Technology is advancing at a rapid rate, changing various aspects of our everyday lives. Businesses and governments are trying to adapt to this change by embracing positive aspects, while remaining attentive to negative aspects. This note focuses on technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data, considering the ethical issues that these technologies create within our society and also how these ethical issues are being addressed.

Kombucha Canada Inc. sold kombucha beverages to restaurants and grocery stores in British Columbia, Canada. Restaurant and store closures, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, had affected the company's sales. The business owner wanted to value her inventory at year-end using the first-in, first-out method of valuation and calculate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her inventory.

Vox Capital was a pioneer as an impact investment company in Brazil, with the purpose of creating a world where businesses can generate positive social transformations. Vox Capital decided to invest in businesses that improve the current essential service provision, such as the Health Sector, and that contribute to the reduction of social inequalities in Brazil. In 2015, Vox Capital decided to invest in Magnamed, a Brazilian company, 100% national, which develops, manufactures and sells medical equipment, specialized in pulmonary ventilation for the care of hospital patients dependent on critical care (intensive care) and transportation of patients in ambulances. Around 70% of the Brazilian population relied on the public health system (SUS) when they needed assistance, especially low-income classes. But SUS had a mayor problem, which was the shortage of beds in hospitals, mainly due to lack of both equipment and trained personnel capable of operating them. Vox Capital invested in Magnamed because its products could make SUS better, reducing inequalities in access and quality of health service. Their products were cheaper, easy-to-use and were better adapted to the living conditions of our country (have longer-lasting batteries and take up less space). Magnamed's main markets were emerging countries, in which the characteristics of the Brazilian equipment were suited to local realities. In 2017, the company announced bold internationalization plans with the opening of its first international factory, with an investment of $ 2 million, in the United States. The situation portrayed in this case is fictional and reflects some questions faced by Gilberto Ribeiro, a partner of Vox Capital. In this scene, Gilberto was challenged during a public event by the moderator of the panel in which he participated with the question, "In seeking to grow abroad, does the company [Magnamed] continue with its social focus?

David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments-hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, natural resources-given the impact of the COVID-19 public health crisis on the financial markets. The case explores the risks and benefits of a different asset allocation strategy and considers how to create financial models to prepare for unexpected events. It highlights the issues around allocations across different subclasses, e.g., between venture capital, hedge funds, and real assets.

Urban Spring is a successful social enterprise. Every day, people in Hong Kong buy around 2.5 million bottles of water. Until Urban Spring marketed its award-winning high tech Well井 water fountains, most plastic containers were sent to landfill, adding hazardous chemicals to the environment. Urban Spring's founder has made it his mission is to reduce the city's plastic waste and to encourage people to take a more sustainable approach to bottled water. By providing consumers with clean chilled water - free of charge, 24/7, Urban Spring has replaced more than 5.28 million plastic bottles, which would otherwise have been sent to landfill. Led by its CEO, Ada Yip, the Urban Spring design team created a fountain that is monitored remotely for hygiene, water quality, and data collection. Units are leased to corporations, hotels, schools and learning institutions. With its second-generation fountains ready for release, the company now needs to make crucial decisions about its future expansion and potential partnerships.

In 2019 Southwest was the only US airline to remain profitable for nearly 50 years in a row, to never file for bankruptcy, and to never furlough or lay off employees. At the core of its profitability was a commitment, unlike other airline carriers, to keep only Boeing 737s in their fleet, thereby streamlining operational costs and training practices. This keep-it-simple corporate strategy was supported by a strong sense of community and shared values that fostered a cross-functional cohesion among Southwest employees-a culture that other low-cost carriers found difficult to replicate. However, The company's keep-it-simple corporate strategy was tested in March 2019 when Southwest (along with other airlines ) was forced to ground 34 of its newest 737 MAX aircraft, after the Federal Aviation Administration cited safety concerns following the crash of two 737 MAX planes. As a result, Southwest considered parting with its long standing single carrier policy. In this case, students will be asked to consider what ripple effect a move away from a single-source vendor might have on the company's highly efficient operations and organizational culture.

First emerging in China in early January 2020, the lethal COVID-19 virus quickly spread throughout Europe and to the US east coast, with New York City as the epicenter. In March the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Policy makers agreed that a vaccine would be necessary to control the virus, however, interim measures would be necessary until a safe vaccine could be developed, manufactured and distributed. The key initiatives undertaken in "flattening the curve" of the virus's spread included voluntary social distancing, frequent sanitation of hands and surfaces, and, in some instances, mandatory lockdowns. These measures forced many businesses to operate at limited capacity and also reduced the supply of some inputs such as labor. By December 2020 several vaccines had been developed and the world awaited mass distribution, while thousands of people continued to succumb to COVID-19 every day. In this environment, despite regulatory, monetary, and fiscal responses to the crisis, there was both uncertainty about the short-run path to economic recovery as well as the long-term impact of COVID-19 for the global economy. In this case, students will work with a Microsoft Excel-built simulation tool to help understand how disease dynamics work and how it affects the economy.

Doing business on the dominant digital platforms makes it difficult for companies to differentiate their products and services and pursue competitive strategy. Platform-dependent businesses must understand the risks and how to navigate them.

Business ecosystems provide valuable access to external capabilities, scale fast, and can be very flexible and resilient. But only 1 in 7 ecosystems achieves sustainable success. The metrics and red flags described in this article can help you track the key drivers of ecosystem health and ensure that your company beats the odds.

