AMÓS Health and Hope was a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 2007 to empower rural communities to establish their health needs and develop action plans to solve them. It also supported these communities, following up on their plans and providing guidance to execute the actions planned. Dr. Laura Chanchien Parajón, AMÓS´ Medical Director and co-founder, was working on a funding application to be submitted to the United States' Agency for International Development (USAID), hoping that it would allow the organization to expand its operations in Nicaragua. AMÓS' new project sought to fight diseases transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, like , Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya. The rate of these diseases among Nicaragua's population showed a growing trend over recent years. Dr. Chanchien had scheduled a meeting for the next day with Dr. Parajón, the organization's Executive Director, to decide whether they would submit the application or not. Dr. Parajón had some qualms about this new project, including whether it would draw AMÓS away from its mission and whether the organization had the capabilities required to execute it successfully.
In June 2017, a bancassurance director at South Africa’s Liberty Group Limited (Liberty) was making his way to a public school in Soweto, south of Johannesburg. Liberty was an insurance company in South Africa, part of Liberty Holdings, a leading financial-services group with representation in 24 countries across the African continent. As he drove along the highway he wondered how he could encourage more business leaders at Liberty to get involved and ultimately contribute to improving the country’s public-education system. He recognized that there were ethical implications in using the school in Liberty’s marketing campaign—a campaign that would eventually contribute to a goal of sustainability. Various issues had to be considered that related to conducting business with people at the bottom of the pyramid and a decision had to be made.
In December 2016, the founder and chief executive officer of R3 was preparing for an offsite meeting, where his management team would debate what business model to pursue to extract the most value from the company’s new distributed ledger product called Corda. Founded in 2014, R3 was a blockchain technology company with headquarters in New York. R3 was leading a consortium of over 100 banks, financial institutions, and technology companies to develop a distributed ledger technology that could meet the needs of the financial services industry. R3 had run a number of proof of concept tests of existing distributed ledger technologies with its bank members before deciding to develop an enterprise-grade distributed ledger from scratch. R3 was still privately-owned and controlled by the founder, but had financed its research and development by selling memberships in a joint venture to a consortium of over 40 banks. With Corda operational by mid-2016, the founder had to decide what business model to follow to monetize the investment in Corda. A second question was how to finance R3’s future growth.
As one of its first international projects, the China Guangxi Corporation for International Techno-Economic Cooperation (GCITEC) began a joint venture initiative with a local Pakistani firm in September 2015. The joint venture centred around constructing a canal in the Khus area of northern Pakistan. The Chinese firm brought funding and technical experience; the Pakistani partner brought local experience and local construction staff. After working together for several months, significant problems began to emerge between the two sides. These tensions resulted from differing management cultures and institutional differences between the Pakistani and the Chinese business environments. The president of GCITEC's Pakistani branch was faced with a choice: find a way to renew the partnership and fix both the immediate personnel conflict and its underlying factors, or, if the conflict was beyond reconciliation, dissolve the joint partnership and bear the cost of this choice.
In 2016, Fair and Handsome, a skin-whitening cream produced by Emami Limited, led the men's fairness skin cream category in India, with a market share of 60 per cent. In late 2017, however, the company faced both a public backlash and an adverse court decision about its marketing of the product. A growing movement called Dark is Beautiful was galvanizing support against companies that portrayed fairer skin colour as a means for both personal and professional fulfillment. The company had also appealed a lower court's decision to ban the company's use of skin whitening in its advertisements. Since the product was earmarked for significant growth in the next five years, the company needed to develop an immediate response. What should it do?
In January 2018, the governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ), was preparing for a meeting of the policy board of the BoJ. While the broad macroeconomic indicators hinted at a Japanese recovery, Japan still continued to have an inflation rate well below its target of 2 per cent. The accommodative, unconventional monetary policy of quantitative and qualitative easing engineered by the governor in 2013 had resulted in a bloated balance sheet for the BoJ, with little success in overcoming deflation. Was it time to wind up Japan’s monetary stimulus? What would be the results of continued monetary stimulus, especially for businesses? Would the Japanese economy be able to recover from deflation without such monetary stimulus?
