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Many social media platforms exist today, but the thing all of them have in common is that they are used by real people. Algorithms and analytics are typically what marketers focus on when utilizing social media; however, they should instead be striving to meaningfully connect the company to the people who will help them grow. Taking a people-first approach, this book discusses how to better use social media for marketing purposes and communicate with others using social media platforms. Reaching a certain audience is not the only goal; listening to them is also vital for marketers to take full advantage of social media. This approach will never change even though the various social networks always are. By making sure that people are the focus of all social media strategies, marketers can offer more value to companies and the people they serve. Chapter 9 offers a brief summary on measuring improvement. Social media practitioners tend to focus on data-driven analysis-brand impressions, reach, and frequency. However, they should also be informing the company about people. Each social media channel a company utilizes should be reviewed monthly to see how well it did in getting the company closer to people. Social media impact on people is the most important thing to measure and understand. Understanding how many people a company has reached and how many actual interactions they've shared will tell the company a lot about what social media means for them.

Many of the West's political problems in the Middle East and in Iran in particular can be traced to the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh by military forces supported by the American CIA and the British MI6 in August 1953. Mossadegh, at the head of a newly-elected nationalist government, had nationalized the Iranian oil industry that had been controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), now known as BP. Since 1908, the AIOC had been producing enormous revenue for London, and control of Iranian oil was essential to the British Empire. In order to gain Washington's assent to the coup, the Americans had to be convinced that Mossadegh represented a geopolitical threat, not merely an economic one. Ever since, the overthrow of Mossadegh has been seen as evidence of the extent of the supposed neo-imperialist motivations of the West in the post-colonial world.

In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, cofounder and CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company's future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019, it expanded further by entering the detergents market. By 2020, the company employed over 4,500 people and had a presence in 20 African countries. The Lilas brand had become a household name in Tunisia, outperforming brands owned by global players like Procter and Gamble. In detergents, SAH was steadily gaining ground over multinational consumer goods companies like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, and Henkel. As Mezni looked ahead, she had to carefully evaluate three growth opportunities: introducing a range of kitchen cleaners, vertically integrating operations in the detergents business, and opening a subsidiary in Kenya. Which of these, if any, would be the right way forward for the SAH Group at this juncture?

A former software developer founded INK PPT in 2015 in Gurgaon, Haryana, India, after realizing that he enjoyed designing presentations. However, the market for developing corporate presentations was still in its nascent stage in India, and there was strong reluctance among organizations to outsource this work. The founder faced various hurdles growing his company, including the initial challenge of attracting customers. The situation became more challenging after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. During the resulting lockdowns, INK PPT's regular clients cut costs by reducing their presentation projects. As the pandemic continued, attracting new clients seemed almost impossible. The founder was told, both by friends and by a successful entrepreneur, that INK PPT was too far ahead of its time. The founder had to decide if he should continue to grow INK PPT, the start-up that he had devoted all his efforts in developing, or if it was time to move on to a new venture.

When it was founded in Hefei, China, in 2001, Jiujiu Xiyanghong Group (JX) started as a single private nursing home with fifty beds. Over its eighteen-year history, JX had maintained rapid growth; as of 2019 the company had 1,531 elderly people living in its facilities, and Xie Qiong estimated that elders residing at JX represented 36 per cent of all 4,205 people living in Hefei eldercare institutions. However, the Hefei eldercare market was witnessing rapid expansion from the entry of Chinese and foreign companies, state-owned enterprises, and investment funds. The founder wondered how JX should manage this situation.

In 2021, SunSource Energy was evaluating its growth strategy options. An entrepreneurial venture in the renewable energy sector, it was about to receive a second round of large funding. SunSource Energy had to decide whether it should exploit its expertise in India and other known locales, or whether it should explore new possibilities. It needed to apply organizational ambidexterity and a fresh approach to design thinking, especially during uncertain times in a global context. What strategy should the company use to leverage its new funding for growing the business?

