The COVID-19 emergency has urged companies to operate in new ways to face supply chain interruptions, shifts in customer demand, and risks to workforce health. The organizational ability to respond to critical contingencies is crucial for business leaders in the perspective of continuing business. In our research, we investigate the actions undertaken by 50 world-leading corporations to respond to the pandemic. Applying content analysis to web pages and social network posts, we extract 77 actions related to 13 sub-areas and integrate these into a five-level framework that encompasses operations, customer, workforce, leadership, and community-related responses. We also describe six illustrative company examples of how the emergency can generate opportunities for creating new value. The study advances the scholarly discussion on the impact of emergencies on business continuity and can help leaders define response strategies and actions in the current challenge.

This conceptual article explores how mindfulness can be successfully integrated in the strategy tool kit of organizations. The likely global reconstruction in the aftermath of COVID-19 can be effective if organizations reexamine their existing philosophies and business practices. Against this backdrop, mindfulness is a time-tested practice that has the potential to transcend all functions in a company's value chain and to create a sustainable competitive advantage. This article uses a strategy lens to examine mindfulness in organizations, which has implications for researchers and practitioners. First, I discuss the theoretical frameworks of mindfulness, the performance improvements that individuals can expect from consistent practice, and how these improvements translate to organization-level performance. Next, I summarize the methods and tools for workplace application and the steps for implementing mindfulness strategies in organizations. Finally, I describe implementation challenges and offer assessment tools for mindfulness.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising and increasingly available technology for managerial decision-making. With the adoption of AI-enabled software, organizations can leverage various benefits of the technology, but they also have to consider the intended and unintended consequences of using the technology for managerial roles. It is still unclear whether managers will benefit from enhancing their abilities with AI-enabled software or become powerless puppets that do more than announce AI-enabled software results. Our research has revealed distinct ways in which organizations can use AI-enabled decision-making solutions: as tools or novelties, for decision augmentation or automation, and as either a voluntary or a mandatory option. In this article, we discuss the implications of each of these combinations on the relevant managers. We consider outcomes related to managerial job design and derive practical advice for organizational designers and managers who work with AI. Our outcomes provide guidance on how to deal with the conflict-riddled relationship between managers and technology with regard to capabilities, responsibilities, and acceptance of AI-enabled software.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 1 starts off by describing various types of ventures entrepreneurs can create, including survival, lifestyle, managed growth, and aggressive growth ventures. To build these ventures, entrepreneurs can utilize direct selling. Companies that use direct selling as their distribution channel then create individual sales opportunities for those interested in engaging in the gig economy. These workers could then use direct selling to build their own businesses while being back by established brands that have quality products, marketing tools, business training, and technological resources. Examples of companies that use direct selling are provided throughout the chapter, including Mary Kay Inc. and Traci Lynn Jewelry.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 2 offers an historical perspective on direct selling. There was a form of direct selling as early as 6,000 years ago when peddlers would travel the Silk Road to sell goods. Five main events brought about how direct selling looks today: the first company who had people go door-to-door to sell products, welcoming women as distributors, the formation of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), a new approach to compensation, and the evolution of the sales method. All five events are discussed. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on direct selling are also explored. Direct selling has long been both a go-to-market strategy and a form a gig work; many businesses and individuals have achieved success in both forms. Direct selling companies have evolved over time and will continue to do so to take advantage of future opportunities.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 3 discusses the issue of compensation in regards to direct selling. Compensation is a key motivator for a company's distribution channel partners to perform the work delegated to them in the direct selling (DS) distribution channel. For nonemployee independent contractors to work effectively, they need to be rewarded for brand loyalty, sales generation, and sales management development and expertise. DS distributor compensation should provide various incentives while offering the characteristic freedom of DS distributor participation. Compensation can include many elements, including personal consumption wholesale discounts and bonuses for successful recruiting. Ways distributors can earn real financial benefits are also outlined; some of these methods are measured by the company, while others aren't. Examples are provided throughout. A counterargument to the idea that direct selling companies are pyramid schemes is also offered.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 4 focuses on ethics and compliance of direct selling. Product claims and earnings claims are two of the most prominent issues facing direct selling companies; both of these types of claims are described. The direct selling industry has very strong regulatory systems compared to direct-to-consumer marketplaces. The integrity of direct selling channels is maintained by the ethics and compliance programs' regulatory practices. The importance of having ethics and compliance officers, trainings, and ways to monitor and reinforce compliance is discussed. Several organizations promote self-regulatory, ethical practices through consumer, government, and academic relationships and monitor direct selling firms. With these organizations, direct selling companies can focus on offering high-quality products to consumers and business opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 5 explores the global reach of direct selling. Entering new geographic markets offers faster revenue growth for direct selling companies as new people experience the products or services. International expansion comes with various benefits, such as competitive advantage and foreign investment opportunities for the company as well as business opportunities for individuals. But it also comes with its challenges: understanding the customer journey, recruiting and training distributors, and maintaining effective and efficient supply chains are more complex when doing business in multiple countries rather than one. Local regulatory restrictions and political unease can also be obstacles. The process of deciding where and how to expand is outlined, including working with cultural differences and the geographic distance. Demography and technology are two trends that have an impact on business transactions within an emerging economy.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 6 explores the financial and nonfinancial benefits of direct selling. Three female direct sellers share their stories regarding their experience. Two empirical surveys-their design and results-are discussed at length. The first survey looks at why people start working in the gig economy and emphasizes the expected and actual financial rewards of gig workers who are direct sellers. The second survey explores why people become direct sellers specifically and the nonfinancial benefits they gain from their direct selling experience. Typical reasons respondents gave for becoming direct sellers included earning extra money, improving personal lifestyles, and being able to purchase products or services from the company at a discount. Direct sellers' expectations regarding how much money they would make were mostly realistic; the majority of respondents also believed their self-efficacy was improved through their direct selling experience.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 7 discusses opportunities and challenges in the direct selling marketplace. The direct selling channel has considerable flexibility to sustain income for entrepreneurs. To look at maintaining this flexibility, the PESTEL analysis of macroenvironmental influences and a stakeholder impact analysis are utilized. The PESTEL analysis explores six external forces-political, economic, social, technological, ecological, and legal-that create opportunities and challenges for a direct selling organization. A stakeholder impact analysis identifies stakeholders, the opportunities and threats they represent, the responsibilities the company has to them, and how the company should address their concerns. A discussion among four executives in the direct selling marketplace on issues they view as opportunities and challenges is also provided; they focus on social, technological, and legal issues.

