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In case B, in late summer 2020, the founder has decided to prioritize the company's rating agency, advocating for robust and standardized impact assessments for all firms. He felt confident about his company's new strategic direction and focus during the pandemic. But how could he ensure impak Finance Inc. grew toward its mission and attained financial sustainability?

In July 2020, Hindustan Unilever Limited, the Indian subsidiary of global fast-moving consumer goods company Unilever plc, renamed its Fair & Lovely skin-lightening cream in response to criticism that the product's positioning and advertising reinforced a pre-existing bias toward fair skin in India. India's market for skin-lightening creams, the largest in the world, was valued at US$450 million-US$535 million, and Fair & Lovely was the market leader with a 70 per cent share. However, the company had been criticized for its positioning and advertising of Fair & Lovely, which many saw as reinforcing a pre-existing bias for fair skin in India. Did the company make the right strategic move by renaming the popular brand? Or should the company have instead followed the path of some competitors and withdrawn the brand from the market? What else could the company do to support the brand?

As You Are Seventh-Day Adventist Church (AYA) is located in Williamsburg, Virginia, in a low-income community, where it offers a wide range of primarily religious services. AYA is part of the River Seventh-Day Adventist Conference-East (RCE), which finds and pays for the pastors at each of its churches. In return, the RCE receives the weekly tithes as conference dues, and AYA keeps the offerings given by its members. This partnership has allowed AYA to expand its programming, serving community members facing homelessness, hunger, and financial difficulties. But over the years, AYA has had its own financial struggles, seeing a decline in tithes and offerings as its membership numbers have declined. It has been forced to end many of its community services in order to preserve church resources. And in 2015, the church's leader, Pastor Robert Haskins, announced his intention to leave his position early. The RCE decided to replace Haskins with Pastor Alexander Dean, who had a proven track record of turning troubled churches around. Dean begins his duties at AYA confident that he can correct the church's course. He quickly becomes a controversial figure, however, due to the changes he decides to make. AYA's volunteer treasurer wrestles with a conflict between her desire to support Dean in his effective efforts to welcome new members and higher cash donations and her misgivings about his aggressive insistence on increasing his budget as pastor and unilaterally signing off on expensive projects without church committee approval. The treasurer is deeply concerned about how AYA will survive financially under these new pressures, both from the new leader and from sources beyond the church's control.

In early April 2019, the executive team of San Jose-based Zoom Video Communications gathered in the company conference room to strategize about their messaging for a planned IPO, an event that only a few years earlier would have seemed improbable to many. Indeed, when Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan had first sought venture capital funding to start his company back in 2011, he was turned down countless times. "A new video conferencing entrant at this stage?" wrote Patrick Eggen, of Counterpart Ventures, describing the general response. "No commercial data points, massively saturated market, limited funding to enter the SME space (ughh) and founder with no CEO experience. Red flags galore." But Yuan was absolutely convinced that the world did, in fact, need a new video conferencing solution-one that would not merely suffice, but far surpass the "terrible" existing options and make its users downright happy. So he ignored the naysayers and refused to give up-and the rest is history. This case details the story of Zoom Video Communications from its earliest origins as an idea that came to Yuan while he was a student riding a train in China to its IPO in 2019. It includes interviews with key Zoom executives, including Eric Yuan. A forthcoming B case will continue the story.

Today's leaders are in need of best practices for dealing strategically and operationally with a distributed, diverse workforce that crosses internal and external boundaries. We contend that the best way to address the shift to managing all types of workers is through the lens of a workforce ecosystem a structure that consists of interdependent actors, from within the organization and beyond, working to pursue both individual and collective goals.

By the end of 2019, HelloFresh was able to deliver a profit for the first time in its history. Ever since it was founded in 2011, its founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Dominik Richter and his team had worked tirelessly to turn HelloFresh into the largest player in the global meal kit industry. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 fundamentally changed the landscape and triggered changes in customer behavior that marked the beginning of outstanding revenue growth for HelloFresh. With millions of households forced to stay home, restaurants closed and widespread fear among people about catching the coronavirus, HelloFresh found itself in an ideal setting to grow as its home-delivered, delicious and healthy meal kits enjoyed terrific success across markets. Moving its global customer base up from 2.5 to 4.2 million in just a few months, HelloFresh was looking confidently at 2021 and beyond. Yet, two challenges appeared to be critical for the company going forward. First, even though sales had grown as a result of the lockdowns imposed by governments in several markets, could this remarkable growth be maintained in post-pandemic times? Second, the company had already invested heavily in its sustainability strategy, with Richter announcing in August 2020 that the company aimed to become the first carbon-neutral meal kit company globally, primarily through its participation in carbon offsetting programs. Yet, high amounts of plastics were still used in each HelloFresh box delivered worldwide. Would the carbon offsetting programs be enough to really win the sustainability battle going forward?

