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Stephane Kasriel, the CEO of Upwork, the leading platform for freelance labor, updates his progress on how to redesign its business model in 2019.

India's most recognized celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor has been an integral part of the country's food industry since 1993. As a celebrity chef, Kapoor enjoyed a 17-year run of his hit TV cooking show "Khana Khazana", published more than 100 cookbook titles in multiple languages and endorsed a variety of brands. Kapoor later turned entrepreneur when he established a restaurant company that has partnered with more than 60 restaurant franchisees worldwide and launched his own TV channel-FoodFood. Although Kapoor has multiple businesses, he continues to find more exciting growth opportunities coming his way.

In December 2015, the new government in Argentina lifted capital controls, leading to a sudden drop in the value of the Argentine peso. This depreciation of the peso had the potential to significantly affect companies that exported goods to Argentina. One such company was Bajaj Auto Limited (Bajaj Auto), an Indian exporter of motorcycles to Argentina. On December 18, 2015, Bajaj Auto's shares dropped 2.43 per cent and lost over US$212 million in market capitalization. The market was reacting to concerns that exports from the world's fourth-largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, Bajaj Auto, might be hurt in Argentina, where it was the market leader with over 30 per cent of the market share. Following the 30 per cent decline of the peso on December 16, 2015, there was uncertainty about the future of the currency. What caused Argentina to lift currency controls and float the peso? Why had the Argentine peso depreciated so sharply, and what was its future course? Moreover, how would this affect Bajaj Auto and how could it handle such a crisis?

This case focuses on the introduction of the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule in 2018 and General Motors' (GM's) challenge regarding how to best respond during the proposed rule's public comment period. GM, a company committed to a vision of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, can respond to the SAFE public comment period in one of four ways: support the new SAFE standards, favor maintaining the status quo Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, propose a National Zero Emission Vehicle (NZEV) program, or opt to say nothing. The case presents GM's company history, the history of U.S. fuel economy standards, the electric vehicle market, and an overview of the stakeholder landscape surrounding this issue. Students will explore how sustainability, government, and business interconnect when making a policy recommendation that will not only affect GM's business but also the trajectory of sustainability within the auto industry as a whole.

In 2016, the supply chain manager at Northwestern Memorial Hospital recognized that many problems occurring throughout the hospital originated at the hospital receiving area. Some problems had reached epic proportions: overstocking at par locations, stocking at temporary locations, misplaced items, expired items, and inaccurate inventory records. Most of the problems could be traced to the receiving area's procedures and average three-day dock-to-stock lead time. A value-stream mapping kaizen event revealed that a big contributor to the long lead time was the receiving area's reliance on batch-oriented processing. The supply chain manager recognized the severity of the situation and urgent need to do something to improve operations in the receiving area and shorten the lead time from package arrival to final delivery. He felt that reducing the lead time from three days to one day would reduce or eliminate many of the problems, and it seemed a reachable goal. The supply chain manager intended to approach this challenge using the lean production practices he had successfully employed elsewhere.

Case A describes a leadership crisis affecting the managing director of the German construction company SÄBU Holzbau GmbH. In 2013, severe organizational problems, such as deficiencies in internal communication, indecisiveness, and a lack of clarity in the distribution of tasks and responsibilities, led to frustrations for both customers and employees. The crisis culminated with three key employees leaving the company because they were no longer willing to cope with what they described as "chaos."

Supplement to case W19170 Case B describes how management at SÄBU Holzbau GmbH was able to overcome the crisis with the help of a team of consultants who supported the company through a change process that significantly altered the its culture.

In late September 2017, the country manager of Garrard Japan was reviewing an interim strategy to deal with emerging, negative views on the ongoing globalization of industry and commerce. Garrard Japan was a wholly owned subsidiary of Garrard S.A., a leading packaged foods company. The European-based multinational enterprise had been a major contributor to globalizing trade and commerce, and the survey results had highlighted a Japanese view that global companies were concerned more with profits than with meeting the needs of local communities. The country manager wondered whether the strategy developed by his team to change these perceptions was adequate. He was also considering how to execute the strategy and who should pay for it: Garrard Japan or Garrard S.A.?

In 2014, Song Weiping, the founder, chair, and major shareholder of the high-end residential property developer Greentown China Holdings Limited (Greentown), based in Hangzhou, China, had started to consider decreasing his involvement in his company. Without any family to provide an obvious successor, Song had to evaluate different ways to leave the business he founded. The alternatives ranged from selling all or part of his holdings to keeping his shares but having someone else manage the company. If he chose to resign his position as chair and remain as a financial investor, he would have to find a suitable successor to act as chief executive officer. If he chose to sell his interest in the company, what criteria should he use to determine the best buyer or buyers? How much should he sell, and how could he determine a fair price?

At the end of 2017, the human resources director at Yuanbo Education Group, a fast-growing educational service enterprise located in Shanghai, China, was struggling to calm down the managers, who were complaining about their salaries. Managers of the established business units were paid a relatively lower base salary but often with a sizable bonus tied to a revenue target. In contrast, the new hires for the recently established business units were paid a much higher base pay but with little or no bonus available. Both veteran and new managers were dissatisfied with their pay structure. The human resources director knew that he needed to take action soon. But what should he do and where should he start?

