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This case describes the rise of Sarah Breedlove, who later called herself Madam C.J. Walker, from the cotton fields of Louisiana to the head of a successful, nationwide beauty company providing opportunity and hair care products to Black women. The case describes how Breedlove started her business, recruited sales agents, and built a strong customer base across the United States. Students will learn how Sarah Breedlove navigated life's choices to leave a lasting impact on the world.

The case describes a complex problem faced by the Indian Railways (IR), a more than 150-year-old public sector enterprise, in India. During the summer of 2009, IR was under tremendous public pressure to address the problems of its age-old toilet disposal system. The train toilet problem was complicated as it touched on all three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. After examining a few technological options, Sanjeev Kishore, the Executive Director of Mechanical Engineering of the Ministry of Railways, had to decide whether to choose the most suitable solution from among the ready-to-use options available, or adopt a grounded approach to designing an alternative bio-toilets solution, using the Defense Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) inoculum bacteria. The search for a solution led to a collaboration between IR and DRDO that gave birth to a customized bio-toilet design. After successfully testing a prototype, the IR team implemented 245,775 bio-toilets in 68,694 coaches over a 10-year period. Students are encouraged to use their critical thinking and decision-making skills to address the business situation.

The case covers the ongoing Wang family dispute over the inheritance of YC Wang, the billionaire founder of Formosa Plastics Group, one of Taiwan's most prominent industrial conglomerates, who died in 2008 at the age of 91 without leaving a will. Within six months of his father's death, his eldest son Winston Wong filed a lawsuit in the US to uncover the whereabouts of his father's hidden assets, most of which he believed were unaccounted for in the inheritance settlement in Taiwan in 2009. He discovered that his father had transferred huge blocks of FPG shares to offshore trusts in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands (where they remain to this day). Having three wives and nine children, YC Wang took pains to maintain the family's control over FPG after his death and to protect his vast fortune from inheritance taxes in Taiwan. He also went to great lengths to ensure that his philantrophic activities in education and healthcare would endure. The case explores these and other options open to founders who plan ahead to ensure their wealth is not squandered by succeeding generations.

The case introduces a classic digital disruption process applied to a secular sector, wealth management. It explains the current challenges of this industry, which has undergone severe changes following the recent financial crisis. It shows that even an industry for which the main key success factor has been the personal relationship and trust between the client and its advisors, is not resilient to digitalization. The change is driven by technology and rapidly changing consumer habits. Based on the story of Personal Capital - one of the companies on the very forefront of these changes, the case shows how Fin techs can play a part in wealth management and in the long run changes the landscape of the industry thereby disrupting large and well established incumbent players. The case goes in detail to understand if the strategies pursued by Personal Capital: -to position itself as a tech augmented human platform. -To aim at mass affluent market and sizeable accounts; -To consider adjacent sectors such as provision of mortgages and insurance as the next expansion opportunities; are the right strategies to pursue in this market. Furthermore, it researches the financial implications of the strategies also in comparison with the competition in that field. At the same time the case tries to position the financial performances of the companies into a broader development of the industry and competitive forces. The case concludes with multiple dilemmas translated into imminent decisions that need to be taken: What is the right strategy for further market expansion and growth? Should Personal Capital be sold to a large incumbent based on current valuation or go for another round of financing to stay independent? The underlying fundamental question being: do we believe that the new players can take the space of the traditional player and or will they lose the battle against those powerful institutions?

In 2018, Marsh USA Inc. (Marsh), an insurance company based in New York, launched an innovative pandemic insurance product called PathogenRX. However, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was no demand for the product. During the pandemic, some US businesses attempted to claim benefits for business interruption losses from their insurers but were denied because their policies did not cover pandemic losses. Unlike other catastrophic events, pandemics seemed to be uninsurable. In May 2020, industry experts estimated that US small businesses could lose up to US$431 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Marsh's chief executive officer wrote a letter to the United States Congress and president requesting that a state-backed pandemic insurance plan be developed to help cover extremely high potential claim amounts. The federal government could act as a reinsurer and prevent the US insurance industry from collapsing due to increasing claims from US businesses. However, there were several lingering questions: What challenges could be faced in selling pandemic insurance and how could these be resolved? Was it preferable to partner with a government or a private reinsurance partner? How could pandemic insurance modelling be improved to better forecast potential premiums and claims?

Leading European manufacturers are adopting circular business models, whereby they identify and collaborate with business-ecosystem partners to achieve environmental benefits while still meeting profit targets. The authors analysis of how 15 large companies are making the transition reveals challenges in aligning incentives and motives among partners, identifying new partners, involving customers, and planning for extended implementation.

