In July 2017, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations in Tofino, British Columbia, Canada, grappled with mounting conservation costs, inconsistent and unreliable funding, and the erosion of their cultural identity within their Tribal Parks. Some of the community's past knowledge had also been lost due to ongoing colonial impacts, and the sacred protocol for visitors to the land was often disregarded. The community also had to contend with the significant expenses required to sustain the lands, aggravated by inconsistent support from tourism operators and the government. Julian Hocki
On May 5, 2020, Karen Ball assumed the role of president and chief executive officer for the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (CCVO), based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, following her predecessor's departure. With board approval of the 2021-2024 strategic plan, Ball and her team were preparing for a board meeting on January 10, 2021, to present their options to diversify revenue streams and leverage social enterprise opportunities. Since the strategic plan's approval, however, considerable change had occurred. Alberta's economy was in a significant downturn, while the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was making a devastating impact on the province, including the nonprofit sector. As Ball finalized her analysis, she had to determine and present to the board the option or combination of options that would best address CCVO's new strategic direction.
In 2020, the Indian film industry witnessed a significant rift between producers and exhibitors (cinema owners and multiplex chains) when the producers of the highly anticipated film Gulabo Sitabo opted for a direct digital premiere of the film on Amazon Prime Video, thereby bypassing a theatrical release. The decision angered exhibitors, who viewed over-the-top (OTT) platforms as threats to traditional cinema distribution. Concerns arose that other studios would soon follow suit, jeopardizing their businesses. Although the producers cited COVID-19-related challenges and the increased popularity of streaming services as reasons for their decision, exhibitors accused them of being selfish. Exhibitors emphasized their investments in world-class screens and urged co-operation, threatening retaliatory measures. The rising tension brought up a number of questions: How much of a threat were OTT platforms to traditional film distribution? How could disagreements between producers and traditional distributors be resolved? Might OTT platforms and traditional distribution methods coexist, and if so, how?
In June 2022, two MBA students from a post-secondary institution in India were asked by their professor to build a valuation model for HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited to assess the company's stock price for investors. The students understood the importance of the task and tracked the company's historic stock price. They found that its share price dropped considerably in 2021, as the company's profits decreased due to a high number of claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, however, the company witnessed a rise in profits mainly due to a high number of premiums, as fears from COVID-19 infections led more people to buy insurance coverage. Given that the company's profits and performance had been fluctuating, the students wanted to know whether the stock was undervalued, overvalued, or fairly priced. Their task was to determine the ideal stock price and whether to recommend the stock to investors.
In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership faced a developing crisis in the United States after conservative backlash to a Bud Light promotional campaign in partnership with a transgender influencer led to a boycott of the brand. The promotional campaign aimed to appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience but ultimately resulted in Bud Light losing significant sales and market share. This put the brand at risk of losing its competitive advantage, brand value, and long-standing position as the leading beer brand in the United States. This case is the first in a continuing A-B case set.
In response to the boycott of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership attempted to placate dissatisfied consumers by reaffirming their support for conservative values and distancing the company from both the executive in charge of the promotional campaign and the transgender influencer it had partnered with. This course of action, however, not only failed to repair the company's relationship with conservative consumers but also drew further criticism from liberal consumers who felt that the company's response contradicted its core values of equity and inclusivity. This is the continuing B-case for product W36313.
Creditas Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Creditas), a debt-collection and recovery start-up, had revolutionized the loan recovery process in India by combining data and technology to educate and empower its consumers. Ethera, its software-as-a-service platform, was a great success, and the company was on track to make $7.39 million in the financial year 2021-22. In order to increase its customer base and profits, the company was now faced with two challenges. First, it needed to determine how to convince its clients to accept a new fee structure. To establish additional and consistent revenue streams, the company was attempting to implement a licensing-based monetization model rather than its current recovery amount-linked model. Second, it needed to determine how it should plan for business expansion. The company had received queries from banks in west and southeast Asia, creating expansion potential abroad, and it was also contemplating entering other banking operations, such as lending and insurance. The chief executive officer wondered which of these growth strategies made the most sense for the business at this moment. Should the company increase its services in the areas of lending and insurance or expand to a global market?
In July 2022, the joint general manager of personnel and administration at the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO)'s Paradeep unit received a call from the Delhi corporate office informing him of a complaint filed by the wife of a deceased employee against a current employee of the unit. The complaint alleged that the employee had defrauded the widow of approximately US$40,000-the sum total of her husband's terminal death benefit. As the joint general manager worked to investigate the matter and prepare a report for senior management, he found himself struggling with the managerial need to safeguard the organization's image. As a human resources manager, he contemplated several questions: How could an ethical culture be established and sustained in IFFCO? What strategic human resources measures should be adopted to avoid such situations in future? How could communication be used as enabler in this critical situation? Despite his mixed emotions and the limited time available to present his findings, he knew that he needed to ensure a fair and thorough investigation to resolve the issue.
