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There is a substantial gap between the promise and reality of artificial intelligence in human resource (HR) management. This article identifies four challenges in using data science techniques for HR tasks: complexity of HR phenomena, constraints imposed by small data sets, accountability questions associated with fairness and other ethical and legal constraints, and possible adverse employee reactions to management decisions via data-based algorithms. It then proposes practical responses to these challenges based on three overlapping principles-causal reasoning, randomization and experiments, and employee contribution-that would be both economically efficient and socially appropriate for using data science in the management of employees.

How does organizational decision-making change with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision-making algorithms? This article identifies the idiosyncrasies of human and AI-based decision making along five key contingency factors: specificity of the decision search space, interpretability of the decision-making process and outcome, size of the alternative set, decision-making speed, and replicability. Based on a comparison of human and AI-based decision making along these dimensions, the article builds a novel framework outlining how both modes of decision making may be combined to optimally benefit the quality of organizational decision making. The framework presents three structural categories in which decisions of organizational members can be combined with AI-based decisions: full human to AI delegation; hybrid-human-to-AI and AI-to-human-sequential decision making; and aggregated human-AI decision making.

In 2017, the owner of Toboggan Brewing Company (Toboggan) needed to increase production capacity for his craft beer without making a capital investment. Toboggan was a very small player in the Ontario market; however, its craft beer had significant opportunity for growth due to the owner's strong business acumen and a proven consumer demand for the product. The owner had four options for potential contracting partners. The trade-offs between his contract partners were price, experience, location, and distribution.

In its first four years, Fancam Pty Ltd. (Fancam), a high-definition, 360-degree crowd-imaging business based in Cape Town, South Africa, had enjoyed considerable growth that was driven in part by its network of resellers around the world. However, the structure and incentives of the reseller channel were becoming too difficult for the business to manage. By February 2015, Fancam's chief executive officer was considering how to fix the firm's channel management strategy. He was considering the use of reseller exclusivity agreements and wondered how to manage such agreements. He also wondered how to improve the company's multi-faceted sales incentive structure, whether to replace resellers with an in-house sales force, and what role these decisions would have on the brand positioning of his company's product.

US-based Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI), founded in 1992, was the world's largest agency dedicated to providing adoption services to abandoned children living in Chinese social welfare institutions. By 2017, CCAI had found permanent homes in the United States for more than 12,000 orphaned children and children with disabilities. However, the economic, social, legal, and political environments in China were changing. The number of abandoned children in the Chinese mainland was gradually decreasing, while the number of children with disabilities seeking a foreign adoption was constantly increasing. The founders were determined to apply their experiences, resources, and influence to charitable work, while continuing to pursue the cause of international adoptions. What should they do to help maintain CCAI's sustainable development?

In 2018, President of the United States, Donald Trump, criticized the company Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) for increasing drug prices-which had been a strategic move by Pfizer in response to industry-wide challenges. This announcement highlighted the complex dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry and the big challenges that innovative research and development (R&D)-intensive pharmaceutical companies faced. The entire pharmaceutical industry was being challenged by issues such as decreasing global average returns on investment and increased R&D costs. In addition, the company faced increased competition from companies from other industries and from emerging-market companies. Pfizer's chief executive officer needed to determine whether or not these changes marked a turning point for the whole industry.

Case B complements Case A (W19390), describing pharmaceutical companies' strategic responses-such as mega-mergers and acquisitions and specialization-to industry-wide global challenges and highlights strategic decisions by Pfizer's chief executive officers between 2007 and 2018.

From 2008-2010 Anand Piramal ran a series of pilots for his digital healthcare startup, Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS) to "democratize healthcare" in rural areas of India. PeS ran into difficulties so Anand Piramal had to decide whether to continue the organization and if so how. In 2010, an unexpected opportunity emerged that could have significant implications for PeS's organizational structure and future prospects. Anand Piramal now faced several options for PeS. He needed to weigh the pros and cons of each option to make the best decision to fulfill his vision of providing quality healthcare services to "bottom-of-the-pyramid" populations. This case exemplifies the strategic decisions an entrepreneur must make to ensure that a social impact venture can be sustainable and scalable.

In 2010, Anand Piramal acquired the Health Management Research Institute (HMRI), a healthcare venture, and merged it with his original digital healthcare startup Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS), so that PeS became Piramal Swasthya. After acquiring HMRI, Piramal Swasthya scaled across 20 Indian states and became India's largest private primary healthcare initiative by implementing public-private partnerships with state governments. In 2012, Anand Piramal stepped down as CEO of Piramal Swasthya, leading to organizational change and a healthcare strategy focused on improving maternal health amongst India's most vulnerable populations. This case shows how an organization can achieve innovation at scale through cross-sector collaboration.

At-Bay was a cyber insurance startup that offered companies coverage against a wide array of cyber risks-exposure to which the firm was able to quickly assess and price on the basis of technical expertise that traditional insurance carriers lacked. In mid-2019, At-Bay was working to build underwriting revenue ahead of a Series B round of venture funding that the company hoped to receive by year's end. This required not only scaling its underwriting capacity and convincing insurance brokers to include the startup among the carriers they quoted to their corporate clients, but also ensuring that At-Bay avoided the temptation to grow revenues by taking on riskier clients than it might otherwise prefer.

