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In mid-2018, a supply constraint analyst at General Motors (GM) was working on two electric vehicles: the Chevrolet Bolt EV for the US market and a similar Buick model to be marketed in China. GM had chosen to work with only one supplier for the vehicles' lithium-ion battery: Morningside Power Storage of South Korea. However, since making that decision, consolidation in the freight shipping industry had led to higher shipping costs, and China had introduced regulations to restrict and discourage the importation of batteries. The supply constraint analyst needed to decide where the battery cell manufacturing and battery pack assembly should be located and the production levels necessary to meet, at the lowest cost possible, the needs of both the Chevrolet Bolt EV in the United States and the Buick version in China.

Student spreadsheet supplement to case W20407

In 2019, the clinical director of the South East Grey Community Health Centre was conflicted about whether to proceed with presenting the chief executive officer with a proposal to expand the health centre's primary services to a satellite location in the neighbouring community of Port Elgin. The clinical director recalled the challenges she and her colleagues had faced in 2018, during the satellite expansion to Dundalk. As a nurse practitioner, she understood the pressing need for services and the moral imperative to put the patient's needs first. However, as a key member of the Centre's management team, she also knew what this proposal would entail operationally, and what internal pressures and risks were involved. The clinical director wondered how, in an environment of static or declining budgets, the Centre could build on its successes and challenges to date to address the emerging demand for further growth. Should she present the proposal to expand to another neighbouring community during a time of fiscal constraints?

Hank Carlson, once a successful businessman and a well-respected member of his community, spent nearly two years in prison for check fraud. When he was caught, the community turned on him instantly, and his family suffered financially and socially as a result of his deeds. Carlson did his time grudgingly, believing himself to have been the scapegoat of a Justice Department that was overcompensating for the Enron debacle by punishing any businessperson who set a toe even slightly outside the law...even if, as Carlson imagines is true of him, they hadn't really hurt anybody. Now, Carlson is out of prison and working to repair the broken trust and relationships within his family. He has an okay job and new connections with people who don't know about his past. But when an investment banker offers Carlson a finance job, Carlson fears that accepting it would reveal what he'd done all over again, exposing himself and his family to more damage. And then a local teacher at the center of a scandal reaches out to Carlson for help and advice. What should Carlson do?

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) Ordinance (AMLO) became effective in Hong Kong in April 2012. Since then, between July 2015 and December 2018, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has taken disciplinary actions against four banks, namely State Bank of India, Coutts & Co AG, Shanghai Commercial Bank, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, for their violations of the ordinance, resulting in a total pecuniary penalty of HKD32m. This case summarizes (i) the bank regulator's findings on the deficiencies by the four banks in their AML compliance programs and their violations of the AMLO; and (ii) the disciplinary actions taken by the banking regulator against the four banks. The case also presents the challenges encountered by the financial institutions between compliance costs and avoidance strategy in the form of "de-risking". The instructor can use the case to explore AML concepts as well as issues faced by banks in compliance practices as a result of the AMLO, as illustrated by experiences of the four banks. In addition, the instructor can analyse the impacts the AMLO has on the banking industry and the society, including the social cost of compliance to the AMLO and the efficient and effective provision of banking services to the community, as well as potential regulatory arbitrage among countries as well as the potential shifting of money laundering activities to other non-bank financial services providers, e.g., shadow banks.

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions on travel, work, and social gatherings. A large share of the global population was under lockdowns and unprecedented supply and demand disruptions crippled the economy. In response, central banks announced massive lending programs to avoid a financial meltdown, and governments were launching unprecedented fiscal packages designed to contain the collapse. In a matter of weeks, the pandemic turned into one of the worst global economic crises since the Great Depression. As governments struggled to make policy decisions, uncertainty and tensions were rising. How to balance the public health and economic concerns? What would be the economic and political consequences of the policy response? Was this the end of globalization, or the beginning of a new era of international cooperation? The only certainty was that some of the hardest choices still lay ahead.

Evelynn by Nicole Snobelen was an e-commerce clothing company based in London, Ontario, and was owned and operated by Nicole Snobelen. Snobelen had just been informed that a retail unit had become available for immediate occupancy at The Market at the Western Fair District in London (The Market). The Market housed a farmer's market on the main floor and an artisan's market on the second floor that featured distinctive locally handcrafted products. Snobelen had been waiting for a space to become available at The Market for some time, but now that the opportunity was becoming a reality, she wanted to thoroughly assess the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the decision before deciding to jump in.

