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The Wipebook case follows a start-up company over a two-year period. The company originated from a product idea proposed by a student as part of an MBA entrepreneurship course: an erasable, reusable notebook. Two other students joined him in what was to become the "Wipebook" project. Twelve months into the project, the team had realized one of the most successful crowd-funding campaigns in Canadian history: $424,314 for over 10,000 pre-orders. The partners then went on to appear on a television show, Dragons' Den, where they accepted an offer of $300,000 for a 25% stake in the company. As the reality of the entrepreneurial process set in, following the initial euphoria, a number of challenges arose.

Supplement to case HEC143. The Wipebook case follows a start-up company over a two-year period. The company originated from a product idea proposed by a student as part of an MBA entrepreneurship course: an erasable, reusable notebook. Two other students joined him in what was to become the "Wipebook" project. Twelve months into the project, the team had realized one of the most successful crowd-funding campaigns in Canadian history: $424,314 for over 10,000 pre-orders. The partners then went on to appear on a television show, Dragons' Den, where they accepted an offer of $300,000 for a 25% stake in the company. As the reality of the entrepreneurial process set in, following the initial euphoria, a number of challenges arose.

Supplement to case HEC143. The Wipebook case follows a start-up company over a two-year period. The company originated from a product idea proposed by a student as part of an MBA entrepreneurship course: an erasable, reusable notebook. Two other students joined him in what was to become the "Wipebook" project. Twelve months into the project, the team had realized one of the most successful crowd-funding campaigns in Canadian history: $424,314 for over 10,000 pre-orders. The partners then went on to appear on a television show, Dragons' Den, where they accepted an offer of $300,000 for a 25% stake in the company. As the reality of the entrepreneurial process set in, following the initial euphoria, a number of challenges arose.

The case essentially describes the evolution of healthcare delivery model developed by Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS), a non-profit organization established in 1999 with the mission of providing affordable health care to the poor in the tribal and rural areas of Chhattisgarh state, one of the poorest states of India. The case begins with an overview of the demographics and background material on the healthcare sector in India, with particular reference to the gaps in health outcomes between rural and urban India and brings out clearly, the poor state of health of the rural population, even in comparison with some of the low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This is followed by a detailed description of the initial efforts of the founders of the JSS - Dr. Raman Kataria and his team to locate and establish the clinic at Ganiyari village in Bilaspur district belonging to Chhattisgarh state. The case also demonstrates that it is not sufficient to just establish the clinic, but stresses the importance of developing the ecosystem to enable the population to seek and receive health care and take advantage of the facilities. These include development of a referral network, training of local volunteers and educating the public about the importance of seeking health care at the right time. The case also brings out the infrastructural limitations and difficulties encountered in providing even the most basic health care in remote rural settings. This is followed by an overview of the operations at the Ganiyari facility and provides a detailed description of the innovations developed and implemented to minimize the costs of healthcare delivery. It also provides a discussion of the costs and revenues and of JSS operations highlighting its dependence on external funding through donations and grants to keep the organization solvent.

In July 2016, Jennifer Brown, a graduate student at Southwest State School of Public Health, had been asked to staff an Ethics Advisory Group (EAG) meeting at Mountain Health Insurance Company, a large, regional nonprofit health insurance company where she was employed as a summer intern. The mission of Mountain Health was "to improve the health of the people we serve and the health of society." Jennifer had been working with the ethics program director, Robert Jones, to review and update the program's ethical guidelines to reflect emerging ethical challenges in the financing and delivery of health care. This meeting was the first time that Jennifer had been given the responsibility of identifying the ethical issues that EAG should consider and what values should be applied in determining how Mountain Health should address them.

This case explores an ambiguous, public incident of a mature student touching a younger Professor, which created the perception of a hostile work environment for the Professor and for some students in her class. The ambiguous nature of the contact itself, uncertainty about organizational processes, potential career and reputation outcomes, and the impact on the learning environment in her classroom are all considered by the professor as she tries to decide whether to make a formal complaint, attempt to resolve the issue informally, or ignore it. This case does not address sexual harassment from a legal or regulatory perspective, but rather considers the role of perception and attribution in defining harassment, the social and psychological impact of sexual harassment on individuals, and the reasons that sexual harassment incidents continue to occur.

Andrea Kaneb had worn hearing aids for thirty years and had extensive first-hand consumer experience with available assistive hearing devices. In her view, the products she had tried were too expensive and underperformed with respect to user needs and desires. From January through August 2015, Kaneb and three of her fellow MBA students completed a two-semester, team-based, capstone project course in their MBA Program, during which they developed and assessed a new venture opportunity; wrote a business plan; and presented it to a panel of experienced entrepreneurs / investors. Kaneb's project team undertook significant primary and secondary research as a basis for analyzing the feasibility of a new venture aimed at commercializing an innovative assistive hearing system that would be superior to competing products. The topics of their feasibility analysis included: (1) The Opportunity; (2) The Micro-Market (customers, particularly initial customers); (3) The Macro-Market; (4) The Macro-Industry (especially competition); (5) The Micro-Industry (sources of competitive advantage); (6) The Business Model; (7) The Entrepreneurial Team; and (8) Projected Financial Performance. In December 2015, she met with her professor to review progress and to discuss next steps in her exploration of the opportunity. She needed to determine the most critical uncertainties that would need to be addressed before she approached investors; to develop alternative approaches for addressing those uncertainties; and to decide which approaches she would implement, and how. The case study is designed to serve as a final exam and / or topic for the case discussion in the final class of an introductory course in entrepreneurship - during which students have explored each of these issues via readings, case discussions and interactions with guest entrepreneurs.

