The Silos, an industrial heritage building located in the Shekou Industrial Park in Shenzhen, China, was formerly a glass factory building that became industrial ruins. In November 2022, L&A Group transformed this industrial site into China’s first industrial site digital museum, its first metaverse experience centre, and a new landmark of Shenzhen digital cultural tourism. When the first phase of exhibition closed on May 31, 2023, the Silos had brought real profits to L&A Group by using the metaverse as the main selling point. However, considering the waning metaverse mania in China, the Silos needed to design and position its next selling point. Could L&A achieve strategic upgrading and sustainable development of this project?

In May 2022, amid the transformative currents of their industry, Kalpesh Shah and Paresh Shah of Ramson Industries (Ramson) confronted the reality that their traditional business model, which was historically heavily reliant on distributors, was facing stagnation. Having partially pivoted to a direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy during the pandemic, the Shah brothers now considered whether to more fully embrace this new direction. Despite the potential for increased margins and a solution to the issue of unsold inventory, the shift required careful consideration of e-commerce platform dynamics, website development, and the reconfiguration of Ramson’s supply chain. The company’s story was a testament to the complexities of navigating business transformation in a rapidly evolving marketplace, highlighting the strategic deliberations involved in adapting to a new consumer landscape while striving to uphold the values and relationships that had underpinned the business’s success.

Maisha by Esha, a fashion-and-lifestyle brand based in Ahmedabad, India, was founded in 2018 by Esha Shah-Vora; her father, Nayan Shah; and her husband, Neel Vora. The brand’s customer-centric approach was instrumental to Maisha’s growth and a guiding principle as the company aimed to reach ₹1 billion in sales. In 2024, Shah-Vora faced the dilemma of whether to transition from a family-managed set-up to a professionally managed organization to achieve this ambitious goal. Should she expand the product line, which consisted mainly of a variety of tie-and-dye bags? If so, what should the extension strategy and the new brand architecture be? Would Maisha’s successful Instagram be enough to achieve the revenue goal, or should she consider using other promotional tools?

This case examines the fundamental transformation challenges facing Volkswagen Group as it navigates the intersection of deglobalization and industry disruption. Through chief executive officer Oliver Blume’s perspective, we see how traditionally successful global strategies can become vulnerable when the underlying assumptions of globalization are challenged. The automotive industry was transforming due to technological changes, new consumer preferences, and environmental regulations, while the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), particularly from Chinese competitors, reshaped the market. Geopolitics complicated this transition, including the US–China and European Union–Russia decoupling tensions and the Ukraine War, which disrupted supply chains.

NEIWAI, a popular Chinese lingerie brand, was founded in 2012. The brand was able to rapidly adapt to both online and offline channels and attracted investment from several top venture capital firms. Being a direct-to-consumer brand, NEIWAI faced various issues like sustainable growth, creating intellectual property protection, and setting pricing limits. To overcome these issues, NEIWAI created offline channels and, at the same time, also planned to enter international markets, starting with the United States. In this scenario, would NEIWAI be able to make its mark in the US market?

In 2022, the chief executive officer of Sid’s Farm, a dairy-farming business in Hyderabad, India, had to make a key decision regarding the expansion of his business. The company provided natural and unadulterated dairy products, produced using sustainable farming practices, using a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model and had earned a good reputation and won awards for both its positive impact on the farming ecosystem and its commitment to ethical and environmentally responsible business practices. Now, the CEO wanted to increase his reach to more farmers, providing them with economic sustainability. He wondered which metro city he should expand into and which strategy model to follow: Should he replicate the Hyderabad model in another city or transport milk from the existing dairy plant to the chosen metro city? Would such an expansion dilute the farm’s ethical standards or compromise its environmental sustainability commitments?

This case examines the decline of Nirula’s, a once prosperous fast-food chain in India. Nirula’s, founded in the 1970s, introduced Western-style fast food in India. The firm tailored its menu to suit the regional tastes and preferences. The brand’s pioneering method of combining several culinary traditions led to a loyal consumer following, especially among the millennial demographic in Northern India. However, Nirula’s had enormous challenges due to the emergence of international fast-food chains like McDonald’s. It also faced issues related to availability and ambiance and struggled to stay relevant among younger customers. This case relates to rejuvenating and reviving a declining brand.