This case follows Lebanese entrepreneur, Hind Hobeika, an engineer and competitive swimmer who spends seven years trying to launch a wearable heartrate monitor and motion sensor to help swimmers track their performance while swimming. While the Beirut-based entrepreneur gained initial traction soon after founding her company Instabeat in September 2011, winning $150,000 in prize money from business plan competitions and raising $100,000 from a local venture capital firm, Hobeika soon faced a series of set-backs in trying to manufacture the product. Given the complexity of the hardware product she was trying to build, Hobeika had invested a significant amount of capital in the manufacturing design and had faced continuous delays. In addition, the product was not proving to be economically viable. By early 2016, Hobeika was out of money and had to let her team go. The business issues had also taken a toll on her personal life. However, Hobeika saw a potential path forward. The VC who had originally backed her was closing a new round of funding and was willing to discuss another potential round. More importantly, while in London, she had recently met Alex Asseily, a prominent Lebanese-British entrepreneur who encouraged her to stay the course. He suggested that she relocate to San Francisco, where he would soon be based, and offered to help her. Would it be worthwhile to leave everything behind, relocate, and rebuild the business? Hobeika had to decide: should she continue or not? If so, under what circumstances? If not, what would she do next?

In January 2018, Fotile Kitchenware Co. Ltd.'s (Fotile's) sales for 2017 were announced at over ¥10 billion. Fotile had become the first kitchen appliance manufacturer in China to reach this significant milestone, despite its relatively short operational history. For years, Fotile had also been considered China's most prominent brand in the kitchenware industry, beating several internationally-reputed brands. Since the company's founding, the founder had set a differentiation strategy for this new venture to compete in the kitchen appliance industry. He had also made numerous tough decisions along the way to ensure that this strategy was persistently followed through. However, could his strategy continue to sustain Fotile's growth for the future?

Assessing the performance of private equity (PE) investments is a challenging task. It starts with the fact that the assets are privately held and illiquid. By contrast, public equity valuations are determined in a vast open market populated largely by disinterested investors acting on publicly available information. Therefore, to make an informed assessment about PE performance, investors should be aware of the areas where general partners' discretion can most influence fund performance. As PE has grown as an asset class, investors have pushed for greater disclosure and more standardization of performance metrics and benchmarks. Although this has resulted in greater standardization of the reported information, considerable opportunity remains for general partners to influence fund returns. This note summarizes the key metrics used in assessing PE performance and discusses important areas of general partners' influence on reported returns.

Student spreadsheet to case UV7808

In July 2016, Singapore's Minister for Transport announced that Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd (SMRT) had agreed to sell its trains, tracks, and other operating assets to the government for $1 billion. SMRT would continue to operate and maintain MRT services but as an "asset light" company with the government responsible for financing the assets needed and leasing them to the company. Five months later, Temasek Holdings, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, purchased the remaining shares of SMRT and delisted the company from the Singapore stock exchange. The two 2016 reforms were just the latest developments in a several decades-long debate about how best to provide high-quality and affordable MRT services in Singapore. The current round had begun several years earlier when SMRT suffered a series of breakdowns that left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, in some cases waiting hours in darkened tunnels until they were evacuated. A Commission of Inquiry blamed inadequate maintenance by SMRT, but the key questions were what were the underlying forces that led to the poor maintenance and breakdowns and would the creation of an asset-light, government-owned company help address them? Case number 2110.3

This case puts participants in the shoes of the directors of Barry Callebaut (BC), a cocoa-sourcing and chocolate manufacturing company. Chairman Andreas Jacobs is passionate about cocoa sustainability in West Africa - ensuring the cocoa crop (endangered by poor farming and climate change) and the farmers who grow it will survive and thrive. However, in response to a falling share price, the BC board has shifted strategy to achieve cost leadership. Moreover, customers have been unwilling to pay a premium for sustainable cocoa beans. Given the scale of the problem, the company cannot 'go it alone'. Nonetheless, when the CEO steps down in 2008, Jacobs sees an opportunity for BC to embrace sustainability and urges the board to go beyond goodwill gestures - like its earlier building of schools in Ivory Coast - and take "real action". Should the board follow his lead? What would "real action" mean?

Supplement to case IN1598 This case puts participants in the shoes of the directors of Barry Callebaut (BC), a cocoa-sourcing and chocolate manufacturing company. Chairman Andreas Jacobs is passionate about cocoa sustainability in West Africa - ensuring the cocoa crop (endangered by poor farming and climate change) and the farmers who grow it will survive and thrive. However, in response to a falling share price, the BC board has shifted strategy to achieve cost leadership. Moreover, customers have been unwilling to pay a premium for sustainable cocoa beans. Given the scale of the problem, the company cannot 'go it alone'. Nonetheless, when the CEO steps down in 2008, Jacobs sees an opportunity for BC to embrace sustainability and urges the board to go beyond goodwill gestures - like its earlier building of schools in Ivory Coast - and take "real action". Should the board follow his lead? What would "real action" mean?

The case describes how a loss-making ferry company was brought back to financial health, modernised and recapitalised in less than two years, amidst a context of political pressure, stakeholder hostility and a €600 million fine from the European Union. The Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée (SNCM) was sinking under the weight of French blockades and belligerent unions. Ferries were hijacked and a million people took to the streets to protest against potential job losses, disrupting passenger services to/from Corsica at the peak of the summer season. In May 2014, Guillaume de Feydeau was appointed CEO to devise a turnaround plan to save the former state-owned company from bankruptcy. The new management team not only had to master the political and social intricacies of the situation, but time was of the essence: the majority shareholder wanted out and cash was running dangerously low.

The case follows Mina Radharkrishnan's career as a product manager and product executive in various digital environments. She launches her own start-up in 2016 and reflects on the lessons she has primarily learned at Uber, and earlier on at Google, Goldman Sachs, and ModCloth. Beyond leveraging technology to the benefit of potential customers, Mina would like to use her experience to build a team of product managers, facilitate collaboration between different stakeholders, and set priorities accordingly. The discussion explores the challenges that product managers and executives typically face and possible solutions.