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In early 2021, an investor had a substantial amount invested in three companies in the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Reliance Group: Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., and Reliance Capital Ltd. The market price of Reliance Group shares had fallen steeply during the past five years (2016-2020), eroding the wealth of shareholders; consequently, the investor had lost almost all of his investments in the three group companies. Further, in 2019, Reliance Communications Ltd. had filed for bankruptcy. In 2020, the chair of the Reliance Group mentioned that Reliance Capital Ltd. had stopped its lending business and initiated stake sales. The investor decided to sell his shares in Reliance Communication Ltd. and Reliance Capital Ltd. at a huge loss. However, good dividend payments, and positive signals from the Reliance Group chair regarding betterment in the top line, a promotors' stake increase, and his intention to reduce the companies' debt to zero in 2020 made the investor hold their Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. shares. Nevertheless, to understand the possibility of improved fundamentals, the investor had to analyze the financial statements of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., examining these for potential red flags that could identify significant threats to the future of the company and his investments.

The vice-president at Tencent LeXiang (LeXiang), the enterprise social networking platform of Tencent Holdings Limited (Tencent), had been overseeing the development of the platform from its inception. Since its official launch in 2017, LeXiang had been successfully adopted across a wide range of multinational corporations; it was also popular internally at Tencent, with many employees engaging with their fellow co-workers on the forums. The vice-president was preparing for a meeting with Tencent's leadership about the future of LeXiang and how the platform could bring value internally to the company. As part of her preparations, she received a data set that included many posts and replies within Tencent's own LeXiang platform. While she thought there was significant value in the insight the platform provided about Tencent's own employees, she was unsure how to organize the wide-ranging posts and demonstrate their potential value to Tencent's leadership.

Kineer Services Limited (Kineer) was a social marketing startup set up in 2018 by Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, a prominent Indian transgender, and Manish Jain, an ex-hospitality industry veteran. Their objective in setting up Kineer was to provide a life of dignity to the socially stigmatized third gender community in India. As a startup, Kineer faced several challenges including finding the right business investors and manufacturing facilities, crafting a suitable distribution set-up, and marketing a commodity product with a differentiated branding strategy. Tripathi and Jain had to try to create a recallable and recognizable packaged water brand using a unique value proposition based on gender inclusivity. They also had to choose between pursuing a consumer market and an institutional market route. Could they hope for a future beyond being a niche brand? Was social marketing going to help them? As B2C sales required massive investments, should the brand continue to pursue the more manageable B2B segment? Should it go ahead with the offer of Cyrus Enterprises to sell its product in the B2C markets? Would selling the product through a third party compromise the brand identity?

In 2019, Toyota launched KINTO, its new mobility services brand, in Europe - to address the increasing shift in consumer preferences from ownership to on-demand usership. KINTO was only the third brand to be launched by Toyota in its history (after Toyota and Lexus). This signaled to the market that the world's largest automaker was serious about transforming from a car manufacturer to a mobility company. The case describes how, under the leadership of Tom Fux, the fledgling company grew through market-by-market deployment of KINTO-branded services across Europe. To build a robust foundation and spur progress, KINTO leveraged the strengths of various Toyota enterprises, including Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Insurance Services, and technological partner Toyota Connected Europe. Toyota's retailer network also played a crucial role. KINTO enabled the retailers to go beyond their traditional sales and maintenance role to offer new mobility services to give customers access to their preferred vehicles when and where they want, for as long as they like. Over time, KINTO's services expanded into car subscriptions, car sharing, carpooling and multi-modal solutions tailored to private individuals, businesses and cities. By 2021, KINTO was well placed to address the demand for smart, innovative and flexible mobility services depending on the maturity of different markets. As Tom Fux moved to his next role in Toyota, Miguel Fonseca took charge as the new CEO of KINTO Europe. He pondered how he could launch the company on its next growth trajectory. • How could KINTO become a one-stop-shop for future mobility solutions? • How could the company scale up its services in different countries? • How could the leadership balance organic and inorganic growth to secure new business opportunities?

The case, "AirAsia Malaysia: The IPO Decision", presents the situation faced by Tony Fernandes, founder and CEO of AirAsia Berhad (AAB), when he and his team of senior managers had to decide whether they should raise funds through an initial public offer (IPO) or through private equity. The airline started operations in January 2002 and became debt-free within eight months. It earned a net profit of RM 49 million on a revenue of RM 392.7 million in 2004. The AAB planned to buy planes and augment its fleet of 17 aircraft. Fernandes wanted to replicate his low-cost model in other countries as well. In November 2003, he entered into a collaboration with Shin Corporation of Thailand to start a budget carrier there. The team needed RM 800 million to buy more aircraft to expand its business. Going public would mean greater administrative burden on the small team of managers. Fernandes had the choice of going through private placement and raise funds, which would mean control in the hands of a few as opposed to diffused control in a public offer. In this context, he wondered what could be done.