The Young Studio Expression Arts (TYS) was a tutoring business based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Founded in 2020 by a former school teacher, TYS had a number of service offerings and worked with a variety of markets. It never turned down a potential sale. However, after two years of business, its owner found herself struggling to expand in the market with limited resources. A business consultation identified a key issue: that the business did not have a market strategy or target market. After considering background information on the possible tutoring markets in Dubai and the possible ways to segment the market, as well as the first two years of market insights gained by TYS, its owner would have to decide: Who was her target market?

Dr. Fadia Kiwan, a Lebanese political-science professor at Saint-Joseph University and the director general of the Arab Women Organization, had observed through her work that Lebanon's socio-political landscape presented both opportunities and challenges for women's empowerment. Thus, in February 2022, she faced a significant career dilemma: she could run for Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections or continue her impactful roles in academia and women's advocacy. Her decision would be crucial because each path offered distinct possibilities for advancing women's rights and political representation in a region fraught with obstacles for women. Which path would she choose?

Organic India was founded in 1997 by Bharat Mitra with the vision to create a unique and successful business model committed to service and integrity, bringing the benefits of genuine organic Ayurveda products to the international market, while supporting the livelihood of farmers and tribal wildcrafters across rural India and regenerating the land through organic agriculture. <br><br>In 2012, Organic India entered a partnership with Fabindia that ensured steady growth for Organic India. In this collaboration, Organic India achieved many vital milestones, for example, diversifying to products other than tulsi tea, building India’s first LEED certified organic plant in Lucknow, and opening Organic India retail stores across India. However, in 2023, Fabindia decided to divest from Organic India, citing that Organic India’s products were not central to Fabindia’s core business. Bharat now faces the challenge of realizing his vision for Organic India while preserving its legacy and core values. What will he do?

New Zealand’s economy was based on agriculture, which comprised 50 per cent of the country’s national greenhouse gas emissions. In 2008, the government imposed a cap-and-trade system—known as the Emissions Trading System (ETS)—but had excluded the agriculture industry at the time. Recently, the government had been considering imposing a carbon tax at the farm level by 2025 to incentivize livestock farmers to reduce their emissions. However, there was significant backlash from the industry, and the government continued to delay implementing the tax. Would it be possible to propel the country into a new era of net-zero-carbon agriculture without destabilizing the meat and dairy industries?

In September 2015, Erika Cheung, a former employee at the private biotechnology company Theranos, must decide if she will blow the whistle on the company’s unethical practices, including inconsistent test results, data manipulation, and mishandling of patient blood samples. She must decide whether to contact the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an American federal health regulator, with this information. However, she could also face significant legal consequences due to the non-disclosure agreements she signed with Theranos. Personally, Cheung is wrestling with how to act in accordance with her commitment to improving the quality and affordability of health care and working in service of others.

With the enactment of the long-awaited U.S. security-based crowdfunding regulations in May 2016, early-stage private companies can utilize regulatory crowdfunding to raise funds on digital platforms via multiple nonaccredited investors. To protect such small microinvestors and maintain market efficiency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires extensive disclosure information in filings. However, with many ventures being new, small, or lacking in experience, there has been little practical guidance on best practices for navigating such disclosures-particularly to enhance funding prospects. We aim to address this gap by focusing on two crucial aspects of disclosures: financial reporting and the disclosure narrative. We draw on extant research in the field and outline the best disclosure practices for potential regulatory crowdfunding issuers based on signaling theory and institutional theory. Our recommendations offer a simple but practical guide to SEC financial reporting and disclosures for successful regulatory crowdfunding.

In this installment of Organizational Performance, we draw attention to two types of shareholders that tend to push executive decision-making in different directions. Quality shareholders (QSs) invest in a small number of companies and hold their shares over time. QSs offer patient capital that allows executives to focus on building and sustaining competitive advantages. Transient institutional investors (TIIs) hold dispersed shareholdings across a wide array of companies and frequently trade in and out of any given stock. TIIs impose pressure on quarterly earnings reports that induce managerial myopia and inhibit strategic thinking. We consider the influence of these investors on how many consumers are harmed before a defective product is pulled from the market. The good news is that for every 1% increase in QS shareholding, prerecall consumer harm decreases by 2%. Unfortunately, for the same amount of increase in TII shareholding, prerecall consumer harm increases by 6%-a frightening prospect. The case of product recalls draws the difference between QSs and TIIs into stark contrast. In response, we offer practical recommendations to assist managers in navigating these two types of powerful institutional investors.

