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Has our obsession with health gone too far? A researcher explains why efforts to encourage employees to meet the new ideal of fitness may backfire.

Bridging cultural differences demands exceptional emotional intelligence. This chart shows the percentage of leaders in each of seven global regions--the U.S., the Middle East, India, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and China--who demonstrated strength in a range of hard and soft skills, according to a study by YSC, a corporate psychology consultancy.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), a Bangalore-based non-governmental organization (NGO), has been hailed globally for running the world's largest school meal program. It operated through 16 centralized and 3 decentralized kitchens across 9 states of India; it states its Mission 2020 as being able to reach out to 5 million children by 2020. The challenge that the foundation faces in achieving its stated mission is not only of scaling up by 2020, but also of maintaining the economic sustainability of its operations in view of increased government spending on alternative social sector schemes such as Right to Food, which may reduce or limit allocations to the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme. The case aims to study the critical challenges that Akshaya Patra faces in sustaining its operations and the several sustainability initiatives undertaken by the NGO to meet the various challenges it faces and the opportunities that it could further take to innovatively fulfil its mission of feeding 5 million children daily by 2020. It looks at the interrelations between the different dimensions of sustainability and uses frameworks to assess these sustainability initiatives at Akshaya Patra.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), a Bangalore based non-governmental organization (NGO), has been hailed globally for running the world's largest school meal program. It operated through 16 centralized and 3 decentralized kitchens across 9 states of India; it states its Mission 2020 as being able to reach out to 5 million children by 2020. The challenge that the foundation faces in achieving its stated mission is not only of scaling up by 2020, but also of maintaining the economic sustainability of its operations in view of increased government spending on alternative social sector schemes such as Right to Food, which may reduce or limit allocations to the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme. The case aims to look at the critical challenges that Akshaya Patra faces in sustaining its operations and the several sustainability initiatives undertaken by the NGO to meet the various challenges and the opportunities that it could further take to innovatively fulfil its mission of feeding 5 million children daily by 2020. It looks at the interrelations between the different dimensions of sustainability and uses frameworks to assess these sustainability initiatives at Akshaya Patra. The (B) case supplements the (A) case.

The ''Taxi For Sure: Technological Innovation in the Radio Cab Industry'' and ''The Radio Cab Industry (August 2014)'' cases present an example of the services industry arguably experiencing disruption owing to technological innovations. This case is set in the radio cabs industry in a developing nation (India). The case takes the perspective of the management of TaxiForSure, a Bangalore-based startup operating in the radio cab industry in India, whose management team has to chart its growth strategy as well as review the operating model in order to ensure that they maintain a competitive edge. Introduced in India in 2000, the concept of radio cabs took off only around 2006-2007 when Meru Cabs entered the industry. Since then, the industry has evolved rapidly with several startups entering the market owing to its huge potential for growth. The strategic and operational decisions made by these companies play a major role in deciding their future as they vie for the same set of customers and drivers in somewhat similar cities across India (with some companies planning overseas expansion). There are two key operating models followed by companies in the radio cab industry - the ''owner operator model'' and the ''aggregator model''. The cases explore the benefits and consequences of choosing either of the two models as well as trigger a debate on adoption of a "hybrid model".

The ''Taxi For Sure: Technological Innovation in the Radio Cab Industry'' and ''The Radio Cab Industry (August 2014)'' cases present an example of the services industry arguably experiencing disruption owing to technological innovations. This case is set in the radio cabs industry in a developing nation (India). The case takes the perspective of the management of TaxiForSure, a Bangalore-based startup operating in the radio cab industry in India, whose management team has to chart its growth strategy as well as review the operating model in order to ensure that they maintain a competitive edge. Introduced in India in 2000, the concept of radio cabs took off only around 2006-2007 when Meru Cabs entered the industry. Since then, the industry has evolved rapidly with several startups entering the market owing to its huge potential for growth. The strategic and operational decisions made by these companies play a major role in deciding their future as they vie for the same set of customers and drivers in somewhat similar cities across India (with some companies planning overseas expansion). There are two key operating models followed by companies in the radio cab industry - the ''owner operator model'' and the ''aggregator model''. The cases explore the benefits and consequences of choosing either of the two models as well as trigger a debate on adoption of a "hybrid model".

