This case describes Thailand's response to the global Covid-19 pandemic from when it started in January 2020, until early August 2020 when it was considered to be under control. While the Thai government managed to keep the coronavirus at bay, the pandemic nevertheless had exacted a heavy toll on the country. Businesses, small and large, were floundering - particularly those in tourism, a sector that had been the lifeblood of the kingdom's economy. Many Thais also had to adjust to working from home (WFH). This new normal would likely remain as the business-as-usual scenario for many months ahead. As a consultant to the Thai government, David Chong, had been brought in to review the country's Covid-19 crisis response, particularly on the performance of its reopening strategy, with an eye to preserving tourism and mitigating the impact on families and firms due to WFH arrangements. The critical questions that David needed to address were as follows: How could the economy be reopened safely and sustainably? How would the Thai society work, live, and play at home when so many were telecommuting? What are the critical decisions that the country should focus on?

This case explores the accounting treatment of cryptocurrencies that Huobi Technology Holdings Limited (Huobi Technology, stock code: 1611.HK) had classified as intangible assets. Huobi Technology operated a digital asset (cryptocurrency) trading platform and rendered technology solution services in relation to blockchain. Huobi Technology received a loan in both cash and cryptocurrencies from its parent company, Huobi Global Limited. The cryptocurrencies portion of this loan was recognized as intangible assets by Huobi Technology in its statement of financial position. Such accounting classification also had financial implications across statements of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, statement of cash flows, statement of changes in equity, among others. The case seeks to highlight the accounting standards governing recognition of intangible assets. Through the case, students will grapple with the practical questions of how to develop an accounting policy with regard to cryptocurrencies.

The case, based on extensive interviews with Retail Rocket's co-founders (Nikolay Khlebinsky and Andrey Chizh), several employees and one of the start-up's investors, documents the genesis and rapid growth of the company. Launched in 2012 in Moscow, Russia, Retail Rocket was a big data-based personalization platform for e-commerce and omnichannel retail identifying the needs of customers based on their online behavior and, thanks to artificial intelligence, offering personalized product recommendations through the website, e-mail and other marketing channels, increasing the conversion rate, average order value and retention rate of its clients. In effect, it makes available to small and mid-sized online firms the same website optimization functionalities associated with powerhouses such as Amazon or Yandex. Its value proposition included superior shopping-pattern prediction algorithms and value-based pricing using randomized A/B testing. What would it take to monetize and grow its exceptional IT competencies?

In 2016, French car manufacturer Peugeot announced its will to return to the US, one of the most competitive market in the world. Peugeot had previously attempted to conquer the US, but that effort failed: In 1991, after having sold a grand total of 4,261 cars in the whole country the year before, Peugeot left the US and remained away for 25 years. Now eager to stage a successful comeback in a market that only got even more fiercely competitive and in the midst of rapid changes affecting the industry, Peugeot needed to first figure out how to overcome its key competitive weakness, namely its lack of a distribution network. For Peugeot's CEO, one question dominated all others: How should Peugeot fulfill its distribution needs in the US (defined as selling cars and providing maintenance), given that it did not have a distribution network?

The case highlights the dilemma of Zenith Watches, a company that got stuck in its own tradition and lost its drive to innovate, relying too long on technical inventions of the past. Julien Tornare was appointed as Zenith CEO in early 2017 by Jean Claude Biver, head of LVMH watch division (Zenith's parent company) and living legend of the Swiss watch industry (after turning around Blancpain, Omega, Hublot and TAG Heuer). Julien was tasked with repositioning Zenith and injecting a new startup mindset into it. Tornare inherits a demotivated but talented workforce in a very traditional artisanal company but aims to spark creativity and innovation there. His agenda is loaded: repositioning the brand, bringing new products to market, improving sales, opening new markets, transforming the culture, all of this on a short schedule because LVMH has a short fuse

The global rise of responsible investing in the last decades (boosted by the increasing debates around climate change, business ethics and distribution of wealth) urged the development of coherent and reliable methodologies gauging the effect of business on Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) aspects. However, existing ESG rating methods not only differs greatly among themselves, but they are also typically based on companies' own practices (outputs), not on the final impact (outcome). To measure the latter, a Geneva-based company called Impaakt developed a digital platform, using the 17 United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as benchmark, engaging the collective intelligence of the global community (on a Wikipedia-like model) to achieve this ambitious goal. This case explores the strategies behind the design of such a platform, investigates the importance of scale and sides, and analyses to what extent social and environmental impact can be measured objectively.

Sterlite Copper (Sterlite), owned by Vedanta Resources Limited (Vedanta), was one of three major copper plants in India. However, the plant had been the subject of controversy and public protests. The people residing in Tuticorin, where the plant was located, considered Sterlite to be a major contributor to the air and water pollution in the neighbouring area. In light of the latest public protest on May 23, 2018, which was supported by several national and international non-government organizations, human rights activists, and Tamil solidarity groups, the Government of Tamil Nadu ordered a permanent shutdown of the plant. Since the plant contributed around 5 per cent to Vedanta's operating profit, the closure of the plant not only threatened the earnings and profitability of the parent company but also damaged its brand image. The plant was a major source of copper for over 400 small and medium-sized industries in its downstream value chain. The closure of the plant put at risk the jobs of a large number of employees, which Sterlite supported both directly and indirectly through its value chain. What should Vedanta do in such a hostile environment?

