In 2012, the founders of food wholesale company FoodXervices Inc. Pte. Ltd. identified a gap between food wastage and food insecurity in Singapore. To reduce this gap, they established a charity arm, The Food Bank Singapore Ltd., which operated as a liaison, collecting near-to-expiry, excess, and unwanted food products from food suppliers, retailers, and restaurants for distribution to beneficiary organizations. When the charity was founded, it was set up to be legally independent to ensure clearer accounts and audits and to prevent false allegations of misuse of food donations. In April 2018, the founders were considering integrating these two now-mature entities to take advantage of potential internal and external synergies. They needed to determine the optimal way to integrate the two entities, while considering the needs of all stakeholders.

In January 2018, the account manager at the Commercial Bank of Canada was reviewing a request for a $200,000 long-term loan and a $60,000 working capital loan for The Church Key Bistro-Pub, a fine dining restaurant located in downtown London, Ontario. The funds were needed to open a second restaurant. The account manager believed the restaurant owner to be a reliable business manager. Her enthusiasm for the new restaurant was infectious, and her expertise in restaurant management was indisputable. Nonetheless, the account manager was hesitant to grant debt financing to a company that had not taken out any debt in six years. She considered all available information and began her final review.

One job of product managers, marketers, strategic planners, and other corporate executives is to predict what the demand will be for a new product. This task is easier for certain classes of new products than for others. For new consumer package goods, for instance, one can look at past product rollouts, one can look at similar products currently in the marketplace, or one can do test markets-selling the product in a small section of the country to assess consumer acceptance. Quite often, for new products that represent incremental variations or improvements over existing products, marketers do a pretty good job of understanding how that product will be adopted in the marketplace. This is not to say that managers always get it right, as has been made evidently clear in the case of New Coke, dry beers, and the Edsel. However, more often than not, managers of incremental new products predict demand within the right order of magnitude.

Teach For Lebanon (TFL) was a non-profit organization (NFP) founded in response to the national problem of low quality public education. The case examines the sustainability challenges that TFL faced in a developing country, covering the financial, legal, and social dilemmas that NFPs struggled with. The case tracks TFL’s innovative solutions to enhance the organization’s financial sustainability and considers scaling-up and initiating a new business to generate additional income. Using benchmarking, students can invent and list their own suggestions for enhancing NFPs’ financial sustainability.

In 2012, the founders of food wholesale company FoodXervices Inc. Pte. Ltd. identified a gap between food wastage and food insecurity in Singapore. To reduce this gap, they established a charity arm, The Food Bank Singapore Ltd., which operated as a liaison, collecting near-to-expiry, excess, and unwanted food products from food suppliers, retailers, and restaurants for distribution to beneficiary organizations. When the charity was founded, it was set up to be legally independent to ensure clearer accounts and audits and to prevent false allegations of misuse of food donations. In April 2018, the founders were considering integrating these two now-mature entities to take advantage of potential internal and external synergies. They needed to determine the optimal way to integrate the two entities, while considering the needs of all stakeholders.

In January 2018, the second-generation scion and director of Natural, an Indian ice cream family business, was preparing for a meeting with the general manager of the company’s retail operations. The company was founded by the director’s father in 1984 under the name Kamath Ourtimes Ice Cream Private Ltd. and was known for its handmade artisanal ice cream brand—Natural Ice Cream. Several years after his entry into the family business in 2009, the son insisted on professionalizing the company as a means of achieving a vision of growth, despite an increasingly competitive market. In 2014, almost 30 years after the company was established, the general manager was the first professional to be hired by the company. Although professionalization brought about an increase in sales of two and a half times during 2012–2018, the director was sensing a change in the culture of the company, which he found troubling. He wondered if he had grown the company too big, too fast in his haste to transform it into a high-growth enterprise.

