Fishbay.in is an online store where Indian consumers can buy fish that is delivered to their home. Although the founder originally targeted individual consumers and households, he soon found that restaurants were also interested in buying fish online. Unlike individuals, restaurants were more concerned with quality than price and typically ordered larger quantities. The founder wonders whether he should stick to his original plan of targeting individual consumers or shift his focus to the restaurant business.

The chief executive officer of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) had the daunting task of sustaining a business that had suffered the tragic loss of two of its airliners in a span of just four months. Prior to this, a US$392 million loss, as well as the inability to compete with lower-cost carriers, had posed a great challenge to MAS. Management was planning to initiate a cost-cutting strategy to manage pricing and the competitive challenges of the aviation industry when these incidents shocked the world. The disasters greatly impacted customer confidence, as reflected in the company’s declining booking rates and stock prices. With its reputation severely damaged, MAS was faced with many hard-hitting questions from various stakeholders about the airline’s prospects. Many felt there was a need to transform the entire business model. The top executives pondered various options, including rebranding the airline, a new discounted pricing structure to build volume, a private equity infusion, a merger and filing for bankruptcy. Each option would have to be considered very carefully, as the changes made to the business would decide the future of MAS.

Starting with a small pilot centre in Hyderabad in 2010, a chain of quality dialysis centres had grown to 25 centres by mid-2014, with plans to expand to 100 by 2017. As they planned for this growth, the three co-founders had several questions with respect to NephroPlus's business model, partners, staff, systems, processes and culture playing on their minds. With the threat of competition looming large, they knew that they had to work hard to achieve both high quality and affordability as they continued with their fast-paced growth.

The management of the Youreka Hotel in Amritsar, India, was concerned about the hotel’s overall returns relative to its annual operating cost and large initial investment. The new five-star hotel was now up and running and customers had started checking in, but occupancy levels were low. The hotel industry in India was making double-digit margins, but the hotel had not even achieved operational breakeven yet. Of key importance for the operations head was choosing the best seafood supplier — based on selling price, transportation cost and other factors — for supplying the hotel’s restaurants. A poor decision could have a negative impact on room occupancy and profitability. Among management, there were also concerns that the location of the hotel might be unfavourable. When could the operations head expect the hotel to match the profitability of the industry? What could he do to improve the hotel’s profitability?

After identifying a need in the market for a simpler way to manage prenatal nutrition, three Darden classmates develop an idea for a subscription e-commerce business that provides a monthly box of nutritionist-approved prenatal snacks, recipes, personal care products, and information for expectant mothers. To determine the best name for their product, the women run Google AdWords campaigns and choose the one that performed best. But was this the right decision, or should they rerun the test with the two best-performing names? And was this the most important business decision they needed to make at this point, or were there more pressing matters to address?

It is January 2014, and the case protagonist, David Milestone (senior advisor at the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact at the U.S. Agency for International Development's Global Health Bureau), is preparing for a meeting of global stakeholders and pharmaceutical manufacturers who are interested in reducing mortality caused by childhood pneumonia and are prepared to donate $10 million to support this effort. Milestone's goal is to propose a strategy to address childhood pneumonia in Uganda, toward which the $10 million donation would go. In addition to effectively and sustainably reducing childhood pneumonia deaths, the plan must align the interests of various stakeholders behind the problem. A successful strategy in Uganda could be a model for interventions elsewhere. The United Nations Commission on Lifesaving Commodities for Women and Children recently identified Uganda as a "pathfinder" country, meaning it could serve as the example for other countries wrestling with the same issues. This is a remarkable opportunity to change the lives of children in Uganda-and all around the world.

In October 2008, in the midst of a financial crisis, Anthony Keating, investment manager at the Boston private bank Billingsley, Blaylock, and Montgomery, was searching for an investment strategy to recommend to his high-net-worth clients. Traditional investments in the equity markets were being decimated, and Keating's clients would be looking to him for ideas. Inspired by the success of Paulson and Co., Keating began to explore the possibility of entering a trade that would profit as homeowners defaulted on their mortgages. The more Keating learned about the trade, the more he realized that he needed to know about mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps. The case provides instructors with a chance to introduce these financial instruments while providing lessons applicable to students interested in value investing or real estate finance.

On the evening of June 10, 2011, the first European tour of Korean idol groups was held in Paris. With European fans demanding tickets and organizing a flashmob rally in front of the Louvre Museum, SM Entertainment, the producers, immediately set up an additional European concert. The success of the Paris concert elevated the status of K-pop and showed that it held potential in the global market. Behind the development of K-pop was the unique production system created by Soo-man Lee of SM Entertainment. When he established SM Entertainment in 1995, Lee introduced a systematic production system that integrated the functions of record distribution, agency, and management and enabled the company to make long-term investments in talented artists. The adoption of a sustainable growth model led SM to emerge as the leader in the Korean entertainment industry. This case explores in depth SM Entertainment's talent development process. It also traces the successes and failures that SM experienced, primarily in China, Japan, and Korea and discusses Lee's vision of building a "virtual nation." Lee believed that "the world's biggest star would come from the largest market," thus explaining his focus on succeeding in the Chinese market and grooming Chinese talent. The case concludes by examining a number of strategies that SM Entertainment used to develop a presence in the global music market.

Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics with a grant to scale Citizens Connect across the state. The money gives two co-creators of Citizens Connect, Chris Osgood and Nigel Jacob, a chance to grow their vision for citizen-engaged governance and civic innovation, but it also requires that the two City of Boston leaders sit on a formal selection committee that pits their original partner, Connected Bits, against another player that might meet the specific requirements for delivering a statewide version. The selection and scaling process raise questions beyond just which partner to choose. What would happen to the Citizens Connect brand as Osgood and Jacob's product spread across the state? Who could help scale their work best then nationally? Which business models were best positioned to drive that growth? What intellectual property arrangements would best enable it? And what role should the two city employees have, anyway, in scaling Citizens Connect outside of Boston in the first place? These questions hung in the air as they pondered the one big one about passing over Connected Bits for another partner: should they?

In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen (""bullet"") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the demands on Tessei continued to grow. Given previous leaders' failed attempts to fix Tessei's problems with increased managerial monitoring and controls, Yabe seeks a creative approach to overcome the motivation, capability, and coordination challenges facing his organization. Like many contemporary leaders, he selects transparency as his tool. He is, however, unique in adopting a highly nuanced approach to implementing transparency. In the process, he not only leads a fantastic organizational turnaround but even helps to make otherwise ""dirty"" work more meaningful for Tessei front-line employees. The case therefore presents students, particularly in leadership, organizational behavior, operations management, and service operations courses, with an opportunity to think through how a well-crafted transparency strategy can act as a powerful leadership tool.

In 2012, Syngenta, one of the world's largest agricultural input company, committed to build a $1 billion business in Africa over the next 10 years. In mid-2014, CEO Michael Mack and Africa Venture Team head Dimitri Pauwels are reviewing progress. Was the company's committment to Africa still relevant and achievable?

Argentina-based Cresud managed 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land in South America. For 20 years, the publicly traded company's strategy had been to acquire underutilized properties and turn them into productive farmland for cattle and crops. In 2014, Cresud's CEO wondered if the strategy was still correct in the face of falling commodity prices, more powerful input companies, and potentially positive changes in Argentina's political environment.

The chief operating officer at Westridge Cabinets, a Canadian cabinet manufacturer, needs to improve the company’s on-time delivery performance and reduce costs. Customers’ orders vary widely, in terms of both order size and product mix, leading to complications in planning and scheduling the plant. As part of their analysis, students are required to 1) recognize how the company’s order process integrates with production planning and control; 2) understand how manufacturing lead times affect flexibility and delivery performance and 3) calculate capacity in each department to identify and resolve potential constraints.

The CEO of Coeur Mining, the largest U.S.-based primary silver producer and a significant gold producer, saw a need for immediate change during week one on the job. Instead of wasting time changing culture, Mitch Krebs built a new one by moving the company to Chicago, a non-traditional mining city, and replacing most of the corporate office. The firm he had inherited was informal and decentralized, as well as overly focused on next-month and next-quarter results to the extent that it risked losing sight of relations with the communities in which it operated and communication strategies. Krebs set a goal for Coeur to become the best precious metals mining company in the world, not the biggest. In this interview, he praises going big with organizational change as worth the effort, and recognizes the value of good relationships as the best lesson he learned in business school. For any team to excel, he states, a firm has to have the right kind of constructive conflicts that focus on the problem involved, not the people. Finally, he cautions against building anything in the mining industry until you know exactly where the money is going to come from.

The protagonists of the case are CEO Kenneth Frazier and Roger Perlmutter, president of research, as they contemplate Merck's future in light of a difficult external environment and multiple internal challenges. Overall, the pharmaceutical industry faces the threat of patent expirations, diminishing new drug breakthroughs, adverse regulatory laws, increasing competition, and a harsh economic climate. With its new drug pipeline running dry, Merck accepted that the biotech industry is too complicated for it to navigate alone. As it stood, it was producing only 1 percent of the biomedical research in the world. Thousands of new ideas were emerging around the world, both inside and outside of the company. While Merck had been moving toward an open innovation strategy, its stellar history of internal research and development had created a culture resilient to working externally. Should Merck pursue an open innovation strategy? If so, how? Another issue that the case deals with is executing corporate strategy via acquisitions of smaller biotech companies such as Merck's recent acquisition of Idenix.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 1, Bootstrapping Described, the author explains the fundamentals and evolution of internally-funded ventures. He emphasizes the different challenges that face a venture based on bootstrapping versus other funding and differentiates the types of bootstrapping as well as the inherent risks. He reviews the two main component of bootstrapping: the reasons behind a decision bootstrap and the resource strategy used to operate in that situation. He also addresses common myths about bootstrapping and previews the topics that will be covered in the rest of the book.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 2, Bootstrapping and the Problem of Being New, the author explains why initial financing decisions are critical for new firms. He recommends that all entrepreneurs begin with a process of self-reflection to determine their goals, mainly whether they desire to retain control or make money from the new venture. He also offers a review of basic factors in start-ups to inform later strategy decisions. He describes the three main reasons why new ventures fail: newness, legitimacy, and signaling, and offers ideas for overcoming these challenges.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. Chapter 3, New Venture Finance Considerations for the Bootstrapper, addresses capital structure in new firms. The author explains key concepts in the two types of external financing: debt and equity. He presents three concepts that influence funding decisions (information asymmetry, moral hazard, and adverse selection) and explains the importance of each to an entrepreneur. He offers a Financial Growth Cycle as a model that relates growth with increased funding options and, ultimately, success.