In early November 2014, Chris Green, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Family Care Canada (Family Care), was preparing for the upcoming board meeting, where Chris would consult with the board about a difficult operating decision. For the past 24 years, Family Care had run a national awareness campaign to reduce violence in Canadian communities. In 2014, the advertising agency hired by Family Care proposed a new approach to the campaign to broaden its reach to young men and women. However, the largest local chapter of Family Care was uncomfortable with this new approach. As a leader, Chris felt torn. It was essential to respond to the beliefs and opinions of the chapters, but at the same time, it was necessary to ensure relevance of the organization with the next generation of men and women. How should Chris lead the volunteers, staff, chapters, and board through this decision? Many students struggle with the concept that they may hold unconscious beliefs inconsistent with their conscious, rational beliefs or assume that implicit bias is something that is experienced by other people, but not themselves. Using a written case and video content, this case is designed to reveal these contradictions to students, encouraging them to reflect on their own beliefs and behaviours. The written case provides information about the organization and the decision to be made, providing context for students to assess Chris Green's leadership. The video provides a closer look at Chris' personal approach to leadership, to allow each student to evaluate Chris as a leader.

Stephanie Greenwood, founder and co-owner of Bubble & Bee Organic (B&B) was at a crossroads. She wanted to grow her business, but for that to happen she needed an infusion of capital. Because she was passionate about maintaining control of her business and the quality of her products, bringing in an outside investor held little appeal. So, it seemed a loan was in order. But...would she and her partner Steve Thomas qualify for a loan in an amount sufficient to support their growth? What should that growth entail? Should they consolidate their operations by purchasing a building, or should they just rent additional space? They could predict their growth potential, but what if they were wrong? This decision based, undisguised case focused on Greenwood and her partner's need for financial modeling to satisfy the lender, analyze the financial consequences of their options, and to determine if B&B could manage the debt payments without putting the business in financial jeopardy. Four different pro forma modeling scenarios were proposed to facilitate informed decision making at B&B: 1) 15% revenue growth with the loan, 2) flat growth with the loan, 3) 15% revenue growth with additional rental space, and 4) flat growth with additional rental space. An in-depth financial ratio analysis was also required of all four scenarios to evaluate and understand the impact on liquidity, cash conversion, leverage, profitability, efficiency, and return.

The Conboy case can be used to examine the leadership and change strategies and behaviors critical in establishing one's credibility, crafting a vision for change, building agreement across stakeholders, generating urgency, and overcoming resistance. It also uniquely offers the ability to discuss the options available to a leader whose change effort may not be successful after expending significant social capital. While the case is situated in academia, many of the challenges Conboy faces as she becomes the new Provost of a small college in 2013 are salient across most industries. External challenges include a shrinking customer base, changing customer demands, increased demands for a higher ROI on tuition investment, intensified competition and unsustainable price wars. Internally, most employees were largely unaware of those external challenges, and were therefore frustrated by and suspicious of senior administrators' unilateral decisions to cut staffing and change the 'product'. The culture was marked by turf protection and silos. After initially conducting a 'listening tour', Conboy concludes that the general education curriculum, the courses all undergraduates are required to take, needs to be radically transformed. She is also convinced that the college could not afford to wait to build and then launch the change in a "normal" 2-3 year timeline. With plummeting admissions numbers, change had to start with the next entering class of students. The first hurdle in making that happen was to garner the formal approval of the faculty through a vote held December 2014.

It was late August 2012 and Madeleine Shaw (Shaw) and Suzanne Siemens (Siemens) were reflecting on 12 years of operation at Lunapads International Products Ltd. (Lunapads), a company based out of Vancouver, BC, Canada. The social business co-owned by these two women was providing a solution to the environmental and health concerns of disposable feminine hygiene products. Co-leading a social-impact business with a values-based approach had not been without its challenges. Lunapads had recently experienced a flattening of sales and reduced profitability as their niche market was becoming increasingly crowded with entrants whose products were not as ecofriendly, but were well-known brands. The company was committed to staying true to its mission but recognized their website and product offerings needed upgrading if they were going to be competitive with companies who had much deeper pockets and more extensive marketing budgets. Earlier in the week, Shaw and Siemens had met with the Chair of their recently-formed Advisory Board, Bob Elton (Elton), to discuss Lunapads' current organizational structure. They were steadfast on co-sharing the leadership role but had identified inefficiencies and challenges with this model. They had recently revisited their business strategy and roles in the organization and identified areas that needed to shift. Elton asked them to present their ideas for discussion at the quarterly Advisory Board meeting, coming up in two weeks. Tucked away at their regular corner table, steaming lattes delivered, Shaw turned to Siemens her close confidante, and said with a grin, "It's time to bust out of our comfort zones and make some decisions. Are you up for it?"

