In June 2022, the founders of Singapore mobile operator Circles.Life had a crucial decision to make. Circles.Life developed a new business model in mobile telecommunications-a digital telco-built around its proprietary operating system. After expanding its brand in several countries, the company received interest from traditional telcos to license its operating system to create their own digital telcos. While the B2B opportunity was more economically attractive, Circles.Life's original B2C business was the key to continued innovation in its operating system. The founders had to decide on the best next steps to capitalize on the company's existing and budding business verticals.
Founded in 2018 by Jake Bullock and Luke Anderson, Cann sold "social tonics," or cannabis-infused beverages. By 2022, the company had several notable celebrity investors and talent partners, had sold over 10 million beverages to consumers, was distributing in six states and two Canadian provinces, and had closed on a $27 million Series A funding round. Moreover, Anderson and Bullock had their eyes set on expanding into New York and New Jersey, both of which legalized recreational sale and use of cannabis in 2021 and appeared to be a promising new market for Cann. However, Cann faced significant challenges to growing the business. First, cannabis was illegal at the federal level in the U.S., and the laws varied across states regarding the manufacturing, packaging, sale, distribution, and use of recreational cannabis. Second, distribution of recreational cannabis was still limited primarily to licensed dispensaries. There were also severe limitations on advertising cannabis, even in states where consumption was legal, and individual media properties and platforms commonly rejected or prohibited advertisements for cannabis products. Finally, Anderson and Bullock were trying to create an entirely new category for cannabis consumption and position themselves as an alternative to alcohol. Could they convince mainstream consumers to integrate cannabis drinks into their social imbibing? How should they allocate their marketing spend to give themselves the best chance of success? Which markets should they focus on serving and how should they position the product?
Founded in 2014 in Guangdong, China, Guangdong Haiqixing Marine Technology Co. Ltd. (Haiqixing) was a total solution service provider for marine big data applications. In the early stage of its development, Haiqixing achieved growth through a business development strategy. Unfortunately, since 2019, it had been affected by such factors as the reorganization of national government agencies and the impact of COVID-19, which had caused its business to suffer inevitable shocks. In 2020, to enhance the company's ability to cope with environmental changes and ensure continuous growth of the business, Haiqixing's chair carried out a strategic transformation, changing the company's business development strategy to one oriented toward product development. Consequently, the company achieved a rapid increase in operating income. However, the company's existing technical capabilities could not meet customers' needs. The chair needed to determine Haiqixing's next steps. Should Haiqixing continue to pursue its product development strategy, or should it adopt a technology exploration strategy to improve its technical capabilities?
On July 24, 2021, Chinese authorities issued the Double Reduction Policy to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students undergoing compulsory education in China. Off-campus English tutoring became strictly regulated, and hiring foreign teachers abroad to carry out training activities was strictly prohibited. 51Talk had achieved great success in the K-12 English online tutoring market, and this business accounted for more than 95 per cent of the company's total revenue. However, the company would not be able to continue its K-12 student English online tutoring business in the Chinese market under the Double Reduction Policy. Jack Huang, 51Talk's founder and chief executive officer, had to consider how to transform the company in order to survive.
In June 2022, Kelvin Van Rijn, owner of The Fritter Shop in London, Ontario, is considering multiple options for the future success of his business. The Fritter Shop had experienced significant growth over its first years in business and had recently relocated to a new production facility. This facility provided approximately 1,500 square feet of unused production space and Van Rijn is wondering how to make the best use of it. Van Rijn's options include maintaining the status quo, seeking additional franchisees, wholesaling his fritters, selling the business, and exploring co-tenancy.
In January 2022, MitiMeth was a Nigeria-based innovative social enterprise that produces handcrafted products made from natural fibres—agricultural waste and aquatic weeds—that are otherwise considered to be waste or a hazard to the environment. MitiMeth added value to this material by transforming it into well-designed furniture and home furnishings, storage boxes, lamps, kitchen and dinner ware, stationery, and souvenir items. Mitimeth’s initiative of transforming this environmental nuisance into marketable products provided work for more than 600 people from over twenty-five communities in Nigeria. Despite challenges in exporting from Nigeria, MitiMeth had made good progress in reaching international markets. MitiMeth had already gone through several challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic only added to the difficulties the enterprise had experienced. Mitimeth needed a plan that ensured MitiMeth’s long-term sustainability.
Luigi Lavazza SpA (Lavazza) was the largest coffee maker in Italy and the seventh-largest coffee roaster in the world. Despite its success in global markets, Lavazza was finding it difficult to make its mark in the United States. After establishing its North American subsidiary in 1989, Lavazza entered the US market in the 1990s with strategic partnerships with restaurants and hotels to cater to US consumers. But even as a strong global brand with thirty years of experience in the US market, Lavazza continued to struggle. As competition in the global coffee industry intensified, Lavazza could no longer afford to be complacent with its performance in the US markets, and it sought to increase its market share. However, Lavazza faced a key strategic decision: should it try to introduce US consumers to the “Italian way” of drinking espresso coffee, or should it create a new brand identity and a new portfolio of products that were more aligned with the tastes of US consumers?
