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The case tracks Dineout's evolution into a full-scale tech solution provider for restaurants. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world. Several countries, including India, implemented complete lockdowns to control the spread of the virus. Stringent measures to ensure social distancing, night curfews and restrictions on social gatherings continued, which were a severe blow to the restaurant industry. The restaurants' revenue streams dried up as the diners avoided dining out and preferred food deliveries, which was against Dineout's core business model. The case ends with the questions on how Dineout should wade through the pandemic when its entire business model was being challenged.

Aster Retail (AR) is the retail pharmacy division of Aster Dr Moopen's Healthcare (ADMH) Group. The group delivers healthcare services across the Middle East, India and the Far East with a portfolio of hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres and retail pharmacies. AR, under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jobilal Vavachan, is well known for its people-centric approach, unique culture and innovative human resource (HR) practices. AR has won multiple awards for HR practices, service quality and business performance. In a recent corporate restructuring, "Aster Primary Care" was carved out, combining the group's Clinics and Retail businesses. The case discusses the evolution of ARs' HR journey and the challenge to integrate culturally diverse businesses, without compromising ADMH values and promise, "We'll Treat You Well."

Mantra Ayurveda (Mantra), established in India in 2020, manufactured and marketed luxury Ayurvedic skin care and hair care products. The brand's equity in the Indian market was low, its performance marketing efforts were not leading to expected revenue gains, and the revenue from direct-to-consumer (DTC) initiatives had experienced a negligible uptick in financial year (FY) 2020-21. In April 2021, the chief executive officer would have to convince the board and investors about his plans for achieving fourfold revenue growth from the DTC channel in FY 2021-22. He needed to propose a choice that would build the brand for long-term sustenance while delivering on short-term revenue goals, considering key strategic pillars: an international DTC market launch to expand; offline marketing to increase brand awareness; in-house and outsourced performance marketing to optimize digital efforts; and discounts, promotions, and the launch of smaller package sizes to drive trials. Making the right choice could lead to an expanded international brand presence and deeper penetration into the Indian luxury market. However, the wrong choice could mean an early exit of a major investor, leaving the company cash-starved and plunging both the company and the future of his career into uncertainty.

This note introduces students to two central concepts for ethical analysis: well-being and rights. It illustrates ways in which they figure in managerial decisions and challenges that arise, including how to frame trade-offs across individual well-being and paternalism.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 118068.

When Dr. Ikenna Okezie founded Somatus, a value-based kidney care provider, his goal had been nothing short of transforming kidney care delivery in the United States. Rather than relying on dialysis, a costly and intensive treatment for late-stage kidney disease, the Somatus model called for early identification of patients at high risk along with active management of the underlying conditions that accelerated kidney damage. But he had struggled to find health plans willing to take a chance on his unproven startup, especially in the highly concentrated dialysis treatment market. Thus, in 2017, Somatus agreed to manage traditional dialysis services for a group of hospitals in Virginia, focusing on improving the quality of care. In 2018, Somatus won its first contract with a health plan, finally allowing the startup to implement its full care model. But the contract generated just 10% of Somatus's revenues. Now, in December 2019, Okezie must decide whether to prioritize improving traditional dialysis services or continue to chase health plans willing to implement Somatus's innovative kidney care model.

In 2022, Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, and his team looked back at a difficult but ultimately successful past year. The global pandemic had posed enormous challenges, but the company had weathered the storm successfully, raising same-store sales growth, long anemic, by 8%. The team was particularly proud of Walmart's performance in online sales. Walmart+, the company's $98 membership program that offered free shipping, had attracted more than 15 million households. Investors remained skeptical, however. The company's share price remained flat. Would the post-pandemic era finally bring the hoped-for change? What were the most significant opportunities the company faced in its 60th year in business? Was it even possible to substantially grow Walmart's U.S. operations, a behemoth with more than 5,000 stores and over $350 billion in sales? As McMillon and his team debated Walmart's capital allocation, they carefully considered three growth opportunities: a continued build-out of the company's e-commerce operations, an upscaling initiative, and a renewed effort to capture market share in urban markets. Would any of these strategic initiatives sway Wall Street?

The most promising candidates in your company may not be where you expect.

A new study shows that emotions really can drive stock prices.

Concerns over decreasing global food security had been growing worldwide due to factors ranging from growing population and demand for food to declining levels of arable land due to urbanisation and climate change. This was exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given its own constraints in arable land and natural resources, Singapore was well ahead of other developed economies in pioneering the novel food industry development for food security. FRESH was a research centre launched by the Singapore government in 2021 to foster public-private partnership to build up local food safety science and R&D capabilities to support the safety assessment of novel food ranging from plant-based and cell-based meat to microbial and insect protein. FRESH knew that its rare and valuable expertise on novel food safety assessment would position it well to not only support Singapore's transformation of its own agri-industry, but also play a catalytic role in the international novel food scene with Singapore's strong reputation for stringent food safety standards. FRESH had to decide between two options for its future business model-remain as a public-funded institution or become a corporatized entity.

After building the oil and gas distribution company UBI Group in her native Ghana and then selling a majority stake to an international investor, Salma Okonkwo turned her attention to solar power. As the pace of industrialization in Africa accelerates, she wants to make sure that political and corporate leaders don't repeat the mistakes that their Western and Chinese peers made as they pursued development and economic growth. That's why, in 2018, she created Blue Power Energy. It's still early days for the company, which has 20 employees and hasn't yet started generating revenues. But it's currently building two solar farms in Ghana with the goal of eight more by 2028 and has signed contracts to supply 3 million customers with 140 megawatts of clean energy by the end of 2023. Okonkwo's hope is that she can apply the lessons she learned launching and building UBI to her new venture so that it not only becomes just as successful but also makes a more positive impact on the world.