Victory City International Holdings Ltd. was principally engaged in the textile businesses and had subsidiaries in mainland China that manufactured and sold its own products. The company was founded in 1983 in Hong Kong, and it was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK: 539) in 1996. On 22 February 2021, Victory City announced that, on 22 January 2021, Deloitte had obtained two credit reports as evidence that two of its main subsidiaries in mainland China had outstanding bank loans in the aggregate amount of CNY946m (USD148m). According to the credit reports, Victory City's mainland subsidiary signed bank facilities of CNY994m (USD156m) on 11 December 2020 with mainland banks, and a substantial portion of these loan amounts was not recorded in the consolidated financial statements of the company. If Deloitte's findings were valid, the company's management had possibly committed accounting fraud and embezzled funds by transferring a substantial portion of the unrecorded loan of CNY946m (USD148m) to their own pockets. After 22 January 2021, Deloitte, as the whistleblower, suggested remedial actions that the company should take, but no significant governance response was received and the management in Hong Kong denied any knowledge of the bank loans or the location of the funds. On 11 February 2021, Victory City filed a winding-up petition; it stated as one of the reasons that it had defaulted on a scheduled bank loan repayment of approximately HKD290m (USD37m) to a syndicate of banks in Hong Kong. On 19 March 2021, the Hong Kong government's Financial Reporting Council (FRC) initiated an investigation into Victory City's financial statements to determine the extent of the unrecorded loans. In addition, FRC was investigating whether Deloitte had conducted its work in accordance with the relevant auditing standards. Victory City requested that the trading of its shares be suspended at SEHK, effective 22 March 2021. On 27 April 2021, the

The Flint water crisis, which began in 2014, is widely regarded as a textbook example of structural racism and injustice. This teaching case provides a close examination of the building blocks of the catastrophe, some all-too-familiar in American history and others, more particular to the time, place, and circumstance of Flint in the 2010s. The case begins by tracing the economic and racial history that made Flint especially vulnerable to the crisis, then describes the string of decisions that resulted in the dangerous contamination of city tap water, followed by the battle by residents of Flint (and later, by outside allies and scientific experts) to force official government recognition of the disaster followed by changes to the city water system. The voices of the Flint residents are featured, alongside the decision-makers. The first section of the case summarizes the intertwined events, familiar to students of American racial, urban, and industrial history, that led once-booming Flint to become financially strapped and majority-Black. It describes the nature (and criticisms) of Michigan's evolving Emergency Management system. It explains the Flint water system and the reasons behind the fateful choices both to change the source of Flint's drinking water and to bypass standard safety precautions in making that change. The case then details the battle by local residents to force government officials to recognize and address the contamination of the drinking supply amid a cascade of devastating revelations about bacteria, carcinogens, and high lead levels in the water. The case ends in October 2015, with the announcement by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder that Flint would be re-connected to its previous safer and pricier water source, Detroit's Lake Huron system.

Aftertaste Foundation (Aftertaste) was an organization that provided livelihood support to women living in the impoverished urban areas of Mumbai, India, who created sustainable handicrafts. Aftertaste was started in 2013 and initially employed three craftswomen. By 2021, the organization had expanded to two locations and had increased the number of craftswomen employed to 40. Aftertaste's business model was focused on creating social impact by generating revenue through the sale of handcrafted items to corporate and retail buyers. For six years, Aftertaste was supported financially by the social impact organization Avanti Foundation. In September 2019, Aftertaste was registered as an independent entity. However, shortly after its transition, in March 2020, the foundation was confronted by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. A nationwide order for temporary lockdowns soon forced Aftertaste to stop all in-person operations. When the country started reopening after pandemic lockdowns, Aftertaste's owner struggled to maintain the financial sustainability of her organization. Surrounded by enduring pandemic uncertainty, she had to decide what strategy to pursue for the future of her organization. How could she overcome her venture's losses and lead Aftertaste on a path of financially sustainable growth?

This note discusses the sources of competitive advantage for firms, including scale economies, network economies, counter positioning, switching costs, branding, cornered resources, and process power. It also introduces the features of sustainable competitive advantage, offers examples, and includes a framework for assessing the sustainability of each source of competitive advantage. This note is taught at Darden in digital marketing and would also be suitable in a module covering competitive marketing strategy.

Incorporated on February 18, 1959, Oil India Ltd. (OIL) was a leading public sector oil and gas company involved in the exploration, development, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas in India. Since its inception, OIL had committed itself to being a socially responsible organisation in and around operational areas, particularly the north-eastern state of Assam where 90% of company operations were concentrated. Despite many successes, the "People's Company" continued to be a target for disgruntled local and student communities who frequently created operational hazards for the firm-from sit-ins and blockades to pilfering and disrupting production facilities. No less than 400 organisations, of which 50-60 had been consistently active, were currently in the forefront of demanding something from OIL. Many of these demands were beyond the purview of OIL's CSR policy and focus areas. Additionally, being a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), OIL also faced multiple demands from the government. On February 16, 2019, news arrived that there was yet another blockade in Duliajan, Assam. What should OIL do to address and possibly mitigate operational interruptions?