Sterlite Copper (Sterlite), owned by Vedanta Resources Limited (Vedanta), was one of three major copper plants in India. However, the plant had been the subject of controversy and public protests. The people residing in Tuticorin, where the plant was located, considered Sterlite to be a major contributor to the air and water pollution in the neighbouring area. In light of the latest public protest on May 23, 2018, which was supported by several national and international non-government organizations, human rights activists, and Tamil solidarity groups, the Government of Tamil Nadu ordered a permanent shutdown of the plant. Since the plant contributed around 5 per cent to Vedanta’s operating profit, the closure of the plant not only threatened the earnings and profitability of the parent company but also damaged its brand image. The plant was a major source of copper for over 400 small and medium-sized industries in its downstream value chain. The closure of the plant put at risk the jobs of a large number of employees, which Sterlite supported both directly and indirectly through its value chain. What should Vedanta do in such a hostile environment?

Tencent, one of the largest Internet conglomerates in China, had a vision to become a "Tech+Culture" firm. With dominant market shares in online games and social networking, it had built a vast Internet-based entertainment ecosystem, and was now focused on cultural asset development. Specifically, the company had an opportunity to develop a media franchise that was rich in Chinese cultural elements and had the potential to turn into a blockbuster franchise comparable with Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. Edward Cheng, the company's vice president, had to decide how to launch the franchise-whether it should start with a game, movie, a streamed series, or something more innovative. He also had to consider how to promote Chinese culture and project the country's image to a foreign audience.

In 2018, high-end supermarket chain Margiotta Food & Wine (Margiotta) employed a robot named Fabio at one of its flagship stores to deliver in-store customer service. Founded in 1956, Margiotta retailed three product lines namely food, wine and 'local and organic' at their seven retail stores in Edinburgh, Scotland. However, within one week of its installation, Fabio was fired because of its inability to adequately deliver quality customer service. The customers developed a lot of resistance in accepting assistance from Fabio for their grocery shopping. The Fabio programmers, the Heriot-Watt University Interaction Lab, believe that a newer version of Fabio would be "crueller and more conniving" in delivering customer service. In the future therefore, Margiotta may very well have to take a decision on deploying a robot again. It would have to carve out strategies to proactively reduce customer resistance towards new version of Fabio, which eventually may ameliorate brand experience for Margiotta customers. In addition, Margiotta's employees were seen to have developed a state of positive emotion (love) towards Fabio. Employees were visibly disappointed when customer service through Fabio was discontinued. Hence, when the next version of Fabio is installed, Margiotta promoters would have to carefully manage employee emotions.

On August 9, 2020, Sean Jean De Ville, who had recently joined French fashion and cosmetics giant Satix as digital marketing head of the shampoo products division, was preparing for his first meeting with the CEO. He had been tasked to explore the viability of employing influencer marketing on Instagram. This would be a new promotional vehicle for the company, which had traditionally used billboards, print, and limited digital advertisements. He was also told that a budget of USD 500,000 would be allocated for influencer marketing and that the boss was anxious to get his insights and recommendations.

The case, set in 2016, follows Lavanya Nalli, a fifth-generation member of the Nalli family business, as she contemplates a critical decision about her future. Nalli Silks, an Indian ethnic wear retailer, had built an enviable reputation for quality and customer orientation over 90 years. As a female member of a conservative family business, she was not expected to enter the business and play an active role in it. Yet, she joined Nalli Silks after earning a degree in engineering and planned and pursued her own induction and learning in the firm. Over the next couple of years, she displayed her entrepreneurial drive by conceptualizing and setting up a successful business within the larger business. However, sensing that there were limited avenues within the firm to feed her ambition and keenness to learn and grow, she left India for the United States to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School. After graduating, she worked at McKinsey, a leading consulting firm. In 2014, Lavanya returned to India and joined Myntra, a rapidly growing Indian fashion e-commerce company. These experiences provided her with rich and varied insights and perspectives. After seven years away, she was considering returning to the Nalli group with tentative plans of setting up a separate e-commerce vertical from scratch. Three generations of her family - her grandfather, her father and her brother - were active in the business and held independent charge of different parts of the Nalli group. There were serious reservations within the family and the organization about Lavanya's proposal to venture into e-commerce. She herself had some concerns about the larger strategy and set-up of the business, such as the absence of a leadership pipeline and inattention to market trends. The case closes with her reflections and questions on the way forward.