In June 2020, Steven Zwane, founder and chairperson of the Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development (YLED) program, based in Johannesberg, South Africa, faced managing the uncertainty of COVID-19's impact on the program's long-term sustainability. YLED, a non-profit social enterprise aimed at empowering underprivileged youth, relied on donors and sponsorships to deliver its face-to-face entrepreneurship and leadership training program to grade eleven learners from township schools around Gauteng Province, South Africa. YLED's funding sources were affected by their sponsors' and donors' economic constraints during the pandemic, leaving uncertainty about the program's future. Should Zwane suspend YLED's operations until the end of the pandemic or find an alternative means of delivery? If he suspended operations, what would happen to the young people, whose hopes and dreams could be crushed? If Zwane continued and found other means of delivery, how would he be able to do so without support from donors and sponsors?
On April 24, 2019, the founder and owner of Lifely Wellness Ltd. in the village of La Jolla, near San Diego, California, received a call from a customer who wanted to purchase some Jordan's Oil, Lifely Wellness Ltd.'s best-selling product. Jordan's Oil was an activated hemp-based cannabidiol tincture named after the founder's son. However, the shop could not supply the product immediately to the customer because the delivery from its supplier was late-again. The founder had been investigating possible alternative sources of supply and wondered whether this was the right time to act. After sourcing two new suppliers, she faced a pressing business operations dilemma. Should she continue working with her current supplier, which controlled a significant part of the supply chain? Or should she develop a new relationship with one or two smaller suppliers? The founder knew that this decision could determine the future and survival of her operation; therefore, she needed to take an in-depth look at her business options, from a strategic perspective.
From "shots fired," this case traces the evolution of responses, treatments, and notifications following a homicide at a college campus, an event that always lures attention across diverse stakeholders within and around the campus, and far beyond. At the core are the challenges of getting a crisis under control, managing stakeholder expectations, and retaining control of information. There will never be a universally applicable playbook for managing crises. Responses must always evolve relative to the particular crisis, its contexts, and its impacts. This case is a rich tool for thinking about contingencies, best practices, and shortcomings from an authentic context. Here, sharp focus is put on crisis leadership specifics of immediate treatment and notification during the first days of the crisis. Approaches are told and exemplified through the words and actions of two leaders, the Chancellor and the University Police Chief.
Biryani by Kilo (BBK) is a Gurugram (Near New Delhi, India) based Quick Service Restaurant founded by Koushik Roy and Vishal Jindal in 2015. The company specializes in serving authentic Indian dishes. They offer both dine in and delivery options and have multiple locations in India. They are known for using high quality ingredients and traditional cooking methods to create delicious biryani dishes. They brought many innovations to their offering. Now they wanted to create a McDonald's for Indian food but were in a dilemma about how to proceed. How could they eventually build a national brand and then expand it globally?
In February 2022, an emergency registered nurse who worked a night shift in a Toronto, Ontario hospital was appalled at the overwhelming number of patients arriving at the emergency department with mental health issues. In recent times, the increase in the number of mental health patients arriving in the emergency department, especially with the novel COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the rise in mental health disorders, made the registered nurse aware of the need for effective strategies to address this issue. The growing interest and changing attitudes about psychedelic-assisted therapy was a potential treatment for mental health, which has the potential to disrupt the health care industry. From the beginnings of psychedelics use and research, starting with the creation of lysergic acid diethylamide (commonly known as LSD) in 1938 and the experimentation with psychedelics during the Cold War, questions were raised about the use of psychedelics in therapy and the need for further research to fully understand their potential as a treatment option. Based on the growing interest and changing attitudes about psychedelics in psychotherapy, the potential benefits and challenges of this field raised important ethical considerations that needed to be discussed and examined.
The Royal Belgian Football Association was a non-profit organization based in Brussels, Belgium that had a goal to organize, develop, and promote all forms of football in the country. To achieve this goal, it regularly interacted with many stakeholders including fans, commercial partners, association members, referees, and brand stewards. In 2021, the association was eager to digitalize these interactions through the use of its mobile app and added many features to the app over the next two years to support a fluid road map. However, during those two years, the performance of marquee teams was disappointing. More than ever, it seemed important to engender continuous digital engagement with stakeholders as a basis for further commercial growth. In March 2023, the director of marketing and communication and the director of digital, innovation, and technology were reviewing and assessing the association’s digital strategy, especially during the previous two years, and strategizing about the future. Their assessment revealed several important questions about how to prioritize digital initiatives in the future.
Campusutra was a leading information and partially transactional portal operating in India that helped aspiring higher education students select appropriate educational institutions. It was founded in 2011 and initially focused on supporting a student's choice of management education. It added support for engineering schools. It was known for offering distilled and unbiased objective information about offerings, fee structure, peer-level engagement, and placement opportunities, and potential students remained loyal to the portal. Later, a friend advised the founder to make a strategic alliance with an EdTech company to monetize the intangible value it had created. The founder's dilemma was whether to pursue such an opportunity and risk diluting its mission.
The phenomenon of speaking on behalf of another individual or entity in an organizational setting is known as managerial ventriloquism. When managers engage in this behavior to excess, it can undermine their credibility and authority with their colleagues. The authors of this article conducted an ethnographic study on managerial ventriloquism and use the results to explain how this behavior works and suggest strategies to employ it more effectively.