Instructor Spreadsheet for 8B19N017.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B19N017.

Profico Trading and Contracting Company WLL, an aluminum and glazing contracting company in Lebanon, assembled and installed aluminum and glazing doors and windows and aluminum composite panels for local construction projects. The company's revenues had increased over the years, but over the previous four years, revenues had declined, largely as a result of regional political turmoil that affected the construction industry. The management team was contemplating an opportunity to invest in a production line that would expand the company's scope through backward integration, conceivably increasing the company's revenues by 40–50 per cent. Was the investment worthwhile in the context, and if so, how might the company finance it?

Mary Chia Holdings Limited (MCH) was a provider of lifestyle and wellness services for women and men in Singapore and Malaysia. Listed on the Singapore Catalist, the company had experienced a decline in financial performance and share price. On August 24, 2017, MCH announced that its founder would sell her 60.98 per cent stake to Suki Sushi Private Ltd., an unlisted company tightly controlled by the daughter and son-in-law of MCH’s founder. Suki Sushi’s offer was at SG$0.111 per share, which was almost double the closing price. Should current MCH shareholders accept Suki Sushi’s offer and sell their shares, and does Suki Sushi’s offer constitute an investment opportunity for investors not currently holding MCH shares?

This case explores one company's attempt to experiment with a different underlying model for a capitalist enterprise. Brunello Cucinelli, S.p.A. is a leading manufacturer of luxury fashion apparel. Despite being a publicly traded enterprise with annual revenues exceeding 500 million, the company follows a somewhat unique human resource and cultural model. The company's founder, Brunello Cucinelli, has striven to create an enterprise that follows principles of what he calls "humanistic capitalism". Human capitalism, according to Cucinelli, means pursuing growth and profitability in a "gracious way." At the company, humanistic capitalism manifests itself in a very specific set of policies and behavioral norms. Workers are paid wages that exceed 20% of the market norms; the workday (even fore senior executive) is limited to the hours of 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM; emails are not to be sent after hours or on weekends; lunch breaks are one and half hours long to allow workers to have lunch at home should they choose. There are also strong cultural norms emphasizing respect and dignity. As part of this culture, employees are expected to keep their workspaces clean; eating at desks is not permitted; water can only be drunk from cups (not bottles,); speaking should be done in hushed tones so as not to disturb colleagues. None of these cultural norms, however, are explicitly described in any written documents. The company has adopted this model in both its Solomeo, Italy headquarters and in its North American headquarters located in New York City.

Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde was facing unrest from the board of her pet services startup in August 2017. One board member (and lead investor) was alarmed that Baroo's growth was slowing while it's appetite for funding was accelerating. Hyde wanted to hit the gas and continue expanding to new cities, which meant she needed to raise venture capital. How could she convince the board and potential investors that the business opportunities were too good to pass up and an infusion of capital could help her steer Baroo through the speed bumps?

Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde must secure venture capital funding if she wants to save her pet services startup. If she is unable to finance a series A, she will need to sell or shut down.

The case focuses on the initial startup team and Founders' agreements. In March 2018, Sanchali Pal proposed renegotiating the informal founders' agreement and equity split she and her co-founders had drafted the previous spring. They had been working together for over a year to solve one of the most complex and urgent problems of our time-global warming. Their company-a technology platform that enabled users to track and improve their carbon footprints on their smartphones in real time-had grown from their individual passion to combat the looming climate crisis. In the past year, their approach had been validated multiple times at different national clean energy competitions. But beneath external success, internal frictions threatened the team. Differing expectations and overlapping roles and responsibilities sparked frustrations between the co-founders and Pal began spending a considerable amount of time mediating their disagreements instead of focusing on the business. The case ends as the co-founders are meeting to discuss 3 core issues: 1) How to re-divide equity-what changes should they make to their original agreement? 2) How to establish clear roles, titles, and decision-making rights so that they could function effectively as a team. 3) How to allocate spending cash. Each grappled with key questions: Did they still trust one another? Did they feel respected? Could they renegotiate an agreement in a way that everyone could accept?