WeWork Companies LLC (WeWork), founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, had redefined the global real estate industry with its innovative approach to providing co-working spaces. By 2019, the company’s valuation had skyrocketed to $47 billion, and its service offerings had extended to co-living and education. However, mounting financial losses, debt, and revelations about Neumann’s extravagant lifestyle and poor governance practices led to a failed initial public offering and forced Neumann to step down as chief executive officer (CEO) amid eroded stakeholder confidence. Sandeep Mathrani, the experienced real estate executive who was appointed CEO in February 2020, faced a crucial question: beyond rehabilitating the company’s financial prospects, how was he to restore employee morale and revamp confidence in its communal culture?

Rillea Technologies (Rillea) was a software-as-a-service provider for the chemical safety and compliance industry whose main product was SDS RiskAssist, a software package for managing electronic versions of the safety data sheets required by companies and organizations whose employees need to handle potentially dangerous chemicals. In January 2022, Lisa and Rob Hallsworth, Rillea’s co-founders, set themselves the goal of maximizing their company’s revenue growth over the coming years. To accomplish this, they considered implementing a marketing plan consisting of promotional strategies such as purchasing advertising on Google Ads and/or LinkedIn and participating in trade shows. They also considered expanding their product mix to include a premium version of an existing product. Given Rillea’s limited human capital and the increasingly competitive market that was forming in the chemical safety and compliance industry, the co-founders knew they had to make a decision as quickly as possible.

The case of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) versus Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon) revolved around allegations of anti-competitive practices and monopolistic behaviour by the tech giant. Amazon, with its diverse portfolio of services and dominant market position in online retail, faced accusations related to its bundling of “Fulfillment by Amazon” with Prime Eligibility and its price parity rules for third-party sellers. The FTC claimed that Amazon’s bundling strategy stifled competition by compelling sellers to use its fulfillment services, thus limiting their choices and potentially driving up prices for consumers. Additionally, Amazon’s price parity rules allegedly restricted sellers from offering lower prices on other platforms, potentially leading to artificially inflated prices across all channels. However, Amazon argued that these practices were essential for maintaining service quality, preventing showrooming, and protecting its brand reputation. The company would have to evaluate the validity of the FTC’s claims and determine the best course of action in response to the lawsuit.

Founded in 2021, Satvic Foods (Satvic) was a company based in Ujjain, India, offering organic, herbal-based food products to a wide range of customers. After only two and a half years since its inception, Satvic had shown tremendous growth, making profits three times the amount of its original investment. Given the high demand for Satvic’s products in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business’s founder was planning to expand the business globally. However, to achieve international expansion, Satvic needed to develop an effective measure for dealing with cutthroat competition from several leading brands in the country. It also needed to elevate its branding and packaging for better recall in consumers’ minds. Finally, the company’s distribution network needed to be improved for attaining greater availability across markets.

Mariam Assi was the founder of Marazal—a small business dedicated to repurposing empty bottles, primarily empty liquor, wine, and beer bottles. In August 2023, Marazal’s Facebook account, the primary platform she used for marketing, sales, and engaging with her 2,500 followers, was blocked because it had been reported by the manufacturer of Belvedere Vodka. She was in a state of disbelief as she had never intended to misuse the brand; instead, she aimed to breathe new life into empty bottles to prevent them from reaching the Naameh landfill in South Lebanon. Unsettling questions lingered: Was what she was doing ethical or not? What if other manufacturers or brands followed suit, blocking the company’s Instagram account, and throwing Marazal’s business into jeopardy?

Resilience is the key to driving a company’s long-term profitable growth, according to new research at Accenture that was designed to measure the connection between corporate resilience and the ability to create value. After analyzing the performance of 1,615 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies across 18 industries with their Resilience Index, the authors found that only 52 per cent of high-performing companies—those with above-peer-set revenue growth and profitability—outpaced their peers continuously through the business cycle running from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2023. The authors’ research showed that companies need a holistic vision and investment strategy for resilience, which they define as the capability to cope with and capitalize on fast-changing markets. They found evidence that a combination of financial and non-financial strengths captured in their Resilience Index—such as a company’s ability to hire talent and invest in technological innovations—drive and predict long-term high performance. Companies with the highest ratings across all the Resilience Index’s dimensions had the strongest performance. In addition, the authors discovered that companies that build a resilience-focused culture while investing in multiple resilience-enhancing capabilities and developing the talent needed to unlock the potential of new technologies have faster-growing revenue and profit margins over the long term.