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The EarthEnable case focuses on the challenges a social enterprise can face as it grows from a business plan in the classroom to a fully-fledged enterprise. Particular focus is placed on marketing strategy, sales strategy, and refining the business model.

Case Supplement for Case E640A

Founded in 1989, Olam International Limited began as a small trader of cashew nuts. Over the years, it grew into a multi-country, multi-product integrated agribusiness. In 2016, Olam was one of the 30 largest Singapore Exchange-listed companies by market capitalization and recorded annual turnover of US$14.2 billion. This case examines Olam's corporate strategy in three chronological phases: (i) 1989-2005 (organic growth); (ii) 2006-2012 (organic and inorganic growth); (iii) 2013-2016 (sustainable growth and generation of positive free cash flow). In November 2012, Olam temporarily put the brakes on its expansion drive following a short seller's attack. The third phase (2013-2016) saw Olam conducting a strategic review, re-calibrating its strategic plan, implementing restructuring initiatives, and working towards new goals and its new vision. During this period, Olam attracted capital from two strategic investors - Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation. Besides describing Olam's financing strategy, this case also summarizes Olam's major acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures and greenfield investments. This case may generate a discussion on the challenges that Olam would have to overcome in its quest to become the most differentiated and valuable global agribusiness.

This case tells the story of how Wang Minghui, Chairman of Yunnan Baiyao Group since 1999, transformed a single-product traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) state-owned enterprise (SOE) into a major diversified consumer health player in China's highly competitive fast-moving consumer goods market. The case also traces the development of the company from a private business to an state-owned enterprise (SOE) and then to a SOE under mixed state-private ownership.

Vodafone was operating in the fast-moving telecommunications market where innovation and scale were key. Faced with an onslaught of technological advances-big data, automation and artificial intelligence-CEO Vittorio Colao reflected on how he should change the organization to incorporate these advancements to improve the way the functions work, how to incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence that de facto improve productivity and slash costs and what can he could do to give back to society and make sure that new opportunities were created for the new generation.

In October 2016, the assistant director for buying and sourcing apparel at Tashn.com (Tashn) was examining his team's readiness for the upcoming End of Reason Sale, scheduled for January 3 to 5, 2017. The assistant director was contemplating a few crucial merchandising decisions: Was Tashn's merchandising plan effective? Was its buying model sustainable for large orders? Were the seller selection and evaluation processes efficient to ensure quality? The assistant director was also concerned about an increase in customer complaints and dissatisfaction with product quality in the general market.

Student spreadsheet to UV7253.

Stride was founded in April 2016 and offered a software that gathered data from disparate sources and organized such data in one platform with a simple interface, with the goal of enabling marketing teams to more easily develop and launch personalized marketing campaigns. Elise Bergeron, the start-up's cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, had been confronted with multiple difficult decisions since the early days of the company. Some of the most pivotal of those decisions involved the sales aspect of the business. First, she and her cofounders needed to figure out what should be the company's target market. One potential approach involved evaluating the benefits and challenges presented by small, mid-sized and large. It was not uncommon for start-ups to first focus on small customers and gradually seek larger ones, as it expanded its product's feature sets, but Bergeron and her cofounders were not sure such approach would be the best for Stride. Alternatively, they could choose based on a use case standpoint: marketing teams in B2B and B2C companies had different needs for the product - should Stride focus on one or the other as its target market? Bergeron was not convinced. Second, Stride's leadership needed to define its sales model. At the product's price point, direct sales seemed to be a necessity. But how about the indirect channels? Bergeron was doubtful about the benefits of relying on third party platforms - such as Salesforce - or system integrators at such an early stage of the start-up's journey. The answer was not obvious, however. As of the second half of 2017, Stride's sales cycle had finally developed some patterns and its cofounders felt increasingly confident about their sales choices. Unexpectedly, however, an opportunity that could take the incipient business to the next level appeared.

In the fall of 2017, self-made businessleader Edgardo Novick pondered his campaign to be elected President of Uruguay, "the Switzerland of Latin America." Inspired by populist revolts against the statue quo observable worldwide, Novick hoped he could ride popular momentum to break the political monopoly of the traditional parties and return the country to its past greatness. Uruguay had been one of the world's most successful countries in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but had since experienced a long period of relative decline. Could Novick's campaign turn the tide of history? And what policy should Uruguay adopt with regard to the world economy?

