Building the Happiest Chinese Law Firm: Vision, Mission, and Values of Shentong

Xiaoping Zhao, Lucas Liang Wang, Xiaoyan Liu, Sicong Zhang

Product #:W49915_P

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:International Business, Strategy

Setting:China, 2026

Details:Case (PDF) • 12 pages • 2026-07-07

Your Price:

$10.54

Language:

Format:

Purchase this material with a free Educator Account and enjoy more benefits:

Free Educator Copy
Free Teaching Notes
Build your coursepack
Discounted academic price

In January 2026, Linbin Yang, founder and managing partner of Shentong Law Firm (Shentong), sat in his Shanghai headquarters reflecting on the firm’s exponential growth to 200 legal professionals. This success was driven by a highly unconventional Vision, Mission, and Values (VMV) framework anchored in the concept of employee happiness. However, the recent inauguration of a Los Angeles branch—marking the firm’s first step toward a global network—posed a critical strategic dilemma. Yang had to decide whether Shentong’s deeply collectivist, happiness-driven VMV framework could be successfully replicated in the highly individualistic American legal market, completely localized to fit United States industry norms, or adapted into a complex hybrid model to achieve multinational synergy.

Learning Objectives

This case is designed for use in undergraduate, master of business administration, and executive education programs. Given its extensive details on the formulation and cross-border transferability of corporate culture and VMV framework, the case is particularly useful for supporting an in-depth analysis of organizational identity in both domestic and international settings. By analyzing this case and addressing assignment questions, students will be able to:

Understand the foundational concepts of a firm's VMV framework along with its strategic role in forging a distinct corporate identity.
Examine the construct of happiness as an ultimate organizational objective, evaluating its multi-dimensional pillars and its efficacy in mitigating professional burnout.
Analyze how abstract core values are successfully translated into concrete, daily institutional practices and governance structures.
Practice decision-making for globalizing corporate identity during multinational expansion.