The Robert A. Toigo Foundation was created in 1990 "to change the face of finance" by increasing the number of talented underrepresented minorities at the highest executive levels of leadership within the industry. With support from several donors from the financial services industry, the Toigo Foundation offered a comprehensive mentoring program and financial support for Toigo Fellows, minorities who were pursuing finance-related careers at selective graduate business schools. Nancy Sims, a woman of color with extensive leadership experience in the financial services industry, became involved with the Toigo Foundation during its early years: first as a volunteer mentor to several Toigo Fellows, then as a member of the Foundation's Board of Directors, then ultimately as the Foundation's President & CEO in 1998. Over the next ten years, Sims led the nonprofit Foundation through periods of reorganization and growth, applying her business acumen to balance deftly the roles she played in leading the Foundation's efforts while simultaneously justifying the merits and the imperative of underrepresented racioethnic minorities to industry leaders and educational partners. Sims now faced a new challenge: how would the ongoing financial crisis of 2008 affect the Foundation's ability to fulfill its mission? What should Sims do?

This case focuses on succession planning for Southcentral Foundation's (SCF) long-time president and CEO, Katherine Gottlieb. The case opens with Gottlieb reflecting on a succession planning meeting with SCF's Board of Directors and on her twenty year leadership trajectory. It then transitions to provide information about the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAIN) health care system and outlines SCF's mission, vision, and key tenants of the organization's culture: customer-ownership, core concepts and continuous improvement. After a subsequent section on SCF's approach to governance and workforce development, the case concludes with Gottlieb's main considerations in selecting the next CEO. Gottlieb is an extraordinary leader who has defined SCF's vision, mission and unique organizational culture for over two decades. Students will consider the challenges a new leader may face in sustaining the existing culture when Gottlieb retires, evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of choosing a homegrown versus external successor for the CEO position, and consider qualities that SCF's next leader must embody.

For most people, it is not easy to picture the buying and selling of cognitive capabilities that have traditionally been embedded in humans-things like judgment and decision-making. Yet, thanks to recent advances in machine learning, the author argues that precisely such a 'market for intelligence' is on the horizon. Given the potential of this market to transform the entire global economy, he argues, leaders and organizations must begin preparing for its emergence-now.

Technological innovation is on the brink of fuelling momentous change throughout the global economy, generating great benefits and challenges, in equal measure. So says the chairman of the World Economic Forum. He describes what he calls 'the fourth industrial revolution', which is based on three sets of megatrends: physical, digital and biological. To thrive in this environment, he argues, public-private research collaborations should increase, and should be structured towards building knowledge and human capital to the benefit of all.

Using Blockbuster as a prime example, the author describes the three paths to disruption for a modern business. He also explains three seminal theories of disruption: those of Schumpeter, Christensen and Henderson, and concludes that there are two key types of disruption: innovative and architectural. In the end, he shows that successful firms that are disrupted are not necessarily poorly managed: instead, they choose to continue on the path that brought them to success.

To be an innovative leader, you don't have to come up with all the ideas. You just have to set the stage for others to push boundaries, every day. So say the authors, who assessed more than 700 senior leaders using a multi-rater assessment called the Bates Executive Presence Index (ExPIâ„¢). They present their findings on the specific behaviors that leaders demonstrate to foster innovation, which include challenging other points of view in a constructive way and admitting they don't have all the answers. They conclude that, instead of shying away from differences, innovative leaders make it safe-and fun-to have a clash of perspectives.

Humans and businesses alike evolved in a world that was local and linear. But today we live in a world that is global and exponential. The problem, say the authors, is that our brains-and thus our perceptual capabilities-were not designed to process at this scale or speed. Using the example of Kodak's downfall, they show that our linear minds literally cannot grasp 'exponential progression'. They present a framework called 'the Six Ds of Exponentials', which is designed to help today's leaders navigate 'the age of exponentials'-and avoid being disrupted.

In this excerpt from the University of Toronto's Conference on Machine Learning and The Market for Intelligence, senior leaders from Uber, Bloomberg Beta, Stanford and AME Capital discuss how firms are embracing machine learning and artificial intelligence to either disrupt others or avoid being disrupted. They provide a cross-section of viewpoints on strategies to navigate what is becoming an increasingly disruptive economy.

The creative intensity of the global economy has grown substantially in recent years. However, 'Creative Class' workers are increasingly being propped up by a mass of hard-working routine workers, who are not participating in the economic upside. To prosper in the global economy, the authors argue that every region and industry must boost the creative content of all types of work, while continuing to encourage and support the growth of creative jobs.