MG962 – Managing Across Cultures Coursework: Case Study Group Presentation | University of Strathclyde

Group Presentation Guidance

This document outlines the case study group presentation requirements for MG962. This group presentation represents 40% of the overall grade.

Background

Congratulations! You’ve just landed a new role as Global Product (Manager) in a Multinational Company based in the US. As your first assignment, your line manager asks you to launch a new product preferably in the UK. In order to achieve this, you will need to liaise with the Regional Product Manager, who is the market expert and will be able to give you tips on how to localize the product. This is a very important task since the product has been designed by the former Chief Product Officer and now Chief Executive Officer.

The Business

The business follows a centralized organizational structure, meaning that strategic decisions are made by the global teams. The organizational chart below gives you a quick overview of how the business is structured.

Regional teams must follow the directives from Global teams, however Global teams need input from Regional teams because they are the market experts. They retain the relationship with clients and regulators e.g. Government, Central Banks plus they know the characteristics of the local markets. Launching a product in a new market requires all stakeholders to be aligned.

The Product

It is an app that allows consumers to make payments using their mobile devices using the bank of their choice. The app is a success in the US market because it allows users to pay for their purchases and also send and request money to and from friends and family domestically– all free of charge for app users in the US. Users can download and use the app for free. The user’s Bank only charges merchants a fee per purchase transaction. Our business charges banks a fee per purchase transaction. Different from its competitors, the product doesn’t have a competitive price but it does have a much slicker user experience and the brand of a successful multinational business that inspires safe, fast and secure payments attracting users, merchants and banks.

The Line Manager

Great communicator and ambitious American, who in less than five years has reached the highest ranks in the business. Started as manager and has recently been promoted to Global Product Director. She is known for being energetic and is determined to deliver on the strategy the CPO but now CEO has designed for the product. Her expectation is to launch this new product by mid-November in the UK as per CPO’s expectation.

The Regional Product (Manager)

Born and raised in Italy, his whole career has been in the payments industry working for different businesses in Europe countries. He is very knowledgeable about players and consumer trends in the UK market. He thinks the product has a strong offering but not for the UK market because this market is saturated. In his view, the product would be much better suited to a smaller market first like Australia before launching in the UK. He also thinks the pricing is too high for the region.

The CEO

Brilliant strategist who is passionate about innovation. He worked in several positions and markets for the business before becoming CPO. The successful launch of the product in the US market has given him the opportunity to become the new CEO. He is a very reachable leader and promotes team working and thoughtful risk taking. The product is his `baby` and he is very keen to launch in the UK due to the size of the market. The CEO is still wearing the CPO hat until he finds a replacement for this role he cares so much about.

The Head of Engineering

Very technical individual with in-depth understanding of all technologies and development teams involved in the product development process. Born in Australia, he is based in Sydney but manages teams in US, India, the UK, and Australia. He is the person to go if you have any product related queries. The time-zone restricts his availability. The Head of Engineering is totally risk averse and says that the company shouldn’t be committing to any product launches in November because it could jeopardise the app performance and users could have trouble making payments towards Christmas shopping.

The Head of Billing

Born in India but based in the UK. Known for being welcoming and interested in people’s opinions. She has just returned from maternity leave, so lots of catching-up to do. Tough negotiator when it comes to reviewing pricing policies.

The Legal and Compliance Team

Your point of contact would be with the Head of Legal and Compliance. They are extremely busy as some of the staff are on holidays or maternity leave, so you may struggle to obtain a quick response. The Head of Legal and Compliance is friendly, chatty and certainly enjoys telling you a good story. However, they are risk averse and will demand strong arguments to support any product-driven decision. He was born in Tel Aviv, but his family raised him in the UK. He has been in the business for over 20 years.

The Communications Team

Super friendly, full of energy and ideas. This is what you can expect when engaging with the Global Communication team. Their role is to help you tell the story and engage with the regional team to ensure communications are localized but still following the principles. Global Director is based in the US and has many years of marketing experience.

The Assignment

Working within your teams, you need to present a plan to launch the product to a new market of your choice. You will have the chance to make a recommendation following the 'instincts' of CEO and launch the product in the UK OR follow the expertise of the Region Product (Manager) and choose another market e.g. Australia. Your decision must take into account the information available in this case study, what you gathered from your own research and theories and principles that you learnt in class.

In order to facilitate your research and development of focussed recommendations, you can choose either Mastercard, Visa or American Express as a reference for the case of the Multinational Company.

You and your team will have 15 minutes maximum to present your findings and recommendations regarding the case study. The presentation is in the form of formal group presentation in a recorded video format. There will be a drop-in clinic session for the group presentation on 28 February 2025.

Marking Criteria

The group presentation represents 40% of your final grade. You and your team members will be assessed on time keeping, your understanding of the dynamics of the chosen market where you suggest to launch the product (e.g. competitors, users), the arguments and facts presented to strengthen your recommendation, stakeholder management, and the application of theories and principles learnt in class.
When we mark your work, we will also be looking for your ability to demonstrate your achievement of the various class learning outcomes (both subject specific and cognitive/non-subject specific skills) as set out in the class outline:

Subject-specific knowledge and skills
A1    The different conceptual notions of culture
A2 The impact of culture on management, organizational structure, strategy (inc. functional strategy), systems and processes
A3    The main theories of international management
A4  The links between international strategy formulation and implementation and a deeper awareness of the complexities and importance of implementation (e.g. in strategic alliances).

Cognitive abilities and non-subject-specific skills

B1    Apply conceptual ideas to practical situations
B2    Employ business concepts to analyse real international management problems
B3    Manage complex information, using judgement and argument, and to prioritise to separate the important from the less important
B4    Demonstrate skills of synthesis and argument B5    Demonstrate presentation and critique skills.
The group presentation will be marked against the marking scheme in your Programme Handbook.