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This case study gives an overview of the creation of the Pay-for-Success (PFS) Lab at the University of Virginia (UVA). It promotes discussion of how other university institutions can scale up their own research labs with a limited budget, and also introduces students to the PFS concept and the role university research institutions can play in the social impact process. It highlights the key opportunities and challenges of launching such research labs and concludes with several key decision questions that should be considered.

Branded Lifestyle Holdings Limited (Branded Lifestyle) was an Asian apparel retail company that emerged in 2011 after Fung Retailing Limited acquired Hang Ten Group Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. With five apparel brands, Branded Lifestyle was profitable in most of its Asian markets. However, it was struggling in China and had reported annual loses until the acquisition. In 2014, a new managing director of global brands was appointed at Branded Lifestyle. Looking at the evolving apparel industry in China, and reviewing the company's weak performance over the past years, the managing director knew he needed to develop a strategic plan to turn around the company's operations. His aim was to build a strong and sustainable business in the Chinese market.

The case describes the career path of Lebanese businessman Fadi Baaklini and traces the evolution of MEPCO (Middle East Paper Company), the enterprise he founded with a partner in 1997. MEPCO started out selling paper and later became a paper trading company, operating in markets in the Middle East, North Africa, and India. After presenting Fadi Baaklini's initial experiences as an entrepreneur and his early career in the timber industry and then the paper industry, the case focuses on MEPCO's rapid growth into a successful paper brokerage and prosperous SME. In 2005, the company opened a sales office in Tunisia and a subsidiary in India. In 2006, Fadi Baaklini bought the shares of his business partner, becoming the sole owner of MEPCO. From 2006 to 2016, MEPCO continued to expand, opening new sales offices in Egypt and Lebanon. In 2017, MEPCO employed some thirty people and had over US$100 million in sales. Fadi Baaklini has decided to put his retirement plans on hold in order to launch a new partnership with a Canadian firm specializing in biodegradable chemicals. His plan is to export these products to India for use in waste-water treatment, as well as in the agricultural, pulp and paper, and poultry industries. He sees in this opportunity the potential to turn MEPCO into a multinational company generating billions of dollars in sales.

Researchers from INSEAD and Kellogg conducted a statistical analysis of R&D spending and growth, using data on the world's top 2,500 companies. This revealed that consumer packaged goods firms often see better returns on R&D spending when they focus on small changes (such as modifications to packaging) rather than on ambitious "moon shots." Companies operate under two distinctly different philosophies, the researchers found. "The motto of companies with big R&D budgets is 'bigger, better, faster,'" they say, whereas firms with modest R&D budgets "seem to do extremely well by tweaking and improving things in their brands and creating a lot more sales."

Purveyors of high-end goods who want to increase sales to men probably should start hiring more Tom Bradys. New research from Europe shows that male shoppers' spending more than doubled when a tall, athletic-looking male employee was present in the store. Why? It may have something to do with jockeying for status.

The case establishes the importance of various activities, from planning, design, manufacturing to distribution and retailing, in the value chain for a fashion product and thus leads the student on to understand the significance of fulfillment in the fashion industry. The case prompts the students to think about the interactions among the stakeholders, both upstream and downstream of the value chain. It persuades them to evaluate cloud-connected solutions and the underlying technologies of blockchain in the ALBL context and how the implementation challenges can be overcome to facilitate communication between various players in the chain leading to more responsive processes. The case details the design practice of ALBL-Concept to Shelf (CTS), followed by brands under the ALBL umbrella, primarily focusing on the challenges associated with the product development or the design phase. Material flow is discussed in terms of the manufacturing, supply, and retail strategy adopted by the company. It challenges the students to think about the strategies that would enable an Indian fashion retailer to improve the competitiveness in the market and focus on the key strengths of branding and retail of the licensed brands. It also discusses the influence of e-commerce on physical retailing and design of an omni-channel supply chain. This case encompasses the complete gamut of operations of an Indian fashion retailer. It facilitates the students to think about multiple facets working in sync to improve the overall functioning and profitability of ALBL.

This case describes the situation faced by a Trust named ArthaKranti. ArthaKranti (meaning economic revolution) was formed in 2005 to offer an unconventional taxation proposal based on Banking Transaction Tax (BTT). The BTT proposal is radical in nature, with minimum role of the state and with increased efficiency and reach. The vision of ArthaKranti Pratishthan is aligned to the concept of "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam" or "Global Family-hood". The case provides an opportunity for participants to step into the shoes of the founder Anil Bokil (Bokil) and build a strategy to get BTT implemented. Participants use data on BTT and the public awareness attempts made so far and make reasonable assumptions with the use of SWOT analysis and Pros and Cons analysis to examine the feasibility of BTT. Bokil's lack of experience in politics as well his appealing to all political parties, provides an interesting background context for a rich case discussion.