This technical note discusses the various financial services segments in which technology solutions have been used to solve problems, including lending, payments, wealth/investment management, insurance, and regulation. For each of the segments, the note identifies key issues facing the segment, why and how fintech might provide an answer to the challenges faced, and the potential difficulties fintech may experience in doing so. For example, in lending, fintechs could solve issues related to access and convenience-without the need for costly infrastructure. The note also discusses the potential advantages/disadvantages of traditional banks over fintechs. Finally, the note describes influential technologies that are used in fintech such as application program interface (API), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning.

In June 2018, Ow Fook Chuen, the Accountant-General of the Accountant-General's Department (AGD), was in charge of the Accountant-General's Department (AGD) as it sought to improve through innovation and the use of technology. Being the steward of public sector finance transformation, AGD partnered public sector agencies to uplift the role of finance from being the custodian of public finance, to a strategic partner who empowers decision-making. In its role, AGD had to handle various financial transactions related to the government and its vendors, and process the payroll of all government officers. Staff from AGD were seconded to work closely with other public sector finance professionals in the finance and internal audit departments of various public sector agencies in order to implement key initiatives. To improve the accuracy and efficiency of its processes, AGD had reviewed new technologies and spoke to private sector companies on their experiences. It linked many individual systems used by various ministries across the Whole-of-Government (WOG) into a central data analytics platform to enable public sector agencies to perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Despite facing a few challenges, Ow knew that the data analytics journey would help AGD strengthen finance functions across WOG.

In 2013, India passed a law to make corporate social responsibility mandatory for large companies. The case examines the context in which the CSR legislation was introduced and how Tata Motors Ltd (TML) responded to it. Case (A) explores the meaning of corporate social responsibility and the question of whether a company should put community projects before profits. Case (B) examines Tata Motors' CSR programmes in depth and provides an opportunity to consider their impact. Students are challenged to come up with their own ideas for how the philosophy of "more from less for more" can be used to address issues related to poverty and lack of education in India.

Supplement to case IN1581 In 2013, India passed a law to make corporate social responsibility mandatory for large companies. The case examines the context in which the CSR legislation was introduced and how Tata Motors Ltd (TML) responded to it. Case (A) explores the meaning of corporate social responsibility and the question of whether a company should put community projects before profits. Case (B) examines Tata Motors' CSR programmes in depth and provides an opportunity to consider their impact. Students are challenged to come up with their own ideas for how the philosophy of "more from less for more" can be used to address issues related to poverty and lack of education in India.

Baabuk, a Swiss based start-up with a branded offering in wool footwear was founded in 2014 by the married couple Dan and Galina Witting. Since then and to 2018, the founders have grown the firm to now offer three product lines of wool footwear, employ 5 staff and book CHF 1.4 Mio net revenues from selling its products across online, distributor and retail channels. The case introduces Baabuk's history, current business and financial situation. The case also highlights the competitive environment with specific focus on Allbirds, a venture-capital backed US start-up. Allbirds has a similar core product to Baabuk. Whilst Baabuk has remained self-financed, Allbirds has raised a number of funding rounds with a most recent valuation of US1.4bn. The case presents the founders in a position where they feel the potential of the product has been clearly demonstrated but also face an increasingly competitive environment. Their primary concern is to formulate the right channel and pricing strategy, but they are also considering external investment to help scale the business. They are in a dilemma as to how to take Baabuk forward and wonder whether they are asking themselves the right questions.

Emsad, a company in the oil and gas industry, needs to improve its safety record. The company has safety systems and safety professionals but has not established safety as a core value. Safety is based on compliance and enforcement and production is often seen as more important than safety. The company is seeking a major new client and undergoes a safety audit as part of the client's qualification process. The audit reveals various issues and now Emsad must decide what needs to change to improve safety performance.

Supplement to case TB0551 The 2014 Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) audit by Smith Overland provided an impetus for change. At the time, Emsad's various clients would often try to get Emsadto adopt new safety programs for their specific contracts. Abdulatif Al Numairy, Emsad's CEO, explained the thinking at that time: We decided that we would not do something just for one client. I do not agree if the enhancement or the program is only for the client because we will never get the maximum return. If every client wants it done their way, we will not be successful. We decided that we should try to bring the whole company and even the whole industry to a higher level of performance. Success willbreed success.... Smith Overland agreed and supported a company-wide program. They encouraged us to get other clients on board.

In 2012, just before the Christmas holiday season, a 13-year-old girl, McKenna Pope, filed a petition of complaint to Hasbro, a leading North American toy manufacturer. She wanted to end gender stereotypes in children's toys. Hoping to fulfill her younger brother's Christmas wish, Pope realized that there was only one pink and purple variant of the Easy Bake Oven available in the market. The oven was viewed as gender specific (only for girls) making boys reluctant to play with it. Even the commercials and the packaging of the toy featured only girls, creating a reluctance among young boys to play with it. Pope decided to write to Hasbro with the support of an online collaborative platform called change.org. The petition questioned Hasbro's product planning and created awareness about the firm's gender based marketing strategies. Surprisingly, the petition gathered support from not only parents, but also from some of America's culinary experts who voiced their concerns about creating a divided culture.

The senior vice-president for sustainable investing at the U.S.-based Pax World Funds, a leader in socially responsible investing, needed to identify and invest in companies for the company's Pax Ellevate Global Women's Leadership Fund, an investment fund that promoted labour rights through gender equality. The fund had more than US$200 million in assets under management, a 25 per cent one-year rate of return, and a three-year annual rate of return of 10 per cent. In June 2018, a newly hired analyst was asked to evaluate a company to determine its suitability as a potential gender-lens investment target for the fund, using specific socially responsible investing criteria. She wondered how she should evaluate the company. What characteristics would make it suitable as an investment target for the fund?