The case on IndiaMART enumerates important decisions that are made in platform business models with regards to the pricing of the different sides of the platform. Discussions on the case would encompass the role of pricing in creating and leveraging network effects analyze the ''penguin problem'' and how firms could overcome manage and resolve the same. The case is set in 2013-2015 and describes the evolution of IndiaMART, the challenges they faced while addressing four major concerns at the turning point at which the organization was: namely, the speed of customer acquisition, arresting customer churn, responding to the opportunity of the increasing penetration of mobile phones for a platform such as IndiaMART and the decision to venture into new markets such as the B2B business.

VW understood the customer funnel and worked backwards on planning ad inventories. ''Cost per lead'' was the key metric to measure any campaign performance. After brand awareness was built through display ads, VW invested in search engine marketing for organic and paid searches which led to ''Planet Volkswagen,''(PV). PV represented VW activities on a revolving circular globe with each section designed around a specific theme. PV received good response; however, owing to recession in industry in 2012, marketing had to lead to test drives - hence efforts towards PV were reduced. Two campaigns were launched one after other towards increasing leads. VW launched New Jetta in 2011 with a social media campaign called ''#AnythingforJetta''. It revolved around the concept that Jetta gave so much driving pleasure that people would do anything to own Jetta. Twitter was chosen for the campaign to get instant responses and to tap into specific customer segment. VW prepared video content showing people doing quirky stuff for Jetta. Full front page ads were published in leading newspapers, which gave the campaign a big push. #AnythingforJetta became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter and it also led to 15% increase in Twitter users in India. "Jetta TSI YouTube Test Drive" campaign was launched in 2012, which took test drives drives from roads to viewers' desktops, tablets, and mobiles. The idea behind the YouTube test drive was to engage users and let them ask any questions about the car just as they would in a real world test-drive. The campaign, reached 21 million unique users against planned reach of 10 million. The challenge facing VW was how to break the clutter and engage fans to generate positive word-of-mouth.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been a 75-year-old technology leader with operations across 170 countries and an employee strength of over 3,20,000 employees. In 2013, HP launched Actionable Analytics Services (HAVEn) a Big Data analytics platform, leveraging the capabilities of Hadoop, Autonomy, Vertica, Enterprise Security, and n applications. HP enterprise wanted to mobilize the prospective and existing customer base to embrace the HAVEn offering. Historically, large organizations had a fair coverage and influence on the entire sales cycle with them driving need identification all the way through to influencing the purchase decision and purchase. However, recent studies started showing that this was changing, and nearly 70% of the purchase decision was made before engaging a sales representative independent of the offering. The HAVEn team was aware of this shift in trend, and for an enterprise class product, with high initial investment needs and relatively new outlook to how businesses could extract value; the need to influence sales cycle right from stage-one to drive adoption was an important task. Pramod Singh, Director of HP digital analytics and Ayush Jain, manager of HP social media analytics were approached by the HAVEn team to help them identify the most relevant influencers in the Big Data space and help device a strategy of engagement with the same. Topic relevant influencer identification was tough considering the volume, velocity, and complexity of social media content. Quantifying the influence of the brands, thereby enabling comparison and competitive benchmarking was even more difficult. The problem of firstly defining influence, and then identifying influencers relevant to a topic of interest, in real time, using a data source that was high volume, high velocity with little or no structure, was a challenge that enticed Pramod and Ayush to group their best talent pool together.