In 2019, two Cuban entrepreneurs discussed their growth strategy, given the regulatory framework instability, for private companies, in Cuba. Experiencya Cuba offered car and apartment rentals, airport pick-up, and tours around the island, all conducted in perfectly restored American cars from the 1950s.

Adopting a 100 percent direct operations model, Haidilao (HDL) previously lacked experienced restaurant managers, who were deemed as the company's core talent. The founder Zhang Yong designed a profit-sharing mechanism that not only motivated restaurant managers effectively, but also facilitated mentor-protégé relationships. After two years of execution, the company achieved high-speed expansion and formed a core talent pool for the future. Zhang Yong is not resting satisfied with HDL's China market success, but rather aims to introduce the hot pot dining experience in overseas markets, especially to local mainstream customers. However, would HDL's incentive system work as well in different cultures? Another issue is food safety concerns. HDL has invested heavily in a smart restaurant with an unmanned kitchen in Beijing; could that be the solution?

As a Chinese technology corporation founded in 2010, Cheetah Mobile (CM) formally launched its overseas strategy and entered international markets in 2012. As a born-global firm, CM moved forward along the path of internationalization and achieved success in international markets soon after its establishment. The case illustrates how CM faces and solves cross-cultural conflicts.

Founded in 2006, the B Lab, a nonprofit organization, created the certified B Corporations (B Corps). B Corps are businesses that satisfy a set of standards and benchmarks defined by social and environmental impact. B Corps and their supply chains are assessed on their policies and procedures around governance, workers, community, environment, and disclosures to the public. Certification means the company is a "purpose-driven" business that creates benefits for its stakeholders. By the end of 2018, over 2,700 companies across 60 countries and 150 industries have been certified as B Corps. This technical note discusses the founding of the B Lab and its certification process, including public disclosure; legal requirements and US state laws governing benefit corporations; and B Corp self-assessment. It explores benefits to B Corps and criticisms of the process as well as additional endeavors that resulted from the B Lab's collaborative efforts, including Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), and Global Impact Investing Ratings System (GIIRS).

This field-based case offers the experiences of a historic winery in Tuscany, Italy, to set the stage for how the leader's philosophy affects all aspects of the company, as well as how those practices create the culture of an all-female-staffed organization. The situation provides an opportunity to explore and connect the relationship among the leader's values, the actions she takes, and the impact of those values and actions on how the organization works. The case opens with the owner of Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle wineries, Donatella Cinelli Colombini, reflecting on strategic plans to increase production, build a warehouse, and grow the estates. In the long term, she would have to decide when a good time might be to step down from the business and pass it to her daughter. Had she built a self-managed team that could continue to grow the business and build future relationships between the wineries and tourism? Was her business sturdy enough to stand on its own when she left?

This case follows a man named Jaime as he considers options for obtaining furniture for the new apartment he and his brother, Angelo, have leased. Jaime would like a new couch, a coffee table, and a TV to improve their living room, but his $2,000-a-month income at an auto shop and lack of savings means he will have to make some difficult choices. Angelo suggests that Jaime construct a budget and only acquire one piece of furniture at a time. Because he has no bank account, credit card, or credit score (to his knowledge), Jaime believes he will not qualify for some of the furniture deals advertised in the bigger department stores. As a result, Jaime explores rent-to-own financing, which does not require a credit check.

CarMax, based in Richmond, Virginia, is the largest retailer of used cars in the United States. Over the past several years leading up to 2019, CarMax has undergone a major digital transformation, integrating agile, lean, and user experience (UX) design best practices to become a customer-centric, product-driven organization. In this case, CarMax is facing new competitors (e.g., digital native players Carvana and CarsDirect), changing consumer shopping behavior, and technological advancements in electric cars, autonomous vehicles, and ride-sharing platforms. In order to maintain its dominant position in the used-car marketplace, CarMax must continue to evolve from a traditional brick-and-mortar model marked by legacy corporate practices (such as annual roadmaps and budget cycles) to a product-focused, omnichannel experience that delivers significant value to its customers.

