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This case highlights the multifaceted challenges of sustainability and survivability face by Singapore. Being a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), much of Singapore development is concentrated in a very small area. High population density that is expected to increase puts Singapore in a vulnerable position for sea-level rise. Adding to the woe of small land size, most of the Singapore's land lies only 15 metres above Singapore's Height Datum. To address this complex issue, Singapore must create a new path that balances the triple bottom line (TBL). Tensions between the three bottom lines in managing this sustainable development for Singapore are real. The question is how to manage the scenario of rising sea levels with so many different permutations and considerations. Which reality do you foresee for this little red dot by 2065? How to manage the triple bottom line? How will you evaluate the impacts of measures adopted? What are the measures that Singapore need to carry out to fight against the rising sea level?

In 2019, an investment analyst for a hedge fund firm based in the Bahamas was tasked with evaluating his firm's exposure to the automotive industry. The hedge fund firm held various large positions in the automotive segment, most notably in two equities-Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and Ford Motor Company. The analyst decided to focus on these global industry giants as a proxy for the broader automotive segment. His manager expected an assessment of the industry's prospects, so the analyst had to decide if the past stock performance of the two companies was a fair indicator of each company's and the industry's future. He also had to consider why one company would lose almost twice as much value as the other in one specific period. And why did the stock of the more diversified company experience the steeper decline? The analyst was eager to answer these and other questions, both for his own and his manager's interest.

In 2016, BlewMinds Consulting LLP was launched as a storytelling consulting start-up with the vision of touching and transforming five billion lives by 2030. One of the two co-founders was already well-known on the LinkedIn social network platform, with more than 600,000 followers. He was also recognized as one of the 25 Top Voices in India by LinkedIn for 2019. The company transformed 725,000 lives directly and 200 million readers indirectly through social media stories, one-on-one training, group coaching sessions, webinars, and speaking engagements, driven mainly by the co-founder's extensive LinkedIn follower base. However, to realize the company's vision, several questions remained: How could the co-founders create a community of storytellers within the organization who could effectively establish trust through communication and contribute collectively to the company's growth? How could they engage a wider audience by effectively leveraging the co-founder's strategic influencer communication on social media? Should the company continue its bootstrapped business model or should investors be sought?

In 2015, HiteVision Tech Co. Ltd., a leading Chinese enterprise in the research and development and manufacturing of interactive educational flat-panel displays (IFPDs), faced a developmental bottleneck. The general manager of the commercial product department turned his attention from the educational to the commercial IFPD market. In early 2018, during the process of entering the commercial IFPD market, the company encountered a series of channel conflicts, which were resolved by adopting a multibrand strategy. However, after achieving initial success in the commercial IFPD market, the company encountered new channel conflicts. In early 2019, the company was facing a distribution problem and an e-business channel issue. The general manager again needed to find a solution.

In 2020, the movie business was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the closure of theatres. Unable to open their doors, exhibitors had little to no revenue to cover costs, and market analysts predicted that the future for theatre chains, particularly AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC), looked bleak. Then in early 2021, a large number of small retail investors bought shares in AMC. By the July 4th weekend, AMC stock was worth more than 25 times what it had been worth at the beginning of the year. In a post-pandemic environment, could AMC's chief executive officer, Adam Aron, objectively weigh strategic options to decide what should be the appropriate size and scope of the firm going forward, without being overly influenced by shareholders with shorter time horizons?

At 824 million, Pinduoduo had the most customers in global e-commerce as of March 2021. It had also expanded aggressively into grocery shopping with Duo Duo Grocery, riding on the demands that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and set its sights on becoming the world's grocer. Despite its formidable progress, the e-commerce platform remained in the red, recording a loss of more than US$443 million in the first quarter of 2021. Its closest rivals, Alibaba and JD, remained hot on its heels, matching its forays into its stronghold of the lower-tier cities in the country. The year 2021 also marked a year of leadership renewal for Pinduoduo. Colin Zheng Huang, its founding CEO and Chairman, had passed the baton of leadership to Lei Chen, a fellow co-founder. Huang's decision to step aside was to focus on figuring out the future of Pinduoduo. He believed research on food and life sciences would remake agriculture in China. How should investors see these moves and achievements by Pinduoduo? Are farming and smart logistics its 'end game'?

Much like the famous philosophical thought experiment, impact investing raises questions about perception, observation, and reality. What is our sense that an investment results in social, environmental, and financial return? What changes can we observe taking place? What is the state of the situation as it exists (perhaps by measurement)? This case study applies this framework to our analysis of the social, environmental, and financial impact of forestry and timberland investment.