A cup of Starbucks was a middle-class symbol in China. Since the opening of its first store in China in 1999, Starbucks had conquered the Chinese coffee market with its experience driven philosophy. Nonetheless, a few ambitious and well-funded Chinese tech entrepreneurs had decided to challenge Starbucks. Founded in October 2017, Luckin Coffee expressed a desire "to be part of everyone's life, starting with coffee." Leveraging its core competence in technology and a business model focused on delivery and heavy discounts, Luckin scaled up rapidly. By 2020 it operated more stores in China than Starbucks. But Starbucks was responding to the new threat, forging an alliance with Alibaba backed Ele.me. In this situation, what should both firms do to do to win the war for China's coffee consumer?

The case describes the organizational, operational, and financial challenges faced by BeefChain, a blockchain implementation in the cattle industry, following the successful completion of pilot projects and certification by the US Dept of Agriculture. Among them are need for an efficient revenue model that can scale up in a seamless fashion and a viable business model to ensure the financial success of all the stakeholders.

In August 2019, the leadership of Hester Pharmaceuticals (Hester) had a problem. Italy promised to be a key market for their new breakthrough oncology drug Akrozumab, but for almost two years, its single-payer healthcare system had been unable to agree with Hester on a price. With only a few years before a competing drug to Akrozumab was due to hit the market, company leaders felt mounting pressure to compromise with Italian negotiators. At the same time, they realized that compromising on a low price might jeopardize the higher prices Hester had already negotiated with other European nations, if these countries bought up extra supply from Italy or referenced Italy's low price when they renegotiated their own prices the following year. Should Hester settle for a low price, stall for more time, or walk away? This case introduces students to the process of bringing new prescription drugs to market and the factors that go into pricing drugs in both single-payer and multi-payer healthcare systems. Students will wrestle with the complex strategy behind pricing their drugs internationally.

In March 2020, in response to the global pandemic, the cruise industry ceased operations. Carnival was the largest cruise line operator in the world, and CEO Arnold Donald and his management team worked to position the company to survive. They slashed operating expenses and capital expenditures, raised more than $10 billion in new debt and equity financing, and negotiated with creditors. Planned ship deliveries were cancelled, and less efficient ships were retired or sold. Had the company done enough?

This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy's strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the company's founder and the subsequent four CEOs. In particular, the career trajectory of CEO Corie Barry is described in detail. Regarding Best Buy's response to COVID-19, the case details the company's scenario planning and operational adjustments, including the temporary closure of all stores followed by the rapid establishment of curbside-pickup customer-order-fulfillment operations at roughly 1,000 store locations in the U.S. The case also attends to leadership's decisions to furlough more than 51,000 frontline employees, suspend in-home services, and subsequently resume in-store services under modified operating procedures.

Five years after the company's founding, Andela, a company that built and trained remote engineering teams, became arguably Africa's greatest technology unicorn. By January 2019, Andela raised $100 million in Series D funding. As Andela looked to scale in an increasingly competitive landscape, its goal was to democratize trust and become an "Amazon Web Services" (AWS) for software engineering talent. With their windfall investment and the advent of COVID, Andela had to figure out their "2.0 model" to permit scaling. How would Andela stack up in a growing landscape of global remote talent companies? Could Andela become not just Africa's, but the world's AWS for trusted software engineering talent?

In 2010, Ken Talbot, a self-made Australian billionaire, was traveling throughout Africa to bring his innovative coal technology to the continent when he perished in a plane crash. His will was originally created years prior when his estate worth was estimated to be AU $130 million. At the time of his passing, however, his estate had grown over ten times to AU $1.3 billion and he hadn't yet finalized an updated will. His beneficiaries were unaware of both the existence of his will and his intentions, which led to significant legal battles and the devaluation of a number of his assets. What could have been done differently to prevent the legal nightmare and emotional distress that plagued his family and ensure his loved ones carried out his intentions?