In 2018, the acknowledged saviour of Nissan and the creator of the 19-year-old cross-shareholding Renault-Nissan alliance was accused by the Tokyo Prosecutors Office of understating his compensation and of using company resources for personal gain. The arrest of the former chairperson of Groupe Renault, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., and Mitsubishi Motors brought to light weak governance practices at Nissan and challenged the state of the tripartite alliance. How could Nissan restore investor trust and prevent the recurrence of another scandal? What would happen to the alliance? Convicted or not, could the saviour himself ever recover from this scandal? Was he indeed a hero or a villain?

BerkShares is a local currency in western Massachusetts and is a project instituted by the Schumacher Center for a New Economics and BerkShares, Inc., which seeks to foster local and resilient economies. Along with the BerkShares project is the Entry to Entrepreneurship (E2E) Program which aims to develop local entrepreneurs to create local businesses that serve the local economy. Both of these initiatives focus on helping the Berkshires region become as economically self-sufficient as possible. Ultimately, the vision is to create a local currency that is backed by a local basket of goods and not the US dollar. Set in 2019, this case allows for a discussion of the impacts that big-box retailers (and more recently, online retailers) can have on the economy of small towns, generally damaging local businesses and the jobs, tax dollars, entrepreneurial spirit and civic leadership that they create. The case also explores what can be done to avert that outcome by examining the merits and success metrics of a local currency, the importance of a local supply chain of businesses, and the need for more self-sufficiency within local economies. It is challenging to keep an economy truly "local" in today's world and mechanisms like local currency face significant barriers to survive, much less scale, in a globalized economy.

This Note explains some of the key issues of international trade policy. That entails examining the reasons that governments impose tariffs and non-tariff barriers to imports, although there are some other issues as well, such as export subsidies and financial policies that affect international trade. A core aspect of this policy analysis is to recognize that governments need to pursue policies that have not just economic goals, but also political and social ones as well. So, a trade policy that hurts domestic consumers, for example, may be very sensible for a government that needs to satisfy a particular political or social group in the country, such as a powerful union or a political party whose constituents oppose imports.

In 2018, the acknowledged saviour of Nissan and the creator of the 19-year-old cross-shareholding Renault-Nissan alliance was accused by the Tokyo Prosecutors Office of understating his compensation and of using company resources for personal gain. The arrest of the former chairperson of Groupe Renault, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., and Mitsubishi Motors brought to light weak governance practices at Nissan and challenged the state of the tripartite alliance. How could Nissan restore investor trust and prevent the recurrence of another scandal? What would happen to the alliance? Convicted or not, could the saviour himself ever recover from this scandal? Was he indeed a hero or a villain?

Karl Jan Erick Hummel had founded Paradigm Capital Value Fund in 2007 together with Columbia Business School Professor Bruce Greenwald, an expert in value investing and now chairman of the fund. The fund followed the principles of value investing to their target universe: publicly traded companies with market capitalization between €100 million and €4.5 billion based in Germany, the Nordic countries, the U.K., and Ireland. Hummel and Greenwald believed they had developed an investing edge in that universe, ignored by large U.S. and U.K. based funds, through deep research and by locating their headquarters close to companies and their management. Hummel and his team of six analysts were based in a small suburb of Munich, Germany. Paradigm Capital Value Fund was highly concentrated, with 60% of its assets invested in four stocks, and held its positions for long periods of time. Hummel had to decide if it was time to divest from one of their main investments, a German manufacturer of roll-over car washing systems, and instead invest in a German truck equipment supplier. At the same time, Hummel was concerned by how to grow the fund.