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In August 2019, the newly appointed chief executive officer of DSS was planning for his company's future. He had two main questions to address: Having emerged from the shadow of DuPont, how should his new company be reorganized into an independent enterprise? As a stand-alone enterprise, would DSS gain credibility among its clients and employees?

In September 2019, a marketing director at Multinational Beverage Inc. faced a dilemma: she needed to determine how to reverse the declining sales and market share of her Florida-based orange juice brand, Fresh Squeeze. While one potential solution was to move production to Brazil to take advantage of lower production costs, the marketing director also had to consider the effect this would have on Fresh Squeeze's brand image. Given industry dynamics, would becoming a low-priced competitor lead to the right positioning for Fresh Squeeze, or were Florida oranges the heart of this business?

Technology silos can wreak havoc on strategic priorities and trigger a cascade of effects throughout an organization. When leaders focus on better communication, with special attention to difficult conversations, organizations can improve collaboration and unlock creative solutions to business problems.

This case study is based on a Hong Kong technology start-up, Morllex (Morllex is a disguised name of a real company), specializing in chemicals for the electronics industry. The company received substantial private funding, as well as funding from a government-backed incubation program, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. The three founders encountered conflicts in various strategies, including relationships with the two non-executive shareholders, several key suppliers such as a marketing consultant, and a China sales agent. There were substantial pressures to build sales and marketing traction and ensure timely delivery of the product to distributors. Over two years, the three founders and two non-executive shareholders (all anonymized here) had nurtured Morllex from an award-winning concept to a market-ready product. Yet, the partners struggled to reach an agreement on some major decisions, such as whether to register the business in Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Also, the partners had an ongoing debate about whether to manage marketing and distribution in-house or to outsource it. One partner favored the former option while the other partners had a different point of view. These conflicts left the founders questioning the future of a company in which they had believed so strongly and invested so much time and energy. In this case study, students will play the roles of the founders and shareholders. The case is designed to set up conflicts among the players to teach students how hostile team dynamics can make inherently solvable problems intractable.

King's had begun the financial year (April 1, 2017) forecasting a loss of £40 million. By December 2017, losses were projected to be over £90 million. In response to the crisis, in November 2017, the CEO of King's had removed the CFO and COO. Then, on December 10, 2017, the chairman of King's, Lord Kerslake, announced his resignation, signaling that the group would soon be put into administration. Writing in The Guardian, he warned of the deeper structural problems facing the NHS: My two and a half years at King's have been in equal part inspiring and frustrating. There are undoubtedly things that I and the Trust could have done better - there always are - but fundamentally our problems lie in the way the NHS is funded and organized. We desperately need a fundamental rethink. Until then we are simply 'kicking the can down the road.' Shortly after Lord Kerslake's resignation, NHSI announced that they would appoint Ian Smith (HBS MBA, 1987) as the interim chair. The next day, as Smith arrived at King's, there were extensive protests outside the main entrance over government underfunding of the health service in general and the departure of the chairman in particular. Smith entered via a back door to avoid the Union picket line in front. There he met the group's 28 clinical directors. The mood was angry. They briefed him on years of funding cuts in the face of poor operational performance, a highly congested emergency department, and long waiting lists for elective surgeries. Smith faced some immediate challenges. The chief executive was still in place; was he part of the problem or part of the solution? How could Smith engage with the clinicians and managers to launch a rapid turnaround? Would the regulator prove a help or a hindrance in the process? What would a "100 day" plan look like?

"We're in business together, and whether we lose a few million dollars or make a few million dollars, let's do this. If you think you can pull it off, I'm behind you." Michael Rapino, chief executive officer of Live Nation, the world's leading live entertainment company, expresses his support to Pharrell Williams, one of the music industry's biggest stars, and his long-time manager Ron Laffitte. It is December 2018, and Williams just pitched Rapino an idea for a music festival in Virginia Beach, Something In The Water. Williams is engaged in many endeavors - he is not only a chart-topping musician, but also a fashion designer, film and television producer, brand builder, and business consultant - that are brought together in his company, I Am Other, which is in a joint venture with Live Nation. Although Live Nation generally does not shy away from making big bets on its artists, Williams' festival idea is risky and has an unusually aggressive time table. Is Rapino right to lend his support to Williams' proposed festival? Are partnerships like the one it had formed with Williams' company I Am Other the way forward for Live Nation? And how can the company that dominates the live music space best continue to create value for artists and their managers?

India's Economic Survey 2016-17 proposed a gradual implementation of the concept of universal basic income (UBI) as the fastest way of providing a long-term solution to poverty. Large-scale inequality and poverty, along with huge misallocation and wastages in the existing welfare schemes, made India a perfect ground for experimenting with UBI. Though the rapid expansion of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile infrastructure was expected to smoothen the execution of UBI in India, there were looming concerns about implementation of the program, fiscal feasibility, and the questionable effectiveness of UBI's impact on poverty alleviation.

In December 2019, a member of a fantasy hockey league had to decide whether to trade away his top talent in exchange for draft picks in the following year's fantasy draft or to continue to compete for a position in the playoffs. If he traded his top players, he would forfeit his chances at competing for a championship; however, this move might put his team in a better position for the following year's fantasy hockey season. He had access to the league's historical data to help determine the likelihood of his team making the playoffs. He wanted to conduct an analysis to make an informed decision grounded by numbers.

Student spreadsheet to case W20558

Tea Connect, a chain of five tea cafés in India, had ended 2019 with sales revenues of ₹48.1 million. The co-founder of Tea Connect had the ambitious target of opening 20 cafés and achieving sales revenues of ₹200 million by 2020. The co-founder planned the renovation of the cafés to improve the speed of service, but he also wanted to launch Tea Connect-branded consumer packaged products. Three franchising offers for stores in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Mount Abu were also under consideration. He was wondering whether renovation would help to enhance the customer experience and whether this was the right time to launch consumer packaged goods. Also, was it the right time to explore the franchise route of expansion?