Capillary Technologies, an Indian customer relationship management software as a service company, provided cloud-based omnichannel customer engagement and related services to retailers and brands. In a country well known for software service companies, based primarily on labour cost advantages, Capillary was founded as a business-to-business software company (i.e., an intellectual property company). After entering several Western markets, which was consistent with its lofty aspirations, Capillary decided to pursue Asian markets. The new venture relocated its headquarters from India to Singapore and made strong efforts to gain revenue in the Asia region-including the large, but intensely competitive, Chinese market. Capillary started by working with Western multinationals that were its customers in other markets. The company then began attracting local customers, as it established a Chinese technology team to cater to the unique technological ecosystems prevalent in China. Over a three-year period, Capillary achieved 200 per cent annual growth. With the opening of a new office in Guangzhou, Capillary then hoped to further deepen its presence in the Chinese market. What could the general manager do to help Capillary reach this goal within the next three years?

Forging partnerships and investing in startups for new technologies can help companies catch up with rivals, but it doesn't always give them a competitive advantage. Most would do better to rethink their innovation systems. They must treat external innovation as a way of balancing and broadening their portfolios, not as a substitute for internal innovation. Only then will they be able to execute the transformations that will allow them to win the digital future.

ArtGo Holdings Limited (HKSE:03313) was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's main board. The company mined marble in mainland China. In July, after MSCI, the index company, announced it would include the stock in the MSCI China All Shares Index, the share price shot up from around HKD2.0 to a high of HKD14.96 in November. Inclusion was expected to result in significant demand for this stock by passive investors. When MSCI announced it would not include ArtGo in its index after all, the share price dropped to HKD0.305 before share trading was halted on the morning of 21 November. Almost HKD46bn, equivalent to 98% of the shareholders' wealth, had been wiped out Stocks listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, one of the world's largest, are famous for their volatility. Without substantial changes in its business or economic outlook, stock prices have been known to go up multiple times. At the same time, it is not unheard of for a stock to lose most of its value within a single day. This case addresses a few interesting and important questions about stock valuation on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Stock financing agreements between substantial shareholders and lenders can have a significant effect on the value of listed companies in Hong Kong. The same goes for market news and rumours. How can (minority) shareholders can avoid this kind of tail risk, and what are the problematic risk indicators in such cases? Does the regulator do enough to protect the interest of minority shareholders?

Netflix's stellar growth is jeopardized by a changing competitive landscape and fluctuating trust from the market related to its strategy of extensive proprietary content development. With the rising presence of Google's YouTube and Amazon's Prime Video, as well as Apple's Apple TV Plus and Disney's Disney Plus entry into the ring, customers get access to a broader range of content and aggregated offerings. Still, content seems king, and Netflix seeks to outrun competitors with their own award winning and broad video library. That however requires increasing content investments followed by costly marketing efforts to sustain growth. Critics wonder if Netflix's continued binge-spending will translate into sustainable growth while debts increasingly weight on the balance sheet and cash flow remains negative. In a time when most competitors seek to vertically integrate or platformize, often fueled by deep pockets, is Netflix pursuing still the right strategy? Or does Netflix need to revise its business model in order to successfully compete also in the future? This case explores what's going on for and around Netflix, inviting students to redefine Netflix's future strategic direction.

Carlos Ghosn, a Brazilian-Lebanese-French, is by many counts, one of the - if not the - most celebrated automotive executives of the late 20th and early 21st century. This is a two-part case about his career, leadership, and decision-making. Part A starts in 1999, the early days of Ghosn's arrival in Japan, where he went on a mission to rescue Nissan, one of the biggest Japanese car manufacturers with a long tradition that had run into trouble and was in danger of bankruptcy. Ghosn went there after Renault entered into an alliance with Nissan in 1999. The case then goes back in time, following Ghosn from when he was born in Brazil, and then moved to Lebanon and later France, where he studied and began his career at Michelin. The case ends in November 2018, with talk about the potential merger of Renault and Nissan into a single company having stalled, leaving the alliance in status quo. Part A of the case is structured around a key tension: What happens when the cosmopolitan, melting-pot, aggressive Ghosn - who made his name as 'le cost-killer' - meets corporate Japan, with its very homogenous, indirect, and conflict-avoiding culture? Part B starts on November 19, 2018, when Carlos Ghosn is arrested as he arrives at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. The accusations against him include allegations of misappropriation of company funds for personal use and concealment of a large amount of remuneration. According to the chief prosecutor, Ghosn's wrongdoings were more serious than insider trading. The case presents in some detail the different allegations against Ghosn, and then describes the reactions of Ghosn and Nissan to the accusations. It ends with a recounting of some of the subsequent events, including the granting of bail to Ghosn. Part B of the case is meant to facilitate discussion around a key question: How could someone as successful as Ghosn have come to engage in the kinds of behaviours he was accused of?