Hemas Holding PLC (HHPLC) was a Colombo headquartered holding company. It had subsidiaries in a wide range of businesses. HHPLC was headed by Steven Enderby as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with Husein Esufally as Non-Executive Chairman. The professionally managed but family-controlled conglomerate, which was already one of the dominant private sector entities in Sri Lanka, was attempting to transform into a regional powerhouse in South Asia. The Esufally family held majority shares in HHPLC, and had members of the family on the HHPLC board. The family had also formed a Family Business Board (FBB) consisting of Murtaza Esufally, Abbas Esufally, Husein Esufally, and Imtiaz Esufally, to manage the relationship between the Esufally family and the HHPLC Board. The FBB was a device to ensure that the relationship between the larger family and the top management of HHPLC could be managed smoothly. The members of the FBB were proud of their journey so far. However, they wondered whether there could be further improvements in the mechanisms to ensure that the interests of all the stakeholders associated professionally with HHPLC were met, even as the interests of the current and future generations of the family were protected.

The case describes the journey of Rolocule, a mobile gaming company based out of Pune, India. An early entrant into the mobile gaming space, Rolocule's fortunes go through many ups and downs as the nascent mobile gaming industry experiments with various business models. Rolocule responds by being nimble and flexible, rapidly developing multiple games and pivoting as the industry changes. Product-market fit always seems within reach but each time, an external event derails the company's plans to scale. The case is positioned at a low-point in the company's journey where it must decide whether it wants to continue to play in the B2C gaming space or shift into the B2B space. The case provides rich material to discuss the challenges of building a venture in a rapidly evolving industry and analyze the consequences of adopting different business models.

Set in 2017, the case describes the evolution of Yash Raj Films (YRF) in the Hindi-language movie industry, popularly called Bollywood, in India. In the year 2000, the Government of India officially recognized Bollywood as an industry. This policy change ushered in the corporatization of Bollywood. Set against this backdrop, the case describes how Aditya Chopra, the current chairman and managing director of YRF, led the firm's evolution from a boutique production company into a full-fledged studio. Students analyze the firm's pursuit of fit among different activities and evaluate the challenges involved in sustaining the fit, amidst ongoing developments in the industry.

Set in 2018, the case describes the evolution of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a franchise-based professional cricket league in India. Since its inception in 2008, the IPL has enjoyed huge popularity among players and fans, despite being dogged by controversies. Students must analyze the team-design strategies of the franchises profiled in the case. This analysis helps uncover different models of team design, including their pros and cons, in human-capital-intensive contexts. Relating team design to team performance helps understand the significance of star performers and complementarity among team members.

This case introduces the readers to information regarding the organization building journey of Ather Energy, an Indian start-up in the electric vehicle (EV) industry and the entrepreneurial journey of its founders. The case deals with challenges that Ather Energy faces as it works to bring its product, a two-wheeler EV, to market, adopting practices that were against the established industry norms (the internal combustion engine vehicles). The case outlines the overall environment of the EV industry across the world and in India, discussing key areas like government interventions, major existing players in the EV industry and key developments that have transpired over the past years. It then traces the journey of Ather Energy and its founders, focusing on the key phases through which it traversed as it grew from a two-membered start-up basis out of an incubator to a 350+ firm working to ensure that their product has a hassle-free entry into the market. The case outlines the background of the founders, their learnings on the course of developing their product, and the challenges faced in various stages of developing the product. The envisaged sustainability of Ather Energy and its product are then discussed, along with the challenges envisaged.

The case highlights a digital advertising campaign of a mobile app in India named "Highway Delite" using Google AdWords. The case provides the results of a 3-week AdWords campaign with 4-sub-campaigns (Brand Awareness, Enroute Conveniences, Highway Safety, and Offbeat Attractions). CPC and CTR computations are examined to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign in achieving Highway Delite's campaign goals. The case also emphasizes the challenges of brand building that extends beyond a short-term ad campaign.