The Risk organization at SEB, a leading Nordic financial services group founded in 1856, undertook a culture change program focused on psychological safety, empathic listening, and strategic framing. The program enabled risk organization teams to make progress on strategic challenges and improved decision making processes. Chief Risk Officer Magnus Agustsson believed that the rest of SEB should go through a similar program. But it was not clear how to convince other departments to invest considerable time in developing the soft skills of culture change.

THE YES, a multi-brand shopping app launched in May 2020 offered a new type of buying experience for women's fashion, driven by a sophisticated algorithm that used data science and machine learning to create and deliver a personalized store for every shopper, based on her style preferences, size, and budget. When a woman downloaded THE YES app, she embarked upon an interactive shopping journey that leveraged a fun, easy, gamified user experience (UX) reminiscent of dating apps to collect a stream of data from her that could be used to dynamically curate an ever-changing product assortment just for her. The founders had to decide whether to continue developing the UX and the algorithm to deliver on the company's customer value proposition, or to focus on new customer acquisition via paid media, with the idea that more users on the app improve the algorithm's performance. Several ideas for further monetizing the platform were on the table, including the development of social shopping features to make the shopping experience more viral, the design of an influencer program to bring fashion influencer voices onto the platform, and the construction of a customer loyalty program. Should THE YES invest in improving the algorithm, enhancing the UX with new functionality, or on customer acquisition?

With "An ESG Puzzle", students get to use sustainability information paired with financial information for the first time. For the past twenty years, more and more companies around the world have started to supplement their GAAP reports with non-financial reports. This new reporting trend has become increasingly standardized but remains unregulated. While there is no one global agency to enforce non-financial reporting, international bodies like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) or the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) propose measures and methodologies of reporting sustainability information. By solving this case, students will learn about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), how to use the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which measure these sustainability factors and lastly, how to use this information in conjunction with common financial ratios which they have previously learned about and used in other finance and accounting courses.

The twenty-first century poses new challenges for businesses, especially when it comes to velocity (the speed of now). This book looks at the intersections of leadership and velocity and offers key leadership competencies essential for our time; these competencies might be even more timely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for effective leadership at all levels. There is a vital need for these competencies, but there are also contrasts in practice, leaders who are rising to the occasion and those whose lacking is clearly notable. Ten competencies are outlined throughout the text that can serve as a foundation for effective leadership. They are based on personal experiences, interviews with various leaders, and research. Written for managers and business leaders of all kinds, this book will help individuals and businesses establish their leadership brand and enhance their leadership practices. Chapter 1 offers a background on the idea of velocity as the "speed of now." The business environment is more complicated than ever. Leaders have to deal with various stressors, such as globalization, economic shifts, and technological advancement. The world is in a state of "now," instant access and response. Businesses are under more scrutiny from various stakeholders. Leaders need to be able to keep up with this fast-paced, more demanding environment. This chapter discusses two challenges shaping leadership today: the need to deal with a growing set of paradoxical demands and the pace of "disruptive change" that speeds up the interaction of these demands and increases pressure on businesses to adapt. Change does not necessarily come naturally in many companies; consistent and persistent leadership intervention is essential. However, leaders can rise to the challenge and greatly benefit from these unprecedented changes in workforces and organizational structures.

The twenty-first century poses new challenges for businesses, especially when it comes to velocity (the speed of now). This book looks at the intersections of leadership and velocity and offers key leadership competencies essential for our time; these competencies might be even more timely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for effective leadership at all levels. There is a vital need for these competencies, but there are also contrasts in practice, leaders who are rising to the occasion and those whose lacking is clearly notable. Ten competencies are outlined throughout the text that can serve as a foundation for effective leadership. They are based on personal experiences, interviews with various leaders, and research. Written for managers and business leaders of all kinds, this book will help individuals and businesses establish their leadership brand and enhance their leadership practices. This chapter explores the idea of vision, a trait that can separate good leaders from average ones. Leaders as visionaries are those who are inspired and motivated by an organization's potential and who work to get all stakeholders on board. Specific characteristics of leaders as visionaries are explored, including being future oriented, inclusive, and active. Various other personal traits are described in depth. Visionary leaders have three main roles: seeing the world differently, helping others to see the vision, and turning that vision into reality. They see into the future and therefore are willing to go first, take risks, and have the conviction to offset doubters. They need to be able to create a compelling vision, communicate it effectively, and lead its execution.