Digitization may be necessary for many businesses' continued success, but in our increasingly complex world, what companies really need to do is build new forms of competitive advantage and transform themselves for the future. And that requires fundamental changes in their top leaders--not just in individuals' capabilities but in the way they collectively steer the ship. Drawing on their research at 12 prominent global firms, the authors note the contradictory-seeming skills that leaders are expected to have--being both great visionaries and expert executors, for example. But in this article they focus on the urgent imperative to improve leadership teams, arguing that CEOs should: (1) Identify the roles that are needed at the top to reimagine and then deliver on the company's purpose. (2) Fill those roles thoughtfully, assembling a diverse group of people who think boldly and work together harmoniously. (3) Focus the team on driving transformation rather than managing the current business. (4) Take ownership of the team's behavior, fostering trust, collaboration, and a commitment to leading the company forward rather than dwelling on personal advancement.

All too often fitness centers, medical providers, colleges, and organizations in many other industries seek to distinguish themselves only on the quality, convenience, and experience of what they sell, say the authors. It's not that those things aren't important. But they matter only as means to the ends that people seek. Too many organizations lose sight of this truth. Even when they do promote what they sell in relation to consumers' aspirations, they rarely design solutions that allow people to realize them. Instead, individuals must cobble together what they think they need to achieve their goals--for example, a trainer, a particular diet, and a support network to lose weight. Enterprises should recognize the economic opportunity offered by the transformation business, in which consumers come to them with a desire to improve some fundamental aspect of their lives. Even though we're all filled with hopes, aims, and ambitions, significant change is incredibly hard to accomplish on our own. This article offers an approach to designing a transformation business.

Some multigenerational companies or their predecessors have committed acts in the past that would be anathema today--they invested in or owned slaves, for example, or they were complicit in crimes against humanity. How should today's executives respond to such historical transgressions? Drawing on her recent book about the effort by the French National Railways to make amends for its role in the Holocaust, the author argues that rather than become defensive, executives should accept that appropriately responding to crimes in the past is their fiduciary and moral duty. They can begin by commissioning independent historians, publicly apologizing in a meaningful manner, and offering compensation on the advice of victims'-rights groups. The alternative is often expensive lawsuits and bruising negotiations with victims or their descendants.

Professional growth can get stymied for all sorts of reasons. But one of the most important is rarely discussed: You're contending with ghosts from your past. Early in life, family dynamics give rise to many fundamental behaviors and attitudes toward authority, mastery, and identity. When similar dynamics emerge at work, people often revert to childhood patterns. To enable change in the personal realm, psychologists often encourage clients to consider the nature of their original family system. This approach can--and should--be applied at work too. Guided by the tenets of family-systems theory and their own research, the authors have identified six elements of family dynamics that commonly play out in the workplace. To achieve your greatest potential as a leader, you need to recognize your own "family ghosts," understand how they influence your behavior at work, and decide which ones to celebrate and which ones to leave behind.

As people develop competence in a new domain of expertise, they move along an S Curve: Growth is slow and effortful at the outset, or launch point. It then progresses rapidly as people acquire new skills in a stretch known as the sweet spot. At the peak is mastery, when work becomes easier but the curve flattens. Understanding where your employees are on this S Curve of Learning will help you coach them appropriately, craft thoughtful succession plans, and build a team with diverse but complementary strengths. The S Curve is a tool that smart managers use to launch conversations with their reports and develop tailored development plans for them. It reveals when people are ready for bigger challenges--something that's especially critical when they're in mastery, which may mean they're getting restless and need to jump to a new S Curve. Often the employees don't even realize they're ready to take the leap, but their managers push them anyway. When that happens, it's key to surround an employee with the right supporting team. A good team will include members from all phases of the curve, who can contribute diverse perspectives and skills.

Quantum computers can solve problems exponentially faster than classical computers can. They will bring about two huge changes: an end to our current infrastructure for cybersecurity over public networks and an explosion of algorithmic power that holds the promise to reshape our world. Scientists face myriad challenges in developing commercially relevant quantum computers. But once they are overcome, the disruption caused by postquantum cryptography will eclipse that of Y2K, which cost the United States and its businesses more than $100 billion to mitigate. This article examines the way quantum computers will not only upend digital security but spur investment, reshape industries, and spark innovation.

The amount of product and service information available to B2B customers--reports, blogs, display ads, email marketing, and more--has become overwhelming, leading to indecision and a sharply reduced likelihood of making a substantive purchase. The best reps have turned this conundrum into a prime selling opportunity. Above all else, they help buyers make sense of the information they've encountered. Their approach is a form of sensemaking, and it encompasses three broad activities. Sensemaking sellers connect customers with relevant resources, curating the information they share for utility and clarity and including only what will help customers proceed with confidence. They clarify information, helping customers feel that they've asked the right questions, understood competing perspectives, and accounted for potential contingencies. And they collaborate on customer learning, Socratically guiding buyers on a purchase journey rather than telling them what to do. A lack of self-confidence impedes big deals more often than a lack of confidence in a particular vendor does. Sensemaking sellers boost customers' self-confidence, enabling buyers to take bold, decisive action with assurance and peace of mind.

Corporations are facing increased scrutiny over their political spending--particularly when their stated values seem to contradict their lobbying efforts. A 2020 report by the Center for Political Accountability offers abundant examples, including corporations that have publicly demanded racial equality while contributing to groups and candidates that promote racial gerrymandering and corporations that purport to be concerned about climate change while donating to groups that challenge the EPA's clean-power plan. In this groundbreaking article the authors argue that companies should halt political spending entirely to reduce the risk of political blowback and enable executives to focus attention and resources on running their companies.