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In 2016, Stephen M. Liberatore, CFA, lead portfolio manager for and head of Nuveen's impact fixed income strategies, received a phone call from the World Bank. The call was not unusual; in fact, Nuveen had collaborated with the World Bank in the past as lead investor on a new type of Green Bond for the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). While Green Bonds had been in existence for nearly a decade, the IFC Forest Bond was the first government-related credit focused on channeling private funds toward forest protections. The call that day, however, centered around an entirely new concept-a Blue Bond. Like most fixed income products, Blue Bonds were a debt instrument providing capital to issuers who repaid the debt with interest over time; however, the use of proceeds was earmarked for marine projects and ocean conservation. While the Nuveen team was familiar with and open to the more esoteric transactions presented by the World Bank, they had a series of challenging tasks ahead of them. First and somewhat simultaneously, they had to assess the security on a total return basis incorporating, among other assessments, fundamental credit analysis, an evaluation of terms, liquidity analysis, and relative value analysis, while ensuring that the investment adhered to their impact framework. This included not only direct support of measurable social and environmental impact but an emphasis on competitive, risk-adjusted return potential. This was particularly challenging given that the issuance was the first of its kind and comparable securities did not exist. Additionally, measures of impact remained immature as this was an inaugural transaction, so determining impact targets was not feasible. The team also had to determine the size of their commitment. While they could have funded the entire deal, they wondered if it made more sense to incorporate other impact investors. Finally, the team had to ensure that that the investment and

Set in September 2021, the case traces the digital transformation of FoodXervices Inc, a Singapore SME operating in the food distribution industry. The case essays the challenges faced by Nichol as a leader helming the digital transformation and how the transformation helped the company redefine its value proposition to the stakeholders. To customers, it pivoted from being a distributor to a solution provider; to the labour market, it had become a foodtech company attracting savvy university graduates as employees; to the F&B community, it had become an incubator fostering innovations. However, Nichol wanted more value to justify the company's investment in digital technology and futuristic application. In addition, she wanted the technology to improve the business metrics by improving sales and margins.

Machine-learning (ML) models have become a common tool used across a multitude of industries to help people make decisions. As these models have increased in predictive power, many have also grown in complexity. The pursuit to improve the accuracy of predictions has diminished the interpretability of many models-leaving users with little understanding of the model's behavior or trust in its predictions. The field of eXplainable artificial intelligence (XAI) seeks to encourage the development of interpretable models. Google Cloud Platform offers two Explainable AI functions in BigQuery ML that allow users to examine the attribution of model features, which aids in model behavior verification and bias recognition. One of the functions available in BigQuery provides a global perspective on the features used to train the model, while the second function examines local feature attribution associated with individual predictions in more detail. This note offers an overview of Explainable AI in BigQuery ML, using as an example a (fictional) realtor's linear regression model that predicted a home's latest sale price based on predictor variables such as the total tax assessment from the year of the last sale, the square footage of the house, the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, and whether the condition of the home is below average. After training the linear model, the feature attribution can be studied from a global and local perspective in BigQuery.

This case focuses on Ferrero SpA's sustainable palm oil sourcing strategy in light of its acquisition of Nestlé's U.S. confectionery brands, which in many ways does not comply with Ferrero's sustainable sourcing commitments. The case reviews Ferrero's rich family history, provides an overview of the confectionery industry, explains the environmental and social problems associated with palm oil production, discusses the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification and whether it is truly sustainable, provides a competitor analysis of palm oil sourcing strategies, and reviews Ferrero's sourcing strategy. Adding complexity to the case, while the RSPO is a common standard among competitors for sustainable palm oil sourcing, there is discussion over whether it is truly sustainable, and if palm oil use in general can ever be sustainable. Overall, this case grapples with how the Ferrero Group should deal with their sourcing strategy in the midst of this dilemma between their acquired and native brands.