Increasingly in the 2010s, corporations turned to divestitures and spinoffs to streamline their operations. Over the course of one week in November 2021, conglomerates General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and Toshiba announced plans for separation. The news reflected the broader shift toward divestitures as a means to focus on core competencies and achieve growth. By that time, more than three-quarters of companies (78%) believed that they should have divested assets sooner, as opposed to just 41% of companies in 2016. Further, 76% of companies anticipated that the Covid-19 pandemic would increase divestment plan momentum. This case explores the rationales for and against spinoffs, and provides recent examples of companies that followed their spinoffs with consolidations (and vice versa).

In 2016, India passed a new bankruptcy law (IBC) to counter a brewing bank crisis and increased corporate distress. Homebuilder Jaypee Infratech, one of India largest distressed companies (the "dirty dozen") began restructuring under the IBC in 2017. Two years later, the situation remains unresolved, the Supreme Court is involved, there are two interested bidders for the company, and a creditor group that includes Indian banks and local homebuyers. Should York Capital bid to purchase some of Jaypee's secured debt and at what price?

In May 2021, the chief executive officer of Telkom SA SOC Limited (Telkom) in South Africa was facing a dilemma. Fifth generation (5G) technology was about to be introduced to the country's communications industry. While Telkom had fared well during the COVID-19 global pandemic, even managing to gain market share from its much larger competitors, the anticipated release of additional coverage spectrum for the new 5G technology was going to put pressure on Telkom's finances and business model. The chief executive officer, appointed in 2013, had helped transform the company's business model from a struggling state-owned enterprise with a monopoly and unhappy customers to a thriving business in open competition with complementary strategic business units. However, with continuous evolution in the industry, Telkom was forced to innovate again and possibly reposition its strategic business units.

In April 2020, Rudra Industries and Services Private Ltd., a diesel generator product and service provider in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in northern India, was facing a dilemma. Diesel generators (DGs) were heavily used by telecommunication companies to provide uninterrupted power supply to their towers, despite frequent power outages. However, consolidation in India's telecommunication industry had led to stagnation in the company's core business. To maintain a continuous flow of income, the company was considering a business expansion to leasing diesel generators to clients. The company was asked to prepare a bid proposal for leasing 100 DG sets to a local bank with numerous branches across the state. What factors would influence the pricing estimates in the bid? How should the company finance the purchase of generators that will be leased out to the client? How could the pricing estimate be calculated to ensure the project would be profitable? Should the company even consider entering the leasing sector, considering recent reductions in power outages and increasing diesel prices?

The note provides a qualitative and quantitative overview of the North American airline and airport industries with data covering 2016 to 2020. Specifically, the data covers five airlines-American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., United Airlines Holdings Inc., Air Canada, and WestJet Airlines Ltd.-and five airports-New York's LaGuardia, Los Angeles International, Chicago's O'Hare International, Toronto Pearson International, and Tucson International. The objective is to provide students with a basic understanding of the business and operations of the airline and airport industries.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case W26084

Spreadsheet supplement to case UV7170.

Divami Design Labs is a company that specializes in user experience (UX) strategy, UX design, and user interface (UI) development services across web and mobile platforms. The company-based in Hyderabad, India-works with several clients in designing their software products and solutions. The company had recently won a large contract that involved redesigning a software product for a client in the employee life cycle management business. The client, Paysoft, had recently undergone a redesign process using internal resources. While the new product was well received initially, several complaints started to emerge about product rigidity and the lack of customer centricity. In a crucial board meeting, Paysoft decided to bring in an external specialist to help make the product more user-friendly. Divami won the contract after a long competitive process. As the Divami team began implementation, it ran into resistance from Paysoft's internal software development team, which had managed the initial product build. The Divami team had the challenge of justifying the role of design specialists in the product development process. It needed to convince the Paysoft internal team of the value it could add and how the design process does not replace but strengthens the development process. The Divami team also needed to showcase the design process with an illustration.

