AI’s rapid advancements have showcased capabilities that seem almost human-like—sometimes even superhuman. For many, this triggers feelings of inadequacy along with the desire to give up. But surrendering is neither necessary nor productive. The reality of our relationship with AI is more nuanced than a simple battle of human versus machine. It requires thoughtful reflection and a reframing of how we approach our roles and strengths in an AI-driven world. This article contains a three-step framework that offers a possible way to embrace AI in the workplace: 1) start by discovering your strengths so you can use AI to augment them, not replace them; 2) treat AI as an ally; and 3) experiment with different tools. Adapting to the AI age is about embracing a growth mindset, staying curious, and continuously seeking to understand the evolving technology landscape. Organizations play a crucial role in cultivating this mindset. This involves not just providing access to training programs but also fostering a culture where curiosity and innovation are encouraged. Historically, productivity has been the dominant metric of success with the use of technology in the workplace. However, as machines excel at automating repetitive tasks, our value will increasingly be defined by qualities that AI cannot easily replicate, such as empathy, ethical judgment, creativity, and the ability to inspire and lead.
Delving into the evolution of Under Armour Incorporated (UA) from a promising contender in the sportswear industry to a company that aggressively pursued adjacency expansions to fuel its growth, only to encounter a failed growth strategy, this case outlined the corporate turnaround of UA under the leadership of Stephanie Linnartz. Linnartz joined the company as chief executive officer CEO on February 27, 2023, and embarked on a three-year turnaround strategy dubbed “protect this house 3.” On February 27, 2024, after a year at the helm, Linnartz found herself confronted with a difficult situation: UA’s shares had declined by about 8 per cent to US$8.89. Balancing the core and adjacencies while addressing the company’s immediate financial concerns posed a formidable challenge for the CEO’s leadership.
Right Tight Fasteners Private Limited is a mid-sized fastener manufacturing company with a 30-year track record. Operating in a working capital-intensive and low-margin business, the company manages to safeguard its profitability by passing on cost increases resulting from steel price volatility, thanks to its irreplaceable position as a proven vendor. But the COVID-19 pandemic had drastically reduced demand, pushing the industry into turbulent times marked by declining revenues and a liquidity crunch. This situation has forced the firm’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer to consider how Right Tight Fasteners Private Limited would manage this liquidity crisis. Could the company survive without defaulting or restructuring? What rescue options were available to them?
In July 2024, the management of Mankind Pharma Ltd. (Mankind) was discussing future avenues for sustainable growth. Rajeev Juneja, the vice chairman and managing director, wanted to make Mankind among the top three domestic pharmaceutical players in India by revenue in the coming decade. One way the company could have achieved its growth objectives was to launch a range of specialized drug formulations in therapeutic areas with high growth potential. Another alternative was to expand its consumer business, as Mankind already had some well-known brands in wellness, hygiene, and personal care in the consumer health business. Choosing both options was not feasible due to constrained resources. Management had to make a decision.
In October 2023, the global vice-president of marketing and partnerships at Ball Corporation (Ball), who was overseeing the company’s aluminum cup business, was on his way to a significant meeting. Given a plastic cup for his drink, he thought about his company’s aluminum cups. Despite initial doubts, Ball’s cups had succeeded, doubling sales and gaining recognition within two years. Now, the company was aiming for further growth and found that scaling up posed a challenge. The vice-president believed that a sustainability-focused marketing campaign could assist, but he knew that consumer awareness of the cups was lacking. Ball needed to rethink its messaging to attract more attention. The vice-president wondered how to effectively capture people’s interest and persuade them to purchase his company’s cups.
CaratLane, founded in 2008 by Mithun Sacheti, had disrupted India’s jewellery market by targeting younger consumers with lightweight, affordable, and innovative everyday jewellery. Sacheti, coming from a family of jewellers, had identified a gap in the traditional jewellery stores market, which catered to older generations. Partnering with Avnish Anand, Sacheti carved out a new niche by combining artisanship with cutting-edge innovation.<br><br>In 2023, Titan Company Limited (Titan), a Tata Group company, acquired Sacheti’s stake, marking CaratLane’s transition to a fully owned Titan subsidiary. With Sacheti’s departure, Anand assumed leadership of the company and was tasked with growing it within the larger, matrixed Titan organization. Anand faced pressing challenges, including a declining consumption of gold, rising costs, and intense competition. He had to decide between doubling down on creativity through design-led innovations or pivoting toward the mass market and risk diluting the CaratLane brand. Staff retention added complexity, as competitors sought to poach CaratLane’s experienced staff. Should Anand prioritize continuity or embrace fresh ideas through younger hires? Last, he had to determine whether to maintain CaratLane’s offline–online sales channel mix or expand into India’s smaller cities and rural markets for growth opportunities.
<div style="font-size: 0.95em; line-height: 1.4;"><p align="justify">Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu had evolved from an online shopping guide into a major app. By August 2023, the platform had introduced the “buyer era,” marking a pivotal shift in its business strategy. Xiaohongshu integrated influencer and merchant operations into a unified department to enhance efficiency and strengthen the link between content creation and e-commerce. It needed to determine whether a commission-based buyer model could transition the platform from influencer-driven live e-commerce to a model where professional buyers would curate and present products directly to consumers. This strategic move required careful evaluation to ensure alignment with the platform’s core strengths.
