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In December 2018, the blockchain startup Fluidity was about to participate in its first tokenization deal, which would create digital access to property rights in a 12-unit Manhattan condominium complex. The deal was proof-of-concept for Fluidity, which hoped to develop a business digitizing securities issuance for other real estate assets on the basis of its technical facility with blockchain technology, and in conjunction with its broker-dealer partner, Propellr. A successful transaction would only prompt larger and more urgent strategic questions, however. Among them was the appropriate revenue model for Fluidity-whether to grow by providing its technical services to broker-dealers, by going into tokenized securities issuance, or by harnessing its trading technology to facilitate a secondary market in tokenized securities.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of telecommunication giant Vodafone, must respond to reports of disturbing accounting practices at two of Vodafone's operating companies. In one case, €60 million have been misreported due to a series of failures to check manual accounting processes. The situation has been escalated to Vodafone's audit committee, which expects Colao and his team to act drastically. In the second case, €7 million have been misreported through deferred recognition of costs into the future. The two cases challenge Colao's organizational model of International Values and Local Roots that aims to maintain productive tension between global mandates and local practices. Colao meticulously designed his model based on the key value of trust, his unwavering convictions earning him the moniker of the 'benevolent dictator.' Colao is acutely aware that his response to the accounting discrepancies will be a referendum on his leadership for over 120,000 employees worldwide. If he doesn't make the right decisions, the consequences will reverberate throughout the organization and erode confidence in the value of trust that he relentlessly worked to establish.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of telecommunication giant Vodafone, must respond to reports of disturbing accounting practices at two of Vodafone's operating companies. In one case, €60 million have been misreported due to a series of failures to check manual accounting processes. The situation has been escalated to Vodafone's audit committee, which expects Colao and his team to act drastically. In the second case, €7 million have been misreported through deferred recognition of costs into the future. The two cases challenge Colao's organizational model of International Values and Local Roots that aims to maintain productive tension between global mandates and local practices. Colao meticulously designed his model based on the key value of trust, his unwavering convictions earning him the moniker of the 'benevolent dictator.' Colao is acutely aware that his response to the accounting discrepancies will be a referendum on his leadership for over 120,000 employees worldwide. If he doesn't make the right decisions, the consequences will reverberate throughout the organization and erode confidence in the value of trust that he relentlessly worked to establish.

Founded at the end of 1999 by Juliet Davenport and Martin Edwards, Good Energy was the number-two renewable-energy seller in the United Kingdom at the end of 2016, supplying over 71,000 of the country's 27 million households and small businesses with 100% renewable electricity and over 44,000 with gas. It also provided administrative support for over 133,000 mostly domestic solar generators selling surplus energy to the grid. Its wind and solar farms generated enough electricity for 20,000 homes. Revenues of £90 million had grown at an average of 33% over the previous five years, while operating profits of £6.0 million had grown at 27%. However, all was not good at Good Energy. A commitment in 2015 to grow to 900,000 customers by 2020 was revised in 2016 to a target of "sustainable profit growth and enhanced customer service." Moreover, the long-term goal of generating 50% of energy sold was abandoned in favor of sourcing more from third parties. Part of the challenge appeared to be the entry of many new renewable-energy suppliers that offered tariffs 20% to 30% below Good Energy's tariffs. But CEO Juliet Davenport faced other challenges. A hostile government was threatening to cap energy rates and reduce renewable subsidies. Meanwhile, Dale Vince, the CEO of Ecotricity, the number-one green-energy supplier in the United Kingdom and Good Energy's biggest shareholder, was trying to claim two seats on the board. How was Davenport going to navigate through these challenges and maintain Good Energy's success?

In late 2010, Michael Tsamaz was appointed CEO and Chairman of Greek telecommunications company OTE. OTE still exhibited many traits of a large incumbent organization, with high personnel costs, crippling bureaucracy, lack of customer-centricity, a dull brand, and eroding profitability. Tsamaz was taking over the reins at a time of deep economic crisis in Greece, which would impact the options available to him to transform the company.

