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Over the past five years, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. (Patanjali) had emerged as a major player in India's fast-moving consumer goods industry. Building on the capabilities of its two founders, the company had differentiated its products with a unique mix of Indian nationalism, yoga spiritualism, and natural/Ayurvedic ingredients. In combination with its low-price and low-cost position, this strategy had challenged the incumbent multinational and conventional Indian competitors. In October 2016, Patanjali's two co-founders considered adding blue jeans to the company's business portfolio and expanding its current products into international markets. However, some observers doubted whether Patanjali's successful strategies could be successfully extended to fashion. Others believed the jeans initiative would be problematic because Patanjali had more compelling growth opportunities, such as increasing sales of its existing products within India and abroad. Patanjali's founders needed to decide on the appropriate priorities for their company's continued growth and success.

In 1995, many of the flights at Edmonton City Centre Airport (ECCA) were being diverted to Edmonton International Airport. By 2008, ECCA's two runways required an estimated CA$10 million in capital upgrades and CA$35 million in additional maintenance costs over the next 10 years. In light of these facts, in November 2011, Edmonton's city council had begun to consider whether maintaining ECCA was feasible or if other alternatives would put the land to better use. The options available included the following: 1) maintain ECCA and the status quo by completing the repairs, 2) sell the property to a real estate developer and generate immediate revenue for other city projects, or 3) close ECCA and have the city redevelop the land for a community project. City councillors needed to find a clear and sustainable solution to the challenges presented by ECCA.

Through this series of increasingly more sophisticated exercises authored by Aradhna Krishna, students gain a deep understanding of the strong connection between price, demand, variable cost, and capacity. In their efforts to help Katja maximize profit in her bread-making venture, students will learn the concepts of sunk fixed cost, incremental fixed cost, and variable cost. They will discover how a profit-maximizing price depends on all three factors of demand, variable cost and capacity, and how they all interrelate. For example, students learn that fixed cost is important because it affects capacity decisions and hence also entry/exit decisions. However, given a pre-existing capacity, fixed cost does not affect the pricing decision. Students also learn how price can be used strategically to avoid increasing capacity. This exercise series is presented in five short parts (Katja's Danish Bread Exercises A-E). Exercise A is given to students to prepare before class, and Exercises B-E are read in class and done sequentially during class.

This case presents the real-world history of a field program to promote the financing of viable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in one of the poorest and most troubled countries of the world. A key goal and expectation of the donor-funded project was the promotion of social enterprises - sustainable local businesses that create employment and promote economic development. A second, and just as significant expectation, is that the services provided by this program on a subsidized basis should also become sustainable, as a service that can be costed-out to the financial institutions and clients. The idea of 2 Bridges refers to the two sides of the effort: one that operates through lending by commercial banks, and one that operates through creation of an angel venture fund to invest in equity of the SMEs. The program in Honduras is described in detail, along with issues and questions for further analysis, discussion, debate, and potential implementation in other countries and contexts.

The launch of BlackBerry by Research in Motion (RIM) in 1999 laid the foundation for the development of smartphones. The next decade was a period of spectacular growth for RIM, making its two co-CEOs billionaires. At the end of 2007 the company had a market capitalization of more than $60 billion. Sales peaked at almost $20 billion in 2011. In 2016, sales were $2.2 billion and the company had lost money for four straight years. With the market capitalization having fallen to $4 billion by August 2016, the survival of BlackBerry (the company changed its name from RIM to BlackBerry) was uncertain.

CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: CX) - Cemex - had made a name for itself in the global marketplace for two things - excellence in execution and rapid growth through acquisition. In an era in which globalization was a practice for multinational firms calling highly industrialized countries home, Cemex broke the mold. It was a multinational player calling a lower income country, Mexico, home. Led by Lorenzo Zambrano, the grandson of the founder, Cemex had followed a rapid growth trajectory through repeated acquisitions. Now, in 2006, it was once again on the prowl, stalking the Rinker Group of Australia. But Rinker was not for sale.

CEMEX of Mexico closed its acquisition of The Rinker Groups of Australia in April 2007 after raising its offer to US$15.85 per share. This represented a 54% premium over Rinker's closing price prior to the initiation of the hostile offer. CEMEX, in-line with its customary acquisition process, financed the entire purchase with debt. But within a year CEMEX was struggling to service its sizeable outstanding debt as business conditions and financial results declined with the financial crisis of 2008. The company was facing debt service of $5.5 billion in 2009, money which it did not have. CEMEX would need to propose a strong and convincing financial restructuring plan to its creditors if it wished to survive.

