Second Place Winner; 2022 DEI Global Case Writing Competition. This case features a high-performing employee, Fatima Hassan, with an invisible disability and whose career may also be affected by her gender and religious identity. Traits related to Hassan's autism contribute to her success but also present challenges, so she seeks out a disability accommodation that could be perceived as a perk by her peers. She would also like to be considered for a promotion. Her manager must decide how to respond to the initial accommodation request while also assessing whether Hassan's disability is relevant when making a promotion decision. All this takes place in a unionized setting in which the collective agreement must be respected, creating decision-making constraints. The case is fictionalized but based on actual experiences and companies.

Doodlage Retail LLP (Doodlage), a sustainable fashion brand based in India, was based on an idea that had come to the co-founder while she was interning with export houses. There, she witnessed large-scale discarding of fabric waste, which found its way to landfills and became a major source of pollution. Doodlage utilized the practices of circularity-repairing, reusing, refurbishing, and recycling-to transform industrial waste into women's apparel. With time, the company came to collaborate with numerous players and extended into categories like home furnishings, accessories, and men's apparel. Relying primarily on social media and e-commerce sites to market its wares, Doodlage slowly built a niche for itself. After nearly a decade, awareness of sustainable fashion, ethical fashion, and slow fashion had risen, and a number of competitors had emerged, heating up the competitive landscape. Doodlage thus faced multiple future challenges and needed to decide whether to continue to focus on the niche it had created for itself or to go mainstream. What was the optimal way forward?

Kovi, a car rental startup located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, provides affordable access to rental cars for rideshare drivers. The case examines the origins of the company, provides background on the auto and rideshare industries in Brazil, and follows the CEO, Adhemar Milani Neto, as he evaluates options for growing the company.

Communities can thrive and grow, or they can struggle and decline, but what causes these two outcomes? Attracting and nurturing businesses and organizations is essential to creating vibrant economies, successful communities, and a higher quality of life. Political leaders and average community residents should know about economic and community development; shared knowledge and full participation from everyone will ultimately help communities flourish. In Rebooting Local Economies, the authors use their experience helping domestic and global communities prosper to offer a practical guide for others who want to help communities reach their goals and thrive; each chapter gives real-life examples and suggests concrete actions anyone can take within any community. In a constantly changing environment, communities and even larger regions can attain and maintain prosperity through better jobs, public services, and amenities. Chapter 3 describes the process of community development as a tool to position a community for prosperity. The chapter begins with a discussion on the fundamentals of community development, including strategies such as leadership development, planning, and identifying assets in the community. Community development depends on believing that positive things can happen and on residents working together; having a vision and being creative are also vital. Two types of communities ("sunrise" and "sunset") are described. The community development chain is offered as a framework for community development. Well-being and sustainability are also factors that must be considered. When there is a good foundation of a prosperous-ready community, economic development can then build on that foundation to achieve prosperity.

Communities can thrive and grow, or they can struggle and decline, but what causes these two outcomes? Attracting and nurturing businesses and organizations is essential to creating vibrant economies, successful communities, and a higher quality of life. Political leaders and average community residents should know about economic and community development; shared knowledge and full participation from everyone will ultimately help communities flourish. In Rebooting Local Economies, the authors use their experience helping domestic and global communities prosper to offer a practical guide for others who want to help communities reach their goals and thrive; each chapter gives real-life examples and suggests concrete actions anyone can take within any community. In a constantly changing environment, communities and even larger regions can attain and maintain prosperity through better jobs, public services, and amenities. Chapter 4 builds on the previous chapter, exploring how to create a prosperous community through economic development once there is a solid foundation. A model is given to visualize money flow and wealth within a community. Economic development can be defined differently by different communities; communities should try to avoid economic development outcomes that happen "to them" and try to achieve those that happen "for them." Certain factors, such as transportation infrastructure and available sites, can attract a business to a community; a practical approach to attracting businesses is offered. The economic development stool describes three ways prosperity can increase: business recruitment, business retention and expansion, and new startups. Each of these methods, as well as community enterprise, is discussed. Guidelines on how to organize and fund economic development are also provided.

Communities can thrive and grow, or they can struggle and decline, but what causes these two outcomes? Attracting and nurturing businesses and organizations is essential to creating vibrant economies, successful communities, and a higher quality of life. Political leaders and average community residents should know about economic and community development; shared knowledge and full participation from everyone will ultimately help communities flourish. In Rebooting Local Economies, the authors use their experience helping domestic and global communities prosper to offer a practical guide for others who want to help communities reach their goals and thrive; each chapter gives real-life examples and suggests concrete actions anyone can take within any community. In a constantly changing environment, communities and even larger regions can attain and maintain prosperity through better jobs, public services, and amenities. Chapter 5 offers a summary of key lessons from the text and provides more examples of successful communities. COVID-19 created different challenges for different communities around the world, and long-term changes (a "new normal") may differ between communities. In order to build a prosperous community, what is being built needs to be defined; strategic and budget decisions should be based on the community's vision and definition of prosperity. Community development, or community building, can create a foundation for a prosperous-ready community to build off of with economic development. Once a community achieves its prosperity goals, it needs to continue putting in the work to maintain and support that prosperity.

