Mahindra First Choice Services Limited, a multi-brand car-servicing business in India, needs to create a unique customer value proposition to differentiate its brand in a highly competitive landscape. In India, the aftermarket services market comprises original equipment manufacturers, independent garages and few organized players. The marketing head and his team need to position their company’s brand to capture customers that have previously relied on local garages and original equipment manufacturers.

The co-founder and chief executive officer of The Asylum, a movie production company headquartered in Burbank, California, must decide whether the company needs to explore other avenues for growth or change its current business model to boost profitability. The company has developed a unique imitation strategy to reduce the uncertainty of financial success in filmmaking – its “mockbuster” business model is to produce B-rated movies that use plotlines similar to that of major Hollywood films already in production and release them at the same time as or just before the comparable Hollywood film. It can thus take advantage of the large marketing and promotion campaigns that large film production studios employ to promote their films while producing a substantially cheaper (but somewhat similar) film. To date, all of these mockbusters have been profitable, but changes to property rights regulations and increased litigation cases may come to affect the bottom line. There are three options going forward: maintaining the status quo, focusing even more on producing mockbusters or shifting toward completely original film production. What should the company do to ensure future success?

In March 2015, Huayi Brothers Media Corporation is China's most influential entertainment company, accounting for one-fifth of the country's total yearly box office revenues. In recent years, in an effort to leverage its movie content and copyrights, the company has expanded into developing and distributing games on the Internet as well as building entertainment theme parks in Asia. Now, the chairman and co-founder is considering a partnership with Hollywood's STX Entertainment to jointly invest in and co-produce 18 films and distribute them worldwide within two years. Should the company enter into this partnership or not? What is the best strategy to move forward and grow internationally outside of China? Or should the company concentrate on bettering its competition by concentrating on its core business portfolio in visual (both movies and television), live (musical performances and theme parks) and Internet gaming in China and Asia?

An equity analyst at a value fund considers pitching to his fund manager the Canadian software maker Constellation Software Inc. The last software company he pitched was rejected for failing to meet the value fund’s investment criteria of low analyst coverage and small market capitalization with either a strong competitive advantage or a low price-earnings ratio and a low price-to-book ratio. The analyst has heard that Constellation Software is earning very high returns on invested capital deployed and wonders whether the company’s current valuation makes it a great business investment at a fair price.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation Japan, is considering a new product introduction to defend its pre-eminent position and retain its competitive advantage in the Indian car market. Three different choices have emerged, out of which only one can be pursued. There is a need to reassess MSIL’s potential growth opportunities and strategy for competing in the A-segment. Which product should MSIL invest in to successfully defend its position?

In 2008, the newly appointed chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bank of Baroda, one of India’s largest public-sector banks, was exploring ways to implement the vision of making the bank one of the most popular and customer-oriented public-sector banks in the country. Under the tenure of the previous CMD, a strong foundation for growth had been built, and subsequently, the bank had made tremendous progress and had been ranked third among its peers. However, the bank continued to suffer from the typical malaise of large public-sector organizations — although change was taking place, the firm was sluggish, inadequately responsive to customers, and using outdated processes and technology. Consequently, the new CMD was faced with the challenge of managing the legacy of his predecessor. To accomplish his goal, he took on the task of reinventing the bank by dispelling the culture of fear and caution that prevailed. Could he make the firm more agile and customer-savvy, while quadrupling revenue?

An equity analyst at a value fund considers pitching to his fund manager the Canadian software maker Constellation Software Inc. The last software company he pitched was rejected for failing to meet the value fund's investment criteria of low analyst coverage and small market capitalization with either a strong competitive advantage or a low price-earnings ratio and a low price-to-book ratio. The analyst has heard that Constellation Software is earning very high returns on invested capital deployed and wonders whether the company's current valuation makes it a great business investment at a fair price.

In 2008, the newly appointed chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bank of Baroda, one of India's largest public-sector banks, was exploring ways to implement the vision of making the bank one of the most popular and customer-oriented public-sector banks in the country. Under the tenure of the previous CMD, a strong foundation for growth had been built, and subsequently, the bank had made tremendous progress and had been ranked third among its peers. However, the bank continued to suffer from the typical malaise of large public-sector organizations - although change was taking place, the firm was sluggish, inadequately responsive to customers, and using outdated processes and technology. Consequently, the new CMD was faced with the challenge of managing the legacy of his predecessor. To accomplish his goal, he took on the task of reinventing the bank by dispelling the culture of fear and caution that prevailed. Could he make the firm more agile and customer-savvy, while quadrupling revenue?

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation Japan, is considering a new product introduction to defend its pre-eminent position and retain its competitive advantage in the Indian car market. Three different choices have emerged, out of which only one can be pursued. There is a need to reassess MSIL's potential growth opportunities and strategy for competing in the "A-segment." Which product should MSIL invest in to successfully defend its position?

