This case examines the competition between ports and port operators in the Pearl River Delta over the last four decades. The cities surrounding the Pearl River estuary are the "workshop of the world," and the development of manufacturing in the region was heavily dependent on efficient container shipping. As China has opened up and drawn more direct trade traffic to Shenzhen and Guangzhou ports, the operators in Hong Kong have had to adapt. More change is afoot, and Hong Kong may have to reinvent itself again.
In October 2018, LIU Chang (Angela), chairman of Beijing-based New Hope Liuhe (NHL), was considering the strategy of the firm. With $9 billion in sales and a presence in nearly 20 countries, NHL was China’s largest animal feed producer and a major pork and poultry producer and processor. The firm also marketed a range of food products to consumers. This case describes NHL’s entrepreneurial beginnings, growth, and recent efforts to transform from a feed producer into an integrated agri-food company with an active presence throughout the chicken, duck, and pig value chains. Considerable context is provided on the structure and evolution of these livestock industries in China, the food processing industry, and important issues such as food safety. This background is helpful in enabling students to assess NHL’s evolution in scale and scope and consider what (if any) changes should be made to the firm’s strategy in the context of this critically important market.
This case describes the evolution of Kazakhstan's rail connectivity strategy post-collapse of the Soviet Union and its now central role in China's Belt and Road Initiative. This meant shifting from a north-south orientation towards east-west, as well as the development of new border-crossing facilities, special economic zones, and a new middle route that crossed the Caspian Sea. Unlike many other BRI initiatives that involved loans from China, Kazakhstan funded the modernization and upgrade by itself. Now the question was how soon demand would grow to fill the waiting capacity, as other bottlenecks on the Trans-Eurasian land route connecting China with Europe were beyond the country's control.
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