Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, chief executive officer of Avatar South Africa, looked out of his office window in Johannesburg. Mkhwanazi was contemplating whether he should stay at Avatar or move on to new things. This question was triggered by a media briefing that South Africa’s Minister of Health had just given in which he outlined the rollout for the COVID-19 vaccine. Avatar had been directly involved with the communication strategies the president of South Africa and the Ministry of Health used to reach the majority of the population in a country in which access to the internet was not equal. The work had been innovative, challenging, and a matter of life and death. Mkhwanazi had enjoyed and thrived on the work, and felt it had been the outstanding achievement of his career. Mkhwanazi had never stayed in a job when the job had stopped challenging him. He started his career when computer technology was disrupting the way organizations worked and communicated. Initially, he was motivated by money. However, he had achieved his goals and now had different motivations. At Avatar, he had helped develop a culture through faith-driven leadership, but Avatar no longer gave him the joy and fulfilment of working on the cutting edge of technology. His dilemma was whether he should stay at Avatar with the people he had come to love and care about, or leave to find something that would satisfy his passion for innovative and creative work.

Amid rising online content, modern consumers want a personalized online shopping experience and to be presented with products, services, and deals that are relevant and specific to them. Anil Bains launched Attryb to create a hyper-personalization stack to deliver a meaningful experience to each website user. Using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and statistical models, Attryb’s predictive intelligence model could assess thousands of customer signals to create meaningful segments that increased acquisition, engagement, and sales for online sellers. However, small and medium companies establishing direct-to-consumer websites often lacked strong technological capabilities and were preoccupied with starting their businesses. How could Attryb convince these prospective clients about the economic benefits of its solution and communicate the value without being overly technical?

Spreadsheet to accompany product W36239.

Niraj Sharma, Director of Marketing at Airtel, located in India, and his team prepared to launch India’s first telecom convergence product – a single telecom plan that provided mobile, paid TV, and WiFi services under one bill plan. Telecom convergence was expected to be the next big battle against the deep-pocket competitor Jio Telecom. In January 2023, there were three branding options on the table: positioning this convergence plan as a premium offering under the current Airtel brand; using the Airtel Xstream brand; or launching an entirely new brand – Airtel Black that encompassed Airtel mobile and Airtel Xstream services. The company wanted to drive its business growth across different products, including the proposed convergence.

Maria took a final glance at the company accounts, then closed her laptop. On New Year’s Eve of 2022, she had mixed emotions reflecting on the journey of the past two years. In just fifteen days, it would be Merafuture's two year anniversary as a registered company. 2020 and 2021 were anything but normal for the world, and it was no different for Merafuture. In August 2021, after struggling for the first year and a half, the company began to show progress by picking up sales when schools and colleges reopened across Pakistan. Yet, still operating at a loss, she wondered if the company could afford to stay afloat for another year while waiting to make a profit.

MergerWare, a company with proven expertise in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) space, helped its clients to decide on the right approach while contemplating M&A. Led by its chief executive officer, Dharmendra Singh, the company had made phenomenal growth since its inception. When MergerWare was approached by a US-based pharma company to help finalize an M&A deal, Singh thought about how MergerWare could help the pharma client with deal simplification, value creation, and tapping into the market, leveraging alternative growth strategies while positioning the differentiated offerings to compete with rivals.

By October 2024, Andriy Nemyrovskyy, the chief executive officer and co-owner of Regno Italy UA LLC had spent 10 years growing his company into western Ukraine’s largest importer and distributor of food products and wine from around the world. As news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spread on February 24, 2022, Nemyrovskyy and his wife Marianna mobilized Regno staff members and hundreds of volunteers to rapidly create and scale a new organization called the Volunteering and Help Center. The new organization would receive, manage, and distribute aid to people in need throughout Ukraine. However, as the war dragged on, the flow of international aid and support gradually dwindled and Nemyrovskyy considered shutting down the Volunteering and Help Center. As a potential solution to the desperate need for funding, Nemyrovskyy created Mylanka, a social enterprise designed to provide financial support to the Volunteering and Help Center. Could the new business help the Volunteering and Help Center maintain its attention and focus on providing aid, by engaging partners and collaborators to join the effort?

When Russia invaded Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, it disrupted the life of every person living in the country. In the hours following the initial attacks, Marianna Bilyk drew upon her purpose-driven leadership skills, medical training, and deeply felt passion for providing health care to her patients to help launch Volunteering and Help Center, where she was appointed head of the medical aid division to secure, organize, and distribute war-specific medical supplies to front-line military personnel, people in devastated communities, and displaced Ukrainians. Bilyk also continued fulfilling her responsibilities as head surgeon at her own dental clinic with 48 employees, as well as overseeing the construction of a second clinic. Additionally, in July 2023, Bilyk founded the non-governmental organization Dental Front to provide free dental care services to army veterans and people serving on the war’s front line. Managing all of these commitments within the extreme volatility and uncertainty of a war with no end in sight required an immense amount of energy, leaving her without time to spend with the family members she deeply cared about. As she sat for a few minutes alone to consider her options, Bilyk was wondering how to keep going and avoid burnout.

In July 2024, a 38-year-old vice-president at a leading consulting firm in San Francisco was grappling with increasing dissatisfaction despite his professional success and substantial income. The high-pressure demands of his job and the strain on his personal life led him to contemplate a major career shift: returning to India to become a professor of practice at a prestigious private university. His reflections on this potential transition were deeply influenced by two compelling classic short stories recommended by an old friend: Anton Chekhov’s “The Bet” and D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” After reading the two narratives, which offered valuable perspectives, the 38-year-old vice-president was considering leaving his high-power career for a more balanced and personally fulfilling life.