The discovery of Volkswagen's intentional deception on the NOx emissions of its diesel engine products in September 2015 resulted in nearly an instantaneous loss of 30% of the company's value. In the weeks and months that followed, VW found itself under attack from nearly every possible government regulator, consumer interest group, and environmental action interest worldwide. It faced $18 billion in potential financial penalties, and possibly of more import, irreparable damage to its global reputation. Out of the hundreds of news stories and investigative committees two questions were repeated: How did this happen and how could it be rectified?

This case study details the issues and challenges that faced ride-sharing company Uber following its arrival in the state of Colorado as a new alternative to traditional taxi and limousine services. It is written from the perspective of Will McCollum, general manager of Uber Denver, a recent MBA graduate who is given responsibility for all aspects of Uber's initial Colorado launch and ongoing operations. The case provides a unique example of the oft-seen process by which new entrant companies use technology and new business models to challenge incumbent firms and traditional industries. The highly regulated and very stable nature of local transportation markets and rapid speed of Uber's rise to prominence makes Uber's experience particularly noteworthy. Uber faces public legal battles with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and other transportation companies within the area. After some early success in opposing regulatory restrictions, the decision facing McCollum and Uber is whether to continue to fight regulation in Colorado or instead proactively work with state politicians to develop a set of ongoing rules under which the industry will be required to operate. The case can be used to introduce or illustrate Porter's Five Forces, industry disruption and disruptive innovation, stakeholder analysis, the legislative and regulatory process, and corporate political strategy.

CEO Emma Mcilroy and her team weighed the merits of two distinct business models, as they prepared for a funding pitch to scale Wildfang, a menswear-inspired fashion brand built around a badass tomboy image. The funding pitch would hinge on the resource and process gaps the company would need to address in its business model coupled with the outcome of a customer lifetime value (CLV) analysis. Tools for scenario testing, including CLV modeling and the Business Model Canvas (BMC) template are used to contrast a bricks-and-clicks private label strategy with a multisided fashion platform. An Excel supplement included with the case, allows students to analyze segment-specific CLV and weigh financial versus business model design assumptions in order to decide which expansion strategy to recommend. This case illustrates how the descriptive modules of a firm's BMC can be linked to the financial implications of business model design using lifetime value modeling techniques.

Student spreadsheet for case NA0460.

The members of the second generation of the Nguyen family have begun to enter the business. Each has entered at different times and for diverse reasons. "Is this for me?" centers on John Nguyen who has entered the family business but isn't sure he has made the right choice. He has worked outside of the family business for a number of years and has also considered other career fields such as the priesthood. However, at this juncture, he is working in the family business, has received an attractive job offer from a prestigious technology company, and is deciding whether he should remain. The audience for "Is this for me?" are students in family business or human resource management courses, either at the undergraduate or graduate levels. This case could also be used effectively in seminars conducted by university centers or institutes focused on offering continuing education for family businesses.

Oliver "Ollie" Percovich, a world traveler and skateboard enthusiast, took three skateboards with him to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he hoped to find a research job with a development organization. The job did not materialize, but as he skated through the streets of Kabul he soon found that the children who surrounded him did not just want to watch him skate, they wanted to try skateboarding. As more and more children began to learn, particularly girls who previously were not even allowed to play any sports, Ollie realized he might have found a loophole for changes to existing Afghan cultural norms about girls and sports. The children who engaged in skateboarding crossed traditional Afghan social and economic boundaries and thus opened the door to develop education and leadership opportunities that he believed could transform a society. By 2015, Ollie had founded Skateistan in Kabul and added three more skate schools in Mazar-e-Sharif Afghanistan, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Johannesburg, South Africa. The mission of Skateistan was to "use skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth, to create new opportunities and the potential for change." Ollie wanted to further deliver on the company's vision to "grow a sustainable organization that is recognized locally and globally for changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth through skateboarding and quality programmes-creating leaders that change the world." This case outlines events that led to Ollie's development of the Skateistan concept, its launch in Afghanistan, and the organization's organic growth into other regions of the world. The case describes the organization's programmatic approach to creating systemic social change and provides information for students to identify and analyze the organization's business model. A short video available with the case includes Ollie, Skateistan's founder, talking about how this phenomenon developed and dramatic scenes of children skateboarding in war-torn Kabul.