In 1995, Titan launched the first branded range of jewellery - 'Tanishq' - in India's highly fragmented and disorganised jewellery market. Tanishq performed exceedingly well, attracting a large customer base that was assured of quality and purity. However, the jewelry business faced challenges on account of customer sentiments being impacted by inflation, uncertain economic conditions and rising gold prices. There was also concern that the young Indian woman was disinterested in jewellery. To address these issues, as well as expand the company's reach and customer base, the Tanishq team identified a hitherto neglected segment - working women. Within 12 months, it conducted activities ranging from customer segment identification and understanding, as well as defining the proper distribution channels, and launched 'Mia' - "the Tanishq for work wear, for the working women". Mia's design and retail strategy continues to evolve three years after its launch. But despite its growth, it is almost impossible to identify the market size of potential Mia customers. Moreover, the needs of these target consumers' are changing rapidly, and so, refreshing the range, while maintaining its affordability, is a challenge. How large would Mia's market be? Can it become a brand in its own right? Could it be the next Tanishq for Titan?

The head of Performance and Rewards at Tata Motors Limited (TML) was reviewing the reports before him and deliberating their implications. The company had just embarked on a major initiative to identify employees' concerns and the results were not good. Employees across all levels, including senior leadership, were unclear about their compensation. The employees were not the only ones who were puzzled; even the recruitment team at TML had no clear basis for determining and comparing the salaries of new recruits. It was obvious that something needed to be done. Should it be a major restructuring of the compensation or could the matter be solved by simply educating the employees? Should the company remove some of the components from its compensation structure to make it simpler? If so, which components could be dropped and which should be retained?

The head of Performance and Rewards at Tata Motors Limited (TML) was reviewing the reports before him and deliberating their implications. The company had just embarked on a major initiative to identify employees' concerns and the results were not good. Employees across all levels, including senior leadership, were unclear about their compensation. The employees were not the only ones who were puzzled; even the recruitment team at TML had no clear basis for determining and comparing the salaries of new recruits. It was obvious that something needed to be done. Should it be a major restructuring of the compensation or could the matter be solved by simply educating the employees? Should the company remove some of the components from its compensation structure and make it simpler? If so, which components could be dropped and which should be retained?

Optima Business Group (OBG), a consumer packaged goods firm, achieved significant improvements in its sales and distribution processes through the implementation of sales force automation (SFA). The implementation was carried out in the urban markets of OBG, but it was not an easy journey. The chief technology officer has to decide whether OBG should implement SFA in its rural markets and, if so, how it should be executed. What are the risks and benefits of implementing the system? Competitors are fast leveraging information technology in other functions such as finance, HR and vendor management and OBG needs to catch up. Finally, competitors of OBG are adopting innovative methods to share the costs of IT implementation (e.g., handheld devices) with their partners. Faced with different options, and a unique terrain of conducting business in the emerging economy of India, the chief technology officer has to decide on OBG's future IT strategy.

This case illustrates some of the complexities involved in teaching in a participant-centered learning process. Specifically, it focuses on the learning process components as well as the tensions and barriers that hinder teaching practice changes. It describes an actual teaching experience with a couple of former Colombian combatants -one from a paramilitary group and another one from a guerrilla army- who are invited to an undergraduate public management course to share their life experiences with students in an innovative attempt by the teacher to bring the reality of this conflict closer to class participants. Students' reactions in class and their subsequent analysis build up a tense atmosphere that drives the professor to question her own teaching methods. On account of the specific issue addressed by this case -students' attitude towards Colombia's armed conflict as a result of their social status- this case may be used to discuss the impending challenges faced by a society after a conflict like the one experienced by Colombia.