Anna Amphlett, a financial analyst with Tasmanian LLC, gathered information about Castlight Health, Inc., a company whose shares Tasmanian was considering acquiring for its cloud infrastructure portfolio. Castlight provided a cloud-based health solutions platform to its customers for an upfront subscription fee. Castlight experienced substantial growth in revenues over the last five years, but the company had not yet reported a bottom-line profit since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2014. Castlight Health was one of many companies that provided cloud-based computing services and were often referred to as software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. Castlight Health sold substantially all of its services through its direct sales organization which paid its sales force commissions for acquiring customer contracts. Tasmanian's portfolio manager had asked Amphlett to scrutinize the company's accounting methods, particularly its revenue and expense recognition methods. Upfront revenue recognition and capitalizing and amortizing some indirect outlays were well-known methods for enhancing a company's bottom line. Castlight Health had become quite wary of companies such as salesforce.com, ADT, and Pre-Paid Legal Services, which experienced significant stock price declines after popular press articles criticized their accounting policies. In some cases, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) had launched an investigation into a company's accounting practices following the critiques. These critiques invariably questioned management's integrity while an SEC investigation distracted management's time and energy from the running the business.

Supplement to case SM266A

In the 1950s the United Auto Workers negotiated a plan that allowed employees at the big carmakers to donate money directly from their paychecks to the local precursors of United Way. For most of the organization's history, it had no direct relationship with its donors. That has changed. Payroll deductions still play an important role, but United Way is moving to technology-driven engagement that allows individual donors to become more closely involved with the mission. In partnership with Salesforce, it has created a platform on which donors have their own home pages; there they can track all the gifts they've made and all the volunteer hours they've committed to causes and find content or policy news or volunteer opportunities relevant to their interests. It has found that individuals who engage with it online give more and continue giving from year to year. Today some 25,000 people have each given more than $10,000 to United Way; more than 600 have given $1 million; and 35 have given $10 million or more.

If "the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do," as Michael Porter famously wrote, then the essence of execution is truly not doing it. That may sound simple, but most organizations struggle to kill initiatives, even those that no longer support their strategy. Unaware of the cumulative impact or unwilling to part with pet projects or both, senior leaders pile on more and more, expecting teams to absorb it all. Productivity, engagement, performance, and retention tend to suffer as a result. In their consulting work the authors have observed several root causes of initiative overload, including impact blindness, multiplier effects, political logrolling, unfunded mandates, cost myopia, and inertia. Understanding those causes can help leaders diagnose the risks in their organizations and make smarter decisions about what to keep and what to kill. A step-by-step process can guide them. Leaders should: 1. Get a true count of the current initiatives across the enterprise; 2. Assess each one, identifying the business need, the required budget, the head count allocation, and the business impact; 3. Get senior leaders working together to establish priorities, in a discussion driven by the top leadership team and informed by candid feedback from below; 4. Establish a "sunset" clause for each initiative; 5. In yearly planning, require each initiative to reapply for funding and other resources; 6. Strongly communicate that stopping an initiative isn't a sign of failure. Organizations that learn how to wisely cut back can accomplish more in the areas that really matter.

While we know a lot about practices that stimulate new ideas, innovation teams often struggle to apply them. Why? Because people's biases and entrenched behaviors get in the way. In this article a Darden professor explains how design thinking helps people overcome this problem and unleash their creativity. Though ostensibly geared to understanding and molding the experiences of customers, design thinking also profoundly reshapes the experiences of the innovators themselves. For example, immersive customer research helps them set aside their own views and recognize needs customers haven't expressed. Carefully planned dialogues help teams build on their diverse ideas, not just negotiate compromises when differences arise. And experiments with new solutions reduce all stakeholders' fear of change. At every phase-customer discovery, idea generation, and testing-a clear structure makes people more comfortable trying new things, and processes increase collaboration. Because it combines practical tools and human insight, design thinking is a social technology-one that the author predicts will have an impact as large as an earlier social technology: total quality management.

Innovation clusters like San Francisco and Boston have long had an outsize impact on the global economy, and their influence keeps growing. In 2017, for instance, America's 10 largest tech hubs accounted for 58% of U.S. patents. Globally, cities such as Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Seoul produced a similar proportion. The increased geographic concentration of innovation activity poses a challenge for firms based in suburban industrial parks. To stay relevant, they need to tap into urban hotbeds, but setting up operations there can be extremely expensive. In his work on global talent flows, Harvard Business School's Kerr has seen organizations try three solutions: At one extreme, they can relocate their headquarters to a hub, as GE recently did (but make them much smaller). A less expensive strategy is to create an innovation lab or corporate outpost in a talent cluster, as Walmart did with Walmart Labs. The most conservative strategy is to run executive retreats and immersions in talent clusters--a tactic Vodafone uses effectively. These three options aren't mutually exclusive. Given the need to stay in touch with multiple clusters, companies may want to try them all. Each one involves substantial risks that executives must manage. But together they offer a good playbook to firms that are finding themselves outside the action as the clout of a handful of cities grows.