Communities can thrive and grow, or they can struggle and decline, but what causes these two outcomes? Attracting and nurturing businesses and organizations is essential to creating vibrant economies, successful communities, and a higher quality of life. Political leaders and average community residents should know about economic and community development; shared knowledge and full participation from everyone will ultimately help communities flourish. In Rebooting Local Economies, the authors use their experience helping domestic and global communities prosper to offer a practical guide for others who want to help communities reach their goals and thrive; each chapter gives real-life examples and suggests concrete actions anyone can take within any community. In a constantly changing environment, communities and even larger regions can attain and maintain prosperity through better jobs, public services, and amenities. Chapter 1 explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, looking at it through a community and economic development lens and putting it in historical perspective. Change, especially sudden change, can be difficult.. The phrase new normal is being used to describe how society has changed long-term due to the virus; the validity of this idea is discussed by looking at generational impacts, economic impacts, and how the structure of jobs has changed. Some pandemic-related changes will probably continue, and these changes can offer both challenges and opportunities for communities. For example, COVID-19 increased the rate of people moving out of big cities; this shift could be beneficial or not depending on how companies and communities react.

Communities can thrive and grow, or they can struggle and decline, but what causes these two outcomes? Attracting and nurturing businesses and organizations is essential to creating vibrant economies, successful communities, and a higher quality of life. Political leaders and average community residents should know about economic and community development; shared knowledge and full participation from everyone will ultimately help communities flourish. In Rebooting Local Economies, the authors use their experience helping domestic and global communities prosper to offer a practical guide for others who want to help communities reach their goals and thrive; each chapter gives real-life examples and suggests concrete actions anyone can take within any community. In a constantly changing environment, communities and even larger regions can attain and maintain prosperity through better jobs, public services, and amenities. Chapter 2 discusses a broader, more holistic definition of prosperity and provides a guide to help attain it. Rather than simply describing the economy, community prosperity should include basic needs, quality of life, and community attachment; an example comparing two fictional cities is given. The idea of a prosperous community is mapped onto Maslow's hierarchy of needs. A strong economy is needed to help a community gain social characteristics its residents want. A roadmap is offered to help explore ideas on how to enhance the prosperity of a community and how to approach community-level decisions. Community budgeting is also discussed, comparing it to companies' investment decisions and providing steps to create an effective budget.

The case elaborates the relaunch of Chetak, the iconic scooter brand by Bajaj Auto Limited (BAL), from the perspective of brand identity, legacy brands, and brand extension authenticity. It traces the journey of Chetak from being the market leader in the Indian two-wheeler segment in the 1970s and 1980s to its gradual exit from the market in 2005. With the discontinuation of Chetak, BAL completely withdrew from the scooter market in India to build a motorcycle-focused business. The case locates the reader in December 2019, 14 years from BAL's exit from the scooter market. BAL had decided to bring back Chetak and wanted to launch it as a modern electric scooter in 2020. Although Chetak carried a positive legacy from the past, it needed to reconfigure its brand identity to fit with the new electric vehicle category. However, in this reconfiguration, the brand needed to be careful about not losing the authenticity connected to its past. The case focuses on the dilemma facing the protagonists regarding the brand positioning of the revived Chetak.

Through the example of Lenovo Group Limited, this case provides students an opportunity to learn about emerging and advanced digital technologies for supply chain management and operations, and the critical issues that are targeted by these technologies. It can help students learn about technology aspects of 21st century strategies for small and large companies. This case also serves as part of a broader discussion on strategic management and digital transformation of business and supply chain models. Given Lenovo's remarkable rise in the PC business over a relatively short span of three decades, this case is an evolving example of how a company can grow and compete in a mature industry.

This field-based case introduces iFixit, a small business with a mission to change consumer behavior around prosperity so that they would no longer toss away broken products. iFixit offered repair guides and the sale of parts and tools to make repairs on over 30,000 different devices-mostly electronic. iFixit's business model was based on creating more value than it captured-repair was sustainable. iFixit intended to keep electronics out of landfills by providing accessible and easy information for free, so anyone could fix their devices. That plan put the founders Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules head-to-head against industry leaders in the electronics space-large manufacturers that worked against iFixit's efforts to offer repair guides. For nearly 20 years, Wiens and Soules had worked toward giving consumers the right to repair what they owned. What would it take to move the needle so manufacturers would work with, instead of against, iFixit? This cases also explores the concept of forward and reverse loops within the electronics value chain. It's recommended for use with two technical notes: "Regulations and Standards: Electronics Supply Chain" (UVA-OM-1714) and "Electronics Supply Chain Overview" (UVA-OM-1716).