Rapid scaling is a key element of platform strategy, but it is not the best move for all platforms in all markets. Sometimes a more careful, incremental, and slower approach to scaling is better. In studying platform businesses like Airbnb and Uber, the authors found that regulatory complexity and regulatory risk are two significant but often neglected factors in the success of platform growth strategies.

Tom Hermans, CEO of EMMA Safety Footwear, is excited about the idea of developing the world's first circular safety shoe - one that adheres to the cradle-to-cradle design principles. This could be a transformational strategy, differentiating EMMA from the crowded safety shoe market in Europe and extending a long tradition of social responsibility since its establishment in 1931. Careful consideration and research are required because this would impact almost every aspect of EMMA's operation - the business model, internal operations, the global supply chain, and the company culture. Questions remain about whether this is the best way to differentiate EMMA. What kind of change management would EMMA and its suppliers need to deploy the circular initiative? How could the business model be reinvented to capture the economic benefits of circular shoes? Can Tom and his team push through this drastic change in a conservative company in a conservative market?

This case is the continuation of EMMA Safety Shoes (A): Designing a Circular Shoe. EMMA reached 100% circularity in shoe design at the end of 2019, but this impressive achievement did not mean its journey to the circular economy was over. EMMA Safety Footwear - Implementing the Circular Business maps out several milestones in the transition of its business model, recycling logistics, supply-chain management and internal culture to make the circular shoe a sustainable business. A series of events between 2019 and May 2020 push the company in the right direction, but to be truly successful means taking the lead for the entire safety footwear industry, getting stakeholders such as customers, dealers, business partners, and competitors on board.

In 2020, Ndidi Nwuneli, founder and CEO of Sahel Consulting in Nigeria, faced a thorny set of problems. Her firm partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a large project to develop the local dairy industry as a way to facilitate equitable growth and conserve foreign exchange. The Nigerian dairy market was dominated by imported, powdered milk, but the country had a large population of cows owned by pastoralists. Nwuneli had to devise a plan to get local dairy processors, multinational firms, local pastoralists, and the Nigerian government to work together to make local cows more efficient, connect smallholder farmers with processors, and compete with imported milk powder. The stakes were high: the project, if successful, could play a large part in reducing Nigeria's deadly farmer-herder conflict and reducing the country's macroeconomic imbalances. The case explores the variety of interests involved and asks students to debate whether Nwuneli and others should push for protectionist policies as a way to catalyze local production.

Construction of buildings and infrastructure is one of the largest industries in the world in terms of volume. It is also one of the most physically risky, financially uncertain, and politically impacted. The industry is highly fragmented since there are few economies of scale, substantial location advantages, and almost all of the work is site built from unique plans. In order to achieve long term above average returns on effort and on invested capital, it's crucial that firms plan with intent with respect to markets and clients served, services provided, roles played in the industry value added system, and the matching of skills and assets to opportunities. The longest lived firms also determine which markets, products, customer types, and roles to avoid even when there might be attractive short term opportunistic contracts to be pursued. This note covers both the idiosyncratic nature of this industry that makes many classic strategic planning tools unhelpful, and also details the specific steps strategists should follow to gain the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of competition in this industry.

Angel Torres is a college sophomore placed in their first summer internship. While Angel hoped the Internship might lead to a full-time job after graduation, the work, so far, was basic and did not provide Angel an opportunity to show their full abilities. Angel had an idea of how to improve the user interface of the company's primary app but found it difficult to propose the idea. Angel had other concerns-around pay, specifically-but was concerned about raising them at home. Angel's Mom wanted Angel to help with a family chore but doing so might jeopardize the internship. What could Angel do? In the sequel, Angel reaches out to a number of colleagues and friends to collect additional information to help inform their negotiation choices.

Angel Torres is a college sophomore placed in their first summer internship. While Angel hoped the Internship might lead to a full-time job after graduation, the work, so far, was basic and did not provide Angel an opportunity to show their full abilities. Angel had an idea of how to improve the user interface of the company's primary app but found it difficult to propose the idea. Angel had other concerns-around pay, specifically-but was concerned about raising them at home. Angel's Mom wanted Angel to help with a family chore but doing so might jeopardize the internship. What could Angel do? In the sequel, Angel reaches out to a number of colleagues and friends to collect additional information to help inform their negotiation choices.

Many people early in their careers find self-advocacy awkward or may even perceive it as impossible. They don't know what is reasonable for them to request or propose, they are unsure how to go about it, who their negotiating counterparts should be, or what they care about. Often for good reason, they hold back out of fear that speaking up will undermine important relationships. However, there are meaningful downsides to letting opportunities to self-advocate pass, even if only to learn more about what is possible. Negotiation attempts can backfire, but there are ways to prepare strategically to reduce that risk. This note was crafted to help people in early career or junior positions to analyze potential negotiation opportunities and to prepare for those opportunities in ways that make a clear case that what they are proposing makes good sense for others, as well as for themselves.

Maryam and Sameer, brother and sister, were searching for an apartment in Hitech City, Hyderabad. Recent college graduates who were now starting jobs with high-profile technology firms, they wanted to lease an apartment together. The case details their challenge in negotiating with a potential landlord amid cultural and religious concerns. Maryam must address the landlord's biases and concerns through a careful negotiation involving compromise, building personal relationships and re-setting expectations.

Priya, a graduate student of public policy, was offered internships from two units within the International Development Fund. One offered a good salary, took advantage of her past work experience but was longer than she wanted; the other, offered no pay but would give her the work experience she wanted and was the perfect length. The case details the offers and asks students to consider whether Priya has room to negotiate aspects of either offer.