In June 2018, the government of Canada passed the Cannabis Act, paving the way for the legalization of recreational cannabis cultivation, acquisition, possession, and consumption on October 17 of that same year. This move set off a flurry of activity as existing companies, investment firms, and entrepreneurs sought to establish an initial position within the burgeoning industry. Mīhī Cannabis and its chief executive officer needed to navigate the complex patchwork of government regulations and other market factors to establish a launch strategy for the company that would differentiate it from the anticipated competition and support the normalization of the industry in the eyes of the communities in which it operated.

The leadership of Union Pacific Corporation (UPC), the largest public railroad transportation company in the United States, needed to decide whether the company should reestablish its share-buyback program. The freight recession of 2019 and the decline in shipping volumes caused by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had not been gentle on the freight industry overall, and UPC had been no exception. The company had been able to maintain its dividend policy, but suspended its share-repurchase program during the second half of 2020. By the end of 2020, UPC's management saw signs of V-shaped economic recovery. Was it time for UPC to reinstate the company's share-repurchase program? Dividends and share repurchases were important avenues through which UPC returned value to its shareholders. UPC's growth opportunities had become limited over the previous 50 years, and management had focused on efficiency, cost cutting, and generating cash flows that the company channeled back to shareholders. This case has been successfully taught at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in the Enterprise Valuation module of the course ""Financial Management and Policies,"" which is an integral part of Darden's core curriculum for MBA students. The case integrates a variety of subjects including forecasting, financing, and investment analysis. Students are asked to calculate the implied enterprise value and share price of a corporation by building a DCF model.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case UV8717

Orsières (Valais, Switzerland) April 2020. Opaline, an original juice production company with high social and environmental standards had begun in 2010. It took founder Sofia de Meyer over 10 years to build a responsible and impactful company aligned with her own aspirations, not just a lifestyle venture but one that would capitalize on her deeply rooted values, shared with many in the valley. Opaline was her experiment to prove to the world that a different type of capitalism was possible, one that put human and environmental aspects where they belonged - at the epicenter of a business revolution. De Meyer had regularly been asked in interviews why Opaline was not trying to grow faster, rather than ensuring that its existing suppliers and distributors developed alongside the company. She always replied by drawing an analogy with a growing forest, in which no tree stood much higher than the others or else it would fall, alone, with the next storm. The analogy proved robust but now a more violent storm - a global pandemic - was brewing that was hurting everyone at once. What would it mean for all the projects the team had set out for 2020? And more fundamentally, could Opaline weather this storm as it had already done several times thanks to its strong ecosystem of partners? Would it pay the price for not having extended its roots deep enough when it could?

Orsières (Valais, Switzerland) April 2020. Opaline, an original juice production company with high social and environmental standards had begun in 2010. It took founder Sofia de Meyer over 10 years to build a responsible and impactful company aligned with her own aspirations, not just a lifestyle venture but one that would capitalize on her deeply rooted values, shared with many in the valley. Opaline was her experiment to prove to the world that a different type of capitalism was possible, one that put human and environmental aspects where they belonged - at the epicenter of a business revolution. De Meyer had regularly been asked in interviews why Opaline was not trying to grow faster, rather than ensuring that its existing suppliers and distributors developed alongside the company. She always replied by drawing an analogy with a growing forest, in which no tree stood much higher than the others or else it would fall, alone, with the next storm. The analogy proved robust but now a more violent storm - a global pandemic - was brewing that was hurting everyone at once. What would it mean for all the projects the team had set out for 2020? And more fundamentally, could Opaline weather this storm as it had already done several times thanks to its strong ecosystem of partners? Would it pay the price for not having extended its roots deep enough when it could?

Lionheart Agrotech Limited, the holding company of Lionheart Farms is developing a large-scale sustainable hybrid coconut plantation with integrated processing and manufacturing capacities in the Philippines. The case describes the idea of the founders, their journey, the challenges they met and how they solved them. The case explores the key challenges and principal constraints that the company faced - and continues to face - during the development and execution of its sustainable agricultural project.