XP, an investment platform, was on the verge of defining whether to do an IPO or selling off a majority stake to Itaú Unibanco, Brazil´s largest financial conglomerate. Under the leadership of Guilherme Benchimol, XP´s co-founder and CEO, XP had risen to become the largest independent investment platform in Brazil in 2017, reshaping the country's financial investment landscape by marketing itself as a "financial supermarket." The company offered digital seamless investment alternatives at low fees, pioneering a model leveraged across a wide network of independent financial advisors and disrupting a market dominated by large incumbent banks. By late 2016, XP raked in $71 million in net income, boasting over 340,000 clients and $20 billion in assets under custody. In turn, Itaú recorded $415 billion in total assets and net profits above $6.7 billion in 2016, serving over 55 million clients. Benchimol believed the game was just starting: Brazil presented an enormous market opportunity to offer more financial services to millions of new investment clients, but future growth would require additional funding. By the end of 2016, Brazil´s stock market began to show signs of recovery after a two-year performance slump, enticing XP to go public. Yet, Martin Escobari-an XP board member and partner at General Atlantic, the firm that owned 49% of the company by then-felt XP should explore the possibility of finding a potential buyer for XP, shortlisting Itaú among candidates. Although Benchimol openly criticized Brazil´s top banks and their treatment of clients, he realized Itaú´s privileged market position could provide XP with more credibility and, ultimately, more clients. Did it make sense to sell XP to Brazil´s biggest bank? Or should XP go public?

Spreadsheet supplement for case 420086.

Urban Company is an India-based market platform that helps customers book home services and at home beauty services. The company differentiated itself by investing heavily in building customer trust. Rather than merely positioning itself as a lead generating platform, like many other marketplace platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, and Trip Advisor have done, the company invested in training and supporting the service providers, thus getting significantly involved in the service delivery process itself. While this approach increased the company's costs and slowed down its growth, the company's founders believed that its strategy would ultimately lead to a more sustainable business model. During the COVID pandemic, while the company's business was under significant pressure, the founders proposed to double down on this approach even further to build differentiation, and to strengthen customer trust even more. Is this strategy viable? How should the company leverage its current market position as it examines expansion into new verticals, new customer segments, and new geographies?

Eagles Nest Association of Waterdown was a not-for-profit organization in Waterdown, Ontario. It had two active programs: the HOPE Centre (Home of Practical Education) and Rescued & Restored (R&R), a thrift shop that provided up to 40 per cent of the organization’s revenue. Changes in the retail environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increased turnover of volunteers at the store have forced the volunteer coordinator to evaluate the costs and benefits of the organization’s staffing model. Should Eagles Nest hire paid staff as sales associates for the thrift store or recruit volunteers to fill those roles?

This note discusses a variety of methods to assist intuition in complex situations with multiple objectives and a potentially large set of alternatives. It begins with heuristic rules, which are relatively simple ways to sort out alternatives without thinking too much about trade-offs. After discussing the reliability of such rules, it moves to multicriteria analysis, which is a more rational method of balancing conflicting objectives.

In the 1920s, Germany experienced one of the most severe episodes of hyperinflation in history. The episode originated in military defeat and revolution, produced instability that figured prominently in the onset of the Great Depression, and created policy dilemmas that present cautionary lessons for leaders in business and government. This note examines the causes, dynamics, and consequences of Germany's hyperinflation in 1923. Hyperinflation is an episode of very large price increases across a broad range of goods and services that often arises from excessive expansion of the supply of paper money to finance government expenditures. It causes wasteful distortions in the functioning of markets, including hoarding of goods and commodities, currency depreciation, capital flight, price controls, and black markets. In a self-reinforcing cycle, price increases beget greater issuance of currency, which begets more price increases and so on, until a political regime shift reforms the unit of currency and government spending.

The automobile industry is going through a dramatic change as electric vehicles (EVs) rapidly gain in popularity. Two companies in particular have dominated the EV market over the last decade: Tesla and Nissan. However, Nissan, despite its global presence and production capability, has lost significant market share to Tesla. Going forward, the company's operational and strategic decisions are vital to its success in the EV market. Tesla, on the other hand, has aggressively gained market share over the past decade, becoming the most dominant player in the EV market. The company has taken unique approaches for its supply and operations. Will Tesla be able to scale its operations to meet the rapidly increasing demand for EVs? With other large global automakers now turning their attention toward the EV market, will Tesla and Nissan be able to retain their market shares? This case discusses the approaches taken by Nissan and Tesla with their operational, supply chain, and marketing strategies to become leading EV manufacturers. It also sets the stage for the discussion on whether or not their current approaches will be optimal going forward.

In early June 2020, several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a business analyst was evaluating how COVID-19 had changed business and markets and whether these changes would be permanent. Already, a part of the business world had shifted to a working-from-home mode, while executives were evaluating financial strategies to help cope with the changes caused by the pandemic and assessing supply chains that had been disrupted. This case provides an opportunity to discuss key themes such as risk management, globalization, lessons from previous crises such as the global financial crisis (GFC), and the role of banks during the pandemic, as well as the role of the Federal Reserve in mitigating the economic destruction that COVID-19 had inflicted.