Henry Wu, the Programme Director of the Transformation Office at Alexandra Health System (AHS), conferred with his team on the status of the Population Health programme, a joint initiative between AHS and Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH), in May 2015. The programme sought to increase health awareness and encourage a targeted population of the island city-state's residents to make positive lifestyle changes. The centrepiece of the programme is a systematic effort to attract residents to voluntary screening events to assess their health and lifestyle habits. The programme also provides a clear path co-developed by residents, community nurses and intervention specialists for unhealthy or high-risk residents to seek medical treatment or participate in lifestyle intervention programmes. The most critical outcome would be encouraging them to take appropriate follow-up actions and be able to measure their habits and behaviour. In the longer term, the Population Health team faces the task of scaling up the program from an initial target population of 16,000 residents to cover the entire population of 220,000 residents over the age of 40 in the north of Singapore. The stakes are high for Singapore's healthcare system and in particular for AHS, a healthcare cluster in the north that manages Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH). KTPH has only been open for less than five years and is already experiencing serious capacity constraints. Most incoming patients are residents over the age of 50 who suffer from chronic diseases. Doctors and hospital administrators believe that a population health programme targeting people over the age of 40 could mitigate hospital resource strain by averting chronic diseases before symptoms became more acute as people age. By encouraging middle-aged residents to live healthier and more active lives, the anticipated rise in healthcare demand (and associated costs) for the next generation of elderly Singaporeans could be stabilised.

Supplement to case SMU418. In 2011, Mikkel Larsen, Managing Director, Head of Tax & Accounting Policy, Group Finance at DBS Bank mooted the idea of DBS adopting an integrated reporting approach. He was convinced that this was a more holistic way of reporting on the bank's business strategy and activities, linking each of them clearly to the financial and non-financial impact it would have on its stakeholders. In 2012, when DBS adopted the integrated reporting approach, it was the first listed company in Southeast Asia to do so. The report had been well-received and garnered considerable attention from the external parties such as research analysts and the media. Based on feedback from DBS's stakeholders, DBS incorporated changes that would make the 2013 IR more user-friendly and meaningful for its stakeholders. Larsen was, in May 2014, looking over the 2013 report, recognising that there was always room for improvement. For instance, in preparation for the following years' annual reports, further enhancements, could include defining 'materiality', increasing stakeholder outreach, and reporting 'outcomes' as compared to 'outputs'.

Judge William Wright considers the case of the dispute of a whale carcass wherein several whaling ships claim ownership based on each one's contribution to its killing. The judge must weigh in the differing efforts and costs of three ships who each played a role at different stages of the hunting process, as well as the prevalent norms-of-ownership at the time.

Judge William Wright considers the case of the dispute of a whale carcass wherein several whaling ships claim ownership based on each one's contribution to its killing. The judge must weigh in the differing efforts and costs of three ships who each played a role at different stages of the hunting process, as well as the prevalent norms-of-ownership at the time.

This case describes the events following an incident of a rape in a taxi associated with Uber, by its driver. Uber was an application based taxi operator. The events raised several issues for government systems and processes, such as need for regulation of new formats of business like application based taxi services, integrated databases, checks against forgery and holistic approach towards women safety. The case also brings out how an e-commerce business raises regulatory concerns.

The 2010 Harvard Business Review (HBR) article made the term "entrepreneurship ecosystem" prominent for the first time, reflecting this dynamic and largely self-regulating system. The SE (formerly, Southern Energy) case enriches this dialog on engaging larger corporations in fostering entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship ecosystems and helps the discussion transcend polemic prescription and overly simplistic stereotypes of what larger corporations should or should not do. The case also highlights the potential benefits for larger corporations by engaging with entrepreneurial ventures. The case describes SE's development from a small local utility located on the far western coastline of Denmark to an increasingly global player in electricity distribution and sales, telecommunications, including broad band internet, cable TV, renewable energy, and related fields. Although admittedly lacking a coherent strategy, SE has launched several entrepreneurial programs. The most prominent and visible activity is the Next Step Challenge, a new-as of the time of the case-global startup competition initially targeted to startup ventures in fields closely related to energy and telecommunications. Eight ventures from Denmark, the United States, Chile, and Serbia participated in the first three-month long program, which took place in Esbjerg, Denmark. The case outlines the program details, and participants' views of the benefits and drawbacks of the program. SE is committed to, and has budgeted for, three iterations of the Next Step Challenge. Whereas most discussions of how corporations may programmatically engage entrepreneurship would focus entirely on this startup competition, the case also describes two additional programs with later stage entrepreneurial ventures. One is SE Blue Equity, a DKK 640 million, about $120 million, private equity fund managed by SE and three large Danish corporations and funds.