New approach to accelerating the development of innovation through corporate venturing by creating partnerships between startup venture and established corporations through the launch of the Global Sports Venture Studios created by R/GA Ventures and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This case describes the internationalization of the PGA Tour, the U.S.'s professional golf circuit. Propelled in part by the popularity of golf in its domestic market, the PGA Tour built a successful business model attracting the best international players and global corporate sponsors. While the popularity of golf is showing no signs of waning in the U.S., it has been growing fast in other parts of the world. Now attempting to capitalize on opportunities abroad, the PGA Tour faces two challenges: some components of its business model do not lend themselves to internationalization, and its strongest rival, the European Tour, got a head start on the international scene in the early 1990s by gaining a foothold in many important markets. This is a decision-making case. It describes recent events (1996-2017) surrounding the internationalization of the PGA Tour and the competitive rivalry between the PGA Tour and its main challenger, the European Tour. Students are asked to put themselves in the position of Jay Monahan, the newly appointed PGA Tour commissioner, and assess whether the international strategy of the PGA Tour will give it a competitive advantage, particularly since the European Tour is challenging the PGA Tour's dominant position.

In 2012-15, India's domestic tyre industry witnessed slower growth of its production capacity and capacity utilization along with a decline in market share due to increasing demand for cheap Chinese tyres. Indian tyre manufacturers attributed the growing demand for Chinese tyres to dumping of tyres by China. On behalf of major Indian tyre manufacturers, who were worried about the unfair trade practice of Chinese tyre suppliers, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA) urged the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to impose an anti-dumping duty on Chinese truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres. The Association argued that an anti-dumping duty would enable domestic manufacturers to compete with cheap Chinese tyres and more fully utilize their production capacity. But tyre dealers were dead set against an anti-dumping duty, arguing that it was against consumer welfare. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD), which was investigating the case, had to both determine the extent of Chinese dumping and ensure that consumer interests were not undermined by efforts to protect those of the domestic tyre industry.

Big Hit Entertainment, a Korean-based producer of popular music content, was promoting its hit "idol group," BTS, as a serious entry in the world's mainstream musical entertainment business, alongside global performers such as Justin Bieber. The "K-pop machine" represented a complex set of practices for producing performances, many of which were unique to Korea and criticized as being "overly manufactured." The case raises questions about the extent to which processes and institutions designed to generate commercially valuable creative outcomes could be developed into a reliable, repeatable, or standardized form. Could a formula be used to generate successful and creative products?

In March 2018, the managing director of Maha Research Labs Private Limited, a pharmaceutical company in India, was charting his 2020 vision for the company. His ambitious plan was to achieve net revenue of ₹1 billion in 2018 and to have a pan-Indian presence and sales revenue of ₹2 billion in 2020. The managing director knew that the company would need to expand rapidly over the next year to meet these goals. First, however, he needed to assess several factors that would be key to deciding the sales targets. He also needed answers to some serious questions: How should the sales organization be designed? What sales force structure would be appropriate? Should the company opt for a generalist sales force structure or a specialist sales force structure? What was the optimal size for the sales force? What processes should the company follow to design the sales territories?

As Berkshire Hathaway had reported in its 2018, first quarter, 10-Q, it was "engage[d] in a number of diverse business activities." Maria knew that Berkshire Hathaway bought the stock of numerous other companies. She assumed that the company's holdings in the common stock of other companies represented various ownership percentages, and she wanted to explore that possibility more extensively.

When Ben Smith's call-center job is outsourced, he and his wife, Jane, decide to open a catering company to build on Jane's cottage business selling baked goods. They have an opportunity to cater a holiday party hosted by Ben's former employer; however, the Smiths are new to the business and are unsure of the price they should put on their labor. An out-of-state friend in the catering business recommends using his rule-of-thumb, which is doubling or tripling the cost of food and alcohol. As they prepare to launch their new venture, the Smiths assess the various costs they will incur and consider the different forms of value and risk that go into determining a pricing schedule that is both fair to their clients and profitable for Crystal Catering.

