This three part case series takes a close look at the activities of a newly appointed senior general manager during the first six months in his new job. The questions it addresses are fundamental. If, for example, as the new boss suspects, the strategy of the business needs to change in a very fundamental way, how should he decide if he is correct, and then go about making the change happen? How much should he trust the judgment of his new direct reports? And how tough should he be about demanding performance from them? Even as he considers these basic questions, a major supply chain crisis erupts, and then an acquisition opportunity arises that both his boss, the Chairman of parent company Scottish and Newcastle, and his direct reports, think is a good idea. What stance should he take? Scottish Courage is the UK’s largest brewer, producing such beers as Foster’s, John Smith’s, and Kronenbourg 1664. It is the largest unit within Scottish and Newcastle, a major European brewer based in Scotland.