In June 2021, as Toronto-based Flashfood Inc. (Flashfood) continued to grow dramatically, its founder and chief executive officer was facing critical questions about how to manage both the firm's mission and its business model. Flashfood partnered with grocery chains to sell near-expiry food to consumers via an app, and it had an expanding network of locations in Canada and the United States. The firm had a clear sustainability-driven objective: to reduce food waste and feed people more affordably. But how should the firm focus its ongoing investment and scarce resources-both strategically, in terms of market development and service offerings, and tactically, in terms of product pricing and app improvement? Could the firm achieve sustained success while avoiding any potential tendency to drift from that mission?

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case W28461

Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns, the management team at digital-first, Indian cosmetics brand SUGAR is deliberating over ways to respond to the new development in its influencer strategy. SUGAR grew into an INR 100-crore brand digitally by delivering content that was relevant to its young, urban customers in India through its Instagram page. Micro- and nano-influencers played a significant role in building its follower base of 1 million people. SUGAR was hungry for more. With the aim of becoming an INR 1,000-crore brand, the cosmetics firm began to expand its physical presence and grow in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. As the team planned this expansion, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and the associated lockdown, a measure to slow down the spread of the disease, relegated everyone indoors. Unexpectedly, SUGAR's beauty advisers transformed into employee influencers, attracting customers from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in India, while bringing in revenue through digital sales even when physical stores were shut. The company recognised using employee influencers as an opportunity to get new customers. However, the management team pondered over several questions. Did SUGAR have the resources to develop its employees as influencers? How would retailers respond if their sales employees focussed on online sales while manning physical counters? Would development of employee influencers dilute their existing influencer plan? The company had to also decide whether it would grow by focussing on traditional media and channels or by expanding its digital influencer plan.

Case Supplement for Case A00401

Sweden's model of capitalism rests on a unique social contract, in which social welfare priorities can co-exist within a vibrant capitalist system. In 2022, however, contemporary pressures were growing on the traditional Swedish model, including mounting calls for privatization of the welfare system and political backlash surrounding the country's immigration policy. This case examines the long-term sustainability of the Swedish model, and the extent to which it is (or is not) transferrable to other political contexts and nation states.

Spreadsheet to 222005.

Increasing digitalization of grocery retail and quick commerce reveals insights about managing complex supply chains at scale and shifting revenue streams from product sales to data monetization. How are the roles of retailers changing? What happens if marginal cost goes to zero? How might new models change the grocery value chain? Building on earlier future of commerce themes, this note illustrates the challenges and opportunities of next generation retail trends in the grocery sector, including automated order management, logistics optimization, automated fulfillment centers, and the outlook for the future.

The success of Antiga Confeitaria de Belém had been built around the uniqueness of its signature product. Many comparable custard cakes, known as pastéis de nata, were available, but the bakery had established its Pastel de Belém as a distinct product with the power to attract tourists from all over the world. The Pastel de Belém stood out because its recipe had been a well-kept secret for decades. The 2020 COVID-19 crisis propelled Antiga Confeitaria de Belém to try new ways of selling its product outside of its single shop location, and this experiment could trigger new business opportunities. Now, the strategic challenge for the bakery's chief executive officer was to assess whether the exclusive nature of the Pastel de Belém allowed for new business development.

In the summer of 2019, notable track and field athlete Gwen Berry was representing Team USA at the Pan American Games in Peru when, having won the hammer throw-her specialty-she stood anxiously on the podium for the medal ceremony as the United States national anthem began to play. As she thought about both her own challenging upbringing and the social and racial injustice in the United States, exemplified by a recent encounter she'd had with a suffering homeless person, Berry wanted to make a gesture of protest. To do so, however, was against the International Olympic Committee's (IOC's) Rule 50, which prohibited protest in many sports venues, and would no doubt result in Berry's being disciplined at best, and perhaps even prohibited from further competition at worst. She was torn between making a statement there on the podium and the possible consequences and harm to her athletic career that might ensue if she did. This case pairs well with a technical note about the IOC's Rule 50, ""The United States Olympic Committee and Rule 50 in the 21st Century"" (UVA-E-0478).