On July 24, 2023, the leading Indian consumer goods company ITC Limited announced a plan to demerge its hotel business into a separate subsidiary named ITC Hotels Limited and list it on a stock exchange. ITC Limited would retain a 40 per cent stake, while the remaining 60 per cent would be distributed to shareholders. The company argued that this demerger would unlock value for shareholders by providing them with a direct stake in the new company and an independent market valuation. Despite this rationale, ITC Limited’s stock price fell upon the announcement, reflecting market concerns about the retained 40 per cent stake and potential capital expenditure burdens. Investor advisory firms had mixed reactions, but shareholders were asked to make a decision and vote on whether to approve or oppose the demerger.

The chief executive officer of PanoTech Solutions was troubled by the escalating mental health crisis among employees in the IT industry, including severe cases such as suicide attempts and self-harm. Internally, his staff had voiced concerns over stress, heavy workloads, and work–life balance, issues that were exacerbating high attrition rates and the loss of top talent. To address such challenges in a cultural environment where mental health stigma remained high and only a fraction of those needing mental health care sought help, PanoTech was exploring options such as AI counselling through Wysa, Mental Health First Aid India’s educational programs, and suicide prevention training from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience. The firm was particularly interested in the potential of AI but needed to establish measurable key performance indicators that could gauge the success of the chosen interventions. The challenge lay in assessing the solution’s costs and effectiveness, and adapting it to suit a predominantly remote workforce. PanoTech’s decision revolved around selecting a solution that effectively addressed mental health concerns while considering cultural sensitivities and measurable outcomes for employee well-being.

This case discussed the carbon offset credibility challenges Delta Air Lines faced following the filing of a class-action lawsuit in California federal court in May 2023 alleging greenwashing and misleading carbon-neutrality claims. Despite dismissing the lawsuit as one “without legal merit,” Delta had to address customer concerns about its commitment to decarbonization and sustainability and assure the court that the company was taking credible steps away from carbon offsets to more sustainable options toward fulfilling its net-zero carbon emission promise. How can Delta align better with customers’ expectations from net-zero carbon emission promises and be more transparent about its initiatives with all its stakeholders?

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. had been, up until 2024, growing at an accelerated pace while achieving industry-leading profit margins and related cash flow in the fuel convenience store industry globally. Its growth had been fuelled by acquisition, which in its case meant paying a premium to purchase large groups of stations in current and new markets, primarily in Europe, the United States, and Canada—a global success story. However, the company's future was less certain due to multiple levels of technological disruption under way in the industry. The adoption of electric and autonomous vehicle driving technology was central to this change, along with the continued digitization of the customer experience. Couche-Tard was not immune to these challenges, so to secure its future and ensure profitability amid the dynamic changes taking place in the industry, it would have to consider how to adapt. Should it diversify away from the fuel convenience store industry it had so successfully navigated to this point? How should it adapt its business model to the changes?

At the end of 2019, Walid Madi, managing director of Talabat, a leading delivery company in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, was assessing the company’s performance of its non-food vertical division, and in particular the grocery segment. He identified recurring customer complaints regarding grocery delivery times and product unavailability, which could impact the company’s successful food vertical. Madi decided to explore the feasibility of offering customers a 20-minute grocery delivery time while ensuring full product availability.

In September 2022, the chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Maximum Quality Equipment (Maximum), was trying to decide whether to invest in a joint venture company to operate a quarry that would extract and sell rock armour. The joint venture company, Island Development Corporation (IDC), had secured a 25-year mineral production sharing agreement with the Philippine government. IDC would purchase equipment and extract rock armour in Chiquita Island and then sell the rock armour to San Miguel Corporation (SMC), a major Philippine corporation. The contract was currently under negotiation, with SMC offering a two-year contract and IDC asking for a five-year contract. The CEO asked his chief financial officer to run a discounted cash flow, estimate the cost of capital for the project, and determine the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and project payback. He needed to decide whether he would invest in the project.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W38383.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product W38382.

In March 2023, the founders of Naturals Salon, the largest salon chain in India, faced crucial decisions regarding the company's future growth and expansion. With over 750 salons and more than five million customers, primarily in southern India, Naturals Salon had solidified its leadership in a previously unorganized market through innovations such as franchising. However, increased competition from both international and Indian brands had intensified. The founders of Naturals Salon contemplated strategies to maintain their competitive edge and realize their vision of expanding to over 3,000 salons by 2029. They considered several options: reinforcing their dominance in the southern market, venturing into northern India to capture new regions, or exploring international markets to leverage the growing Indian diaspora and potentially higher profit margins. The founders would have to carefully consider the risks and opportunities of each strategic choice.

This case study focuses on the digital transformation strategy of Tsingtao Brewery in the Chinese beer market. Tsingtao Brewery is one of the oldest and most famous beer brands in China. However, this legacy brewery company also faces challenges, such as fierce competition, slow market growth, and consumption upgrading. To respond to the changes of consumer demand and industry competition, Tsingtao Brewery accelerates its digital end-to-end supply chain in various aspects, such as procurement, production, logistics, and marketing. During its digital transformation, did Tsingtao Brewery choose outsourcing digital technologies, applying the Blue Ocean Strategy, or centralizing its organization? These dilemmas were awaiting answers.

Online grocery shopping and two-sided platform businesses are on the rise in South Africa. In 2020, shortly before South Africa went into lockdown as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sadaf Vahedna established a digital venture called Hoodgoods with seven cofounders. As the company name suggests, the business aimed to connect customers with small retail businesses around their neighbourhoods. Three years later, the cofounders faced the dilemma of whether to try to relaunch the platform business or sell it to a potential buyer. On what basis should they anchor their decision? If they decide to relaunch Hoodgoods, what aspects of the business should they try to improve, and how should they go about doing so? If they decide to sell the business, which nonfinancial factors should they take into consideration?