It was early November 2017, and the chief executive officer of ClickDishes Inc. (ClickDishes), an Alberta-based food service application company, needed to consider the strategic direction of his start-up. ClickDishes had a unique value proposition and very few competitors worldwide. Its chief executive officer wanted to enter a number of new markets very quickly in order to capitalize on his company's first-mover advantage and establish the ClickDishes brand name as the default solution for in-restaurant ordering. However, his desire for growth was checked by his apprehension that rapid expansion would overextend the company's limited resources, and the knowledge that poor execution in one new city could be devastating to further growth. He had to develop a market expansion plan that suited ClickDishes' resources and capabilities but was also aggressive enough to place the firm in a dominant position against new entrants in its industry.

When managers are confronted with a corporate crisis, they have to operate under conditions that differ fundamentally from those experienced during normal management processes. They may have to work with specialized teams and understand their priorities and decision making processes, without giving up their own responsibilities. The following case simulation confronts participants with an escalating crisis situation in an unfamiliar environment and requires a series of team decisions to be taken under time pressure. The case is based on real experiences of the German Air Force during its ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The participants are divided into groups of four, each group being responsible for a large military transport aircraft and its mission. Within the groups, each participant assumes the role of a specified flight crew member. Each participant receives individual instructions on their roles and duties as well as background information on the other crew members. Based on this information, the teams must prepare and execute their flight missions. The main objective of the simulation is to highlight the challenges of sharing information within a team and of decision making under time pressure in an unfamiliar environment.

Zensar, an established mid-tier IT services company based in India, is known for its customer-centric approach and close-knit culture. Sandeep Kishore has recently stepped in as the MD and CEO, replacing the previous CEO of 15 years. Kishore is developing his strategy for Zensar against a backdrop of a rapidly changing IT industry. Kishore, a strong proponent of digitizing business processes in order to increase productivity and revenue, wants to execute his idea to make Zensar a fully digital company. However, in doing so he has to strike a balance between driving an aggressive digital strategy and retaining Zensar's culture.

Manish Goel was the CEO of TrustSphere, a seven-year-old company in the data analytics industry that focused squarely on relationship analytics, a space in which TrustSphere was pioneering a unique technology and solutions in the areas of sales, risk, and people analytics. Essentially, TrustSphere's technology allowed its customers to view the patterns of digital communication captured on the organization's communication infrastructure among internal and external players. With this information, TrustSphere could help customers infer where relationships existed and the strength of those relationships, information that could be leveraged to address a number of business challenges and opportunities. Based in Singapore, but operating globally, TrustSphere was trying to get its footing and establish its technology and solutions as a "must-have" for prospective customers, all the while trying to navigate the relatively unchartered waters of relationship analytics.

In late 2017, Nectar was a rapidly emerging player in the "bed-in-a-box" online market for direct-to-consumer foam memory mattresses. Barely a year old, it had achieved a revenue run rate of $85M and looked ahead to another year of blistering growth. The founding team of three had chosen to operate as a triumvirate, without a CEO, and each of the founders had already realized impressive business success as operating executives and investors. As they evaluated their year-end results, they were considering a range of growth scenarios for 2018 and 2019. At the same time, they were wrestling with key decisions regarding product line diversification to target additional customer segments and a potential refactoring of production operations. The founders also speculated on the land grab opportunity, both U.S. and international, which amped up urgency to decide how to manage growth.

Silkroad -- a cross-cultural music collaboration that world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma had spearheaded since 1998, was preparing to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. In parallel, Ma was stepping back from his role as the organization's Artistic Director. Silkroad had come of age, gaining international recognition for its uniquely global music, which blended musical traditions from across the world -- especially Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and America. The Ensemble had also forged strong partnerships with universities, local governments, and civic groups, and developed an array of outreach programs to help people understand and express themselves through music. Ma was confident that there could be no better time to hand over leadership. But the transition was bittersweet: He felt a deep personal connection both to the Ensemble as a whole and to every one of its performers and staff members. And he wondered how reducing his involvement would affect the organization's sustainability.

In November 2017, the chief executive officer of Sony Corporation was preparing to announce the company's release of its rebooted robo-pup, the Aibo-a robot equipped with sensors and actuator technologies, and powered by artificial intelligence that allowed this virtual pet to behave like a real dog. Sony Corporation, the 70-year-old iconic Japanese manufacturing company, had diverse businesses. After significant restructuring since 1999 to address its financial troubles, the company was expected, in March 2018, to post a record operating profit for the first time in two decades. How did a virtual pet business, especially one that had already proved unviable in the past, fit into such a restructuring exercise? Was Sony Corporation's Aibo an intelligent decision?

Charagh Din sold premium men's shirts in Mumbai, India, to elite customers. It had been in business for three generations, dating back to 1949, and had evolved from a small tailoring shop to a multi-storied showroom. The brand was recognized for its unique designs and outstanding customer service. However, unlike its competitors, Charagh Din did not have in-house manufacturing. The business model worked well when India was a regulated economy, but, after the 1990s, aggressive national and international competition that catered to the apparel needs of the entire family began eroding Charagh Din's market share. In 2017, the owner was considering how to target growth while being able to maintain family control over the company.

In June 2017, transportation company Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), which operated in 70 countries and had net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016 of US$1.7 billion, fired its chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick. By the time of Kalanick's departure, negative publicity had contributed to a decline in market share, and a number of other high-level executives had left the company. What options could the company identify for the future that would address existing issues, including those surrounding its culture, practices, financing, and consumer confidence?

