Abstract

The case seeks to offer a tool to help students to integrate knowledge and develop analytical capabilities in the area of strategic management and internationalization of a family company. The case is developed for senior business students or MBA students, who should analyse if this family company should reconsider its strategy for entering the Chinese market. For that they can consult several articles that we recommend. Starting from the articles of Kuo, Kao, Chang and Chiu (2012) or Hollender, Zapkau and Schwens (2017), the students can argue for the Farina-Roggendorf family the pros and cons of increasing family involvement and assigning responsibility to their son (or other family member) for developing their business in China vs insisting on strategic partners to support them in this enterprise. In the case that they decide develop their project themselves, the article by Li, He and Sousa (2017) sheds light for students to propose possible routes. In the case of suggesting the route of insisting with Chinese strategic partners, the article by De Massis, Frattini, Majocchi and Piscitello (2018) offers support for deciding between the option suggested by Isu Tsing vs the strategy implemented by the family up to now. This case study is designed for students to work in teams. The case is to be handed out a week before its reading. The teams should be made up beforehand and each team should bring a poster with the answers to the case questions.