Mighty Jaxx was founded in 2012 as a S$20,000 Singapore start-up. By 2018 the firm worked with global brands, generating annual revenue approaching S$5 million. However, growing sales volume, the short product cycle for its limited production runs, and the young firm's increasingly global reach had stretched its 20 staff members, organized along a traditional sales, design, production and logistics "waterfall" model, not only up to but well beyond their limits. As the December 2017 holiday season approached, Mighty Jaxx founder Jackson Aw knew his team would miss several crucial delivery promises. Jackson posted a public apology to collectors of his products, then reorganized his studio along the lines of the popular agile software development model known as "Scrum." Three product-oriented "Sprint Teams," operating in parallel over a one-month cycle, focused on meeting schedule targets. While Jackson was hopeful this new structure would improve internal and external communications and help Mighty Jaxx achieve both its growth and service quality goals, he sensed growing signs of staff discontent.

Monisha Perkash cofounded Lumo Bodytech during an incubation program organized by Innovation Endeavors - the venture capital firm started by Eric Schmidt - in 2011. At the time, she had barely met her cofounders and the team was expected to launch a business after six months of design thinking and prototyping efforts. The result was a start-up focused on improving posture and helping solve the common problem of back pain. As of 2018, Lumo Bodytech was still alive and thriving, but the journey had not been free of obstacles and difficult decisions for the CEO. Even before the conclusion of the incubation phase, one of the cofounders had expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of the ideation process and threatened to quit if nothing changed. He was an accomplished software engineer who had become a friend in just a few months of work. Additionally, the equity for the new business had already been split among the four cofounders, which could further complicate any exit negotiations. Around a year later, Lumo Bodytech had successfully launched but the wearables fever was dying down and the financial needs of the young start-up became more pressing by the day. That was when Perkash was approached by a large Asian manufacturer who would be willing to invest if the company implemented a significant change in its strategy, from focusing on a single product to adopting a platform approach to its product line. It was a hard decision to face so early in their trajectory, but Perkash knew she had to make a choice. The challenges related to financing the company would knock on Perkash's door once again in mid-2014, when the company had to decide between raising venture debt or settling for a smaller round of equity financing. To make matters worse, there seemed to be a central misalignment between the cofounders and one of the board members about how to approach the issue.

This note presents a short description of balance of payments (BOP) and international investment position (IIP) data. It works through examples using data for the United States and Mexico while providing guidance for understanding the data of just about any country.

In November 2017, a fan of hockey watched his favourite team lose 6-4 against a contending team. After a great start to the season with a record of 6 wins and 1 loss, his favourite team had lost 6 of the last 8 games, dropping their record to 8 wins and 7 losses. The fan knew that the time was approaching for the inevitable discussions with his friends regarding the team's success. Which players should they have signed? Which player should the team trade for? What line combinations would serve the team best? Who was overvalued, and who was undervalued? Knowing that conversations among his friends typically took on a random and unstructured format, the fan planned to provide a more analytical approach to the discussion this year. His research would raise the level of the conversation and help back up his suggestions.

Student spreadsheet for case W18103.

When Hewlett-Packard Enterprise notified Rhode Island's Governor's Office that it won't be able to deliver a "fully-functioning" technology upgrade for the Department of Motor Vehicles, both parties had reached a breaking point. HPE argued that it would need more money to complete the system, while the Governor's cabinet countered by stating that HPE was violating its contractual obligations. The case covers Rhode Island's perspective of the various moves each side made in preparation for anticipated adjudication.

Amazon, Google, and Apple all offer their own smart speaker. The devices represent each firm's entry point into the connected home market. All three companies come into the space with their own strengths and weaknesses. Who will win?

Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, is in the heart of basketball country. Yet its record for the 2013/2014 basketball season was a dismal 5-20. The school recruited Jason Polykoff from the University of Pennsylvania's coaching staff to reinvent the program. By summer, Polykoff learned that only three players would be returning. That left him with a major decision: scramble to recruit enough players to fill the roster and play the 2014/2015 season, or forfeit the season and devote time to building the 2015/2016 roster. Each option would have a major detrimental impact in his ability to recruit in the future.