This case raises contemporary issues pertaining to strategy and leadership. It helps to demonstrate that (a) sound economic rationale is a necessary but not sufficient condition to make a business strategy effective, and (b) successful implementation of a strategy is contingent on it being driven by a responsible and ethical leader. The case helps students to understand limitations of the pay-for-performance system, and appreciate negative impact of unethical business decisions. Established in 1852, Wells Fargo had earned a storied reputation for integrity and principled performance. The cornerstone of the Bank's business strategy was "cross-sell", a strategy that augmented Wells Fargo's performance and that of its stock. To implement the strategy, Wells Fargo's management instituted an incentive system that awarded significant bonuses to employees for opening customer accounts, and reprimanded employees who did not meet "quotas" of the number and types of accounts. The obsession of top management with "cross-sell" obscured the vision of the Bank to give unconditional primacy to serving customers' interests. The Bank was fined $185 million for opening over two million unauthorized checking and credit card accounts between 2011 and 2015. The Board had failed to monitor the actions of its senior management. In the aftermath of the debacle, Stumpf resigned from the CEO and Chairman of the Board positions at Wells Fargo. His successor, Tim Sloan, had the unenviable task to restore reputation of the Bank by making changes to its strategy, structure and systems. Using a holistic analysis of the episode from the perspective of corporate strategy, responsible leadership, corporate governance, business ethics and organizational culture, the case provides a platform to discuss challenges that Tim Sloan faced to set the stagecoach of Wells Fargo to start thundering again.

The co-founder of Tier1 Coaching and Development, Inc., a small training and development firm, had to hire an entirely new staff after 10 years in business. Drew Nault was one of the first three on that new team, and he was hired into a newly created position that merged two different sets of operational responsibilities. Over time, Nault realized he was frequently asked to justify what he was working on and how it added value. This case provides an opportunity to critically examine an employee's struggles with job expectations and performance objectives in a newly created position within a small firm. What steps can be taken to address the job and career concerns? What exit strategy might be needed? Students also examine the employee's perceived psychological contract with his employer. The Instructor's Manual details a number of potential structural, managerial and interpersonal sources for the problems encountered. This case is best suited for graduate students or advanced undergraduate students.

United Way Suncoast (UWS), a regional chapter of the United Way, was a non-profit based in West Central Florida that had annual revenues of $22 million and served four counties. Recent performance at UWS had been excellent, but Jamie Renee, the Chief Development Officer (CDO), responsible for strategic long term relationships with corporate donors, was concerned for the future. Multiple sources of information indicated that Millennials' charitable giving differed from other generations. She particularly noted that as a group, Millennials tended to put a lower priority on local charities and the highest priority on supporting international human rights. The entire mission of UW was to collect resources and allocate them to local charities that supported local causes. If Millennials continued to shun local charities while supporting overseas causes, what would become of UW? This dilemma led Renee to think about UW's approach for targeting Millennials. She needed to devise a three-pronged strategy for appealing to Millennials: volunteering, giving and employment.

The owner of a small robotics company needs to make some decisions regarding his company's employee compensation plan. One of the owner's valued employees has approached him with a request for a pay increase; the owner has to decide whether to grant the raise. The owner is also considering instituting an 'employee trust' (i.e., an organization-level reward plan that would provide a payout to employees in the event that the company is sold). The owner also needs to consider his employee compensation plan as a whole and decide whether his current compensation system is helping him to achieve the company's goals.

The Augusta Training Shop (ATS) was a non-profit organization that provided jobs for individuals with disabilities. In 2012 the workers started producing craft snowflakes made from reed which were sold online, in the shop, and at trade shows. The Executive Director, Audrey Murell, was attending a trade show in Atlanta in the spring of 2014 and was asked if she could give a 50% discount to a wholesaler. Despite having produced and sold snowflakes for a couple of years, Audrey realized she did not know how much it cost her to make them. What should Audrey reply?

US Army Officer Captain Richard Swift was the newly-appointed commander of a 100-person Basic Combat Training unit, whose mission was to train brand new enlistees in the Army. Swift sensed malaise within his team of drill sergeants, who led the majority of the training. Swift was concerned that these instructors, with an average service of 13 years in the Army and multiple combat deployments, were no longer motivated to do their best and had lost sight of the importance of their work. He wanted to change this. He wanted to increase the sergeants' professionalism and motivation, as these drill sergeants not only taught the basic combat classes, but also were the first faces that recruits saw when beginning their Army careers. Unwilling to accept mediocrity or mission failure in turning recruits into soldiers, Swift arranged for a training consultant team to visit his unit at Fort Benning, Georgia in March 2016. He wanted the consultants to emphasize the importance of training, to underscore how drill sergeants could design and execute better learning modules, and to professionalize drill sergeants' work by having them consider metrics or measurements to evaluate their job performance as trainers. In April 2016, after the workshop's conclusion, Swift received the consultants' raw data as compiled from the pre- and post-survey instruments completed by his drill sergeants. Swift had to combine his own expertise as an Army officer with the workshop data to effectively lead change and improve the operation of his unit.