In January 2018, the second-generation scion and director of Natural, an Indian ice cream family business, was preparing for a meeting with the general manager of the company's retail operations. The company was founded by the director's father in 1984 under the name Kamath Ourtimes Ice Cream Private Ltd. and was known for its handmade artisanal ice cream brand-Natural Ice Cream. Several years after his entry into the family business in 2009, the son insisted on professionalizing the company as a means of achieving a vision of growth, despite an increasingly competitive market. In 2014, almost 30 years after the company was established, the general manager was the first professional to be hired by the company. Although professionalization brought about an increase in sales of two and a half times during 2012-2018, the director was sensing a change in the culture of the company, which he found troubling. He wondered if he had grown the company too big, too fast in his haste to transform it into a high-growth enterprise.

Teach For Lebanon (TFL) was a non-profit organization (NFP) founded in response to the national problem of low quality public education. The case examines the sustainability challenges that TFL faced in a developing country, covering the financial, legal, and social dilemmas that NFPs struggled with. The case tracks TFL's innovative solutions to enhance the organization's financial sustainability and considers scaling-up and initiating a new business to generate additional income. Using benchmarking, students can invent and list their own suggestions for enhancing NFPs' financial sustainability.

The case is set in April 2018 when, after a 5-year streak of investing success and resultant strong asset inflows, the performance Asia Alpha Management Pvt. Ltd. (AAM), a fictitious hedge fund, begins to lag from the beginning of the year. AAM's co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Royston Lim, is struggling to decide what to do with three large positions in his portfolio that are underperforming. Each of these positions is constructed to illustrate the real-world impact of behavioural bias on investment management. Case (A) provides background information on the firm and detailed information on the three positions. After a class discussion on Case (A) to decide what Lim should do, Case (B) describes what actually happened. The concept of behavioural bias is introduced through the subsequent discussion of why Lim made the decisions he made.

The case is set in April 2018 when, after a 5-year streak of investing success and resultant strong asset inflows, the performance Asia Alpha Management Pvt. Ltd. (AAM), a fictitious hedge fund, begins to lag from the beginning of the year. AAM's co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Royston Lim, is struggling to decide what to do with three large positions in his portfolio that are underperforming. Each of these positions is constructed to illustrate the real-world impact of behavioural bias on investment management. Case (A) provides background information on the firm and detailed information on the three positions. After a class discussion on Case (A) to decide what Lim should do, Case (B) describes what actually happened. The concept of behavioural bias is introduced through the subsequent discussion of why Lim made the decisions he made.

One fall afternoon in 2018, Bertin Nadeau, chair of the board and owner of Casavant Frères, was wondering how to ensure the sustainability of his company. Since its 1879 founding in Saint-Hyacinthe (Quebec, Canada), this world leader in the manufacture, delivery, and installation of new pipe organs had built more than 3,900 organs for churches, concert halls, music schools, and private homes on all five continents. The firm was also active in the restoration, renovation, maintenance, tuning, and moving of organs. Despite this international success, Casavant Frères could not rest on its laurels. Its national and international business environment had changed dramatically over the years, requiring strategic positioning to ensure its survival. Several opportunities had already been exploited, explored, or studied. Students will be asked to consider Nadeau's various possible options based on the company's current situation, its history, its objectives, and the international organ market. They will have to understand the key success factors for an SME facing sustainability challenges in a cutting-edge sector with a strong artisanal component.

In early 2018, Modena, Italy’s Pagani Automobili S.p.A (Pagani Automobili), a boutique designer and manufacturer of high-performance internal combustion engine powered supercars, was struggling to develop a response to the emergence of electric vehicle technology. This technology appeared to be interesting and potentially useful. It outperformed internal combustion technology in terms of speed and power. In 2018, relatively inexpensive electric cars could already accelerate faster than most supercars over a quarter-mile distance. However, the electric car driving experience seemed very different from the experience of driving a supercar powered by an internal combustion engine, due largely to fundamental differences between the technologies. Could Pagani Automobili build an electric vehicle that its customers would perceive as a true Pagani Automobili creation?

In September 2017, the chairman and the president of Shanghai Shine-Link International Logistics Co. Ltd. were considering their company’s future. The company was established in May 2001. After more than 16 years of rapid development, it became a leading information technology empowered logistics provider, offering high value-added services, with the lean management and innovation capabilities of modern logistics enterprises. In September 2017, it was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange main board. The management team had to reconsider the company’s next steps for growth. The two men realized it was time to convene the board of directors to consider the company’s future. With so many opportunities and risks in front of them, good decision-making was essential to their prospects.