In June 2018, the co-founder of a work-integration social enterprise in Calgary, Alberta, called CMNGD (Commongood) Linens, took stock of the impact her venture had on helping homeless people get back on their feet and into meaningful employment. Her ambition was to expand into other Canadian cities, but she was worried that scaling CMNGD might place so much strain on the venture that its viability could be thrown into question and its core mission put at risk. She knew that a lot was at stake, not only financially, but also for the vulnerable people she was trying to help. She and her husband had to carefully weigh the options and decide on the best way forward.
In December 2016, the founder and chief executive officer of R3 was preparing for an offsite meeting, where his management team would debate what business model to pursue to extract the most value from the company's new distributed ledger product called Corda. Founded in 2014, R3 was a blockchain technology company with headquarters in New York. R3 was leading a consortium of over 100 banks, financial institutions, and technology companies to develop a distributed ledger technology that could meet the needs of the financial services industry. R3 had run a number of proof of concept tests of existing distributed ledger technologies with its bank members before deciding to develop an enterprise-grade distributed ledger from scratch. R3 was still privately-owned and controlled by the founder, but had financed its research and development by selling memberships in a joint venture to a consortium of over 40 banks. With Corda operational by mid-2016, the founder had to decide what business model to follow to monetize the investment in Corda. A second question was how to finance R3's future growth.
In January 2018, the governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ), was preparing for a meeting of the policy board of the BoJ. While the broad macroeconomic indicators hinted at a Japanese recovery, Japan still continued to have an inflation rate well below its target of 2 per cent. The accommodative, unconventional monetary policy of quantitative and qualitative easing engineered by the governor in 2013 had resulted in a bloated balance sheet for the BoJ, with little success in overcoming deflation. Was it time to wind up Japan's monetary stimulus? What would be the results of continued monetary stimulus, especially for businesses? Would the Japanese economy be able to recover from deflation without such monetary stimulus?
In June 2017, a bancassurance director at South Africa's Liberty Group Limited (Liberty) was making his way to a public school in Soweto, south of Johannesburg. Liberty was an insurance company in South Africa, part of Liberty Holdings, a leading financial-services group with representation in 24 countries across the African continent. As he drove along the highway he wondered how he could encourage more business leaders at Liberty to get involved and ultimately contribute to improving the country's public-education system. He recognized that there were ethical implications in using the school in Liberty's marketing campaign-a campaign that would eventually contribute to a goal of sustainability. Various issues had to be considered that related to conducting business with people at the bottom of the pyramid and a decision had to be made.
As one of its first international projects, the China Guangxi Corporation for International Techno-Economic Cooperation (GCITEC) began a joint venture initiative with a local Pakistani firm in September 2015. The joint venture centred around constructing a canal in the Khus area of northern Pakistan. The Chinese firm brought funding and technical experience; the Pakistani partner brought local experience and local construction staff. After working together for several months, significant problems began to emerge between the two sides. These tensions resulted from differing management cultures and institutional differences between the Pakistani and the Chinese business environments. The president of GCITEC's Pakistani branch was faced with a choice: find a way to renew the partnership and fix both the immediate personnel conflict and its underlying factors, or, if the conflict was beyond reconciliation, dissolve the joint partnership and bear the cost of this choice.
The legal availability and use of marijuana is on the rise. More than half the states in the country allow its use for medical purposes, eight of which also permit it for recreational purposes. The manufacture, sale, and use of marijuana is largely a cash business because it is still against the federal Controlled Substance Act. Most banks will not allow such businesses to open a bank account as a result. This case addresses the ethical issues faced by a CPA who is asked to accept the client's request to hold back reporting 25% of the cash sales as taxable income, arguing that since it is a cash business no one would be the wiser. The tax accountant does not want to go along with the firm's request as she knows it would be wrong to do so. She values honesty and integrity in tax reporting and is concerned about violating the AICPA rules of professional conduct, especially the acts discreditable rule. In preparation for a meeting with her superiors, the tax accountant considers ways to effectively voice her values by responding to the likely reasons and rationalizations she might encounter. The associate teaching note addresses the stakeholders, how to build a coalition to support her position, and the most powerful and persuasive responses she can make to positively influence her superiors.