The case, set in April 2019, follows the managing director of an investment firm that is deliberating whether to invest in Jet Airways. It is the day after the airline halted their operations, and our protagonist, Surjit Trivedi, Managing Director of a Mumbai-based private equity firm, the Agile Group, is headed for a meeting where his team of analysts and strategists are presenting their evaluation of Jet Airways. Trivedi must decide whether to invest in the airline or not as he is due to present the proposal to the board of the private equity firm he works for. He does not want to make a wrong investment and jeopardize the firm's future and his forthcoming promotion. The case follows the rise and fall of Jet Airways. Civil aviation in India has changed tremendously over the past 20 years, both from the consumer and service provider standpoints. This change was due to factors such as globalization, the higher disposable income of Indians, government initiatives, travel enthusiasm among millennials, and so on. With India expected to become third-biggest aviation market by the year 2025, the number of players in the market increased, with both indigenous and global competitors in the fray. Despite positive industry indicators, two major airlines were forced to halt operations in the last decade, Jet Airways being one of them. The case can be used to scrutinize the reasons for Jet Airways' downfall such as their acquisitions and alliances, the decisions of their founder Naresh Goyal, and Jet Airways' response to the challenge posed by low-cost carriers (LCCs) in India. Moreover, the case can be utilized to analyze how the consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) handled the Jet Airways crisis.

In order to build diverse and inclusive business ecosystems, leaders and organizations must be authentic and move beyond performative allyship. The authors argue that by taking a cue from successful Black business communities of the past and robustly engaging in cooperation, companies can play a role in building the communities needed to facilitate social sustainability in underserved communities today.

Digital globalization is transforming innovation in multinationals, but opposing localization forces, such as trade restrictions and nationalism, are limiting the portability of digital assets and raising innovation uncertainty and risk. This creates a challenging context for multinationals. To meet the challenge, they can use four approaches to better calibrate the connectivity of their innovation sources and assets.

This case depicts Singapore's TraceTogether (TT) story, beginning in early 2020 when COVID-19 was spreading globally with ravaging effects. TT was the world's first national application of a digital contact-tracing tool. Remarkably, the initial version of TT was developed and launched in just eight weeks. The increasing adoption of TT (both as a mobile app and as a hardware token) enabled the early identification and isolation of infected cases much faster than manual tracing. Part A of the case covers the related events and decision-making until the launch of the TT app on 20 March 2020. Part B covers the subsequent development efforts, version upgrades, follow-on releases and other issues until November 2021. The ability of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) to respond quickly to this unforeseen crisis was germinated about 7 years prior. Chan Cheow Hoe, Deputy CEO led the transition to a bimodal IT organisation which was internally capable of exploratory and rapid software development, and recently Jason Bay, Senior Director, led the overall effort to create and launch the TT app. As Singapore's COVID-19 situation was changing dynamically, so were the national response policies and the TT app. In August 2021, government officials announced that Singapore would begin the adjustment of living with COVID-19 as an endemic. Yet, as of November 2021, the situation was still highly volatile with the emergence of the Omicron variant. To this end, what would the future hold for TT? Should the health authority sunset TT to assuage concerns of national surveillance? Should they encourage the population to keep using TT as uncertainties remained due to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants? Could a subset of TT's capabilities be repurposed for other national initiatives? What new types of foundational capabilities and supporting infrastructure should GovTech start putting in place now to prepare in advance for the next big unknown?

This case depicts Singapore's TraceTogether (TT) story, beginning in early 2020 when COVID-19 was spreading globally with ravaging effects. TT was the world's first national application of a digital contact-tracing tool. Remarkably, the initial version of TT was developed and launched in just eight weeks. The increasing adoption of TT (both as a mobile app and as a hardware token) enabled the early identification and isolation of infected cases much faster than manual tracing. Part A of the case covers the related events and decision-making until the launch of the TT app on 20 March 2020. Part B covers the subsequent development efforts, version upgrades, follow-on releases and other issues until November 2021. The ability of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) to respond quickly to this unforeseen crisis was germinated about 7 years prior. Chan Cheow Hoe, Deputy CEO led the transition to a bimodal IT organisation which was internally capable of exploratory and rapid software development, and recently Jason Bay, Senior Director, led the overall effort to create and launch the TT app. As Singapore's COVID-19 situation was changing dynamically, so were the national response policies and the TT app. In August 2021, government officials announced that Singapore would begin the adjustment of living with COVID-19 as an endemic. Yet, as of November 2021, the situation was still highly volatile with the emergence of the Omicron variant. To this end, what would the future hold for TT? Should the health authority sunset TT to assuage concerns of national surveillance? Should they encourage the population to keep using TT as uncertainties remained due to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants? Could a subset of TT's capabilities be repurposed for other national initiatives? What new types of foundational capabilities and supporting infrastructure should GovTech start putting in place now to prepare in advance for the next big unknown?