Rappi Inc. (Rappi) was an on-demand delivery mobile application (app) that allowed users in Latin America to shop online for groceries, meals, and other products and have these delivered to them. It also provided various other services, such as cash withdrawals and dog walking. Rappi was founded in 2015, and in less than five years, it had evolved from operating in improvised headquarters in a parking lot in Bogotá to becoming a member of an exclusive club of technological start-ups valued at more than US$3.5 billion.<br><br>In 2021, although the situation was highly favourable for Rappi, it still faced major challenges to consolidate as a technology firm that would make life easier for its users. The question for Rappi now was how to continue its growth path in order to become the leading super app for Latin America.<br><br><br>Enrique Ramírez R. and Andrés Gonzalez R. are affiliated with Universidad ICESI.<br>

This case provides students an opportunity to learn how to assess the competitiveness and profitability of the global computer industry through the SWOT analysis framework. By analyzing the effectiveness of Lenovo's business growth strategy, enabled by a dual supply chain approach for achieving both responsive and efficient objectives, students will also understand how Chinese companies can successfully transform themselves from operating merely as an OEM to OBM with a recognized global brand.

David Heller began delivering food in Toronto using the UberEATS platform in December 2016. Several months after signing a service agreement with Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), Heller drove for Uber approximately 40–50 hours every week, generating earnings that ranged from CA$400 to $600 per week, or approximately CA$20,800–$31,200 per year. Uber drivers could not enjoy the rights and protections granted to employees under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act. If a dispute were to arise, Heller would have to pay approximately CA$19,000 to have his dispute with Uber resolved in the Netherlands. According to Uber, the dispute resolution process was to take place in the Netherlands even though Heller was living and working in Toronto. Was this fair? It could be argued that Heller had no bargaining power due to the financial and geographic constraints Uber had imposed. If Heller could convince Ontario’s court that Uber’s dispute regulation was unconscionable, this would change the nature of relationships between workers and companies in the Canadian gig economy.

On April 17, 2021, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released an “urgent” warning to consumers regarding the Peloton Tread+ after thirty-nine incidents had been reported related to the treadmill in which children and pets were injured. The treadmill was sold by Peloton Interactive Inc. (Peloton), a US company that sold fitness equipment such as exercise bikes and treadmills, as well as on-demand fitness classes. According to the CPSC, the accidents could have happened as a result of design flaws in the Peloton Tread+, including the height of the treadmill, which allowed a small child or pet to crawl underneath. The CPSC requested that Peloton recall the product but Peloton refused, claiming that there were no safety issues with the product and that users had failed to follow proper instructions. Industry experts suggested that Peloton was not wise to hold consumers responsible for misuse, and some consumers filed lawsuits against Peloton. The company had to decide whether to reconsider the decision to not issue a recall and determine how to avoid similar incidents in the future.