Vimeo, Inc. (Vimeo), led by Anjali Sud, was a New York City-based listed company that operated across the entirety of the video creation and distribution value chain. When the company was spun off from its corporate parent in a May 2021 initial public offering, Vimeo was growing but not yet profitable. As the country and the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Vimeo and a fast-growing set of competitors were facing the end of a nearly two-year tailwind that had helped them grow very quickly. Sud and her team had to respond to growth and profitability challenges to help Vimeo maintain its industry leadership position.

On December 29, 2021, the independent shareholder advisory firm InGovern Research Services (InGovern) published a report accusing Asian Paints Limited (APL) of corporate governance lapses. Nearly 53 per cent of the shares of APL, which was based in Mumbai, India, were owned by its promoters and their families. InGovern had followed up on a whistle-blower’s report claiming that APL had engaged in several related-party transactions but had failed to adequately disclose them in its annual report. InGovern demanded large-scale changes in APL’s board of directors, and APL’s share price fell by approximately fourteen per cent after the charges were made public. The seven independent members on the company’s board had to respond to the accusations.

The case presents the real-life situation of XRM Vision, an SME IT consulting firm specializing in the design and implementation of CRM solutions. Like most SMEs, XRM Vision faces major, sometimes conflicting, management challenges such as which growth strategies to pursue while simultaneously increasing process efficiency and urging employees to identify business opportunities while fostering operational excellence. This case focuses on the challenges and difficulties SME managers face in their struggle to strike a balance between exploiting and exploring. The case describes the exploitation-exploration tensions faced by XRM Vision's management since the company's founding and outlines the strategies and actions/practices it has deployed to navigate the choppy waters between exploitation and exploration.

Janice Greer works for NVX Pharmaceuticals, a US firm with increasing global operations. Not long after Greer's promotion to country head for Japan, their boss suggests that widespread layoffs will be needed to help bring performance of the international units in line with domestic operations. Cultural differences between US and Japanese work practices and traditions complicate the decisions Greer faces in dealing with members of their team. How should they navigate this delicate situation?

Mei-Ling Liu has come a long way from her humble beginnings in a small town on the coast of Taiwan. She is in New York City to interview for an assistant professor position at Columbia University's business school. After completing undergraduate studies in Taipei-and following much soul-searching-she had departed for the United States to earn her PhD. Now, six years later and against long odds, she is a step away from a faculty position at the prestigious school. But she finds herself face to face with an unexpected and formidable foe-a very combative interviewer. Can she collect her wits, parry the thrusts, and win the job?

Paul Waddle works for Tripod Capital (Tripod), a venture fund focused on investing globally in fintech start-ups. Ambitious and a self-starter, Waddle is in pursuit of fast-growing the Nigerian payments platform DigitApt. As he enters the final stages of closing a deal, he is confronted with cultural differences between US and Nigerian work practices and traditions. Understanding and appropriately integrating these differences could be the key to adding DigitApt to his portfolio and continuing his steady upward rise at Tripod. This vignette is meant to serve as the kind of scenario one encounters increasingly in the world of business (and society in general) where seemingly opposing forces coexist and require careful analysis, interpretation, and synthesis.

Vimeo, Inc. (Vimeo), led by Anjali Sud, was a New York City-based listed company that operated across the entirety of the video creation and distribution value chain. When the company was spun off from its corporate parent in a May 2021 initial public offering, Vimeo was growing but not yet profitable. As the country and the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Vimeo and a fast-growing set of competitors were facing the end of a nearly two-year tailwind that had helped them grow very quickly. Sud and her team had to respond to growth and profitability challenges to help Vimeo maintain its industry leadership position.

On December 29, 2021, the independent shareholder advisory firm InGovern Research Services (InGovern) published a report accusing Asian Paints Limited (APL) of corporate governance lapses. Nearly 53 per cent of the shares of APL, which was based in Mumbai, India, were owned by its promoters and their families. InGovern had followed up on a whistle-blower's report claiming that APL had engaged in several related-party transactions but had failed to adequately disclose them in its annual report. InGovern demanded large-scale changes in APL's board of directors, and APL's share price fell by approximately fourteen per cent after the charges were made public. The seven independent members on the company's board had to respond to the accusations.

In January 2022, Maha Research Labs Private Limited (MRL) needed to boost its sales force effectiveness (SFE). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MRL experienced losses in sales revenue and saw dwindling profits through 2020 and 2021. The pandemic had changed the sales ecosystem of the pharmaceutical industry, with many physicians and retailers now preferring online sales presentations. MRL’s managing director was concerned about the increased marketing and selling expenses that were affecting the company’s profitability, and he had identified gaps in the company’s sales process, performance, and SFE. The managing director proposed investing ₹40 million for the implementation of an SFE program, and he had one week to convince his team that this investment would create a smarter, more efficient sales force, restrain operating costs, and generate much-needed profitability for MRL.