This case focuses on the rising trend of CEO activism, especially as it relates to business extending its impact on democracy. The case centers on the contentious political issues of gun violence, gun rights, and gun control. Students will follow the protagonist and develop strategies to support Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who took a stance on gun control by reducing gun and ammunition sales after a mass shooting in 2019 at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Building on CEO activism, the case also focuses on further steps that corporations can take to influence public policy.

This case follows Jason, a high school student who is looking forward to going to college. He is an excellent student and a basketball star, which allowed him to receive two full-ride scholarships: the first to play Division 1 basketball at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the second to attend the University of Virginia (UVA). This leaves Jason with a huge decision to make. Should he attend Penn State and try to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA, or should he attend UVA and fulfill his passion for engineering? To gain more information to guide his decision, Jason solicits advice from two of his mentors: his basketball coach, Coach Roberts, and his math teacher, Ms. Humphries.

Spreadsheet for case UV8082.

Cinda Klickna, trustee of the State of Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), was preparing to vote in June 2019 on a proposed $75 million investment in a new fund being raised by First Light Capital (FLC), a midsized buyout firm. Illinois had been under financial pressure for some time, and TRS, the state's largest public pension, was seriously underfunded. In 2012, TRS's board began a plan to strategically increase its allocations to private equity (PE). By 2018, the target allocation to PE had reached 15%, well above the 10% average of other public pensions. The increase in PE was undertaken in an attempt to close the funding gap necessitated by insufficient state funding and the generally low-interest-rate environment. The strategy had not gone unnoticed, and many now openly questioned the higher risk and costs of these investments. In the face of this greater scrutiny, Klickna believed it was important that the pension's PE investments earn a satisfactory return, by looking to invest in funds that had upper-quartile returns and public market equivalents (PMEs) greater than one. This case is appropriate for courses that cover PE investments, such as those typically covering topics on venture capital or PE, or courses on asset management that include alternative assets. It introduces students to some of the commonly used PE performance metrics and the challenges associated with measuring performance for an illiquid asset class. Students are introduced to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) and their purposes and limitations in evaluating performance. Students are asked to calculate the gross and net since-inception internal rate of return (SI-IRR), DPI, RVPI, TVPI, and PME for the same pending investment in FLC Fund IV and compare how performance is assessed across these metrics. The case also discusses the push for greater disclosure in the PE industry as it grows in its influence and public investors seek to know more about its performance.

Spreadsheet for case UV8086.

In February 2019, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Daily Bread Food Bank (Daily Bread) in Toronto, Ontario reflected on the charity's strong performance in the past year. Despite Daily Bread's success, the CEO felt there were opportunities to do more. Toronto's food insecurity rate had been rising in recent years, and food banks across the city had been struggling to meet demand. The CEO had several potential ideas for contributing to the long-term sustainability of the food bank and delivering the highest impact in the community. Daily Bread's underused kitchen could be turned into a social enterprise and used to generate more funds to gain additional engagement with the local community in the fight against hunger; the kitchen could also be rented out for special events after hours and on weekends; extra shifts and truck deliveries would help grow the charity's operations; or the organization could keep the status quo and let the charity grow naturally. Most importantly, however, the decision would have to align with the charity's mission and current operations. With the advisory board of directors' meeting rapidly approaching, the CEO had to make a decision on how to maximize the food bank's resources.

In early January 2019, a recent Ivey Business School graduate logged into her online trading account to review her portfolio's performance. As she scanned her investments, she paused at one stock in particular. It was time to make a decision regarding one of her most volatile stocks-Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., recently renamed Bausch Health Companies Inc. The pharmaceutical company was once celebrated for its innovative business approach. However, both its stock price and reputation as one of Canada's most valuable companies had plummeted in recent years, after accusations of price gouging and investigations for fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Overburdened with significant amounts of debt from a spree of acquisitions, the company was also scrutinized by investors and regulators for using non-GAAP accounting metrics for its financial statements. The recent graduate wondered if she should hold out hope that the stock would return to its historic highs, or if she should cut her losses and divest the stock.

BusBoard Prototype Systems Ltd. (BusBoard), a company based in Calgary, Alberta, that designed and manufactured printed circuit boards targeted at the electronics hobbyist market, managed foreign-currency transactions on a transaction-by-transaction basis. The company's general manager had been buying and selling CAD and USD while attempting to maximize the company's value, timing transactions based on previous experience and professional judgment. This was challenging because she did not have any experience with currency futures or options, and she wondered if she could improve company performance by trading currencies differently. Exchange-rate volatility put constant pressure on her ability to make the best choice. The company paid most of its suppliers and received most of its payments from customers in USD. Highlighted in the case study is a recent transaction in which BusBoard ordered parts and supplies from a Taiwanese supplier, with 50 per cent payment due on contract negotiation and the remaining 50 per cent due on delivery. The general manager knew that developing a more effective way to manage currency transactions could play a big part in keeping the company profitable in the future.

A star fund manager at Principal First had been managing the company's information technology fund for the previous six years. Under his management, the fund had consistently outperformed the market, delivering a five-year compounded annual growth rate of 28 per cent. The exceptional performance of the fund was due to an overexposed position in Vakrangee Limited, a mid-tier information technology company. The fund manager bought the stock in early October 2017 at ₹240. By January 2018, the stock reached a high of ₹500. However, the fund manager did not liquidate his position because he believed that there was still more value in the company. At the end of January 2018, the stock plummeted, as did its net asset value, and the fund manager wondered where he had gone wrong in his analysis.

Student spreadsheet supplement to case W20590