After a rocky start to the 2020/2021 season of the UEFA Champions League and the Serie A, things were finally getting better for Juventus Football Club in December 2020. The new trainer, Andrea Pirlo, was beginning to prove he was up to the job, leading the team to good results. The latest was the triumphant win against Barcelona FC. In an empty Camp Nou stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions, Juventus made history on 8 December 2020, becoming the first Italian team ever to score three goals against the iconic Spanish team in its home stadium in a UEFA competition. As the end of a disruptive 2020 approached, Andrea Agnelli, president of the club and a member of the family that owned it, pondered the future of Juventus. At home in Italy, the club had become the best on the field and business-wise, but in Europe other clubs were still ahead. Agnelli was keenly aware there were important challenges to address if Juventus was to lead internationally in 2021 and beyond. Which strategic priorities should he focus on to ensure the club would be fit for the future? How could he further diversify the club's revenue stream in the face of the high uncertainty to be expected going forward? COVID-19 had accelerated the shift to digital. How could Juventus take advantage of the opportunities that emerged post-pandemic?

In 2017, Jan Juchelka, the new CEO of Komerční Banka, identified the need for the bank to start an enterprise wide agile transformation. He started by working to create a sense of urgency to kick-start a process to enable the level of service delivery to customers he believed is necessary to prepare for a future of increased levels of competition from both traditional players and possible new digital challengers. This journey is embarked upon despite entering a relatively successful operation with a leadership position among peer financial services organizations in several areas. To do so, Juchelka and team begin working to shift mindsets and start adapting the organizational structure towards an agile operating model. The case describes the bank's transformation, including the timeline for each department's move to agile (from HR to Risk), the creation of an Agile COE (Center of Expertise), the training and selection of managers to launch the first "Agile Tribes", and the thought process on how and where to begin. The case also discusses goal setting processes and use of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), linking an enterprise wide agile operating rhythm, to an outcomes based mindset that meets the requirements of Juchelka and team to empower a more responsive, adaptable and agile organization. The case reflects on the lessons and challenges of launching, leading and scaling an enterprise wide agile change program.

The Sydney Opera House, an iconic architectural landmark and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, was officially opened in 1973. The project cost AU$102 million and took 14 years to complete-AU$95 million and 10 years more than originally estimated. The challenges with the construction of the opera house included a brilliant and visionary architect who lacked project management experience, team collapse due to misalignment, bureaucratic and political issues that hindered work, and a rush to begin construction without proper planning. What could have been done at crucial crossroads to facilitate the project? What could today's project managers learn for future construction?

In April 2020, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, announced an alliance with social media giant Facebook Inc. (Facebook). This was the biggest foreign direct investment for a technology firm in India. The association between Jio and Facebook offered both firms many opportunities, and the strengths and core competencies of the two organizations promised to create value for Indian consumers and businesses by meeting their technology needs. However, the differences in the two organizations in terms of culture, expertise, business models, and management styles would need to be dealt with effectively to create the desired synergy. How could Jio ensure a co-operative and complementary partnership (despite their differences with Facebook) in order to succeed and set a precedent for future international alliances?

Linc Pen and Plastics Limited (LPPL) was a 40 year old Indian writing instruments company with a presence in over 50 countries through its sole brand Linc, a value brand that had a brand image of providing good quality products at a low price. Over the past year and half , LPPL had faced margin pressure due to a steep increase in the price of raw materials. In late 2019, Deepak Jalan, the managing director , decided not to disturb the brand equity of Linc but instead to move upmarket by developing a new ballpoint pen, Pentonic, for the premium segment. LPPL priced Pentonic ball pens at ₹10 -higher than Linc's original ball pens, which mostly sold at ₹5. The Pentonic ball pen was highly successful right from its launch, and within a year, Pentonic had become the company's second largest product in terms of volume and its largest product in terms of value. Pentonic had an independent identity in the market. In the last board meeting, Jalan had proposed building Pentonic as a separate brand for the premium market. The board had asked him to develop a detailed plan for developing the new product to target the premium market and balancing the marketing mix and positioning strategy for the specific target customers of the two brands, Linc and Pentonic.

Toronto-based financial technology (fintech) start-up Koho Financial Inc. (Koho) offered millennial consumers a new way to manage their money with no fees. Koho challenged traditional banking institutions by providing typical banking services digitally. In November 2019, the company had recently secured its series B funding round, bringing the total amount raised to US$57.5 million. Now, with expectations from its investors and growing competition, Koho had to develop new strategies to ensure its leading position. Should Koho continue competing directly with traditional banks, or should the company invest in new technologies and compete with other fintech start-ups? How could Koho acquire more customers? How would the changing fintech regulatory environment affect Koho's strategy?

