campaign. Needless to say, small organizations in other cultural sectors and non-traditional businesses in general are regularly faced with similar concerns.
The next two cases deal with international business, again on the two extremes of the size and focus spectrum. “Nike versus New Balance: Trade Policy in a World of Global Value Chains” takes the viewpoint of a U.S. Government representative to tackle, through the footwear industry, questions related to the alignment between the “nationality” of a firm and the economic interests of a country, free trade versus fair trade and the complexity of trade policies in the context of global value chains. On the opposite side of the size spectrum, the company featured in “IT-Ration’s Quest for Growth: A Market Choice Challenge” is not preoccupied with global trade policy decisions, but with its individual growth strategy; will the latter include, or not, international expansion? At this micro-level, and in this industry (software solutions for SMEs), the challenges to be met are those of brand recognition, of barriers to entry, and of the choice of an entry mode in the selected foreign country (the United States in this case).
The presence of the fifth case, “La congrégation des sœurs de Saint-Aubin (A, B et C),” may seem surprising at first, but it is much less so when one considers that any organization, be it for-profit or not-for-profit, needs to recruit people. This case allows undergraduate students to go through all the steps of the staffing process, in an applied manner. These steps are common to all organizations. In this sense, the case is of general interest, although it is particularly relevant for not-for-profit organizations (education, health, etc.) and SMEs.
“Le Groupe immobilier Zacharie” has us share in the uncertainties faced by a company planning an initial public offering of shares. It must abandon its current accounting practices and adopt international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Students are exposed to the subtleties of real estate accounting under IFRS.
This issue ends with a life story: “Léon Courville, l’homme qui plantait des vignes.” The case describes the atypical career of a leader and affords readers the opportunity to reflect on the way personal or professional events shape or crystallize one’s identity, values and leadership style.
Let me conclude with the announcement that, on January 2, 2015, Professor Anne Mesny will replace me as the editor-in-chief of the IJCSM. You certainly remember that she was the previous editor-in-chief and that she did a great job. It is therefore without any fear that I leave the Journal in her very competent hands.
Alix Mandron