Infosys Limited, a large Indian information technology (IT) company, had set a target of achieving revenues of US$20 billion by 2020 (known as Vision 2020) and thus needed swift growth. Acquisitions were a possible source of growth, but the problem was where and what to acquire and how to take the post-merger integration factor into account for achieving this growth. Infosys Limited had already made several acquisitions, which improved the company's client base, knowledge, and geographical expansion, but a few had also been controversial. If Infosys Limited was going to use acquisitions to continue the swift growth it needed to meet its Vision 2020, the company needed the right buyout strategy. Which business and geographical segments should Infosys Limited invest in, and what should be the key determining factors to drive the acquisitions-increased clientele, enhanced technology, or increased geographical reach?

Sagamok First Nation (Sagamok) was one of several First Nations living on land that was a mineral resource. Canada's Indigenous Peoples had an historical claim to swaths of land and their resources; however, as Canada became increasingly colonized, the government negotiated treaties with the First Nations that resulted in smaller boundaries for First Nations lands, but required mining companies that wanted to mine reserved lands to negotiate access with the relevant First Nation. Sagamok had negotiated access with three mining companies and their relationships with the three companies varied. One relationship left Sagamok with open pit mines and an environmental mess; another resulted in good relations, opportunities for Sagamok, and environmental stewardship; and the third was in early stages and already showing problems. In 2016, the Chief of Sagamok needed to resolve the dispute and to consider how to apply what the community had already learned to build capacity in evaluating opportunities for resource extraction, environmental stewardship, and economic development.

In January 2017, Banro Corporation, a Canadian gold mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, underwent recapitalization to cope with financial distress, and to optimize its operations of mining assets. Since the commencement of commercial mining in 2009, unexpected social conflicts and operational challenges had led to significantly lower production than expected, with a large cost overrun, while the price of gold declined sharply from 2012. Would the recapitalization enable Banro Corporation to carry out its medium-term strategic plan of incremental growth by operational improvements, through cost reduction and throughput expansion over a five-year horizon? How could the company achieve its long-term goal of being a model of excellence in sustainability?

In May 2017, The White Dog Cafe (White Dog) had been under new ownership for seven years, had opened two new locations, and had continued most of the initiatives that had made it one of the most well-respected and sustainably run restaurants in the United States. But the restaurant was still relatively unknown. How could White Dog's director of marketing convince owner Marty Grims that a brand management agency could help the White Dog brand evolve to meet the expectations of an increasingly sophisticated marketplace?

Malaysia headquartered Genting Berhad has been assigned highest credit rating among global gaming companies. This remarkable gaming focussed conglomerate adopted what in 1965 was a unique strategy to develop a portfolio of stable and recurring cash flow generating integrated resorts. This strategy was to establish flagship IRs in regulated markets such as Malaysia (where Genting is a monopoly) and Singapore (where the company operates in a duopolistic market) before diversifying into competitive markets like the U.S. and U.K. This strategy has enabled Genting Berhad to achieve a net cash position despite operating in a cyclical and capital intensive industry. Using Genting Berhad as an example, this case study delineates the concepts of credit ratings in general, credit ratings of corporates in particular, and industry specific credit rating methodology. The case study prompts users to adopt a systematic approach to fundamental and counterparty analysis by assessing the impact of the macro economy, industry environment, and company specific attributes in evaluating a company's debt servicing ability.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was the most successful team of Indian Premier League (IPL) till it was banned for two seasons (2016-2017) in 2015. The match-fixing and betting controversy and the resulting lawsuit in the Supreme Court eroded the brand value of CSK from US$72 million in 2014 to $67 million in 2015. Since the ban, key CSK players had moved to other IPL teams, with CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni becoming the captain of Rising Pune Supergiants, and key CSK players Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja joining Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants. Since the ban, newer sports leagues have also emerged and gained momentum because of the Indian viewers' new and insatiable appetite for all sports ranging from traditional kabaddi, wrestling, hockey and football to the newer badminton, tennis, boxing, futsal and mixed martial arts. With sports viewership spreading farther and wider than cricket, IPL is in for tough competition to gain and retain eyeballs. Under these circumstances, the return of CSK in 2018 is a challenge in itself. What strategies should CSK management adopt to rebuild the brand? Should it hire more star players to jump start rebuilding the brand? What factors could jeopardize the successful relaunch of CSK? What activities should the team engage in to increase fan involvement? Learning objective: 1. To understand issues in the relaunch of a sports franchise, and the associated challenges; 2. To understand potential strategies for rebuilding a brand in the sports industry; 3. To apply marketing tools and thinking to the sports industry; 4. Understanding brand equity concepts, such as Keller's Customer-Based Brand Equity model; 5. To understand sports consumption and sports fan engagement.

This courseware was created to allow students to model E-Leather's enterprise value (EV) in early 2014. Yellow cells in the Enterprise Value (EV) worksheets indicate where students provide inputs. The other worksheets provide information to help students make decisions about their inputs.

In February 2016, Kathy Hannun--a project leader at X, Alphabet Inc.'s so-called "moonshot factory--had to prepare a recommendation for the senior leadership of X regarding the future of Foghorn, a project she was leading to develop a carbon-neutral process for converting sea water into fuel. Recognizing the blueprint for projects at X--(1) addressing a huge problem with a (2) radical solution using (3) breakthrough technology--Hannun had to decide whether to recommend killing the project. Despite the technical feasibility of the Foghorn process, its expected cost per gallon of fuel produced was signficiantly higher than the established "kill metric"--the maximum unit cost that Hannun and colleagues had set for continuing the project. The case provides an opportunity to examine the management of radical innovation and the challenges associated with assessing early stage ideas. Topics covered include the importance of experimentation and failure as well as the management of opportunity costs in solving large problems.