This case details the story of two of Wild Earth's cofounders on their three year journey since starting the plant-based dog food company in Berkeley, CA. It highlights several ups and downs relating to product creation, fundraising, and pricing and distribution issues. The case focuses on several critical decision points the founders faced, and ends with an open ended question regarding the need for a subsequent financing and what path forward the company should pursue.

Founded in 1989, Posse Foundation was a nonprofit organization with a mission of developing future leaders who reflected the U.S.'s rich diversity. The organization ran a selective, localized admissions process in 10 U.S. cities to identify outstanding students with leadership potential, known as Posse Scholars. Then, it placed them in "posses" - groups of 10 Scholars from the same city - at selective U.S. higher education institutions, which agreed to provide full tuition to all selected Scholars. Although Posse did not screen applicants for race or financial need, it focused selection efforts in areas with racial and socioeconomic diversity. Posse received national recognition and expanded considerably in the decades after its founding, but by 2020 its growth had started to plateau. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Posse signed up several new partners, driven in part by a new, virtual selection option that could find Scholars from locations beyond the cities where Posse maintained brick-and-mortar offices. The virtual option might help Posse scale, but it was not yet clear whether bringing together Scholars from different places versus from the same city would have any implications for the program's effectiveness. Looking ahead, Posse Founder and CEO Deborah Bial considered how to continue Posse's momentum and sign up more institutional partners. Posse focused exclusively on roughly 150 of the most selective colleges and universities, and some prospective partners were unwilling or unable to work with Posse unless it only selected students with financial need. Expanding the list of potential partners or adding a financial need screen might yield more partnerships, but Bial and the rest of the Posse team believed that working with selective institutions and being solely merit-based were key parts of Posse's identity and its ability to achieve its mission. How could Posse best position itself for continued scaling?

Pai’s Bakery was a 30-year-old family business based in Belagavi, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The owner was working on a sales territory realignment plan in response to complaints from the company’s sales team. Sales representatives claimed that their wages were not proportionate to their efforts and that productivity was hampered by poor territory planning and restrictive business policies. The Pai’s Bakery owner wanted to address the sales representatives’ concerns and improve the company’s relationship with all retail outlets to achieve key business objectives. Based on these priorities, she prepared a realignment plan for the sales territories. However, she was surprised by the negative reaction by the sales representatives, who opposed the new plan. Pai’s Bakery had to find a mutually beneficial path forward immediately to avoid serious damage to the company’s business operations.

Ben Van Weelden, Manager of Scenic Floral, was considering providing direct-to-door delivery to Northern Ontario stores for its main customer, Metro Inc. Scenic was looking for ways to increase sales and profit, but also had its eye on providing coast-to-coast delivery of cut flowers in Canada, with the help of its partner-shareholder, Petals West. However, it would need to be advantageous for both Scenic and Metro to make this a viable option.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (Cognizant) was a multinational corporation that operated in the information technology (IT) services sector and provided consulting and business process outsourcing services to its clients. As the world fell into the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company faced a series of challenges, through 2020 and into the start of 2021, that rocketed its employee attrition rates to an all-time high while also affecting revenue. During early 2021, the company was faced with the herculean task of retaining employees in the face of uncertainty and an extremely competitive market, even if this meant putting a dent in the company’s cash reserves. Cognizant had to determine how to build a better employee value proposition and develop initiatives to both retain and regain employees. Were the measures it had taken sufficient? Amid the scare of the pandemic and the war raging in India for talent, would Cognizant need a more robust human resources (HR) plan? Would it need to improve its measures for promoting the well-being of employees? Was the company too focused on performance and the bottom line?

David Heller began delivering food in Toronto using the UberEATS platform in December 2016. Several months after signing a service agreement with Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), Heller drove for Uber approximately 40-50 hours every week, generating earnings that ranged from CA$400 to $600 per week, or approximately CA$20,800-$31,200 per year. Uber drivers could not enjoy the rights and protections granted to employees under Ontario's Employment Standards Act. If a dispute were to arise, Heller would have to pay approximately CA$19,000 to have his dispute with Uber resolved in the Netherlands. According to Uber, the dispute resolution process was to take place in the Netherlands even though Heller was living and working in Toronto. Was this fair? It could be argued that Heller had no bargaining power due to the financial and geographic constraints Uber had imposed. If Heller could convince Ontario's court that Uber's dispute regulation was unconscionable, this would change the nature of relationships between workers and companies in the Canadian gig economy.