Lionheart Agrotech Limited, the holding company of Lionheart Farms is developing a large-scale sustainable hybrid coconut plantation with integrated processing and manufacturing capacities in the Philippines. The case describes the idea of the founders, their journey, the challenges they met and how they solved them. The case explores the key challenges and principal constraints that the company faced - and continues to face - during the development and execution of its sustainable agricultural project.

Schneider Electric is a multinational company providing energy management and automation. The case briefly outlines the company's history and describes the progressive integration of sustainability efforts into its overall strategy. This 20-year journey culminates in 2021 when Corporate Knights ranked Schneider Electric No. 1 worldwide for its sustainability performance. The protagonist, Gilles Vermot Desroches, who spearheaded the effort, looks back at how this remarkable achievement came about and how he is now confronted with the difficult task of imagining the company's next steps.

In June 2021, Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, surprised the world with the announcement that the country would adopt bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first nation to do so. Bitcoin was mostly used for trading and had one of the most volatile track records among assets. Yet, crypto adoption as a medium of exchange was starting to gain pace worldwide. Bukele claimed it would be a boon for financial inclusion, investment, innovation, and economic development. El Salvador's $27 billion economy suffered from persistently low growth, high public debt, and a strong dependence on remittances, which could potentially become cheaper and faster to access in bitcoins. The Bitcoin plan was met with both enthusiasm from Bitcoin supporters and skepticism from credit agencies and multilateral finance institutions, which believed it could bring macroeconomic instability to the local economy. Was bitcoin a viable currency for Salvadorans? Or, as some observers pointed out, was Bukele's plan another sign of weakened governance in his administration?

This case reviews IBM's efforts to widen its hiring funnel and broaden its talent pool.

In the fall of 2013, the people of Ukraine disagreed passionately whether their country should intensify ties with the European Union or Russia. After President Yanukovych rejected the free trade agreement with the EU in November, thousands of Ukrainians peacefully protested. But the protest movement morphed into a violent, deadly confrontation in January, culminating in February in mass slaughter, an overthrow of government, foreign invasion, and international crisis. The four months that shook Ukraine is a case study on the interrelated problems of geopolitical struggle, politics of economic pacts and clash of regional economic blocks, post-imperial disintegration and trade, and identity and interdependence.

Karl Naim, Co-Founder and CEO of Purpl, embarked on a venture to lower remittance costs for his native Lebanon. Since October 2019, the Lebanese economy had entered a free fall as its banking sector collapsed and large swathes of its population were plunged into poverty. As a repeat technology entrepreneur, Naim alongside his two co-founders decided to launch a new remittance aggregator to improve access to low-cost remittances, which acted as a lifeline for most local families. By becoming a fiat-to-fiat aggregator and eventually leveraging stablecoin technology, he expected that in the first phase he could cut remittance fees in half from 9-12% to 5-6% -- and eventually up to 1%. With the Lebanese population's trust in financial and banking institutions shattered, could Purpl succeed in its mission? How could it convince its potential users, the broader Lebanese public and the 20 million-strong Lebanese diaspora around the world, to adopt a different way of sending and transacting with digital cash? For primary remittance users, who only needed to reliably receive a monthly $100-$200 for basic goods and other necessities, could Purpl convince them both to change their habits and to trust the financial system that had put them in this situation in the first place? Moreover, given Purpl's ultimate goal to upend the current establishment, would its "playing nice" with current established institutions haunt the firm's "anti-establishment" credibility from ever materializing?

In early 2020, Singapore Airlines Limited (Singapore Airlines) faced severe liquidity issues as the global pandemic halted its flights and uncertainty loomed. Erstwhile massive cash reserves were quickly running out, and the airline's executives pondered how to save the company from insolvency. Singapore Airlines' majority shareholder, Temasek Holdings Limited, agreed to subscribe to a massive capital-raising exercise of up to S$15 billion via a proposed rights offer and mandatory convertible bonds (MCBs). Although minority shareholders were not convinced that the rights issue would be a good investment in such uncertain times, they had to decide whether to vote for it and whether to subscribe to the rights issue and MCBs.