A self-taught seamstress based in Barrie, Ontario, must decide how to organize the production process for manufacturing her custom-made baby onesie - a one-piece, close-fitting, lightweight garment worn by a young child, typically with either long or short sleeves but no legs and fastened with press studs at the crotch. As a mother and sewing enthusiast, she had handcrafted several onesies for her friends and family, and now wanted to start a full-time business venture manufacturing and selling her baby clothing and accessories to the general public.

Shift Capital was a social impact real estate firm seeking to positively change underserved urban neighborhoods while producing attractive returns for investors. In January 2018 the organization had raised $25 million to date to support the transformation of the economically and socially challenged Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia; however, another $25 million had to be found as quickly as possible in order to move forward with development plans. In this case students are asked to consider the investor concerns that must be overcome in order to attract enough capital to close the fund: Were investors worried about the risk of investing in such a downtrodden neighborhood? Or was it the perception that Shift's target returns were too low or would take too long?

This case explores how neuroscientist Mariam Chammat helped set up the first behavioral insights team at the center of the French government, and encouraged French administrations to innovate and create policy initiatives based on psychological theories of influence and persuasion. Students are asked to assess 35 projects ripe for behavioral intervention and pick the winning proposals.

Founded in 2017, Choosy is a data-driven fashion startup that uses algorithms to identify styles trending on social media. After manufacturing similar items using a China-based supply chain, Choosy sells them to consumers through its website and social media pages. Since its official launch in July 2018, Choosy has been fine-tuning its business model. Now, in September 2018, founder and CEO Jessie Zeng must decide what the startup's next steps should be. Should Choosy switch to a low-cost drop shipment model, even though it might negatively impact Choosy's brand and customer experience? Additionally, should Choosy shift its product mix to appeal to a wider customer demographic or stick to its original value proposition of offering trendy, celebrity-inspired styles?

Tecnosol's business model proved innovative in three key ways. Firstly, the firm made strategic alliances to reach the bottom of the pyramid. Secondly, the firm focused heavily on quality post-sale customer service, decreasing the costs of future maintenance or repairs, while at the same time strengthening the Tecnosol brand and increasing client satisfaction. Lastly, Tecnosol developed several distribution channels to reach their bottom of the pyramid clients in these remote rural communities, providing quality service. Nonetheless, Tecnosol faced major challenges going forward. Technological advancements and mass production increased the efficiency of solar panels pushing down prices. In addition, the frontier of Tecnosol's rural clients moved farther away as electrification efforts decreased the number of rural Nicaraguans in the dark. Tecnosol had been able to tap the rural residential market, but had not succeeded with agro-industrial or commercial sectors, neither with the urban market. In June 2017, the Nicaraguan Assembly passed Law 272, which allowed utility customers producing energy to inject their surplus into the national grid without cost. In some cases, when surpassing a certain amount of energy, customers would be able to sell their surplus. Previously, customers would be billed for the surplus. This practice, known as net metering, was already commonplace in many parts of the worlds.

This case recounts the journey of Evie.ai, a Singapore-based tech startup. Specifically, the case examines how founder Lee Jin Hian and his team developed and implemented Evie, an artificial intelligence (AI) personal assistant. There are very few teaching cases on AI and its impact on work and employment. Commercial applications of AI may promise substantial potential gains to individual and organizational productivity, but we need to be aware of their limits as well. This case introduces students to AI and how this technology can be informed by data analytics and applied to various tasks. It also offers lessons on the realities of running a startup: students will gain a deeper understanding of tech entrepreneurship (or "technopreneurship") from analysing the challenges and opportunities that confronted Evie.ai, and in navigating the decisions the startup needed to make in the face of mounting competition and rapid technological shifts.

Industry note for case NTU226