This case is a follow-up to ""Gwen Berry and the Politics of Protest (A)"" (UVA-E-0479). Gwen Berry did protest at the Pan American Games in the summer of 2019 by raising her fist in the air when the US national anthem was playing. Pushback by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the public was swift and fierce. Berry, along with US fencing team member Race Imboden, who also protested, was put on problem for a year and immediately lost the sponsors who had supported her. With few exceptions, her fellow athletes voiced no support. However, after the death of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent protests and sustained examination of social and racial-justice issues, things seemed to be turning a positive corner. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee apologized to Berry and seemed to be making the protest rules more lenient. Yet Berry knew that the underlying problems still existed and that the IOC maintained its grip on how protests could occur and on the athletes' lives and livelihoods. Berry thought about how she should move forward, both to propel her track and field career and to help other athletes stand up for themselves with the USOPC and make their voices heard-and, hopefully, to change the mindset and thinking of the IOC leadership.

This case is based on the real-life experiences of Matt Miner, who completed his MBA at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 2009. After completing his degree, Miner realized that he and his growing family needed to prepare better financially for life post-MBA. This realization prompted him to pursue a program of household savings that would allow his family to be debt-free within five years. The case provides a short narrative along with exhibits containing quantitative information and assumptions. Students can work with the information and assumptions to address whether the Miner family could be debt-free within five years, even in the face of significant debt accumulated in the pursuit of Miner's MBA degree. Miner and his wife are contemplating significant household budgetary changes at the end of the third calendar quarter of 2010. The case is motivated by management accounting student anecdotes over many years, where the students claim to learn critical financial concepts in the course, yet they do not fully apply their learning to their personal lives. It also introduces a brief connection of management accounting to behavioral economics, specifically the literature on behavioral nudging via meaningful metrics that capture obscure information.

This case is used to demonstrate the implementation of the residual income (RI) model using mid-cap SGX-listed firm Sheng Siong. Students are provided with basic financial statements and forecast assumptions. They are to use the data to construct the condensed financial statements and to derive the equity valuation as at the beginning of 2022 using the RI model and discounted cash flow (DCF) model. The case is useful for students to learn the mechanics of the RI and DCF model. The case can be done either as an in-class workshop/exercise or as an out-of-class assignment.

Spreadsheet supplement for case NTU331

This case describes Shentong Metro Group's ("Shentong Metro Group" or "the Group") strategic transformation ("Three Transformations"), focusing on its transit-oriented development (TOD) between 2009 and 2020. As the world's most extensive urban metro system ("Metro"), its strategic transformation grew from the strategic intent to contribute to Shanghai's vision of improving residents' quality of life while ensuring the Group's sustainable development. The Group successfully planned and implemented its TOD initiative, completing three projects between 2012 and 2019. However, as a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE), the Group faced multiple challenges. First, conceptualizing and implementing the TOD initiative was not easy as Shentong Metro Group has to meet various social, financial, and operational goals. These goals were often vaguely defined (e.g., more environment friendly), while others were incompatible or even contradictory (e.g., increase employment while reducing costs). Second, the Group's core capabilities were in engineering, construction, and operational management of the Metro system. It lacked real estate development and management capabilities that were fundamental to the initiative. Third, the institutional environment and policies relating to TOD in Shanghai were underdeveloped and continually evolving. While the past TOD projects had, to some extent, overcome these challenges, the Group still faces many more ahead of future TOD projects. Some important questions include: What lessons could be gleaned from previous TOD projects? How should the Group fine-tune future TOD initiatives to realize the "Three Transformations?" How could it seize new opportunities based on Shanghai's urban development master plan?