Organic Wellness Products Private Limited (Organic Wellness) was founded in 2015 with the aim to create a sustainable venture for organic products that would boost agricultural entrepreneurship and benefit society by generating rural employment and value creation. By May 2018, Organic Wellness’s market had grown considerably, and the company was exporting to 27 countries around the world and had a pan-Indian presence. While its innovative marketing strategy—free of big spending—had worked well for the organization, the founder needed to decide if he would continue with the same style of cause-related marketing, or whether it was time to invest in marketing channels to create better consumer outreach.

In September 2017, the chairman and the president of Shanghai Shine-Link International Logistics Co. Ltd. were considering their company's future. The company was established in May 2001. After more than 16 years of rapid development, it became a leading information technology empowered logistics provider, offering high value-added services, with the lean management and innovation capabilities of modern logistics enterprises. In September 2017, it was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange main board. The management team had to reconsider the company's next steps for growth. The two men realized it was time to convene the board of directors to consider the company's future. With so many opportunities and risks in front of them, good decision-making was essential to their prospects.

Organic Wellness Products Private Limited (Organic Wellness) was founded in 2015 with the aim to create a sustainable venture for organic products that would boost agricultural entrepreneurship and benefit society by generating rural employment and value creation. By May 2018, Organic Wellness's market had grown considerably, and the company was exporting to 27 countries around the world and had a pan-Indian presence. While its innovative marketing strategy-free of big spending-had worked well for the organization, the founder needed to decide if he would continue with the same style of cause-related marketing, or whether it was time to invest in marketing channels to create better consumer outreach.

In early 2018, Modena, Italy's Pagani Automobili S.p.A (Pagani Automobili), a boutique designer and manufacturer of high-performance internal combustion engine powered supercars, was struggling to develop a response to the emergence of electric vehicle technology. This technology appeared to be interesting and potentially useful. It outperformed internal combustion technology in terms of speed and power. In 2018, relatively inexpensive electric cars could already accelerate faster than most supercars over a quarter-mile distance. However, the electric car driving experience seemed very different from the experience of driving a supercar powered by an internal combustion engine, due largely to fundamental differences between the technologies. Could Pagani Automobili build an electric vehicle that its customers would perceive as a true Pagani Automobili creation?

Family businesses are unique and complex; they have aspects and layers to them that are unlike any other organizations because at the root of family businesses' identities are the aspirations of both the business and the family's members, which could be at odds with one another. This note-a meta-analysis drawn from many authors' work-explores an approach that identifies ways to unify family and business, examining new possibilities and building a strong resiliency in the process. This analysis of various characteristics within family businesses provides opportunities to learn about how families are unique, offers examples of family businesses (when possible), and, most importantly, leads to clear recommendations.

Central to a firm's long-term success, is allocating capital so that it generates economic value. The two most common decision rules based on economic value are to (i) accept proposals that have a positive net present value (NPV) when discounted at the appropriate hurdle rate or (ii) to accept proposals whose internal rate of return (IRR) exceeds the appropriate hurdle rate. Key to both rules, in economic terms, the hurdle rate reflects the appropriate opportunity cost of devoting capital to the given proposal rather than an equally risky alternative. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the most commonly used hurdle rate, and this note explains why it is useful as a hurdle rate, discusses how it is calculated, and explores some issues related to its use. A one-page summary of implementation best practices is also provided.

The Piramal Foundation was launched by diversfied Indian conglomerate, the Piramal Group, to improve the healthcare services and quality of education of India's economically and socially disadvantaged. The foundation operates under three verticals-'Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership' (PFEL) for improvements in student learning outcomes; 'Swasthya' for healthcare; and 'Sarvajal' for safe drinking water. Over the years, the Foundation has directly and indirectly benefitted nearly 90 million lives, yet its management team find themselves in a quandary. With finite resources, mostly provided by the Piramal Group, they wonder if they ought to only grow existing programs that show the most promise. They also wonder how to attract more external funding and how to further embed their programs into government platforms in order to create impact at scale.