This note, written to accompany "The NBA, China, and Social Media: What Are the Rules of the Game?" (UVA-E-0459) but useful in tandem with other cases, charts the history of freedom of speech in the United States. The US Constitution did not originally include the Bill of Rights (which contains the 1st through 10th Amendments), but after more than 200 years of legal and philosophical shifts, expression rights receive legal protection on a tiered system, with political speech enjoying the least abridgment, commercial and sexually explicit expression subject to some government censorship, and obscenity and fighting words enjoying no protection. This note focuses on political speech, summed up in the 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This protection had its challenges over the years, with the most notable blow being the 1798 Sedition Act, which criminalized any questioning of the authority or laws of the US President or Congress. (Congress eventually allowed this act to expire), as well as some 20th century cases (for example, Schenck v. United States, 1919). The note touches on John Stuart Mill's 1859 On Liberty, which made philosophical arguments for the value of free expression that would come to undergird liberal legal interpretations of the 1st Amendment some hundred years later, as well as the repeated infringements of constitutional rights, including free expression during the US Civil War, the Espionage Act of 1917, and the Sedition Act of 1918, and other attempts to suppress free speech. Also referenced is theorist Alexander Meiklejohn, who, in 1949, outlined a highly influential philosophy on the limits of free expression.

Britannia Chemicals was under pressure from investors to improve its financial performance because of the accumulation of the firm's common shares by a well-known corporate raider. Earnings had fallen to 180 pence per share at the end of 2017 from around 250 pence per share at the end of 2016. The manager of Merseyside Works, a production plant owned by Britannia Chemicals, thus believed the time was ripe to obtain funding from corporate headquarters for a modernization program for her plant-at least she had believed this until her controller presented her with several questions that had only recently surfaced. This A case presents a go/no-go project evaluation regarding improvements to a polypropylene production plant. It explores aspects related to identifying incremental cash flow implications of investment decisions and evaluating related financial criteria, including impact on earnings per share, payback, and net present value, and internal rate of return.

These fictional caselets, some of which are based on lived experience, present dilemmas and ethical issues in the financial field. The situations include an investment-banking firm executive deciding how to handle an investment tip; an executive struggling with whether to push her tech start-up client to a lucrative IPO or to follow her company's directive to push a merger instead; an employee asked to contravene accepted accounting practice; an employee at a wealth-management firm pressured to promote two underperforming funds; a financial manager whose elderly clients unwisely want to liquidate a significant portion of their savings for a risky venture; and a fintech venture manager who is conflicted about the high interest loans his company offers. These caselets outline and convey the complexities and difficult choices that individuals in the world of finance often confront.

The case is a continuation of the part (A) of the case and focusses on the expansion of Mime restaurants to other cities. After establishing Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime in Mumbai, the parent company, Squaremeal Foods Private Limited (SFPL), opened another Mirchi & Mime outlet in the city of Indore. The case describes the objectives of the company as it embarked on this expansion, and the extent to which these objectives could be achieved. It further describes a few operational issues that the company faced in the initial stages of setting up this new outlet.

This case describes the rise of Walt Disney, founder of the worldwide entertainment company. The case describes how Disney, as a young artist, created memorable figures such as Mickey Mouse and went on to produce Academy-award-winning films and build the world's most popular theme park. Students will learn how Walt Disney navigated life's choices to leave a lasting impact on the world.

The general purpose of this case is to explore the evolving nature of business relations across the Taiwan strait, focusing on the prominence of Taiwan's high-tech industry. After the legendary founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) retired, the new chairman grappled with fresh challenges related to its market in China and growing competition. One of TSMC's major Chinese customers faced sanctions by the U.S. government; China invested billions of dollars in building its own powerhouse to compete in semiconductor production. A slowing of innovation in fabrication processes and rising U.S.-China geopolitical tension also added to the uncertainties facing TSMC. What had changed in the competitive landscape for TSMC, and how should it respond to the changes? Was TSMC positioned to be a truly global company? Students should understand how TSMC protects its competitive technology advantage, navigates geopolitical risks in the region, and blunts hungry competitors' efforts to gain market share.

This library case examines the rise of shareholder activism in recent years, particularly in the public eye, and analyzes its effects on corporate strategy, growth, and shareholder value. It looks at three contemporary targets of shareholder activism in particular-Bed Bath and Beyond, Occidental Petroleum Corp, and Walt Disney Co.-and presents arguments both for and against the role of activist shareholders.