<p style = "color:rgb(197,183,131);"> <strong> AWARD WINNER - The Case Hub Case Writing Competition 2024 </strong> </p><br> The chief executive officer of Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) commented in 2022 that the company intended to become an ESG (environmental, social, and governance) role model and example for the world. Ma’aden was the largest multi-commodity and mining company in the Middle East and its businesses encompassed exploration and mining of gold and base metals, industrial minerals, phosphate, and aluminum. With a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the company faced considerable challenges to reduce its carbon footprint under Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. As part of its sustainable strategy, Ma’aden was exploring new technology and partnerships for sustainable mining and implementing renewable sources of energy for its operations. What other initiatives could Ma’aden pursue to achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2050?
This case focuses on the opioid epidemic in the USA from historical and regulatory perspectives. It provides an overview of public health departments in the USA and the public policies and laws that address the opioid crisis with the intention of responding to the ongoing epidemic. The case also provides an overview of the medical use of opioids and a short history of its use in the treatment of pain relief, a description of opioid use disorder, and societal context for the opioid epidemic worldwide and in North America. The involvement of the pharmaceutical industry in the onset of the epidemic is also discussed, including analysis of the role of many contributing parties including Purdue Pharma L.P. (Purdue), the American Pain Society, the Portenoy and Foley Report, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.<br><br>This case will introduce students to market failures in the context of public health and enable them to apply their learning to situations with multiple stakeholders but no clear perpetrator, while introducing them to existing US public health policies related to mental health, addiction, and illicit drug use.
The digital entertainment industry had burgeoned with the advancement in streaming media technology and the growing popularity of social media. In 2019, <i>The Coming One</i>, a musical talent variety show in China jointly produced by Wajijiwa Entertainment and Tencent Video, was approaching its third season, and audiences were losing interest. Danni Long, the founder and chief executive officer of Wajijiwa, was confronted with the challenge of determining how to strategically revitalize the show’s brand. The brand had been repositioned through creating, marketing, and monetizing content strategically on social media platforms. Would this strategy work for the next season or should Long find alternative strategies to inject fresh vitality into the original brand?
With the issuance of Muddy Waters’ short report on Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (Fairfax), Fairfax faced intensive scrutiny but continued to support its financial reporting decisions. The case investigates three accusations by Muddy Waters against Fairfax. The goal is to assess the merit of these claims against generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Along with the analysis surrounding the basis of accounting, this case gives students the opportunity to investigate short selling and the impacts of short reports on investor decision-making.
<p style = "color:rgb(197,183,131);"> <strong> AWARD WINNER - The Case Hub Case Writing Competition 2024 </strong></p><br> Zywa was a UAE-based fintech start-up focused on providing financial services tailored to Gen Z customers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Founded in 2021, Zywa had gained significant traction in MENA’s neobanking space by offering financial services through a gamified banking app and a prepaid card for users between the ages of 11 and 25. Within a short period of time, it had attracted over 100,000 sign-ups as of 2023. However, as Zywa continued to grow and scale its operations, cofounders Alok Kumar and Nuha Hashem would face a host of challenges such as attracting new users, raising funds, turning profitable, complying with financial regulations in different markets, and accelerating financial inclusion among youth across MENA.
VIP Industries Ltd. (VIP) was India's leading luggage manufacturer. It had revolutionized the Indian luggage industry, offering consumers high-quality, domestically produced alternatives to imported products. VIP ventured beyond borders with its acquisition of the brand Carlton in 2004, and with an expanded geographical footprint and a diversified brand portfolio, VIP had emerged as a formidable force in the luggage industry. Fast-forward to 2023, and VIP was losing market share steadily to rivals Safari Industries (India) Ltd. and Samsonite International SA. To deal with this and other challenges, VIP’s new managing director had to quickly determine what actions to take to recover market share and liquidate inventory, and make decisions on positioning, advertising, product lines, and human capital.
Following the October 2022 publication of a National Institutes of Health study of women using hair relaxers, three international subsidiaries of Ghaziabad-based Dabur India Limited (Dabur) faced lawsuits alleging that chemicals in some of their hair-relaxer products had led to cancer in American and Canadian consumers. In October 2023, Dabur revealed that these subsidiaries were involved in about 5,400 cases in a class-action lawsuit in the Unites States. In November 2023, Dabur announced that two subsidiaries, Dabur International and Dermoviva Skin Essentials Inc., had been removed from some cases, but that the third entity, Namasté Laboratories LLC, continued to face charges. In response, Dabur’s chief executive officer had to devise a comprehensive public-relations (PR) crisis strategy, considering whether to act immediately, whether to offer an apology, and how to select effective communication channels to reach stakeholders.
Priyank Patel started his cafe, Nukkad Tea Cafe, to provide employment and agency to people from equity-deserving groups and to create a communal space where employees and customers could share a journey of social justice. To promote diversity, Patel hired people from a range of equity-deserving groups, including transgender people. Sadly, despite Patel’s best efforts, his employees still had to deal with prejudice from some customers. In 2021, Patel was struggling especially with the challenges that transgender employees were facing, such as low morale, a rate of pay that resulted in a lower income than begging, and different treatment from customers. Because of the discrimination that transgender employees experienced, they were not inclined to stay with the café for long, which left Patel dealing with a high churn rate among staff. Patel felt caught between his moral commitment to diversity and his business need to functionally maintain the restaurant in the face of negative public opinion and employee turnover.