A Business case written about an Egyptian company working in producing smart cards.

A Business case written about an Egyptian company working in producing smart cards. Mediterranean Smart Card Company: Growing the BusinessLooking from the inside of his bedroom window in Zamalek, Mr. Ismail couldn't keep his mind off work. It was 2004 New Year's Eve, but instead of being out with his family celebrating the new year, Mr. Ismail, Managing Director of MSCC, had to stay at home preparing for tomorrows meeting with the board of directors where they will discuss plans for the coming year 2004. The company has just started its operations 4 months ago. They were fortunate enough to start out big, being backed up by VISA, but things aren't going out as planned. Revenues and sales are not what had been previously forecasted. Further, there have been rumors that one of the shareholders will leave the company to create a competing company. Added to this, there have been many complaints from the HR department, project managers, the operations teams as well as many of the banking customers.English: Smart Card reader slot on a Dell e6410 la...How can Mr. Ismail ge t the company back on track? What should be their strategic plan for the coming year? Should they focus on fixing the internals of the company before growth can happen, or should they focus on expanding? If they choose to expand, which markets should they target; local or international?This case has been developed by:Akrum Shawky, Amal Abdel Razek, Lama Nasser, Nancy Nassar and Wael IbrahimFor the MGMT 508 course - with the supervision of Dr. Tarek HatemThe Smart Card IndustryWorldwide the issuance of Smart Cards has become the "new" technology. Smart cards, or 'chip' cards, are the latest technology in payment cards, making electronic payment faster, safer and more flexible. Smart cards carry a microchip, which has the capacity of storing up to 80 times more information and features than a standard magnetic...