The Cattier family had been active in the Champagne region of France for over 250 years. Starting out as growers of grapes, they moved into champagne production, initially for local consumption. By 2017, the Cattier company, which had reached 35 full-time employees, engaged in related diversification activities on multiple fronts and internationalized its market. Cattier was selling its champagne to markets such as the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The company also created new product formats, developing signature branding and packaging. Cattier also partnered with fashion houses, bistros, and an international distributor owned by the American rap artist Jay-Z. However, Cattier faced a multitude of challenges in 2017. There was fierce competition in the home market, while sparkling wine consumption was down in all key European markets. Rising protectionism and the possibility of raising trade barriers in key export markets also created new risks. These challenges were compounded by the fact that harvest conditions for producing vintage wines were unpredictable. Cattier was considering using further diversification to manage these threats. However, how would diversification address Cattier's problems?
In 2016, Fair and Handsome, a skin-whitening cream produced by Emami Limited, led the men's fairness skin cream category in India, with a market share of 60 per cent. In late 2017, however, the company faced both a public backlash and an adverse court decision about its marketing of the product. A growing movement called Dark is Beautiful was galvanizing support against companies that portrayed fairer skin colour as a means for both personal and professional fulfillment. The company had also appealed a lower court's decision to ban the company's use of skin whitening in its advertisements. Since the product was earmarked for significant growth in the next five years, the company needed to develop an immediate response. What should it do?
In March 2018, a report on workplace harassment issues was brought to the chief executive officer of Nike, Inc. (Nike), Mark Parker. The report was a result of a covert survey conducted by the female employees at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, after the company's human resources (HR) department failed to respond to the women's repeated complaints. Soon, several senior executives left Nike. Although Parker took several steps to strengthen HR, some employees wondered whether the women's complaints had been handled appropriately. Nevertheless, according to experts, the behaviour the women described did not amount to harassment in legal terms. Was Parker's response to the survey a matter of reputation management or of genuine ethical concern? Why did the HR department not respond to the female employees' complaints earlier? If a case of harassment in legal terms could not be made against the executives, should they have been let go? If senior executives like Edwards committed or condoned harassment, should Parker allow those executives to receive severance packages?
Despite fast advancements in technology and production capacity, China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) faced a variety of challenges and risks on its path to build profitability in the global high-speed rail (HSR) market. Some of these challenges arose from competition between CRCC and nations with competing HSR technology and international expansion plans. Other challenges were related to the country of origin and its effects on perceptions about the product and brand positioning. In 2018, CRCC was facing intensive competition and complicated international environments, and it needed to develop an effective risk prevention and management scheme in order to compete and succeed through global expansion.
In March 2018, Cricket Australia (formerly the Australian Cricket Board) banned the Australian cricket captain from the sport for a year due to his involvement in a premeditated attempt at ball tampering in a test match against South Africa. He was also banned from any leadership positions in the sport for at least a year thereafter and faced financial losses on account of these bans. Australian fans and political leaders were outraged at the ball-tampering scandal and the captain's involvement. Other cricketers felt that the penalties were severe and disproportionate. What led the captain to engage in "premeditated" foul play? Could he have played the game differently? Will he be able to lead the Australian cricket team again?
The Cattier family had been active in the Champagne region of France for over 250 years. Starting out as growers of grapes, they moved into champagne production, initially for local consumption. By 2017, the Cattier company, which had reached 35 full-time employees, engaged in related diversification activities on multiple fronts and internationalized its market. Cattier was selling its champagne to markets such as the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The company also created new product formats, developing signature branding and packaging. Cattier also partnered with fashion houses, bistros, and an international distributor owned by the American rap artist Jay-Z. However, Cattier faced a multitude of challenges in 2017. There was fierce competition in the home market, while sparkling wine consumption was down in all key European markets. Rising protectionism and the possibility of raising trade barriers in key export markets also created new risks. These challenges were compounded by the fact that harvest conditions for producing vintage wines were unpredictable. Cattier was considering using further diversification to manage these threats. However, how would diversification address Cattier’s problems?
After a successful transition from a projects-based IT business services company to a platform-driven analytics company, Saama's core leadership team gathered in 2017 to brainstorm the next phase of its growth. The year before, the team had decided to narrow its target market to the life sciences vertical. Saama now had to decide how to execute on this focused strategy by choosing a growth pathway within the life sciences vertical. Saama's leadership team was considering three alternatives: acquiring new customer accounts, developing existing customer accounts, or developing new products by harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies. The team had to evaluate these growth pathways in terms of both short- and long-term revenue potential, as well as their potential for sustaining Saama's competitive advantage.