PVR Limited (PVR), the largest premium film exhibition company in India, with more than 750 screens, launched its Accessible Cinema Program in December 2018. Supported by its top management, PVR developed a culture of social responsibility that went beyond compliance. The program aimed to make PVR's cinemas accessible to people with disabilities and focused especially on providing content for people with hearing impairment, and visual impairment. PVR rolled out the program to 50 cinemas in the first phase, and the response from patrons was encouraging. However, rolling out the program to the entire chain would involve redesigning existing cinemas to make them accessible and would be operationally and financially challenging. Additionally, the success of the program was dependent upon the willingness of film producers to provide content suitable for visually- and hearing-impaired audiences. Although laws mandated the production of suitable content for people with disabilities, these laws were not consistently enforced. Making movie producers provide suitable content was not going to be easy. In 2019, now that the first phase of the accessibility program was launched, how could the company meet these continuing challenges going forward?

The two co-founders of PharmEasy, an online medical store and pharmacy website launched in 2015, faced a new challenge in December 2018. Recent judgments by the Madras and Delhi High Courts had suspended the operations of India's more than 250 online pharmacies until new industry regulations could be drafted. Only a few months earlier, in August 2018, the Indian government had released proposed draft regulations for the online sale of medicine. However, an organization representing more than 850,000 pharmacists in India had staged a one-day strike to protest the government's proposal. Should PharmEasy take a cautious approach with its ambitious expansion plans until the government introduces regulations? Or would its competitors seize the opportunity to move forward aggressively to gain market share? The co-founders recognized that the regulatory uncertainty was creating confusion. They needed to decide on their next steps quickly-and communicate their intentions to all stakeholders.

In late 2018, the founder and owner of Pupadise, Inc., a pet care business in Canada, was nearing her graduation from university and needed to decide what to do with the business she had built in her undergraduate years. Pupadise cared for clients' pets when the pet owners could not; its services primarily consisted of live-in and drop-in pet care. The owner was considering selling the business, but was concerned that the sale price would be low because her business had no traditional assets. Inspired by a guest speaker in her pricing class, she realized that her client list of 300 pet owners had value, but wondered how to price it. She had a meeting scheduled with a prospective buyer and wanted to prepare. Should she sell her business, and if so, for how much?

This case outlines various investment options for the CEO of JUST, Inc., Josh Tetrick, as he attempts to capture market share in the protein industry of the future. JUST, Inc. is a plant-based alternatives company and has been successful with a diverse portfolio of product offerings including JUST Egg. Trends such as worldwide population growth, rising global income, and increased ethical/environmental concerns suggest an ongoing demand for protein, but not from traditional meat. So, Tetrick weighs four main options: clean meat, plant-based meat, insect proteins, and the status quo of continuing product development in the plant-based alternatives space. Students will weigh the benefits and challenges of each option.

Sa Sa International Holdings Limited, a leading cosmetics retail group in Asia, announced on December 2, 2019 that it would close all 22 stores in Singapore. It attributed the closures to the less-than-satisfactory performance of its Singapore operations for many years, where it had recorded losses for six consecutive years. This case analyses the possible reasons for Sasa's store closures, and explores how an improved customer experience and omnichannel strategy delivered through phygital stores might have helped save the situation.

Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 1 offers an introduction to digital marketing, an inexpensive way to reach a broad target audience in order to achieve specific business goals. The basics of several ways to digitally market are described. Websites need to offer a great visitor experience; search engine optimization makes a website findable on search engines by more people; social media can target audiences with high levels of accuracy. Digital marketing analytics helps marketers understand the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. Digital marketing strategies include everything that needs to be done to reach business goals with the help of online marketing channels. Entrepreneurs should think of a few goals they want to accomplish through their digital marketing strategy, plan their digital sales funnel with the AIDA model, and identify the channels they will use to target the audience. Monitoring digital marketing efforts will help to improve strategy and execution.