The case describes Angela Merkel's background, her education, her ascent to power in Germany, and the development of her leadership style.

The GSK Consumer Healthcare (GSK CH) case study deals with building a community of practice (CoP) in a merged, complex organization and a virtual environment. The case focuses on the introduction of a CoP by Marcus Chambers, a GSK senior executive, to address the need for greater alignment, collaboration and learning amongst the global Research and Development (R&D) Project Managers to drive the innovation pipeline in the new venture. GSK Consumer Health was created through the merger of the consumer healthcare divisions of Pfizer and GSK in August 2019 to create the world's largest consumer healthcare company. As the merger was announced, so too was the announcement of the intention to spin off the newly created 25,000 persons organization within three years, adding pressure to deliver on the anticipated value of the joint venture. The case focuses on the global R&D Project Management organization, which has primary responsibility for leading cross-functional innovation projects to drive growth. Their role is complex requiring foresight to plan and steward projects and flexibility to deal with the inevitable firefighting of innovation amongst diverse and multiple stakeholders. In addition to the inherent complexity of the role was the need to co-ordinate efforts of 78 project managers from GSK (45%), Pfizer (35%) and new hires (20%) across three regional hubs and four category hubs globally - against the backdrop of the pandemic. This topical case covers the 2-year period from August 1, 2019, when the joint venture was announced to August 2021. It recounts how the newly created GSK Consumer Health addressed the need to build capability, reduce inconsistencies and deal with frustrations to realize the promise of new innovations through the introduction of a community of practice during the pandemic.

Charu Thomas, cofounder and CEO of Ox, a software platform provider that helped retailers improve online order fulfillment, was proud of how her business had grown and earned positive feedback from investors, beta customers, and the press. Now, in the summer of 2021, revenue was on track to meet projections, and she began a comprehensive analysis of her costs, especially cloud hosting and computing costs. Ox's software was built and relied fully on cloud services, and Thomas had originally chosen a cloud provider based on capabilities and speed to build, not on cost. When she compared her costs to those of similarly sized start-ups, she realized Ox was paying 10 times what she expected to pay at scale. Fortunately, Thomas had recently welcomed Brent Sperry, who had worked on multiple cloud initiatives, as Ox's new chief operating officer. She shared her insights into the costs of cloud providers with Sperry and proposed the next project: benchmarking and reevaluating cloud costs for Ox. They aimed to better understand which activities were driving cloud-related costs, how prices compared across cloud providers for each activity, what operational constraints, if any, Ox currently faced, and the advantages of one provider over another. In the end, would they stick with the current cloud provider? What changes would they request on their current cloud bill? Would Ox benefit from a multi-cloud strategy? This field-based case, which is used in Darden's "Digital Operations" course, includes an overview of cloud computing's history and types; student and instructor spreadsheets with an interactive cost estimating model are also available.

Spreadsheet supplement to case UV8469.

The case illustrates the inventory management dilemma at The Star Clinic, a mobile medical clinic. The resident doctor at the clinic prefers commonly prescribed medicines, in particular Panadol, a brand of paracetamol (a pain relief drug), to be well stocked whereas the procurement manager seeks to minimise the holding cost of medicines. Wanting to set a very high patient service level, the doctor is demanding paracetamol to be readily available and dispensable at all times in the clinic. Patients should not need to wait three days before the next batch of stock arrives. On the contrary, the procurement manager adopts a financial perspective and focuses on the profit-and-loss reporting of the company. How can the clinic resolve the dilemma and enhance its inventory allocation and service levels?

Chonladet Khemarattana, CEO of Robowealth Group, an investment advisory company, wanted to disrupt the traditional investment advisory industry in Thailand by promoting greater financial inclusion. He founded a financial technology (FinTech) start-up, Robowealth, that could provide investment opportunities for every Thai citizen; it would help Thais achieve financial freedom. The traditional investment advisory industry helped high net worth individuals (HNWI) build their investment portfolios. This process required relationship managers to understand the investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon of their clients before implementing an investment strategy. Robowealth used technology to build user-friendly digital platforms that used algorithms to drive investment decisions. It sought to capitalise on the digitisation trend to reach consumers through an easy-to-download app. Even low-income workers would be able to make small investments and benefit from diversification. Robowealth also developed a business-to-business (B2B) channel that allowed collaborations with other industry players in order to build a more efficient financial ecosystem for locals.

Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized battery electric vehicle (BEV). He had led the architectural development of the new Geely SEA platforms for its new family of BEVs. The new car would be part of the Zeekr premium lineup. He knew that smaller cars on a given platform inevitably suffered from costs problems, while larger vehicles suffered from less than premium attributes. They could emphasize meeting cost targets on the low end, but that might have a negative impact on the high end. Which platform should they choose? This case explores the platforms and derivatives strategies used by global auto manufacturers, and some of the changes wrought by the shift from internal combustion vehicles to battery electric. It emphasizes the importance of achieving volume and scale in reaching competitive costs and selling prices, and offers an opportunity to explore the potential impact of open standards and modular interchangeability on the structure of the industry.