By the end of 2020, Ambuja Cement Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Ambuja Cements Ltd., based in Mumbai, India, had been uplifting its communities through social development goals for the past 25 years. The specific focus of its activities had been water harvesting, agriculture development skills training, health, and education. However, the foundation faced the consistent challenge of measuring the impact of its corporate social responsibility projects with reference to the social development goals selected by the company in terms of performance or improvement at the village level. In December 2020, the vice-president of Ambuja Cement Foundation needed to determine which measurement the foundation should use to measure the performance of its community development programs and its alignment with the social development goals. Should it go along with the existing measurement tools or adopt a new model to measure performance and impact?
Ivan and Lana Kuznetsov are a dual-career couple and parents to four young children. Having immigrated to Canada from Russia in 2012, they are both in the process of rebuilding their careers. Ivan already has what can be considered a successful career, with local credentials, experience, and a good professional network, but he is not quite satisfied and considers making a change. Lana’s career in Canada is in its early stages. As a recent college graduate, she is only beginning to realize her dreams and is working in an entry-level part-time position. When Lana receives a full-time job offer that will require her full attention and energy, the couple need to decide whose career to prioritize, as one of them will have to focus on the family. Over a person’s lifetime, multiple career choices are made that are also related to their other life roles. Each spouse has different reasons and motivations for the vocational choices they make that affect both of their actions throughout their lives. In a situation of conflicting goals, where both spouses cannot work full-time, and one of them has to make a sacrifice, each option has potential benefits and risks.
In March 2021, a group of junior investment banking analysts at the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., an American multinational investment bank, told senior management that they were suffering burnout from having to work 100-hour weeks. Nearly a year since the start of the pandemic, this workplace culture crisis heightened the importance of senior leadership prioritizing employees’ mental and physical health. In addition, it drew attention to the importance of person-organization fit and to the changing labour market. A top-ranked undergraduate business student recently received a full-time job offer from Goldman Sachs. After learning of critical incidents of employee burnout at the firm, she was considering whether the company culture aligned with her values and whether she would be a good fit there.
In December of 2020, the head of product development at QualityKiosk Technologies Private Limited (QualityKiosk) was grappling with a significant issue. QualityKiosk provided application quality assurance, business automation, digital experience management, and data analytics services to financial services companies across India. Krishna had to recommend the way forward for the company’s latest product—Anabot, a new information technology (IT) journey analytics platform. The Anabot platform could provide its clients with quick insight about any IT incidents in the client’s technology services. It also provided around-the-clock intelligence to the client’s team handling those incidents. In its first year of sales, the customer journey analytics platform had been adopted by five major clients, generating over ₹20 million in revenues for QualityKiosk. However, between May and August 2020, none of over fifty potential clients who had expressed an interest in the Anabot product had proceeded to make a purchase. For the entire Anabot product team, anxiety was increasing about the future of their product. In an upcoming product review meeting with the company’s chief executive officer, the head of product development would be required to present his recommendations for the future of the Anabot platform.
This case deals with the challenges and learnings associated with the implementation of flexible work practices at TDC Group, Denmark’s largest provider of digital infrastructure and entertainment. The company has decided that most of its workforce should not return to the office as per normal before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The case examines TDC Group's vision of a new way of working and how it went about implementing the new program.
In March 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains. The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus affected the entire world, including the scenic Prince Edward County in Eastern Ontario. Three co-owners of the boutique distillery Kinsip House of Fine Spirits (Kinsip) were inspired to contribute to their community’s efforts to limit further spread of the virus. As a distillery, Kinsip was aptly able to produce the principal ingredient of hand sanitizer—ethanol. The other two main ingredients—glycerol and hydrogen peroxide—were generally procured on the open market from North American suppliers. Obtaining the right packaging for the sanitizer as quickly as possible, including both the bottle and the cap, was one of the key challenges the three partners were facing. Another challenge was navigating Health Canada’s approval process. In addition, the partners needed to determine Kinsip’s capacity to supply hand sanitizer to the local region and the production schedule on which it could deliver the product.
Dietz and Watson (D&W), a family run business that had been operating in Philadelphia for over eighty years, was a key player in the deli meat product market. D&W was concerned about losing market share overall; it was dependent on the aging baby boomer segment and possibly not top of mind for a younger, more progressive demographic. In early 2019, the company’s vice-president of brand strategy had to consider various options for investing the brand’s resources and offer a credible plan to the chief financial officer. What tactics could the company employ? What were the risks of various marketing strategies, and how could the company mitigate those risks? Could a digital strategy help D&W make inroads with the targeted demographic? If so, what would such a strategy look like?
In 2021, the head of cold storage for North America at A. P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) was assigned the challenging task of meeting cold-storage requirements for a key client. Increasing demand for frozen food, coupled with many consumers adopting "hoarding" behaviour after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, heightened pressure on already-strained cold-storage facilities across the United States. To show the value of adopting Maersk's end-to-end logistics services, the head of cold storage and his team had to develop a flexible operational plan for the client. The task was especially difficult in such a hot market, but gaining the trust of this client was critical for Maersk's goal of establishing a strong hold in the US cold-storage market.