This case study presents the dilemmas faced by the Country Manager of Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan. He has to find closure on a variety of issues ranging from procurement of steel casings to complete test wells in the Turkmen region, to implementing a new performance evaluation system mandated by Pioneer's headquarters in Dallas, localization of the workforce, and challenging cross-cultural matters associated with an upcoming trip by Turkmenistan officials to the US offices of Pioneer

This case study presents the dilemmas faced by Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan. The company has to find closure on a variety of issues ranging from procurement of steel casings to complete test wells in the Turkmen region, to implementing a new performance evaluation system mandated by Pioneer's headquarters in Dallas, localization of the workforce, and challenging cross-cultural matters associated with an upcoming trip by Turkmenistan officials to the U.S. offices of Pioneer.

Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has taken Amazon.com from an online bookstore to the largest online retailer and comparison-shopping site in the world. Bezos has followed the trend of integrating hardware and software, products and services, and online and brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon diversified into cloud computing (with Amazon Web Services, or AWS) and content delivery and original content creation. Its membership service, Prime, offers free two-day shipping, instant video streaming, music, grocery delivery service, Kindle lending library, and other benefits. Amazon finds itself engaged in a fierce competitive battle for control of the emerging digital ecosystem, pitted against technology giants such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and Alibaba. Yet, profitability eludes Amazon-how much longer will its shareholders be patient with Jeff Bezos?

Tesla Motors, Inc. was founded in 2003 in San Carlos, CA, with the mission "to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass-market electric cars to market as soon as possible." By 2015, Tesla is now a public company that faces multiple challenges, including scaling-up production, market acceptance, the lack of a clear technology standard, timing and launch of a mass-market vehicle, and increased global competition. Moreover, the competition in the automobile industry is getting more intense as gasoline prices have fallen by 50 percent in the United States. CEO Elon Musk must decide how to handle these issues to keep Tesla successful.

Cipla Global Ltd. (CGL) is a real-life, undisguised decision case. CGL is one of India's top pharmaceutical companies. Thanks to India's process patent regime (1970-2005), Dr. Yusuf Hamied, the company's chairman, managed to catapult the company to its position as a leading generics manufacturer. However, in 2005, India changed its Patents Act to make it TRIPS compliant. Faced with Western pharmaceutical companies' 'evergreening', CGL became a prominent crusader against multinationals. It fought and won patent cases in Indian courts. On the other hand, the government of India took advantage of the TRIPS provisions to authorize Indian companies to manufacture copies of patented drugs without the patent holder's permission. This infuriated Western pharmaceutical companies because they saw this provision as an infringement on their rights, which would lead to decreased revenues. As a consequence, they started lobbying their respective governments to put pressure on the Indian government. The case ends with a dilemma about the best course of action for CGL going forward, given the various options offered by the industry, on the one hand, and the ambitions of its chairman, on the other.

Raven's Sun Enterprise Ltd. is a small oilfield and construction site delivery business operated by firefighter Mike LaPlante on his days off. Mike is the firm's only driver, so scheduling his time profitably is the critical success factor. Students will have to consider an unusual measure of volume, Mike's available work days, to assess potential profitability and risk during a recession. They will have to apply constrained resource analysis and cost-volume-profit analysis (CVP) to three different sales mixes, which in this service business involve combinations of in-city and long-haul deliveries. Finally, their recommendations will relate the CVP analysis to work/family balance and safety issues.

A multi-issue one-on-one negotiation between a young entrepreneur (John Ambitchious) and a close-to-retirement CEO of a large corporation (George Gried). John and George are considering becoming partners on a venture John is setting up. Besides negotiating the partnerhship details, George currently works for a potential competitor, thus raising ethical tensions that should be negotiated before committing to a final deal.

A multi-issue one-on-one negotiation between a young entrepreneur (John Ambitchious) and a close-to-retirement CEO of a large corporation (George Gried). John and George are considering becoming partners on a venture John is setting up. Besides negotiating the partnerhship details, George currently works for a potential competitor, thus raising ethical tensions that should be negotiated before committing to a final deal.

Aarong, the retail arm of BRAC, a non-profit development organization based in Bangladesh, was created in 1978 to provide employment, income generation and social development opportunities for underprivileged women through the revival and promotion of Bangladeshi handicrafts. Profits from Aarong were used to extend such opportunities to more low-income producers and to cross-subsidize BRAC programmes for the poor. In 30 years, from a single shop, Aarong had grown into one of Bangladesh's biggest retail chains. Its products ranged from clothing, household items, gifts and fashion accessories to children's toys. The competition, however, was intensifying, both from local retailers in individual categories as well as foreign players, such as from India. How could Aarong compete in a global market? How could it leverage the brand, improve quality to match machine-made consistency, and keep prices competitive, while maintaining its social mission?

Axiom, an innovative player providing legal services to corporates, develops service lines to provide lawyers on secondment to clients and managed services to outsource part of its clients' legal activities. Axiom's growth is placed in the broader context of changing client needs and competition in the corporate legal market.

A multi-issue 1-on-1 internal negotiation between a manager (Sebastian) and his employee (Diane). Diane wants Sebastian's feedback on her recent performance on X-Caliber as this will have a significant impact on if and when she will be promoted, but it's not all good news.