Welcome to the choices of teachers, offering an organized weekly selection of FT articles by and for business school teachers to connect the classrooms to current events and to develop the critical thinking of students.
Read all submissions to www.ft.com/bschoolpicks. Save this link in myft To receive emails alerting you to each new edition. Look for the relevant topics to illustrate teaching points.
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Economy
Target warns that Donald Trump’s prices could reduce profits
Tags: Imports, prices, detailing, supply, prices, trade, United States
Summary: The target of the retail chain in the United States has warned that additional American prices on imported goods could reduce its profits. The three quarters of its sales come from general goods such as electronics, textiles or interior decoration – goods which are often imported into the United States. Prices would increase the cost of imports and reduce consumer confidence. Target’s shares fell by almost 5% on Tuesday.
Class application: This article offers teachers and students the opportunity to examine the impact of trade policies on business results. Strategic reactions to public policies can be identified and analyzed.
Questions::
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How would new prices affect Target’s results if the company did not react?
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What could prevent the objective from transmitting additional import rights to customers?
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Should Target modify his product supply? If so, which countries should be preferred?
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How should the target manage what it calls “pricing uncertainty”?
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What can be learned from previous cases?
Stefan LEGGELecturer, University of St Gallen
Management of international companies
Summary: The implementation by Donald Trump of heavy prices in Canada, Mexico and China has triggered rapid reprisals, increasing the risk of a full -fledged trade war between the biggest economies in the world. Although the immediate economic consequences are significant, the training effects on global supply chains and international investments are even deeper. A striking example is the potential disruption of the Japanese automotive industry, which has invested $ 18 billion in Mexico for the assembly of vehicles and the manufacture of components.
Japanese car manufacturers – currently the largest car producers in Mexico – now reconstructs their investment plans in the country. The proposed American price of 25% on all assembled vehicles and automotive parts imported from Mexico could force these companies to rethink their manufacturing and supply chain strategies. If the Japanese car manufacturers decide to withdraw from Mexico, the economic benefits would be serious, first for Mexico, which rests strongly on this industry, then for Japan, which would face significant disruptions to its world supply chain. This situation underlines how trade policies can have large -scale and immediate impacts on global industries, supply chains and economies.
Application in class: This article provides a practical objective to analyze the critical intersection of trade policy, global supply chains and international commercial strategy. It should allow students to explore how commercial wars disrupt cross -border investments, remodeling manufacturing strategies and impact savings. By examining the potential withdrawal of Japanese car manufacturers from Mexico, students can apply theoretical executives from the course to real world scenarios, improving their ability to navigate a complex commercial dynamic and make informed decisions in a globalized commercial environment.
Questions:
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How could the climbing of commercial wars between the United States, Mexico and China reshang the global competitive landscape for industries such as automotive manufacturing?
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What are the potential long -term consequences for countries like Mexico when foreign investors reconsider their manufacturing and supply chain strategies due to trade policy changes?
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What factors should Japanese car manufacturers consider when they decide to stay in Mexico or move their operations?
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What are the potential risks for Japan if its automotive companies are forced to restructure their global supply chains?
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What ethical responsibilities do multinational companies have for countries where they operate, in particular when examining moving operations due to trade policy changes?
Fahd JamilUC Irvine
Direction
Article “The only thing you needed last week”
Tags: Leadership, microgestion, efficiency, confidence
Summary: Elon Musk’s demand for government employees to document what they did the previous week caused generalized confusion and concern, and the attention of the world’s media. Musk’s approach is the quintessence of aggressive micro -management behavior fueled by belief that teams cannot provide effective results without direct supervision and practical managerial intervention. On the other hand, Jensen Huang de Nvidia adopts a proactive approach by encouraging employees to note the five most important tasks on which they work, called T5TS, to promote a culture of concentration, prioritization and transparency throughout the company.
Application in class: This article offers the opportunity to discuss the role of managers in the team’s daily operations and to what extent the effectiveness of the team depends on close surveillance and managerial interventions (microgestion).
Questions
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What hypotheses concerning the role of manager / employer stimulate the Musk and Huang management approach?
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What role playing confidence here and why do you think that many managers lack confidence in their teams?
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What are the effects of microgestion on the commitment of the team members to their work and their identification with the organization?
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What determines the good degree of freedom for a team – especially in an environment constantly evolving?
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What advantages do you see by writing and thinking about priorities and achievements? And to what extent should they be monitored by line managers?
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What does it take to go from microgestion to a more confident leadership style?
Stefan KrummakerProfessor of leadership practice, Queen Mary University of London
Mergers and acquisitions
Microsoft to close the pioneer of the Skype video call
Tags: Digital acquisition, videoconferencing
Summary: Despite enthusiastic announcements with promises of significant synergies and profits of profits generally made by leaders on both sides of the agreements, the three quarters of mergers and acquisitions fail to meet expectations. The so-called “killers’ acquisitions” are notoriously difficult to identify.
Application in class: This article invites teachers and students to explore incentives to the purchasing company potentially “kill the target” to avoid competition (“killers’ acquisitions”). He also encourages participants to design measures that could be put in place to prevent such practices that could be particularly interesting for the antitrust authorities.
Questions:
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After Nokia, is this another example of a European company put to rest by an American “acquisition of killers”? Why was Skype a threat to Microsoft?
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Alternatively, is Microsoft’s decision to close Skype the result of poor integration after years of delay in a lucrative market in rapid development?
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Skype was ahead of his time (Zoom became popular for years later during COVID). Is this one of the greatest missed opportunities for Microsoft?
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Would the world have seen the birth of Zoom if the integration of Microsoff-Skype had been a success?
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What are the special research methods to apply to identify “killers’ acquisitions”?
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What measures should be put in place to treat these practices?
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What are the similarities, if necessary, between this case and the Visa case?
Krishnan RanganathanGuest teachers, Indian business schools
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